Alex looked at the small timer on his watch. It indicated that he had a total of 10 minutes before the challenge would begin. He hid himself in the backyard of the house hoping that no one would get hurt by his first real combat encounter. He didn't really think using a weapon would work all that well since he never had used one before in his life so he settled with just using his fist and his shadow skill. Alex continued to stretch as the time ran down. After the timer went to one minute he stopped and began to focus his energy. He focused on creating a black orb and made it physical before the fight.
The small orb hovered over his shoulder as he looked at his watch one last time. 00:00:01. Test has begun.
The world around Alex had become still as all sound except his own disappeared. The world around him darkened as a small ring of light energy encircled him. It was around 30 ft in radius and 60 ft in diameter. He looked at another small red circle that had appeared opposite to him in the circle and watched as a small crack seemed to form in the ground inside the circle. It started as a small sliver, but soon a red light came pouring outward. The light around it seemed to spill out and began to conjugate. It began to form a small creature.
It wasn't Human... That was for certain. It was around 3 Feet tall and was severely hunched over, it wielded a large wooden club the size of it's body and was covered in scars. It had green eyes and strange pointed ears. Before he knew it Alex could hear one sentence ring out in his ears. "Goblin has been summon, please begin to fight."
The creature let out a screech as it pounded it's club against the floor with speed and strength. Small cracks began to form on the ground as the strange red goblin jumped towards Alex. The club came at him with a surprising amount of ferocity but before Alex could react his mind did so for him. The small black orb of shadow by his shoulder rushed at the club at an intense speed. It was much faster than it had ever been before and with it's speed it managed to stall the club, forcing it to a halt.
Without the initial momentum the club struck the ground near Alex's feet weakly. Alex looked at the goblin in a stunned silence as the goblin raised his club once more. This time Alex took control of the orb. The small dense ball quickly zipped forward and hit heavily against the goblins chest. The goblin was launched backwards a few feet before the small orb quickly zipped back and hit again. Alex stood there watching the Shadow orb pummel the goblin relentlessly. He didn't really know what to think. Half of the time his body seemed to be working off of pure instinct. But what could have made him innately know how to use the orb this way without as much as a second thought? But the thing that really bothered him was the fact he couldn't do this before he started fighting the Goblin!
The goblin looked dazed as he tried to dodge and block the black orb but was to know avail.
The Goblin looked in panic as the small Shadow Orb beat him to a pulp without mercy. And all the Goblin could do was take it as the orb was too quick.
It took 2 minutes and 23 seconds for the goblin to give it's last breath. And a few seconds later a small screen popped up in front of Alex.
Congratulations Artifact Wielder #1 for disabling the Goblin in the quickest time. For you to have killed the first challenge the quickest you have been rewarded with 1 power points and 5 skill points. You may choose to use them as you choose.
Alex looked at the screen for a few seconds before feeling joy well up inside of the pit of his stomach. A Power Point and 5 Skill Points?! Score! Alex stood there for a few minutes before slowly leaving his stupor. He looked around and realized the room had a grayish gloom to it as everything seemed to be frozen in place. Everything but the circle he was standing in. "System is the Challenge still going on?" Alex said, his voice feeling uncertain. And of coarse the didn't reply. He looked at the small watch on his wrist and realized that a timer was still being displayed. It read 4:25. And it counted upwards.
'Have the others not finished there fight yet?' Alex thought absent mindlessly.
He disregarded the fact and quickly activated his character panel to insert his stat points.
-Stats-
Strength:11 (Average adult Male)
Speed:16 (Well above average Male)
Endurance:11 (Average adult Male)
Intelligence:13 (Above average Male)
Cunning:20 (Nearing the Peak of Humanity)
Charm:13 (Above average Male)
Moon Aspect:1
Stat Points: 5
Skills:
Common Skill: Selective Vision LV:2-
Common Skill: Learner LV:1
Uncommon Skill: Mental Fortitude LV:1
Alex looked through the stats and pondered for awhile. It seemed like the Moon Aspect skill was important but he wasn't sure why he felt that it was important. He tried to put in a point but a system error popped up.
'Privileged? What the hell is that supposed to mean?' Alex instantly got angry. 5 Points was a lot of points, with the same amount he could increase the other stats that seem really strong. He hadn't ever really tried to use his speed but he knew for a fact he was much faster than normal do to the speed he obtained while casually travelling. If he added 5 points to it would he become a god of speed?
But the five point cost made him a lot more intrigued then before. I mean even one point seemed to be quite nice in any of the other stats but 5 points for one upgrade... There had to be a reason behind it. He slowly confirmed his selection of purchasing the single point upgrade of Moon Aspect and was surprised that instead of just leaving it at that the system decided to be cryptic.
Alex itched his head as he looked at the ominous message. 'Be prepared' Such frightening words. After leaving the stats at that he quickly opened up his powers but was surprised to find that he couldn't add any points to it. To be exact he couldn't even see any of his powers. Instead there was a single message blocking him from seeing his information.
It seemed that he had made a mistake by upgrading Moon Aspect. He tried desperately to use even one of the two powers he had but found that nothing worked. They were completely blocked off. A feeling of fear entered his being as he realized what this meant.
'What happens if I fail this Ritual? Will I lose my powers? or even worse my artifact?' Alex's thoughts raced as he thought of what it could mean.
He slowly raised his moon pendent to his eyes and found that it had lost it's usual lust and before he could even thing he heard a whisper.
"Alex.... Beware..... Be..... Prepared." it was a voice that came from the dull necklace in his hands. He looked at it as if he had lost his mind as the world around him finally came alive. A short system announcement had posted the results of the race.
Congratulations users on being able to complete the task. The Leader boards are as such:
First Place: Artifact Wielder #1 / 2 Minutes and 23 seconds
Second Place: Artifact Wielder #13 / 4 Minutes and 47 seconds
Third Place: Artifact Wielder #7 / 4 Minutes and 48 seconds
Now to show how many deaths have occurred:
Artifact Wielder 3 had a total of 488 deaths
Artifact Wielder 48 had a total of 312 deaths
...
And Artifact Wielder 1 had a total of 0 deaths
The next fight will take place in one weeks time. Be prepared.
Alex felt a shiver down his back. There those words where again. 'Be Prepared'. Very scary indeed.