"It's about time you wake up." A gravelly old voice rang out from the darkness ripping Flynn out of dreamless sleep.
Unfortunately, it was, in fact, not about time Flynn woke up. He had stayed up almost all night the day before the tutorial trying to get his life together, and like most things he did back then, it was a fruitless endeavor; after all that, life was long gone, a distant memory of the trials had all but consumed.
Flynn's painful headache only reaffirmed his belief as he got up off the galaxy-themed floor. Beneath him was an endless expanse of space. Stars and galaxies spread across the cosmos in a tapestry of color and light. For all its splendor, it only made Flynn feel nauseous standing on it, even if it was his second time doing so.
In the center of the room, an older man with glasses stood decorating it. He held a ruler in hand. His face was stern, and a scowl seemed his default resting place. Deep wrinkles adorned his visage, reminding Flynn of a disappointed grandfather. A prompt interrupted Flynn's perusing of the man.
Mental Assessment started, you have 1 hour to complete the test presented before you. Grades are used to determine potential. Good Luck. |
Flynn suddenly felt like he was in grade school again as he looked at a desk. It connected to the seat like some desks were in his middle school. Flynn bent over and checked the bottom of the desk. A giant wad of chewing gum sat in the exact location he had placed it all those years ago. It was a detail he had missed in his first life.
Flynn's eyes took in the chair, and nostalgia flooded his mind. He could remember taking many, many naps on chairs just like this. In the middle of the desk sat a single piece of parchment. It glimmered against the light. And despite the test only being a single page, Flynn knew it held what felt like endless questions.
"I woke you to inform you that you only have fifteen minutes left. Anyone taking the assessment must be informed of this marker." The man said the words confidently, but Flynn suspected the teacher wanted to leave Flynn asleep. He found most scholars were of his type, Pompous.
The delinquent sat down and began his assessment, a bit of panic lacing the back of his mind as he read the first question—the only question on the page.
What is your name? |
Flynn thought of his name, and it appeared upon the parchment. Despite the question's simplicity, it held great importance within the trials. Whatever you filled out on the page would become binding, and others would see it as your name when pulling up your status window within the trials. Flynn had met one person whose name on his status window was poopoo peepee. The next question replaced the second bringing Flynn back to the test. The next question was a term matching chart about stats, simple enough.
The inner workings of stats weren't completely worked out by most on the first floor, but even he knew the general idea of what they meant and did. He matched strength to attack power, dexterity to stamina, constitution to life points, intelligence to magic power, wisdom to mana, and charisma to social. He noticed that the questions were trivial, and luck wasn't even on the list, which intrigued him.
But despite his wonder, the questions faded away, replaced by a word problem. A hypothetical situation that he was supposed to solve. Some were war games, and others simple riddles, but he soon realized that all were situations that could and might very well happen within the trials.
Internal conflicts between parties, getting trapped in a dungeon with little food, boss fights, and various other themes that were all signatures of the trials appeared on the test. Unfortunately, he only got through thirty-three more questions before time ran out.
He chastised himself for sleeping in, but the fact of the matter was that his body had been exhausted from not only the fights but lack of sleep as well. Flynn ended up answering more questions than in his previous life. He even answered them to the best of his ability, which was something he had never done before in an academic setting. He sighed, handing the piece of paper to the man, who hadn't stopped scowling the entire time.
"Let me see that thirty-five questions in fifteen minutes. What nonsense did you spew onto my test." The man grumbled as he placed his hand on the parchment and closed his eyes. Blue light filtered over it before his eyes opened in shock. He started to open his mouth but stopped tilting his head as he thought deeply. The man's mouth moved, but no words came out.
"Are you perhaps a genius?" Those were the last words Flynn heard from the man before he dissipated into bright blue light as the first phase of the second assessment came to a close.
"No, I've simply just had experience with this sort of thing," Flynn answered the air, and it was true. He had literately lived out some of these hypothetical situations before. It wasn't even a stretch to say he was cheating, and the system itself seemed to agree.
Congratulations, you have completed phase one of the Mental Assessment! Calculating…
Questions Answered: 35
Questions Correct: 35
Questions Answered Beyond Perimeters: 33
Flynn's eyebrows rose in surprise. He wasn't expecting to get all the questions he answered correctly, even if he had taken the entire time to complete the test. It seemed that due to his knowledge of the trials, the cheating delinquent had answered questions far beyond what was expected of him. He just shook his head with a half-cocked smile. If nothing else, his above-average luck had something to do with this, he was sure. He swiped the window away, only for another to take its place.
The next phase will start immediately. Please stand by. |
"Well, I guess it's about time I meet up with humanity." Flynn smiled, and as he spoke, blue light surrounded him. His soul was once again swept away by the system.