“Is something wrong?” Genad who usually would have ignored the two naughty fellas couldn’t help but ask on seeing Feral’s listless face. His eyes were red, his face covered with a cloudy visage and he looked like had been crying for quite some time.
Feral simply nodded in a daze causing Genad to cock up his brow, just what had happened?
Before he could ponder on it more, a mechanical beeping was heard and the machine he had been tweaking finally spoke—
{Password accepted;
Scanning….;
Three life forms detected;
The challenge will now begin.}
BOOM!!
Feral could barely ponder on the words he was suddenly hearing when a strong force like an earthquake hit their position but with how many times he had been pitted in this kind of situation, he had learned how to maintain his balance without falling over… or so he thought.
Just as he was trying to hold himself he got flung away and ended up falling into Genad’s arms to his surprise. He looked up with a nervous smile at the stone-faced male in front of him and was about to apologize when...
/ Awemeter increased to 50% /
‘?!’
His confusion was short-lived however as the next instant an extremely blinding light enveloped them forcing Feral to shut his eyes for a minute till he heard his master's voice call out to him-
“We’re here,” Genad called out to the creature in his arms that had shut its eyes and curled rather comfortably around him while holding his waist tight. Was this really that scary?
On hearing the call, Feral swiftly tore himself away from Genad... just now, they had been too close to each other and it seemed Genad didn't dislike it. Was this considered progress?
“Ahem… so where are we?” Feral asked while looking around in a daze along with Paws who couldn’t stop staring.
They were in a dim room-like structure, only, it was filled completely with white, and even with its dimness the outline and color of white could be clearly made out, like a narrow white room.
The trio's attention suddenly snapped to the front on the slow phasing in of a holographic image in front of them stating ‘Loading…’
{Ding! Welcome to the gnome trails!}
An AI male voice resounded through the space as the image displayed its words, soon the words faded and a cluster of writing began appearing and disappearing along with the voice of the AI and if not for her speed of reading Dina wouldn’t have been able to make out the words.
{Trails will soon begin….;
Three life forms detected…. No gnomes;
Warning! Warning!
Tutorials changing! Rewards changing!
Chances limited!
Trail level: DANGER!}
Red lights from the holographic image blared through the environment and soon the white space bled into a foreboding red alarming the trio. The AI voice spoke again but this time it had changed to a female voice.
{TRAILS HAVE BEGUN;
TRAIL NUMBER: 3;
TRAIL CHANCES: 2;
REWARD: A SINGLE WISH;
CONSEQUENCE: ENTRAPMENT;
Beep…. Beep… Beep!}
The white—now red space changed once more to the image of the gnome they had seen carved unto the door that led to their entrance. And then the challenge began!
{TRAIL 1: Narrate the history of the gnomes in 5 minutes;
BEGIN! Time countdown: 00:05:00}
***
The gnome trails was a facility recently set up. It was a facility the gnomes had in mind to set up ages ago to evaluate all young gnomes transitioning to adulthood if their skills were good enough to earn an adult certification as to the gnomes, age was just a number, what really mattered was one’s skills.
Normally, the evaluation was done manually by the elders of the gnomes until the idea of the facility was born. Oddly enough the facility's creation coincided with the gnomes’ sudden disappearance. Something like that really made one raise their brows.
The gnome trail was a general trail for gnomes but for some reason, it didn’t limit other species. As long as one could hack into the system and input the right password then their evaluation was possible. Although this came with a severe consequence as the level of the trail would be bumped up to a deadly level, where the questions though not very difficult were tricky and your chances were only two.
Which meant if one failed a question two times they were doomed.
Of course, one would suppose that Genad could have easily waited till the guardian recuperated so he would pose as a gnome which would be helpful for them but this wasn’t ideal due to two reasons: the first being that the rewards for the gnome would be chosen by the system itself based on their performance and the second being that as the ‘other species’ they would be eliminated once the trail was finished even they helped.
This was a defense mechanism built in by the gnomes in response to possible situations where a gnome was being blackmailed to access the trail and possibly the gnome lands.
{Time countdown: 00:04:57}
Genad stepped forward in preparation to answer the question whilst Feral and Paws stared on.
“The history of the gnomes…” he began after clearing his throat while looking unwaveringly at the ticking time, “Began with a young creature, opening his eyes with no vivid recalling of his whereabouts, history, or who he was. In a blatant land filled with nothing but rocks and sand and only a few plants the man wandered distrusted, at a loss of what he was to do until finally, he stumbled out of the deserted plane into a lush forest filled with life and energy.”
The story went on with the gnome walking around but couldn’t find a single specie that wasn’t a plant and so he eventually became lonely. That was when it began, the manifest of his great gift. Firstly, the male built a comfortable abode to call home, made with shrubs and grasses but built well enough to hold up even during heavy rainfalls.
Soon he built various houses experimenting as he went, eventually having fun building these houses. And one day while trying to harvest plants for eating he harmed himself and although this wasn’t a new incident, it gave him a sudden idea of creating tools that could make things easier for him and from there he created all sorts of tools, for cultivating, for eating, for various activities and as time went on his inventions had reached a thousand as a whole.
He knew that he had to leave the land soon enough and also instinctively knew that he had to have items to protect himself from any uncertain factors he might come across. And finally, with his preparations ready, he set out for his journey.
Shortening the story, it follows that he eventually drifted to a land filled with beasts and after nearly getting himself killed over a necklace he had found in the mouth of a beast he was taken in by the ancient god who was the owner of the necklace and in appreciation was gifted with the power of creation.
The story ended with the gnome being gifted with the pearl necklace as evidence of the comradeship he had with the ancient god.
‘Now that I think of it every kingdom possesses an item of comradeship with the ancient god which makes me wonder just where the hell or how the hell they all met with the god....'
“…and that’s the history of the gnome.”
{Player’s answers detected;
Answers submitted;
Loading….
Results loading….
Beep! Beep! Beep!
TRAIL ONE COMPLETED!
Time Remaining: 00:00:30;
Well done player! Trail 2 will begin in 30 seconds!}
'That was easy enough!' Dina thought with a sigh of relief, if only all the trails could be that easy.... by the way, there was something she really wanted to know.
“Erm…, master,” Feral called out softly to Genad who faced him with a questioning look.
“Is there an issue?”
“Yeah, I just wanted to know… who or how did the other gnomes come about then? In other myths, each race seemed to conveniently have an opposite gender to further their race except the gnomes and the angels so I was just curious…” Feral mumbled while looking up at Genad with an inquisitive look.
They stared unblinkingly at each other for quite a while, when suddenly a faint blush painted Genad’s face, and with a cough, he faced away while saying calmly-
“The trail is starting.”
So he was just gonna skip it?!
Come on! The elves were said to have been birthed by golden flowers, the angels basically materialized as infants from the holy water when the faith within it was at its peak, the demons from mating after being cast away, and the humans from evolved one-of-a-kind beasts but the gnomes’ origin was ambiguous, and he had to know!
“Come on master! Don’t be mean!” Feral whined at which Genad frowned slightly.
“Stop this.”
“But master QAQ."
A sigh escaped from Genad’s mouth before he faced Feral again and with an annoyed voice stated—
“Even I can’t tell alright? So stop being annoying!”
“…oh.”
A stifling awkwardness followed until the voice of the AI broke through with the announcement of the beginning of the second trial.
{Loading..... Trail 2 will now begin.
TRAIL 2: Answer each riddle in 2 minutes;
BEGIN! Time countdown: 00:06:00}
And the 2nd trial began!