The trio soon stepped into the forest and made their way to the Southern Clearing while walking casually.
"Let's check out the Statistics page" said Julio to which Midas and Aydin nodded. To be honest, Midas was already checking it out, and his findings were astonishing.
|————————————
| Index | Network || Statistics || Library |
—————
Number of Chosen: 3000
Trial of Self
—————>
| Trial 1: The Trial of Self |
Number of Chosen who Qualified: 3000
Number of Chosen who are Currently Partaking: 2976
Number of Chosen who Completed: 1
Number of Chosen who Failed/Expired: 23
<—————
Trial of Life and Death
Trial of Vitality
Trial of Heart
Trial of Will
Trial of Mind
Trial of Being
————————————|
Opening up the panel itself, Midas merely found some information about the Number of Chosen that were initially chosen and some openable tabs which would show information specific to each Trial.
Midas nodded to himself after seeing these Numbers. There were 3,000 of them in the beginning, and now there were 2,976. It turned out that the green lifeform killed 23 people, thus leaving one person who managed to pass through to the next Trial.
Midas paused for a while and wondered where the bodies of those people were. Were they buried somewhere perhaps by the people who chose to make the land around the Shrine their new homes? Well it didn't matter anyway.
Midas decided to check out the information on the next Trial on a whim.
|————————————
| Index | Network || Statistics || Library |
—————
Number of Chosen: 3000
Trial of Self
—————>
| Trial 1: The Trial of Self |
Number of Chosen who Qualified: 3000
Number of Chosen who are Currently Partaking: 2977
Number of Chosen who Completed: 1
Number of Chosen who Failed/Expired: 23
<—————
Trial of Life and Death
<—————
| Trial 2: The Trial of Life of Death |
Number of Chosen who Qualified: 1
Number of Chosen who are Currently Partaking: 1
Number of Chosen who Completed: 0
Number of Chosen who Failed/Expired: 0
<—————
Trial of Vitality
Trial of Heart
Trial of Will
Trial of Mind
Trial of Being
————————————|
'Well, that figures,' thought Midas, seeing the information. That blonde guy, who got conned into moving on from the First Trial early, was still alive in the Trial. Midas decided that he would often check up on him as his performance would determine how difficult, at least hypothetically speaking, the next Trial would be.
Midas tried to open up the next Trial's information, only to see that it was blank.
|————————————
| Index | Network || Statistics || Library |
—————
Number of Chosen: 3000
Trial of Self
—————>
| Trial 1: The Trial of Self |
Number of Chosen who Qualified: 3000
Number of Chosen who are Currently Partaking: 2977
Number of Chosen who Completed: 1
Number of Chosen who Failed/Expired: 23
<—————
Trial of Life and Death
—————>
| Trial 2: The Trial of Life of Death |
Number of Chosen who Qualified: 1
Number of Chosen who are Currently Partaking: 0
Number of Chosen who Completed: 0
Number of Chosen who Failed/Expired: 1
<—————
Trial of Vitality
—————>
| Trial 3: The Trial of Vitality |
??
??
??
??
<—————
Trial of Heart
Trial of Will
Trial of Mind
Trial of Being
————————————|
'Could it be, that there had to first be someone who actually completes a previous Trial before I can see the data?' pondered Midas to himself. That would make sense to him. On thinking this far, his eyes wandered up again to view the information of the Trial of Life and Death and he was immediately shocked to a standstill.
Aydin and Julio, seeing this, turned to look at what was going on, only to hear Midas' next words.
"He's dead.."
"What? Who?" asked Julio.
"Oh fuck fuck fuck!… It's only been five minutes. How the hell could he die so quickly." said Aydin, who began gesticulating frantically and grabbing at his curly brown hair.
"Wait, that Finn guy is dead?" asked Julio in disbelief. He was met by silence, from a contemplating Midas and a panicking Aydin. It had only been five minutes. How could he die so fast? What the hell was waiting for them in the next Trial?
"Whether he is dead or not is obvious. It's the fact that he failed that's the problem. It's because the green life-form said that as long as you Fail, then you die," said Midas
Julio nodded in understanding and Aydin went on to say, "The second Trial is called the Trial of Life and Death right? Fuck, such bad luck, to be scammed into killing himself!"
"Evil bastards," said Julio.
Midas shook his head and said "Well technically it's not their fault he died..He was the one who got swept up in the atmosphere and volunteered himself. He was also the one who went through the Gate without any preparation or knowledge of what comes next. And finally, although you guys might think this is a terrible thing to say, he was weak. At least according to the standards of the Trials."
"What do you mean?" asked Aydin.
"I mean, yeah he was scammed, but he still had a chance. At least that's what I believe. These Trials are like a Natural Selection mechanism, in which we have to fight to be able to make it through a great filter that would eliminate a whole lot of us. That's wat I understood from the words of the green lifeform."
Midas continued, "I think every Trial has a standard that you must meet before attempting it and I think he did not reach that standard, which is why he failed and probably died. It's him. His abilities, whether his Skills or Stats or Competences, were just not good enough."
"Woah… Brutal," said Aydin.
"I know. But this is the power of information and data. When analysing it, one has to remain objective to glean any possible meanings. Still though, it is kind of messed up that someone who was right in front of us a few minutes ago is now dead in some other space somewhere... I feel sorry for him, but no matter what, we have to thank him. If we had no idea what came next we could have made the mistake of leaving this place early like him."
"Yeah, you're right." said Julio
"So does this mean the next Trial is a no go?" asked Aydin.
"That's the thing. We don't know. Although we know something, I still feel that this is not enough. We know that there is a chance of failure unlike this Trial. We also know that whatever rewards he received did not help much. That is all. It's just one data point anyway, we need at least three data points to determine the existence of a pattern. And if this pattern states that the next Trial is a death Trap…"
"Then we're fucked, no?" asked Julio, to which Midas nodded.
"Yes, but not exactly. It either means we have bad chances, or we need more data to determine a surer trend."
"So the only way to know more is for people to test it out… But would people even try after seeing this guy die like this?" asked Aydin.
Midas smiled darkly and said "Well of course not. At least not yet. They're not desperate enough, or stupid enough yet."
"If things become really bad, for example, people might decide to take their chances on the other side of the Gate in the manner of 'at least I tried'. Or if things become good here on this side, people might become courageous and inspired by their good luck, and thus go through the Gate to the other side. Either that or… they get forced through the Gate."
"Do you really think that people would be forced through? There's no way, right?" said Aydin in disbelief.
"You never know. Desperation has caused people to do even worse things throughout history."
"..."
Midas, sensing that he had caused yet another heavy atmosphere to descend, decided to speak up again, saying, "Well, that is at least according to my own judgment. Of course, we have to do our best to make sure that the worst case does not happen, and there are things we can do and actions we can take to increase our chances of survival."
"Like what?"
"Firstly, joining a group or forming our own group. Secondly, designating some piece of land as our own and settling there. Thirdly, establishing positive relations with other groups. Fourthly, and this is very important, establishing some sense of Law and Order in this place using our influence and the influence of the groups that we established relations with. Then fifth, staying in this place and completing the First Trial after 180 days passes."
Aydin took a second look at Midas at this moment. This guy was incredibly intelligent for having thought this far.
Midas continued "Well, that is the best case scenario. As the old adage says, 'Man has a Thousand Plans, the Heavens but One.' No matter how much we can plan and think about the future, many happenings could delay or even make our plans impossible."
"The first step is done already, because we already formed a group. Now we have to start working on the second part." said Julio, unworried. Midas looked at Julio while glancing at Aydin's reaction, only to see Aydin in thought. Midas decided to probe him.
"Yeah. Probably. But I have to ask you guys… Are you sure we should form a group? If any of you guys want to leave and try to make it by yourselves or with others, then I wouldn't complain at all, but rather I would wish you well."
"I know we just met each other, but I think it's important to establish trust early on. I swear that if you guys want to make a group with me, then I will never betray you and I will always try my best to ensure our survival," said Midas with a sincere gaze.
Julio immediately professed his loyalty by saying "Hey Midas, you already know how I feel. I knew you were a good guy from the first day already. We're friends, so of course we should stick together. What about you, Aydin?"
Aydin took some time to think, before saying, "Well, you guys are great and as far as I'm concerned, I definitely wouldn't mind joining your group."
"Yeah!" said Julio, while smacking Aydin's back. Aydin felt like the air in his lungs was knocked out and started coughing, making Midas and Julio laugh at him.
"Julio, your physical stats are crazy. You need to hold back sometimes, haha." said Midas while chuckling. Aydin stared daggers at Julio, blaming him for making him lose years of his life in that one "friendly" slap.
And like this time passed as the trio walked South.
On the way, Midas found out that his [Divine Database]'s ability to multitask was even more powerful than he imagined. For one thing, he could read a book from his Library while simultaneously engaging in conversation with his two new companions.
While Aydin was detailing his life in Turkey and all the sights that they could see and visit, Midas was partly busy with other things.
|————————————
| Testament Zero: The Language of Uzgiyesh |
—————
Introduction
History
Phonology
Morpho-Phonology
Morphology
Affixes
Adjuncts
Referential System
Constructions
Syntax
Writing System
Symbology
Numbering System
Lexicon
Dictionary
Appendices
————————————|
Midas focused on the Introduction chapter and a new panel popped up with thousands of pages in it.
|————————————
| Introduction |
—————
The Language of Uzgiyesh is a language that was created to express concepts more overtly, logically and precisely using a scientifically accurate logical language that resonates with Creation. It is a systematic language that shares its origins with the Energies that abound the Universe itself.
Uzgiyesh is not the real name of the language, and is a name that was used as a stand-in due to all low level incarnations's inability to understand the true meaning of the true name. The real name will be learned later on in the follow on Holy Books and so will the significance of the language.
The chapters in this Testament are split up in the following ways:…
…
————————————|
Midas mentally scrolled down and read on from where he left off previously. He wanted to learn the language and maximise his ability to survive in this place. He figured the language was important.
He remembered that the Shrine had the symbols inscribed on it, and this could be some clue on how they could survive longer. He also found a Tablet that had the Symbols on it, and they could give further clues on his situation. Even if the Shrine and/or Tablet were useless, he would still use them to get a feel for how to construct grammatically correct structures in the language.
Like this, time passed by in the forest, with the occasional passer-bys going up and down in every direction and the three going South.