Listening to her, Eldric couldn't come up with an answer. He knew that she spoke the truth.
After all, he could complete this trial on lower difficulty with no effort if he wished to. Instead, he was here, trying to complete the trial alone in a difficulty that is almost impossible for people with higher professions even in a team.
Just like she said... What was the point? What was he even trying to accomplish?
Both the girl and Eldric were silent. Time passed as the girl kept on looking at Eldric, waiting for his answer.
But no matter how long she waited, Eldric never answered her. He just sat there in silence. He himself didn't know why he wanted to do it. Earlier it was just for earning tokens, but now...
He didn't know why.
"Forget it." Even though she was disappointed, she didn't say anything extreme to mock him. By now, she understood what kind of person the boy in front of her was.
"I won't ask you anything about it at all. But how about you answer one of my questions?"
"....." Raising his head, Eldric looked at her in silence.
"Why are you so afraid?" The smile on her face slowly faded away as she looked at Eldric with a grim expression on her face.
"What is there to be afraid of?" The more she spoke, the colder her voice got. Till now, she didn't care about whatever Eldric was feeling or going through. But now looking at this state of his, she knew she had to do something, or else it would be too late.
"Did you forget that it is all just an illusion?"
"If you can't even handle pain in the illusions, then what the hell are you going to do in real life?"
With eyes that were almost spitting fire, she glared at Eldric while gritting her teeth.
"You are afraid of these lowly beasts when they are just an illusion.
Tell me... what will you do if they appear in front of you one day?
Are you just going to cover yourself in a blanket and hope they won't see you? You pathetic little shit."
Eldric kept listening to her, but couldn't refute her. Every single word that she spoke was nothing but truth. Just like she said, if one day he is surrounded by those wolves in real life, then what is he going to do?
The more Eldric thought about it, the more flustered he got. He just couldn't come up with an answer.
"What happened to the boy who was talking all high and mighty a few weeks ago? You were going to become the most powerful person... Is this how you are going to become one?"
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT ME TO DO THEN?"
It was now that Eldric shouted at the top of his lungs.
Throwing away the blanket, he stood up with eyes filled with rage while looking at the girl floating in the air.
"I don't want to clear this trial in the previous difficulties. If I wanted to, then I would have already done so. Why did I give up my qualification to join a college if, in the end, I was going to just complete the trial on the first two difficulties?"
The more he spoke, the colder his voice got.
"I want to complete the trial on the highest difficulty. I wanted to see what the perfect score would look like. That is what I want."
"But it's not possible. Is it?"
"I have tried countless times, hoping to defeat the very first floor, but I can't. Even when I have evolved my skills many times, it is still not possible. What do you suggest that I do?
Keep on dying?"
"YES."
It was a short but direct reply that stunned Eldric.
"Come again?" For a moment Eldric even thought he had some trouble in his ears. But the next sentence from the girl cleared up this little thought of his.
"I said yes.
Keep on dying."
Looking at Eldric who was pointing his finger towards her with stuttering lips, as if wanting to curse her, the girl spoke further.
"Die... and keep on dying until you get used to it.
Then and only will you have a chance to survive and win."
Narrowing his eyes, Eldric just stood silently, waiting for her to explain. And sure enough, after a brief pause, she spoke further.
"Currently, you are like a little child, who is too scared to get hurt. One nick and you are already running home crying.
So until you get used to pain, until you get used to dying in the illusion, you are never going to make any progress.
And this is going to be true for your future as well.
No matter how powerful your skills get, once you meet someone on the same level as yours, you are going to end up miserable. Just like in the trial."
Listening to her, Eldric clenched his teeth. He wanted to refute her, but he couldn't come up with anything to say against what she had just said.
"I need some time." Closing his eyes Eldric didn't immediately agree to her but asked for some time. He wanted to gather his thoughts before making any decision.
"...." Vanishing into the air, the girl left Eldric alone not caring about the outcome.
.
.
.
.
After she left, Eldric just stood in front of the window, looking at the forest in front of him in silence. There were a lot of thoughts rushing through his head.
After talking to both Cedric and the girl, Eldric was now fully aware of his shortcomings. Just like they said, he didn't have a goal or aim in life. Right now, he was living with the mentality of 'living in the moment'.
And sure enough, it was full of flaws. Without any goal, he was lacking any sense of urgency or any motivation to work hard. It might not have been a big problem in his previous life, but in this life, living like this was tantamount to suicide.
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.
.
Seconds turned into minutes, minutes into hours, and hours into days.
Almost five days have passed since Eldric failed in the trials the second time. During these five days, Eldric didn't see the girl again. She seemed to have disappeared into the thin air, but Eldric was sure that she was still there, silently observing his every move.
More than a week has passed since he arrived at his home after failing to get into the university and by now, Eldric has slowly managed to adjust to this new family of his. It would be a lie to say that there was any affection in his heart towards the parent of the previous body owner, but at least they were no longer like strangers to him.
As for the so-called Elder sister, he didn't see her after their first meeting. Her door was constantly shut, not letting anyone else inside. For a moment even Eldric doubted whether he truly met her or not.
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.
It was the morning of the sixth day that Eldric saw his father sitting in the living room, waiting for him with a smile on his face.
"You look happy." Walking near him, Eldric sat on the seat opposite to him picking up a piece of fruit before taking a bite and looking at his father with a questioning gaze.
"Well..." Looking at his son with a smile, Cedric gave him a nod. "It is indeed a happy event."
"Remember the position of the assistant that you were going to work on?
Turns out, they hired someone else."
"That is a happy event?" Raising his eyes, Eldric wondered whether this man hit his head somewhere in the morning.
"Well, since the position of the assistant is already filled and they gave me their word, they arranged another position for you." Looking at his son with a smirk, Cedric spoke further.
"Your new job will be as a shopkeeper, where you will be responsible for tending to customers and selling items at the listed price. Unlike an assistant, you will not have to work hard every day, and your primary focus will be on providing excellent customer service."
"Eh!" Startled, Eldric nodded. "Sounds good to me."
Both of them laughed for a while before Cedric accompanied Eldric to the shop where he was going to be working from the day.
They didn't take any carriage but walked on foot slowly. During the entire time, both of them kept on talking about numerous things like places to eat, famous people and events, and so on.
It wasn't until they walked for more than a mile that they came across a small row of buildings arranged together on both sides of the road.
During his daily conversation with his father, Eldric came to know that not anyone can open a shop anywhere.
There were strict laws for opening a shop and even more strict laws for where it was going to be opened. One can not just simply open a shop anywhere they want. It was a long and tedious task and often not worth the effort.
Just like the small market in front of Eldric, one can only open shops in the market area, far away from any residence. Even the number of shops was limited. So unless one was extremely influential or lucky, it was a nightmare to try to open a new shop.
For Eldric to directly become a shopkeeper, it could be seen that his father pulled some strings.
It took a while for the both of them to find the shop where Eldric was going to be working. It was a small simple but exquisite shop with numerous items placed on the shelf. Standing behind the counter was an old man in his late seventies wearing a long coat with grey pants and simple shoes.
As soon as Eldric and his father arrived at the shop, the old man glanced at them once before speaking to Eldric.
"You are going to be working here from now on.
Pay attention and learn carefully. For the first week, you will just stay with me and learn everything that is needed to learn. And Only when I am satisfied, would you be given the position of the shopkeeper.
Do not disappoint me, young man."
With these words, the old man waved his hand toward Cedric, signaling him to leave as he began to teach Eldric how to greet customers as well as the prices of the various items and how should he bargain.
.
.
It took an entire day for Eldric to learn about things and still, he was only forty percent done. But even with this, the old man seemed pretty satisfied with his performance.
After roaming around aimlessly, Eldric finally headed back home.
But as soon as Eldric reached home, he realized something was amiss. The usual laughter and chatter were now replaced by a grim and heavy atmosphere.
As Eldric entered the room, he noticed his parents sitting on the sofa with a somber look on their faces. To his surprise, his reclusive elder sister, whom he hadn't seen since their initial meeting, was sitting opposite to them. Her eyes seemed to be lost as she sat there in silence.
"You are here." While Eldric was confused, he heard the voice of his father.
"You must be confused. But there is nothing to worry about.
Even though we wanted to take some time and wait for a bit longer, unfortunately, our plans couldn't keep up with the changes.
Something came up and now we don't have much time."
Speaking till here, he looked at his son with a complicated expression on his face as he opened his mouth with great difficulty.
"Son, I want you to do something for this family."