After looking through all the available traits, the man had picked out the most promising.
{Assassin} "Makes sneak attacks and attacks to weak spots more effective."
{Projectile Mastery} "Greatly improves throwing talent."
{Hard-Head} "Improves the skull's durability, grants concussion resistance."
{Steel-Skin} "Greatly increases the body's durability."
{Ammo Regeneration} "Regenerates ammunition for weapons."
{Bottomless Magazine} "Allows you to fit infinite ammunition in ammo storage."
{Bind} "Grants you the ability to bind items to yourself."
{Shock Absorption} "Grants you the ability to absorb some blunt force."
{Regeneration} "Grants rapid healing."
{Feather Foot} "Greatly improves your movement ability"
{High-Human} "Grants you an overall improved physique."
'11 excellent choices, but I can only pick 8, tsk.' The man frowned looking at the selected traits displayed on the screen.
'Regeneration and shock absorption are a must have, along with steel skin, hard head, feather foot and high human. These will give me a much higher chance of staying alive.'
'That leaves assassin, projectile mastery, ammo regeneration, bottomless magazine, and bind.' The man exhales.
'Bind is the most uncertain of the five, I have no idea what binding items to oneself would do, but it doesn't seem bad at all.'
'Assassin improves effectiveness, not power or damage, meaning it will improve my stealth.
'Projectile mastery improves my talent, by a great amount. If talent is improved, then I my throwing ability will keep on getting better.'
'Finally, Ammo regeneration and bottomless magazine will give me basically an infinite amount of bullets, a sort of pseudo-infinite bullets, given enough time.'
"Haaa... God damn it."
'Maybe I can remove hard head, and take bind in it's place? It's a gamble, but it might work out.'
...
After a few minutes of deliberating, the man has finalized his selection.
{Regeneration} {Steel-Skin} {Feather Foot} {High-Human}
{Projectile Mastery} {Ammo Regeneration} {Bottomless Magazine} {Bind}
"Is this your final selection?" The ball speaks once it perceives that the man seems to have finished.
'I hope it pays off.'
"Ye-" The man starts to speak before suddenly pausing.
"Wait a second!" A thought suddenly flies through his head, as he stares at his 'Helper'.
"Is there any way I can take more traits than the quota I have?"
"Unfortunately, you cannot."
Receiving a negative answer pauses the man for a second before he questions again.
"Is there any way to increase the quota?"
"There is."
'This bastard.'
"What is it, and how many more traits can I get from it?"
"The way to increase your quota is through 2 trials, each trial has 3 stages, and each stage will increase the amount of traits you can pick by 1."
"What are the trials? And how do I take them?"
"The first trial is the trial of pain, whose stages are hundred cuts, burning flesh, and shredding soul. The second trial, is the trial of death, whose stages are, fall, weapon, and teeth."
"I can activate the trials if want me to sir."
"What happens in the trials?"
"In the trial of pain, I will force you to feel to pain that is indicated in the name for 1 minute, 30 seconds, and 20 seconds respectively to the first, second, and third stages. In the trial of death, you will have to die in the manner indicated by the name, 10 times each, to complete the trial , in order to complete the trial. You can give up at any point, but once you have given up, you cannot attempt the trial again."
The man thinks for a moment, before asking.
"Will the trials have any effect on me?"
"Mentally, I cannot say, but I will heal any physical damage present on your body, once a stage is complete."
The man thinks for a few moments, before gritting his teeth. He walks a few meters away from the table, into an empty space, then he sits down and folds his knees.
"Alright, I'm ready, start the trial of pain." He says, and closes his eyes.
The ball floats over to directly above the man, positioning the white circle directly above him.
"Very well sir. To give up, please just tell me to stop. Trial commencing in 3, 2, 1, start."
The circle glows, and a beam shoots out of it and hits the top of the mans head, who immediately inhales sharply, as his eyes and chest tighten.
His lips are tightly closed, as he tries to remain unmoving, but the feeling of a cold blade slashing into his flesh makes him tremble and shake. However, there is no flying blood, not even torn skin. From the outside, the man seems to be shaking for no apparent reason.
The blade flies across his thighs, upwards through his arm and ear, it cuts into his abdomen, and he grunts in pain, trying to regulate his breathing.
It pierces the back of his neck, and he involuntarily straightens, looking up, his breathing stops and his eyes fly open, only to close again while his neck curls inwards as he feels his elbow being cut into by that same merciless, unseen blade.
HIs stomach feels like it has been slashed open, and his fingers have been run across a sharp edge.
Piercing pain, radiating from all parts of his body, as he desperately curls his body, trying to avoid the tyrannical blade.
Then, suddenly, it all stops.
The pain disappears in an instant, as if it was never there, and the man's palms unclench, he notices his nails have cut into his palm, and there is a small amount of blood present, before a light washes over him, and his body relaxes.
"Congratulations for completing the first stage sir." The ball speaks, uncaring of what the man has just been through.
"Shall I start the second stage?"
The man looks at the flying object, not quite sure what to think.
He exhales heavily.
"Go ahead."
The man shuts his eyes, and another beam hits him.
The man immediately begins to breath heavily, and sound emerge from his throat.
"Hmm.. HMM... HMM!!"
Then his mouth opens as he starts screaming and rolling around, trying to put out the non-existent fire that is consuming him.
The ball makes no movement, silently observing the writhing human, who is damaging his own body with wild, jerking movements.
The man cannot think, he does not even feel the impact for his flesh hitting the ground, all he can do is try to douse the all consuming flame that seems to be engulfing him.
Once again, all the pain disappears, and another light washer over him, healing his elbows, heels, and head.
"Congratulations for passing the second stage sir."
The man stares at the ball, breathing heavily.
"Shall I start the third stage?"
The man says nothing, having experienced the second stage, he was now afraid of what the third stage would be like.
For a moment the man just lays there.
...
'The longer I hesitate, the more afraid I will be.'
"Start the third stage."