Next to the table, the man lies unmoving, staring at the roof, breathing softly, as the ball looks at silently.
A minute passes by, then two, then three.
A total of 4 minutes and 11 seconds later, he speaks.
"Hey, ball thing." He calls out.
"Sir?" The ball replies.
"Is that really what a soul feels ..."
A short pause.
"While it's being shredded?"
"Indeed sir. All experiences in the trial of pain are exactly 1:1 with what you would have felt if you were actually in those circumstances."
"I see." The man sits up.
He chuckles, then bursts into full-blown laughter for a moment, before burying his face in his hands.
"God, I never wanna feel that again."
A few moments pass by in silence, before the ball speaks.
"If you would sir, we are already late."
The man sighs, and gets up.
"Right, right. Back on track."
The man stares at his selection of traits, before posing a question to the ball.
"Say, if I don't use all the quota, what happens?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Nothing."
"Okay... I hoped maybe there was some use for it in the future, but never mind."
"So tell me, how do I complete the trial of death? Seeing as there is no..." The man gestures with his arms." ...high position around here."
" I shall teleport you to an appropriate location. Shall I start the trial?"
"Go ahead."
...
The man looks downwards.
'The drop is at least 30 meters, or more.'
"There won't be anything wrong with me when I'm resurrected, right?"
"I can guarantee that, sir. There will be no problem in your body, mind, or soul."
The man deliberates for a few seconds.
"What about my clothes? Will they be stained with bits and pieces of me?"
"Everything will be restored to the state it was before you jumped."
"Hmm... Well then, no point in procrastinating, here, I, GO!"
The man leaps off of the ground, into a diving position, before quickly re-position his arms to his side.
His head meets the ground, and exactly 1 second later, he is standing beside the ball.
"Huh, that was not a pleasant feeling."
"9 more to go sir."
The man hums in agreement, and jumps again without saying anything.
...
"That wasn't very hard... but I guess it was a very quick thing." The man muses. "But the next stage, teeth? How does that work?" The man asks his little, silent, round, assistant.
"I shall summon a giant creature, and you will have offer yourself to be eaten it."
The man looks at the ball for a moment before remarking.
"That is... quite a cruel one, isn't it?"
The ball does not respond.
"Huu... Start the trial."
...
The man looks at the three meter tall... panther? As it looks back at him, standing 10 meters away from him, with a small white line 5 meters from both of them, drawn on the ground.
The man turns to his left. "I have to cross the line to be considered offering myself, don't I." The man states, as he stares at the white circle that caused him so much pain.
"Yes you do, sir."
'How cruel.' The man thinks to himself. 'Those who have weaker resolve would stain their pants if that beast so much as growled at them.' A small smirk appears on his lips, before disappearing. 'But still, offering yourself to be eaten? Whoever designed this stage was a sadist.'
He walks forward, eyes closed, and crosses the line.
The beast leaps, it's maw widened.
It's teeth tear into the man's abdomen, and he grunts.
A few seconds, later it is all over.
...
"Much more painful than the first stage I'll admit that." The man is once again, lying on the ground.
"How does the last stage work?"
"In the final stage, you have to use an item you selected to kill yourself."
"Suicide? This seems to be the easiest one, but what if I hadn't brought any?"
"You would have been offered a choice between hanging, drowning, asphyxiation, burning, freezing, and crushing."
'All slow deaths.' The man thinks as he picks up one of the twin pistols.
"Will my bullet be recovered?"
"It will be restored, rest assured."
"Alright, here I go."
BANG!!
...
{Regeneration} {Steel-Skin} {Feather Foot} {High-Human}
{Projectile Mastery} {Ammo Regeneration} {Bottomless Magazine}
{Hard-Head} {Assassin} {Shock Absorption} {Bloodthirst}
{Penetration} {Golden Knuckle} {Bind}
'Nice, very nice' The man smiles as he looks at the screen.
'All the pain was worth it.'
"Sir, please, we are running behind schedule." The ball interrupts the mans thoughts.
The man scoffs. 'It was you who put me through all of that. Let me admire my prize.' He looks at the screen for a moment, before turning around and looking at the other 'him' a few meters away.
"So how do I change myself?" The man asks while walking over to it.
"Just place your and on the dolls head, and imagine what you want changed, and it will take affect."
"Like this?" He places his hand on top of the head.
"Yes."
'So what do I want to change? Not the facial structure, that's for sure, I look good enough.' The man admires himself.
The dolls hair changes from black to a dark brown.
'That's better, now remove all body and facial hair, and shorten the rest.'
A few moments later, the man inspects the doll from all angles, trying to see if there any other areas in need to change.
"That looks good, now what?" He asks the ball.
In response to his question, the screen changes, drawing his attention.
{If you have finalized your selection, please press the button to continue.}
Below it, it showed his selected traits, and a model of himself.
With no hesitation, he presses the button, and his surroundings go white.
{Please equip yourself} The text floats without any screen, and his equipment is lying on the ground.
'Now should be the test stage.' The man recalls the information he had received from the ball, putting on the boots.
"After you finish your selection, you will have to undergo a few small tests to make sure that any unworthy creatures are weeded out of the competition."
'Creatures, it said, not human, not people, creatures.'
The man looks around, he is in a small arena, and he is standing at it's edge.
{Please run to the other side of the ring as fast as possible.}
{The timer will start once you cross the starting line.}
'30-35 meter dash? Easy enough.'
The man runs across the ring in 5 seconds.
'The chestplate is slowing me down, and I'm not used to carrying all these knives.'
More instructions appear.
{Please make it across the ring without touching the ground.}
There are now circular protrusions, of various heights and widths, in the ring.
'Parkour? Hmm...' The man walks around the ring and assesses the layout of the pillars. After observing that there is no visible problem and determining a path, he quickly crosses the ring.
The pillars sink back down, and on the other side, A wall that appears to be made of rock rises, with multiple obvious protrusions on it.
{Please climb up the wall as fast as possible.}
The man drops his swords, and quickly clambers to the top.
The walls sinks back into the ground, and across the man, there is a short, green, humanoid, with a brown loincloth tied around it's waist, and a knife in it's left hand.
'A goblin?'
{Please kill the goblin}
The man looked at the the creature for a moment, as it started shouting and charging towards him.
He drew a pistol, aimed and fired.