'If I really am inside a trial of Ashes of Eternity, then I should be able to do this…right?' He thought as he took in a dry lump of saliva.
'System.'
"Welcome, Wanderer of Ash. The Veil stirs at your touch."
Suddenly a voice ringed in his mind and he looked around frantically, paranoia setting in as he feared one of the guards might've heard it. Thankfully for him, no one did as the chime of the system was only limited to the owners. Not only that but the system's interface was also only visible to those who it belonged to.
A swirling vortex of shadow and light solidifies into legible text. The faint sound of creaking leather echoed in his ears as a woman cried out from the inside of the tent.
As he looked back forward, he saw a grimoire floating in front of him.
In the novel Ashes of Eternity, the system was not only restricted to the conventional system of a holographic screen, but rather, it took different shapes, each carrying its own symbolism and varying from person to person.
The page flipped and started bleeding, each streak of red coiling like snakes and weaving themselves into coherent words.
『Grimoire Index』
Attributes
Skills🔒
Titles
Quests 🔒
Inventory
Lore Fragments 🔒
A parched smile graced his face as the corners of his green eyes crinkled.
'Attributes.' He chanted in his mind as the first segment shone and then a few pages flipped, revealing his attributes.
**************************
–ATTRIBUTES: Lucian de Luca–
Vitality: 23 (F)
Strength: 8 (F-)
Dexterity: 14 (F-)
Arcana: 21 (F)
Resolve: 19 (F-)
Corruption: 12%
**************************
Corruption? Lucian mused silently. That aside, who the fuck is Lucian de Luca? I have never heard of him!
Lucian tucked his legs beneath him as he frowned. I have heard of the 'De Luca' familia who are crucial to the main character's growth since their middle daughter grows infatuated with him and invests resources into him, but I have never read a damned thing about this!
His thoughts were interrupted as the man who had whipped him came out of the tent, stretching his arms over his head like a cat before doing some push ups. The grunting of women had finally stopped and it seemed like the guards and the two women were having food now.
Focusing back on himself, he tried to recollect his thoughts.
Alright, so going by typical novel logic, I have reincarnated as an extra in a steampunk world. That means that I might be an estranged loser, someone so incompetent and irrelevant to the plot that the author never bothered to even mention him once, or someone who's a foreign entity. It's highly possible my arrival here has changed the reality. Which…can be really bad…
He looked back at the floating grimoire.
All of his stats were in the lower stratum and when he looked at his state, it was quite obvious why. Although, being a 16-year-old and having arcana in the upper F rank was quite good, given how he had never absorbed runes.
Runes were blessings and curses inside the trial in the form of small rocks with cryptic words written on them. Some provided insights into fighting techniques, some into magical castings and some granted an increase in one's arcana—or to be specific, mana reserves.
Since arcana governs over mana, energy and spirituality as a whole.
Just like how vitality governs HP, natural resistance, and regeneration rate; strength governs physical attack power and carry capacity; dexterity representing attack speed, evasion, and trap disarming; arcana controlling all forms of energy along with the spell potency, and ritual success rates and resolve overlooking mental resistance, status effect duration, and determination checks.
However,
What the fuckity fuck is this corruption tho…
Corruption was something that was not mentioned in the novel. And with the story being in the initial volumes, and so much worldbuilding foreshadowed, it was highly possible that it was an existing mechanic rather than a new tailored one for Lucian due to him 'transmigrating.'
Hmmm…I guess it will reveal itself in time…that said…
He looked up at the sky and then around himself.
A Trial was something that the Ashes of Eternity revolved around.
Around 50 years ago—from the timeline when Ashes of Eternity—started, towers started to sprout all over the world. There were a total of 3 towers, and they were called Towers of Babylon.
The exact number of floors are still unknown on each tower, however, it is estimated that there are a total of 10 floors on each tower. Each floor is a world in itself, and each one of them has a different theme.
The cities where the towers appeared became a country in itself which are: Cogswick, Norwythe and Aldemire. Other than the floors, there are "trials" that appear in the form of "divine doorways," which the awakened can attend.
The divine doorways are less precarious than the floors of Babylon, however, there is something that makes it undesirable for a lot of awakened people to participate in. While the floors in Babylon are easy to come back from after a set amount of time, the trials, once initiated, can't be escaped from.
Hence the mortality rate for the trials has been slightly higher than Babylon.
And most of the trials–around 90% of them—involved a sky that was choked by dark gray clouds which reeked of cruelty, gore and death.
This is stinky…not only have I straight up ended in a trial, my stats are downright horrendous. I mean, it'd make sense since most novels' extras start like this, but I am not in a damned novel! This shouldn't be happening!
Lucian was in quite a predicament. And despite being someone who had wished nothing but to be reincarnated in his favourite novel since the day he started reading it, his current situation was so dire that it was making him lose his balls.
Ok, calm down…let's see what we can do…what do I know about trials?
In an attempt to calm himself, he started to recall his knowledge about the trials and how he could capitalise on it to get out of it.
So trials are basically what the name suggests. While the author had remained silent and annoyingly mysterious about it, a few details have been revealed since the latest volume, which involved the main character entering the Divine Doors as part of a task force that had volunteered to explore them after they appeared in the heart of Brassward College of Magic.
Lucian looked around as the guards settled down around the fire, feasting on fresh meat being grilled on the bonfire they had lit for themselves, while the 'slaves' had started to huddle together to get what little heat they could generate by being in close proximity to each other.
Even though it wasn't as effective since most of them were like ice to touch.
Every trial has a quest. You will stay stuck inside the trial for an eternity unless you complete that quest—be it a physically daunting one like killing a beast, or solving a mystery or puzzle. Outside help is not possible since the divine gates shut themselves up after an initial selection of people go inside, and do not open again unless all of the participating people have died inside.
Lucian let out a long sigh.
I have no idea what kind of trial is this even. And these guards…they don't seem to be part of the actual people who had dived inside a trial. But more like…
He looked at his fellow slaves.
Men. Around 90% are men. Cotton shirts, chino pants, tattered woolen robes—the kind of clothes/gear people wear usually in Ashes of Eternity. Seems like the slaves–myself included—are the ones who had dived inside the trial and were then caught by the denizens of this ruined world. Seeing how malnourished they look, how bad their clothes are and how easily the women allowed the guards to rape them, I'd say…we've been stuck here for around a month…?
Lucian hummed, finding something strange.
I am not sure if this is an unrelated event, or just a butterfly effect due to my existence. I really can't tell…
But one thing is for certain, I ain't staying here for long!
"AHHHHHHH!" Suddenly, a roar made Lucian jerk his head back, and so did the others. "I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE."
A dense layer of aura coated the man as raised his fists up. "I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!"
Bursting from the small circle, he trampled a boy who looked to be no older than 17. He zipped through the air like a bullet before arriving where the guards had been sitting.
"I WILL NOT BEAR THIS TYRANNY ANYMOREEEE!"
He swung his arm at the guard who was sitting with his back towards him, shoulders hunched down. Just as his fist was a few inches away from the red haired guard, a small skewer stabbed into the man's throat, burning flesh on contact.
The guard stayed seated nonchalantly, his hand extended backwards as the heretic man choked, blood gurgling from his mouth. The man gasped as the guard twisted the skewer into his throat before slashing it to the side, severing half of his neck as the heretic fell to the ground.
Cracking his neck, he flipped the skewer before reaching out for the piece of meat on the plate closest to him.
"Oye, Dax, it's still got the pig's blood on it." The guard with brown hair commented. His face twisted into a grimace and then pure disgust as Dax took his forked tongue out, slithering like a snake as he licked the skewer.
"It's the best." He grinned, his voice gravelly.
The guard's forked tongue slithered over the skewer like a snake tasting its prey, savoring the last remnants of blood. The scent of copper and burnt flesh lingered in the air. His lips curled upward as the red stain spread over his teeth.
Dax took another bite of meat, his grin widening. He chewed slowly, savoring each piece as if it were a rare delicacy, the blood dripping from his chin and staining the front of his tattered shirt. "Another one down," he muttered, his eyes gleaming with a twisted satisfaction as he looked at the lifeless body of the man.
Lucian looked away, his stomach churning, though not from hunger. No, it was the cruelty—the complete disregard for life—that turned his insides to ash. He'd read Ashes of Eternity for its graphic descriptions, but never had he imagined this reality, this grimness. And despite not giving a solitary, flying fuck about the man's life, seeing a man die in front of him in such a way was too much for the boy.
The rest of the evening and the night went by in silence.
By dawn, the fire had dwindled to embers, and the remnants of the night's violence was already forgotten by the tired slaves as well as Lucian. Despite refusing to eat the stale bread out of his pride, his insides were killing him now.
When on earth will that one mechanism kick in when the body starts eating fat and you stop feeling hungry?! Lucian's body felt exceptionally weak. Assuming this skinny fuck has anything left inside him.
The stillness was broken only by the faint sound of rustling as the guards gathered their things. While the sun was rising, the only change Lucian could observe was the transition of black darkness to grey-ish one.
"Up! Get moving!" The bellow cut through the fog of sleep, dragging everyone from their slumber, his command leaving no room for resistance.
Lucian rose. His muscles were stiff and aching. He stumbled, feet dragging across the cold ground. The others did the same, faces ashen, movements sluggish. There was no time for rest; survival demanded action.
They shuffled into a ragged line, eyes low, minds fogged by the weight of hunger and fear.
They crossed a narrow ravine, the jagged stones beneath their bare feet sharp.
Man…even though my boots are still somewhat alright, these stones hurt as sin…
He looked back, the small congregation of slaves leaving a trail of red in silence behind them.
After around 1 hour of walking early in the morning, a completely new world opened on the other side of the ravine.
The hell is that…
However, what caught Lucian's attention was one solitary structure. In the near distance, looming against the pale morning sky was a broken structure—ruins that twisted toward the skies like the clawed fingers of God himself.
"Finally, we've arrived at the temple!" One of them exclaimed.
Dax wrapped his arm around the brown haired guard. "This took forever, didn't it?"
"Sure did."
The two of them hugged and looked back. "Oye, you two." He called out to the two guards walking at the far end of the small caravan of slaves. "Herd them inside."
Herd… Lucian's expressions darkened. The nausea from last night hit the back of his throat again. This really is a cruel world…but if so–then I have to kill. I need to kill….they're not humans…I need to kill them.
Lucian looked back at the giant structure. It was a temple, far grander than anything Lucian had ever seen in his life. Though time and destruction had ravaged it, there was an undeniable royalty that this place exuded.
The marble pillars, though cracked and crumbling, still held a semblance of their former majesty. The walls were covered in blackened soot and stains of decay.
As they reached the front door, he saw the sign on it which made a chill run down his spine.
An unlit torch.
This can't be…why is it here…? Why am I here…?
Cold sweat broke on his face. Why am I in the Nashak Temple…??!
Nashka Temple. While never directly shown in Ashes of Eternity, it was mentioned many times. And despite just seeing the design of the insignia hanging from it, Lucian recognised it directly. After all, it was a part of every cover design for Ashes of Eternity's volume, and had been mentioned as the birthplace of the strongest hero in humans' history.
When Towers of Babylon started to sprout, there was one man who went inside the divine gates and came back so strong, that the floors of Babylon that he cleared in his first year still amount more than what has been cleared by humanity all together in the past 50 years.
However, he died soon after, consumed by the flames of his own power.
The Unlit Flame.
He explained the place to be a resting place for those who worshipped both creation and destruction, a god whose existence was as paradoxical as it was terrifying. Lucian could almost feel the pulse of the place, a rhythm that echoed in his bones, making his knees go weak.
"We are going in right now." Reyn–the brown haired man said—as he looked back at Lucian and the other slaves. "You find even a rock, you bring it back."His gaze swept over everyone as suddenly he stabbed a man in his heart. "If you don't, worse will happen to you. Death will be mercy. Got it?"
Instead of a reply, everyone just emptily shook their heads. Lucian pressed his lips together, frowning. I have to kill at least those two.
"Dax and I will stay in the main hall, everyone else, take an equal amount of sheep with you and disperse." He barked orders, calling the slaves as sheeps as he walked over into the crowd. Grabbing a young girl by her wrist, he pulled her. "You're with us." He looked back at Dax with a predatory smile.
These bastards….
As the guard with purple-green hair started to push Lucian inside the temple, he looked back, seeing the girl being dragged by the two monsters. Unlike the other ones, she was struggling, which made Lucian's heart skip a beat, rage and helplessness filling him like water inside a broken hull.
The guard kicked Lucian's butt as he was pushed inside the temple.
"Start sniffing, sheep." The guard grinned.
GRAAAARRRKKK!
A loud roar shook the air as Dax drew a dagger and flipped it in his hand, looking around. Reyn was nowhere to be seen and so was the girl.
Suddenly, a look of realisation flashed on Dax's face.
"Fuck!" He exclaimed.
Lightning crackled in the distance as he looked at the temple and then at the ravine from where they came.
"A monster sniffed the blood coming from those fuckers' feet! Everyone! Throw the old ones out!" He barked orders as he started to run towards the door.
"Sir Dax, we need to inform Sir Reyn…" the guard spoke with a panicstricken face. "...he'll die if that creature comes…"
Dax clicked his tongue. "At least he'll die while enjoying that fresh meat…shut up and do as I say unless you want to be fed that thing as well!"
The guard could only nod as clamouring noises started to fill the air. The older ones who had dived here were thrown out mercilessly. For the first time, they showed some life, struggling to stay inside and not be thrown to whatever monstrosity was out there, but it was futile. The lack of energy in their limbs from hunger did little to battle them and in a matter of few seconds, the huge "herd" was reduced to 5 people.
Lucian was sitting in the corner, hyperventilating as he stared at the door that closed and guards started to put various things in front of the door to stop the creature from coming in.
It's futile…it's no use…they have no idea…
For the first time, instead of excitement, Lucian felt pure dread. It's a Thunderjaw Tiger…we are so cooked!