"Woah."
Jack let out a surprised wow after finishing watching the memory, he heard that the Trial always shows you a glimpse of the life you will be sent to but Jack never expected it would be this long.
[Perhaps there is something wrong with this memory. So let's refresh it a little bit shall we?]
The strange voice said once again before a flash of blinding light swallowed Jack.
"W-what?"
***
Jack opened his eyes in a cabin, a very shabby and old-looking cabin. He looks at himself, he become younger and smaller, probably only ten or so years old. He was wearing a rug rather than clothes and a blanket he was covering himself would qualify as one.
"Is this where Rascal was living? No wonder he hates those guys very much after growing up. But being sent to his childhood means I need to fix some kind of childhood trauma right? That's annoying I was never a social person."
Jack's social battery life was poor, about an hour or so a day and it would die down. Especially following his low EQ he was truly the worst type of person to bring to parties and it was one of the causes he became the class loner.
"I hope it isn't anything related to talking."
He started summoning the Trial interface, it took him several tries till he found his password, defending the person the keyword to summon their interface will be different for some unexplained reasons. Anyway that's aside he somehow managed to summon his now he could see his mission and status window.
***
Mission: Will To Live
Description: Someone that isn't supposed to be has come and they are aiming for your life. Your mission is to survive for 72 hours here or kill the uninvited guest.
Time Limit: 72 Hours.
***
"..."
Jack blinked a few seconds then closed it for a long time and took a few deep breaths. After that, he checked his mission again.
It didn't change as he hoped for.
He wanted to curse but hold himself back and slowly rub his eyes in pure annoyance.
"Lucy... did you curse my fate with your final words or something?"
After that, he shook his head with the intent to clear his head a little.
"Just calm down, you can do it, no need to act like this. Let's check my stats window first perhaps I have something good."
***
Name: Jack Rights
Rank: 1
Memories: [Lonely Observer].
Desire: [Not-All-Alone].
Ego: -
'Crap, this is making me wanna cry just looking at it.'
His eyes lingered on the memory that was supposed to represent his own life and couldn't help but wanna curse. He held himself back and decided to check on the powers granted by this memory hoping that it would grant him something that would at least help him.
Memory: [Lonely Observer]
Description: This is the memory that belongs to the person who lived as an outsider all his life. He couldn't become part of the crowd so he was kicked out and could only observe them from far away longingly.
Powers: [Watching In The Dark], [Silent Observation].
[Watching In The Dark]: As long you stand far away from the crowd you will covered in darkness turning invisible as long you haven't revealed yourself. In that estate, your senses will be greatly enhanced and you will gain night vision.
[Silent Observation]: Observe someone silently and the longer you stare at them silently more info you will gain.
'Tsk, nothing that useful. By the way, now I think about it, it doesn't make sense. If the Trial is about resolving the regrets of my past life then doesn't that mean this me is died in three days? But Rascal lived till he killed his father.' He quickly checked his ominous-sounding Desire a look.
[Not-All-Alone]: You don't wanna be alone so there will be always someone who will follow you in your incoming Trials.
'That's not ominous at all.'
It didn't take a genius to make a theory because of how ominous this Desire of his is. Desires are passive effects that come following Memory. Compared to ever-useful Memory Desire can be something useless or dangerous to the possessor. So after reading about the effect of his Desire, he got a really bold idea. What if this uninvited guest we are talking about is the Returner like him and the regret they must take care of is killing Harold, The Golden?
A cold sweat starts pouring down on his back if that's true then he is royally screwed after all, current Harold is simply a kid with no knowledge of either magic or swordsmanship with only utility purpose abilities.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit."
Why must he always be this unlucky?
Soon someone knocked on the old wooden door, it was so old it almost caused the door to break apart. 'Shit! Did they find me already?'
"Hey, brat! Got a job for you! If you wanna eat today come out quickly!"
A Grumpy grumpy-sounding old voice comes out from the other side of the door. Soon a memory that belongs to this comes to his mind.
"I-I will be ready soon sir! Just wait a minute."
His voice comes out shaky on it is own, he might not remember the fear of the original Rascal not well but the body itself does remember it clearly. Simon is the gardener of the count Harold Cross's manor. He is the also reason Rascal is still in this manor, he basically uses him as a cheap labor to chase away some small creatures that snuck in to ruin the garden he takes care of.
'Is it possible to be he is the Returner?'
He thought to himself, as he slowly walked towards the door and opened it slowly revealing a bulky bulky-looking man with a frustrated expression. He looked impatient and slapped him on the head, because Rascal's body wasn't well-fed and weak he almost stumbled into the ground with one small hit.
"Damn it, took you long enough. C'mon, get yourself together."
He then grabbed Jack from his wrist and started dragging him, every time Rascal took a step forward a dull ache echoed radiated through his body, without even something to wear as shoes running around every day chasing after small creatures did quite a lot of damage to his feet. Rocky surface of the ground wasn't much of a help either to the original Rascal's bleeding feet, it's already a miracle it wasn't infected with something serious.
'Curses, what kind of start even is this?'
After a lot of walking, they came to a huge garden but this one was different from the one he usually worked on, this one was old, old enough to be covered by weeds and grass. The wooden benches are rotten and molded, there were vines hugging marble pillars and statues of the garden. Jack couldn't help but glance at Simon with fear in his eyes and think about the possibility of Simon dragging him here to silently kill him.
'I-Is he the Returner?'
Suddenly the Trial interface appeared in front of him.
[You used [Silent Observer] on target Simon.]
The familiar voice of the Trial echoed in his mind.
[Name: Simon
Role: The Gardener]
Then those lines appeared in front of Simon.
"Your job is to chase away whatever wild animal comes here and pull out all the weed you can."
He then handed him a big empty bag and said coldly. His eyes were on Jack as if the angry owner looking down upon his pet who caused a lot of mess.
"I will come back during the breakfast to check on the progress of you. When I come you better be filled up the bag. Do you understand me?!"
With a clear fear in his voice, Jack answered shakily.
"Y-yes sir."
Seeing that the boy is still afraid of him Simon sneered at him before leaving the old garden but what he didn't know was there were three lines appeared behind him that only Jack could see.
[Name: Simon
Role: The Gardener
Status: Normal.]
'I could only hope that means he isn't the Returner.'