Nature is brutal and reality is a hard pill to swallow.
The appearance of the world tree came with the promise of a dazzling future for all those bold enough to claim its power. However, this promise came with a price.
On the other side of the gates, they met death. They fought valiantly with all their might. Yet, half of them succumbed to the cold embrace of death while the other half claimed victory for the human race after a three-day-long battle.
What was meant to be a triumphant return became a silent march—In victory, not even one person cheered. At that point, it dawned on everyone that this was no fantasy story with a happy ending.
Becoming a deviant meant one thing—raiding gates.
Once a gate appeared, it remained sealed for an hour. During that time, entry was possible, but only for those who chose to step inside. However, once the hour passes, the gate breaks, unleashing the monsters trapped within the world.
It didn't take long for humanity to realize the truth—conventional weapons were useless against these creatures. In the face of this crisis, deviants became humanity's last line of defense. Their value skyrocketed, and before long, the world government turned gate-raiding into a profession.
Every deviant was required to register and serve under an agency or the government. Refusing this path meant being labeled a selfish traitor who had abandoned humanity in its time of need.
There were no second chances. Unregistered deviants were branded dangerous criminals—hunted down and executed on sight, either by government special forces or their fellow deviants.
For them, life was brutal.
Since then, the number of people who pursued the deviant dream reduced drastically—the price that came with the dream was too heavy for most.
"To win a game you must understand the rules first,"
Uche was not discouraged. All he needed was information on the world tree, its trials, and rules. What he believed would take a few months to gather stretched over the years—5 years, to be exact.
The first and most shocking revelation about the world tree was its trials were determined by the player's ancestry.
Regardless of where they were born or currently lived, the moment they stepped through those doors, they were transported into trials and settings shaped by their own culture and heritage.
This information helped him understand why over 400 million people died on the first try. Many countries have been colonized, cultures forgotten, and people displaced throughout history.
Mutil-culturalism had watered down the sense of identity.
Even the younger generation had little to no interest in tradition, and the older ones who bore fractured knowledge of the past were nearly extinct.
As expected, the effect was immediately felt globally as websites carrying cultural information were flooded and crashed. People of all races traveled back to their hometowns in search of forgotten origins.
This made one thing glaringly clear to all humans—they had all forgotten their roots and it had come back to bite them.
Even Uche could not help but admit if he attempted the trial immediately after Ki-moon's interview, he would have suffered a similar fate to the mangled 400 million corpses spat out by the world tree.
As a result of this, what many referred to as 'The Age of Traditionalists' had arrived. Consultation prices soared globally, and even some basic information was paid heavily for. History books soared in price, and online pages that dealt with historical information introduced pricey premium services.
Learning about culture became expensive. Uche found this crazy because that knowledge doesn't guarantee one would pass the world tree's trial.
Regrettably, that didn't change the importance. For the sake of his dreams, Uche dropped out of school five years ago, working as a ghostwriter, which he was fairly successful in, and every extra cash made from this went straight to acquiring as many books on Igbo culture and history.
The second and most important information was the most shocking. A few deviants were kind enough to post their stories online on their trials, which gave Uche a rough idea of how it worked.
According to them, the trial forces the player to play the role of an important character in history and live out a certain part of their life. The door trials usually took months to complete; thankfully a month within the world tree was a day in the real world.
As if that wasn't mentally challenging; the experience there was real. Whatever happens within the trial affects the real body. According to deviants, you only get miraculously healed of your injuries after the trial is completed.
What interested Uche the most about these trials was its checkpoint and achievement points system.
'No right or wrong choice, just a better choice'
That was the title of a book written by America's greatest deviant and arguably the world's strongest man; Dillan Cage. In his book, he explained how the trials worked and this could be considered the most comprehensive guide for anyone who wanted to walk the path of deviants.
However, the book sold for $100,000 per PDF file and a million for a hard copy signed by Mr. Dillan. While Uche respected and admired the American legend, he knew this man was inferior to the legendary Nigerian book pirates and they did not fail him.
In merely a week after the release, these pirates had gotten their hands on the world and broke the book down into five chapters which sold for ₦100,000 each.
In his research, Dillan discovered that winning the trial was impossible.
During the trial, players first received memories of both the past and the future of the person they inhabited. As they progressed, they were notified upon reaching a checkpoint. The number of checkpoints a player reached depended on the quality of their choices and actions.
The better their decisions, the further the story advanced—gradually deviating from the future they had seen. That's where the real challenge began.
Without foresight, the trial became far more dangerous, but the risks came with greater rewards. So far, Dillan held the record for achieving the highest difficulty rating in all his tests—8 stars!
Only a handful of the world's strongest deviants could achieve 7 stars on their trials. The others drifted between 5 & 6 stars.
What's the benefit of achieving higher ratings?
Bonus rewards are given with each checkpoint—some come in the form of extra stat points, items, or even abilities.
At the end of the trial, players are given achievement points based on their performance and ratings. After which, they are transported to a store where they purchase abilities, equipment, and other special items.
Now here is the kicker—Humans are called [Players] on the other side for a reason…