Renn slowly opened his eyes.
The first thing that caught his attention was that he was no longer in that simulated room; rather, he stood on solid ground — dusty, cold, and absolutely real.
Before him stretched out a vast terrain, barren, dry, and almost lifeless. Far off in the distance, a curved outline sliced the horizon; it looked like a line drawn in haste with a blunt pencil — maybe a mountain range.
Except for a few vines strangled on the scattered rocks and occasional patch of bushes stubbornly clinging to life, the whole place was empty. The soil beneath his feet was cracked like shattered glass... A biting wind swept across the plain, making him shiver.
As far as he could see, there were no signs of vegetation, humans, or animals.
"This is Aegis Testing Ground!" Renn muttered looking around. He pulled his arms closer as another chilly wind blew past him. "This looks more like a post-apocalyptic wasteland than a trial ground!"
He'd expected the sector Alpha to be some kind of massive battle arena — where there would be crowd, chaos, and maybe... some monsters too? The trial-takers would be dumped there for combat and told to survive — but this place was not like that.
This one was completely different!
A faint static buzzed in his head, and then the translucent screen popped up in front of his eyes again.
[ Trial Duration Remaining: 3: 58:59 ]
[ Scanning Environment... ]
[ No Immediate Threats Detected In Proximity ]
Renn exhaled. "That's great."
At least the system showed him some mercy by giving him some time to adjust to this new reality. Otherwise — imagine a monster suddenly popping up right in front of him with a cheerful 'Surprise!' — total disaster.
The screen disappeared again. Renn stood some time just like that, then started walking. There was no particular direction he was drawn to, he simply moved forward.
He had almost four hours in hand before the trial would end; all he needed was to survive, although he didn't know how much harder or easier that would become over time.
His mind drifted back to the screen he'd seen in that simulation room before the trial commenced — Arc Identity and Latent Arc Signature — he still didn't know what these two words meant.
He racked his brain for some information but could find nothing. The knowledge transfer that he had some time ago, probably didn't contain anything about it.
He ran a hand through his hair as he walked, trying to calm down the flood of thoughts racing in his mind. "Why even bother with a knowledge transfer when it can't even process a simple piece of information!" He muttered annoyingly, kicking a loose stone off the cracked ground.
What exactly did the system want? It had dropped him into a no man's land with zero context — no knowledge, not even a basic tutorial — was he just supposed to stumble around and die?
"Oh yes, I forgot," he added bitterly. "It's a simulated death with real pain. Great."
He didn't know how long he'd been walking like this.
"How much time left?" He thought.
But instantly...
The translucent panel flickered open in front of his eyes again!
[ Trial Duration Remaining: 3: 47: 15 ]
Renn froze mid-step! He didn't do anything; it was just a passing question that appeared in his mind out of habit, but the system screen appeared, right when he thought about it!
"No way!" He whispered, staring at the hovering screen. "Wait... does it—"
He focused on his thought, 'What's my status?'
A new set of texts appeared in place of the previous text.
[ Candidate: 222 ]
[ Status: Stable ]
[ Arc Identity: Unidentified ]
[ Trial Duration Remaining: 3: 46: 29 ]
[ No Threats Detected Nearby]
Renn blinked. 'So, this is it.'
The system was linked to him mentally. It'd listen to his thoughts and respond accordingly.
'Well, that's a good thing. At least I have a companion here, even if it's just a status screen... It's okay.' Renn let out a dry chuckle and started walking again.
It'd been almost half an hour since he'd started walking. Still, he'd seen nothing. He should be happy about it that the system wasn't too hard on him; initially, he was glad too — but as the time passed, he'd started to find it boring.
He was supposed to survive a trial and find out his Arc Identity or Latent Arc Signature, whatever it was, but all he did till now was wander without a purpose! How long could anyone just keep up with this?
Renn looked around again. It had been cloudy a little while ago, but now the sun was shining brightly. He started to feel the heat now.
'How big is this place even?' He wondered, 'Is it just me here? Or there are others scattered in different parts!'
The screen popped open.
[ Response To Query: ]
[ Other candidates are currently active. However, this is a simulated trial — only you and relevant survival threats are visible. Others remain hidden until triggered by events. ]
"Makes sense," Renn muttered. So, he was not alone — just isolated like the rest. Though simple information, not much to go on, but it was oddly reassuring.
Suddenly, something caught his attention. There was something far off in the distance. It moved a little.
The static buzzed in his head again.
[ Proximity Alert: Low-Level Threat Detected ]
[ Combat Potential: Minimal ]
Renn stopped and crouched behind a large slab of rock.
'Minimal combat potential, low-level threat — but a threat is still a threat.' He narrowed his eyes. 'And even the weak ones can get lucky...'
He fixed his gaze in the distance. The creature, whatever it was, slowly came into sight. A tall, slender figure, so bony that it looked like it'd been starving for decades. Its limbs were unnaturally long, in contrast, the legs were oddly short, forcing it into a lurching — almost crawling movement as it crept forward.
Renn sat, holding his breath. The weird creature — was it really that weak, or did it just look like that? He didn't know if it would attack, or how he would deal with it!