[Once you are ready for the first trial, please approach the campfire]
Ryan stared at the messages floating in front of him. It linked with his skill? Of course, if the Administrator was the one responsible for the system in the first place, it made sense that they were able to do this. But that still didn't change that this situation was incredibly fucking weird.
He went from feeling somewhere between 'indifferent' and 'fine' with going in here, to being terrified of it, and now that he was in here and was faced with all of this... he was straight up excited.
After all, Ryan was now dealing with a trial that was created for Spirit Keepers. It wasn't created for him, but for Spirit Keepers. Just the messages alone gave him an amazing hint about the nature of the spirits just now.
Specifically, the term 'Heroic Spirit'. While it wasn't quite certain what that term meant, it did mean that there was a reason as to why Ryan was able to link with certain spirits and not others.
There were tiers to spirits like 'Lesser', 'Elder', or 'Great'. Most common spirits that you found scattered throughout the world were 'lesser'. As the specific concept they were born from increased in prominence and they lived enough, they could change into an 'elder' spirit over time. Now, that was completely different to a 'Great' spirit, who were practically born that powerful because they didn't represent specific, focused concepts, but were all-encompassing of everything connected to that concept.
For example, Goria was the great spirit that ruled over the concept of 'Water'. Just water. Not a specific lake or river, just the idea and concept of water itself. It was actually kind of ridiculous that he had been able to meet with a being like that... Either way, it was clear that there was a different tier to spirits.
Heroic spirits... maybe it was because they were connected to specific classes? Ryan did know that very far in the past, 'Awakeners' were called 'Heroes' because of the level of power and importance they held. So it would make sense for spirits borne from concepts around classes to be called 'Heroic Spirits', right? Then again, Ryan didn't even really know if he was right with the guess that the spirits were born from those concepts. It was just a total guess, really.
That being the case, Ryan was certain that this place was going to let him figure that out. But for now, more importantly, the spirits were all trying to come over to him. As they tried to step 'out of' their domains, they weirdly ended up inside of their respective domain spaces again, just 'in here' rather than inside of Ryan's mind directly.
One after another, they came to Ryan and gathered around him.
"Wow, it's the first time I'm seeing you guys together like this," Ryan laughed a bit. Of course, he had seen them gathered side by side, but never when they were in their original size like this.
He had brought some of the spirits together at times by linking to them, allowing them to step out of their domains, but he didn't have the power to link to all six of them yet, so two or three were his limit.
It was really a sight to behold.
"So, uh... are you guys ready for the first trial?" Ryan asked with a smile on his face, and the spirits all looked at each other for a moment. Ryan walked up to the campfire in front of him, and slowly sat down on the log.
[Whose trial would you like to face?]
[Gaia the Garden Golem]
[Gregor the Artillerist]
[Jester the Harlequin]
[Maximus the Knight]
[Morgana the Witch]
[Violette the Fencer]
Ryan's eyes widened.
"What? Wait, what? They're not trials for me, but... for you guys?" he let out, turning toward the spirits. They seemed just as puzzled as he was. Though, Morgana seemed incredibly intrigued like she was trying to figure out what was going on herself, and Jester's excitement clearly couldn't be held back. It was obvious that he wanted to go first if that was the case.
Meanwhile, Ryan was actually a little... disappointed. Of course, it made sense that it would be like that. The spirit keeper's powers existed only through the spirits, rather than through themself. That the trial would be focused on the spirits, if anything, was something that he should have expected. That didn't change that he had gotten his hopes up that this was about him somehow.
But that didn't matter. There was no reason for Ryan to sulk. Not that he was sulking, obviously. He would never.
Ryan stared at the screen in front of him. At the end of the day, to him, there was really only one option to go with. Though Jester was volunteering, since all of this started through Maximus, it made sense that he should continue things with Maximus as well.
He slightly tapped the screen floating in front of him.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
[You have selected the trial of -Maximus the Knight-]
[Transporting the user -Ryan Aglecard- and Heroic Spirit -Maximus the Knight- to the Trial Location]
The world around Ryan began to shift. It was practically folding in on itself, turning upside down and twisting around a point — that point being Ryan's head.
Even if it took just a moment, it was still intense. Once Ryan realised it was over, he found himself in the middle of nowhere. He was surrounded by tall-grown grass. Its top was illuminated by the light of the rising sun. There was a road running through its middle, and some kind of campsite had been created here. There were a couple of carriages here, a pot hanging over a campfire, and tons of weapons strewn about. Each was different, not just in the actual type of the weapon, but even the style.
Some were extravagant and way over the top, while others were simple and practically improvised. But there weren't any people here. Footsteps, sure. Bowls of half-eaten food, and trampled grass. It was obvious that people were here, but not anymore. Right then, Ryan realised that his clothes felt... different. He looked down at himself, and he was wearing some sort of beige and brown clothes, not the Urban Knight outfit that he came in here with. The horn of shapeless water was also gone, and so were Ashton's earrings. Only two things, or rather individuals, were brought here together with Ryan.
Tiar, who seemed just as confused as Ryan, and of course Maximus. His body seemed to be otherwise fine, and it seemed like his actual, real physical body instead of that mental projection that he felt when he placed himself into his vessel.
Ryan turned at Maximus beside him. He was slightly translucent, as if he wasn't actually here. But even then, he just stood there and stared at the scene in front of him. Before he had the chance to ask, Ryan was met with the next notification.
[You have entered the first trial of -Martial Knowledge-]
[Martial Knowledge]
[Tier - 1] [Difficulty - Medium]
[Description - In order to learn the basics of martial arts, it is necessary to gather experience.]
[Clear Conditions - Practice Attacks with the corresponding Weapon]
[0/10.000 - Spear]
[0/10.000 - Axe]
[0/10.000 - Sword]
[0/10.000 - Warhammer]
[0/10.000 - Shield]
...
...
...
[You have 31 Days. 3 Days will pass within the user's camp during the period of the test]
Ryan stared at the messages and the information on the trial that he was given. It was essentially some kind of quest. A... ridiculously annoying quest. There were sixteen different weapons here. As Ryan looked around, he realised that the weapons mentioned in the clear conditions corresponded to the weapons that were strewn about around Ryan.
"Should we just get started?" he suggested, but Maximus slowly looked away from the campsite and shook his head. Maximus pointed at Ryan, locking eyes with him. Well, if Maximus' eyes were visible. Ryan's face dropped, "What? Me? I'm supposed to do this? Why am I the one that has to complete your quests?"
Maximus slowly walked over to one of the nearby weapons, a sword. He tried to pick it up, but his hand simply passed through.
"Fuck. Fuck, okay. No, that's fine, I've got this. I've got this, for sure," Ryan took a deep breath. He could do this. That wasn't too hard. He just had to use each of these weapons ten thousand times.
No, that was ridiculous. Even if he spent a second on each single one, it would take him three hours for just one of them. So in total, it would take 48 hours to complete the quest if he did it completely uninterrupted. If he had to sleep or rest here, he could give himself effectively 12 hours of work a day.
But it was obvious that this wasn't something Ryan could do either uninterrupted or perfectly to the point where every single attempt would take a second. If it took just four or five seconds for him to do each one well, the four days of work, including rest, would quickly turn into up to twenty days.
"Fuck," Ryan groaned loudly. If that was the case, he really had to get started. Just to make sure, Ryan walked over to the sword that Maximus failed to pick up, and grasped it tightly. He clicked his tongue, a little annoyed that it worked after all, meaning that he really was the one that was going to need to do all of this, and entered the sword-stance that Maximus had already taught him.
That was the good part about this - Ryan had already learned some basics of how to use these from Maximus these past couple months, so he could just get right into it.
Ryan grasped the sword tightly with two hands, and raised it over his head. With a deep breath, he swung it down perfectly vertically, hearing a slight hiss as the blade cut through the air.
[1/10.000 - Sword]
The counter ticked up, and Ashton smiled lightly. He quickly continued on, doing ten more in quick succession. If it was like this, then this should be easy enough!
"Nine, eight, ten!"
Ryan looked at the message to the side of him with a smile on his face, but when he did, that smile disappeared instantly.
[5/10.000 - Sword]
"... What?" Ryan turned to Maximus, who was just standing there with his arms crossed. He walked up to Ryan and pressed onto his back. It seemed like, even though Maximus couldn't touch the weapons, touching Ryan was still more than possible.
The knight fixed Ryan's posture and made sure that he was holding the weapon properly, before nodding at him to tell Ryan to try again.
He swung the weapon, and the counter ticked up. Again, and it ticked up. Again, and again, and again. It was working just fine now. Weird. Ryan stretched his neck slightly and swung the sword again. But this time... it didn't tick up.
And now, Ryan understood it, "... They have to be in actual form?"
Maximus nodded, figuring that to be the case as well. So, he had to keep up perfect form for ten-thousand swings of his sword. What the actual fuck.
But the knight just looked at Ryan and stretched his arm forward, throwing a thumbs-up to his friend.
"... Yeah, yeah, love you too," Ryan groaned, focusing back on the sword. He took another deep breath, and swung the sword again. And again. And again. This continued on for a few hours. It was tough for Ryan to focus on nothing but this, but that was just part of the trial. He had to show not just his knowledge of martial arts, but also his determination to actually follow through with that knowledge thoroughly.
But by the time Ryan reached three thousand successful swings, he let go of the weapon. It stuck into the ground, and Ryan looked at his shaking arms. If Tiar was capable of throwing up, they definitely would be right now.
The sword was heavy and unhandy, and doing this so much with so much focus was annoying, "... Was I really... slacking that much... compared to now?" He asked, looking at Maximus, who had been teaching him all this time. The Knight, who sat down on a tree stump to watch Ryan from, slowly turned his head away.
Ryan clicked his tongue, "Right, right, whatever." he dropped down onto the ground. He could afford to take a break for a little bit. At least with the sword, he was on pretty good pace for now.
"But... thirty-one days, huh?" he dropped onto his back, looking up at the sky. The sun had come up a lot more by now, and it was getting close to noon. At the very least, for the other spirits, it was just like being in their domains for three days. Plus, they could keep each other company this time. And if it was three days in the 'camp', it would be just a day outside at the very max.
With a sigh, Ryan looked at the other weapons. This was going to be a rough month.