Chapter 10: The First Trial Commences
The world trembled—not from quakes or bombs, but from the sound of a voice that wasn't human.
[SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT: THE FIRST GLOBAL TRIAL BEGINS IN 3 MINUTES. SELECTED CANDIDATES, PREPARE FOR TRANSFER.]
Cities around the world lit up with holographic warnings, sky-wide system scripts visible to every eye, from the ruins of Tokyo to the fortified bunkers beneath New York. Satellites stopped broadcasting. Nuclear command chains flickered and failed. The System had taken over.
Inside Blackstone Academy's training dome, hundreds of awakened students stared at the glowing screen in disbelief.
Luo Shen stood quietly in the shadows behind the crowd, his face expressionless, his golden pupils hidden beneath a thin veil of indifference. No one noticed him. They never did—unless he wanted them to.
But one voice did call out, full of concern.
"Shen-ge…" Lian Shen turned toward him, her System Interface already open, her hand gripping the silver crystal egg that pulsed faintly in her arms.
He nodded once. "Stay close when it begins."
She didn't argue. She never did anymore—not since the day he burned her bullies into submission using only a sliver of his power. She still didn't know the depths of it, though. No one did.
"Five… Four… Three…"
Even the arrogant students who once ridiculed the weak were silent now.
[TRANSFER INITIATED.]
In an instant, the sky shattered. Not cracked—shattered, like someone had punched through the heavens themselves. Space fractured into glowing rifts of violet and gold, forming hexagonal runes around each chosen candidate.
Then they vanished.
TRIAL ZONE: RUINED SKY CITADEL
The selected candidates reappeared mid-air—falling. Screams echoed as students plummeted toward the floating ruins of a shattered castle suspended in the void.
Luo Shen didn't scream. He flipped mid-air, his black coat fluttering, and landed soundlessly on a floating stone platform far below. A slight pulse of his Chaos Infinity System had manipulated gravity just enough for a soft landing.
Lian Shen landed nearby, stumbling, but catching herself thanks to her agility stat boost. She looked around in awe. "This place... it's unreal."
The sky was filled with broken stars and swirling black clouds. Bridges of floating stone connected torn castle towers. Arcane sigils lit up on cracked obelisks, and enormous iron doors guarded deeper chambers below.
[WELCOME TO THE FIRST TRIAL.]
[OBJECTIVE: SURVIVE FOR 12 HOURS AND SECURE A SYSTEM CORE.]
[DANGER LEVEL: MYTHIC - DIVINE.]
[REWARDS VARY BASED ON PERFORMANCE.]
Suddenly, monsters began to emerge from the shadows—creatures made of bone, shadow, and corrupted ether. Some were as tall as buildings. Others were fast as lightning.
Panicked screams erupted as students scattered, their weapons and skills activating in chaos.
Aria, the mysterious new girl with moonlit silver hair, stood calmly amidst the chaos. Her eyes glowed faintly as she lifted one hand.
"[Celestial Veil Protocol: Shield of the Astral Watchers]!"
A dome of white starlight surrounded her and five nearby students, deflecting a massive shadow beast's blow. She didn't flinch.
"Stick close to me or die," she said coldly to them.
Luo Shen watched her from afar.
She's stronger than the rest—but still following rules.
He wasn't bound by any.
30 Minutes Into the Trial
Blood stained the stones. Craters erupted where magic collided. Half the students were already down or dead. No external help would come. The System was watching. Judging.
A flaming wyvern swooped down toward Lian Shen, jaws open.
She gritted her teeth. "I won't die! [Mystic Huntress Art: Voidpiercer Shot]!"
Her arrow flew, glowing purple, and struck the wyvern's eye—wounding, but not killing.
It roared and dove again.
She froze, legs shaking.
And then—
BOOM.
A silent pulse of chaos energy erupted. Time seemed to warp for a moment. The wyvern exploded mid-air, disintegrated by an unseen force.
The others turned. But no one saw what had happened.
Only Lian looked around, confused.
"W-What...?"
Luo Shen walked out of the shadows, dusting off his sleeve.
"It slipped," he said simply.
"You... saved me," she whispered.
He didn't answer. Instead, he looked toward the central citadel's gate—where the real danger lay. His golden eyes narrowed.
Aria appeared beside him without warning. "You're not showing up on the System's ranking board," she said quietly.
"I know," he replied.
"You're hiding it. But why?"
Luo Shen didn't answer right away. Then he spoke:
"Because when they see me… it's already too late."
Elsewhere, Watching
High above the skies of Earth, several satellite-like System Nodes watched the Trial unfold. A man in military uniform slammed a fist on the table.
"That masked boy—find out who he is! He's off the charts!"
But they couldn't. Not even the highest-level System Readers could identify Luo Shen's class, stats, or origin.
He was a ghost in the system.
A shadow written in code the gods themselves didn't understand.
The Deeper Vaults
As the trial dragged on, Luo Shen led the way toward the final chamber of the citadel. He didn't rush. He walked, unbothered by the elite monsters that avoided him on instinct.
Behind him, Aria and Lian followed—Aria out of curiosity, Lian out of trust.
They reached a sealed door of black crystal.
[SYSTEM CORE DETECTED. WARNING: ABYSSAL ENTITY GUARDING OBJECTIVE.]
Lian hesitated.
Aria whispered, "This is the real trial."
Luo Shen stepped forward. "Let's end it, then."
He raised one hand.
The ground cracked.
And far above, in the divine realms, several slumbering entities stirred.
[ERROR: UNKNOWN SIGNATURE DETECTED.]
[SYSTEM CHAOS INFINITY — BREACH CONDITION 0.00001%...]
[…BEGINNING MONITOR PROTOCOL.]