Chapter 4— The Trial

"Wake up kiddos! You have work to do!

Trial: Goblin Extermination!

Synopsis:

The appearance of goblins in the kuruuk forest is more complex than what had the townfolks thought. A very sinister outcome is bound to happen when nothing is done.

Requirements to participate in the Trial:

*Save the group that is runnning by the ogres(call incoming)

Finish the requirement first.

...

With them opening their eyes again, a floating screen with these words welcomed them. The screen is not the same as the other, it is gold-colored, transparent with an archaic writing style. Rather than blue with a normal writing style.

Their heads were splitting with the pain while their bodies shook weakly, limbs are jiggly, eyes are blurry, and what they can hear are nothing but murky voice.

Valor grunted again while slowly getting up, sat with smoldered head, he tried to remember what happened. Two grunts later and he exclaimed cautiously when he remembered it finally, "Son of a ..." He didn't finish his curse, rather he looked at the screen floating in front of him.

Trial? He asked himself but the acute pain still renders him unavailable to think properly, He sat on the wood reconciling what happened. The gravity. The bodies. The light. The dots. And the silhouettes of the latter part.

Was it a dream? He asked himself, wishing that it was really a dream, Something he cannot be worried about. Perilous and wishful thoughts filled him, Not knowing what to think with this head-splitting pain.

"Arggghhh." Marcus also grunted in pain, he massaged it with his fingers and looked at the floor, "Why is it back to the normal wood of a silver tree?" He said baffled, slightly asleep, perhaps also dreaming. He then looked at Valor that has his eyes now closed, he sat at the corner with peace. Marcus shook his head and noticed the other screen, "Mission?", "Mission?" , "Mission?"

Syncing Voice echoed, The other two also asked curiously when they woke up. Angela sat weakly and asked with her head hurting, "Wait, we're still alive!?" She asked the three happy while she grunted again in pain, that emotional fluctuation made the pain more severe. It made her grunt while Sarah answered also happy, "I think so, but this headache might kill me." She said grunting and lied back on the floor where she can rest properly.

They all just stayed like that for almost an hour when a buzzing sound with static hertz echoed, it was the walkie talkie at the corner near Marcus.

All opened their eyes annoyed and looked for the walkie-talkie. Marcus instantly saw it at the corner of the room so he went there crawling—the pain and weakness are near to disappearing, but they still need more time to think about things. He was planning to silence it off by shortening the antenna when he accidentally pressed the frequency bar. The static sound then became words, Huffing and scared, it is an SOS.

"Trevor speaking... This is trevor of tuck-mac-tack speaking, we are currently being chased by a group of ogres and goblins, we don't know how to outrun them and our stamina is depleting. Please... please... To whoever listening to this, please send help. Huff... The ... The invaders aren't just goblins. Ogres, trolls, and orcs were also seen. They now have the bladded rats as prisoners, we don't know what is currently happening to them..." One by one, all sat up again when they heard the message. They can't remain lying when someone needs help, they know they can somehow help, which will amplify the guilt if they remained lying on the floor.

Valor looked at them and nodded before grabbing the rectangular prism of plastic, "This is Valor of the silver tree, state your location, I repeat state your location." He said and waited for them to speak, "Huff... We are in the kuruuk forest. The east side, but If you are still in town, please inform the officials first, maybe this is more dangerous than we have thought." Valor affirmed and looked at the three.

"The mission is now fully unlocked." He said before all looked at their screen,

"Save tuck-mac-tack from their woes, you have two options:

*Go there now(You might prevent something.)

*Report to the officials(You're safe, but not forever.) "

Their brows knotted when they read the regard, the new screen is warning them. They are made to choose here, call the officials or go there directly. They might die if they went there, they are still anspiring and are still in their starting paths after all. But this system is saying that they might prevent something from happening, with that, Their choice isn't to go or not, it is the choice if they should trust this system. They are still in suspicion about it, especially now that they saw that scene.

"If we go there, Monsters with levels one to two higher than ours are waiting. Maybe doom is what awaits, but this system is saying that we might prevent something from happening if we go. It is our choice to go or not? No, should we believe this system or not?" He looked at them with a serious gaze, they need answers now.

When using their phones, the signal won't reach the communication tower of their town. So they will need to rush there and inform the officials about the situation of the gang in distress.

"The books said that events are appearing from time to time, The malevolent AI will then appear, The books also said it can only be accessed when one is at a certain location with the requirement to take that event. But this AI is different, It isn't speaking in mischievousness, nor it sends us monsters. It is even warning us." Angela took the lead and explained, she then looked at Valor and nodded to him. She affirmed with courage in her eyes, "Let's go and kick some monsters' butt."

"I'm in."

"I'll go to."

Valor smirked and his eyes glinted black, with the hue of redness appearing. The couple can only smile and nod with excitement in those curved lips, the decision is decided. They'll go.

"So Trevor and other survivors should be here, taking this route..." Valor explained while he outlined a line with his finger, their eyes followed that path before it stopped on a Siege fortress. "There they can find shelter here but the monsters should have eaten them by then, It is a thousand kilometers after all."

"So we will use this route..." Angela said analyzing while outlining the route on the map with her index finger, "And By two hours of running, we should cross path with the monsters and the group. Then join the fry and run with tuck-mac-tack?" She asked him without sarcasm nor to ridicule, just concerned.

Valor smiled and answered her with his usual vigor, "After we kill three to four goblins, It should give us enough exp to level up, by that time, we will be at our first path. For sure some goblins and ogres aren't that bad."

...

They ran on the open field before going in the domains of trees, here the chirping of birds echoed, while insects of different kinds are on the branches of plants.

Their footsteps echoed rushing, their eyes revolving cautious with their minds' functioned clearly. Valor of the four looked at his system and just kept looking at the regard of the golden one, he kept looking at it and noticed something. He pressed a button in his mind and the regard Vanished, The home feature of this golden system appeared. What he saw baffled him greatly

"

Name: Valor Lustrave

Race:???

HP:120

MP:120

Talent points—

Str: 7 Dex:10 Int: 25

Agl: 12 Ch: 7 Prc: 7

Sp: 13 Lu: 4

The deity of the Holy Tree

Power of the tree:

—Power of the root: You will know how to use this power as time passes by.

—???: You will discover your other ability as time passes by."

He cannot help but scratch his head, as the regard of this system is cheeky.

Valor reverted his gaze and told them his discovery.

"I've found the home screen of the gold system, just press the coin or button at the edge, higher right." The other became curious about what he said and looked at their system, Their faces changed while Valor surveyed the surrounding four-time stricter than before.

He can see them surprised by what they saw, their slight change in posture while running said it all. Their eyes were filled with surprise and curiosity, Seems like the description of their power is also like his.

"So what you guys got?" He asked while looking out for potential harm, he surveyed with a bit of excitement found in his eyes.

"How can we know when the system said to know it your own? I think we should defeat some monsters first." Angela answered him bluntly, he just nodded while all became expectant in excitement. It is power after all.

-------

"Huuaarghh!" A shout echoed along with the blade slicing through the green skin of a goblin, Its dark purple blood gushed out from the cut that halved it open, from its upper right elbow to its lower left waist. Guts and organs were sent flying with the purple liquid.

Louie looked ahead and saw another one rushing to him, frenzied with maddened despair, it already accepted its faith and confronted itself.

Louei exhaled with heat—so hot it can be seen with bare eyes, before he raised his long sword and made it descend with strength, the golden blade sliced through its head, down to the whole body and cut the goblin half.

Louie with his strength stopped his sword from hitting the ground after it went through the body. Looking at the nasty blood on his sword, he swung it instantly and removed the purple stain.

He then looked around and saw his soldiers already on the ground, heaving with exhaustion.

"Sir that's the last of this camp." A soldier with purple hair came to him reporting, He nodded and commanded the troops, "Settle the tents!" He shouted before he started to walk away, went below the cover of a tree, and waited for his troops to finish.

10 minutes later and the camps were settled, he already went inside his and started doing his job. Relaying orders and reporting to the other captain of the cleaning team.

The inside of his tent was quiet when a voice from outside echoed, two feet settled in front while Louie let the soldier in.

"Sir reporting!" The soldier shouted while he only nodded, still remained looking at the papers on his table, "The wardens of all siege fortresses of the east denied a leakage of this many from their fortress, I think none want to take responsibility." The soldier said in a formal way of speaking, Louie finally looked at the soldier and answered, "I'm friends with all the wardens near here, none of them are unresponsible ones." He defended his friends while thinking about possibilities.

He leaned his elbows on the wooden desk, Merged his hands, and leaned his chin on it before contemplating, his pondering expression turned into seriousness before it turned worried, "If it didn't come from any siege fortresses, then ..." The soldier also got what he analyzed, the atmosphere inside became grave.

The plastic curtains of the tent suddenly fluttered with their bodies walking past through them, hurried and worried. They threaded the path before and arrived in front of a cave, they went in without hesitation and arrived in a room, it was the boss room that has been trashed by a rookie. Louie looked around before he saw the thing he is looking for.

To the rocks on the right, he can see them slightly different from the others. The difference is barely noticeable but not in his eyes, so he strode there hurriedly and kicked the rocks. Another tunnel was revealed, but this one goes deeper under the ground.

Louie looked at it first before touching the walls of the newly found path, Green-gluey substance remained on his hand. He smudged it with his finger first before cursing, "Shit!"

Their expression turned grave, the worst possibility is now their reality. Louie quickly went out of the cave and commanded the soldier, "let's go, we need to let the headquarters know about this." He threaded the path rushing, before going into the camp without minding the soldiers that greeted him, they quickly understood something is urgent.

He went into his tent and grabbed the dialing device and quickly shouted to it "A rift opened under the kuruuk forest! I repeat, A rift opened under the kuruuk forest!"

"Type is still unknown, But we request back up, I repeat, we request back up!"