A Story of Evil

Chapter 16: The Training

As soon as the King finished his explanations, he vanished from the room. It was only a mirror image of the king who spoke to Sol. After all, the true King Jubilee was actually on his way for the annual meeting of the Monarchs. One conducted on the week before the culling.

"Hello Solomon." The room was dark again and, this familiar voice greeted Sol.

"Crap it's that muscle head." He said, referring to nobody else than Colonel.

"I still haven't forgotten the humiliation you've put me through last time."

"For goodness sake Col, give me that." It was Onyx's voice that intervened. They seemed to be on another area that directly controlled Sol's box.

"Kid you're training will begin shortly. The other four already started so you need to catch up."

"What do I need to do exactly?"

Solomon was briefed of the things that would happen during the training. A [Notification Window] floated in front of him which served as his guide for the entire course. Certain levels of difficulty were provided as well as terrains for these levels.

"Are the areas based on the actual terrains during the Culling?"

"Sadly no. We haven't gathered enough data in order to generate simulations of those areas. However the monsters you will encounter are the same as those in the Culling."

Onyx proceeded to the rules of the rounds and levels. Number one, the area will only disappear once Sol clears the objectives. These will be stated on the [Notification Window]. Number two, items and equipment will be given through an [Inventory System]. These things will also disappear as soon as the level is finished.

"What if I get heavily wounded or injured?"

"Oh no need to worry about that. As long as you're still breathing, our doctor here in Pandora can stitch you back up. Plus we'll stop the training when the danger level is too high. Your names are already registered to the Culling so we need to take care of you."

"Perfect." Sol said in reply, already beginning to assimilate all the data being given to him.

"You have a minute to figure things out and to look at all the options." Onyx said, generating an area which seemed to be a forest. Around Sol was a pack of [Hounds], the regular kind which normally gets seen in the plantations.

[01:00]

"As soon as your timer runs out, the hounds will come for you with all they've got." Onyx informed, not saying anything more as the timer began counting down.

[00:56]

There were various options and settings that Sol needed to go through. However, the time limit did not permit him to do so. Hence, he simply settled with understanding basic terms such as [HP] and [MP]. As well as utilizing an option called [Analyze].

[00:30]

Through it, Sol could see all the information regarding his current enemies. All their information came out on a separate screen, with Sol skimming through them at his last seconds of preparation.

[00:17]

[Name: Hound]

[Level: 5]

[Rank: E+]

[HP: 100/100]

[MP: 50/50]

[Weakness: Any Element]

[Resistance: Physical Attacks]

[Information: These are normal hounds which are preserved within the plantations. The mutated ones are found all over the world, having various elemental attributes such as ice and fire.]

[00:00]

[BEGIN!]

Sol began running for his life. The Hounds didn't fall that much behind and were actually closing in on him fast.

The boy jumped over a couple of logs and bushes. All while taking into account the map that was displayed in a small circle at the far corner of his left eye's vision.

He heard how the Hounds simply tore through the logs. Probably through the use of their skills which he wasn't able to see because he needed to keep running.

"And I'm supposed to beat those things using a dagger?" Sol commented as he looked at the only item within his inventory.

"It's supposed to be resistant to physical attacks right? How is this level one?" Sol made a quick cut through a thin opening between trees. The Hounds couldn't fit here so they were forced to circle around. Giving sol more time to think of a strategy.

Was the boy scared? Of course he was. But it wasn't like death and danger were such foreign concepts to him. He was an orphan who got beat up constantly and daily by Arthur. And if that wasn't enough, there were some other guards and workers that did the same.

Even with his low stamina, Sol's body had a certain tolerance to pain and danger. Allowing him to stay calm even in that situation.

"And here we go." Sol grabbed on a vine. The information given by analysis made him understand how sturdy it was and, through it, he was able to swing safely through a cliff and, into a thick tree positioned on the other side.

[Hounds remaining 8/10]

Two [Hounds] fell because they didn't have enough momentum. Giving Sol 8 more to worry about.

"Well come on then? What are you guys waiting for?" He provoked, getting the hounds to leap one by one, landing safely to the bottom of the tree.

"Those are some strong muscles on their legs. It's a pity they have to die though."

With [Analysis], Sol was even able to get the specific weight of the tree. This together with his estimated carrying weight of the cliff's edge gave him the perfect trap for his opponents.

With the added weight of the hounds, the edge of the cliff began crumbling. Sol provoked them as much as he could, distracting them from imminent danger. And so, as soon as the last hound landed, it finally crumbled and fell down.

Sol simply held on to the branch he was in, waiting for the part where the tree would be stuck in between the cliffs. As soon as it did, he slit the claws of all the [Hounds] which were able to grab on to the trunk. Making them fall to inevitable death.

[Congratulations! You have cleared the first trial.]

"Thanks, what do I have next?"

[Resting period: 00:15:00]

"So how did it feel?" Onyx asked right away.

"It felt real my. The terrain, the sound and the scent all resembled that of a real forest."

"Of course it did. That's the power of Pandora's Box after all." Onyx proudly said.

"Anyway one of you is already at [Level 10]. If you want to catch up, you need to cut on your resting time and proceed."

"Of course that's how it's gonna go." Sol said, clicking the [Next Stage] which generated [Ice Hounds] that time around.

[BEGIN!]

It was only Sol that had a different training regime. The difficulty given to him was at least twice as hard compared to the other four. With the instruction that, if it was too easy for him, then the difficulty would be raised even more.

"So what do you think Col?" Onyx asked, watching in a room together with Pandora

"I still think that the king have overestimated the child."

"Aweee are you still angry because he got you on that lap issue?"

"He didn't get me! The king just like's him too much." Colonel tried defending.

"Well whatever happens, all our hopes rest on this child now." Onyx said in a calm tone. Just like Colonel, he had doubts on Solomon's capabilities. Yet, never has he seen King Jubilee put the same level of faith as he has done on Sol.

In fact, the king proceeded to the meeting of the monarchs, bringing his sole trump card. Something that may stir up conflict within the ten Domains once again.

"If he winsno, even if he loses. The Void Domain will never be the same again."