SYSTEM ASCENSION

[World 0252: Qld]

[IDENTIFYING MORTAL IN PROGRESS]

[Name: Elias Morail]

The air smelled of rot.

[Age: 13]

Nothing alive in here was normal. Not the researchers, not the test subjects.

[Height: 4’11”]

Controlled chatter clouded every corner of the room. People in coats lingered everywhere discussing things a normal person would not understand.

[Weight: 30kg]

It was quiet this time, except for the little subconscious whimpers; all test subjects has done to sleep.

[Species: Human]

He blinked, dark eyes reflecting the light displayed before him.

[Occupation: S rank raider]

’What...is this...’

The green liquid rippled around him as he moved his exhausted limbs. That small gesture sparked his brain.

He was in that tub again. Pipes were connected to it. To him.

’i must have passed out.’

[S rank Raider Elias Morail, selected among the upholder trial]

He blinked. The information was still displayed before him.

’Elias Morail? Who is that...’

He moved his floating hand to the screen.

’What is this...’

At that moment, the cracked dark-blue pendant around his neck came to view, reflecting himself before his eyes. He saw the dark eyes and hair.

’Morail... that’s me. That is my name.’

[Assigning sector in progress]

’I am Elias. I remember now.’

[Sector assigned!]

[Sector 7: Scorched Trial Grounds]

[Teleporting raider after the given time]

[00:59]

[00:58]

[00:57]

”Teleporting raider?”

The liquid sloshed into his mouth as soon as he muttered those words. He groan in discomfort, his hand instinctively slapping on the tube.

Someone turned, gazed at him and smirked.

”That little bastard drank the poison again.”

Another shrugged.

”We’ll deal with him today. Poison or not. Death is the end isn’t it?”

”No!” He bubbled. ”I don’t want to die!”

[00:40]

The first spoke again.

”If poison would have killed him, we would not be hiring A ranking experts to dispose him.”

Another walked into the room.

”That boy gives me the creep! Good thing he’s leaving today. Master is done with him.”

[00:31]

The first chuckled.

”I understand your point. He’s the only S rank raider in this lab. Master could only capture him in the past because he was only six. Uneducated and pathetic.”

The second turned. Stared at the tub, at the boy hitting on it with a desperate expression.

”Why can’t he break out? This much shouldn’t be able to hold him.”

The third replied.

”You see, we captured his mother that day with him. She’s his shackle, not the tub.”

[00:20]

The second frowned.

”His mother? I have never seen his mother.”

The first turned to a machine, and punched in the password. The sound beeped across the room.

”She died. He just doesn’t know that.”

The third turned to him.

”What are you doing?”

[00:10]

”I need to sedate him remember, or we’ll be dealing with an S rank’s problem.”

[00:08]

[00:07]

The first cowered closer to the machine, and did a rental scan.

”Approved.” A mechanical voice echoed. A glass cover slid open, revealing a lever. He walk to it and pulled it down.

Misty substance was injected into the liquid through the piles.

”With this, getting rid of him would be easy.”

They watched him struggle and thrashed, their expression unreadable. Then, he stilled.

”Now let’s get him_”

[00:00]

[Timer complete]

[Teleporting raider to the Scorch trial ground]

The tub began to lit up, mist clouding their views. The glass cracked.

They frowned.

”Was that supposed to happen?”

”That was not supposed to happen!”

A lady barged in, the door swinging violently. They turned.

”Number ten is missing! Where did she...”

She stared at the frantic men, at the cracked tub, back at the men, and then the tub again.

She stepped inside, her eye wide in horror.

”Where...is number five?”

”Huh?”

They turned.

The tub was cracked, licking a liquid that immediately spread poison in the room.

And inside?

Empty. Nobody.

___

[COUNTDOWN TO THE FIRST TRIAL]

Then the murmurs began.

Voices overlapped one another in a chaotic wave. They were confused, frightened and desperate for understanding.

”Where is this place!”

”What’s going on?”

”Too hot.”

”How did I get here?”

”Where is my phone?”

He frowned.

This didn’t feel like the cramped tub he had been held in. No chain around his wrist.

[00:30]

[00:29]

[00:28]

A sharp, ticking tone pierced through the noise, deep within his mind, as though a bell had been struck inside his skull. It lingered for a while, vibrating through his thoughts, forcing his eyes open before he even understood why.

For a brief moment, he thought he was still held in that room, but the dark screen before him said otherwise.

[00:20]

[00:19]

[00:18]

”Another countdown?”

His dark orbs lingered on the screen with an absurd calmness.

”What sort of dream is this?”

The murmurs intensified. They did not belong to any single direction. They surrounded him. It felt like sleeping in the center of a crowd.

His breath hitched as he pushed himself up. Heat answered him.

Although he was suddenly wearing clothes now, It was immediate and merciless, searing through his tiny clothes and pressing into his skin. His palms dug into coarse sand, and instinctively, he jerked back, only to realize there was nowhere cooler to retreat to.

[00:05]

The air was dry, each inhale burning against his throat as he forced himself to sit upright.

[00:03]

Endless dunes stretched before him, rising and falling like waves frozen in time. The sky was red. There were no buildings, no roads, no signs of anything familiar. Only sand... distance, and people as confused as he was.

[00:01]

His mind struggled to catch up with what his eyes were already telling him. Instinctively, his hand clutched the pendant around his neck.

[00:00]

This wasn’t his cage. This wasn’t a tube either. This wasn’t anywhere he knew.

The screen before his eyes hit zero.

*[TRIAL INITIATION COMPLETE]*

The words settled in front of him.

”Trial?”

He stared at them, his thoughts stalling, refusing to process what he was seeing even as his eyes traced each letter.

”What is this...a joke?” Someone waved at the air before them. ”I didn’t sign up for a movie.”

Subconsciously, he took a step back.

”I’m not the only one seeing this.”

A second line followed, just beneath the first.

[Environment: Scorched Trial Grounds – Sector 7]

[Participants: 1,000]

”A thousand?” He glanced around. ”A thousand people?”

They were real. Scattered somewhere across this endless desert, just like him.

’Then... He clenched his fist. Can I find mother here...no! She can’t...’

He took another look around. They all look no older than teenagers and early adults.

A chill ran through him despite the heat, and before he could fully grasp the implication, more text appeared.

[Objective: Reach the Safe Zone]

[Time Limit: 05:00]

[Failure Condition: Annihilation]

[Trial in progress]

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then—

[OBSERVATION IN PROGRESS]