Hikari: Rise Of The Weapons Master

"You can do whatever you want today, I will be taking up the ascension trial," Zack said as he and Emma appeared in the white room of the guild.

The latter pouted as she too wanted to do whatever this 'ascension trial' thing was. However, she needed to be level 30 for that.

"I will go hunting with Icarus. Maybe I will reach level 30 too." The pink-haired woman then left the room and started moving towards the exit of the place and left it.

Zack on the other hand opened his inventory and took out the ascension trial book he had.

Though the book didn't give any information on how to clear the trial or anything, it gave extra rewards.

The ascension trial was different for everyone and was made by judging their capabilities. In his previous life, Zack had been given a level D ascension trial which was the second-lowest trial.

This time, he was expecting an S-level trial which was the peak-level trial available.

The black-haired boy went to his status page and clicked on the one notification dot after his level.

[ Do you want to take the ascension trial? ]

Zack took a deep breath before choosing yes. A blue-colored light surrounded his body as he was teleported to the location of the trial.

[ Analysis has been done. ]

[ Trial difficulty: A+ ]

'Huh?' Zack's expression turned confused as he looked at the A+ difficulty. If he had gotten A+, who the heck had gotten S level?

[ The trial of ascension is divided into three phases.

Note: Having a book of ascension trial would ensure extra benefits. ]

[ Once you enter a phase of the trial, you cannot exit the phase unless and until you are done. You can move out of the trial any other time you want.

[ Phase One: Thirst

- ???

Rewards: 10 bronze coins

Time Limit: Infinity ]

Not only was the reward bad, but there was also no information provided on the trial. Furthermore, the time limit was marked as infinity.

Zack managed to keep calm as he looked around.

'A desert?' As far as his eyes could travel, Zack could only see sand. If he had to guess, he would say that the desert extended for many kilometers.

He then opened his inventory to see that it was entirely empty.

"Chastiefol," Zack called out but the golden spear didn't appear in front of him. "Weird. I was able to use my weapons and Gugnir in my past life."

Zack looked around once again to see whether he had missed anything. That's when he realized that the clothes he was wearing were winter clothes.

He immediately took off the coat but the moment the cloth left his body, another coat appeared around him.

No matter how hard Zack tried, he could not get the coat off. He then tried to remove other clothes on his body but nothing worked.

He then gave up and decided to roam around in the desert. The sunlight hit his back and started scorching it. He could see the humidity rising in front of him.

'I wonder why it was named thirst when I can't even feel thirty inside the game.' Zack wondered as he continued walking towards the north.

Fifteen minutes later, he saw someone's footprints on the sand in front of him and realized one thing.

'I have been roaming around the place in a circle.' Zack then decided to go towards the west and twenty minutes later, he appeared at the same spot.

No matter which direction he would walk in, he would soon appear back at the same spot. Due to the warm clothes, he was wearing, his entire body was drenched with sweat.

And shockingly, he had started feeling thirsty.

'Maybe I should just log out. I will be teleported back to the guild lobby.' Zack thought as his entire mouth started feeling thirsty.

But when he tried to open the status panel to log out, nothing appeared in front of him. He tried opening various things but nothing worked.

Even the inventory from earlier didn't open up and all he was left with was the desert around him.

'Guess this what happens when there is a thin line between reality and game.' Zack wanted to shout to see if anyone would listen but his throat felt too dry.

He immediately got on the ground and started putting sand away to see if any clue was hidden there.

'If this happens in reality, then I have two to three days to live without water.' Dying by thirst was not the ideal death and Zack hoped that it didn't happen to him.

He crossed his fingers as many times as he could at once before opening the quest screen.

[ Phase One: Thirst

- ???

Rewards: 10 bronze coins

Time Limit: Infinity ]

'I am dead.' He lay on the ground while staring at the sun while wondering what the heck was he supposed to do.

[ Enough Thirst has been accumulated ]

[ The trial of thirst is starting ]

Zack blinked in confusion as he stared at the messages in front of him. So till then, the trial hadn't actually started?

[ Phase One: Thirst

- Survive the desert of mirage for a week. Can only use a skill loaned by the system.

Rewards: 10 bronze coins

Time Limit: None (Survival) ]

[ Skill available for choosing:

Hydro Pump

Raging Inferno

Earth Bomb

Thunderbolt ]

Zack looked at the skills with a weird expression as he chose Hydro pump immediately. In the middle of a desert, especially a mirage one.

[ Hydro Pump (loaned for seven days): An upgraded version of water gun. Deals damage equivalent of ten water guns.

- Can push enemies back depending on the range and duration of the attack.

Cooldown: 1 minute (1 hour) ]

The first thing that Zack did after obtaining the skill was to lift his fingers to his mouth and use hydro pump to drink as much water as he could.

But instead of shooting out from his hand, water shot out of his mouth. Despite the surprise, Zack managed to swallow enough water to satisfy his thirst for the time being.

The skill continued to go on for a few minutes before stopping as Zack saw the wet sand in front of him. However, the wet sand turned to normal in a matter of seconds.

'So I am stuck here for a week? This I just the first phase…' The black-haired boy sighed before looking around.

Maybe this time, he would find something new.

***

Back to the original pace xD