I followed the stone pathway deeper into the academy.
"Right."
I should probably explain what the Trial of Self actually is.
Despite the dramatic name, it wasn't a test of strength.
Or intelligence, that's the second Trial job.
Or whether you could deliver a cool speech while dramatic music played in the background.
It measured something far more annoying.
You.
More specifically, one of the hidden attributes the game never bothered putting on the status screen.
Will in this case
Things like Will, Luck, Perception, Endurance, and a handful of other invisible values. They unlocked hidden scenes, alternate dialogue, secret events... the sort of mechanics players discover over the years because the game never explained them.
The Trial dragged your deepest self into the light.
The game mainly used it as a way to introduce each character's motivations.
It was basically the developers saying,
Here's why this person desperately needs therapy.
...
I wondered how everyone else was doing.
I didn't know every detail of their personalities.
Aldren alone had already proven the game didn't capture everything.
Still...
I knew enough.
Let's start with the obvious.
"Hjördis."
She'd pass.
Not because the Trial was easy.
Because she was... Hjördis.
Then there was Raksha.
"Yeah."
She'd pass out of pure spite.
The illusion would show her deepest trauma.
She'd punch it.
If it survived...
She'd punch it harder.
The Trial wouldn't pass her because she'd understood herself.
It'd pass her because continuing the examination had become a workplace safety issue.
Hans?
Hans is... well... Hans, he'll pass.
Noah...
I honestly doubted that guy had enough regrets to fuel the illusion.
Mei Mei.
"She's failing."
Not because she lacked courage.
Far from it.
She just had way too much baggage.
The Trial would open one emotional wound, and accidentally discover seventeen more.
It'd become less of an examination, and more of an archaeological excavation.
Although... knowing the professors, they'll make an exception and pass her anyway.
The uncertain ones were Aldren, and Balin.
Aldren had a kind heart, as far as I can tell.
People like that tended to blame themselves for things that weren't even remotely their fault.
Balin...
I don't know, Balin has the most diverse choices out of the eight, so I have no idea.
"Unless reality decides to surprise me again, that's how it'll go."
As I continued down the road, I spotted a familiar figure.
The guy who'd turned around before the trial had even begun.
The first person to leave, and the first person to pass.
He was casually drinking tea beneath a nearby pavilion.
Where did he get that?.
There were dozens of beautifully carved stone benches lining the walkway.
I naturally selected the one that looked the most expensive.
It was incredibly comfortable, i leaned back with a satisfied sigh.
"So."
I glanced toward the branching roads.
"I guess the Northwest applicants will merge with us here."
Eventually, everyone had to funnel into the same central campus.
Otherwise the professors would need eight separate opening ceremonies.
Even fantasy bureaucrats weren't that inefficient.
I rested comfortably against the stone bench, watching students gradually emerge from the different gates.
"Right."
I almost forgot.
"I'm meeting her now."
Hjördis.
Though "meeting" was probably too generous a word.
If the story followed the game, we wouldn't properly interact until the Third Trial.
She was one of those characters who simply did not give a single fuck.
I glanced toward the gates again, trying to remember where everyone had entered.
"Let's see..."
Southwest - Balin.
West - Hans.
"What a duo."
Two underdogs.
Then...
Southeast - Mei Mei.
South - Aldren.
I nodded to myself.
"I guess she needs the emotional support."
East - Noah.
Northeast - Raksha.
I stared into the distance for a moment.
"..."
"What a pair."
I looked up at the sky.
"You know, if someone told me these people were destined to save the world..."
I'd believe them.
"If someone told me they'd accidentally burn it down first..."
I'd also believe them.
[Both outcomes remain possible.]
"At this point you'll overworked me..."
[You excel at overworking yourself.]
"Was that a compliment?, i'll take it as one."
I stretched my legs out in front of me.
"Why are you so sarcastic?."
[I have existed for a very long time.]
"So?"
[Eventually you either develop a sense of humor... or become unbearable.]
"Fair enough."
The academy grounds remained strangely peaceful.
Birds flitted between the ancient trees.
Students trickled in from every direction, some looking relieved, others pale enough that they resembled ghosts.
One poor boy walked straight into a decorative pillar without taking his eyes off the ground.
He looked like he'd just lost an argument with his own soul.
"Rough trial?"
He gave me a haunted look.
"I... I apologized to a chair."
"..."
"..."
He continued walking.
I decided not to ask.
A few minutes later another student emerged...
Then another.
The plaza gradually filled with quiet conversations.
Some people cried.
Others laughed.
One girl hugged her own brother so tightly he nearly stopped breathing.
A pair of nobles immediately started arguing over whose trial had been more difficult.
Apparently self-discovery became a competition if you had enough money.
Rich people do be betting on anything.
The man who had quit before the trial calmly sipped another cup of tea.
He looked significantly happier than everyone else.
Time passed.
More students arrived.
Not everyone who had entered the academy was here.
Some had failed.
Some were likely still trapped inside the illusion.
And a few...
Would probably remain there until the professors pulled them out.
The Trial of Self wasn't designed to kill people.
It simply refused to let them move forward until they confronted themselves.
Sometimes...
That took longer than expected.
I rested my chin on one hand.
"Now we wait."
[Patience is a virtue.]
"It's also boring, if only I had my phone to read manhwa I would, Wait I can why didn't I bring my phone?"
A faint ripple spread through the air.
Another gate had released a new group of applicants.
Among them...
Her expression was calm.
Unreadable.
"...Hjördis."
Long white hair.
Fancy white robes.
Tiny crown.
A presence that made people, instinctively make ways for her.
Despite not being a human she looks like the perfect of it, to perfect in fact...
"She's beautiful... That's about it."
[You sound disappointed.]
"I'm not."
Beauty was beauty.
The interesting part wasn't her face.
It was...
She moves like an NPC waiting for the player to press continue.
A gust of wind swept through the courtyard.
Capes fluttered.
Hair whipped across faces.
Students shielded their eyes.
Her hair didn't move.
"Is the wind racist?"
[Probably.]
She disappeared into the distance.
Only then did the conversations slowly return.
I watched her go until the flowing white of her robes vanished into the crowd.
"Yeah."
I folded my arms.
"Exactly what I expected, she's boring."
The developers' favorite child.
Actually...
Calling her the favorite implied there had been competition.
There wasn't.
She won by default.
There was a reason the community called her Baby Mode.
I looked toward the distant academy buildings.
"Throughout heaven and earth..."
I chuckled to myself.
"She alone is the honored one."
"...?"
The air above the central plaza distorted, folding inward like a sheet of glass being bent by invisible hands.
Then
Pop.
Asher Lunaria casually stepped out of thin air.
She simply... walked out of empty space as though the sky had always contained a hidden doorway.
She floated several meters above the plaza, hands clasped behind her back.
She looked around at the gathered applicants before clapping her hands together.
"Wonderful!"
"I'm pleased to see so many of you have passed."
She closed her notebook with a soft snap.
Her smile brightened.
"I have wonderful news."
A hopeful murmur spread through the crowd.
She raised a finger.
"I'm still the supervising instructor"
Silence.
"So."
She looked around expectantly.
"Did you miss me?"
The silence somehow became louder.
"Ow, you all are meanie... Anyway."
She tilted her head.
"Were any of you frightened because I mentioned there was a high possibility of dying?"
Thousands of eyes remained fixed on her.
She suddenly laughed.
Not loudly.
Just enough to sound genuinely amused.
"Haha."
"I was joking."
Another pause.
"There isn't one, why would you die for a test?, that is stupid."
Lunaria took another graceful step through the air itself until she floated above the center of the plaza.
"The first trial measured your sense of self."
"It asked a simple question."
"Who are you?"
She closed her notebook.
"The second trial asks something considerably more troublesome."
"Can you think?"
One scholarly-looking boy confidently adjusted his glasses.
Lunaria noticed.
"Oh."
"You look excited."
He nodded proudly.
"I've always excelled academically."
"Splendid."
She smiled warmly.
"I do hope disappointment builds character."
Lunaria continued as though nothing had happened.
Trial Two
The Trial of Mind
Golden letters appeared across the sky before dissolving into glittering mana.
"A sword without a mind... is only a weapon."
"The first trial cared little for talent."
"This one cares little for strength."
A wave of her hand caused the ground to tremble.
The enormous circular formation beneath the plaza began rotating.
Stone shifted.
Walls rose from the earth.
Hallways unfolded like pieces of an impossible puzzle.
Within moments...
An enormous labyrinth stood where the open courtyard had once been.
Except...
Calling it a labyrinth felt inadequate.
Floating staircases connected impossible angles.
Doors hung freely in midair without walls.
Entire corridors rotated upside down.
Rooms folded into one another like living origami.
The place looked less constructed...
...and more like reality had suffered a mathematical disagreement.
Lunaria spread her arms proudly.
"Beautiful, isn't it?"
"I helped design exactly one hallway."
She paused.
"I'm quite proud of it... It just had to be removed."
Nobody was surprised.
She continued.
"Inside..."
"You will encounter ancient magical mechanisms."
Gears of glowing crystal briefly materialized behind her.
"Strategic simulations."
Illusions of armies clashed before fading.
"And problems."
She smiled sweetly.
"Some impossible."
...
She clapped once.
"Oh!"
"One more thing."
"This examination is not pass or fail."
That immediately relaxed half the crowd.
Their relief lasted exactly three seconds.
"Your score depends on two things."
She raised one finger.
"How deeply you manage to explore the labyrinth."
A second finger joined the first.
"Or..."
"How quickly you reach its end."
"Both methods are equally valid."
"So whether you're a brilliant strategist..."
"or an absolute lunatic capable of sprinting through problems before they explode..."
"We're surprisingly flexible."
A beastkin quietly cracked his knuckles.
The scholarly boy beside him looked mildly offended.
Lunaria smiled at both of them equally.
"There are many paths."
"None of them are easy."
"And several are intentionally unfair."
The labyrinth rumbled once more.
Countless glowing entrances slowly opened along its outer walls.
Each radiated a different color.
Blue.
Gold.
Crimson.
Silver.
Emerald.
The air itself hummed with ancient mana.
Lunaria floated backward, giving the maze an elegant flourish with one hand.
"Without further ado..."
Her smile widened into something almost mischievous.
"...let's begin."