“Alright, so, where is that exam? Is it multiple choice?” Kyle asked.
“This is not a written exam, Sir Kyle,” Sulfur answered. “It is a test of your personality, skill, and talent.”
“Eh, okay. So, what do I have to do?” he asked.
A moment later, one of the doors opened, and the light turned on in the now-opened hallway.
“Go through the door, and you will find the first test. Everything will be explained there,” Sulfur said. “I’m looking forward to your success.”
“Okay, thanks,” Kyle said awkwardly before slowly walking to the door, turning around several times to make sure that Sulfur wasn’t about to squash him for going in the wrong direction.
“Just through here, right?” Kyle asked while standing in front of the door.
“Yes, just through there,” Sulfur answered.
“Okay then… so… I’m off. Bye,” he said.
“I wish you luck,” Sulfur answered.
Kyle scratched the back of his head awkwardly before stepping through the door, which promptly closed behind him.
‘What the fuck did I get myself into?’ he thought as he walked through the hallway. ‘Why did I have to dig into the hill?’
‘Fucking Magic Bitch was probably angry at me and sent me here on purpose just to die in the wilderness or in this shitty-ass trial!’
Kyle grumbled to himself as he walked through the hallway.
‘Well, who knows? Maybe the trial isn’t that hard. I mean, I passed high school! That must mean something, right?’
After walking for a bit, Kyle reached another door, which promptly opened.
As soon as he exited, he saw a relatively small room.
There were only three interesting things in the room.
One was the fact that one of the walls, which was about three meters high and ten meters wide, was made of a completely different material than the other walls.
The second interesting thing was the huge chest on the side, which was halfway filled with things that looked like war hammers.
And the last thing was the golem standing beside the chest.
Compared to Sulfur, this golem was tiny, but it was still about three meters high and quite robustly built.
Kyle could feel a sensation of mortal danger coming from the golem, but it couldn’t even begin to compare to Sulfur or that weird stone-dragon-thing in front of the big gate.
But it still felt much more dangerous than the Narvonian Worm.
Moments later, the golem shook, and dust fell off its stony body.
It mechanically turned its head and looked at Kyle.
“Name,” the golem asked with a mechanical voice.
“Kyle.”
“Welcome, entrant number 69, Kyle,” the golem said.
“Nice,” Kyle answered reflexively before he started to realize the meaning of his number.
‘Wait, entrant number 69? This means there were 68 people here before me?’
Kyle’s anxiety grew.
‘And they all failed? I mean, they had to have failed! Otherwise, I wouldn’t be undertaking this weird test!’
“There were 68 people here before me?” Kyle asked.
“There have been 68 entrants so far,” the golem answered with the charisma of an answering machine. “52 have passed the first test.”
Kyle took a deep breath. “Alrighty then. What’s the first test?”
The golem pointed one of its fingers at the chest. “Take a mining weapon.”
‘Mining weapon? Never heard that one before,’ Kyle thought as he approached the chest.
He looked at all the different tools inside the chest.
All of them looked different, but they all followed the same general pattern.
Each one had a long hilt that ended in a hefty anvil-like head.
One of the ends of the head ended in a long and powerful spike, while the other was just a flat surface.
‘Looks a bit like Nervon’s hammer,’ Kyle thought. ‘I mean, you could technically use the spike to mine, but you can also bash someone’s head in with it.’
‘So, I guess mining weapon seems kind of appropriate.’
Kyle looked at the wall made of a different material.
He could already tell what his job would be.
‘Bet I have to mine shit from there.’
“Can you tell me what I have to do? It would help me make a decision,” Kyle said.
“The acquisition of raw materials is imperative to success,” the golem recited. “Valuable materials grow in places with dense Ether.”
‘Did that fucker just say grow? Pretty sure minerals don’t grow like plants!’ Kyle thought.
“Places with dense Ether are dangerous,” the golem continued narrating. “The heir must know how to make use of the natural resources the heir finds.”
“The heir should choose a mining weapon that feels comfortable in battle and during mining.”
“Eh, is there anything else I should consider?” Kyle asked.
“Entrant number 69, choose your mining weapon,” the golem said.
“Okay, okay. Sure, I’ll choose one,” Kyle said, looking into the chest.
He took hold of a couple of the mining weapons.
Some were super light, while some of them were extremely heavy.
Surprisingly, their weight didn’t seem to be related to their size.
After a bit of rummaging around, Kyle was left with three potential candidates.
Number one was one of the biggest mining weapons in the chest. It was humongous. Its head was quite wide, and swinging it around felt exciting.
Number two was a strange-looking one. One of its sides had a big plate attached to it, and Kyle found out that he could detach the plate.
After some testing, he realized that this was a detachable shield for combat.
The mining weapon itself could easily be wielded with one hand, and it looked more elegant.
Number three was a mining weapon with a wider body than the others, and it actually had four heads instead of two.
There were two spikes and two hammers.
Kyle found out that he could split the mining weapon in two, creating one hammer and one pickaxe. Both of them could be wielded in one hand each.
‘Not entirely sure what I should choose,’ Kyle thought.
‘I wonder. Is choosing the mining weapon already part of the test?’
‘Will I be eliminated if I choose the wrong one?’
‘Think back to what the golem said. There must be a hint in there.’
‘This is not just a tool, nor is it just a weapon.’
‘I must feel comfortable using it in both scenarios.’
Kyle looked at his three choices.
‘Well, I guess I know which one I will choose.’