Broken Tower Saga: The First Swordsman

"Congratulations to all of you for surviving the trial to the Maha tower," Harakatz said from the high stage, looking down at the hundreds of silhouettes below. "794 survived actually, and all the 794 will enter the test of the first floor in a few minutes."

A cold wind blew in the plaza, yet the hundred silhouettes looked resolute hearing the voice of the manager. Well, they earned that. At least most of them earned this opportunity. 

It was about evening; the environment was a little chillier than usual. While the sun was still on the horizon, the half-moon appeared in the sky. Wrik felt a little excited in his heart as well; no not little. He was way more excited than others, but none could see even a little from his exterior. He armed in their old gears, with a hooded dark cloak outside in addition. The new sword was strapped on his back, while he wore no helmet after the first one broke in the underground dungeon.

Side by side, others stood as well, wearing their equipment and dresses. On the right side of Wrik stood Tanya in a black tight dress, hugging her slender body. The dress looked undoubtedly impressive with her narrow waist, supple bosoms, and long neck. While the dress covered her body entirely than the head, she did not seem any bit suffocating in it. These clothes were specially made for mages, it even has some help in the circulation of mana. Feeling chilly in the wind, she put on a dark hooded cloak as well, hiding her slender body.

On the right of her was Michelle, dressed in similar wear but white and red. She looked quite sweet in it, yet her eyes blazed with enthusiasm. Beside her was a short girl with short dark hair, she was dressed in armour, blades, and wand. Her face was tense, while her posture showed a little tiredness.

Evan and the two siblings stood after that. Evan had a frown on his brows while the other two were a little nervous. They had made decent progress in the sanctuary. Now it's time to test it out, there's no way they would not be nervous.

While on the left were Davin, Jacob, and Kevin stood behind them. Kevin stood like a spear, while the other two appeared quite short standing in front of him.

Anton was nowhere to be seen. He left to do some important stuff.

"Wrik?" Tanya called, taking out a small glass orb. "Take this."

Wrik took the glass from Tanya before asking, "What is this?"

"This is an emergency caller. Crush it and the other person holding another linked orb will get a notification in the actual direction. It would come handy in the test," Tanya explained.

Wrik nodded, keeping the orb. It was definitely a handy thing. Who knows if they would be transported to the same place? 

"Unfortunately, I only got credits to buy three," Tanya said. "I left the other one with Davin."

Anton came in from behind a couple of minutes later. He had a carefree smile on his face, but his eyes showed the thrills he was anticipating. Anton was dressed similarly to Wrik, but the baggage he had was double compared to Wrik.

Noticing Anton's presence, Wrik whispered, "Did you find it?"

Anton nodded, giving him a handbag. "It was quite hard to get it. I'll tell you about it later."

Wrik nodded and kept the handbag on his waist without even checking it. 

"After I finish my speech, you all will be teleported to the testing region," Harakatz voice echoed through the plaza as he was speaking to a device amplifying the sound. He continued, noticing the cheerful appearances of the crowd.  "I would not be in such a merry mood if I was going to a text with unknown rules. So let me enlighten a few things that I'm allowed to say to you."

The single sentence made the entire plaza silent. Only the sound of chilly wind came made a quiet noise.

"I should mention the criteria for passing the test first. It's very simple: Stay Alive."

Wrik remembered this individual said the same thing in the summoning room when the trial began. It appeared it would not be any complicated, either. 

"And You have to score higher than grade C. Anything less than C is dregs, but even Dregs have their uses, so staying alive should be your priority." The voice echoed from the amplitude device as Harakatz looked at the fair woman behind him. He asked, resting the device, "Sheala, are there some other criteria?"

Sheala bit her lips and said, "You forget to mention the numbers."

"Ahh," Harakatz nodded and turned back to face the participants again. "Unlike the trial, the Tower is not so forgiving. The grades are all limited. For example, only 10 people can get a grade of A, 100 can get Grade-B, and 889 or so in grade-C." he continued, with a playful tone. "Now, here will someone ask me, sir, we have only 794 participants, aren't passing the test super easy?"

He paused for a moment, looking towards the crowd. Without waiting for anyone to guess, he answered, "No, it won't. Why? Because you all aren't the only ones that would take part in it."

"Sir, who else is there that we have to compete against?" A dumb fellow in the crowd asked.

"There are 8 sanctuaries in total counting this one that will send their participants in the test. So the total number that would compete would be about eight thousand, and only a thousand of them would get to climb the tower," Harakatz chuckled, which made many of the faces darkened. "So one among eight would soar in the tower, while the rest of the dregs have to leave or find something else. Sounds easy, right?"

The plaza broke into an uproar, as they found the test would not be as easy as they had imagined. Well, not everyone was like that. There are those that believe in their strength and remain silent.

"Silence," Harakatz silenced the crowd with one word. "Now, let me mention a little about the game. First the name, it's called A Little War. Why little? 'cause you're all still little babies, and as for War—you will find it soon enough.

"In the trials before now, you all faced monsters, Infectors—the ones lacking in intelligence, but now on the very first floor, you have to compete with your fellow peers, and I should not need to tell you what a human is capable of."

"Sir," a loud voice asked from the crowd. It was Theiron—the guy who had a conflict with Wrik and others the other day. "Is killing allowed?"

The plaza, which was relatively silent, turned ghastly gloom. All the fellows waited for the manager on the stage to answer. 

"It is allowed," Harakatz said slowly. "But it is not recommended. Everything you do in the test will affect your final evaluation. Some examiner might not like a psychotic madman who only knows how to kill, remember that." the broad man sighed. "Now for the task, there are sixteen flags hidden throughout the trial zone with many other useful things that would help you in the survival. You should get your hands into those if you can, but the most important item you would need if you want to win the little war, then you must have a flag. What is the usage of the flag? It can claim a region, give you safe passage in the nights and a lot more, that I won't elaborate.

"May Maha be with you. May you find salvation in the test."

As Harakat finished his speech, he gestured at the men behind. 

Soon, a large portal opened in the plaza that would take the participants to the test. 

___________

Sorry for the delay, I'll clean up all the mess tomorrow.

Check out: CHAOS REBORN, the new story I am trying.