This Is a Trial

My name is Bharata Siyou Qilong. I'm a nineteen-year-old wage earner living in the Electronic District, unmarried, and working in tech repair for a small company under the Kira Group.

I don't like smoking, and I can't afford alcohol. I go to bed around two in the morning and get up around seven for work. I make sure I never get enough sleep, so I can slack off and rest on the job.

I kept seeing ads for World Tree, so I got myself a set of equipment to give it a try. Honestly, the game was pretty great. I spawned in Asgard.

As soon as I left the starting village, plenty of players rushed to add me as a friend and gave me a bunch of positioning items, saying they could save my life in an emergency.

So many nice people gave me things as soon as I entered the game. They were really sweet. But once I hit level thirty and lost newbie protection, wave after wave of people came after me. What made me angriest was that a few of my good friends were among them.

To stay alive, I had no choice but to put my level-up points into my race. But I was still caught in a jungle. They planned to have that human newbie kill me so he could change classes.

I wasn't about to give them the chance. As he came closer, I suddenly raised my huge arm, ready to crush him. Of course, the high-level player beside him wasn't going to let me get away with it, and roughly kicked me aside.

But that was my real escape plan! I blew up my body, leaving only my core, and made a break for it. The core couldn't do anything—not even open my inventory—but give it a little time and I'd recover.

But as I fled, a few angels happened to show up. They started playing with my core like it was a ball, and the dizzying spins felt awful. Then the humans who'd been chasing me caught up.

The two sides communicated smoothly. Just as I was preparing to die, log off, and delete the game, an alien-race player swooped in with righteous fury and saved me. He healed me first, then effortlessly skewered the level-100 angels and planted them in the ground like kebabs. After that, he clapped his hands and summoned whatever he wanted.

But none of that was the point. The point was that this guy wanted to take me to solo the Tears of Angels Guild. How do I turn him down? Please help, it's urgent.

Mu Fengyu crouched down and looked at him seriously. He had to crouch; the little guy had put all his points into his race, and now he couldn't even lift his head.

"Little Si Long, you have to trust me. With my strength and your combat ability, won't the two of us absolutely wreck the angels?"

Si You Qilong's mouth twitched. He didn't even know where to begin. He'd just consider it repaying Mu Fengyu for saving his life, and go get himself killed alongside him.

"Okay~_~, but let's get one thing straight first: I don't have much combat ability, so I can't really help you."

"How could that be? We're not going until tomorrow anyway. Come on, I'll take you to level up first."

With that, he pulled him toward a nearby dungeon. Grinding in the open areas gave too little experience; dungeons were the way to level up.

Before long, the two of them were standing at the entrance to an level-85 Spider Nest dungeon. All they had to do was jump down to start leveling up.

Si You Qilong looked curiously at Mu Fengyu, who was still standing there beside him. They'd been up here for ages. Why wasn't the big shot sending him a party invite?

"Boss, why haven't you invited me to a party?"

Mu Fengyu patted him and said seriously, "Little Si Long, do you know what speed-running is?"

He shook his head blankly, thinking, Is that some sort of fast-leveling trick only big shots know?

Mu Fengyu handed him a [Magic Sealing Crystal] and poured a bottle of green potion over his head. Just as he was about to ask what they were, Mu Fengyu helpfully explained.

"What you're holding is the highest-grade [Magic Sealing Crystal]. The stuff I poured on you attracts loads of monsters. Speed-running is an art, and art is explosion."

"I picked this place especially for your current situation. Once you go in, climb up to a high ledge as quickly as you can. When the monsters have gathered—or when you think you can't hold on any longer—use the [Magic Sealing Crystal]."

"I sealed a Tier Ten Magic spell inside it. It'll definitely blow up a whole bunch of them, though you won't be able to handle the ones that come afterward."

"But the experience from that first wave is worth more than the experience you lose from dying. It's the best value around. After no more than twenty tries, you'll be level sixty."

"And there's this, too."

As he spoke, Mu Fengyu pulled a small altar-shaped item from between his legs and waved it over Si You Qilong.

"This is a special item that lets you revive quickly. People usually use it to grind monsters in the open areas. With this, you won't have to wait out the revival timer."

Si You Qilong's brain had crashed. Restart failed. Of course, [Magic Sealing Crystal] that could seal a Tier Ten spell didn't come cheap, and that wasn't even counting the altar. All this stuff together was worth more than half a year of his salary.

Mu Fengyu saw that he hadn't reacted for a while and took it as agreement. He figured the only reason the little guy wouldn't jump was that he was afraid of heights, so he kindly decided to help him overcome his fear.

As Si You Qilong stared at him with a wide-eyed O_o expression, Mu Fengyu tossed him headfirst over the edge. His bloodcurdling scream followed him down.

Mu Fengyu clapped his hands and nodded with satisfaction, muttering to himself, "Looks like it worked pretty well. The best way to overcome fear is to face it. I really am a genius."

"Little Si Long, you've got to hang in there."

For the next half hour, Si You Qilong was "voluntarily" tossed down again and again. He climbed to a high spot, used the [Magic Sealing Crystal], and got swarmed by monsters until he died.

After his twenty-first revival, he finally managed to talk Mu Fengyu out of it. Mu Fengyu had him raised in the air and was about to toss him down again, while Si You Qilong clung desperately to the ground with his huge arms. Terror glimmered in his eyes as he shouted, "Boss, that's really enough! We don't need to speed-run anymore. I'm already level fifty-nine. You don't have to spend any more money on me."

"And I'm really not afraid of heights! Please, stop throwing me!"

Mu Fengyu ignored his pleas and kept walking with him raised overhead, arguing loudly, "How can that be? Every time you go down there, you scream like a banshee. It's obvious you're still afraid of heights."

"We're going to solo the angels tomorrow. Their base is on a cliff. If you don't overcome your fear of heights, won't it mess everything up at the crucial moment?"

Mu Fengyu strode forward with determination, leaving a line of dents gouged into the ground by his enormous hand. When he reached the right spot, he threw Si You Qilong with all his strength.

After being thrown so many times, Si You Qilong had gotten used to it. He spun twice in midair, then quickly grabbed Mu Fengyu and pleaded with tears in his eyes, "Boss, give me a chance! How about you just take me through the dungeon once?"

Seeing that he really didn't want to keep grinding, Mu Fengyu sighed helplessly and hauled him back up, then said earnestly, "Sigh, little Si Long. The more you fear something, the more you need to face it. Otherwise, sooner or later, it'll come back to bite you."

"And another thing..."

Mu Fengyu rambled on with all sorts of life lessons while Si You Qilong flopped down beside him, utterly hopeless.

"Will someone come save me? Where are those people who wanted to kill me for a class change? Come save me!"