This Is a Trial

My name is Bharata Siyou Qilong. I am a nineteen-year-old wage slave living in the Electronic District. I am unmarried and work in technical maintenance at a small company under the Kira Group.

I do not like smoking, and I cannot afford alcohol. I go to sleep around two in the morning every night and wake up around seven to go to work. I ensure I am sleep-deprived every day and slack off during work hours to get some rest.

Because I kept seeing advertisements for the game World Tree, I put together a setup to try it out. To be honest, this game is truly excellent. My spawn point was Asgard.

Just after leaving the beginner village, quite a few players rushed to add me as a friend and even gave me many positioning items, saying they would save my life in times of danger.

I had so many kind people giving me things right after entering the game; these people were actually quite nice. But as soon as I hit level thirty and lost my beginner protection, waves of people came to hunt me down. What angered me most was that several of my good friends were among them.

To save my life, I had no choice but to put my level-up points into my race, but I was still caught in a jungle. They intended to let a human newbie kill me to complete a job change.

I was not about to give them that chance. As he approached, I suddenly raised my giant arm, preparing to swat him to death. Of course, the high-level player beside him certainly wouldn't let me succeed, and he kicked me aside roughly.

But this was my actual escape route. My body self-destructed, leaving only my core to flee rapidly. Although the core has no abilities and I cannot even open my inventory, I can recover if given some time.

However, several angels happened to appear on my escape route, and they started playing with my core like a ball. That dizzying, spinning sensation was terrible. Then, the humans hunting me arrived there as well.

The two sides communicated smoothly. Just as I was preparing to log off and delete the game after dying, an alien race player descended with justice and saved me. After healing me, he easily skewered the level-one-hundred angels into the ground like kebabs, then clapped his hands and summoned whatever he needed.

But that is not the point. The point is that this person wants to take me to solo the Tears of Angels guild. May I ask how to refuse? Waiting online, very urgent.

Mu Fengyu squatted down and looked at him earnestly. He had to squat; the little guy had leveled his race stats randomly, and now he couldn't even lift his head.

"Little Siyou, you have to trust me. With my strength and your combat power, wouldn't us going to solo the Tears be an absolute slaughter?"

Siyou Qilong's mouth twitched. He didn't know where to start complaining, so he decided to just treat it as repaying the life debt and go die with him.

"Fine, but let's get this straight: I don't have much combat power and can't help you with anything."

"How could that be? We aren't going until tomorrow anyway. Come, let me take you to level up first."

After saying that, he dragged him toward a nearby dungeon. Grinding for experience in the wild was too slow; for leveling up, one had to look at dungeons.

Before long, the two stood at an eighty-five-level Spider Nest dungeon. All they had to do was jump down to begin the joyful leveling process.

Siyou Qilong looked curiously at Mu Fengyu beside him. They had been standing at the top for so long, so why hadn't the big shot sent him a party invitation yet?

"Big shot, why aren't you sending a party invite?"

Mu Fengyu patted him and said earnestly.

"Little Siyou, do you know what speed-running is?"

He shook his head blankly, thinking to himself, Is this some kind of rapid leveling technique that only big shots understand?

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 these were, Mu Fengyu answered him enthusiastically.

"What you have in your hand is the highest-grade Magic Sealing Crystal. What I poured on you is an item that attracts a large number of monsters. So-called speed-running is art, and art is an explosion."

"I found this place specifically based on your current situation. Once you go in, quickly climb to a high platform. When the monsters have all gathered, or when you feel you can't hold on anymore, just use the Magic Sealing Crystal."

"I've sealed a tenth-tier magic spell inside it; it's guaranteed to blow up a huge crowd, though you won't be able to block the monsters that come afterward."

"But that wave of experience is worth more than what is deducted upon death. It's the king of cost-effectiveness. You'll reach level sixty in twenty-something runs at most."

"And there's this, too."

As he spoke, Mu Fengyu pulled a small altar item from between his legs and scanned Siyou Qilong with it.

"This is a special item for rapid resurrection. It's usually only used when grinding monsters in the wild. With this, you won't have to wait for the resurrection timer."

Siyou Qilong's brain crashed; system startup failed. It made sense; the price of a Magic Sealing Crystal capable of sealing a tenth-tier spell wasn't cheap to begin with, let alone this altar item. This one run alone cost more than his salary for the better part of a year.

Mu Fengyu saw that he hadn't reacted for a long time and assumed he had defaulted to the proposal, just afraid of heights and too scared to go down. He could only kindly help Little Siyou overcome his fear.

With Siyou Qilong wearing an O_o expression, he threw him down headfirst. One could hear his heart-wrenching screams halfway down.

Mu Fengyu clapped his hands, nodded with satisfaction, and muttered to himself.

"It seems the effect is quite good. The best way to overcome fear is to face it. I really am a genius."

"Little Siyou, you have to hold on."

For the next half hour, Siyou Qilong was voluntarily-involuntarily thrown down, climbed to high places to use the Magic Sealing Crystal, and was beaten to death by monsters the entire time.

After his twenty-first resurrection, he finally managed to persuade Mu Fengyu. At that moment, Mu Fengyu was holding him in mid-air, preparing to throw him down again, while Siyou Qilong was digging his giant arms into the ground, his eyes flashing with fear as he shouted loudly.

"Big shot, that's really enough! No need to speed-run anymore. I'm already level fifty-nine; don't trouble yourself with the expense anymore."

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

Mu Fengyu ignored his pleas, held him up, and continued walking forward, loudly refuting him.

"How could that be? Every time you go down, you howl like a ghost. It's obvious you're still afraid of heights."

"We're going to solo the Tears tomorrow, and their stronghold is on a cliff. If you don't overcome your fear of heights, won't you be finished at the critical moment tomorrow?"

Mu Fengyu walked forward firmly, leaving behind tracks carved by the giant arms. He walked to a fixed position and threw him with force.

Having been thrown so many times, Siyou Qilong was now familiar with the situation. After spinning twice in the air, he grabbed Mu Fengyu with quick reflexes and said with teary eyes.

"Big shot, give me a chance. How about you just take me through it once?"

Seeing that he really didn't want to grind anymore, Mu Fengyu sighed helplessly, pulled him up, and said earnestly.

"Sigh, Little Siyou, the more one fears something, the more one must face it, otherwise you'll suffer a huge loss at some point."

"And also..."

Mu Fengyu kept rambling on with all sorts of grand principles, while Siyou Qilong lay paralyzed to the side, looking like he had lost the will to live.

"Someone save me. Where are those people who wanted to kill me for a job change? Come and save me!"