“The young adults mostly have brown belts… I’ll take a brown one too. I risk looking overconfident with this one, but with the other one, I risk looking like a child.”

I’m tempted to take a red one, but this is not the place to be taking such high risks. Not when I can get ‘thrown out’. The brown one is already a bit dangerous; white is probably the safest choice. But also a bit boring.

She grabbed a brown belt and returned to the painting with the clearest vision of a belt knot, the portrait of the Master. Lords… How did they even end up with a knot like that? It’s clearly deliberate, but it’s so complex… Why so complex?! Is this a belt-tying trial?

Sofia struggled to understand how to do this properly. No matter what she tried, it didn’t work, she even summoned the soldier skeleton to help her figure it out, but she was running out of time, and the knot on her belt still looked nothing like the one in the painting.

Oh, whatever. I need to at least sit. She looked at the cushions, hesitating. I’ll go for the one facing the Master.

The preparation time ran out just as she unsummoned the soldier skeleton and adjusted her sitting posture to mimic the one in the paintings.

The sliding door of the men's changing room opened, and out came the old elf from the painting. Wearing a white uniform with a red belt, walking chin up, straight like a ruler, with his arms behind his back. He gracefully sat facing Sofia on the brown cushion without saying a word.

[Fighter - Lv. 400+]

Oh... I’m glad I didn’t take a red belt!

Sofia tried not to look too much, but the ‘Master’ was staring at her, not hiding it in the slightest. Is he inspecting me?

The old elf opened his mouth. His voice was soft and deep, oozing authority despite its calmness, “Student, your knot is crooked.”

I… Yeah, I know! What… Do I answer?

“Well?” The Master continued, “Are you not going to the changing room to fix it?”

Sorry, old man, there’s no way I’ll manage to fix it, especially in the changing room without a reference… “Please pardon me, Master. I seem to have forgotten how to tie my belt.”

The Master clicked his tongue. “You have? What did they teach you out there, student, that you would forget how to tie a belt?” He snapped his fingers, and Sofia’s belt untied and quickly reformed, too fast for her uniform to open, the new knot pristine like the Master’s.

Kind of a useless skill to have, but neat. “Thank you very much, master.”

“Never show up with an untidy belt again.”

“Of course, master. I am sorry.”

Now how do I get this guy’s approval? And approval for what? Does he know this is a trial, he didn’t seem like it? Is he real, or is it another trick of the system?

“Show me your status, student.”

Should I? I mean, if he’s part of the system, it’s not like they don’t have access to it already…

The MasterMaster glanced at Sofia’s full status page. Looking confused, he scratched his head, messing up his cleanly tied-up black hair. “Student…” He sounds worried?

“What have you done with your skills, student? Are you mad? Did you fry your brain instead of your rice, student? Such a bad cook you are.”

I … “I understand your doubts, Master, but these skills have been exactly what I needed to strive until now.” I’d like to see you try to cook something better with the words I had, dry-aged old man!

“If you say so, student. If you say so. At least they are properly leveled, for the most part. Why the neglect of [Heal undead]?”

Is this how this is going to go? At least the training paid off. I can imagine how he might react if all my skills were under-leveled…

“[Heal undead] is inconvenient due to the space it requires and the high mana cost. It’s inefficient for healing a lot of strong undead due to the restored health being tied to the cost, and I already have [Bone dominus]’s blessed construct for free passive healing.”

“I see. You should learn to free-cast it soon to free up more space. [Restore command] is a decent alternative as well.”

He can even see my free keywords?

“[Restore command] is also a healing skill?”

“Can you not read, student?” the Master questioned, looking at Sofia like she insulted his whole lineage, “[Restore command] is a restoration skill for repairing objects. It is not ideal to heal a living being, but it will do quick work of a broken skeleton.”

“I will consider learning it. Thank you for your guidance, master.”

“Do not thank me, student. You are here to learn."

Sofia nodded.

“Your classless skills are not bad. But [Poker face] is a weakling’s skill. One should learn to master their emotions or to accept them. Hiding them behind a skill is admitting defeat against yourself. I expect you to get rid of this unbecoming crutch as soon as possible.”

‘[Poker Face] reached level 37’

“S- sure, Master. What would you suggest as a replacement?”

“So, at least you still recognize this old one’s value. I recommend [Friendly fire].”

Friendly fire? Some kind of fire resistance? I could see the use of that…

The Master opened a description of the skill for Sofia to read.

[Friendly fire] ♢ : You receive 19.9% (Class level/10) less damage from your own magic.

… I don’t even have the bolt in my skills anymore, so how’d he come up with that? But also… That would be useful to have, for sure… Losing [Poker face], though... I don’t really like that. It’s been plenty useful until now. But I get his point; it’s true that I could train to control my face without the skill. And I’ve had it for so long I feel like even if I delete it now, there’ll be some remnants.

Well, this [Friendly fire] is not a skill that needs leveling, so I can wait to take it. But can I even learn it? It wasn’t in the available list last time I checked. Never saw any skill like that.

Sofia looked through, and she could actually learn that skill right now if she wanted. Did him bringing it up add it to the list, or was it already there, and I never noticed?

“That was a valuable insight, thank you, master.”

“Hmm. I know what it is you seek, student. You are not ready.”

So he does know about the trial? “I trained as much as I felt was necessary.” Unless he means the whole killing Scripture thing, in which case, yeah.

“And the results are clear, student; nevertheless, enough it is not.”

“Then what is enough?”

“Nothing. The goal you set out to achieve is impossible. Give up. You are not special, student. You will fail like everyone before you.”

At fully clearing the trial or at killing a God? Which one is it, old man?!

“If I am not special, then no one is. This is fine, though. I will still try. It doesn’t matter if it is impossible and I fail. I will at least try. Give it my best shot. For this, like for everything else.”

The Master and Sofia stared each other in the eye. Him disapprovingly, her calm and collected. The old elf looked away first. Like a deflated jug, his posture wasn’t so straight anymore. “Student… You do understand that your life is on the line, do you not?”

“I do. It is nothing unusual.”

“Unnecessary bravery has no merit.”

“What if it is necessary?” Like, to kill a god?

“I understand your plight, student, but be warned, explosive growth often leads to an explosive death.”

He’s really trying to discourage me… As if I would give up now. I won’t be stopped by an old man fancying himself a master.

“I see that you stand unconvinced, student.” The old man’s voice had turned sinister. Without using his hands, he stood up from his cushion.

Before Sofia could even react, he was holding her up by the neck, her feet dangling in the air. She was shocked and couldn’t talk, but she didn’t need to breathe, so at least she wasn’t suffocating. She couldn't activate any skill. Even Pareth tried to get out and couldn’t.

“See, student. This is how easy you are to neutralize. How weak you still are.”

His eyes stared into Sofia’s soul, but as the last thing she could do, she kept her calm disposition as she stared back.

‘[Poker Face] reached level 38’

‘[Poker Face] reached level 39’

‘[Poker Face] reached level 40’

The old elf released his grip and gave a last piece of advice.

“Never forget it. Now go ahead, student. I will be watching your climb.”

[Objective completed in 8 minutes 40 seconds, teleporting to floor 7]

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