Chapter 2 - Where It All Started

Elior opened his eyes gently and found himself in an unfamiliar room. His head felt heavier than usual, as if he had slept for a long time. He sat upright as he gazed around the white room.

"This is the summoning room," he muttered under his breath. He was about to examine his body when he heard a voice behind him.

"It's about time you wake up."

Elior twisted his head behind to notice a cute little Pixie flapping its wing lazily as it hovered in the air. It—no—'it' was not right. He knew better. This Pixie was not an 'it' but a she. She may be only a tiny Pixie now, but she had the power to squash his body like a fly. Moreover, he had quite a good relationship with her in the first time.

Yemrmix was her name, a Faerie in charge of an otherworlder like himself. Yemrmix was no larger than a dozen centimetres, with milky white skin. Though tiny, she had a humanoid figure with two pairs of white little wings on her back.

"Kid, if you're a few minutes late I would have left you in the trial on your own," Yemrmix said, still flapping lazily.

"Kid?" Elior snorted. This was not the only time she called him Kid. Though faeries have long lives as some of the powerful ones could live up to a thousand years, but the one flying around him was by no means aged. As far as he knew, Yemrmix was no older than himself. "Little Pixie, you should look in the mirror before calling someone a kid."

Yemrmix frowned. Her complexion twisted into a ghastly, enraged one. It appeared that she was considering the usage of violence.

Elior gulped. "No. You can't hit me. It's in the rules." He said instantly. It appeared that after waking up twice in headache made him slow. He made a blunder. He should have remembered not to joke with Yemrmix about her age.

The ghastly, enraged expression vanished from the Pixie's exterior, but the frown still remained. She asked. "Rule? How do you know about the rule?"

"Well, it's a wild guess," Elior said, playing dumb. "I guessed there should be some rules and regulations in this . . . whatever game you called."

Yemrmix gazed didn't leave him. She was still suspicious of him, but didn't continue on with that. "Let's not waste more time. I have only about a quarter of an hour left to help you as you slept away for hours."

"What?" Elior stood up.

"Well, I should have said this earlier, but you're asleep." The Pixie didn't mind him, flapped her wings around him, and announced. "Welcome to the Mother World. I'm the trial helper that will help you in some cases. You can refer to me as Yemrmix.

"You're one of the many otherworlders that got the chance to enter the Mother World. Listen carefully, the Mother World is bigger than the world you came from. Even though our method is a little autocratic. . ."

"A little autocratic?" Elior lifted an eyebrow at that. They have abducted him with thousands of other folks from the different worlds with no prior notice. Is it a little autocratic? At least they could send him an email first. Even a letter would have been fine.

Well, the UN government did mention to them there would be another exam. But there were no mentions of dimension travel. And even prior to this, they were never told that there was even a freaking Mother World.

"A little to us," the Pixie smiled. "It will be a little easier if you just listen. The planet you live on, Earth is it called? It is connected to the Mother World with thousands of more planets. Mother World is the singularity that keeps the balance of this multiverse . . ."

Elior listened to Yemrmix, though all she said was old news to him. The first time they summoned him here, his head almost drove eccentric, hearing all these. He just gave a few mindless nods to the little Pixie, showing he was listening.

". . . so after the trial, you can go back to your little Earth. Yemrmix finished her introduction. "Am I clear?"

"As clear as crystal," Elior answered with a smile. "So what now?"

The Pixie gave him a peculiar look before opening its mouth again. "You're a little different from other earthlings that were brought here."

"Of course I am." He asked again. "So what now?"

"You're peculiar," Yemrmix said. "If you haven't slept away most of the time here, I would've been able to help you further. Never mind, let's open your status window first."

The Pixie flapped its wings to fly in front of his forehead before placing her tiny palms in the middle of his brows. As a line of golden light came in front of his eye.

[Earthling: Elior Vishwas, please choose your Guardian ID name.]

"Elior." He chose the same name he chose the first time. The system asked for confirmation, which he affirmed without thinking. Yemrmix flew away from his forehead as his status window appeared virtually in front of his eyes.

[You have temporarily given the title of Guardian Apprentice. To make the title permanent, you have to succeed in the Trial.]

[Title: Guardian Apprentice (Provisional)

With this title, you can access Mother World. It also helps you in understanding other languages of the mother world and other planets. This is only limited to the conversation. You will not be able to read or write any other language you are unfamiliar with.

P.S: You cannot converse with any lower or higher-order being with this ability.]

[Name: Elior

Title: Guardian Apprentice (Provisional)

Locked

Race: Human

Alignment: Neutral, Chaos.

Age: 16

Class: None

Level: 1

Health: 80 Mana: 120

Strength: 5

Agility: 7

Dexterity: 7

Constitution: 8

Endurance: 4

Intelligence: 12

Perception: 8

Luck: 14

Free stat points: 0

Abilities:

Eye of Genesis (Unknown)

Skills:

None.]

Elior grunted, looking at his status window. His attributes might be decent compared to other earthlings, but it was about average in the standard of the Mother World. 'Guess I've to grind fast to grow stronger,' he mused inside. He's only level 1 now; with his previous life experience, he could cover his weakness in a few weeks.

Suddenly, Elior frowned, noticing that there's something on his abilities tab. In his previous time, he had never come across with this ability, [Eye of Genesis].

With his interest piqued, Elior concentrated on the [Eye of Genesis], and soon the tab expanded.

[Eye of Genesis (Unknown):

There is no information available for this ability.]

Elior's expression turned sour but remembered he didn't have much time in hand. So he made a mental note to fret over this later.

"Have you done checking your minuscule attributes," Yemrmix said, still hovering lazily in the air. "Now let me give you a few general information about the attributes."

Elior shook his head. "No need," he said. "It's just like the RPG games from Earth."

"You would be gravely mistaken if you think like that." The Pixie eyed him. "But I guess that would explain most of the things."

Elior nodded. He would have liked to spend more time with this little pixie, but as she had said, he didn't have much time.

"As we have little time in our hands, let's get to what's next," Yemrmix continued, noticing his affirmation. "Like any other participant, you will be given four pieces of equipment of your choice. Remember, all the equipment here is the basics of basics. So don't embarrass yourself by asking for some god slaying weapons that can cause genesis."

Of course, Elior knew that. He knew even further than that. He knew what the little pixie was forbidden to mention as well.

Four pieces of equipment might sound quite appealing, but apparently, it's not.

Let's suppose you chose armour as one of your equipment. Here's the catch, you can't actually take a full set of armour with only one pick. The breastplate would take one option, the armguards take another, the helmet would take another, and so on. So you can't actually make a full set of armour with only four choices. The same goes for other equipment. Bow and arrow took two chances.

After thinking for a brief moment, Elior came to a decision. His physical attributes were only average, so it would cause many difficulties if he got injured using a blade or knife. But good for him, he's not only adept in a single weapon.

"Give me a spear," Elior said. "A crossbow and bolts." A crossbow is way better than an actual bow with low stats.

"Three choices are made," Yemrmix smiled, but seeing no response from Elior continued. "Quick, choose the last."

"For the last choice," Elior said, brimming out his whites. "Give me a broom."

"Eh? Why a broom?" The little pixie asked. Clearly, she was lost by the humans' choice.

Elior's exterior was still flashing the smile. "Cause I'm going to sweep the trial empty."

"Haha, you?" Yemrmix laughed, mocking him. "You're joking, right?"

"Yes, I was joking about the broom," Elior said. "For my last pick, give me a tool for healing."

"A wise choice," the Pixie said. She held her arm as four pieces of equipment fell to the floor.

[You have received: Simple Spear.

Damage 4-9.

Durability 8/8.

Item class: Common. Quality: Average.

Length: 1.6 metres.]

[You have received: Basic Crossbow.

Damage: 6-8.

Durability: 10/10.

Item class: Common. Quality: Average.]

[You have received: Basic bolts. Quantity x12.

Damage 3-5.

Durability 2/2.

Item class: Common. Quality: Average.]

[You have received: Minor ring of healing.

Heals 40 health of wearers. Cooldown: 10 minutes. Can be used twice per day.

Durability 8/8. Item class: Common. Quality: good.]

Elior slipped the ring of healing on his ring finger instantly. At least they gave him straps and a belt to attach the weapons. He left the crossbow and arrows on his both waist with the spear on his back. The spear was a good head shorter than him, so it didn't cause any discomfort in moving.

"By the way, I was not joking about sweeping the trial," Elior said after he finished equipping. "I planned to do that."

"Humans are hilarious," Yemrmix laughed. "Little boy, do you know who you're competing against? It's not just humans from your little earth. There will be participants from other planets as well, not to mention the Mother world. You just hope that there won't be anyone from the Mother world."

Elior's expression didn't change. "So what?" He asked nonchalantly.

The pixie shook her head. "Let's get this straight. Do you know how far away your earth is from other planets?" Yemrmix softened her voice. Proud as she may be, she was good in heart. "You have no idea what you're up against. So, throw that fool's dream into the gutter and pick something you can achieve. Like staying alive for starters."

Elior snorted at the pixie. Of course, he knew how far away he was from the scions of the mother world. But that didn't mean he had no chance. He had experienced countless battles, wars over a decade, and how many of them had that.

The answer was simple. None.

If he couldn't even win against a few greenhorns, what's the point of reversing time?

"Did you get it?" The pixie asked, noticing his pondering expression.

"Yes. I mean no, I'll stick with my plan," Elior said. "I'll come first in the trial."

Yemrmix shook her head in annoyance. She was trying to help him, but it looked like the human was headstrong.

"You don't seem to believe me, you don't think I can win?"

"Of course I don't think so." The Pixie flapped her wings further upwards. "You didn't have the faintest possibility of winning."

"Really?" Elior mused. A mischievous idea came into his head immediately as he spoke. "How about we bet then?"

But the Pixie didn't agree. "No, I don't want to," Yemrmix said. "There's no point in betting if I can win it easily."

"Little pixie, you seemed to think too soft of me," Elior said. He attacked Yemrmix again, calling her 'little pixie'—which was more than enough to irritate her. She's but an open book to him.

"Fine, I was thinking about letting you go, but it seems you're the type that throws themselves against open arrows."

'Bingo,' Elior mused inwardly. Yemrmix was too easy to predict.

"So what's the wager?"

"I have nothing in mind for now," Elior said. "Let's discuss that after the trial."

"Alright, but the wager would be nothing drastic," Yemrmix agreed. "It will be something the other party can achieve with their capabilities and would not cause any harm to them."

"Deal." Elior nodded, then grinned out. "Then I'm off to sweep the trial empty."

The little Pixie snorted in response. "You better make sure you're in one piece after the fourth day."

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