Emilio held both weapons in his hands for a bit more, appreciating its blackness. After a little while, he decided to put them back in their sheaths and check the rest of the System notifications.

  Show me the Quests.

  ‘Let's go in order, Show Promise.’

  That confirms Ami’s theory. We can increase the Stats in some way, but it shouldn’t be too easy if reaching 7 means there is a reward. Given that the Void Twin Daggers are an example of the rewards the System gives, it should be one hell of a treasure hunt.

  For now let's keep going on. ‘Grow in the Starter Trial.’

  Void? Does that mean that my name got approved? Am I being spied on? Emilio started to look around. Well, this System just made a weapon appear out of nowhere, it might be omnipresent as well. Is it God? Actually, it’s not my problem. I just have to know that I can improve my Void. And all points to the Starter Trial.

  “Wait, my Void or Voids?” Emilio asked out loud, “Is it just one or two? The System treated them as one, but called them in plural. Also, does the word Void even have a plural? Why did I have to choose a name like that?”

  Emilio sighed at his choice and finally decided, “Collectively they will be the Void Twin Daggers, individually they shall be called Right Void and Left Void. That should solve it, right?”

  Satisfied with his new naming decision, Emilio decided to finally check what the Starter Trial was in the System. After all, Amelia should have been in there too and his whole reason for entering the Monolith was to find her.

  One for each Stat then. If I had to choose between them, then let’s go with Vitality. I will need some more vitality if things like this are going to start happening. We still don’t know exactly what each Stat means but the names are kind of self explanatory for now. If I can increase them, maybe I will be able to get more details about what they are.

  ‘I chose the Vitality Trial.’

  The world around Emilio changed again as he got transported to another space. It was similar to the previous one but the colour of his surroundings was not white anymore, but pale red. This time, the place looked even more ephemeral as there was no stand, so Emilio was literally in the middle of nowhere, with nothing around.

  As he started to observe the environment, he started feeling that something was entering his body through his skin. It wasn’t the same energy he felt enter the daggers before, but something different. It didn’t feel heavy, but instead it felt warm. As the new energy entered his body, he felt as he started to slowly heat up.

  Emilio soon realized that this was what he was supposed to endure and he sat down on the red floor to try to feel what it really was.

  The substance kept accumulating inside his body. Soon enough the rising heat began to hurt.

  Emilio sat still, enduring pain and started to lose track of time. He didn’t know if he was doing well in the Trial or not. He just endured the heat and pain hoping for it to be over soon. After a while, the energy stopped accumulating and the System reacted.

  Emilio felt happy about passing the trial, but he also realized how hard it was going to be to achieve the 7 in every Stat. It wasn’t hard to guess that every point was going to be harder than the previous one, and he had to do it for all four Stats.

  As he was thinking, Emilio started to feel that the new energy that was now inside of his body started to move and integrate itself into his blood. It was fusing with his blood to raise his vitality.

  When the fusion finished, he felt completely refreshed. It was as if he just slept 10 hours and was several years younger at the same time. He felt he had the energy to do whatever he wanted to do and not get tired at all.

  Vitality was definitely the right choice! I love this system!

  Emilio wanted to check what this Skill was, but he was surprised by the flux of energy that started to enter his body again. Apparently, the trial wasn’t over and he had to keep enduring.

  Time started passing again and Emilio soon realized that the energy flow was even bigger than before. He knew that unless something changed, there was no way he could pass the trial again.

  When he reached that conclusion, he decided he had to at least try to do something to turn the tables. He started focusing on the redish energy flowing into his body. How did he know it was red if he couldn’t see it? He didn’t know, but he knew it seemed more red than the other energy he had felt.

  Emilio focused on this new energy and tried to somewhat lessen the friction it had with his body. As he was focusing something in his mind clicked and the energy started to obey him just a little bit and was able to make the whole situation much better. Even if the amount of energy was more than on the previous trial, he could guide it through his body and lessen the strain to be even less than at the end of the previous trial.

  Emilio could be seen seated on the floor, receiving the heat with a smile on his face, completely focused on learning how to control this new energy.

  By the time the flow ended he was a little bit disappointed, he felt that he was starting to get the hang of how to control it and wanted to keep practicing.

  As the energy started to fuse with his body, Emilio decided to try to understand how it was fusing with his blood, but even if he was able to somewhat control the energy, he couldn’t see inside his body to understand what was happening with his blood.

  He decided to just enjoy the process. It felt like having a full night’s rest in a few minutes, together with having a massage, but from the inside of the body.

  With that announcement, the other type of energy in the air, the one that felt heavy and colourless, started to move again and entered the daggers in his hips.

  While the daggers were upgrading, Emilio decided to check the new information in the system that he didn’t have the time to check before.

  ‘Show me my Skills.’

  What does it do? Let’s see, 'I want to check the Focus Vitality Skill.'

  “Ohh, so that’s why I could control the energy! It must be considered Vitality. I might have used this Skill. It’s good to know I can activate it by just wanting to do what the Skill entails,” Emilio commented.

  As he finished reading the Skill, the energy entering the daggers stopped. The upgrade had finished and he had to continue with his own Trial.

  Once again the Vitality started pouring into Emilio. This time with even more intensity than before. He immediately started to focus on the energy to guide it, but he felt a problem. This time the amount of Vitality entering his body was too much to handle. It was like trying to push a car by yourself. You might be able to do it, but you have to use all your strength to move it just a little.

  As Emilio focused on guiding the Vitality he felt both his body and mind strangled. He knew his method was not sustainable long term, but he could handle himself for a while.

  The System said that my proficiency in the Skill is 5%, so I have plenty of space to improve! Emilio thought as he focused on trying to improve just a little bit at a time.

  Emilio sat in the empty space, holding himself as the Vitality kept pouring into him. He was focused on raising his control, but as he improved the amount of Vitality he had to resist rose too. In this weird balance, time kept going on as he slowly passed the Trial.

  This time Emilio was too spent out to do nothing but rest while the upgrade happened. He stayed still, lying on the floor and considering how he was going to withstand the next trial, or even worse, the one after! If he couldn't, he would lose the chance to reach 7 points in every Stat and lose the Quest right from the beginning. After all, the warning did say he could only access the Trial once per week, so he only had one chance per Stat.

  As the Vitality started to flow again into his body, Emilio realized he could control it much better than before. Even if he couldn't read what it did, he was sure it was because of the new Vitality Control Trait he had just earned. He was really thankful as it was exactly what he needed.

  Emilio kept controlling the Vitality to the best of his ability. Trying to control the Vitality to not hurt his body as it kept increasing. He felt better than in the last trial, but the energy was rising at a much faster rate. Emilio really couldn’t tell if he would be able to finish this Trial or not.

  He just kept going, forgetting about everything but the Vitality in his body.

  Time kept going on. Emilio couldn't think of anything else than to control the Vitality and try to be better at controlling it.

  He felt the strain was too much, both on his mind and his body. He felt like he couldn’t stand it anymore but he resisted by focusing on what to do. Suddenly the pain stopped.

  And he passed out.

  Thanks for reading!

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