Chapter 639 - The Ark

The elf seraph opened the tower’s door. The interior was like a larger version of the very first trial tower, completely empty, with continuous energy pulses coming down the walls. Five people were already inside, sitting around a table.

“We have everyone,” the elf announced before Sofia could even enter, “Erman, launch the Ark.”

“On it, Mid,” one of the men at the table answered, he was a large beastman with feline features and a huge mane, he disappeared after giving his answer.

Beastman, Exidian, and… Andarian? Sofia thought, observing the Seraphs, then she looked at her two new teammates. Morning Star was there as expected, drinking tea with four different swords strapped to her back, and the other was also a familiar figure.

So you decided to come after all, Kuli.

She was the founder and guildmaster of the avdenturers’ guild, Kuli Hest, a tiny rabbit beastwoman, and accessorily, Sofia’s best drinking buddy after Alith. She looked uneasy sitting next to Mornn and the two remaining seraphs, who on the contrary all looked rather relaxed.

And so there are female Seraphs, too. The exidian looks like any other exidian woman, down to the small hat… But the Andarian… That’s not really what I imagined when I heard fish-people. Ah, I shouldn’t stare too much.

Pareth saluted everyone with a small bow, and Sofia decided to copy him.

“Good to see you again Sofia, been a while. Sorry Sun roped you into this,” Mornn called out.

“No worries, I agreed to it,” Sofia started answering, but she was cut there but the other elf.

“That’s it for that, trial starts now,” he said as the tower suddenly filled up an alarming amount of mana coming from underground and the beastman Seraph reappeared behind Kuli.

“We’re out first, lady,” the tall beastman seraph told Kuli, holding out a hand.

Kuli just had the time to close her eyes and take a deep breath, when she grabbed the seraph’s hand, they both disappeared.

The elf simply appeared behind Mornn, put a hand on her shoulder and they were both gone. That left only Sofia, Pareth, and the two female seraphs in the tower. The Exidian Seraph stood up first.

“I was assigned the tall dashing man over there,” she said, looking over at Pareth. She teleported in front of him, holding out a hand, “if you would, sir.”

I’ll be right after you.

Pareth grabbed her hand, they disappeared.

So I’m left with the Andarian.

The Andarian Seraph slowly stood up from her chair instead of teleporting. She was not particularly tall or impressive, she had a svelte frame and gracious movements like a dancer, the scales covering her body shimmering under Sofia’s light as she approached.

The body shape is really mostly human aside from the fins and the strange face.

“First time?” the seraph asked, her voice surprisingly soft and feminine despite her mouth full of razor-sharp pointy teeth.

“Seeing an Andarian? Yes. Sorry for staring.”

“Ahah. No need to apologize. It’s my first time seeing a Lumian, too,” she answered, walking around Sofia.

“I doubt you will get to see many, but nice to be acknowledged, I suppose. Everyone seems to just call me human anyway, despite… You know. But are we not going?”

“It’s up to you to spread the name of your new race. But good news, this is precisely the place to do so. After all, you still rank first to this day… This is also why I am stalling.”

“I still rank first… From the second trial, you mean?” Sofia asked, “How is that supposed to help here? And why the need to stall?”

“From the second trial. Your ranking is your seed for this trial. It determines a few things. For the first place, which you are technically the holder of, though the skeleton also shares it, it is a bit of a mess. That is why we have to wait for the universal alert to go through.”

“Universal alert?!”

“Well, not quite universal, only those who… Ah, it’s out.”

Sofia heard the ding of a new system notification.

‘RANK N°1 - SOFIA APHENORETH, now entering the Ark. Seats will open up for sale in 1:00:00’

Sofia gulped, “This trial… Has spectators? Wh- Who exactly received this message?!”

“Well, normally you can filter those alerts out, but Rank 1 is special so… Who exactly… Absolutely everyone above level three hundred,” the seraph explained with a thumbs up, flashing her two rows of sharp pointy teeth.

“Oh shit… And you didn’t even censor the name?!”

“Orders from above,” the seraph answered with a shrug, “as far as I can tell, we’re all still alive, aren’t we? Everything should be fine, now let’s go!”

The seraph grabbed Sofia’s shoulder and they both disappeared.

You just broadcast my name to the entire world! NOTHING IS FINE! Sofia wanted to scream as her consciousness faded.

Sofia opened her eyes in her own body, and she felt several things. First there was a fresh breeze, a strong smell of salt, and a distinct feeling of wrongness. Under a clear blue sky, she tried to understand where she was.

What the hell…

She was alone at the bow of a terrifyingly immense ship of metal, sailing on an endless blue sea that extended beyond where the eyes could see in all directions.

Space broke near her, and Pareth appeared.

“Any information on what we have to do?” Sofia asked.

Pareth shook his head.

“Well damn… This must be the Ark… I’m not even sure I can see the other end… I can tell it’s a false world, the toybox skill is reacting strangely. Have you seen the other two?”

Again Pareth answered with a negative.

“No matter, let’s get ready, Bookie!”

“I’m ready!” Bookie answered, summoning himself next to Pareth.

“Perfect. Since we have no information about what’s coming at all, we have to be ready… Wait, what’s…”

On the ark’s main deck, hundreds of people started to quickly appear in large groups, they were all level 299. Sofia quickly spotted Mornn because the tall elf stood out that much with her giant sword, she had also appeared relatively close.

“Mornn, over here!” she called out.

Everyone nearby turned to look at her.

Ah…

Pareth crossed his arms, looking back at the observers. Despite some noise in the crowd, nobody came to pick a fight, and Sun’s saintess joined Sofia by floating over the crowd.

“I just got here,” she said first thing, “any sign of Kuli?”

“I’m looking,” Sofia answered, “There are so many people… Think they’re real?”

“No,” the saintess decisively answered. “Trial illusions. I see elves I know in the midst. They’ve been over level 300 for a long time.”

“Past trial-takers, then?”

“Most likely. Sun told me nothing, so I know as much as you.”

Past trial-takers… Sofia’s eyes scanned the crowd, looking for familiar faces, but she was unsuccessful, until her gaze stopped on a shining bald head.

Holy shit! That’s Orvod!

Does that mean Saria, Cinthia and Zerei are also somewhere in there?! A demon should be easy to spot.

Oh, there are several.

Woah.

This trial is going to be crazy.

Kuli found Pareth before they could find her, the skeleton stood out that much, and the tiny guildmaster in her usual green robes landed in front of the other four.

“Happy to see you here, Sofia.”

“Thank you for coming, Kuli. How are your nerves?”

“Ahahah…” the beastwoman laughed nervously, “I’ll deal with it… I don’t want to slow you down.”

“Don’t worry, it’s a lot better to have you here than a random fourth member we can’t trust. And it looks like I don’t need to introduce Mornn here…”

“Indeed not, we have had time to converse a bit.”

The conversation was cut short by the voice of the beastman seraph blaring out on the ark’s deck, amplified hundreds of times by magic.

“Trial-takers! Welcome to this year’s third edition, of the Tournament Ark!”

“We are now on the Ark, a glorious ship going on a round trip around planet Gamma-b-13, an ocean world just a few trillions of kilometers away from ours! As you can see, there are many people around you, trialees from the past and present, you will compete with the best of the best, and have until the end of the round trip to awaken the second stage of your mana heart!”

“More detailed instructions will come as you go through the trial, but for now, let the first test begin!”

‘You have received a new quest’

[The first test of the Ark:

Accommodations on the Ark are on a first-come, first-served basis. Rooms rank down in quality with their number. You must lock yourself in a room with nobody from an enemy team to successfully reserve it. Dealing damage to other trialees is disabled.

May the fastest prevail.]

Sofia was the first to read through the entire quest with the fast-reading of [Dodge-me]. 

She did not wait for the others, she summoned the skeleton dryads and phased through the deck.

There were already other people on the lower floor, all like her, contestants looking for the rooms. A tall, pink-scaled Andarian that dinged as a Hero was not far, and already reading a drawn plan of the Ark the spanned an entire wall.

Sofia zoomed in with her left eye, not even going close.

Rooms are on the opposite side!

Sofia deployed her wings, she was about to go but she had a second of absence as the Andarian noticed her and they glanced at each other.

She recognized the eye-shaped pendant around his neck, one of the previously unclaimed prizes of the second trial’s 99th floor.

The Andarian Hero, on his part seemed to frown at the sight of Sofia’s crown. He turned in the direction of the rooms, and disappeared.

Shit! So fast!