Instead of pondering too much, he decided first to look around as much as possible before he couldn’t anymore. So, the boy started to run around. Examining as much as possible. As much as he could but his search was useless. He couldn’t find a single clue as to how he was supposed to clear this trial and move to the next floor. To make it worse, a total of 32 tornadoes had formed and more were in the process of forming. Without a clue as to what he should do next, the boy simply stared at the tornadoes

  “If the answer isn’t in the field... could it be that it's in the wind?” The boy thought while watching the forming windy disasters

  He believed that the answer of the trial seemed to be within the tornadoes but getting close to those was asking for a death sentence. Something that he had no interest in. Not only were the tornadoes powerful but they were surrounded by more of them, which made the situation even trickier. The boy took out one of his guns and shot a tornado in the hope of hitting something. To nobody’s surprise, the meaningless attempt failed. That’s what the boy had originally thought. Because when the bullet lands in front of him, he realizes something when he picks up the bullet.

  “If I enter those, I'll be ripped apart but if I ride the wind correctly just like the bullet did on its way back.” The boy thought as he looked at the mark the tornado had left on the bullet

  He then lifts his head up to look at the tornadoes standing tall before him. He simply stood there and stared. Not a single word came out of his mouth and not a single thought formed in his mind. He had entered a trance-like state. Tornadoes kept forming while the boy remained in that state, not moving a single inch. While the boy remained still, the same couldn't be said about the tornadoes now. They had started to advance towards the boy, but he remained in place. The tornadoes had now grown close enough to leave cuts on the boy’s body, however, a change occurred to the boy. A green flame-like aura started to appear around him. The boy took a step forward, then another, and another. Until he was right in front of a wall of tornadoes. Oddly enough, unlike a few seconds ago, the wind seemed to not harm. And so, he kept walking and entered a tornado, then another one, and another one. He kept walking through those. At some point, in the middle of one of them, a giant double door of steel stood before him. As soon as the boy’s hand lands on the door, his consciousness seems to resurface, and the green aura disappears. At the same time, the wind starts to cut the boy’s body, so he quickly pushes the door open and jumps past them

  “What was that?” The boy thought while looking at his hands. “For a moment... I felt like I controlled the wind. But that’s impossible!”

  The boy raises his head finally looking at his surroundings. He was floating on top of a mini boat made of multiple logs of wood and as far as the eye could see, nothing more than water. Thanks to the previous trial, the one named the trial of storm by the boy, he understood that he needed to find the door leading to the next one and that the door was most likely in the infinite and vast sea. The answer was simple he needed to recreate the phenomena that he went through during the previous trial. Easier said than done. So, the boy closed his eyes and remembered. The exact feeling that led to the phenomena. What he felt as he stared at those towering tornadoes and at that moment a word appeared in his mind

  “Essence.” The boy thought. “When I stared at those tornadoes, I felt the essence of the wind, the essence of the storm. The answer to this trial is the same as the last one. The essence”

  The boy opens his eyes and stares at the vast endless sea

  “The essence of the sea.” He says while staring. “That’s what I need to pass this trial. It should help me reach the door that’s probably at the bottom of the sea. What is this feeling? Things are becoming much clearer. The sea... a home for some, a disaster for others, and a necessity for everything... I’m missing something.”

  The boy gets up. While staring at the blue ocean, he takes off his clothes and keeps only his underwear on

  “I’ll find the answer.” He says as he dives into the water

  The boy was now in the water. The deeper he sunk in, the heavier the water got.

  “I see.” The boy thought. “Peace. It’s so peaceful.”

  A blue aura surrounds the boy, protecting him from the heaviness of the sea. That’s not the only thing that had appeared. Indeed, a door appears on the seabed. He slowly lands and pushes open the door. A bright light shines blinding the boy. Once he opened his eyes, he was wearing the clothes that he left on the wooden raft. More importantly, he was now in the middle of a canyon. In the middle of the canyon, a great fissure separates it in two. The boy had now understood what the trials existed for.

  “I need to grasp the essence of earth.” He says as he sits down

  In only a matter of minutes, the boy had already grasped the essence of earth. He opens his eyes to a brown aura surrounding him. Proof that he had understood the essence of earth

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  “Is this supposed to be this easy?” The boy thought as he got up

  “Odd.” A voice from a being says as it watches the boy with its eyes closed. “Grasping an essence can take dozens of years, yet the boy managed to do so in minutes. The trials are not meant to be this easy.”

  An earthquake. The boy looks around as the earth starts to shake wildly

  “What is going on?” The boy says as the shaking grows stronger

  Cracks start to appear on the ground. The boy takes out a gun and a knife when he notices that the cracks are quickly closer to him. Right under him, the ground completely breaks, and a snake-like brown monster rises from that spot. The boy quickly uses the face of the serpent-like being and jumps back. He lands on the ground and immediately blasts a few shots at the monster. The scales on the monster's body render each shot useless as they simply bounce off its body. A wingless and limbless serpent from the dragoon family. The boy knew exactly what he was facing

  “A wyrm.” He says as he reloads his ammunition. “Something isn’t right. After the first trial, the other two were meant to understand the essence. Why did a wyrm suddenly appear?”

  The wyrm dives into the ground. Lost, the boy looks around for any signs of movement; however, nothing happens. Once more, the wyrm emerges from under the boy.

  “How? There were no signs of movement!” The boy thought as he looked at the wyrm. “Now’s not the time.”

  Since he hadn’t finished reloading his gun, he took out the other and shot the wyrm in the eye. In pain, the beast starts to swing its head around smashing the boy into the ground in the process. He coughs up blood after hitting the ground which falls back on his face. The boy used everything within him and managed to get up, however, the wyrm had already dived back in

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.” The boy says as he looks around

  This time, the wyrm emerges right in front of him. The boy immediately dashed backward, however, noticed something in the process

  “It’s body! It’s not completely out!” The boy thought

  And he was right. Because the tail of the snake-like beast comes out behind him and smashes him to the ground once more. The wyrm immediately dives in for a bite, but the boy throws a smoke bomb in the wyrm’s face. He quickly uses this chance to create some distance, but the wyrm emerges from the ground before him again. In response, he quickly rolls forward and dodges the bite of the wyrm

  “The trials are meant to grasp the essence.” The boy thought. “That means that the answer to this lies in the essence of earth.”

  The boy closes his eyes and starts to emit a brown aura. The wyrm that had already dived back in emerges from the ground once more but this time the boy seems to have seen it coming since he rolls back and shoots at the wyrm's other eye. The wyrm screams in pain as it throws itself to the ground. Now in a frenzy, the beast started to squirm around destroying everything around in the process

  “Just great.” The boy says. “Killing a wyrm is over me, there has to be another way to clear this.”

  The boy closed his eyes and emitted a brown aura. It was now clear how he managed that last feat. The essence of earth he had grasped allowed him to sense everything the earth did. Indeed, he found something. The answer to this trial. The boy got up and started to run toward the edge separating the canyon in two. The wyrm, when it felt the boy’s movement on the earth, stopped its frenzy and chased after it. The boy, just as he is about to get eaten by the wyrm, jumps into the seemingly endless fissure in the earth. The wyrm trembled. Whatever the reason was, the boy’s decision scared the wyrm to its core. So, it turned around and ran. In the fissure, the boy was falling to his death when he saw a brown bright light shining in the darkness. A brown diamond was now floating next to the boy as he had fallen deeper. The answer resided in that very diamond. The boy reached out to it but failed to grab the crystal. A green aura surrounds the boy, and a breeze of wind pushes the crystal into the boy’s hand

  “I know what I need to do!” The boy thought when he firmly grabbed the crystal

  As the wyrm runs away, a chain lodges itself into its torso. At the other end of the chain, the boy got pulled out of the fissure. He lands on the wyrm's body and the chain reverts into the crystal he grabbed in the fissure. He plunges his hand into the injury he made with the chain and manipulates the essence of earth within the crystal to seal the wyrm. Turning it into stone. He had survived once more. He had found the answer once more. But a question resounded within

  “Was I just lucky? And if I was, how long will this luck last?” The boy wondered as he looked at the new door that appeared. “How many more trials remain? How much more can I endure... This is why I never wanted to get involved in this world.”

  The boy walks up to the door and just like always; after opening the door, he opens his eyes to a new environment. This time, it was a land of cold and ice. With nothing but ice everywhere and in the sky a full moon. The trials weren’t finished. He had to go through another trial. Will he lose his life this time? Will he manage to make it out again? How many more trials remained? This question kept emerging and ringing within the boy. The boy, ever since that day, learned to hold his feelings in. He learned to control his expression and keep his emotions at bay. He never showed what he felt but this time, the anger within couldn't be suppressed. It couldn’t be hidden. He was angry

  The boy walks up to the door and just like always; after opening the door, he opens his eyes to a new environment. This time, it was a land of cold and ice. With nothing but ice everywhere and in the sky a full moon. The trials weren’t finished. He had to go through another trial. Will he lose his life this time? Will he manage to make it out again. How many more trials remained. This question kept emerging and ringing within the boy. The boy, ever since that day, learned to hold his feelings in. He learned to control his expression and keep his emotions at bay. He never showed what he felt but this time, the anger within couldn't be suppressed. It couldn’t be hidden. He was angry