Arthur slowly lost consciousness while sitting on the tower of the church, with his gaze pointed at the moon.
After his physical body got slowly pulled into his soul, the dark silhouette that was sitting on the tower just a moment ago was gone.
Without any trace left to find.
Arthur meanwhile found himself in an endless expanse of darkness, there was nothing, he could not even hear his own breathing or feel his heartbeat.
A now slowly familiar, becoming voice whispered into his mind...
[ Arthur Moonlight, You received your Personal Class. Your Trial starts Now... ]
"Wait, what does Personal Class mean?" Arthur asked a little bit hastily.
But there was no answer, slowly he felt how his body was pulled into another dimension.
It had to be the Cursed Lands he heard about.
With a little bit of luck, Arthur would be teleported into a Territory where humans settled.
But as far as he was concerned, not even 1 % of the Cursed Lands have been discovered by humanity.
Arthur slowly regained consciousness when a sharp, biting cold jolted Arthur awake. His breath came out in ragged puffs, forming small clouds that vanished into the frigid air. His body shivered violently as he pushed himself up from the icy ground, his fingers numb and stiff. Every part of him screamed from the cold, as if he had been plunged into an endless abyss of ice and frost.
As his vision adjusted, he realized he was no longer atop the church tower, nor in the dark void. Instead, an endless expanse of ice stretched before him, shimmering under an eerie, pale blue glow. The sky was a bleak, colorless void, offering no warmth, no comfort. The wind howled through the frozen wasteland, carrying with it a sense of utter isolation. There were no landmarks, no structures, no signs of life, just an unbroken horizon of ice and snow.
Arthur clenched his jaw and wrapped his arms around his body, attempting to preserve what little warmth he had. His breath was shallow, his muscles tense. The weight of his situation pressed heavily upon him. If this was truly the Trial of Beginning, then it was unlike anything he had imagined. There were no monsters lurking in the shadows, no immediate threats, but perhaps that was the true danger. The bitter, suffocating loneliness, the sheer nothingness of this place, it threatened to erode his resolve before any physical challenge even appeared.
He forced himself to his feet, his shallow boots crunching against the thick frost beneath him. A sharp pain shot through his legs as he moved, as if the very act of standing was a punishment for daring to exist in this forsaken land. He turned in every direction, desperately searching for something, anything that could guide him.
But there was nothing. Just ice. A boundless ocean of frozen silence.
And sometimes there were some revelations, and one other thing was everywhere, massive ice spikes were breaking the surface of the ground and were reaching over 6 meter tall.
Arthur exhaled slowly, watching his breath swirl and disappear into the icy air. If he stood still, he would freeze to death. That much was certain. He had no supplies, no food, and no idea where to go, but standing in place meant surrendering to the cold. He refused to let this place claim him so easily.
Arthur probably had the worst luck that he could imagine.
With slow, deliberate steps, he started walking. The first few movements were agony, his muscles stiff from the unbearable chill. Each step sent a sharp jolt through his legs, but he gritted his teeth and pushed forward. He had no direction, no destination, only the determination to move, to not let the cold swallow him whole.
While he was walking, Arthur remembered what the Curse said to him, 'Personal Class? I have heard it a few times, but where can I find it?'
Arthur remembered a drama he has watched as a kid, where superheroes were able to see runes in front of themselves.
Without thinking much about how dumb and childish it was, he just thought:
'Personal Class'
A glowing window opened in front of him, and he jumped back and nearly toppled over a small ice piece.
Was he hallucinating?
'No. No… It can't be. Have I finally gone insane!?'
After reassuring himself that what he experienced was real, he read what the runes said, it were only three things, but his class sent a shiver down his spine.
Name: Arthur Moonlight
Rank: Human
Personal Class: Blood-borne
He muttered a little and tried to find a few extra clues, but the runes only said this one thing.
Nothing more, Nothing less...
Hours passed, or at least, it felt like hours. The landscape remained unchanged. Ice, snow, and an unrelenting wind that cut through him like a blade. His body ached, exhaustion gnawed at him, and his mind teetered on the edge of despair. Was this the trial? To wander endlessly in a frozen hell until his body gave out? Was there even a way to win?
His throat was parched, his lips cracked. Hunger clawed at his stomach, but water was his most immediate concern. He reached down, scooping up a handful of ice and pressing it to his mouth. The cold burned his lips and numbed his tongue, but he forced himself to endure it. The ice melted slowly, providing a fleeting relief, but it did little to ease the deeper exhaustion creeping through his body.
As he trudged forward, his mind began to play tricks on him. He saw movement in the distance, dark figures shifting just beyond the horizon. His heart leaped, and he quickened his pace, only for the mirage to vanish the moment he drew near. His breath hitched. Was it the cold? The exhaustion? His mind creating illusions to fill the unbearable emptiness?
He clenched his fists, forcing himself to keep moving. He could not afford to lose himself to hallucinations. Not yet.
More time passed, though he had no way of knowing how much. The sky never changed. The cold never relented. His body grew heavier with every step, his thoughts slower. His vision blurred at the edges. A part of him wondered if this was what death felt like, slow, creeping, inevitable.
Then, as he reached what felt like his breaking point, he saw something different.
A Dark body, that had a light blue glow.
The being moved slowly towards him, just as Arthur thought he saw another human, the thing suddenly ran faster after seeing the human.
Arthur had finally realized that it was not a human he was looking at in the distance.
It was a Creature of the Curse, a Monster.
He was weakened and didn't even have the strength to speak, but after seeing something other than ice for hours.
A weak smile appeared on his face, after putting all his strength together, he walked faster and tried to reach the creature.
After getting closer only a few hundred meters distanced himself from the creature, he was able to observe the Monster better.
It didn't look strong on first view, but 15 years of living on the streets showed Arthur that the weak seeming enemies were the strongest of them all.
The creature in front of him resembled an Ice elf about 2 meters tall, and with 3 eyes.
The skin was icy blue but the Ice elf Arthur saw was more a dead corpse than a living being, it had wounds all over its body and was covered in blue blood.
Arthur and the Ice elf were now mere meters apart from each other, and Arthur was sure he was not going to let go of this chance that he was represented with...