Gaming Sword Magician

Chapter 84: Death and Reset

Estimated time for an F-ranked dual awakened: Uncalculatable.

Amount of time taken by the challenger to complete the initial inheritance trial: 31.2 seconds!

Along with this announcement, Whittaker's Adrenaline rush started to slow down. The painful feeling that has been partially numbed finally spread throughout his bones and veins. 

"Ahhhhhhh!" A seething pain burned his wounded back, almost immediately, he reflexively gritted his teeth as if his Devansha and Night bloodlines felt that it was embarrassing to moan painfully. Streams of crystal white tear leaked out from the four corners of his crystal white eyes that has turned red.

Once his back was pale white like snow, now though, it was darker than ash, redder than scarlet and fuming black clouds. His skin was like cornflakes, cracked all over: from which blood squeezed out like a fountain. The last few movements have taken a toll on his young body, which caused the cracks to spread to each side, reaching just five inches beyond the lung. Also, his right-hand wrist has cracked, shards of bone protruding out of the place once called wrist. Each time he breathed, the shards will stab into his veins. At the moment, his body was extremely sensitive. So he felt that ten thousand needles were piercing him!

The automatic prompts continued:

During the start of the trial, the inheritance trial "Challenger" responded immediately to the situation at hand, hence outlining his knowledge about magical beasts. The trial Challenger has also singlehandedly defeated the 4-star beast spike-shell earth rager without getting damaged. According to the formation analysis, the 4-star beast died without knowing how it died. It died while believing that the trial Challenger had died. Gained one S-points.

B: The trial challenger has showcased the potential to wear the mantle of a beyond legendary class, "Battle Mage" by using both magic and sword attacks to kill a beast while power exceeds Challenger by 3-stars. Gained one more S-style point.

C: The trial challenger completed the Race Against trial in thirty seconds. Considering the fact that the trial challenger is only F-ranked, the amount of time taken is extremely impressive. Gained one S style point. Also, the spirit of the reality management formation (10-star) wants to say that the challenger has done the impossible. The Reality management formation spirit calculated that in the future the trial challenger will become the most powerful Soul power user in the entire awakened continent: For your mental fortitude has shocked the heavens.

Congratulations, the trial challenger has scored a book on Soul Power, an award earned for showcasing mental fortitude never seen before. The trial Challenger had died gracefully, gained one more S style point for his determination. In total, the challenger has gained 4 S style points. S+S+S+S=Z

The first part of the intermediate level inheritance trial checked the knowledge and strength of an awakened. Those who have plentiful knowledge and greater strength would be able to take advantage of the weakness of a 4-star magical beast and beat it with strength. Whittaker was helped by the system and he had an S-ranked sword, hence he easily butchered the 4-star beast. The second part of the intermediate level inheritance trial checked the mental fortitude and reflexes of an awakened. Whittaker had shown excellent mental fortitude, even though his reflexes were just good when compared to professional awakened, who had trained their craft for more than a decade. But once compared to people his age or F to D ranked awakened, he was far impressive than both categories. His mental fortitude is so impressive that Nina has handed over a Soul power book to him. She believed that he can become an excellent soul master, just like her master, Zachary.

All of these announcements were made for the snowy-haired boy, who had dropped on his knees some times ago, but he didn't fall headfirst. His back was slightly bent but more straight. His head was held slightly low, and his eyes have lost their shines. He was dead!

Whittaker would be happy to know that he was getting so many style points, but he was no longer alive, hence he didn't have any thoughts on this matter.

"Cough~ Nina, when are you going to revive him?" Elder Zachary asked Nina, who was so shocked that she forgot to do her task. 

A clinging sound was heard as a light shot down from the clouded night sky and struck the dead body. The glowing light was absorbed into the boy's body.

Soon after, the snowy-haired boy's body resets to peak condition. The skinned and bloody back could no longer be seen. His torn uniform also recovered. All the wounds vanished as he has undergone reset. Also, his still heart started to beat.

Right after, long snowy eyelashes moved up and down as the boy opened his eyes. He seemed a lot more mature than before, probably because he had faced death for the first time.

A system notification also popped up,

[The formation has used reset on guardian. Guardian has revived]

[Skill reset: Skill reset is an involuntary special phenomenon exclusive to the areas affected by the Reality-management formation. It allows the formation spirit, Nina to revive a person against their will. As long as a human or magical beast hasn't died for more than ten minutes, they will be revived if Nina wishes.]

"I guess my gamble worked!" Whittaker exclaimed while dropping on his butt. Looking at the widescreen that dutifully explained his glorious action, he exhaled a long breath of relief. He believed that the trial death after the trial would not lead to the failure of the trial which has been completed. 

Beaming a wide smile that stretched from ear to ear, he thought,

'I had calculated my death. The only thing I couldn't estimate was the pain that will come with it. It was freaking painful! I certainly don't wanna die another time.'

The last few memories were etched in his soul. A shiver raised in his spine as he shook his head left and right to forget that dreadful moment.

_____

In the central command room:

Nina said to Zachary: It's done

Zachary replied with a slight grin: "I can see!"

After a slight pause, he couldn't hold back the words in his heart, "The moment he reached the 31-yard mark, my young friend had passed the intermediate level trial. I can't believe that he completed the entire race, even though he died in the end." He closed his eyes and the last few actions of Whittaker replayed in his mind. 

"Using the burst from the mana bullets to quadruple his speed, an amazing tactic indeed!" He exclaimed while laughing wildly.

Whittaker's tactics would never work in the Zen mountain trial, as at that place, injuries and death were real, unlike his home ground, where the reality-management formation was set up.

Nina added: At his age, who had the guts to sacrifice their life to complete a trial? He is the perfect candidate for the "Heart of hope!"

"No, now's not the time." Elder Zachary said while staring at Whittaker through the holographic screen. "He is too young and his body is too small. At most, his mana pool would only be able to inherit the basic part of the Heart of Hope... And there's still the last trial left!"