I took exactly two tentative steps towards Ares. His beady refulgent eyes gazed right into me as if our retinas were two magnifying glasses only a few inches apart. He seemed eerily pensive looking like he wasn’t going to challenge me in any way. However, that was just a big bosses way of goading a protagonist to get close where they would pose and then slam/cleave their mighty weapon downwards right on you.

  With less than 10 ATK it wasn’t like my hits could do any real damage anyways. What I did have was a knife stolen from a serial killer. Gripping it tightly, raising it over my head, having a little regret about a weapon from a phantom boss–a boss that shows up is not recommended to fight until you reach a certain level–would be discarded just to do a little damage to a big boss.

  I pitched it left where it caroomed into the left side of Ares neck. Despite only doing one percent of damage to his health, it made him roar loudly like a barbarian throughout the battlefield. He stopped holding it with one hand gripping his greatsword with two hands–began his assault towards me.

  He swung left followed by a combo swing to the left; hacking less like a lumberjack and more like a struggling gladiator trying to slice through armor. Even low leveled with trash stats I maneuvered myself to the opposite sides of his blade before he swung; willing myself to stand right where I was for his second slash. First attack was his command going after the thing that landed the first strike, now his programming was fixing my location to him like he was a green avatar trying to find the gold avatar.

  Despite his strength his positioning system was a little lacking. I took advantage of that by running toward him without landing a blow. I was running like a frolicking kid waiting for the opportune moment. At last, he raised his greatsword above his head preparing to cleave down. I took a few steps forward, he hesitated his swing wanting to make sure his sword connected. I walked as slowly as if I was following a group through a fire alarm drill because quick movements would only make him swing immediately.

  I eventually made it near the wall; stood perfectly still staring solemnly into the Greek god of wars eyes though they were flitting to the ceiling where his sword seemed to be.

  And then–he finally cleaved his sword down and it cut right into the wall!

  He jiggled on the pommel trying to dislodge the sword, but it hardly even fidgeted no matter how much strength he could muster. To explain for those who are wondering how Ares was stupid enough to get his sword stuck in the wall: there is a technicality where if your standing only thirty-four inches from the wall and Ares is doing a charge attack he gets stuck–any closer to the wall and he would switch to a sweep attack and ay farther he’d just plow forward swinging like Gut’s in Berserk.

  Now that I had him at my mercy I was going to take advantage of it. Ergo, my motif ‘if you're going to land a strike on a boss make sure they're weak to it’. I grabbed his shoulders and slammed his face into his sword! I don’t like to go into deep detail describing gore but what should’ve only staggered the boss into a daze given me time to scurry a safe distance away was replaced by the grueling sight of a sharp blade imbedded in Ares face with blood encrusted around his face.

  As a god it should take more than the blunt of his own blade to kill him, but after a few minutes of this macabre sight it was clear he wasn’t getting back up. Suddenly, I heard a creaking sound like scratching a chalkboard: a door creaking open.

  I turned enough to notice a tiny slit of two doors barely touching swing wide open. Being a fool noticing an alluring golden light like a moth trap I walked towards the light. I shielded my eyes before getting close, didn’t want to damage my new eyes unlike my eyes that could never read those letters on a chart.

  I stopped shielding them after seven tentative steps and was greeted by more red cobblestones that looked like blood, which could be they filled their paint cans with the essence of the River Styx.There were three gods ensconced in their high chairs; a looming throat if antagonized to fight me.

  There was Aphrodite the Goddess of Love–she was the boss in the Famine trial. Next to her was Loki a Norse god who doesn’t follow the assembly of Greek Gods this trial should be about but they needed four gods who could make up the Four Horseman and a god of trickery filled pestilence’s shoes. And last was the Lord of the Underworld–at least in mythology setting–Hades. This should be the part where their described and yes they were but before they were the author just wrote Description 1-3 and came back to fill it in later. So…here we go.

  Usually in movies and games Aphrodite is either blonde or brown haired but in this case she was red haired with a spot of black on her black forehead. It is a trend now that girls slide down one side of their dress to show a bra strap on their arm and she was no exception showing a violet strap around her red dress. She was carrying a chalice with her filled with a pink potion used only to make herself seem giddier than she actually was. Lastly she had a blue fox touching noses with a white fox hairclip behind her head.

  Next up was Loki who had blonde hair instead of black or brown. He had an emerald coif over his blonde hair nearly hiding it from me if not for the strands sticking out. He was dressed in cotton purple tunic with no sleeves while his arms had black tattoos of snakes extended to gold bracelets around his wrist with a small wolf head sticking out of his neck collar. He wore black poulains contrasting his blue eyes.

  Not sure what I was expecting from Hades–someone like an elder vampire with albino skin, red eyes and flaking dead skin off or hiding behind a mask. His skin looked healthy, had a dark pigment to it, amber eyed, wearing a wolf pelted cowl behind his neck, black armor but had the insignia of a young beautiful woman that had to be his wife Persephone, and big gray boots with many black laces that needed to be interlaced exquisitely.

  “Congratulations on defeating Ares.” Hades said with a voice so strong it could raise lava from the pits. “I’ve met plenty of Trial Runners of whom defeated him and acquired his protection,, but never someone who accomplished such a feat without any energy under his belt.”

  “You truly live up to your name as Trial Runner.” Aphrodite complimented me. “What are your plans now?”

  “Take your trial then Loki’s and finally Hades. Should talk about…” Pause so they would lean closer. “One week to accomplish.”

  Aphrodite smiled with her eyes closed chuckling from her cheeks. Hades just stared with an unreadable expression. Loki got up enraged and ready to squabble.

  “What trickery is this?! A mere mortal thinks he can complete my trial in only a week?!” He pointed a finger at me addressing me with vehemence. “I don’t know how you tricked Ares, but don’t let that small victory inflate your ego. I’ll be your next opponent–forget about Aphrodite for now–so you better be prepared for the God of Trickery.”

  With those words I opened my mouth wide, sticking two fingers in my gums and insulted the god with a silly face. Loki was smiling seeing my face–a big strong smile stretching his gums with eyes burning in indignation. He reached his hand for a knife kept in his belt, but waved his arm knowing his actions would cause more trouble than solve.

  Instead, he sprinkled himself with purple powder. Soon afterwards he started to fade away. Before he completely faded he told me something very threatening.

  “Tomorrow. I’ll bring my trial to you. If you fail you die; refuse to take it you die. I can’t wait to press my knife against your throat.”

  With that he completely disappeared. He said it trying to make me panic but all I felt was excitement. It dissipated like a candle flame near an open window when I flitted my eyes back to Aphrodite and Hades. My face molded to look like I just finished a grueling, infuriating test at the DMV and just wanted to renew my license.

  “Can I get my reward now?”

  “We aren’t the ones who hand out your reward.” Aphrodite spoke sweetly. “Your reward is on its way.”

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Soon after she said that a blue light slammed down from the ceiling! I walked through a door dazzling out light like turning on a lighthouse, had a light beam right in my face, but this light felt like putting a plugged in microwave right in my eyes.

  When my vision finally returned to the closest version of normalcy I saw Ares armor floating between me with bright white eyes and one black box adjacent to it. Let it not be said the reward for a Trial Runner is never big, and this was my chance to take full advantage of it.

  The voice of the war guardian spoke from the armor, “Congratulations for completing the trial. As a reward you’re granted me–the War Guardian–as your spirit companion, get a random skill for the battle class. As your spirit you can choose my name and gender. Please enter my name.”

  And so I picked the name I felt was suitable: Ares. As for gender, it only had the choice of Male or Female–I had something else in mind…

  Not picking either.

  By not picking a gender they would combine into one gender keeping the War Guardian’s spirit but also making him/her softer and more gentle.

  “I’d like to pick a Futunari guardian.”

  “Confirmed.”

  The guardian glowed with diaphanous gold meshed with black light. I didn’t flinch. For some reason my eyes adjusted to this light, I could see corroded black armor meshing with a silver light taking the shape of a human face.

  The illumination stopped manifesting a person in a burst creating a human figure. A model looking woman with white skin dappled with specks over her chin and a cute mole near her right eyebrow, silver azure eyes short white hair with strands of glinting gray, blue chest armor with dark brown loincloth skirt and fiery red sandals. If you look closely at the skirt you can see the bulge of a male genitalia concealed but not obscured. The guardians pupils dilated trying to adjust to the light.

  I don’t know how spirits see but clearly their vision is different from ours. When her eyes finally adjusted she looked at me. The way she looked was like a cat staring at you unsure if it should scamper off or rub against your leg trying to get a treat.

  Finally, she spoke, “So I’m human now. I was born a god and lived after death as a spirit.” She looked down. She rubbed her penis beneath her loincloth than raised her arm touching her C-cups. Her face flushed red with what she touched. “Even as a god I never felt like I was different. But now…” Her eyes shot up finally realizing I was standing before her. She tried acting nonchalantly about it coughing into her arm. “Anyways, congratulations on completing my trial. I am Ares and I will follow you until your death, master.”

  I completed my first trial; soon to complete all four. As a show of camaraderie I extended my hand to shake hers. She gave me that look again before reaching out and shaking my hand. The moment we solidified our partnership the background dissolved into the sewer once again. The smell was rancid but better than the bloody room where the three gods loomed. What also made it more of a pleasant experience was how warm Ares' hand was.

  What’s more was how she seemed flustered touching my hand like a girl in a dating sim. At last she let go giving me the chance to lead the way.

  “Come on. Time for you to meet my other self.”

  Cooro 1’s POV

  Most classes are tedious while expecting you to remember everything for a test. I don’t know if I’m really myself or if I’m a clone created by the writer to get to make the real Cooro’s story a little more exciting–all I know is my story isn’t Rick and Morty. What I do remember is how in college I would listen really hard to the lesson but after class they would expect me to research stuff not mentioned in the class on the class website, and I would forget making many mistakes, missing homework and getting questions wrong. One time I had a homework assignment that required a dozen references I had to print the URLs in the back. I missed one and got a zero on it.

  Yep, school was hard and at most times unfair–if that really was my school life but this time I could use teleportation allowing me to exit the classroom when I wanted coming back with a seed item. A trip to the secret room to get a seed of Dexterity cost 8 MP with an additional 8 to get back in my seat. Even if the teacher spots me it’s not like he’d stop his class because one student wasn’t giving his class their utmost attention. By the end of his class I collected six Seeds of Dexterity

  For those seeds: I left one at an item shop to be appraised for being sold and the other five I left to the old synthesizer to see if he could turn them into something more useful.

  As I made my leave protagonist(s) rushed towards me like a black mom in sports movies trying to show their athletic but lazy kids how to act like they have some discipline. They reached me leaning down on my desk, seething with rage.

  “What right do you have to touch my chest!” The female shouted.

  “And teleport us against our will?” The male asked a little more composed.

  It felt kinda nice seeing characters you played in a video game speak to you as if your right there in the room with them; until you realize these two never went on any of the adventures you remember and your Cooro Rippel not your own separate person.

  “Eh, I was on my way to class and you two were lollygagging with an older woman with big titties. I couldn’t just let you have fun with her.”

  “Your one SICK pervert!” She shouted.

  “We were only curious why she was looking on the ground so frantically; as it turns out she lost her keys. We would’ve made it to class…if we found them before class ended.”

  It was endearing how the girl was so hot tempered but the boy could speak like a mother dog. Usually people are abrasive and vulgar playing the male and sweet and sympathetic playing the girl…if only they could be here now.

  “Your bold choice of actions aside, how were you able to teleport?”

  He looked like he was concerned while the female looked like she wanted to arrest me right now.

  “First years don’t even have a class yet nor are they allowed to enter the dungeon, so where did you obtain the Teleportation skill?”

  I would’ve been insulted if teleportation was just a common skill anyone can use. I’m also glad their asking me now–gave me the perfect counterattack.

  “Okay, you caught me. I went into a specially bought dungeon by the boss Raburo and in it I found a way to obtain new skills; writing ‘Maerd’ on a mirror seven times and fall asleep. But all this is none of your business and if you tell a teacher it will be your word against Raburo’s whole family and we both know who they’d believe. Now if you don’t mind, the awakening ceremony is next and I know you’d hate not getting your class as much as me.”

  Their body posture changed from two questioning cops into interrogating a young student for answers to panicking kids realizing their perfect attendance record was about to be abducted. In one sentence i managed to both get them out of my face and share a secret of getting stronger. The first time I teleported them they felt violated and cheated of their side quest, but now I bet they wish I do it again to attend the ceremony whether they trusted me or not.

  I was on their side in the moments they could use my knowledge; that meant touching their shoulders preparing to teleport them to the ceremony. Before they could agree or agree to disagree we were instantly among a multitude of students too busy murmuring about the awakening stone to notice three students appearing out of nowhere.

  The protagonist(s) both shivered a little from the outdoor cold with faces that said they didn’t want to see what I put them through, but deep down they probably weren’t as ungrateful for my skill as they were when I brought them to their classroom.

  Task done, I made my way to the back of the crowd using 8 of my remaining 13 MP to avoid the hassle pushing through a blockade of other students. I stopped teleporting during the last thirty minutes of class conversing my MP for this exact moment. I was so bold to teleport back into the dungeon or anywhere else for that matter before my name was officially announced by the ceremony committee. No…if I get hungry or have to use the washroom I can get there lickety-split.

  I was completely alone, some of the students turned their heads towards me wondering why a lackey of Raburo was here without his alpha dog or any of his pack bullies. They all started whispering about me to one another. Through it I was getting hungry for a hoagie but all these students around made it hard for me to use my teleportation. I also wasn’t one of the protagonists so any chance of encountering another main character before the ceremony was zero.

  Instead of waiting for a main character to appear I would use my knowledge to spot a background character with an interesting background story. So far all there were were short haired males with button shirts with shapes meshed together tucked into their belt pants and long haired girls who follow any rumor they hear and gossip about it; first making school life hard but switch clicks making the main characters seem like heroes. At last I spotted a hidden gem among the NPC/mob characters: Alvin Benecal.

  The inspiration for him was inspired by Steve Urkel from Family Matters. He had librarian glasses, red suspenders, purple shirt, baggy beige pants and a cowlick of brown hair sticking out of his crow colored hair.

  People remember him for three reasons: his awakened class is alchemist a thought to be trash job that can actually make you overpowered if you raise his affection and give him a certain item he bestows a skill that lets you pause the world to collect items for five minutes without being a high level alchemist and his voluptuous cougar inspired by Diamond Jackson straight out of a Naughty America video mom. A few of the creators must’ve loved that pornstars’ videos enough to make a subtle character of her and make her a complete nympho for her son’s friend.

  In the game you could only have sex with characters after buying a DLC which cost roughly 150 dollars where the other world slave dungeon is 221 dollars since it includes getting to start over with all your old content still attached. As for the worlds in the Maerd world, well, they are ten dollars a world. And yes–I wasted a ton of money to obtain a lot of these. Now that I reincarnated into this world I had control of all the download content without having to pay a cent which means I can have a love affair with Ms. Benecal. Depending on if you already picked a lover or not a relationship with her could be a cougar love fanservice or have a relationship with her.

  I approached Alvin taping him on the shoulder the same way I tapped the old synthesizer. Instead of jumping he put his hands on his face and crouched down.

  “Don’t hurt me!” He cried.

  I calmly moved my hand up and down his spine. After about three strokes I moved my face down to his ear and whispered softly to him “I’m not going to hurt you. You just look like you could use a friend right now. Are you nervous about the awakening ceremony?”

  He finally realized I wasn’t here to bully him and got back up. He rubbed his head trying to communicate with me.

  “Yeah. In my previous school I wasn’t the sports athlete or head of the Math club like all those kids who get awesome professions. I’m afraid I’ll get a lousy profession and won’t be able to support my mom.”

  “Fair enough man. But hey, even the worst professions are better than the black companies making you work until you die. My boss Raburo has a father who awakened as a Holy Knight but now does under the table dealings with yakuza. Even if you awaken as let’s say Alchemist…I think some good guidance could turn it into an Archmage.”