Aren took the time to take a look at his system, and he noticed one important thing, the fact that even here, his class and tier refused to show up.
’Am I really that weak?’ he wondered to himself.
"Hey, aren’t you the dude that got lower than an F tier?" Someone suddenly recognized Aren and pointed at him. It was an average-height dude with a buzz cut and round eyes. He pointed right at Aren as he spoke.
But Aren didn’t pay attention to him, as he had mastered the art of ignoring trouble seekers from his past life. But he had also come to learn one crucial thing: trouble seekers often tend not to leave you alone even after you ignore them.
"Hey, trash, I’m talking to you." The boy yelled, his voice cutting through the air and pulling the attention of some people around. They looked at the boy and who he was talking to, and they all started realizing that Aren was indeed the trash from the awakening exam.
"Why the hell is someone like you here? You couldn’t even get an F tier, weirdo. You should have sat outside and lived a normal life. You are here now, what do you want to do? Sabotage the trials for all of us with your weakness?" he said, a grin plastered on his face as he spoke.
Yeah, this was the God’s trials, the reins were off and the real nature of humans had started to show.
Aren still ignored the boy. He looked away and began walking off, wanting to distance himself from this situation. But the boy wasn’t relenting.
"Huh, you think you can ignore me?" He roared and rushed forward at Aren, grabbing him by the shoulder and turning him around, immediately sending a punch.
Aren didn’t know why, but as he saw that fist approaching his face, something snapped inside him. His body pulsed with rage. But before he could make any move, a hand caught the fist.
It was Elena Silva, the S tier. She had on clean black and purple armour, something that was definitely crafted with care and time and also spoke about how rich her family was.
The boy looked at her. When he realized that she was the one, he immediately took a step back. No one wanted to be on the bad side of the S tier awakened right off the bat.
"Don’t attack people unprovoked. His decision to join and fight for humanity is his own decision. You should respect that and not attack him for that." She spoke like some sort of leader of justice.
Aren looked at her from behind. ’Who the hell asked for this bitch’s help? I don’t want no pompous nepo baby telling someone off for me, tsk, I’m out of here.’ Aren thought as he turned around to leave. The people around were shocked when they saw him walking away just after someone like Elena had stepped in to speak for him.
This would have been his opportunity to actually get some favour, maybe offer to become her dog so she could protect him. After all, she was going to become one of the strongest people in the entire trial in only a short while.
Elena then turned around. Her face shifted from calm and stoic to shocked and pissed off when she realized that the person she was standing in for had simply walked away. She had never been disrespected in such a way.
"Hey, you." She called out, but Aren kept walking like he didn’t hear her, which enraged her even more. She clenched her fist hard and then spoke, "You know, even though I defended you, you are still a lowly weak awakened, the worst ever. I only stopped him for you because you couldn’t do it for yourself.
"Now rather than gratitude you walked away, how dare you?" she yelled.
Aren paused. He turned around and looked at her. "I don’t care." He said, and then continued walking, shocking everyone that was there.
That moment immediately became the area of contention, the proud trash that spoke to the S tier rudely.
Aren had no plans to make friends, as he knew no one would take him seriously, and he also didn’t want to serve anyone. If he was doing this, he would do it himself, and if he died, he would do that by himself as well.
[....]
After their arrival, there was a starter town located there where all of them were meant to stay until the first trial began. And shockingly, there were actually people inside the town, like some sort of NPC town.
It was the Raven Town, one of the many starter towns for the awakened when they arrived. The townsfolk treated them like kings the moment they came because they knew that the awakened came to fight off the evils that were the trials. It felt like a video game and they were the NPCs, except they were actually real and this was their world. The awakened were heroes sent to their world.
Every awakened was already getting themselves integrated into the town in less than a day as they had to be ready before the first trial arrived. Some already left the town to enter the forest to hunt monsters and gather soul fragments to level up as fast as possible before the dangers came.
And among those people was Aren. He hadn’t even been to the Raven Town yet, and ultimately decided he would be heading into the forest. He gripped his sword tight as he walked through the thick forest, every step was heavy. He had no information on the monsters here and what he was doing was dumb and stupid, but if he wanted a larger chance of survival, he had to ensure that he at least gathered some soul fragments.
Luckily, after a few hours of searching he found something. It was a black furry ball with one eye bouncing around. Aren was skeptical, as he knew that nothing was normal here.
But without choice, he decided to approach, walking carefully from behind. He raised his sword to stab into it. He thrust his blade down and it actually didn’t dodge. It penetrated it, and a black liquid spilled. He had successfully killed one, and pretty easily as well.
[You have gained 2 soul fragments]
He was about to get excited about it when suddenly, something leaped out of the bushes. Its shadow was massive, and as Aren looked up, he realized it was a black wolf-like creature, its jaw wide open and ready to kill.