As Yuhe was moved and shifted upward as he glided softly to the back left side of the massive building, he landed right infront of a massive shelf filled to the brim with books. They all had information on how to become a Challenger and what that even is. So Yuhe simply took a book titled "How To Awaken Humanities Potential" and started to read bits and piece of it.
'... When the Sun Lord was defeated by the great Moon Goddess, one of the first things she did was gift humanity with the power to defend themselves. She, -with her omnipotent knowledge and limitless power- gave humanity the ability we call Gifted Powers. A Gifted Power is an ability that all humans can achieve, bur only few actually possess the skills to gain and unlock that power. The powers can range from becoming very proficient with swords and weapons alike, to Bending metal with ease, or even the ability to control others minds with just a glance. There are two known ways to unlock humanity's hidden potential inside us. The first way is to be Gifted the power from a supremely powerful ally and have them forcefully awaken the target. They are aptly called "Gifted" and only members of the 6 Legendary Clans can achieve this. Whilst the other way is typically much more challenging, it is accessible to everyone, even those without powerful friends. The person must find a supremely rare portal where no abominations came out of, and enter it. The Challenger will then be put inside a trial of some kind. If they came in a group, they will be seperated from it. The challenges can range from saving a forgotten kingdom, or even slaying a powerful devil. It is unknown how to choose which environment and challenge is given and which portals lead to what...
...Challengers and Gifted are not separated by only that metric. There are also different classes and categories to subdivide the groups of people coming out of portals and awakening their Gifted Power. There are three distinct categories, Frontline,Backline, and Support. If it can't be inferred, Frontline refers to people with defensive or sword wielding Gifted Powers. Backline refers to archers and spellweavers and the sort. Whilst the most rare, Support refers to helpful allies that can buff and empower their team, or outright miraculously heal deadly wounds. If the Gifted Power isn't combative nor falls into the Support category, they are given the Special ranking. This very small and professional population of humanity have some power that either falls into multiple of the groupings or falls into none. Like dangerous fire that burns foes and heals allies, or the ability to craft mythical weapons...
According to humans that achieved Gifted Power's, they can see all the information about said powers by looking into themselves, it is unknown how the affected know they can do this, as it seems to be a natural insinct after awakening. But once they enter their Gifted Soul, they see a landscape according to their power. An example of this would be Sir, "Steel Master" Riven's Gifted Power -which is assumed to be the ability to consume knowledge about sword arts and other simple steel weapon arts with extraordinary speed and execute said arts perfectly-. What he sees inside his Gifted Soul is a clear sunny sky with a large grassy hill and a flat training ground sitting at the top, at the dirty grass-less and used training circle there are multiple swords,spears,daggers, and many other simple steel weapons sitting on the ground. He also is quoted to feel a desire to hold a weapon at all times and always learn something new...
...As more and more humans unlocked the potential to use Gifted Powers they were given a name to overall describe the small but growing population. MoonShades, the name implies the small not very noticeable, yet powerful force of the Moon Goddess's population. Like the deadly shadows of the Moon Goddess, the MoonShades are loyal and willing to do anything to protect Earth and the population inhabiting it. Now with this knowledge, whoever is reading this book should awaken their Gifted Powers and rise to defend mother Earth from the tyrants invading it. If you want more information about awakening and Gifted Powers please visit your nearest Lunar Center and talk to a professor.'
***
Yuhe had a lot to digest from that small yet informational text. He had spent a good chunk of his alloted time there just reading the book. It's actually the first real book he's ever read that wasnt just a children's book or newspaper, so he was surprised at how proficient he read the bigger words and used context clues to understand those he didn't.
Anyways before he could stand back on the wood platform he felt a pressure full gaze fall upon him. The gaze seemed to share paat him to very core, it didn't freeze him like the dreadful demon he stumbled upon, but he definitely noticed it. He turned around ready to be met with either a powerful human that would take pity on him, or the last thing he ever would see.
Rebecca was standing there when he turned around with a nonchalant expression on her pretty face, her brown hair seemed slightly deshaveled, her cute large circular glasses seemed to be slightly off balance.
"Times up, I'm going home so you are aswell, I already risked my whole career for you so please leave without any disruptions."
"I will, thank you again, you don't know how much you've just helped me." Yuhe left without saying a word or even glancing at anyone.
***
Yuhe really wanted to explore the city more but received a text on his phone from the Lunar Center telling him to be in his room for the next hour as they were going to pick him up.
'Man I hadn't even learnt about how the ventilation works, or how they are powering all the lights here, or what a rune prism is, or what a rune even is! Why are there so many questions and literally no answers!'
Just ask Yuhe was getting riled up, he made it to his doorstep and opened the door to feel that it was warm inside.
'Lumi must not be here'
After looking around he also found his TV off and no loud gym music was playing throughout the apartment
'Tyson must not be here either.'
Yuhe used this time to relax, he hadn't had a good night's sleep or even a good power nap for atleast a month -the curb he slept on wasn't very comfortable- and with a real bed accessible to him at all times, why not use it now. Surely the second he lays down and gets the pristine fluffy warm blankets over him he won't hear a knock and have to get up.
'Gods, please let me rest for a little, 30 minutes is all I want-'
Hearing a knock as soon as he sat down. Yuhe silently cured and walked to the door.
"Follow." A big man in a Lunar Center full suit said calmly, there was another man around the same size but he seemed a lot more silent.
Yuhe wanted to speak but the man seemed to deem the whole situation but such ease any actions Yuhe could've been planning in his head immediately went to nothing by the strong man's attitude.
So they walked, without saying anything, in complete silence except for the whispers between other civilians guessing who Yuhe is. He heard a whole assortment of guesses, one of them was that he was a long lost relative of the leader of the mega city, another -much more popular- one was that he was an escaped fugitive finally caught by the oh so great Lunar Center, so he heard his fait share of sneering and trash talking whilst the massive guards did nothing for him.
After some time he finally ended up at the doorsteps of the massive Lunar Center. After walking through the doors he hoped to see Roan, but who he saw was not anything like Roan. What was actually infront of him was a women, obviously in her early 20's but seemed to have solved a decades worth of problems with her emotionless stare into Yuhe.
She was wearing a simple white robe that was almost to shallow. The woken had long black hair that drooped down to almost her knees and contrasted perfectly with her clothes. She had a simple expression of almost boredom on her face and had a soft face that after closer expecting seemed completely confused as to what she's doing here.
"Miss Lizzy, here is the man your supposed to gift."
Lizzy seemed to be taken off by the guards words, then remembered what she was actually here for
"W-what! Oh I mean, yes. I will accomplish my job no worries, just from now on refrain for speaking that way." Lizzy looked to be a little red in the face.
After the guards left and Lizzy signaled for Yuhe to follow her, he asked
"So what's happening? I was just about to get some shut eye then I was basically kidnapped by you guys." Of course, Yuhe knew what was happening. But he stilled wanted to see if he could fetch more information from the seemingly clueless girl.
"Oh! Uhmm, Lunar Center wanted to really make sure you felt safe here in the city!"
She scratched the back of her head awkwardly
"And so they sent those bodyguards and me to escort you towards your questioning room! My names Lizzy by the way, what's yours?"
Lizzy seemed obviously inept at making small talk. As she already forgot the guards said her name infront of him, and that they walked past the sign that lead them to the interview rooms, I stead going towards a completely unmarked and somewhat scarce area.
"My name is Yuhe, and I knew your name was Lizzy because the guards already said your name."
Yuhe gave up on pressuring the poor girl or probing her with questions. Instead he just tried to convince her to he'll him about simple things. Like how runes worked.
"Oh man, you really choose a hard one! Uhmm, yeah. Runes are very complex."
Lizzy started to walk slightly faster
"So runes are like power lines, I don't know if you know what that is but they just make power and electricity travel between two different places. However we can add a buff of sorts to those power lines making them do something special, mostly make the power inside stronger, oh! We are out of time there your room come inside hurry!"
Lizzy had a sigh of relief before saying to Yuhe with a now calm expression.
"Okay first off, im sorry Yuhe. I lied, you are being sent to the Challenge and I need you to stay silent so I don't mess anything up."
Yuhe nodded in agreement, Lizzy's expression softened a little noticing the young boy seemed to have already accepted his fate.
"Oh you won't die. Trust me, I lived and I was no where near as strong as you when I was sent. I'm here to make sure that you get an easy time and leave with some helpful tips from this pro standing infront of you. Firstly, don't try to think of the people inside as real people. They are fake, they won't kill you, probably. But they won't value your life more than their own. Secondly, try to survive with anything imaginable, no one is there to make fun of you if you have to survive by chewing your underwear. And no one will know if you have to do something regrettable..."
Lizzy seemed to forget what she was talking about for a few seconds, her once hopeful expression turned emotionless once again. Yuhe broke the meloncholy silence by saying.
"I understand, thank you Lizzy. This is very important, your a great person."
That seemed to awaken Lizzy out of her trance, making a smile return to her sullen face. Then she spoke.
"Thank you Yuhe, I really want you to survive, okay? Anyways, don't fight back if you feel something weird happening, I'll make this part quick."
As soon as Lizzy finished her sentence,Yuhe felt a small bubble enter through his solar plexus, and he felt the massive urge to pop that very bubble. He didn't, after remembering the words just spoken by his new friend. So he let the bubble grow and grow until it felt like he couldn't contain the potential energy inside any longer. Then, the bubble kept expanding until Yuhe felt lightheaded. As soon as the bubble entered his brain he immediately lost consciousness. He didn't see this but as he fell Lizzy caught him and put him on a bed that Yuhe didnt even notice was beside him the whole time. The white depressing room had two people in it, one unconscious and asleep, while the other was looking down at him rest with a sad expression on her face. She whispered
"Please survive, your strong. Live for me if you have no one to live for."
Authors note: Incredibly sorry for not posting yesterday, I forgot to set up the scheduled publishing thing, please don't hate me LOL.