As the fairy spoke she snapped again, Kaios who saw this, braced himself for another earthqauke, but nothing happen.
Instead a blue coloured screen appeared suddenly against his face.
"Woah...!!" A sudden voice of shock released from his mouth, this sudden appearance of screen in front of his eye, took him in surprise.
"This is rule of minigame 1, read it carefully." The fairy told him.
As Kaios nodded, then carefully read all the details wrote in it, scanning for any hint, that will help him.
Mini Game 1: Shifting Gauntlet – Trial of Resilience.
Test Focus: Test body and insight
Life Limit: 3 Lives
Mini Game Map: Five Floating Islands connected by hovering stones
Timer: Floating clock above participant's head; life drains gradually if island is crossed too slowly
Objective: Reach the final island by crossing all five islands before life is depleted.
Rules of the Trial:
1. Participant uses only personal abilities; no alloys(Only Provided), artifacts, or external tools allowed.
2. Each island must be crossed by the rules of that island, falling will transport the participant to the start of the current island.
3. Life decreases only when the participant takes too long to cross an island.
4. If a life is completely lost, participant restarts from the beginning of the trial; previously crossed islands may shift layout unpredictably.
5. Standing on hovering stones pauses the life timer, but hazards remain active.
6. Affected by hazards and falling from the stone path will take away one life entirely.
7. A floating clock tracks elapsed time and provides visual hints to optimize timing.
8. Completion requires traversing all islands within life/time constraints. Failure to do so results in life depletion and restart from the trial start.
9. Depletion of all lives resulted in the failure of trial.
Victory Condition: Reach the final island with at least one life remaining.
Kaios read all the rules carefully, even going as far as triple checking, but he didn't find something that will help, minus the ones that made him slightly confused. So he asked it to the fairy.
"Here in the rule 1, it says that I can only use the provided alloys. So, what about that?"
As fairy saw it, "Ahh.... That I forgot it." Before Kaios could say anything, she waved her hand, summoning another screen in front of his face.
"Choose the one among these, limited to 3 only." She said while not meeting his eye, due to her clumsy work.
According to the rule of this, she had to provide the weapons or anything that required one to use their abilities, even before starting the game, but as always she had forgotten it.
Kaios, fed from the forgetfulness of fairy, didn't say anything, only looked at the screen, reading the details of each that will be best suited for him.
There he saw three rows, with three alloys in that. As their property and the potential uses briefly written below.
Zephyrlith:
Property: Produces a controlled mini-gust when struck or compressed.
Effect Potential: Kaios could redirect the wind, move objects, or push off surfaces.
Gravistone:
Property: Can subtly attract or repel metallic objects within short range.
Effect Potential: Used creatively for pulling stones, anchoring platforms, or misdirecting hazards.
Chronoflux:
Property: Stores kinetic movement and releases it after a delay.
Effect Potential: Can make projectiles, falling objects, or footsteps rebound later.
Pyrocore:
Property: Absorbs heat from surroundings and releases it in short bursts.
Effect Potential: Could trigger thermal mechanisms or distract/light environments.
Aquaflux:
Property: Slightly alters the state of moisture on surfaces it touches.
Effect Potential: Makes surfaces slippery, sticky, or reflective — entirely situational.
Resonant Alloy:
Property: Amplifies and stores vibrations from physical contact.
Effect Potential: Can be tapped, struck, or exchanged to create delayed tremors.
Phase Alloy:
Property: Can temporarily disrupt cohesion in nearby materials.
Effect Potential: Could loosen rocks, create gaps, or shift chains of objects.
Luminite:
Property: Emits soft pulses of visible or invisible light in patterns.
Effect Potential: Signals, reveals patterns, or distracts, depending on usage.
Ferrostal:
Property: Gradually magnetizes non-living metal in its vicinity.
Effect Potential: Could rearrange metal objects, form temporary barriers, or attract items.
Kaios read these with absolute focus, while comparing the cons and pros of them in his mind.
What I first need is a movement focused alloy that will help me to cross faster.
As he thought this his eyes focused upon two alloy.
One is Zphyrlith— that stores the air in the cavities of its lattices, then made short busts using the pressure by moving it in channel.
The next one is Gravistone— that polarize the objects, which came contact with its localized magnetic field, and use it to then attract and repel in a certain range.
Looking all this for a brief time, he chose the Gravistone alloy, as this will provide jumping ability as well as gave him footing or climbing assistance.
He also saw another alloy, that will be synergic with it. After selecting movement type alloy, he now scanned the one that will be versatile.
Hmm...this one will be good, its property can be used in different type, and....though the fairy said there will be no fight, its best to prepare for it.
With this Kaios selected the three alloy, he needed for the upcoming minigame.
"I chose the ones, that I needed for." Kaios told to the fairy.
"Okey.." the fairy nodded cutely as she saw the selected alloy, before waving her hand one more time. "Here it is the alloys, you chose."
Kaios saw as a portal opened in front of him throwing three boxes from it. This made Kaios realize that the fairy as cute as she was, and as clumsy as she was, still the sole overseer of this entire trial. Her one command and he will be as good as dead.
Kaios stared at fairy which was now lying in the air upon a summoned cloud.
The fairy who felt the gaze of the Kaios, meet his gaze after rising from the cloud. "Is everything alright." She asked him.
"Nothing" Kaios shook his head while going to open three boxes on the ground. He picked those open the three one by one.
Inside those boxes were three orbs of different colours. The first one had a deep teal with shimmering silvery light. The next one has looked like orb made of gunpowder, with its charcoal like colour, and the last orb glowed with vibrant violent, as its surface rippled with each touch.
As Kaios got the orbs, he didn't hastly began the game, instead started to manipulate them, testing their limits, synergies and uses.
While the fairy observed all this from the sideways, her eyes glittering with excitement and burning curiousity.
Kaios manipulated those to different shapes, use their syrnegies as well as invented some creative techniques from these.
After an hour Kaios finally broken from his focused state, and announced to the fairy "I am now ready." In these hour, he had made many techniques using these alloys, as well as set of moves for him through his special ability.
The fairy who got bored just after the 15 minutes observing Kaios and gone to sleep on her comfy little cloud, fell from it due to Kaios's sudden loud voice. Though Kaios caught her before she crashed with the ground.
She woke up suddenly, her cheeks puffed with anger, "Bad Kaios, rude Kaios. You shouldn't shout when I was sleeping." She said while pouting.
As Kaios saw this he tried so hard to stop himself from poking the cheeks of this little fairy. "I apologised for my previous behaviour." He said while bowing slightly.
"Hmm..i will forgive you this time." She said as her previous anger melted like butter. "Now then...."
Kaios interjected again, before she could complete her sentence "Before starting can you answer one of my doubt about the second rule."
"Second rule.." she said while secretly reading it, because as always she forgot it. "What about it."
"Here it says that failing will transport me to the current Island, so does the entire island will reset or it simply will transport me to the starting point."
The fairy who heard the query of Kaios, shook her head, "No you simply be transported." She answered to Kaios.
As she looked at him after answering, she felt a slightly dangerous aura from Kaios, but she shook it off.
Hehe..hehe..so Dak soul it is. Kaios thought this in his mind as certain zombies will think, a evil smile appearing on his face, just then a high pitched sound echoed in his ears, braking him from his thought.
"Now the game begins...." The fairy announced.