James pulled his seed out of his pocket and held it for a moment.
The blue indication he held flickered then projected a simple blue box into view.
Here goes nothing?
The box remained dormant until James finished typing in some vague goals. Pausing to reread what he wrote James suddenly felt pulse from his heart. A hum and rush of vibrating nothingness traveled up his chest and down his arm flickering out of his finger with a twitch.
Suddenly the box flickered once again turning bright red.
Bright blood red the box was now uncomfortable. It gave James a subtle feeling of wrongness – as if it constantly gave off strange waves of ‘I don’t belong’ energy.
Like a puzzle piece that didn’t fit, like a dragon in a shopping mall the feeling was uncomfortable and yet…felt relatable. James understood the feeling – and technically it had come from him?
He was the creature that didn’t belong. The outsider. The outsider. The out –
James felt normal again. Whatever side effects the box had exuded they were now gone.
Expanding slightly, the box began asking James questions.
What Trait(s) would you like to reward?
Do you want to Build strength or Destroy Weakness?
Do you want a transient trial to overcome or a lasting fixture to permanently test the world?
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Do you want a once in a lifetime trial or a repeatable test?
What Trait(s) would you like to Punish?
Trial option created:
You may attempt to alter the current trial but attempts to subvert simple costs will increase overall cost.
James looked at the result. It looked...honestly a bit better than he had been expecting.
The weirdest question had probably been fish or fly. What even was the purpose of that question? James liked flying…but he also liked fishing and eating his catch. Maybe it influenced the alternative name being called a sea?
Maddy had been right. It seemed like he should do this as soon as possible. How many humans had cleared the training grounds so far? How many would have cleared it if he spent more time trying to come up with something good?
If he was going to plant this dungeon it would be safest to do it before the majority pass and the chance of someone stopping him rose.
The box itself was…ominous was the right word. And yet removing the colour, name and some of the word choice…if you looked past all that it really did feel like a great option. What exactly did
You could press a button and have those upgraded. Like sticking them in a cauldron. After some time and…effort you would get a result.
Both ways increase the weight of the world but failure was obviously worse for humanity. It sounded like failed refinements made monsters or something and enough of those without the accompanying “reward” of strength could spell disaster. That’s probably where the poisoned chalice came in.
James rubbed the seed with his finger causing the box to flicker and disappear once again.
The seed itself was now red as well – the same colour as the box had been and shaped like a crystalized drop of blood.
It was heavier than it had been before – as if the weight of James’s decision had filled it.
Looking up James realized three faces were looking at him expectantly.
Oh…oh yeah. He should tell them about this shouldn’t he?
…
“You know, with that many red flags are we really sure about this?” Jess asked even as she began walking towards the front door.
“We really shouldn’t right? It wouldn’t be safe?” Troy stood up and began walking towards the door as well.
“True true. Lock it up.” Maddy stood as well glancing at James a moment later. “So where are we planting it? Somewhere along the edge of the ocean?”