Author Of Worlds: I Reincarnated Into My Novel As A Random Character
Chapter 8: The Three Ways To Pass The Trial...

Chapter 8: The Three Ways To Pass The Trial...

Arggggg...

On the ground were five figures sprawled across the surface. Their facial expressions were filled with pain as they groaned while staring at Jin and Matthew, who were standing not too far away.

Knowing that killing would only advance the corruption, Jin only broke most of the usable bones in their bodies, giving them wounds that wouldn’t lead to immediate death within the next three days.

After all, that was the amount of time they had left.

He cracked his knuckles, then raised his slender hands to readjust his glasses. "You should be thankful that I didn’t kill you."

After scoffing, he turned to Matthew with a smile. "We can proceed now."

The others who had been harboring thoughts of stopping Matthew and Jin’s collaboration immediately let go of such ideas upon seeing how easily Jin had dealt with the group of thugs.

Matthew walked to the side, along with Jin.

Soon they reached a corner of the fractured world. Meanwhile, a lady within the crowd glanced at them out of the corner of her eyes.

She clenched the synth in her hand but in the end decided not to move.

Reaching the corner, Matthew sat down. Although it seemed like he was casually hanging out with Jin, Matthew was actually extremely nervous inwardly.

He had to be cautious of every move and every word, while constantly being on guard against Jin.

However, Matthew knew that Jin was needed. He reached into his author personality and felt the fourth wall stir. Sensing this, he began explaining.

"To pass the trial, there are three ways. The first is the most brutal, which is to directly kill everyone. If the array heart is within a person, you will definitely complete the trial by doing such."

"However, it has its flaws. The array heart could be within yourself, and by doing that, you would actually end up killing yourself in the process."

"You’d have to wait for the decay heart to transfer to a second person before killing them. But in a situation where there’s no one left for the decay heart to transfer into, the person would be inevitably doomed."

"The second method requires the cooperation of everyone to... destroy the decay world. This would allow one person to pass the trial after the decay heart has been destroyed in the process."

"Of course, only the person who deals the killing blow can pass the trial, while all others would be killed."

"As for it being within an object..." Matthew glanced around but didn’t notice any object belonging to the world. "That’s not possible," he guessed.

Leaving the fourth wall, Matthew turned to Jin. "From the name Hollow Sphere, it’s clear this is a place that feeds on fear. The mission indicated that we should destroy the decay heart within seventy-two hours."

"Yes, that is common knowledge," Jin said with a frown. After all, the same set of runes had been displayed before everyone’s eyes.

"My guess is that, as time progresses, the world will only become more corrupted. By then, not only would people need to die for us to be corrupted, but the world itself would be actively corrupting us."

"What?" Jin exclaimed, drawing countless gazes from the crowd. He then lowered his voice and asked, "Are you sure about this?"

Matthew sighed inwardly. He truly didn’t want this to be true. However, he had written this down himself.

"It should be," he nodded at Jin.

"In that case, what can we do? How do we find the decay heart and destroy it?" Jin quickly asked Matthew. He couldn’t die in this world!

"Well, it’s going to be very difficult to destroy the decay heart, since it can be within anyone or anything. We just have to destroy everything within the stipulated time."

Matthew voiced his suggestion.

Jin frowned once again, readjusting his glasses as he asked, "Wouldn’t that bring about an advancement to the corruption?"

Matthew let out an exaggerated sigh. "We’re trapped. We can only pick one way forward... there’s nothing else we can do."

Matthew swore that if he could survive his novel, the next one he would write wouldn’t be as complicated or deadly as this one. By then, I should write about an easy path to strength!

Jin tensed, then turned to glance at everyone and fell into deep thought. The decision was too difficult to make. What if the decay heart was within oneself?

"Is there a way to discover where the decay heart is?" he asked Matthew.

"Hah, do you really think a sleeper’s trial will be that easy? Besides, the more complex it is, the more terrifying the ability obtained will be," Matthew smirked as he recalled the terrifying nature of the corruption ability.

"I see," Jin nodded and continued with his thoughts.

"Why don’t we wait for a day and see what happens? If the corruption from the world starts as you’ve said, by then it wouldn’t be too late to kill everyone," Jin said the cold words calmly.

He had thought things through and realized he couldn’t fully trust Matthew. After all, everyone was working for their own benefit.

Matthew nodded at his words. That was the right decision. However, he was sure the corruption would begin advancing the moment the time clocked twenty-four hours.

There was also another thing the trial tested... one’s ability to go for a few days without food or water. Matthew could already imagine how pale everyone would be by the third day.

I have to conserve my energy as best as I can, he decided in his mind.

With that, they slowly waited. Some began to make friends and tried to lighten up the oppressive atmosphere, while others sat in solitude, trying their best to calm their emotions.

There were others who explored the Hollow Sphere, trying to look for ways to pass the trial through different means, or if they could find the decay heart during the process.

Like this, time ticked by slowly and twenty-four hours passed.

However, most of the trialists hadn’t realized that. The sun was dead, and there was no moon in the Hollow Sphere. Because of this, the concept of time was foreign and no one was actively counting the hours.

Matthew remained motionless, his gaze continuously scanning the crowd. Although he hadn’t slept for the past twenty-four hours, he only felt slightly tired.

Just as the oppressive atmosphere seemed to return to calmness, a loud sound resounded.

Matthew opened his eyes... twenty-four hours had passed. A change was about to happen in the Hollow Sphere!

A series of glowing runes appeared in everyone’s line of sight, causing them to be shocked... and mostly terrified.