The Seventh Calamity: I am the True Villain!
Chapter 37: Ch 37 - Trial of Perception (3)

Chapter 37: Ch 37 - Trial of Perception (3)

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[Lastly, The Sense of Sight is being sealed...]

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"Huh?"

Even though he was expecting such a thing to happen, Kai was baffled as soon as his vision suddenly changed, and all lights disappeared from his gaze.

Darkness. All he could see was nothing but shadows that seemed to have devoured everything in his sight.

Now, with his last and most important sense shut, Kai’s mind began to hallucinate as it became even more difficult for him to handle his body.

Since he was standing, his body began to sway in the air from side to side as it became hard for him to calculate the ground.

His balance had simply disappeared, and he fell to the ground once again, leaving him in a state so vulnerable that even a toddler could kill him if he wanted to.

It was then that he truly understood the horror of the Trial of Perception.

"If an arrow aims at me now, I’m just dead!" Although he was speaking, and his voice was audible to others, but he-himself could not hear a single word.

Nothing seemed to make any sense, while on the other hand, his heart began to race uncontrollably — making his breath grow rugged and irrational unknowingly since his senses truly became void.

It was a state of confusion, that was greater than any other.

Self-doubt, questioning his existence, questioning himself — with little to no sense of reality left, he began to question everything.

Within seconds, his attitude, his arrogance, everything crumbled away. And all that was left, was just a void where he floated aimlessly.

While floating, all sorts of thoughts rummaged themselves into his mind.

"What... Am I...?"

"Where... Is this...?"

His words, although confusing, reflected his current state perfectly.

With his senses gone, Kai had lost his sense of time and space as well, leading him to a near-death-like state.

***

Bang!

***

A slapping sound suddenly reverberated in his mind, jolting his consciousness awake from its slumber-like state.

His eyes suddenly captured a tiny light blinking towards him at a distance.

Unconsciously, his hands tried to reach the light; however, the light itself zapped towards him, and his entire vision changed.

’Wait... What happened?’

With his vision returning, Kai’s mind gradually returned a part of its sanity, pulling him back from the endless abyss.

However, even he did not recognize this place. Neither was it the realm he was present in, nor the dark void.

No, it was a white realm—although murky, similar to the one he was present in.

In front of him, a man sat with his legs crossed and hands joined together on his lap. His body — lean and hairs long white. His face on the other hand, for some reason, was not visible at all.

Sitting straight in a meditative stance, a sound rang in his mind.

***

"Listen up brat! When all your senses are shut, the void will eat away at your sanity in a matter of seconds — leaving you in a beyond-help state. If you want to avoid that, then hold onto your ’feel’. Let it be pain, emotions, or anything else. That will help you regain your reality."

"Yes, master."

***

’th-that voice...!’

Kai stood right there, with his eyes widened. He recognized that voice just as clearly as if it were his own.

A voice that had been etched into his mind like his past, belonging to someone who had saved his life not too long ago — the unknown entity residing within his mind.

Kai heard everything as clearly as day, and quickly closed his eyes.

Although he did not recognize the other voice, what he had said made sense.

Although his mind had been overwhelmed with the closure of his senses, his body hadn’t lost its ability to feel pain.

It was just being overshadowed by his panic.

With an image of arrows that had turned him into a porcupine, he gradually took a hold of his pain.

’this... Stings!’

Although it did not hurt him as much, due to his muscles throbbing uncontrollably, the arrowheads moved inside his body.

But it was still manageable.

All that was left now, was to wait.

Wait for the trial to end.

’Up until now, each part took around 12 and a half minutes, so this one should be ending soon. Hopefully...’

*Ding!*

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[Congratulations! You have successfully cleared the Fourth Trial — Trial of Perception!]

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The System notification alert — although subtle — rang in his mind louder than ever, making him snap his eyes open.

"Wait, it’s over already?" Kai was confused; his senses had returned, but he wasn’t expecting there to be such a time distortion effect on his senses.

"Anyhow, I guess it is what it is. This truly went harsher on me than ever, although it only made my questions increase..." He let out a short but eminent sigh and noticed the golden energy of the system enveloping him.

"More or less, the questions only seemed to be increasing, and I still do not know where to find my answers..." He was disheartened and a bit disappointed. Since he knew better than anyone else that the unknown entity that he didn’t know anything about had surprisingly saved his life once again.

Not to forget, all the previous things that had happened to him before.

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[Providing appropriate rewards...]

[Basic Trial Clearance Rewards - (+3) Perception stats; Full Recovery.]

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The screen then further stretched below as new content appeared over it.

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[Since you are the first to complete the Trial of Perception, you are being rewarded with a special privilege!]

[You may now choose an extra reward from the choices below.]

[• Be an apostle of the respective God/Goddess.]

[• a perception-related skill]

[• or, a piece of armor.]

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"Skill." He said softly almost immediately after reading the content of the screen.

Although it looked like an amateur decision of Kai to have given up on something like the opportunity to become an apostle, ironically, it was his best decision thus far.

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[Understood.]

[You have successfully obtained a new Passive Skill - Enhanced Senses!]

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