The sensation only lasted for an instant, and before he knew it— he was back in the forest, feeling the soft grass underneath the soles of his newly acquired leather boots. Jack’s guard was immediately heightened, as his eyes darted around the surroundings, scanning for any elements in the terrain he could use to his advantage— the wide Douglas-Fir trees providing him with plenty of cover for evasion, especially from any long-range attacks. On the other hand, the patches of dense foliage that were interspersed between trees— thick dark-green bushes, exposed roots and to a lesser extent, dead leaves and twigs, that might give away his location via sound, were potential threats.
He immediately took two steps back, with a firm grip on his sword. Jack had been taught to hold the sword with enough strength that it had no chance of flying out of his hands, yet maintain a flexibility within his grip at the same time— the first concept his instructor had drilled within his head, to avoid fracturing his wrist
The air in front of him started shimmering, and a few seconds later Jack got to witness the same mysterious ability that had transported him earlier. Jack felt a powerful force weighing down upon him from all sides, like gravity but it wasn’t pulling him towards the ground, but inwards— it felt as if he took a single step in any direction, his body would implode in a most gruesome manner. Naturally, he no longer had any intention to.
A black-haired man appearing to be in his late twenties, with pale white skin, brown eyes and a lean build was ejected from the portal, landing on the ground in an instant— clearly the work of the entity that transported them. He wore a baggy, dark-green hooded linen shirt that extended almost to knee level, a thin rope tied around the waist to give it a tight fit— the hood only allowing for a tuft of black hair to peek out from behind it. His leggings were tucked into a pair of long leather shoes with a thin sole, and he held a Short Bow in his right hand.
Two more portals opened up in rapid succession, and Jack watched on— still unable to move, as a burly man wielding a pair of bronze gauntlets, that in all fairness, looked mighty impressive, and a woman in her mid twenties, holding a long spear with both her hands, were ejected from the portal.
The man stood at an impressive height of six foot two, only an inch shorter than Jack himself. The man was the oldest here, somewhere between mid to late thirties. With a clean shaven, or perhaps naturally bald head, long beard and a heavier build that was still well-muscled at the same time, it was safe to say that on first glance, the man looked more intimidating than Jack. He made no further movement, and a bead of sweat trickled down his forehead— from the strained expression on his face, Jack figured he was feeling the pressure too. That was good, it implied that this force weighing down on them was intended for mutual restraint.
The woman stood at a height of five foot seven, her light brown hair tied neatly into a ponytail, matching with her attractive amber eyes. She had an athletic build, and was dressed in an outfit that was nearly identical to Jack’s, holding a reinforced wooden spear with a bluish-silver metal tip. Her eyes darted around frantically in every direction, much like the Archer’s were, both of them carrying a mix of shock, disbelief and a tinge of horror in their eyes— the reality of their new situation not yet having fully set in.
The pressure made blinking hard, let alone talking, so an eerie silence rested over the group for half a minute, before a change occurred.
Jack’s expression turned grave as he finished reading through the system prompt, though his heart did speed up when the prospect of immortality was discussed. But there was a subtle shift in atmosphere, and he could feel the other’s gazes pass by him. Human nature was one thing, but this was encouraging taking out other cultivators to increase your own chance of survival— betrayal, treachery, ambushes and much more was on the cards now.
The situation had been elevated— this was now the second worst case scenario, only succeeded by all out nuclear war, and Jack’s priorities and mindset shifted accordingly. It was a situation of pure anarchy, directed by extra-terrestrial entities that did not seem to care how many of them would die in the process of ‘awakening the talent’, whatever that meant.
Another wave of information flowed through Jack’s mind, but this time it wasn’t accompanied by a wave of crippling pain. The contents of the information were fairly simple, and Jack understood what the numbers on the screen represented now. It was the system’s judgment of his current physical, mental and sensory capabilities, quantified in numerical form, so he could make sense of it.
Barring the low strength and constitution score due to his lean, fit build, Jack was pretty flattered by the results. But he had no time to dwell on the matter, as it was followed by another system prompt in quick succession.
