"That's it?" Jason subconsciously blurted out, the moment he appeared in a new room that looked just like a classroom.
He was completely alone, without anything but a chair, a huge stash of files in front of him, and a seemingly ordinary pen right next to it.
This felt weird, and after reading the first two questions, Jason couldn't help but feel odd.
[What type of cultivation vein did you awaken, and at what age?]
[Where were you born?]
If the demanded honesty only included questions about himself, it would be extremely easy, and not a challenge at all.
Yet, the third and fourth questions were already something more personal that allowed Jason to understand that the questions would become more difficult to answer with a guilt-free conscience.
[Who are your parents?]
[What do you regret the most?]
[How many innocent beings did you kill?]
[Why did you kill innocent beings?]
[Describe yourself in three words!]
The questions about his regret and the deaths of innocent beings at his hand were supposed to increase his guilt about something he couldn't change.
There were many things he regretted, but in the end, there was no way he could go back in time and correct his mistakes.
This was the bitter truth, but Jason nonetheless wrote his biggest regret on the answer sheet.
[My biggest regret was not being able to see my mother even one last time!]
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})Writing it down made him feel sad and a little bit depressed, but the next question was similar, and Jason struggled to find a proper answer.
He had already forgotten about the incident with Jennifer, and even if it would have bothered him, the questions in front of him were enough to drive all those thoughts out of his mind.
'How many innocent beings did I kill? Foreign races...none! All of them attacked us on Argos, or inside the Mansion, so none of them was innocent!...Beasts? …. thousands? More? Less? I don't know…'
In the end, he had no answer, but instead of writing down just any number, he decided to remain honest, as requested.
[Too many to count…]
Somehow, this question was even more depressing than the rest because he hadn't really thought about the number of beasts he killed before.
Whether they were innocent or not, he did not know, but he had only killed most of them because of a monetary gain.
Jason knew that it was wrong, but at the same time, it was the only way to become stronger, to survive, and to prevent those close to him from being injured, crippled, or possibly even killed.
Even though he didn't want innocent beings to die, if they had something he required to save those he loved, he would kill them mercilessly.
That was something he had learned during the last few years- The strong keep becoming stronger while the weak suffer.
As such, he had to become one of the strong, to at least protect his soulbonds from being forced to sacrifice themselves, just to save him.
This was the bare minimum amount of strength he was required to have, and not even a minuscule degree less!
Jason knew that this thought could turn him into a vile being in the face of others, but that was not something he could care about anymore.
When he had entered Manyr, only his soulbonds had been important to him, however, with time he had encountered other humans who were suffering, but learned to ignore their plight.
Being too weak, there was no way that he could change anything, and even if he could have, there was no need for him to do anything because none of the humans on Manyr were close to him.
They were not even trying to escape the clutches of the Aeus and Devirs either.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})Because of that, he didn't even think about helping them.
Instead, he had encountered Jennifer, a halfling, just like he was, who he got attached to.
She was honest but never revealed her true emotions. Only on rare occasions would she show how she was truly feeling.
Just as it had been a few moments before.
In the end, Jason didn't even realise when she had become so important to him, and the same applied to a few people around her.
They were not as important as Jennifer, but still enough for him to care about them to a certain extent.
He may seem merciless sometimes, even more so by relentlessly trying to improve his strength by fighting because he very well knew what it meant to be on the losing side.
As such, he was sometimes deemed as cold despite his kindness that even swept through his aura.
Thinking about the people he had learned to care about, Jason's earlier thoughts about his crude behavior towards the weak dispersed.
Everyone was greedy to a certain extent, and it was only fortunate that the beasts on Manyr didn't seem to be as wild as those on Argos.
Otherwise, there would be much more violence than there was already.
Shaking his head, Jason tried to regain his composure, and avert his attention back to the files in front of him.
With the criteria that he should remain honest, the entire fifth trial shouldn't be too difficult.
At least, as long as one was able to cope with the consequences of one's own thought, or if one had to lie to oneself.
There were many occasions in which one would say, "I would definitely help", only to deny the moment the given scenario occurs.
As such, Jason knew that even the easiest questions had to be carefully thought through.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})Thus, the last trial was seemingly easy, yet extremely difficult at the same time.
Sometimes one's heart tells one to do something, only for the rational part of the mind to stop them from doing exactly that.
Hence, one had to be absolutely certain about oneself before answering all those questions.
Jason was not sure if he knew himself perfectly, because that was simply too difficult.
He couldn't even describe himself properly, without feeling like he was exaggerating.
Who was he even, to begin with?
Did he have heroic traits, or was he more like a misunderstood villain? Maybe both, or possibly even none of them.
Was he kind, or cruel? In the end, he could be everything, and it was just that the correct questions had to be asked to get the desired answer.
Answering the question was not difficult, but being 100% honest to oneself was.
Jason never expected this to be the case, and he had to skip dozens, if not more than a hundred questions first because he had to think about them in-depth.
Mindlessly scribbling anything that came to his mind was not the best idea, and he didn't have a specific timeframe in which he had to answer the questions either.
As such, given that he had more than enough time, there was no need to stress himself.
He hoped that Jennifer was doing the same because it was important for her to pass the trial, just like it was for him.
Jason didn't need the main inheritance, but he just wanted to survive first, and get a reward later.
In order to ensure their survival the moment they stepped out of the Inheritance site, they had to be prepared for everything, including the onslaught of four peak Prismar Preactors that had all three main cultivation veins awakened!
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