In a room full of monitors a man is leisurely sitting his leg spread around with a bucket of popcorn in his hand quietly looking at the pioneers.
He is Dory the examiner of this test He has placed invisible drones all across the test site monitoring every move of the pioneers.
"Wow.. this time the batch is not to be scoffed off."
With his dark eyes, he looks at a certain monitor with a white-haired girl standing on a corpse mountain.
"So she is rumoured to be Princess Alisa L White. The princess of House White and the 25th queen candidate."
He holds his chin with his right hand and nods.
"Just as the rumour says she is the most beautiful princess, her beauty can be said to be in the top three in the entire tree. And her strength is not low either, effortlessly killing an entire orc colony."
Then he turned his gaze to the girl with red hair.
"Even her followers are not ordinary. The talented daughter of the Larkin family."
Then his gaze turned to the other monitors.
"Haa.. there are these ones too. Ruthless and bloodthirsty and a total psychopath. With those around I don't think this test will be boring to watch"
Then his gaze turned to a certain monitor. In that a blue-haired woman contemplates killing a rabbit. The struggle on her face and her pained expression say she hasn't killed a single thing in her life.
"Too bad that a poor soul has chosen to climb this tree. With how this tree works her end is near, she is not going to survive for long." Then his expression became serious. "You can only climb to the top while stepping on a mountain of corpses as a foothold."
His eyes drift to the golden-haired boy beside her who is watching this entire situation with an amused face.
"What is up with that guy? Is he some sort of king's cosplayer? There are a lot of guys in this tower who worship the king like a god. As an examiner, I have seen many take the test but none like the first of his kind."
He looks at Elite as if he can't understand him.
"He looks worry-free without a care in this world as if something like this test isn't even enough to bother him. What the hell is he?"
Residents of the tree believe that if they reach the top of this tree they can achieve their desire. And if they climb high enough. They would obtain everything in the world.
The fame to be praised by everyone. The strength to stand above all. Authority to rule over the masses. Even obtaining worship as a god.
"Everyone has desires, every living being is full of greed, even those who stand at the top. I can tell by just looking at someone's face what sort of desire they have. No matter how thick your mask is you can't conceal your every thought. But what is that you desire?"
Dory pioneered the tree thousands of years ago. He climbed to great heights, gained strength and obtained a rank. And over fifteen hundred years ago he became an examiner and took a great step in his career.
Even among the rankers he is special. Even after gaining a rank his strength continued to increase. And with it, his ranking also improved. And just like anyone he became arrogant.
But everything changed a thousand years ago when that thing stepped into the first layer. Just like others he was just a f-rank pioneer.
But he was monstrous even at that time he had unrivalled strength unlike others. And an attitude that he is invincible. Dory never liked the look of his eyes and that event happened.
His arrogance and confidence were shattered under the foot of a mere pioneer.
Dory took a big hit. A wall taller than anything now stood in his way. Stagnating his progress.
He stood in the same place as those beings and he reached the greatest height that even Dory couldn't dream of. Now that boy is one of the highest beings in the tower on the same level as the six high lords.
"You kid, you have the same look as him in your eyes. But are you just as special as him?"
Dory smiles and keeps looking at his progress.
— — —
In the forest under a bush, a blue-haired girl looks at the rabbit eating while holding a weapon in her hand.
She knows that she has to kill that little creature but there is a great struggle in her heart.
She turns her head and looks at the good-looking boy beside her. He has hair as shiny as gold. Eyes blazing like a brilliant sun.
In her entire life, she has not seen someone so good-looking. Elite also looks at her and smiles.
That smile caused her to freeze for a second as her heart throbbed.
"What?" I ask.
"I think you should wear a mask."
"You can't resist my charm, I see."
Rona trembles and tries to refute "No that's not it."
"I know." I half-heartedly say.
"It's really… Just forget it." She pauses mid-sentence and focuses on the rabbit.
"How long are you gonna just look at it?" I ask.
Her delicate body shakes and she turns her head and looks at Elite.
"How can you be so heartless to kill such an adorable creature?"
I sigh "Hey there Miss Delicate. This is a test and don't you want to gain credits?"
She turns her head towards the ground and says "But credits were rewarded for killing monsters. And that is just a harmless animal."
I look at the rabbit and say "Harmless… Do you really think that?"
Rona tilted her head in confusion "How can such a small creature cause us harm?"
"Then why don't you go near and check for yourself?"
"Won't it run away if I get close?"
I shake my head "No it won't. And if it runs away, that is good for you, you don't have to kill it."
Rona hesitates but still decides to approach the rabbit. She leaves the bush and slowly walks towards it.
Rustle!
The rabbit hears the commotion and turns his head to Rona.
"Don't be afraid I won't hurt you." She says in a soft voice.
As if responding to her the rabbit stays still and lets her approach it. After reaching it she extends her hand and strokes it then she turns around and looks in the direction of Elite.
'See I told you it's not dangerous.' This is written all over her face.
But as she turns her head the eyes of the rabbit shine with red light as its maw stretches ten times its size. Rona feels something is wrong and looks back at the rabbit.
But in the next scene, Rona is startled and stumbles backwards. Her face turns pale as she looks at hundreds of hook-shaped, incredibly sharp teeth arranged in spirals inside the massive maw.
She is so shocked she can't even move.
'I am going to die.' She says to herself as the sharp teeth draw near.
Srrr!
As she is about to be gobbled, something with high speed passes through her side making her hair dance in the wind.
Spurt!
The massive maw explodes and all blood falls down like rain. She looks at this spectacle as the body of the rabbit falls backwards lifelessly.
Rona blinks her eyes a few times trying to process what happened.
"See I told you it was dangerous."
She turns her head to the source of this familiar voice and her eyes fall on Elite standing away from the rain of blood. In his hand, he is holding a few pieces of stone.
"Aa.. aa. aa…"
"Take a deep breath and calm down," I say as I look at her appearance. She is so shocked she can't even talk straight.
Rona takes deep breaths a few times and looks at Elite with resentment.
"You knew that the rabbit was a monster."
I shake my head in reply.
"Then how do you know that it was dangerous?"
I look at her dead in the eyes as she shrinks down and I say in a serious tone.
"Common sense."
"Common sense?... What?" Rona asks in confusion.
"Use your head for a second in a forest full of bloodthirsty monsters. How can a weak rabbit survive?"
She opens her red lips and says "Unless it is also a monster."
I nod my head, "That's right."
"Then why didn't you stop me?"
"Some people don't believe in what others say. Unless they experience it firsthand."
She turned her eyes, unable to refute my words.
"Also you should wash up. You reek of blood."
Rona's face turned red as a tomato.
"You.. you.."
She looks around and picks a rock and throws it at Elite.
"Die you bastard."
But Elite effortlessly dodges it. She gives him another look of resentment and walks to the river that was nearby.
"Don't you dare peek pervert," Rona screams.
"Don't worry I don't have any interest in you."
Rona feels uncomfortable at this but she turns around to wash herself up.
I also smile and turn away then I flick the stone towards the sky.
Taa!
The stone hit something invisible in the air and destabilised it.
Inside the control room, Dory is startled. But then he smiles.