The Greatest Sin is Weakness
I trained within that small room with Nola, gaining a new appreciation for her. I swung her endlessly—but not mindlessly—up and down, thousands upon thousands of times. It could have been days, weeks, even months, and I wouldn't have known. Time escaped me as I focused on reaching an 85% completion rate. But the longer I trained with the sword, the more I felt as if it were an extension of my body, the techniques an instinctual form of expression.
Eventually, I reached 85%, but I didn't stop there. My completion rate kept rising until I hit 97%. Beyond that, no matter how long I trained, I couldn't improve. It seemed I needed a breakthrough elsewhere. Practicing alone wasn't enough. I had to challenge the trial.
I navigated into my soul sea and approached the first gate. The word Chastity glowed above it in large white letters. It was the least ominous of all the gates, practically screaming safety and comfort. A large white gate, exuding a divine aura—something like how people imagined heaven. But no trial was ever easy. Just completing one could boost your status significantly in Roathia, earning VIP treatment in most third-rate establishments. The purification of one's soul was no simple feat after all. The first virtue granted the most significant change, apart from the final one.
The gate opened slowly as I approached. I knew there was no more delaying the inevitable. If I wanted to escape my small black stone cage—the one I had come to like—I had to conquer the trial. So I jumped into the dark endless abyss just past the gate.
***
After minutes of falling, I abruptly stopped and began floating sideways in the bottomless pit. Others floated in the same direction. Time passed very oddly here, allowing multiple people who entered the gates at different times to enter trials simultaneously. A maximum of one hundred could enter together, though participants were randomly selected.
I drifted toward a large hole in the pit wall. There were many such holes—like swiss cheese, though I wasn't sure how I knew that. My memories were scrambled. The hole I neared led to a snow-covered expanse of mountainous terrain, dotted with petrified stone forests. About thirty others entered this same trial. Most were ordinary, exuding little status, or held no noteworthy names.
But three caught my eye.
First, a tall, good-looking boy wielding two superior-uncommon short swords and trailed by a small inferior-rare will-o-wisp. Second, a stunning girl with violet hair on an infant dragon of the superior-rare tier. She held a rare-tier wand—worth at least ten core soul fragments. She seemed reliant on her names rather than strength. The third was a quiet girl with long, vibrant red hair, wielding a superior-rare tiered greatsword in one hand. She wore a full set of low tiered -name armor. But most strikingly—I recognized her. Somehow. I didn't know from where, but I was certain it was before my memory loss.
Determined, I altered my flight path and drifted toward her.
When she noticed, her face twisted in mild disgust. She ignored me, likely due to my lowly status and the permanent 5x status backlash I carried.
Still, I called out. "Hey, you! You wouldn't happen to know anything about someone named Starless, would you?"
Her expression turned grim. She spun and flew toward me, unsummoning her greatsword and instead summoning an ancient tome—its tier indiscernible. It wasn't divine, but definitely high-tier or hidden by detection avoidance.
"You! Come here, fast!"
Before she reached me, we entered the snowy world. Her body faltered as the atmosphere rejected, and all the other challengers fell from the sky. The connection to the abyss sealed behind us.
I knew we wouldn't take damage in this fall, but the sensation was still unnerving. She didn't seem to know that. Panic twisted her expression as she tried to break her fall by stabbing her sword downward—a terrible idea. We couldn't be harmed, but our names could be destroyed.
I adjusted course to intercept.
She noticed and scowled. "Don't move closer or I'll swing!"
"Unsummon your name! You won't get hurt by the fall!"
"Why should I trust you?"
"No reason in particular. But even if you hit the ground with your weapon, you'll still die!"
Realization dawned. She quickly unsummoned everything, down to her undergarments.
"Don't look this way! Or I'll really kill you!"
"I swear I won't!" I lied. I peeked—only because I was worried. The first person I remembered might get hurt. There wasn't much to see anyway. Though she must have been considerably blessed financially, she was lacking in the body de Her underwear even had tiny bears—
"Ew. Pervert," Nephim muttered.
Nephim! Ready to talk again?
Silence. As always.
…"Nephim, stop being so petty. I was joking when I called you a stupid, puny little annoying fairy."
...
Once I was within three meters of her, I redirected myself toward a patch of snow. She did the same. A few seconds later, we collided.
I landed headfirst. She crashed into me, clinging tightly, then repositioned and rolled away. I remained buried in snow.
"Little help, please?"
She drew her sword and pointed it at my feet. "How do you know the name Starless? What's your clan? Which transcendent do you follow? Answer before I force it out of you!"
"At least pull me out first. Then I'll answer."
"Fine. But don't try to run."
She yanked me out with incredible gorilla-like strength. What's a gorilla? I wondered, a headache brewing.
She brandished her sword again.
"Ready to answer, or should I kill you?" she said, activating a superior-rare tome: Truth or Falsities. I somehow knew that It could detect lies with absolute certainty.
I sighed. No use hiding the truth.
Moreover, the fact that I recognized this girl likely spoke of her trustworthiness. I didn't like people that constantly lied or were untrustworthy.
"Stupid Hypocrite." Nephim quipped back with. Ignoring Nephim, I responded.
"Okay, okay. First off—what's a clan? When I woke up in the physical world, I was trapped in a small black box. I follow no transcendent and don't know any. I know the name Starless because... that's my name. I lost my memories recently, and I only approached you because I recognized you from before. Somehow."
She stared, expression flickering, then lit with joy.
"You... are you really the Starless? Betrayed by my ancestor? The strongest of all gods?"
"Well, yes. I suppose. It must have happened a few hundred years ago at this point."
Her mouth opened and closed repeatedly.
"But how? You were supposed to be trapped in the deepest pit of hell... dreaming an eternal dream."
Her words triggered a wave of discomfort. My mind tried to erase them. I forgot what she said almost instantly.
"I'm... not sure."
Not bothering to confirm the validity of my statements, she helped me up, brushing snow off my cloak.
"I'm Princess Sephoria Sonoria of the Royal Clan of Envy. Call me Seph."
Her demeanor shifted from threat to admiration. I understood now why I recognized her—she resembled Sonoria, previously one of my six divine companions. The one who became the God of Envy. I despised them, but not their descendants. They were not to blame for the heinous actions of their ancestors.
"It is an honor to greet you, Princess Sephoria. I am Starless of Gluttony."
"No need for formality. You far outrank me." She patted my shoulder, her face twitching slightly.
"No need for flattery, Princess. But if you insist, Seph it is."
"What's with the half-mask?"
"A high-tier name. It Lets me see other names' tiers. I can hide it, if you want."
"No, keep it. I'm not sure I could even handle seeing your full face, former god and all."
We began walking toward the tallest mountain in sight. On Roathia, it was called the World Summit. Here, it probably had a different name. Every trial was similar. For the first, we had to reach the summit within ten days.