Across the entrance, a grand two-deck atrium opened up before them. It had the same moss-colored quartz crystal interior, carpeted staircases and a spectacular sapphire chandelier hung in the centre. To their great surprise, there were more people gathered in the atrium, roughly about fifty of them, pretty girls and good-looing guys, dressed in the best evening outfits, and lounging on the cushioned seats with big smiles plastered to their face.

A faint halo of yellow glow around them implied these people were NCPs. Kris had read about these kind of system engineered non-players. Just like the island and the ship they were a merged reality.

A slow music began to play from an unknown source. Then a message popped up infront of each entrant.

[Subevent 1-- Atrium contest]

Task1: Convince a NCP to become your partner.

Task2: Perform a dance number with your partner.

Reward: Defence shield.

Penalty: Entrants shall lose points, should any NCP grey-list them for misdemeanour.

There was a stir among the entrants from the other guilds as they began to rush inside the Atrium and caught the sight of the NCPs.

There were fifty of them. So roughly about twenty of them were going to lose on the defence shield. Kris was one of those twenty, he had to accept it. Even if he could convince someone to be his partner, there was no way he could perform a dance.

"Now I get it," said Manila, hinting at the reason behind them being dressed like that.

Now that he noticed, the other guilds were dressed in suits and tux as well. It must have been a criteria laid down by the Hiju council for this particular subevent. Although it was purely a serious game of survival they were ought to add some fun for the sake of the viewers.

Kris began toward the empty seats at the back. A small pain was beginning to nag on his ankle by then. He had to give it some rest.

"Hey," Manila stopped him. "How are we going about this, any idea?"

"Pick a NCP and start a conversation."

"Where are you going?"

"I cannot perform a dance in this condition?" As he turned to leave, he bumped into an NCP. She was a pretty-looking girl dressed in a shimmery rosegold dress. He gawked at her for some time before being confronted by her cold stare.

Oh no, he didn't want her to greylist him.

"I'm sorry... I wasn't watching. I'm really sorry." He limped back from her way.

The NCP's expression softened when she noticed his limp.

"Oh no, I am sorry too."

Kris remembered his manager's words.

Sympathy points.

"I am not sure how well you can perform in the game with that leg-but you'll be able to benefit from overpouring sympathy from audience for that. It's easy to turn it into sponsorship."

But he didn't know if that's what he had wanted. To be seen as an unfortunate weakling in need of pity.

NO

"I'm Dara, by the way," replied the NCP pulling him out of his thoughts.

Kris felt a light jab of Manila's elbow on his side.

"Ah, Kris Yang, nice to meet you, Dara." Kris greeted the NCP.

Too bad for him. He couldn't take a step without the help of the cane. And for a NCP, they worked on a set of predetermined conditions. They couldn't walk a few steps and twirl and then call it a dance performance. It was the NCP's job to ensure they entertained the viewers of the show.

"I wish I could ask you to be my dance partner," he told Dara.

Another line of pity crossed Dara's features.

That was it. Sympathy could only take him so much far. In the end the only thing that mattered was one's own strength.

"See you around." Dara waved her hand to him before walking away to join the pool of entrants at the centre of the Atrium.

Kris flopped over a chair.

"You shouldn't be wasting your time tagging me," he told Manila who was still lingering next to him. She looked hesitant. "Just get over there and start interacting."

"Right."

All alone, Kris quietly observed many entrants pairing up with the NCPs and practising for their performances. Among his own guild members, Andre had already found their partners and were doing well with the practise.

"He seems to be an all-rounder," Kris mumbled to himself.

Manila was currently talking to a curly haired, smart-looking NCP. The NCPs' young face and his curly brown bangs reminded Kris of Mark.

Kris shut his eyes and leaned against the chair.

Even as Lucy had been very sure of being able to take care of Mark and herself, he was worried about them too much.

When he opened his eyes again, Kris caught the sight of an artwork meterialise on the wall at the farthest end. He blinked few times to make sure that he wasn't dreaming. It sure was an engineered illusion by the game-makers.

Kris glanced to his sides to see if anyone else was witnessing the thing. But there were not many people around him. Everyone was cramming the centre of the Atrium.

Curious, he rose and limped toward the other side.

By the time he reached there, two guys, an entrant and a NCP were discussing about the script written on the bottom of the painting.

"Do you think it's Hebrew?"

"Those blocky letters look similar. I couldn't tell what it is even if it was Hebrew."

After they walked away, Kris moved forward to get closer look on the written verse.

'Storm of the Argon vanquisher shall destroy the rigid and imperious. The apt and yielding shall live.'