Kris studied the artwork on the wall. The piece was a masterly etching work done on a harlequin marble slab, depicting an abstract illustration of a hulking piscine humanoid holding onto the tumbling pillars of his castle against a backdrop of a fierce storm.

Faraway from him, to the centre of the atrium, a slow-music played endlessly in the background, while several entrants formed pairs with the NCPs and began to rehearse their dance performances, and the ones who couldn't manage to have a good conduct got penalised and avoided.

Kris loitered the rest of the idle time by staying away from the crowd. But his moment of solitude was disrupted by Bang Cha.

"There you are," said Bang Cha as slammed his heavy arm around Kris' shoulder in a domineering manner. "Why don't you get us some drink?" he told him, pointing at the table with soft-drink glasses at their disposal.

For some reason, Bang Cha wasn't taking part in the ongoing event. Now he had a new acquaintance—a guy from another guild who was as burly and smug looking as Bang Cha. Kris didn't retort as he felt it was best to escape Bang Cha, than pick a fight which he knew he'd never win.

Slinging the backpack onto his shoulder, Kris scooted away to fetch drinks for Bang Cha and his new friend.

Given his haughty and crude manners Bang Cha couldn't have had much luck in the subevent, Kris speculated. But, he had used the opportunity to make new allies.

Picking a drink for himself, Kris stood at a farthest corner of the Atrium, staring blankly at the pairs performing the dance. He grimaced at the weird taste of the drink.

Boring music.

Boring dance.

Boring drink.

****************

Soon after the completion of the subevent, the NCPs had vanished from the ship. Following which there was a quick meal served to the entrants by a bunch of new older NCPs, now playing as employees belonging to a famous food and restaurant group.

In the first subevent, Andre, Manila and Lien Sho of Infringe guild were able to secure the defence shield as a reward.

Kris sat down for the meal together with Andre, Manila, Pema Shoo, Dahn Ok and Lien. Bang Cha had already drifted off and making allies with stronger entrants from other guilds. Now, he was having two of them to his sides. Good for him.

The first subevent was only a fun task. Hereon, the events were going to become more and more severe. And Kris knew that at the end they'd all be standing alone and against each other to win the game of survival.

As they dined, Lien and Andre discussed about a formidable group of five entrants from the guild Creed. They called this group C-5.

"All the five of them are allies...  that Yatinin guy seems to be the leader."

Among the top guilds were BMa (benchmark), Arrows, Maximus, COC (City ofConquest) . BMaand Maximus were known to train their entrantsruthlessly. They were also the most successful guilds in Tairan. Arrows was infamous orpicking up unruly members, and COC was a guild to give the maximum number of winners in the Republic of Tairan. 

"Looks like Creed is going to outdo Arrows in the most unruly guild title," Pema scoffed.

"There's always a specific number that the game-makers look to reduce the entrants after the first level. How much do you think it is this season?" asked Lien.

"I believe it was ten in all the previous season," Pema answered.

"Twenty... give or take. This time as there are more entrants they'll try to get rid of the lazy chunk at the earliest," said Dahn.

When Dahn mentioned that, Kris felt few of them glance over to him.

"It's too early to assume who stays and who leaves," countered Manila.

After the meal the entrants were allotted cabins. On his way to the cabin, Bang Cha thrust his backpack into Kris' arms. "Take it to 0016, will ya?"

Kris handled the bag begrudgingly. Bang Cha then gave him a small smack on his cheek as a token of appreciation. Then with a satisfied smirk he left with his new friends.

"A word of advice, Mr. Yang," Andre spoke to Kris after Bang Cha had left. "I hope you take the game more seriously, Mr Yang. Its going to get brutal and the weak ones get crushed. At least you have to act like a strong contender."

Kris nodded.

"You stats are too low... you need to pass the next event if you want to keep playing." Then with a concerned glance at his bad leg, he added. "If you want to keep playing that is."

Flopping onto the bed inside a small resting cabin allotted to him, Kris took long breaths.

His heart was pounding. He could feel the pressure of the game building up in his nerves.

I want to stay. Of course I do.

For Mark and Lucy.

*************

Kris woke up with a start at the sudden beeping voice. Sleep had come without warning, though it didn't feel like he had been napping for too long.

He shook his head and rubbed his eyes. A virtual message screen flashed in front of him.

[Subevent 2]

Category: Gauge your endurance

Setup1: Specially brewed slime-tea.

Setup2: Slime-orb

Shaking off the sluggishness, Kris grabbed his walking cane and hurried out of the cabin.

This time, he didn't wait to follow his guild members. This was his chance to prove that he was not a weakling feeding off sympathy. By the time he had reached the atrium, the event had already begun. About twenty entrants from other guilds had already gathered before the subevent setup that served slime-tea.

He had heard that some of the entrants from Maximus and COC could to go on for ten days without any sleep. This was done by using high level mental buffs at the zero level that worked only when the entrants stayed inside the game system.

About four to five entrants taking part in setup1 were chugging down the slime-tea ferociously. Due to the effect of slime-tea their eyes had become bloodshot and tears ran down their cheeks like rivers. Looking at them groan and curse after each gulp, it was clear that the slime-tea was not a typical viscous substance.

Kris didn't waste time to hop towards the setup2—slime orbs—that were getting little to no attention from the entrants. Following the instructions, he slipped into one of the orbs and perched inside.

Slimy liquid gushed in through the valves inside the solid orb, and a virtual timer appeared in front of him. The sensation wasn't sudden, but he felt it get strong as soon as the timer hit thirty seconds. By then, both his legs were covered with the substance. It was acrid and searing. And before knew it, his eyes were welling up as well.

At the setup-1, Kris spotted Manila and Lien swallow the slime-tea desperately. He heartened himself and stayed put. After about five minutes the level of the slime began to rise above his torso, biting his skin along its way up. It stopped at his neck level.

Kris groaned and pushed on. After a hard fifteen minutes, the stats screen popped up in front of him.

[Your EP has increased]

[Current EP: 65]

Not enough.

At twenty minutes.

[Your EP has increased]

[Current EP: 70]

[You have been qualified to the upcoming event]

At thirty minutes he had lost the sensibility on his lower torso. But he could not let go just yet. SR (Survivance rate) were crucial to lift ones level. He was still i1 (iota1) could only get into the second level of the game if he obtained enough SR, for which he had to increase his EP.  (SR= EP*CP)

[Rising the complexity] 

[Do you want to continue?]

"Yes."

The orb gave an initial shudder. Kris shut his eyes tight and braced himself for the ordeal to unfold.

"Bring it on!" he cried in a breathy voice.

Then the orb began to spin, splashing the acrid, burning slime all over him.