A - Alice??

"A - Alice?" Lance unceremoniously blurted her name.

There's no doubt about it. He won't be mistaken. Her voice sound so soft and sweet in his ears everytime she encourage him to do his best. In his artificial memories, this girlfriend of his was with him in his ups and down of life.

She was the reason why he did not give up his life as an e-sports player. Just hearing her say his name made his heart flutter.

And she is also one of the main reason why he will not accept that artificial memories he had was just a lie. Because that was the same thing as confessing that she doesn't exist at all. And every memories they spend together was just a code entered in the computer.

The girl looked at him coldly. The hand that hastily wrapped the cloth to the broken arm stopped. Her peach blossom eyes narrowed.

Then, as if she realized something, she looked down at her chest. On the combat gear assigned to them, there was a nameplate attached. Hers has a name 'Alice' on her upper left chest. Then she scrutinized the name that was on Lance's upper left chest.

"Thank you for saving me earlier but this is as far I go, then..." She nodded curtly before turning her back at him. Lance scrambled on his feet. He get up and wanted to come after her.

Alice did not walk far when suddenly, another piercing bang exploded. This time it was so close to Lance that he felt if he didn't crouch down in time, his head would have burst into small matter.

He hurriedly crouched down and hid behind the boulder. His eyes scrutinized the area. Alice also hid under plain sight. Lance glance at his hand and wanted to utilize his ability. He willed it to come out and formed a miniature tornado to boost powerful wind to his elbow. Yet nothing happens.

Could it be... in this assessment, abilities are restricted?

Right. The rules ask them to utilize human weapons to shoot the other trainees.

Another bang wheezed past a few meters away from Lance. He determined the direction and scrutinized the area. Maybe it was because he was transformed into a monster earlier, but he was able to detect even the slightest movement. The rustling of leaves, the twitching of branches, even the direction of the wind did not escape his eyesight.

This place has small animals making habitats out of tree branches and trunks. Lance could catch the movements of four furry brown animals scuttling down the leaves picking up the fruits of their labor.

In the next tree, he saw a well hidden shadow that carefully crouched down in the thick branch. The thick leaves concealed his figure completely. If it wasn't for that man slightly shifting his weight to balance himself on top of that branch, Lance wouldn't have noticed him at all.

Lance silently pulled out the gun in his trousers and aimed at the man's direction. He narrowed his eyes and pinpointed the little spot that was covered with black. With this man's built, he should be a lightweight man with muscles beefing his biceps. A man who focused solely on building muscles and at the same time control and shift his weight to adjust and hid in narrow dangerous places like the top of a tree.

Lance was able to catch a glimpse of the man's hair before he made a rough estimation. He positioned his gun in an angle that can get him the best shot and fired. A loud bang erupted.

Then a loud thud scare the birds nearby and all of them flew away in a panic. At the ground, a black figure was slumped, clearly unconscious.

[Player #231 has been eliminated.] The cold mechanical voice announced overhead. Then at Lance's communicator, it coldly reminded.

[You only need 70 points to pass the exam.]

Lance recovered from his momentary shock and sprint to where Alice hid. Alice glance vigilantly around the area to identify if there are more enemies when Lance's figure suddenly came out.

"Are you okay?" Lance stretch out his hand to help her up.

Alice just stared at him, then at his outstretched hands. She couldn't accept it. She wasn't obliged to. Not to mention this guy must have suspected her already.

In Alice's head, the system screamed, [Aaaaaahhhhhhh, he knew! He definitely knew! Look at him, adorably chased you! He even saved you! Aaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!]

Alice's head throb because of the annoying voice of the system. She quickly flipped her finger and turned on the mute mode before spatting, "I'm fine."

She stood up with difficulty. She glanced around before limping her way up to the hill.

Lance soundlessly followed her.

Within a few steps, Alice stopped. Lance also stopped. Alice looked over her shoulder.

"Is there something you want from me?"

Lance fell silent for a second before he stared into her eyes. "I want to team up with you."

Alice slightly opened her mouth, then a small smile curved up her lips.

"Team up? Didn't you notice that sub-granite mecha earlier? Right after we entered, someone already reported me for violating behavior. Who do you think has the leisure to do that?" Each of her words was spat with mockery.

Even her beautiful dirty face was sneering.

Lance calmly assessed her before speaking with caution. "That's because you were favored due to your skills. And that attracted negative attention from the opposing side."

"Which makes it even more unwise to team up with me." Alice replied. "Go. Your marksmanship is good enough that you were able to accurately eliminate an enemy hiding deeply. This assessment should be easy for you to pass."

"Of course I will." Lance said determinedly. "But I need your knowledge once I'm accepted."

This statement clearly puzzled Alice as she turned around to face him.

""Out of all of us here, only you are familiar and are aware of each of the combatant's strength, you even know the measurement of power a Marshal has. That arm of yours is the proof. Under everyone's eyes, you tightened the muscle surrounding the broken bone and were able to isolate the injury in that area."

The system that has been clamoring in Alice's head started acting up again.

Alice did not know how it managed to turn off the mute she activated. But the system started screaming nonsense in her head.

[This excellent young man had now exceeded my expectation! Look at this, he noticed how you strengthen the muscle in your arms in order to lessen the damage brought by having your arm broken!]

[Alice, team up with him now! Agree to him! He has a lot of potential ah! I believe if his weapon, [Endless], will fall into his hands, he will possess twice the amount of power and speed compared to when he was a Suit!!!!]

Alice ignored the system and faced Lance head on.

"What are you trying to say?"

Lance took a deep breath and approached Alice. He already probed their surroundings and made sure that there was no one in the vicinity who are spying on both of them right now. The combat gear on their body is also design to withstand and protect them from different elements. But not a single listening device was instilled. This means that only those things flying up there are the ones monitoring their every move. And the communicator in their shoulder can only be used by the people in headquarters. It's a one way communication, not two way.

Lance knew the risk of teaming up with someone. But he wants to work with a person who had already been inside the fortress. He will be needing their cooperation. And it must be someone he can trust.

He could not explain why but he felt Alice is the best person for this. He can feel she is not a bad person. She saved him earlier without hesitation. She also tried to push him away. This means that she doesn't have any ill intentions against him and does not want to bother with him. Not to mention she came from the fortress and has spend ample time to get herself familiarize with the place.

For Alice's actions in breaking the rules... Lance could not explain it but he believed that Alice discovered something inside the fortress that induced her to do that.

[Do you think you can trust her?]

The cold voice of the system in Lance's head makes him narrow his eyes.

"Why? Is there something suspicious about her?" Lance asked the system in his mind.

[Yes. But she is the best candidate for your plan of infiltration. She's exceptionally strong so getting her to your side is a big advantage... The only thing is... can you really trust her? The stronger a person is, the more difficult it is to trust them.]

Lance, of course, knew this fact.