'HUFF.' The world around Ryo warped. 

The uncomfortable bed underneath disappeared, he was suddenly upright and standing. The tent above him disappeared, revealing an ceramic roof clad in colors of golden. 

The flap of the tent disappeared, and now large, beige colored pillars appeared, one after another, each became vividly visible. 

But, Ryo couldn't make sense of things around him. He had another problem at hand.

His pupils dilated. The muscles on his face became disturbingly relaxed. He clenched his jaws. He felt bile pile up near his throat, but as his body tried forcing it out, nothing came out. Instead, his throat burned violently. 

His chest, and stomach which had carried many wounds were now covered by the clothes he had previously been wearing. 

There was no sign of a wound either, however, Ryo could still feel the pain. His stomach twisted violently.

His body couldn't stay still. Trembling, as his toes clenched tightly, much like his fists.

He wanted to grip his entire body and let out a shout, but he felt as though he wasn't even in control of his own body. 

The air around him felt livid, and clean. Usually when one breathes they feel slight resistance, but oddly, Ryo did not. 

His eyes were red, and strangely moist. His cheeks felt wet, from the tears that had involuntarily begun streaming down.

The very first action Ryo took after he regained some amount of control over himself, and his body, was to let out a sound.

'A- A- ' His body shook even more violently. "Ah." 

"I- I can speak!!" The corners of his mouth creaked all the way to his ears. 

He broke into laughter like a crazy lunatic as he chanted the words aloud: 

An inexplicable amount of euphoria overwhelmed Ryo.

In that moment he had lost all and any sense of the world.

As the feeling began to very slowly dissipate. 

He could begin faintly hearing laughs around him, sounding much like his.

His eyes regained focus and saw that the floor nearby was covered in bile. 

He saw a girl nearby with a horrified look as she stared the bile-filled floor.

Some people around were acting much like him, while the rest looked at them, and him, with either disdain or sympathy. 

As his conscience too slowly returned, a hue of deep red covered slowly took over.

He felt like a man who was just born.

A blue hologram appeared in front of his eyes, displaying the leaderboard. The first name that came up was: [1st Place: Ryo.]

Following this, a man appeared in front of them. On top of the empty stage.

He looked strangely familiar. 

A thin frame, a black trench coat above a red shirt. Blue pupils, and a pale face. 

A realization came. 'Ah... he's the man I met outside the Test Hall!' But, it wasn't all. He felt as though he knew the man from somewhere else too. 

"Ahem." The man said, guiding all attention towards him. "The Third Scenario will commence after twenty-minutes. Till then, ye are to remove yer Simulation Gear."

His thoughts were cut off by the man's explanation, "The reason why you have to remove yer Simulation Gear, is because it is a Strength Test. And, to accurately gauge yer performance, the test will be taken manually by the instructors, since our Simulations are unable to do that." 

'A stre-strength test?! Now? Right after twenty-minutes? C-I want a break... I need to freshen up my mind. I... want to sleep...' He wallowed. 

His hand seemed to have stopped trembling now, much like his entire body. The burning sensation still remained in his throat. He stomach still twisted, less violent than before.

He looked around him, everywhere there were tired faces. 

'Looks like everyone's just tired... And... then there are the sad ones. If only they knew what the person in fir- No.' He took a deep breath, composing himself. 

'It's fine. Everything is.' He reaffirmed himself.

The next ten minutes were spent on removing the Simulation Gear adorned by everyone.

'First I should remove this hand dot thingy...?' He sighed. His right hand grabbed onto the large black dots placed on his left arm: One on his biceps, the second on his elbows, and the other on top of his fist. 

When doing so, his arms trembled, his fingers twitched at times. The aftermath of the Second Scenario Test lingered. Etched into his mind, and body.

Next, he did the same for his right arm. Followed by removing the black dots on his legs, first being the ones on his thighs, then the knees, and then finally the feet. 

Then followed with removing the ones on his chest and stomach, and then the headset worn on his head.

Much like that, the ten-minutes had passed. 

The next ten minutes were spent differently by everyone. 

Some strolled around after handing the Simulation Gears. Some exercised, and some were simply lost in thoughts. 

Ryo was all. He strolled around, randomly exercised, all while being lost in thoughts.

After the 20 minutes had passed, the man came out once more.

Clap! Clap! Clap! He did three claps, bringing all attention towards him. "Alright then, yer twenty-minutes are now over!"

"Now, all the people whose names will be taken will come forward, and enter the test room towards my right. So, I or the other instructors can being testin'." He explained. 

'He seems... good with people, huh.' He remarked.

"The first candidate who will be tested is, Jia Cheng." 

'Jia Cheng? I... don't think I saw that name anywhere at the top... Are they picking names at random? Or maybe from in an ascending order?' He couldn't be less bothered by it. He wanted to save himself from going down a deep spiral of thoughts. 

The rooms to the door of the Test Room opened. 

Revealing a white room. No, it wouldn't be right to call it a 'white room.' It was more like a while void, seemingly devoid of all volume. 

As Ryo examined further from his distance, he noticed that not a single shadow could be seen inside the room. 'Why... are there no shadows? So unrealistic for a strength test.' He criticized. 

"Next is, Alex Carter." He called. 

Ryo strolled to the very edge of the room, the only few places which were left clean. He sat down, his back connected to the wall. And, he shut his eyes, falling asleep. 

Or at least trying to fall asleep.

The smell of the bile on the floor made him, and everyone else uncomfortable. It made him feel even more sick.

"The next candidate is, Jia Shangfeng." 

Almost forty thousand candidates had already gone through the test in the past five hours. 

Ryo had now forced himself into sleep. And it seemed that his name was still far from being called.