【January 14, 3031 12:41 PM】

Earth. South Panacea.

Aris and Elara leaned on the wall after a few hours of sparring. They both slumped back on their butts before letting out heavy breaths, “That was a good one, did you also do the military service early?”

The shades from the nearby trees gave comfort to their body. The adrenaline rush slowly subsided, tiredness filling in. Elara tilted her head up, looking at the sky, “Yes, and I already participated in two minor screenings. All of the rewards enhanced body movements but I've been a couch potato since highschool and it was a shocker when I entered the Military. I’ve already reverted, I’ll be thankful for these buffs for surviving your combos.” 

Aris looked at her in surprise, “Two? I haven't even triggered one while traveling.”

“It's ridiculous really! One time I was chased by tea cups, the second one was a parkour type. We're all marbles rolling without pause on an inclined bridge of knives.” Elara gave a frustrated sigh, slapping the ground beside her hands. “I am quite lucky to be able to survive while being extra dumb. Luckily, the minor screenings I've entered didn't need any brains. All I did was to run!”

Aris crossed her arms thinking, “I am now not sure whether I'm lucky that I haven't triggered anything or not.”

“You're fine,” Elara answered leisurely. “Even with two buffs, I can't even flip you upside down. You'll be a monster if you receive another boost.”

“Perks of enlisting early.” Aris gave a smile, “Elara, right? Why are you here at my friend's house?”

Elara shook her head, cracking her knuckles afterwards. “I'm just roaming around. It's been a while since I've seen a living person, I was quite excited.” The other girl explained, adjusting her clothes. “Looks like we're both trying to locate our friends, there's no one in this house anymore. After the first screening, people disappeared. The house doesn't smell rotten, nobody will be inside.”

“You're right, we've been here on the lawn for quite a while yet I can't smell anything fishy.” Aris stood up and ran towards the door, “Let's hydrate ourselves.”

Functional water can still be found inside houses. Aris impulsively pushed a battle towards a stranger's head—it's only reasonable to treat them kindly. Her friend wouldn't mind her visiting with one random person, right?

Immediately going to the kitchen, Elara Selene followed her like a magnet, curious about her actions. “If I do this in my friend's apartment, she would definitely chop my neck off.”

Handing a fully filled cup of water, both women chugged it down before continuing their conversation. “Looks like your friend has a wild temper, were you able to connect with her? What is she like?”

“Not yet,” Elara's face turned, sighing helplessly, her eyes landed at the barren streets outside, some cars crashed into each other, the effect of sudden announcement of first screening was apparent. “She likes clean stuff and proper etiquette, even entering her apartment seems like a sin if I didn't wash my whole body.”

“Sounds like an... interesting friend,” Aris said, crossing her legs on top of each other while leaning on the counter. Sliding the mug towards the table, “I also don't like sweat and dust. I'll take a shower first, if you'd like, you can go first.”

Elara waved her hands, “Thank you, I'll just take a few washes.”

“A’ight.”

Aris went outside to get some fresh air. Meanwhile, after the bubbly person freshened up, she found Aris silently staring at the clouds.

The scenery was quiet yet abandoned so Elara’s footsteps was easily heard. Aris looked at her, “Wait for me here.”

After agreeing, Aris also went inside the bathroom and started washing up. It's been a long day and she hasn't gotten any proper sleep yet since she can't stay still in one place for the night.

Whether she trusts Elara or not is still unclear, one thing is for sure... she would silence the latter if ever something malicious goes down. Having a strong ally has its own benefits and disadvantages, they will either help you at hard times or kill you whilst asleep.

Anyhow, Elara seems to have the same upbeat view of things and has the same obligation and mission to find her friends. Now that she confirmed that one of her friends didn't die, she needs to check the other one.

The water from the shower head stopped as the woman turned to the left. The clothes she took at her friend's closet were placed neatly at the side, swiftly changing into a much comfortable wear. Aris now wore pants and a white t-shirt tucked underneath her pants. Taking her own combat boots, she went outside to look for the other person.

Elara was standing outside, looking at the nearby hover cars.

“Are you planning to drive?”

“My car is at the Uni's parking lot, so I'll be borrowing.” Elara said, turning to her direction, “I need to check on my friend, she might be there. Do you want to come along?”

Aris paused for a while. Let's say that she has friend A and Friend B, friend A's house is where she's currently in with Elara. Friend A's whereabouts is unknown and searching blindly would be in vain. Friend B's house is quite far from where she's located, a car would help both of them to reach their desired destinations. 

Gathering allies is also important.

Aris looked at Elara with approval, “Sure. I'm quite curious now, let's search together.”

Elara beamed, already running, “Come on!”

Aris’ steps were fast but not hurried, she was able to catch up after a few seconds and asked in a curious tone, “Do you have one specific house to go to?”

“Two, one is for Hesy and the other is for Artie.” Elara mentioned two names before entering a car. Aris stood and pushed away some rocks that's blocking the way as Elara properly parked the car in front of her. “Let's go.”

The former grabbed the car's handle and sat down on the passenger's seat. “Why are we facing this direction?”

“Huh?” Elara entered the car key that was thrown at the backseat and raised her brows, “It's where my friend's apartment is.”

“What a coincidence, I just went there now I'm going back.” Aris gave a complicated expression, a wild guess going in. “I might have met your friend depending on the apartment you'll stop by.”

Elara's eyes sparkled, “Short black hair, wears a mask, in a university uniform, incredibly scary looking eyes, sometimes gets shortness of breath, a little stubborn... Did you perhaps encounter someone like that?”

A little? More like tons of stubbornness and pride.

Aris’ smile became brighter and amused, “Lady luck is on our side,” She then sighed while shaking her head, “That friend of yours... is pretty adamant on killing herself.”

Elara, “????”

* * *

Minor Screening, Day Two.

During those “two days” none of them ever found themselves hungry or sleepy. When Hesychia finished her own first attempt of the labyrinth, she was the very last one to arrive at the starting point.

The two players upon seeing her jumped on their positions, shrieking: “Where's your arm support?!”

Arm support? Ah, those things that unknown Southern girl tied her arms with. The young woman gave them a look, “Nevermind that, tell me what both of you witnessed.”

Erza wasn't satisfied with her answer but still cooperated, he pointed at the ceiling. “Whilst doing my labyrinth, I noticed that there's a number engraved on it. Earlier it was one, but now, it turned into two the moment Silas arrived. Was it a coincidence?”

Hesychia followed the direction of where Erza was pointing at.

Ics snapped her fingers, “Since we didn’t have any source of how we can track time, it must be the indicator of days.”

Hesychia noticed these clues earlier, she was too tired to talk that she almost forgot about it. Fortunately, her teammates were also observant. Acknowledging their efforts, Hesychia finally gave her own share, “Earth time and Minor Screening time is different. My communicator showed that it's already January 14 on earth for a while now, however our days just changed.” Her brows furrowed, “I entered this screening on January 13, 9:46 PM. I finished the labyrinth on January 14, 12:46 PM. All in all, I've spent 15 hours inside the labyrinth. That's Earth time, however we are on day two inside the screening.”

“I'm surprised that you're still using your communicator,” The tall male said with a small smile. “I've already dropped mine.”

Hesychia didn't comment on this.

Hesychia, “One question equals one hour to me. I didn't run or anything to reach the next question, the first question needed thirty minutes, but so on, it needed an hour. I've encountered sixteen questions. The 16th question only needed some minutes however.”

“Then, a day here is 15 hours?” Icx asked.

That conclusion was reasonable, looking at Hesychia's statement.

“It must be?” Erza hummed, “We're still not sure.”

Everyone sat in front of each other with not so good expressions, “The path I took is definitely mine. The questions are too specific, it is all about my life, yet when I tried answering the question at the center of the labyrinth, the game wasn't cleared.” Icx looked at them with a confirming expression, “I'm assuming you had experienced the same?”

Hesychia was surprised that Icx and her both got the same conclusion, the woman thought that she had already found her own labyrinth.

“I was able to finish mine at the very end.” Erza informed, “it wasn't cleared either.”

Hesychia felt that something's wrong. They are all already at their own labyrinth?

If those two were able to answer the questions but didn't clear the game, was it her fault? Hesychia didn't finish her own path at her first try because of the questions targeting her sore spots. Bearing in mind what Erza said, she didn't push it and decided to back down. It's better to think hard before answering, especially, the questions are too sensitive to be answered half-heartedly.

Do they all need to reach the center before clearing it?

“Miss Silas,” Icx called out. “Did you finish yours?”

The young woman shook her head, revealing truthfully,  “No...” She then looked at the ground while biting her lips. “I apologize.”

Erza and Icx, “...”

Hesychia continued, “If we have the same amount of questions, Erza and you, Icx got the same amount. Counting the question from the very start until the center, it consists of 17 questions. I only finished until 16 and did not go to the center.” The duo nodded, “The two of you finished until the center but I was the last to exit the labyrinth. This means you're faster than me.”

The young woman looked at them intently, “I answered only sixteen questions since the very last question before the center made it hard for me to say anything.” Hesychia didn't mention anything about the time she was delayed because of purposely answering the question wrong.

Hesychia stood up, “Here's the plan, the three of us would enter. Erza on the right, me on the middle, Icx on the left again. After answering the center question, if the voice didn't announce anything go back in here and wait for the remaining teammates. I'm pretty sure we would be able to answer much faster this time, we won't take that long to analyze the questions anymore.” The woman talked fast, instructions going in: “The labyrinth may exchange the questions, for example the first question would be the fifth question at the second attempt. I won't ask what's the middle question, it's probably sensitive seeing your expressions earlier.”

Hesychia bowed, “I'll try my best to go to the center. Our order might be already correct. The condition might need the three of us to answer the center question, I apologize again for hindering our progress.”

Erza looked at the young person with worry, “No wait, we understand the circumstances. Not everyone can answer questions about them easily.”