Hesychia and Erza waved as they watched her back fade into shadows. After the third party's complete disappearance, the man then glanced at her, “Ya there, Silas. Or, should it be Swallowtail? Or perhaps, you prefer both?”

 Hesychia returned the gaze.

The other person then chuckled, “You're quite lucky in games and gacha pulls, how many rare skills did you get this time?”

 Hesychia replied with a rare light smile, “Guess.”

Erza was silent, his expression at first was bewildered. His brows relaxed as he registered that serene expression. The thoughts behind his eyes did not spill nor swirled, but there was only one conclusion he could stand from—this was not yet the time to stay with Silas.

“Unfortunately, I'm not good at guessing.” Erza immediately changed his countenance, not pestering any longer, “Well then, I'll be going first.”

Looking at the taller man's back, Hesychia's face turned funny. Not good at guessing? Their conversations say otherwise. Deducing from it, Erza might have received a skill connected to his natural talent.

The woman thought that it's better to make the man an ally instead of an enemy.

Taking her device out, Hesychia opened her message box.

[Chat log]

【January 13, 3031. 9:05 AM】

 [You have received a missed call. 6:07 AM.]

[Swallowtail: (9:05 AM) Did you misclick?]

[Swallowtail: I'm still asleep at that time.]

【January 14, 3031. 8:41 PM】

[Swallowtail: Where are you?]

[Swallowtail: To answer your question, we are indeed in the same country.]

[Swallowtail: See you soon.]

Looking at the messages, Hesychia learnt to expect nothing. Perhaps the other person didn't pass the first screening or they didn't have their glass device or ring communicator anymore. Either way, it would be a miracle that for the second time she enters a Minor Screening—a single message from this person would set her at ease.

The woman's skill tab slowly faded as she stepped at the portal. Exiting the maze, the door from the screening slowly closed.

Once her eyes open again, she's back to her messy apartment. The woman gave a quick analysis to her surroundings, observing whether something changed from the positions of the furniture or something went missing.

She then started assessing her gathered knowledge.

During the Major Screening she didn't have any internet connection yet at the Minor Screening, she was able to send messages and call acquaintances. The portal of the exit led the players to their initial location where they triggered the Screening, meaning, seeing Erza again would be slim to none. Unless he's going to travel here to visit.

Hesychia immediately changed clothes, putting on slacks and a loose semi formal shirt. Buttoning up, the woman adjusted the long sleeves to her elbows. Hesychia bent down and took her pointed black shoes—tying the ties in a swift manner. Taking the bread at the table as her “fast food”, Hesychia rolled the bandages over her arm after applying some ointment. Drinking medicine after eating a little.

After washing her face, she opened a cabinet and placed a few inhalers in. At the same time, her eyes landed at the plate rack. Taking a few plates and knives, the woman swiftly took some things she needed, sliding it to her backpack. From the cabinet near her room, she folded a bond paper and wrote a simple:

“I'll be staying at the university for three days. Meet me there.”

Hesychia wanted to hope that her friends survived, if one of them would see her note and come fetch her—she would at least plan to survive longer.

Since the woman can change her writing style at will, and even replicate others, by using Elara's handwriting, she started adding some hints of the exact location she would be in. Placing three different notes inside the apartment for clues, Hesychia's footsteps turned light and fast. Maybe because of the screening buffs, Hesychia felt lighter than usual. In one short move, the woman disappeared from everyone's view.

The streets were silent, heralding even more danger. She was planning on staying in the house and continuing tomorrow, however, the minor screening changed her mind. Hesychia was unconscious for eleven hours, that's too much rest time. During those hours many things might've already happened outside, she was exceptionally delayed because of the minor screening.

Now, where shall she start?

【University】

Reaching the very end of the school's boundary, Hesychia entered the old library and settled there for the night. Taking the broom from some lockers, she cleaned an average amount of space and used the librarian's table cloth as a cover from the cold tiles.

She wanted to check her skills again but didn't know how to. Thankfully,  before it gave her a headache, the tab itself showed and gave her a complete overview.

「Player: Hesychia Astrid

Reward Buffs:

Increased Agility - Rank A

Increased Stamina - Rank A

Sharp Memory increased by 25% - Rank S

-Viewing things might be more memorable, it reduces the owner's need to take effort to memorize something.

Mental Capacity increased by 15% - Rank SS

-The owner of this skill can partake in more mental damage without losing sanity. It can deplete attempted mental manipulation, memory loss, gaslighting of other players and wider view of ideas.

Accurate Prediction increased by 10% - Rank SSS」

Looking at the very bottom, Hesychia tapped the skill. At the left side, a smaller tab appeared with its meaning.

「Accurate Prediction - An assisting skill that subconsciously defies the law of the owner's thinking capacity wherein discussing solutions, there's 10% more likelihood that the owner's solution is right. Once high enough, you may find yourself always right and rarely encounter failures.

Note: The 10% increase can be randomly triggered but not always. Please proceed with caution with your decision~」

Hesychia crossed her leg and pondered for a while. 

Everytime she would enter a Minor Screening, it would either give a new skill or would upgrade a former skill. The rate increase is still unknown and probably dependent on how hard the said screening is.

Next was the consequences of failing the screening. Hesychia has been lucky since the first day and didn't encounter much hindrance, someone even saved her from being killed. The strange voice always has this energetic sentence of “Players please work hard to not die in vain~” as an ending sentence. Meaning what's waiting for them on the other side would probably be death.

Hesychia needs more experience to provide credible information, she won't be able to progress by assuming everything. The problem is, entering a minor screening without proper training to fight would put her at a disadvantage. She was lucky enough to encounter a screening that prohibited violence against each other.

The young woman also wanted to confirm if the strange voice didn't lie. Will these minor screenings always trigger without them knowing? Is there a set hours before you can trigger another screening?

If there would be a time when a minor screening is individual, what if the said person triggered it while asleep and wasn't able to wake up on time. Wouldn't that mean instant death?

If that's the case, this phenomenon in this world could be compared to the day of judgement where humans are getting cleaned one by one. Although it was not as fast as killing every human, it would slowly get them all at the edge.

She opened her glass device and propped up a holographic tab.

“Wait,” The woman took a look at her battery. “it didn't even decrease from its initial percentage...”

A few hours ago.

It took them double the time of how long they should ride the car. There were so many heavy blockages that it took forty-five minutes or so to move. Thanks to each other's help, they can take things off faster. Not long ago, Elara and Aris started jamming on a song they suddenly sang out loud at the same time.

“The breeze has turned cold.” Aris said who's at the passenger's seat. “There's no stars tonight.”

They were enjoying the quiet ride, pausing from time to time to remove the things blocking the road. They were driving in harmony when the world turned into blinding white.

“Greetings! Players Elara Selene and Aris Armani have triggered a Minor Screening.”

“Please be patient while transporting the game data!”

Aris’ eyes widened, “What the... it's really random?!”

Elara's face was passive as if she had gotten used to this treatment, “Yeah,” Taking her hands from the steering wheel, Elara opened the door and urged the other person to come out as well. “We're so close to seeing Hesy yet here we are.”

Imaginary tears started flowing from her eyes. Aris wanted to joke around that Elara's supposed to guide her but found something vibrating in her pockets.

【January 14, 3031. 8:41 PM】

[Swallowtail: Where are you?]

[Swallowtail: To answer your question, we are indeed in the same country.]

[Swallowtail: See you soon.]

Aris jumped on her position, surprising Elara, “What is it?”

The other person shrieked in horror, “There's a signal...?!”

“WHAT?!” Elara tried to look for her device but soon gave a horrific statement, “Oh shit, I think when the First Screening commenced I dropped my device and communicator because of the earthquake.”

Meanwhile, the wavy-haired person can't believe what she's seeing. Aris started walking back and forth to express her happiness.

Swallowtail survived...

[Pers: (11:47 PM) Currently at a minor screening]

[Pers: I'm glad that you're alive!]

Now she can't help but get curious about the other person's capabilities. Because of her busy days and tons of unexpected colorful encounters, she almost forgot about her new friend. Who would've thought that the message was sent three hours ago, she must've been inside minor screening too.

Aris was about to type a reply when Elara pulled her to lunge down, a huge butcher knife went over her head, almost cutting her neck clean.

“The Minor Screening, Butchers and Pigs has started!”