𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐙𝐄 | ʰˣʰ

chapter viii.

hint!
memory refresher
check out the wiki page for Ming Jol-ik
(just know who he is)!

+

A CROSSROADS and a screen lay in front of the two of you, reading:

TWO PATHS LIE AHEAD.

The path on the RIGHT consists of battles easily challenged, but must be done without spilling blood.

The LEFT road is short and holds nothing but a short quiz between here and the goal.

RIGHT or LEFT?

Gittarackur is faster on the uptake, and clicks RIGHT immediately, leaving you to choose LEFT, the option you would've chosen anyway had you been able.

How does he expect to win fights without spilling a drop of blood?

The text fades from the screen and a pixelated coin flips momentarily, before the path is chosen.

Heads.

Your win.

A shutter blocking the hallway to the left creaks and starts sliding up.

Forty or so hours remain. It's just this quiz and then you're home free (until the next Phase, of course).

The shutter reveals a hallway, brick and a dark, endless-looking road. You go first, and Gittarackur follows, and so sparsely lit that you can barely see.

But there it is, another faint green-glowing sign on the wall. It's beginning to be noticeable, the further you descend down the tower, the more of these signs you see:

FLOOR 46 / 263.

To indicate the floor number is one thing, but to also display the total number of floors is another. The staff elevator should be enough.

But you say nothing.

At least a full three minutes of walking in silence follows—Silence, that is, aside from your own footsteps.

You're not too reliant on sound to detect peoples' presence, not when you've been using nen for a good seventeen years now. Still, it is a huge overlooking on your part to not notice til now that Gittarackur's feet make no noise when he walks.

Was he raised in the jungle? The silent footsteps and the way he killed wild animals with such ease and ate them raw—

But then, what was that family butler riddle? None of your business, of course, but now it is on your radar anyway.

Stray creature.

Before you can think more on it, a light ahead flashes on. It turns out a doorway ajar not too far from where you and Gittarackur were, but it was so dark then that you only see it now.

A shadow moves in the light. Someone is in that room. An Exam proctor, most likely.

The light in the room is an assault to your eyes when you step inside, especially after several minutes spent in a near-pitch hallway. After your eyes take a moment to adjust, you scan the room.

It's probably no bigger than a high school classroom, lit only by a singular bulb hanging from the ceiling. In the center there are two wooden chairs with armrests. Not unlike something one might see at a fancy dinner, but the back and seat cushions have been torn out.