For the first time since he got here, Arthur chose to leave Emma alone. She was his friend, but he already knew why she was crying.
The event at the auction earlier must have reached her ears, that Caleb was seen with a different girl. That's why there was nothing he could do to make her feel better, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to. She chose this path.
The next day, they were asked to gather in the Stress Facility. The name didn't exactly spell hope, so Arthur's expectations weren't much. As they got there, they found Mr. Raymond waiting for them.
"Today is about physical training." Mr. Raymond said with his hands behind his back. "From now on, you'll spend at least four consecutive hours in these chambers every week. Whoever fails to keep conscious will have to redo it." He explained.
Mr. Raymond took a few steps toward the doors that lined the walls. With a wave of his hand, one of them opened.
"This chamber amplifies gravity and mana as well as decreases Oxygen saturation in the air. Your bodies will be pushed to their limits. The lowest difficulty will be set on the peak-neo-rank, any questions?"
"Are there any rewards?" Alice asked while adjusting her glasses. Mr. Raymond grinned and nodded.
"Look at that screen." He pointed at a giant screen on the wall. "In a separate floor, the Nightfall team has their scores there too. Depending on your time, you will be awarded merit and Jerano Points."
Their bracelets buzzed as they received a notification. There was a new task that they needed to complete.
[Hyper-chamber.] [4:00:00]
"You may begin." Mr. Raymond then left them alone. Oliver stood beside Arthur as he groaned.
"I've run ten laps yesterday, dammit."
"Just use mana, he didn't say we can't do that." Arthur shrugged.
"In such a high-density mana, using mana will make it even more difficult." Oliver sighed. "Forget it, I have a date later. Let's just get this over with."
"A date?" Arthur raised his brows. "With how?" He couldn't understand how someone can date Oliver.
"Hehe, a woman of fine taste." Oliver waved his finger and entered the chamber. As Arthur was about to enter as well, someone called out for him from behind.
"Alexie."
The voice was familiar. Arthur turned to find Yurirl standing there with his, as usual, serious expression. He had a bad feeling about this.
"What's the matter?" Arthur asked with a stoic expression. "Do you need something?"
"I've received a call yesterday." Yurirl took a step forward. "A shop owner that described your appearance. Do you have a minute to talk about it?"
Arthur looked at his eye calmly, trying to see if he was using his ability. He wasn't using it, not now at least. Arthur nodded and followed after him to a secluded spot.
"You're an illegitimate child, making you a foreigner to the noble society." Yurirl leaned on the wall. "You're using a disguise artifact. You showed abilities unbefitting of your rank. Now, you're asking about the missing students."
"If someone heard you, they would think you're a stalker." Arthur smiled. However, Yurirl's expression was stern.
"I told you, I'm investigating these incidents myself. Why are you getting yourself into this? Even nobles have gone missing. Your actions lead me to suspect that you know something." Yurirl squinted his eyes.
Arthur stared at him as he thought about how he would get himself out of this situation. He should have changed his appearance before he talked to the shop owner, but that would lead to more issues. If the shop owner reported about a student that wasn't a student, this would be more suspicious than asking around.
"Do you know Jonah?" Arthur asked, making Yurirl furrow his brows.
"A rising commoner, a proper student too. What of him?"
"He is my friend," Arthur said. "However, it's not like I can make him a noble. When I heard of the missing students, I knew he can become one. I wanted to solve this before he becomes a victim."
"I may suck at lying, but I can find out if you're lying." Yurirl's expression was cold. "You're risking yourself through this, that's not something you would do for someone else."
"If I knew something, would I be asking around like this?" Arthur raised his hands in surrender. "I'm not an enemy, that's much is obvious. I simply want to find out the reason behind these disappearances."
Yurirl looked at him quietly before nodding. He took out a card and handed it over to Arthur, containing a time and place.
"Make sure to be there," Yurirl said as he turned around and walked away.
"What's this?" Arthur asked with confusion.
"The next meeting for the investigation team." Yurirl's answer left nothing but confusion for Arthur. First, he suspected him and now he trusted him?
'No, he's letting me in because he doesn't trust me.' Arthur smiled as he pocketed the card. He walked toward the chambers and found that the screen's numbers were climbing.
Beside each name, there was a score and the dorm's name. The current top score belonged to Rae, as expected. The score was a product of the difficulty and time, so Rae must have chosen the highest difficulty among the first years.
Further down the list, Arthur saw a familiar name. Trevor Regan. He must have been let out of his room, so trouble will be coming his way. Each student, if challenged, needed to have one duel per month.
This allowed Trevor to bother Arthur with his request. Not willing to waste any more time, Arthur entered the chamber and started it.
His breathing was normal and nothing changed over than slight strain on his muscles due to the gravity. Even though the air became thinner, it wasn't something that Arthur couldn't handle. He was barely sweating.
'Should I raise the difficulty?' Arthur wondered. 'But that would raise my score...' Arthur sighed in his mind. He would need to spend four hours not doing anything.
He took out his smoke artifact and began to study it. He had forgotten about it, but it can be quite useful if used probably.
[Smoke: creates a smokescreen using mana.]
It was a very simple artifact, but the concept behind it was weird. It wasn't a vapor, but smoke. Meaning there was a combination of more than one process to create it, but it was a simple rune.
As he began studying the lines, his percentage started rising. With how simple it was, it didn't take him long to reach the testing stage.
Mana left his body as the runes lit up. Smoke began filling the room, obstructing his view. After a long period of studying the runic lines, Arthur obtained the rune.
[New rune has been obtained.]
"Task completed."
He finished right on time to get out. Arthur opened the chamber's door, making the smoke escape into the floor. With how little the chamber was and how much he had used it, he made the whole floor turn into a foggy swamp.
Arthur blinked twice as he heard the student's cries of confusion. He looked at the score and found that he was 102nd at the moment, which was good enough for him.
'Wait, doesn't this mean all the powerful ones will be here today?' Arthur realized. 'That means... I can search their rooms for clues.'
As a smile formed on his face, the chamber close to his opened as Emma stepped out. Arthur was in front of her and couldn't pretend he couldn't see her.
"Are you done?" She asked as she waved her hand. "What is this smoke?"
"Yes, and I don't know." Arthur shrugged.
"Well," Emma looked around with a smile on her face. "Are you busy right now?"
"Uh, no?" Arthur tilted his head. "Why?"
"I was going to the virtual realm to play the game everyone was talking about. How about you tag along?"
"Game?" Arthur furrowed his brows. "What kind of game?"
"Well, it's called Dungeons Exploring. I guess you know the rest." Emma stepped away before turning her head. "Are you coming?"
***
The game was a virtual reality game about exploring dungeons and fighting monsters. It was a unique game in the fact that it didn't allow any use of mana or abilities.
They also started with the same stats, making it a game of skill rather than strength. As he stood in front of the capsule, Emma explained.
"This game is popular in the community, as it rewards real-life items. It's also a matter of pride for awakeners to test their skills."
When the game asked Arthur for a username, he entered the first thing on his mind. The fact that he made Reece fishes yesterday made him choose the name Catfish. As he was registered, he found himself in the middle of a giant plaza.
After entering a dungeon and fighting against monsters without his stats or mana, Arthur realized a simple fact about himself.
He had no skill.