'It wouldn't be weird if the person who steps through that door is the one who took number one.'
As the being slowly stepped out from the door, Haruo saw the two moon-like pairs of eyes return a gaze at him. From afar, no one might notice it; however, with Haruo's range of vision, he saw the two pairs of eyes that differed from one another.
One was a deep shade of oceanic blue, while the other shone like the highest quality gold, matching his perfectly golden hair, styled in a wolfcut.
Other than that, he had a long-sleeved polo shirt and clean white trousers.
Both glanced at each other for a while before Haruo disconnected from his gaze by once again falling to the bed of grass. He felt the embrace of nature as he took a whiff of fresh air.
After looking at the scroll one last time, it slowly disintegrated into two blue particles, placing it within his mana storage. By that point, he carefully caressed his face with his ashen finger.
'It's about time I clean my mask. Too much dirt and sweat have accumulated over the past weeks.'
A quiet sigh escaped his lips as his eyes slowly began to shrink into darkness. He wasn't particularly worried about getting ambushed mid-sleep. He had trained his body to sense any events while he sleeps, whether that be malicious intent or a natural disaster—all remained the same.
Even then, if he couldn't sense anything, he could tell Ena was going to be one of the earliest participants to exit—so he could have her guard his body.
With one final breath, he slept.
***
Flashing bright light pierced through his eyelids and awoke Haruo from his slumber. Instinctively raising his hand to block the sun, he steadily opened his eyes to see Ena, who sat right beside him as she grumbled to herself.
Her mood was considerably foul, and most of the crowd tended to avoid the semi-pure.
Haruo rose from his position and fixed his coat as he did. Ena saw his figure before turning her head away from him. Although from a complicated angle, he saw the subtle stain marks underneath her eyes.
'Was she holding up tears?' Though Haruo.
"How lo—"
"When I came here, you were already sleeping. By then, it had already been four hours."
'She didn't even bother to use her ability to hide the stains, or did she forget?'
Scratching his head, he tidied his clothing even further before setting his gaze upon the crowded bunch of people in the field. The place was rather loud, and he was confused about how he hadn't woken until now.
'Four hours… I slept for more than four hours. I thought at least the fatigue would have cooled down a bit; however, that made no difference at all.'
Quite disappointed at his rest, he felt rather helpless. Although slightly frustrated, he chose to cast his feelings aside for now and reached through his mana storage.
After a good while, he took the scroll out and tugged it on Ena's side.
A sigh of resignation in his tone, he said, "Are you just going to sulk all day just because of a test? Did anything happen when I was asleep?"
Annoyed by his relentless tugs and words, she turned her head to Haruo and spat:
"Who said I was crying?!—hm?"
A foreign object poked her nose. Her anger seemed to have subsided while she took a glance at the object Haruo carried.
"Are you ready to talk now, or are you still going to throw a tantrum?"
Her confusion slowly turned to shock as she realized what Haruo held. Immediately, she snatched the object from his hand and inspected the item with absolute focus.
"A… scroll? Where did you find this?"
"It's from the artifact. While you were away, I experimented with it a little. This was the byproduct of that…"
For a short while, Haruo explained the mechanics and functionality of the artifact. Amidst his explanations, he deliberately used vague words and distanced themselves from the crowd to avoid eavesdropping.
"Then, how much did you have to pay to receive this?"
"Five thousand. I can't really learn it without wasting my time, so it's yours now."
Her eyes seemed to have bulged when she heard the measly price. "FIVE THOUSAND?! For a skill like this, despite its rank, it would probably be 10,000 at least!"
'I already knew that. If the estimated time to learn it hadn't been so long, I would've kept it to myself.' He thought.
However, while he spent his entire fortune on the scroll, he didn't meet the proper criteria for the skill.
Skill, as you have it, was rather an exhausting addition to this world. That was because it was the third source of power, alongside path divergence and innate abilities.
And just like path divergence, it was another way for non-ability users to become equal to those who have. Of course, it wasn't that simple.
Skills were a fixed power.
Meaning the majority of skills aren't based on growth, unlike path divergence and innate abilities. Not only that, but users meticulously trained them until mastery. Well, that logic at least applies only to unnatural skills.
Natural skills themselves are things we do in our daily lives, for example, cooking, arts, or the most commonly referred to, martial arts.
The time it took to master a scroll depended on understanding and talent for it. Haruo, not meeting the proper criteria, had an estimated time that was slower than average.
Knowing that, he sighed deeply before gazing at Ena.
"I don't even have mana storage yet. How am I supposed to learn this?" Her eyes only read the contents of the scroll.
Although the text within was written in complex runes, a function enabled a person to read it without difficulty.
"Just learn it when you reach peak path divergence, then. By then, it'll probably only take you a few months, maybe two or so."
"Then why give it to me now? Couldn't you have waited until I reached peak?"
"Well, with how you were acting just now, you look like you were about to cry if I didn't give you this. You also seemed like you had no intention of speaking to me."
"Hmph, I'm not that insufferable," she rolled her eyes before pushing the scroll back to him. "Keep this within your mana storage for now; it's a pain to just carry it around all the time."
Haruo nodded as he noticed her mood slowly improving.
Zwoop!
The two figures snapped their heads in the same direction, and the distance was a large holographic screen with many names at the points they had collected.
1. Theodor Andreev: 150,000 points
2. Haruo Chiharu: 134,500 points
3. Ena Hyakagure: 118,761 points
4. Leo Novikov: 100,890 points
5…
Amidst their crowded stares upon the screen, a distant speaker caught everyone's attention.
"Ahem, ahem… Everyone? Can everyone hear me?"
It was a familiar voice Ena had heard once before, and with Haruo, who had watched most of her trials, he was naturally also familiar with the speaker.
'Isn't that the person/prick who managed Ena's/my test?' they both thought in unison.
"Everyone—assuming you can hear me—I am here to explain the second half."
Almost instantly, everyone began chattering with one another. Some were confused, while others remained silent.
"Hm, what?" The speaker's muffled voice rang through the field, leaving everyone silent. "What do you mean it's too early? Oh. Ah, sorry. Right away."
He cleared his throat once before his muffled voice returned to normal.
"I will not be explaining the important details yet. However, to those who have given notice within their system, please prepare within the hour and, if possible, try to form a group of three. Until then."
His clumsy voice left everyone in the field speechless, except for the two figures in the far distance.
"Does that guy even belong there?" said Ena.
Haruo replied with: "He's the same as when I first heard him through you."
"I guess you can say that—HUH?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?!"
Ena's face turned confused and ashen as she gripped Haruo's collar, demanding an answer. He, on the other hand, avoided her gaze and remained silent.
"You were watching me?! Since when?! And how much did you watch!??"
Her screams attracted some onlookers to the duo. Some were amused, while most avoided them even more. Even though a crowd of people was watching, not an ounce of embarrassment glazed their faces.
***
After about an hour, they both had calmed down and walked away from the crowd that had noticed their quarrel.
"Does it look like I'm the type of guy who meddles? Besides, how do you think I could spectate?"
After a few thoughts, a person came to mind. "KILIAN! That bastard again, it's him, isn't it!"
She ranted her heart out while they walked. Haruo tucked his hands into his coat's pockets and stared at the screen in front of him.
[Team 216: Haruo, Ena, __]
[V-SH Participants: 702]
[Total teams completed: 143 / 234]
'10,000 participants reduced to something below 1/10th of that size. The requirements to join the second half were to complete all six tests with only one death. Was it that difficult?'
Haruo pondered to himself, looking at the light blue sky.
Crash!
His steps halted for a second as his eyes landed on his left.
There, in a space where people gathered, enough for a few more to encircle the two men within the circle.
One burly man was looking at a timid participant with obvious disdain, while the recipient adjusted his circular glasses as he stood up from the ground.
"Watch where you go, kid. You might accidentally break a bone or two if you aren't careful."
"O-Oh, uhm, sorry!" The participant hastily apologized, bowing his head a perfect 90 degrees the moment he stood.
The burly man sneered with a smirk before walking away from the scene, while the kid stayed in his position, patting the dirt from his clothing.
Haruo stared at the kid attentively, not because of him but because of the weapon strapped to his waist. It was a sheathed katana.
'That weapon looks familiar.'
The weapon entranced him as he tried to place his finger on what made him feel such familiarity.
"Hey! Listen to me!"
Ena exclaimed, and her hand shot out at the back of Haruo's head. Haruo, his eyes still focused in a different direction, caught her mid-attack.
"I am listening."
"Then what was I saying?"
"A few rants and what we're going to do with the third slot. There's no need to worry about that; the test already had it covered."
"…?"
"This test is way too clean for its own good. You think they wouldn't have thought of that already?"
For someone like Haruo, after realizing how much effort is placed on the tests, he could tell that something as trivial as that is most likely already been solved.
That was because the problem she had pointed out wasn't a minor one, but something rather obvious. Many participants were wary of others and chose to stay within the shadows of the forest, while most tried to recruit the strongest they could find.
There was a reason why most teams are still incomplete.
No one can fully trust each other, and would rather play solo. It was true even for both Ena and Haruo. The one reason why they teamed up in the first place was that they were familiar with one another and trusted each other enough to form a team.
"… I wouldn't really be surprised if they could assign us a teammate, so it's not much of a problem to not look for one."
Just as Ena was about to speak, he stopped her. "But, if you're really insistent, I found one."
He said casually, then steadily made his way in one direction. And with a calm voice, he took his hand forward and looked at the timid boy; his eyes seemed to notice him the moment he reached out his hand.
"We're looking for a person. If you're solo, would you mind joining us?"