The group had been walking for some time now. Thanks to Johnson's long, animated explanation of GTT, the distance they had covered felt almost meaningless, as if the maze itself had grown smaller under the weight of his words. They walked, turned, bent around corners, passed junctions that split into three or four narrow corridors, and most of the time they did so without even realizing how much time had slipped through their fingers.
As long as their minds were occupied, as long as they were listening, reacting, imagining, the oppressive silence of the maze faded into the background. The distance no longer felt threatening. The walls no longer felt like they were closing in. In fact, the maze now seemed shorter than it probably was, and that illusion alone made the situation far more bearable.
Sarah walked a few steps ahead of the others, her pace steady, her posture composed. To anyone watching, she looked calm,focused even. But inside her mind, Johnson's words were echoing again and again, rearranging themselves into patterns she couldn't ignore.
She hadn't listened to everything he said. Not from the very beginning, at least. Johnson had a tendency to ramble, to embellish, to drift into unnecessary details. But she had listened to the important parts. Or at least, what she believed were the important parts.
'In a way… he's not wrong,' she thought.
The game he had described GTT ,did resemble the assessment far more than she was comfortable admitting.Her eyes flicked briefly to the walls around them, tall and uneven.
'You're asked to find the exit within a certain amount of time,' she continued in her thoughts. 'Along the way, you're attacked by AI entities. You can't fight back freely unless you activate a dominion node… and that requires trial marks.'
Her fingers curled slightly as she walked.
'And trial marks,' she thought, 'are obtained along the way.'The more she broke it down, the clearer the resemblance became.
'Yep,' she admitted silently. 'That definitely sounds like this stage of the assessment.'
Sarah kept walking, but her mind was racing now, piecing together fragments of information like a puzzle that was slowly revealing its shape. She began actively searching for a link between the game and the assessment. The idea didn't feel far-fetched,not in a world where military influence reached into nearly every corner of society.
The game had been popular. Extremely popular. Popular enough that even years later, Johnson spoke about it with the kind of reverence usually reserved for legends.
GTT had been sponsored by the military. Its mechanics had been tested, refined, and analyzed for years. And yes, the core concept behind this very assessment had been drawn from the game itself.
But Sarah didn't know that.For her, it was only a possibility,a slim one perhaps, but not insignificant.
'If there's a link,' she thought, 'no matter how small it is… then maybe there's an easier way to find the exit.'
Her steps slowed slightly.
'Instead of wandering through every entry. Every path. Every branching route we come across, we could just follow the exit line it was in the game.'
She hated inefficient solutions. Blind exploration wasted time, stamina, and focus, three things they couldn't afford to lose.So to her , this was a good idea .
'We could compare trial marks to the golden coins Johnson mentioned,' she thought. 'The AI ghost bots to the different opponents we've faced. And the dominion node… that would be our ability to fight back. Our strength.'
Her logic clicked into place so neatly it was almost unsettling.'Yes,' she thought. 'Then everything would make sense.'
The more she thought about it, the more convincing the idea became. Too convincing. To the point where she wished,just a little,that she hadn't listened to Johnson at all.
Or at least… that she hadn't heard the part about the maze changing.Her thoughts were soon interrupted by Johnson's voice.
"So basically," he said, "that's all you need to know about the game."
He straightened, visibly pleased with himself.
"Well, if you have any questions," he added proudly, "I'll be glad to answer."
He looked like a teacher who had just finished delivering what he believed to be a very important lesson.
Sarah slowed her steps.
"Well," she said, turning slightly, "I do have a question."
Johnson's face lit up.
"So well, speak, my child," he replied, dramatically stroking his chin like some kind of sensei from an old martial arts movie.
Sarah and Fai exchanged a brief glance.It was weird,But they wisely chose not to comment."Johnson," Sarah continued, ignoring his theatrics, "you said this assessment reminds you of the game, right?"
"Yes," he replied immediately. "That is correct."
"So that means you must have played it quite a lot," she pressed. "Or at least reached a decent level."Johnson nodded, still rubbing his chin. "Yes, my child. I played the game very often back in the day."
He tugged downward thoughtfully, as if pulling on a long, invisible beard,though in reality, there was nothing there except his imagination.
"Then I want to know," Sarah said carefully, "since the second stage began… have you recognized anything?"She paused."Anything at all that looks like an exact replica of what you used to see in the game?"
In her mind, the possibilities split into two clear paths.Either the military had merely borrowed the concept of the game.Or they had recreated .
Johnson's expression slowly shifted. The playful confidence faded, replaced by something more thoughtful.
"Well," he said after a moment, "to be honest…"
He lowered his hand from his chin.
"I wasn't really paying attention to things like that. Not until now."