Ivory waited patiently until her name was called.
She was sitting on the floor, gazing toward her phone with the Pointly app open with an unreadable expression on her face.
The total point value she had was four. How was she supposed to afford a place to stay after this exercise?
Not being able to work during a time like this one would be one that would be challenging to survive in.
No point values being adjusted for your hard work equals no money to spend on shelter or food.
The young woman gave a half smile to herself.
At one point in her life she would be overwhelmed with stress even when she worked to have a higher Pointly total.
That didn't work out as she thought.
I made a variety of different mistakes.
Buying off brand sun screen in Sinners' Street.
Losing a real friend like Abigail.
It was a lot to think about but there was a lot of time for her to think at the moment.
Right now, individuals were being called upon and paired with another of a higher rank.
The pattern she picked up was the following.
Butchers would be paired with knights.
Interestingly, knights would also be paired with rulers.
She was classified as a knight based on her score in room 101.
This meant she would either be paired with someone classified as a ruler or a butcher.
Each time a person was called upon and was able to meet their partner in this activity with a smile present on their face, Ivory kept on realizing she was in no rush.
A question popped up in Ivory's mind.
How did the room 101 device even work to have the ability to transport her to a classroom where Abigail was learning how to operate the G.S.?
What even was the G.S.?
Ivory sighed.
She had more questions still than answers. That was something that never changed in this world.
Ivory stood up as her name was called.
I have to convince Abigail that this war isn't worth it to fight in. It didn't matter if her friend hated her now.
She would thank her once the two of them were able to escape and survive in this corrupt world.
Lyra shouts, "Ivory classified as a knight will be paired with Iris classified as a ruler."
Ivory walked over to Iris, avoiding the stares of her classmates.
Iris had been talking to her friend Kian and laughing about a topic bitterly while covering her mouth.
She turned to leave and to walk away from Kian and met Ivory in the center of the crowd, facing the rock climbing wall.
The young woman had the same resting tired grin on her face when she had first seen her in the underground city. She had sharp short blonde hair, shiny green eyes, and was wearing a brand new camo military uniform.
Ivory smiles while stumbling over her words, "Hey… your name is Iris right?"
Iris says with a chuckle, "You just heard her shout my name.."
Ivory puts a hand to her face, "I really need to get out more. I've been living under a rock. Literally."
Iris raised one of her eyebrows, "Don't we all."
She faces toward the rock climbing wall.
Iris asks, "Do you know what this exercise is going to be about?"
Ivory shrugs, "I have no clue. I just picked up, we're being split off into groups based on our rankings and paired with someone of a higher ranking."
Lyra shouts once more, "Kian, classified as a ruler, will be paired with Vincent, classified as a knight."
Iris waves to Kian while he walks over to his partner for the exercise.
Ivory watches while the man shoots a cold stare toward her and walks away.
Ivory asks, "Kian… is he always so cold?"
Iris smiles sadly, "He's not cold.. Just presents himself differently. That's what I like to say at the very least."
Iris follows her last sentence with a long sigh, "Me, him, and Byron have been childhood friends. Each of our parents passed away around the time of the shift. We all changed in different ways but we still support each other no matter what."
Ivory pats her shoulder, "I'm sorry for your loss. I didn't mean to pry."
Iris smiles sadly, "It's fine."
Lyra shouts, "This will be the last group I'll call. Ronin, classified as a knight, will be paired with Rui, classified as a butcher."
Ivory felt her eyes wander to where Rui and Ronan were in the crowd.
She had no idea Rui was even participating in the training camp.
Why would a kid sign up to train to fight in a war?
Did Faye put him up to this?
Rage filled her mind similar to water starting to boil but she felt the hot water start to cool instantly.
Rui was a sunburn user and that meant that he needed to learn how to use his abilities.
Ivory watched how Ronan and Rui found each other and stood next to each other without saying a word.
A few seconds later, the two only gave each other a nod.
Ronan didn't talk much and neither did Rui.
The two would work well together.
Ivory on the other hand, also hoped that Ronan would be able to keep Rui safe.
Rui was just a kid after all despite the fact he was a sunburn user and in the past had been in a gang.
Lyra claps her hands, "Quiet down everyone. Now that you have all been placed into groups. I will debrief you all about how this exercise will be structured."
Several individuals in all black clothing appeared out of thin air. One of them was the proctor Ivory had seen before at their table not long ago.
Each of them held boxes of what seemed to be backpacks. The bags were all orange and grey with two metal holes attached to each of its sides.
The proctors start placing the boxes on the ground before disappearing into thin air as Lyra swipes her finger across her glass display.
The old woman points toward the rock wall, "Today's rock climbing activity will be a paired exercise. You all will be linked together with a rope connected to your partner and work together to reach the top."
Lyra says with a hint of coldness, "Several of the wall's rocks are brittle even after rematerialization. You must all be very careful. If you fully fall off the wall and onto the ground, you will fail this exercise."
Ivory says, "Fail? The wall was so tall. A fall from this height would kill any one of them."
Lyra's face turns into a neutral expression, "Don't worry too much about falling. The backpack has a mechanism in place to take the force of your fall. In the worst case scenario, slow yourself down with your abilities through a few quick blasts. Any questions?"
No one asked any questions.
Lyra grins, "Perfect. This exercise is pretty straight forward. Get suited up and only start climbing once I give the signal."
Ivory walked toward the boxes as crowds of people swarmed over them like it was a treasure or an exotic treat they had never seen before.
In the midst of chaos, the young woman quickly grabbed two backpacks and a long rope for her group.
Ivory throws the backpack toward Iris, "Here.. barely survived to get it."
Iris laughs, catching the bag.
Ivory put on the backpack and adjusted the straps to fit tightly around her body. The bag was slightly weighing her down.
Carrying the backpack felt as though it was carrying an additional twenty five pounds.
This rock climbing activity would definitely be more difficult now.
Iris clasped the rope and expertly tied a knot around both of the metallic holes on her backpack.
Afterwards, she walked over and attached the rope to the back of Ivory's backpack.
Ivory says, "How did you get so good at tying knots? I can barely tie my own shoes over here…"
Iris smiles sadly, "My parents were both fishermen… I learned a lot of what I know from them."
Ivory projects a fake smile, "You're doing great. I'm sure they would be proud."
The idea of Iris's parents being proud of their daughter fighting in a war they had no chance of winning was hard for her to say. No matter the case, it felt like the right thing to say to her.
Iris holds out her hand, "Thank you. Let's work together to get to the top first."
Ivory shakes her hand, "Of course, let's do this together."
A few minutes passed while many other groups waited underneath the rock climbing wall to begin the activity after they were suited up.
Lyra asks, "Are you all ready?"
Almost all the groups exclaimed, "YEAH!"
Lyra yells, "LET THE FINAL ACTIVITY OF THE DAY BEGIN."
Everyone rushed toward the wall in a frenzy. Those who had gotten ready first had the advantage of placing themselves in front and close to the wall. Iris and Ivory such as the individuals that had gotten ready early were placed in a good spot.
Both of them leaped onto the rock wall.
Iris says, "Just like how we rehearsed. I'll break the rocks, you find the best path to go on."
Ivory says quickly, "Sounds good."
Iris uses her abilities while clasping onto two black rocks, producing two small orbs of water to break some of the rocks in front of them.
This would help Ivory anticipate which of the rocks were brittle.
The young women stared at the rocks before they rematerialized. She memorized that two of the rocks above them shattered completely while the two above them to the left only partially broke into pieces.
Ivory says, "Avoid the pieces in front of you. Move forward but jump toward the two to the left."
Iris followed her directions. She avoided the two in front of them but moved forward to the left.
Iris held onto two solid rocks, "Great job. Let's keep going."
The two followed this pattern for a while and reached the middle of the rock climbing wall. In this time, Ivory had noticed how Iris didn't even need to control her abilities with her hands and everything she created was through her head.
This was the skill that separated a ruler and a knight.
The young woman began to feel the weight of the backpack weighing her down and causing her concentration to drift at that moment.
Ivory had to ignore it the best that she could.
This wasn't just her either. Everyone upon reaching the middle of the wall was taking a breather.
Iris gritted her teeth, "We have to keep going, Ivory. This is our chance to make it to the top first."
Ivory nodded weakly.
She didn't understand why Iris was so competitive and wanted to reach the top first so badly but she didn't want to hold her back either.
The young woman focused on every breath she took to attempt to regain her focus.
Ivory's left hand slipped off of the rock climbing wall but she quickly stabilized herself with her right hand.
Iris says, "Ivory… need you to hurry up here. We can't stop here."
Ivory says weakly, "I got it, okay?"
Each breath she took felt as though it may be her last. Her theoretical oxygen tank was most likely running close to empty right now.
Iris breaks a few other rocks in front of her with large orbs of water.
Ivory assessed them quickly, feeling her conscience drifting.
Iris broke six rocks. The rocks to the left and right were hard to make out if they were brittle. The two rocks in front of them definitely weren't.
Ivory says, "Up two."
Iris moved up two.
This sequence of events followed again and again until both of them reached the top first through pure utter determination.
Ivory and Iris sat on the top of the wall gasping for air.
Ivory coughs, "How the hell did we do that?"
Iris wheezes, "I have no fucking idea."
Lyra says loudly from the bottom of the rock climbing wall, "We have two individuals that passed this exercise so far. Congratulations Ivory and Iris. Everyone else relaxing in the middle of the wall, I'd suggest you lazy asses make your way up."
Kian and Vincent in the next few minutes reached the top.
Iris smiled toward Kian but he maintained his coldness
Ivory hears Kian mutter, "If you weren't so slow Vincent, we could've gotten here first."
Vincent says softly, "Look man, I'm sorry this bag on my back is really heavy."
Kian shakes his head, "Whatever."
Iris interrupts the conversation with a gentle tone, "As long as you make it to the top, you pass so chill out Kian."
Kian smirks, "Or be like Byron, showing off and getting to skip this last exercise."
Iris and Kian catch up while Ivory has some time to sit by herself on the ledge of the rock wall.
The ground had looked so far away from the top of the wall.
Lyra standing at the bottom looked similar to a pebble.
A thought crossed her mind.
What if she stepped off the wall and fell off?
The thought didn't last long in her mind.
In this time, Rui and Ronan made it next, gasping for air as both of them reached the top.
Ivory waves to both of them while sitting on the ledge of the rock climbing wall and the two of them tiredly sit next to her.
Rui gasps, "The instructor gave me a lighter bag and it still was so hard to do this exercise."
Ronan coughs and in response to Rui's comment gives a thumbs up.
Ivory says, "I'd say about everyone's beat doing this exercise. We're not the only ones."
Another thought came to mind in Ivory's head.
Ivory asks, "Rui by the way. Where's Hudson and Lilith?"
Rui rolls his eyes, "The two of them don't have abilities so they're learning how to operate the G.S. Boss's orders, I guess."
Just what really was the G.S.?
Ivory felt herself getting lost in thought.
What would Abigail be doing right now? What was she learning how to operate?
Eventually at this time, every group had reached the top and no one stood up to venture back down.
The trek was an event that could be saved for a few more minutes later or an hour later. No one who made it to the top cared.
Lyra yells, "ALRIGHT HEAD DOWN. STOP STAYING UP THERE OR DO YOU PLAN TO STAY UP THERE ALL DAY?"
Everyone stood up quickly and began traversing the wall to the bottom.
After reaching the middle of the wall, many of them took a break yet again.
Iris sighs, "I need to eat a feast after this."
Ivory says with a chuckle, "Let's do another caloric maximum test."
Iris smiles, "Good idea."
Ivory rests her head against the wall.
This wasn't so bad was it? Bad but not as bad as it could be.
No matter what. All that matters was her goal.
I'm going to have a shot at seeing Abigail again one of these days and I had to convince her not to fight in this war.
That was the only thing that mattered to her and gaining proficient skills to protect herself.
Suddenly, she heard a gust of wind brush against her ear. The young woman turned to see something unknown rapidly falling.
Was it a person?
No, it was a grey and orange backpack.
THUD.
A second unknown entity was falling rapidly from the rocking climbing wall.
No one could make out what it was until finally they splattered on the floor.
THUD. CRACK. CRACK.
A green military uniform was mangled on the ground drenched in blood. Pieces of long blonde hair and a pair of green eye balls were detached from the person's head. Their head was crushed against the pavement with bits of bone and brain protruding through their frontal lobe.
This individual was no other than Vincent or Kian's partner for this activity.
Ivory grimaced.
She felt like throwing up but she just couldn't.
These past few days she had seen more death than one should in an entire lifetime.
The death of that driver working for the council that Faye had killed. The deaths of the street vendors. Now Vincent too?
All of this was too horrific.
Why did death have to follow her wake?
Lyra pressed a few buttons on her glass display and multiple proctors from the last test had come to dispose of the body.
Everyone on the wall approached the floor slowly carefully examining each rock they had to climb on with paranoia.
In a few minutes, only blood remained on the floor while the corpse was taken in a large empty cardboard box.
Everyone huddled together on the ground near the bloody puddle facing the rock climbing wall.
Lyra says with disgust, "Kian, step forward."
Kian steps forward with an empty expression on his face.
Ivory stared toward his backpack.
The backpack had a long rope attached to its back.
The young man must have severed the rope but why?
Due to rematerialization, the rope was missing the knots on the ends which meant he definitely severed the rope from the metal hooks on the bag.
Lyra says in a serious tone, "Did you sever the rope's connection to your teammate?"
Kian says coldly, "I did. He passed out and his body was weighing me down on the rock climbing wall. We both would have died otherwise."
Lyra sighs, "I'm not disappointed. In fact this is a good reminder for you all."
Lyra paces back and forth while avoiding stepping toward the blood on the floor, "You all will have to make difficult decisions on the field. You must act according to your own judgement but rest assured you will have to live with the choices you make."
Ivory began to smell a smoky smell in the air.
In the distance of the underground city. Everyone was able to see an incinerator working to burn a corpse and producing large amounts of smoke.
Lyra sighs, "Class dismissed. Kian, stay after class ends. We need to talk a little bit more about this matter."
Lyra uses her glass display to make everyone exit room 101 and each of them begins to make their way back home.
In the next several minutes, Ivory traveled back absentmindedly to the inn.
Once she stood outside of the entrance to the inn, she wanted nothing more than to vomit.
The young woman didn't have a high enough Pointly score to allow her to stay in an inn and she had just witnessed someone lose their life.
This was all too much for her.
Ivory knocked on the inn's door.
The door opened, revealing a faceless woman wearing a generic top hat, black suit, and paired with two red keys for eyes.
K says, "Would you like… a room to stay in?"
Ivory says, "Yes, please… I don't have the best Pointly score though."
K holds out a circular black device to scan her phone for payment.
Ivory pulls out her phone as the device scans her score.
K says, "This will… due for now."
Ivory says with amazement, "Really? Thank you so much!"
K pulls her scanner back and reaches into her eyesocket to pull out a red key.
Subsequently, a red key wiggles throughout her face and replaces the key missing on her face.
Ivory quickly steps away upon retrieving the key.
She felt herself not being able to hold back her disgust anymore.
K says, "You will… pay me back one day. Just not today, Ivory."
The gross feeling was now amplified and spreading throughout her body.
What would the faceless eventually want her to do?
The young woman upon reaching the yellow corridor of the inn, had no strength left to hold back her utter disgust.
Ivory finally threw up.