“…What’s wrong with these Wanderers of the Scholar Hall?” Cecilia mumbled, as they walked up the stairs. “First it was the woman, and now the man too… How can they all be so…”

  “Arrogant?”

  “…I was about to say infuriating, but arrogant works too. In any case, something must be wrong with those Wanderers.”

  “It is not just those two Wanderers,” Alnea said, shrugging his shoulders. “Haven’t you noticed it yet?”

  “Noticed what?”

  “The Wanderers who work for the Lost City… They are basically of two kinds. Those who want to see others successfully reach the inner city, and those who have given up on themselves. The man we just met was of the second kind. These kind of Wanderers… they are either too cynical, like Martha, or they simply just want to do their jobs, and not be bothered with anything else, like the Wanderer we met on the counter for exchanging Medals.

  “As for the other kind of Wanderers… These kinds of Wanderers are always too enthusiastic for Wanderers like us. Wanderers who show great potential, enough to give them hope that we might indeed reach the inner city. And that is what they want too. For us to reach the inner city. It is just that the way they show their enthusiasm may differ a little. Like Tia and Daes.”

  “…I would prefer Tia over Daes any day,” Cecilia mumbled, only for Yuri to shake her head.

  “Let us not be too hasty in making our decisions,” Yuri said. “With Daes, at least we know her intentions. Tia though… Although she seems amiable on the surface, we still do not know what she wants from us.”

  “…About that,” Alnea said. “I think I may have a clue of what they want to do. It is just that I am not too sure of my guess—

  “What is it?” Cecilia said, cutting off Alnea before he could finish his words. “What do they want from us?”

  “…Like I said, I am not too sure of my guess. And I do not want to create a preconceived notion about them in your mind because of my words, so I will keep my guess to myself until I am absolutely sure. But don’t worry. They probably don’t want to harm us.”

  “…Are you going to say it or not?”

  “…We should not talk about others behind their backs…”

  “Too late. Just tell me, are you going to say it or not?”

  “…They probably just want to leave the city with us.”

  “Huh? What do you mean?”

  “Literally what I just said. Of all the Wanderers we have met in the city, the ones who have shown goodwill towards us always have had a different kind of air about them… As if they are expecting us to save them. Coupled with all the information that we have gathered over the past half year, my best guess is that they probably want us to help them get rid of the restraints of the inner city.”

  “…I see,” Yuri said, nodding along with his words. “That would also explain why the Wanderers who have given up on themselves are not so enthusiastic about us.”

  “…Why don’t I understand what you two are talking about?” Cecilia said, scratching her head. “These Wanderers… If they want to leave the city, can they not just leave by themselves?”

  “Have you forgotten why those Wanderers are employed by the Lost City in the first place?” Yuri said, answering the question for Alnea.

  “…Because they made some mistakes?”

  “Since they are held back by the Lost City because of the mistakes they made, how can they leave the city on their own?”

  “…That makes sense. But then again, exactly what kind of mistakes did those people make for them to be confined within the city?”

  “We will probably have to wait for a few months to get your answer,” Alnea said, drawing the attention of the girls back to himself. “As for the things that Yuri said… those are all our guesses. And even if those guesses happen to be true, we don’t know exactly how we will be able to help those Wanderers get rid of the restraints of the Lost City, and if doing so will be of any good to us or not. So, for now, we still have to be just as cautious as we were before… And in Lia’s case, maybe even more cautious than before.”

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  “Hey, what do you mean?”

  “I meant that we are here,” Alnea said, pointing to the doors in front of them, shifting the topic away from himself. “The Glyph Trials… Let’s follow the same order that we did last time.”

  “…I want to try going first this time.”

  “Only if you can beat me on the path of Scholars.”

  “…I will beat you right here, if that’s what you want.”

  “You will have to catch me first though.”

  “…Go, catch him, Forne!”

  “Hey, that’s cheating!” Alnea said, hastily dodging the dumb cat, and pressed it down to the ground, subduing it before it could create more chaos. They were not alone, after all. Just the way they were all huddled together was already drawing curious eyes from the Wanderers around them. Maybe a few jealous eyes too. If the dumb cat lunged on those people by mistakes, breaking the rules of the city right within the Blood Hall, they would not have to wait a few months to know how those Wanderers got confined to the city.

  “Stop making trouble, Cecilia,” Yuri said, finally coming to his rescue, just as Cecilia was about to lunge at him too. “You know that Alnea is doing this for your own good. Given your progress on the path of Scholars, if we do not explore the Trials for you first, you would have a hard time clearing them, let alone clearing them perfectly. And we cannot afford to let you slip up now.”

  “…I know. But—

  “Since you know, then there is nothing else to talk about. As a Wanderer, the one thing that we must absolutely refrain from is not acknowledging our mistakes and weaknesses. Or else, failing in the Trial would be the least of our worries.”

  “…Fine. Go ahead. But don’t make me wait too long.”

  “Of course, not,” Alnea said, assuring his pouting friend with a grin, before joining the queue to enter the Trial Space with Yuri. A queue that only looked long but did not hold them back for a long time. Then again, opening the Trial Space did not take too much time. Not to mention that the Blood Hall could maintain seemingly infinite amount of Trial Spaces at the same time. As such, in just a few short moments after separating from Cecilia, Alnea found himself back in a dark space, facing a blood red panel floating in front of him.

  “Welcome to the Scholar Hall, Blood Soldier N 06 08499.”

  “You are in the Trial Space of the Glyph Trials. Please select the difficulty of the Trial.”

  “You cannot select a difficulty 2 levels beyond the level you have already cleared.”

  “The difficulty level of the Trial will decide the quality and quantity of the materials you will be provided with, along with what kind of Glyph you can use for the Trial.”

  “You must select your lineage before beginning the Trial.”

  “Using a Glyph beyond the specified kind and lineage will disqualify you from the Trial.”

  “How quickly and efficiently you complete the Trial will decide how many Trial Points you earn…”

  “…perfect clearance of the first Trial is 10 Blood Coins, which will increase to 20 Blood Coins for the second Trial, 30 Blood Coins for the third Trial…”

  “If you fail to gain a perfect clearance, your reward will decrease according to your performance.”

  “If you fail the Trials, or are disqualified, you will not be rewarded with any Blood Coins.”

  “If you can gain perfect clearance in all ten Trials, the Hall will reward you with additional 500 Blood Coins, and 1 Low Grade Glyph Medal, which can be used to redeem any Initial Stage Glyph, or resources of an equivalent value.”

  “Breaking records will grant you an additional amount of Blood Coins, equivalent to what you would have gotten for a perfect clearance for that level.”

  “If you break a record for the entire city, you will earn an additional Low Grade Glyph Medal.”

  “If you…”

  Alnea quickly went through the instructions, only to go through them again, and again. He even consulted with Yuri over the details of the Trial to make sure that he did not miss anything. Yet, he still could not find what exactly the Trial was going to test.

  “What do you think it is going to be?”

  “We will know once you start the Trial.”

  “We will. Still, it would be better if we can prepare a little.”

  “If you wanted to prepare for the Trial, you could have just asked Vestia and the others about it.”

  “I already told you last time. That would have sucked all the fun out of the Trial. Besides, challenging the Trials without knowing anything about them can also exercise our adaptability to all kinds of circumstances.”

  “Then why are you still guessing what the Trial is going to be?”

  “…Forget it. You won’t understand,” Alnea said, before choosing to begin the Trial.

  “Inscribe an Initial Stage Glyph on the Trial Stone.”

  “Only the Carving Knife provided by the Trial Space is allowed to be used.”

  “You can conjure the materials required to inscribe the Glyph by selecting it from the Assistant Panel.”

  “Only the materials listed within the Assistant Panel is allowed to be used.”

  “Only the materials provided by the Trial Space is allowed to be used.”

  “Violation of any of the above rules will result in disqualification from the Trial.”

  “Perfect clearance condition: Inscribing the Glyph in one go, without any interruption or mistakes.”

  “Record 1: Inscribing the Glyph in 13 seconds.”

  “Record 2: Using 3 materials to inscribe the Glyph.”

  “Record 3: Inscribed Glyph can keep working for 18 days(in passive state) or 82 seconds(in active state).”

  “Your Trial will begin at the count of sixty.”

  “60.”

  “59.”

  “58…”