In a Civilized Manner

The night of the Labyrinth pull was what people called the Tip of Crescent.

It was the night before the full moon, where the mana channel was at its most unstable state, and the soul was said to hold the closest proximity to the line between the two realms: Realm of the Clouds and Realm of Afterglow.

People tend to head to bed early on the Tip of Crescent to avoid unnecessary burdens to their bodies, but sleep was naturally not on Edris's agenda for tonight.

He was not the only one.

Unlike those pulled in at random, token holders were required to head to a particular site to enter the Labyrinths. Dozens of people gathered by the borderline between the South and the Northern Lands, eagerly awaiting the pull. Most of them carried huge backpacks with them, packed with weapons, potions, and other enhancement items.

The number of people here definitely didn't reach a full house, maybe around seventy if Edris rounded up. This meant that, in the next five minutes, over thirty were going to get pulled in at random.

Some would be in the middle of chatting with their family; others would be getting ready to sleep. But in the approaching moments they'd vanish in midair without warning, and then they'd be spoken about as deceased, perhaps forever, until they really are.

Ives and Yukioe had followed him here as well, the former simply unwilling to let him go and the latter here to "see him off."

"Looks like all these people are ones who got Labyrinth access through the token." Yukioe skimmed his surroundings, then turned his head with a tongue click. "Smells like money here."

Edris chuckled under his breath. Indeed, those who managed to secure a placement via tokens were likely either reputable adventurers in the kingdom or people hired by the wealthy to enter the Labyrinths for them.

These people were ambitious and sought a constant thrill in life, upholding the typical traits of Adalarian adventurers. Of course, the rewards that came with surviving were definitely an incentive as well.

A giant clock tower stood at the edge of the borderline, looming over the people like a harbinger of doom. In the belfry situated a stone statue of a man; one of his hands was reaching to the carillon while the other posed to those on ground level, as though he was giving a speech.

— The statue of The Archivist

The pink fluff instantly pinned the identity of the statue, and Edris subtly nodded.

The Archivist, Eins Everlund, was one of The Seven Conquerors in the Creatos Era. He was also the one who created the Dread Chamber. At the recall, unwanted memories resurfaced in his head, and Edris shuddered.

Considered the live embodiment of innovation and change, The Archivist was a crucial figure in the Marginal Battle, a brutal fight in the Northern Lands between the Conquerors and Diales's army that shifted the tide of war in the former's favour.

Edris regarded several people who approached the tower to pray, asking the deceased hero to share his triumph.

"Maybe you should offer your prayers too." Yukioe stood next to him, glancing up at the narrow tower. "With your luck, better safe than sorry."

"…What's Everlund going to do? Rise from his grave to help me?" Edris laughed. "I don't deposit my time in such abstract beliefs."

"Well, I offered you material support. You refused." Yukioe scoffed, still petty from earlier. "Your token is literally a double placement, but you're gonna waste the opportunity and let someone else get randomly pulled?"

"I'm in a generous mood." Edris smiled, and Yukioe narrowed his eyes.

"I don't understand you."

At the man's comment, Edris only shrugged in response. Objectively speaking, Yukioe's offer would aid his current situation, especially as a Soul Patcher. However, there was a reason why he decided to refuse his help.

Edris glimpsed down at his pocket.

He needed Ace by his side. The man's form held too much inconsistency, so although he wasn't in his default human form at the moment, who knew what would happen during the pull?

It'd be problematic if he was classified as a human and left out here because Edris had used the second spot on someone else.

"Mister Edris?"

Ives's quiet voice pulled him out of his trance, and Edris cast his gaze down and the petite girl by his side.

"Do you have to go?"

Unlike Yukioe, Ives did not request to come along. Even though she had a talent for mana manipulation, she knew the Labyrinths weren't places anyone could just go; they were surrounded by countless unknowns, places where lives were constantly endangered.

Someone as young as her would only cause unnecessary attention, to herself and those around her. Ives knew Edris would not like that.

"You must come back," she said. "The contract is still in place."

Edris raised his eyebrow, a smile hinting at his lips. "You're talking like Ace."

Ives was young, but she was more mature than any seven-year-olds Edris had ever met.

Shaking his head, he then did a brief skim of his surroundings.

According to Grace Moon, he was not the only one who'd be entering the Labyrinths with Celio.

Edris's eyes swept through the groups of people, his mind flashing back to their conversation at the pavilion.

The Moon family, representing the Xine's military force, held collaborations with the Lucid Clan, a secluded family that resided in the Northern Lands, right at the outskirts of the Labyrinth entrance.

Grace Moon had called the Lucid Clan "a family of anomalies." While all survivors of the Labyrinths were stripped of all their memories upon their return, those from the Lucid Clan were special in that parts of their memories were preserved.

She did not reveal anything else about the family to Edris, but she did confirm that the clan would send one of their people into the Labyrinth to assist them.

When Edris asked about the details, Lady Moon shot him a meaningful smile.

"You'll meet them once you enter," she'd said.

"How reassuring," Edris had replied with a deadpan smile.

Withdrawing his thoughts to the present, Edris let out a small sigh. It was then a familiar figure caught his eye.

A tall, cloaked figure stood near a crowd at the side of the bell tower. The hood of the cloak concealed most of his face, but just like their initial encounter back in Nolmes, it was the strand of golden hair slipping out that gave away his identity.

Amidst the hoard of bodies, Celio turned around, just in time to make eye contact with Edris. His lips parted after seeing the dark-haired man.

Bong!

The sonorous rang of the carillon reverberated throughout the space, and all heads lifted towards the sound.

Edris felt a pair of arms around his waist, and he glanced down to see Ives stuck to his thighs, her face buried in his abdomen.

"Can't you just not go?"

Edris didn't have time to respond, however, as a veil of light enveloped his body, blurring his view in a brilliant white.

The next thing he knew, an entirely different scene had unfolded before his eyes.

The night turned into day, and the humid Adalan air was replaced with a refreshing spring breeze weaving through his hair.

Edris found himself standing in front of a majestic-looking gate, painted bright red with gold on top. Hoards of people moved past him and beyond the gates, into the large building in the distance.

The tiny arms hugging his waist had disappeared, along with the person they belonged to. Not only that, Edris found himself dressed in a complete foreign outfit. The turtleneck he stole from Yukioe was replaced with a black dress shirt, and his cloak had transformed into a maroon blazer.

Edris blinked twice. Breath quickening, he reached in both blazer pockets.

Nothing.

Ace was gone.

"Edris!"

As if things weren't bizarre already, Edris soon found himself in a conversation with a freckled boy, whom he was sure he'd never seen before in his entire life.

Truly, it was a strange situation.

The boy seemed well acquainted with him as he brought up one thing after another, oblivious to the thousands of questions currently running through Edris's head.

However, as someone accustomed to the fickleness of life, Edris quickly came to terms with the current situation.

Everyone around him wore the same style of outfit. If he had his clothes switched into this uniform, it was likely the case for the other 107 people.

Edris thought back to the groups who came with backpacks full of enhancement items. He mentally offered his condolences. Compared to those people, he only brought a Spatial Pouch with him, but even then, it was mostly packed with potions, as he had no skills to wield most of the weapons in the first place.

From this perspective, things seemed to work in his favour with everyone on the same starting line, at least in terms of physical possessions.

While his brain was working away with analysing the situation, Edris had been smiling along to the freckle boy's remarks as if nothing was wrong. Half-heartedly responding to the boy's various comments, he focused his attention on the glowing interface in front of him:

PLAYER ID

Edris

LABYRINTH

#53

PLAYER STATUS

Normal

ROLE: INCOMING [STUDENT] OF MW ACADEMY

Edris reached out to touch the screen, but his fingers went right through it. The freckled boy stared at him strangely. Unlike him, the boy couldn't see the screen.

Edris lowered his gaze, contemplative.

Rather than a labyrinth in the literal sense, he suspected that this space he entered was closer to a collective subreality, an illusory environment that the individual, who the Labyrinth titled a [PLAYER], must overcome to survive the Labyrinth.

Edris's gaze fixed on the second row of the table. According to the information from here, the Labyrinth he was in right now was numbered 53, which meant the Labyrinths as a whole might be a collection of different scenarios.

Were all 108 people in Labyrinth #53, or were they deposited into various others? What standards determined which Labyrinth each individual would be sent, if there were any in the first place?

More importantly…

Edris narrowed his eyes, scrutinising the final line on the screen, at the "role" he was apparently given.

An incoming student? Academy?

The turn of events completely strayed from his expectations.

Edris slowly exhaled.

Too many unanswered questions. What he needed right now was information.

Reeling in his thoughts, Edris planted his gaze on the freckled boy in front of him, who had now moved on to blabbering about the nasty breakfast he had eaten this morning. Edris was planning to use this boy to dig out some information when a hoard from afar caught his attention.

Specifically—the person standing at its centre.

Ives?

It shouldn't be the case, but there she was, amidst the crowd with people hovered over her in curiosity. Although shrunk to her height, the maroon uniform still looked oversized on the seven-year-old as she glanced around, facial features pieced into a slight frown.

Edris's expression was no better. The fact that Ives was here could only mean one of three things:

First, Ace was pulled into another Labyrinth separate from his current one. However, this explanation only stands given that Edris's hypothesis about several co-occurring Labyrinths was true.

Second, the Labyrinth had rejected Ace as a potential candidate for entrance and instead pulled the second closest person to the token. This happened to be Ives, who was hugging Edris at the time.

Lastly, Ace did not need a token to enter as he wasn't considered a "complete entity" in his non-human form, so Ives was pulled in for the same reasons above.

He was leaning towards the likelihood of the second explanation, but the third, though less probable in comparison, would be the most ideal of the three.

But if this turned out to be the case, then where was Ace?

For the first time since he entered this Labyrinth, Edris looked visibly troubled. Perhaps finally noticing his abnormality, the freckled boy followed the direction of his gaze, squinting into the distance.

"What? Who? What's good?" The boy tip-toed, shielding the sunlight with his hands. "Ah, that's her, isn't it? The prodigy."

"Prodigy?"

"The youngest student accepted into MW Academy. I heard she's only seven."

"You know her?" Edris asked.

"Nope. Heard many things about her though, but first time seeing her in person." The freckled boy looked back at him. "You know her?"

Edris didn't respond. He glanced around him, observing the "students" roaming by. Some were making their way to the academy as though it was part of their routine, while others were skimming the crowd just like himself. Edris suspected the latter type belonged to the 108 people pulled inside the Labyrinth.

He then peered to the crowd, gaze pinned to the girl with bobbed hair at the centre. There's a possibility that she was, like the freckled boy, another person native to this Labyrinth, someone who happened to share the face of Ives in the real world.

It was also possible that she was the Ives he knew, and the reason why the freckled boy knew of her as well had something to do with her [ROLE] in the Labyrinth. After all, the freckled boy had also recognised Edris, although for the latter, this was their first encounter.

Only one way to find out.

Edris took off in Ives's direction. Whatever the situation was, he decided to confront her first to gather information.

He could hear the freckled boy yelling behind him, asking why he was going in the opposite direction of the academy. The crowd to which Ives belonged in looked up simultaneously at his approach.

The moment Edris made eye contact with the seven-year-old, the latter's eyes widened.

The next moment, Edris's vision blurred. A tinkling sound echoed in his head, and he froze midstep.

YOU HAVE AN INCOMING QUEST! [INITIAL QUEST] DETECTED!

ACCEPT [INITIAL QUEST]?

[YES] [NO]

NOTE: Each player must complete their [INITIAL QUEST] in order to unlock their [MAIN QUEST]

Edris blinked, examining the new pop-up message on his glowing interface. He keenly caught the distinction in wording.

Each player? "Their" initial quest?

Does that mean all the so-called quests were personalised?

From the edge of his vision, Edris noticed some other "students" halted in their actions as well. The message must have been sent to the players simultaneously.

Furrowing his brows, he moved his finger to the [YES] option, only for it to go through again. Edris drew his head back. After a few seconds of contemplation, he cleared his throat.

"Yes."

"Yes? Yes to what?" The freckled boy cocked his head to the side and squinted. "Hey, are you sure you're okay? You've been acting strange all morning."

However, Edris paid no attention to the boy's words. His eyes, pale and wide from shock, locked onto the next sentence that emerged on the screen.

INITIAL QUEST: Find your unrequited love!

TIME LIMIT: 60 minutes

"…"

Standing at the entrance of MW Academy, the dark-haired man fell silent.

Unrequited what now?