Kaiser of the New World

With a sigh, Kai turned to see Noelle sitting on the other bed across the room. Kai gave her a small smile and asked:

"Ready to talk?"

Noelle looked away from what Kai is guessing to be her own status screen. It's not like he can see hers anyway.

"Sure" Noelle answered as she looked back at him. Suddenly, Kai felt a shiver run up his spine as he felt the dark haired girls gaze on him. As her gaze continued on him the shiver got colder... and colder. Kai swallowed and wondered what the hell was going on.

What happened next is like what happens when someone turns on a light switch in a dark room. The shiver and dark coldness dissapear, leaving only a cozy warmth in his head and a frown on Noelle's face.

Strong mind... Kai realised as he noticed Noelle's frown. She must have used identify on me. So identify counts as a mind attack, but it's not a dangerous one so it warns me when someone uses it on me but it doesn't block it completely.

Well if it only warned him when someone used it and didn't block it, what use was the skill?

Kai ignored what just happened for the moment and decided to be sly by asking "So...what skills did you get?"

It's not like he expected much with the question, but if the mysterious and slighly scary Noelle was willing to be more open with him then maybe Kai wouldn't have to be so on guard.

Noelle's eyes narrowed as her lips curled into a frown. After a few moments she responded with:

"You first"

Okay then, I'll just answer first. Just as Kai opened his mouth to answer, he felt the same shiver run up his spine, only this time it's deeper, colder...darker.

Kai swallowed and froze in fear as the coldness tormented his body

What the hell is happening? That wasn't identify. What is-

She...she has some type of persuasion ability skill or something, mind control? Or her innate ability? I don't know.

Due to the effects of Strong mind, whatever kind of magic Noelle used didn't work, but Kai quickly answered her anyway.

"I got one that let's me see further than average in the dark and another that let's me identify stuff". Since it is obvious that Noelle doesn't trust him, Kai definitely shouldn't trust her, so making him seem weak and that she could definitely beat him in a fight would probably benefit him.

He also decided to mention his skill Lesser identify as if he had to hazard a guess then it was probably a skill anyone else who ended up here had, so if he didn't mention it Noelle could grow suspicious.

"And what about your innate ability" Noelle asked innocently. Her voice was sharp, but her tone was sickeningly sweet, yet it also filled Kai with abject horror. Strong mind kicked into overdrive, warning Kai about her ability. Kai felt the coldness build up more than before, warning him she was doing something extra for this question. Quickly adding things together Kai realised whatever sort of mind control or persuasion ability she had is her innate ability, hence why she is so curious yet forceful about his.

Quickly thinking about an answer that would sound realistic yet not too weak to sound made up, he acted as if he's in a trance and answered her question.

"My innate ability allows me to speak to animals and sentient creatures my level or up to five levels above me depending on my luck stat"

Feeling proud of himself, Kai successfully hid his smirk. What he answered wasn't technically a lie, he did kind of have the ability to speak with animals...only in his ability they are described as otherworldly creatures. And the final touch was mentioning the luck stat, since a few of his skills already have that mentioned it would sound realistic if she were to get or already posses a skill which also uses her luck stat.

After a few moments silence, Noelle frowned and broke the silence.

"What the hell, the voice said they would pair us based on fitness, ability and IQ...And I get paired with somebody that definitely isn't fit, their ability is just a knock off Snow White. IQ is yet to be seen...but I don't like what I'm seeing"

Kai's eyes widened.

What? I'm a wannabe Snow White? I'm positive my ability is better then yours. Even the ability I made up is probably more useful then your persuasion.

Kai spoke up and asked "Oh yeah, well what's your ability then? Since you seem to think that it's so much better than mine".

He didn't even care if she realised he wasn't under her spell, he just wanted to see why she was acting so high and mighty.

"No more asking that question" Noelle snapped, but just as Kai is about to rebuke, he felt the familiar coldness in his head, indicating he would blow his cover if he asks again.

Nevermind, with the way she was getting aggressive maybe he didn't want to get on her bad side.

Damn, so annoying. Kai inwardly groaned. But it seems the two parties have a different problem at hand.

Who gets to use the shower first.

*********

Due to being in empty white rooms for the better half of...who knows? Both Kai and Noelle had built up quite the stench on themselves, especially Kai who had been exercising diligently for over thirty sleeps.

After both had showered and dried, they lied down on their beds in silence. Noelle didn't speak as she seemed to not care anymore about poor Kai, and Kai didn't as he is too scared to speak up. After all, Noelle is taller than him and even though she is a woman, she has a lot more muscle...

How is that fair?...

It was fair, it's just that Kai was too lazy to even attempt to get that physique. The only one he can blame is himself.

With a sigh, Kai rolled over in his bed to face the wall. It was as white and unassuming as every other time he looked at it. After what felt like forever, Kai finally fell asleep.

Awaking after however many hours sleep it takes to make him feel refreshed, Kai sat up and yawned. Looking over to Noelles bed, he saw...an empty bed?

His eyes widened in shock.

Maze Runn-

His thought was cut short by a  grunt from the other side of the room. Turning his head, Kai spotted the tanned woman practicing some kind of martial arts.

With a curious gaze, Kai propped up his pillow and rested his chin on his hands as he watched Noelle practice.

The control she has on her body is many times more than Kai, one can only guess what she did before this whole mess began. Her movements are fluid and seem to follow a pattern which Kai can't even begin to comprehend.

It's not like he expected he would be able to anyway.

A few times he noticed Noelle twitch, as if she was agitated. After a few minutes of putting up with it, Noelle turned her head and scowled.

"Do you mind?" she asked with some lip, to which Kai responded with:

"Nope, you can keep going"

With a sigh, Noelle wiped the sweat off her brow with the edge of the sleeve of the grey robe and mumbles something under her breath, she walks over to her bed and sits down.

"So..." Kai began to speak "Any idea how long we've been here?"

Noelle lied on her side facing him and answered. "How would I? It's not like there's and hints. If I had to guess its been about a hundred days. I mean, the countdown alone is a month if you do the math."

That was the most words Noelle had said to him at one time so far. It's only now that Kai noticed her accent. It seemed that it was extremely diluted, yet it was there. It wasn't a European accent anyway.

Kai frowned and looked up at the timer, which read-

Time remaining: 718: 23: 17

After a few minutes of struggling to continue to add twenty-four over and over again, he realised that seven hundrd and twenty hours is thirty days.

Huh...probably should've figured that out earlier...

After learning... not much from Noelle, Kai got up and kept to his daily exercise routine. He wasn't going to abandon just yet.

After what seemed to be an hour of exercise, Kai froze when he heard the sweet voice of whatever is keeping them here whisper in his ear.

[1 XP earned]