The Dark Forest / Act 1, Part 3

It was the day before we were supposed to meet up and discuss the expedition, I was at the campus mall walking around with Ajem and Gabe. Gabe told me he invited Ajen after calling me.

We were on the second floor, we were just walking around the mall and seeing if they had anything we might need on the expedition. We also had to keep this expedition out of the school's ears, if they found out what we were up to they would probably expel us

"Hey Mora, do you think this a good idea?" She asked

"Not really, No one has ever successfully explored The Dark Forest, so I don't see why we would be the first"

"Hey, I know we're not allowed to use Kin on campus, but how strong are you guys?"

Gabe had a good question, we went allowed to use Kin on campus, be we would need to know how strong everyone was to know if we could protect ourselves in The Dark Forest.

Furthermore, A person's Kin was put into 6 different stages. A stage 5 Kin user was someone who had no training in the use of Kin, but they did have Kin, a normal living citizen in the New World would usually be ranked in stage 5 or 4

"I'm a stage 3 Kin user" Said Ajem

"I'm also a stage 3 user," said Gabe

They both looked at me waiting to respond. But I didn't know how to respond, I had usually hidden how strong my Kin was so I didn't stand out, the best thing to do right now was to lie and say I was also a stage 3 user, but if we went to The Dark Forest and I had to fight a monster and all of a sudden I was more powerful then I said I was, it might build distrust, which was the last thing we needed in The Dark Forest

"I'm a stage 2 user"

"wait really? I thought you would be in stage 4? You don't seem to be a stage 2 user" Ajem said

"Well we're not allowed to use Kin at school, so I never got the chance to show it off"

We left the mall and as soon as we were outside I noticed it had turned dark already

"How long were we inside for," I said quietly

We went to a restaurant, we hadn't eaten anything yet, so it was probably a good idea to go out and get some food.

When we got inside I noticed a large number of people eating, which was kinda strange as it was a school night. Thankfully there wasn't a large line, so we were able to grab a table quickly

As soon as we sat down a waiter came to our table

"And what will we be drinking tonight?"

"Uhh, I'll take a coke," Aem said

"And you sir?" pointing at Gabe

"I'll have a sprite"

"And finally, you?"

"I'll take a lemoned"

'"And are we ready to order?"

Ajem looked at all of us, waiting for us to give her the nod to say yes. I shook my head and so did Gabe

"Yes we are"

We talked about what we might find in The Dark Forest, and what might happen, we talked in very low voices to make sure no one heard us. If someone passed our table, Gabe or Ajem would quickly switch the topic. I joined in the conversation when I could, but it was mostly Gabe and Ajem talking, I would mostly just look around while eating

RIght as we were about to leave I saw someone I didn't expect to see, but she was with someone else

Ajem saw me looking at her

"Is that Alex?"

"Yeah that's her, but who's she with?" Gabe said

I said quite

Gabe looked at me and realized what this meant to me. He grabbed my shoulder and looked me in the eyes

"Hey, it's all good, you'll find another one"

I looked away from him and looked outside. The waiter came over and gave us the check

Ajem and Gabe ended up paying for the food. We left the restaurant and went our separate ways.

I headed home on the large path that went to my dorm while looking at the stars thinking of what could've been