Paradise [IV]

Once he was certain he had his new gear on properly —there were just too many straps— he made his way towards the line of shrubs the attendant had passed through earlier. As he stepped past the threshold a blanket of light washed over him, and a moment later he found himself back in the main suite.

The attendant stood by his bed, staring out at the beach outside the window. If he was going to get information, she was currently his best bet.

He studied her for a moment. It felt odd knowing that she was a slave… his slave. Not only did the notion of owning another sentient being rub him the wrong way, but it also reminded him of the burden now forced upon him. The trials will decide Earth's fate as a vassal world, failure means enslavement.

"Is it real?" he asked, growing tired of his uncomfortable thoughts. He moved towards the hovering flatscreen on the other end of the room and began studying it. If it used some mechanism to help it float, it was well hidden.

"I apologize, dominus. I was informed the wrights had access to your planet's technology data. Does it not look like a real television?" the attendant asked.

Gray continued poking around the flatscreen; waving his hand under it before tracing its edges with his fingers. "TVs don't float where I'm from. But that's not what I'm asking," he replied, shifting his attention to the window. "The beach outside, it's just like the forest in the bathroom, isn't it?"

The attendant nodded.

It had been easy for him to tell, after all, this place was only supposed to exist in his memories. It was the last time they had ever gone to the beach together; he could still see the words they had carved into the sand just out of the waves' reach: "The Sullivans were here". He had told them not to bother, that the waves would wash it away, but they didn't care. Even way back then he felt like the only reasonable one in the family.

The memory was bittersweet now that his family's whereabouts were unknown. And it didn't help that these aliens had stolen and used it in the name of a 'bettered experience'.

"Your world is beautiful," she said.

He never would've guessed the statement could sound so sad.

"Was yours?" he asked.

"I am not permitted to answer that, dominus," she replied, her voice a little strained.

"Look, what they did to your world... what they're doing to mine, it's not right. I know you have no reason to care about the fate of another world after what happened to yours, but maybe there's a way we can help each other. If you can tell me about the trials, the reckoning, and every dangerous thing in between, then maybe my powers as a champion could be of use to you," he replied.

She was silent for a moment, her eyes staring off into the distance.

"I beg forgiveness dominus, I am not permitted to answer that," she replied.

Of course, she wasn't. But as a survivor of a world that failed its trials, there was a great deal of things only she could answer. 

"I understand that you're... restricted. But there must be something you can..." he said, before walking to stand in front of her.

For a moment, she just stared at him, her golden eyes like an angel's.

『[Safe point attendant] wishes to transfer 'Safe-point facilities guide' data.』

"That is all I am permitted to talk about, dominus. We are here, not to provide advantages to the champions, but to serve them so that their stay here may be a satisfactory one," she replied as if reciting something.

~It was worth a try,~ Gray thought to himself.

He made a mental command to accept the transfer, and a moment later his mind was flooded with images of a luxury superhotel. He was now familiar with hundreds of different places he had never been to before.

The information made his mind feel that much heavier, and its invasion was nauseating. It took everything he had to hold in the acid that burned his throat, and even more to keep his tears from falling.

"You could've warned me," he said, once it was over. He was holding onto the corner of the bedrest, the world was still spinning.

"Forgiveness, dominus. Your system indicated the presence of the Arcana stat, so I assumed the transfer would be—" At that moment her necklace flashed, and the skin on her neck burned bright red.

This time she couldn't hold in the pain, and her body spasmed. She recovered quickly, but even as she stood up straight, her skin was still sizzling.

~What was that about?~ he thought to himself.

Whatever it was, it clearly wasn't permitted. It had probably been something minor if they weren't taking her away. But even then, the burns on her neck looked painful, and he doubted that it was just a blunder.

~She mentioned that the Arcana stat has a relation to information transfer. But why is that important?~ he pondered. Though nothing came to mind. He didn't know enough about how the system functioned... about the set of rules and logic it used.

~I'll need to find out more about the Arcana stat, and an Arcana class champion might be my best bet. If Arcana class is even a thing,~ he thought to himself.

Perhaps they had some kind of information transfer skills, that he as a universal champion didn't have access to. And if they did, there might be a way to bypass the thing on her neck.

However, he felt like it was a stretch, especially considering that the people who put them here probably had a good idea of everyone's power. But on the other hand, the Trails might've already begun, and this was part of the test.

~Hmm, the way this is set up, the champions have access to all the floors until the 200th. From there the information is greyed out.~ he thought. It was odd going through information that he knew shouldn't be in his mind, though it felt natural for some reason.

~Now that I think about it. This is a little strange. Normal humans only have access to the first floor, unless they pay a fee to get to the higher ones. Does that mean there's a way for them to get coins?~ he pondered.

Anyway, if he wanted to meet a champion, he would just have to hang around the floors they were permitted to. Still, two hundred floors seemed like a lot. He wondered how many champions were actually here. From the at least a hundred people he had seen today, only four of them had been champions.

~I'll need to start my search somewhere people are more likely to visit,~ he thought. Right then, his stomach rumbled.

~The cafeteria,~ he decided. 

"Thank you," he mouthed, staring her in the eyes. He wasn't sure if this information was actually useful, but she had sacrificed for it, so it was the least he could do to acknowledge it.

Her eyes darted to the television; she opted to remain silent.

~So they're watching us,~ he thought to himself.

"I'm going to the cafeteria… Wait. I can go there, right? I'm not a prisoner?" he asked, right as he was in front of the door.

"The dominus is permitted to go through any unlocked door in the safe point," the attendant replied, moving ahead, before pressing a button next to the door.