Soulless Armor

'Is this thing alive?' I said while poking the chest of a motionless armor. By the eye, it was just an object. But the name of the floor made a big mistake, it gave away too much of a hint.

The other two were the names of the locations, and I'm not saying this might not be the case here. But it's still a thing to consider. 'I doubt this one is alive.' I turned around, to face the other hundreds of soulless armors. 'But one... is' I looked at their shining armor, made out of the purest metals, and crafted with both great skill and equipment. The patterns were different for each of them.

Some had liner patterns, some had flowers, and some even had monsters imprinted in them.

The helmet was also different for many, but it wasn't distinct from armor to armor. There were six types of helmets it could choose from. And I mean choose because they can change it. The iron would dissolve into a liquid, then reform itself into something new.

This was also one of the reasons I thought they might be alive. But yet again, there were too many for them to be beasts. There has to be another way they do it. Or do they not do it themselves? Is it just the system messing with me?

[The system noticed your behavior through the floors and wishes to reward you for reaching the second floor. Do you wish to accept?]

A reward? Must be one of its not-so-funny jokes. But yet again, what harm was there in accepting a free reward? A reward is a reward, no matter if it's helpful or not.

'Accept.'

[You have received a Crazy Wall]

A what now? Like those boards detectives use? 'Wait are you making fun of my overthinking? Well, I'll have you know that I'm here because of it.'

Shitty system, making fun of my actually pretty reasonable thinking. But, it was still a free item. One that I will never use.

Items given by the system are different from the ones you can buy, they are either dropped by beasts or from the system rewarding your efforts. But why was it rewarding me on the third floor? It usually gives rewards to people who show their courage inside The Core.

But I was inside an infected memory, not The Core, so why?

I took a deep breath and continued searching for a walking pile of metal. It had been two hours since I started my wonder, but the rooms were all the same. It felt like I was in a loop, but I could never justify this theory. With the armor constantly changing their helmets, and their position remaining the same in every room, it looked moreover looked like I was crazy instead of evidence of the loop.

The same room over and over again. The same flawless stone, the same chandeliers, the same royal decorations, and the red carpet. I was growing tired of it, but sadly, I wouldn't get rid of it for a while, as my search was going nowhere. 

...

'I think I'm going to vomit.' I said while my face pale. The reason for this was my stupid idea of hanging upside down. 'I have to say, you guys are pretty durable.' I said while looking at the neck of the armor. I was strangling it with my feet and hanging my head down, which meant there was a lot of force applied to it, so it was fascinating how they were able to withstand it without any challenge.

I had given up on my search as I had found out it was in fact a loop. I came to this conclusion after my eyes noticed dirt on the red carpet of one of the rooms, then in the next room, I found it in the same spot.

But even with this victory, it still didn't help me. I just had to wait for either the error to get fixed, or for it to come to me like how the yeti did... maybe a little nicer than him but he can serve as inspiration.

[Your ability [Pawn Of Despair] is ready to use again.]

'Oh that's nice, but it's not like I have anything to do with it.' I said with a disappointing sigh.

'If only I had a skill that allowed me to differentiate a soulless being from one with a soul.' I said, and after some seconds a mischievous smile appeared on my face.

'Copy.' I said while looking at a specific piece of armor. There was nothing specific about it. Heck, it was exactly the same as the others. But there was just one thing. 'You're alive aren't you.'

[Copying random skill...]

[Copied skill-]

I ignored the system, my focus only on the new piece of armor. Seeing that I had figured him out, it flinched, then started running away. But as he left the room, he found himself back inside, but at the entrance of the room instead.

'Did you forget this is a loop? There's nowhere to run, I'll make it quick I promise.'

With the beast frozen from the fear. I was able to easily use my skill to guide one of the swords from the all into its helmet.

[You have slain a pawn class beast, Living Armor]

It had been a while since I saw fear in a beast's eyes. I had almost forgotten that we also feel emotions. That we too are fully conscious beasts, ones that can decide something on their own. Not controlled by anyone.

Now how was I able to find the beast among all of the others? I said before that I wished I had a skill that allowed me to notice the difference between living and soulless beings. Well, I had one. And had known from the beginning which one of the armors was the beast. I just wanted to wait for the cooldown of my other skill.

[Kings Authority] worked differently on objects than humans. And with that fact in mind, i used it on every piece individually until I found him.

So this floor had turned out to actually be the easiest out of all of them.

I sighed. 'Fourth floor I guess.' But as I wasn't paying attention, something caught me off guard.

[One of your skills has leveled up! Congrats!]