In a Civilized Manner

“The building is falling apart!”

Students poured out of the lecture hall like insects. Ones closer to the walls had tried for the windows, but they couldn’t manage to crack them open for the life of them.

The lecture hall was on the sixth floor, yet a few students still attempted to jump out from the hallway railings.

The results, expectedly, were either instant death or paralysis.

Most of the students were locals or had been assimilated already. Even if they were a player, not everyone had cards like [SNEAKERS] on their hands.

Edris and Owein sprinted at the frontiers, the latter now with Ives heaved over his shoulder like a sandbag.

In the beginning, the seven-year-old had no idea what was going on, but she figured the situation must be urgent for the two normally composed people to be bolting like their lives depended on it.

It was when she got a chance to survey her surroundings that she finally caught on.

The ground around them was disintegrating. The academic building’s floor plan was designed in the shape of an “8,” and she could see the pieces of the building crumbling into the gaps on each floor.

“Has this ever happened?” Edris asked Owein as they ran. The man had more experience with Labyrinths than most people here.

Owein shook his head. “The likely explanation is that the Labyrinth did not reach its designed death quota.

“This place has a certain level of equilibrium to it. The input and output variables must be consistent.”

And from the looks of it, this so-called equilibrium was determined by the number of deaths.

To their left, a large chunk of the wall broke free and tumbled straight their way. Pivoting to the right, Edris grabbed onto his elbow and yanked the man sideways through another door.

The three of them slid into the stairwell, narrowly evading the rolling debris.

Owein gave him a nod. He brushed the dust from his legs, then heaved the seven-year-old to her feet. “How did you know there was a stairwell here?”

“Coincidentally,” Edris said, coughing out a puff of dust.

It was true. He had the entire campus imprinted into his mind from trying to dig out the second hidden location, which ended up being the Principal’s office.

As Edris pulled himself up, a sharp pain shot through the side of his body. He flinched.

“Mister Edris?” Ives instantly noticed his abnormality. “Are you hurt?”

Owein also glanced his way. Confronted with their gazes, Edris waved a hand in dismissal.

“It’s nothing serious,” he said. “We have to hurry.”

The dust swept up by the wall debris behind them was dispersing. The ground beneath their feet only shook slightly for now, but he knew it wouldn’t be long before the staircase went under as well.

“I can go down the stairs myself,” Ives said quickly as she hopped off Owein’s shoulder.

The three of them exchanged a nod and headed down the flights of stairs.

Other students who saw them change direction in the hallway immediately followed, but not all could fit into the narrow stairwell. Before more students could squeeze in, another boulder toppled down from above, blocking off the entrance.

Edris’s prediction proved to be correct.

As they bolted down the stairs, the steps behind them were disintegrating. At first dozens of steps away, then slowly increasing in rate.

Ives managed to keep up in the first couple of staircases but missed a step along one of the turns. Just as she was about to tumble down head first, Edris hooked onto her collar while Owein scooped her up by the waist.

“You held on well,” Edris said between breaths.

Owein carried her behind his back.

“Just stay on here for now.” He said. As if it wasn’t enough, he then added, “Eat more. You weigh no more than a feather.”

“…”

Ives averted her gaze and silently stayed on his back.

By the time the group reached the fourth floor, they were practically leaping down four steps at a time to stay ahead.

Edris had never run this fast in his life. With his sorry physique, he figured he would have died a hundred times already if it weren’t for the enhancers he used on himself prior to entering the Labyrinth.

Not to mention—the mechanical voice in his head wasn’t helping the situation.

Give-and-Take is a necessary cycle for equilibrium.

Would you like to give a part of yourself to the world?

Give-and-Take?

if Edris wasn’t running out of breath, he would have scoffed out loud.

In this situation, it was more like saying I-give-permission-for-you-to-take-my-life.

“No.”

Without question, accepting this exchange would be equivalent to accepting the invite to the afterlife.

The Sacrificial Hourglass seemed to pulse with discontent at his answer.

Ever since he'd scammed the artifact of the Distributor, it felt as if the hourglass was actively trying to get back at him.

After a few more turns, the group managed to reach the third floor.

“The path…” Ives pointed to the pile of boulders blocking their way.

Owein’s face looked grim. “The staircase has been destroyed.”

The stairs to the second floor had already fallen, and the ground behind them was crumpling down by the second.

They were trapped.

“Move as far back as you can!” Edris said as he opened up his profile interface.

He was going to use [BLAZING TORRENT] to pave out a way.

Just as he was about to activate the card, the wall facing the outside of the building wavered, and a hole opened up at the centre.

The next moment, Celio’s head popped up from below.

“Master! Here!”

Edris blinked twice. “Celio?”

How was he sticking up against the wall like that?

For a second, he almost forgot they were on the third floor.

He quickly pushed the confusion out of his mind. Priorities first.

“Ives, Owein. Over here.”

Celio’s body was literally pressed against the maroon bricks of the building, his fingers gripping the edge of the hole. If Edris peered down, he would have seen that the beast-tamer had compiled numerous pieces of debris to build a mini mountain for himself.

"Quick!" he called out. "My [SNEAKERS] can't last much longer."

With one hand clinging to the edge, Celio freed up his other hand to grab the seven-year-old, tucking her into a tight embrace. Once secured, he released his grip on the wall and dropped into the mountain of debris.

SLOT 1: [SNEAKERS]

USAGE: With these stylish shoes, the user can maintain balance on any surface, at any angle, for a set amount of time.

"Sticky doo doo~ Sticky fashion is the new way to go."

# OF USAGE REMAINING: 0/1

The card [SNEAKERS] has been exhausted! Time to go back to being normal.

[SLOT 1] is now empty.

The impact of the hard bricks on his body sent pain drilling down Celio's spine, but it was still times better than being buried under the academic building.

Seeing the two’s safe landing, Owein quickly followed. Unlike Celio, he was much more experienced in these types of falls and managed to mitigate the impact by rolling with the momentum.

With both Owein and Ives out, Edris was left peering out from a height.

“…”

He glanced back at the deteriorating stairs, then at the ground which seemed so far away.

With a sigh, he took the leap of faith.

Edris barely had any experience with free fall, so he could only do so much to adjust his position in midair. His original intention was to draw out the Tempest to hinder the impact, but the moment he jumped, the pain from his rib cage struck out so abruptly that his mind was forced into a blank.

Through his slimmed vision, Edris managed to make out a familiar figure standing afar.

“Ace!”

The white-haired man looked up, meeting his eyes.

After what seemed like an eternity, the man stepped to the side.

This little sh—

Before Edris could utter the words out loud, he was interrupted by another voice in his head.

Give-and-Take is a necessary cycle for equilibrium.

Would you like to give a part of yourself to—

“Shut up.” He squeezed out from gritted teeth.

…

As Edris inched closer and closer to ground level, Ace seemed to enter a short deliberation before stretching out an arm.

The next second, Edris’s body was thrown right into his arm. The act mitigated his fall for a mere second before Ace withdrew himself emotionlessly, allowing Edris to crash onto the ground.

The momentum, although partially alleviated, still sent the latter rolling rounds against the dirt, stopping only after sliding for another few seconds or so.

“Master!”

“Mister Edris!”

The others had risen just in time to see Edris crash into the ground.

Owein shook his head.

“He’s not dead,” Ace said plainly as both Celio and Ives rushed to the man’s aid. “I made sure the fall wasn’t lethal.”

“…Should I be grateful?”

With great difficulty, Edris repositioned his body upright, leaning against a piece of boulder. He coughed a few times and wiped the blood from his lips.

Ives handed him a handkerchief in concern, while Celio stared at his Master in horror. With how pale he looked, he was almost certain that Edris wasn’t going to make it.

“Don’t look at me like that.” Edris shuddered at their abhorred gazes.

Contrary to the others’ reactions, he was abnormally calm.

With the help from the two younger ones, he pulled himself to his feet. Edris pressed a hand to his stomach.

A few broken ribs, but nothing more.

Although he hated to admit it, Ace had definitely saved his life just now. If it weren’t for his arm that alleviated the fall, Edris could already imagine the way his organs would mix and mash all over his body upon contact with the ground.

He shuddered once more, distracting himself from the imagery as he redirected his gaze back to the academy.

The entire building and its surroundings were now in ruins. Only a sparse handful of students had survived, and even then they sustained injuries no better than Edris’s.

From afar, he could make out No. 39 and some others forming a temporary medical team. The small group roamed around the area, patching up students here and there.

Beside him, the seven-year-old let out a subtle sigh of relief.

Giving Ives’s head a quick ruffle, Edris turned to Ace. The latter gave him a side glance, probably expecting him to make some snarky comment.

“Thanks for that.” Edris smiled.

“…”

The white-haired man turned around, crossing his arms before his chest.

Ignoring his reaction, Edris opened up his profile and glanced at the time. All his stats remained the except, except a countdown replaced the [MAIN QUEST] description.

LABYRINTH #53

00:00:06:34

Although everyone had completed their [MAIN QUEST], the countdown was still ongoing.

“So we just wait until the countdown reaches zero?” Celio asked.

Edris turned towards Owein. The latter gave a shrug in response.

“That’s usually been the case.”

“Well then…” Edris plopped down on the ground, wincing slightly. “I guess we wait.”

He extended an arm towards Ace.

“And the book?”

Earlier, he had received a message that Ace had gotten hold of the Principal’s “secret.” Edris recalled the message from his profile inbox.

CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE HIDDEN QUEST.

HIDDEN QUEST: Find out the [PRINCIPAL]’s secret!

TIME LIMIT: 00:00:00:00

REWARD: The Real Story of Weisha

Ace handed him the book. The cover was made out of leather, tinted maroon, absent of any words or patterns. Edris held the book in his hand, taking in its cool texture.

“The message said this is the ’real’ Story of Weisha,” he said.

“Real?” Celio frowned. “What does that mean?”

The name was all too familiar. Weisha was the centre subject of all their studies, from midterms up to the exam. It was no exaggeration to call her the determining figure for their survival.

But now the Labyrinth was telling them that all they learnt about the woman up until now may have been nothing but a lie?

Edris examined the book with a complicated gaze. He knocked his finger lightly against the leather cover, contemplating. As he did so, the white-haired man beside him spoke up.

"When I touched it for the first time." Ace had a strange look on his face. "I felt a heartbeat."

Edris's hand froze mid-movement.

The book suddenly felt degrees colder in his grip.

He lifted his head and slowly looked towards the white-haired man. "You mean, it's alive?"

Goosebumps climbed up his neck.

"Maybe. Maybe not." Ace averted his gaze. "It may also be my imagination."

"?"

Edris had a bad feeling about this.

It wasn’t his style to actively seek out information that he may fully be better off not knowing.

For a second, he hesitated on whether or not to flip it open.

The next second, he handed the notebook to Ace.

“You try opening it.”

“…”

If the silence wasn’t obvious enough, he then explained, “It’s because you’re the sturdiest here. In the light that it ends up exploding, we suffer the least casualty.”

Edris figured it was thanks to the seven-year-old, as he was sure that Ace would have sworn out at least some sort of profanity by now.

“But of course—“ he cleared his throat, “—it’s very unlikely that would happen.”

Unlikely, but not impossible.

“If you’re scared…” Celio poked his head into Ace’s view. “I can take over.”

“I can also..!” Ives's sentence was blocked halfway as Edris pulled her from behind.

"Kids don't get a say."

Ace shot Edris a deadpan stare. Under the latter's innocent smile, he flipped past the cover to the first page.

The others immediately hovered over the book, Edris’s warning instantly thrown behind their minds. Even Edris himself had extended his neck forward to see what was going on.

What would it be? An updated biography of Weisha? Or, even better, how MW Academy came to be? At this point, he wouldn't be surprised if the book began talking, either.

"...It's just a regular book," Celio said after a few seconds, a tinge of disappointment in his tone.

"Someone handwrote something on the first page," Owein said.

The group hovered over the book. Under their incredulous gazes, the words—once incomprehensible in a foreign language—unscrambled and contorted themselves into the common language of the eastern continent.

July 14. Year ???

Today’s weather: Sunny.

"It’s different from the academic version we've been looking at,” Owein said, his eyes narrowing. "This one seems to be a diary."

As if this wasn’t strange enough already, the following sentence did the job.

The moment I get out of this fever dream… It’s over for all of you……

“…”

The group fell into a collective silence.

Edris felt a headache on its way, numerous questions marks instantly flooding his brain.

What in the world was this?