2 Odd Man Out

Douglas gave an incredible stare. "Well... albeit, I never thought of it like that. You're pretty smart there, youngin. Say, why not team up? Two heads are better than one, they say."

Those words were the last thing Daniel wanted to hear. It put him in a hard position. Depending on how sensitive Douglas was, he was destined to offend him by saying no.

The real question was how great would the offense be? Would he target him later? Or would he just lose the chance at a future friendship?

'I don't have time for this.' Daniel shook his head negatively before speaking.

"No offense, but no thanks. The difficulty might rise according to our group size. If anything, I think it's best to listen to Yoshioka's advice and try acquiring those Gamer Eyes she was talking about. It won't be too late afterward to decide if teams are needed then."

Hopefully with this reasoning, the offense could be minimized. " Hmm... you know what, I like your way of thinking. It definitely wouldn't do to have to carry trash. Okay! Let's get those special eyes before teaming up. If one of us fails, no hard feelings, right?"

Daniel smiled awkwardly. It wasn't exactly what he meant, but given the circumstances, he rather have the misunderstanding since it served the same purpose in the end.

Still, would he be in the wrong if a tiny part of him hoped the guy failed? Perhaps in that way, it would solve his problem compared to the alternative if the guy succeeded instead.

Daniel quickly discarded the silly thoughts before heading toward the large screen.

Prior, when Yoshioka spoke of survival help, she had stated that the LCD monitor gave precise details. Something which he lacked. Moreover, he preferred to think of himself as a realist. He understood how peculiar everything appeared, but accepting supernatural powers was going too far.

It was more practical to analyze the free information he desperately required, and later give the supernatural stuff a shot.

When Daniel got complete visual, he discovered it indeed had information other than what was said. There was a section explaining how to acquire weapons for protection, and even the cost of failing the assignment.

[Defensive weapons can be attained in the storage room located behind the door to the right of the screen monitor.]

He then read the failure passage.

[Failure Upon Completion: If no permanent death(dying during gameplay), the death of a family member/precious one is considered as replacement. The chosen will be determined randomly.]

It then went on to explain the result after the failure selection.

[If failure at any time, the family member(s)/precious one(s) will also replace the falling to boost acceptable numbers again. Randoms are added for diversity.]

Daniel was livid. His face shifted in a cold expression as he glared at the screen.

He was done reading and fishing for information. Instead, the desire of surviving rose further within him.

Want to target his family and friends for failure? Whoever orchestrated this was placed on death row in his eyes. It was either them or him. They made it clear by the rules they dare to set.

It completely left the participants at their mercy.

"Oh my gosh! It works! It works!"

Daniel was broken from his anger to witness an enthusiastic teenage girl shout joyfully. He watched her hop around inspecting everything she could.

"This is so neat! It's like a virtual reality game. I got stronger too." She bragged.

"Nevermind that, how you do it, Chloe?! I'm at a loss here." This turn, it was a teenage boy talking who could be nothing else, other than her boyfriend.

However, Daniel didn't understand the language too well. In fact, it felt off when Chloe spoke a minute ago. It was just that, he understood her despite feeling her words were said in Spanish.

If he had to guess, with her weird way of talking, the Gamer Eyes had the ability to translate words since he only understood English.

'They have a heavy resemblance to Mexicans.' Daniel thought lightly. He then took the time to truly examine his surroundings.

'I see now, the 21 people gathered here must come from different nationalities and backgrounds.' Not only was this so, but the people also stood separately. It forced them to be categorized into two different groups.

The first was called 'the Veterans,' which consisted of seven individuals who experienced at least two gameplays.

The second was what Yoshioka called 'the Noobs.' They were clueless, lacked any experience, and just arrived the same way Daniel did. And it just so happened to be the one Daniel was a part of. This made the Noob group a total count of 14 people, with a grand total of 21 people waiting for the gameplay transfer.

Unfortunately because of their lack of awareness, most in the Noob group also stood around panicking, having yet to determine their next course of action.

Although, there was still a small percentage who preferred being active.

"What the heck is blocking this door?! It refuses to break!!" Similar to him, Daniel saw he wasn't the first one with the idea to gather more information.

Just a step ahead, there were a few people who learned about the knowledge of the storage room and struggled to open the door. When he delivered a glance at the Veteran group, he noticed they kept silent and watched.

But regardless of who tried, it did not budge. "Wait a second, I think the Mexican girl just said something interesting."

"Oh!!! I feel great. Chloe, stand in front of me. I want to test my strength." The couple's view was centered around a sight where only they existed. Everyone else intruding was utterly ignored. So it came as no surprise they missed the small group's interested looks.

Instead, the boyfriend of Chloe continued his intention and lifted her up using a single hand. "Hahaha! I'm like the hulk, baby."

"Don't hold me that way, Paco." Although she reprimanded him, the smile contradicted her words.

Still, the sight of how easily he achieved such a feat was mindblowing to the small group. All 4 of them grew excited. Particularly, one of the members who was the big muscle guy that was frightened by Yoshioka earlier. His eyes gleamed with delight at witnessing this scene.

"My two friends, can you give me a second of your time? Both of you seem strong. How about helping us open this door to the right. If you do, all of us can obtain weapons like those elitists in the corner." Nonetheless, it was not he who spoke. Rather, it turned out to be a businesswoman extremely comfortable in her conversation skills.

She was the type who believed, brains over brawn. And being the only female of the group, she had to keep a good head on her shoulders if she didn't want any unfortunate accidents. Something which she understood thoroughly, and full-heartedly despised.

In fact, this was not unusual seeing a greater amount of males working together with a female. The gender of the entire people gathered was rationed with lower female participants. There was a ratio of 2 to 1, regarding males and females respectfully.

"Uh..."

"Sure!" Paco took the offer eagerly. He was more than happy to have another opportunity to test his newfound strength again.

Chloe was not so like-minded. She was much more cautious and suspicious dealing with unknowns. It was especially so when she dealt with females in business suits. They had always given her unfair treatment in the past.

"Thank you for your help! This decision will benefit us all greatly, Mrs. and Mr. mm..." The woman looked at two for an expected answer, despite knowing they were too young to be a married couple.

The air became awkward for the two, as they felt embarrassed by the waiting eyes. "Sorry about that, we forgot to introduce ourselves. I am Francisco or Paco for short, and she is Chloe. Also, you don't have to be too formal, Miss. We should help each other in cases like these."

The woman was startled by the response, but she still had enough experience to keep a business face which presented a polite smile. 'How young and innocent, but terribly foolish.'

"Thank you again, and right this way." She said and walked toward the others.

There were small introductions between the groups, then Paco reached out a hand to grab the locked doorknob. And to the astonishment of the first group, it opened without difficulty.

"W-what?!"

"H-how you do...?!"

Paco scratched the back of his head confusedly. "Is that it...?"

After he spoke, the door slammed shut behind him. Denying anybody else from having thoughts on taking advantage of borrowed help.

"Argh! This hateful door! I want to smash it to bits!" One of the guy members cried angerly.

Meanwhile, Daniel had seen enough. He turned his vision back to the LCD monitor and saw that it explained the issue, but was hidden at the bottom and pertaining to the method of acquiring Gamer Eyes.

It stated once an individual attained the Gamer Eyes, they were allowed entry into the storage room. If not, the door would stay locked and no one could enter.

Furthermore, only people with Gamer Eyes were allowed to enter. Those that tried to cheat the system would find themselves eliminated, along with their family members or precious ones.

'Such a strict and cruel penalty.' Daniel thought. He felt that once again, the ones controlling the shots were overdoing things, demanding absolute obedience.

But soon enough, everybody understood the message. The Noobs group members, one by one, gradually unlocked their Gamer Eyes as the time ticked away. Which in turn, allowed each one to enter the storage room for a weapon.

Daniel also attempted it. He sit in a corner of the room and closed his eyes. The step according to the monitor was to search for a game system in this darkness while imagining it was his lower naval he was traveling toward.

Unexpectedly, it was easily located and appeared as a complete computer set. There was a keyboard, mouse, monitor, and brain. The system had everything except for a wall socket to pull the single cord into.

When confronted with this challenge, Daniel failed to find an outlet no matter how hard he searched. Before long, a short exhaustion overcame him, forcing him to take a break with disappointment.

By the end, only he had yet to achieve those eyes. And it was just this time, Douglas, who was the next to last person that managed to succeed, came out of the storage room carrying a short spear usually more suited for women.

"Well, well, well, I guess that's it! This group is more elite than the last, but... hehehe!" Dressed in black and grey robes with a chain wrapped around each arm that held a small blade at the ends was a silver-haired Veteran member who took a step away from a part of his group.

"There is bound to be trash somewhere." His sudden words disturbed a lot of people, causing them to focus on him and see he was staring at Daniel in delight. In fact, the smile he possessed could part the sea.

Douglas wanted to brag about his new weapon. But after witnessing Daniel's coming tragedy and making eye contact, he turned his head as if he didn't know him.