Sixteen vol.2

The latch of the virtual cabin opened. Orienting herself took moments because it felt as if she had just re-entered a world she lost. Her sensory information, once redirected by the simulation, was returned to her normal homunculus body, controlled by her brain. Feeling the softness which she laid on, Rose directly slowed down her brain's speed to normal operations—which was still faster than a human's—and took stock of herself.

'Everything is normal at the moment. My charge is at 40%, however,' She thought, 'Added with the 6 cores I have, that's 2 plus 15, making 17 days in total. We will be entering the dungeon soon, however, so worrying about charges will likely be something of the past."

At one point, she had required only one core to last her 5 days. Then, lowering risks to herself by building a core barrier around what was essentially her central control, memory, and data center, she now needed 2 cores to last her through 5 days. Yet, dungeoning was on the horizon, it likely wouldn't be an issue in the near future.

She climbed out of the cylindrical pod and found her footing back upon a glass floor which didn't feel as smooth as one nor reflect much of anything.

When she reached the counter, however, she was surprised. For one, though other people surrounded it, she was the first one out between herself, Elsa, and

"They're both currently in the third trial," The Android said, "The dragonian reached that stage far quicker than you and the other girl, however."

Didn't that mean Lilias was stuck on the trial? Rose pondered.

"You on the other hand had quite a remarkable result. If we were to place you on time alone, finishing below 25 minutes, you're above 93% of everyone that has ever taken the assessment within Alos. Only the likes of Fran Freedom, Gushin Mao, and Alice Bridget surpassed you in speed."

Rose had no idea who those people were, save for Fran Freedom, but the android spoke as if they were easily recognizable names. In her mind, she thought they would be rather skilled or powerful in their own rights.

Ten minutes after her exit, Elsa came out.

"Yo I fucking passe—where's Lilias?" The girl paused and swerved her head about.

Rose shrugged with a small sigh.

The android explained the same thing she had done previously and then noted the girl's time. "Better than 67% of people. That's, at the very least, above average."

Elsa's expression elated and she grinned. "Awesome."

"How did your trials go?" Rose asked.

"Oh? For the blaze falcon, I ran until it was out of flames, using the shield emblem, then dragged it down when it came swooping and punched a hole from its mouth out." Elsa shrugged. As someone who had lived in the slums her whole life, she too was familiar with the creature. "For the second trial, I chose the desert, got swept up in a sandstorm. It ripped apart my shield, the rocks caused me to bleed. Then a sandworm chased me and I ran for my hecking life. . .I almost passed out but reached the orb somehow."

Rose nodded. "And the third trial?"

"Huh? Umm. . .I just got stronger?" Elsa tilted her head. "Plus. I didn't really do a whole lot of fighting in the simulation so I don't think it copied me all that well. . ."

'That makes sense. . .' Rose thought. "So what's holding Lilias back?"

Her friend shrugged.

"Beats me, she should be stronger than me by a mile."

They waited.

And waited.

And, finally, when an hour was up, the dragonian finally walked out of her cabin, pure confusion crossing her face.

"How did it go?" Elsa was the first to ask.

"I failed," Lilias Aunbren murmured, almost shocked at a realization she didn't seem to think was possible as she walked closer to the counter, "I failed because I couldn't beat myself before an hour."

If you couldn't overcome yourself, were you strong or weak? Rose was momentarily unsure if the girl was actually deeply troubled or somewhat flexing her might.

"When it comes to swordsmanship, I've hit a bottleneck," The dragonian surmised, "I was equal with my copy and could not eke out a single advantage."

'Ah,' Rose thought, 'She's troubled.'

The dragonian frowned.

"I'm from a house of swordsmen but I lost to myself in swordsmanship. . ."

The android smiled as it turned to her.

"You hunted down all the creatures you could find in the second trial as you made your way to the orb," It noted, "That was a lot of data."

Both girls turned to stare questioning it at the dragonian.

". . .hmm? I was merely practicing my swordsmanship." Lilias tilted her head. "If there are creatures worth fighting, I don't walk away."

Elsa facepalmed. "What the heck, man."

While Rose realized she still made it faster than the two of them to the third trial even after she did that. Granted, she had kept her dragonian regenerativity and wielded a more powerful blade within the simulation.

"So what now?" Elsa asked.

"Can she try again?" Rose aided.

"Certainly," The android said, "It will cost a fee of 100 Lixels for redos, however. And, I feel it's within me to say your 'copy' should be far more used to your fighting style than ever before now."

". . .so the chances of winning have lowered?" Lilias inquired.

"Precisely."

". . ."

The three stared at the shameless android.

"How can you win, then?" Rose turned to Lilias. "Especially if you've already reached your 'bottleneck' as you call it."

Lilias furrowed her brows, tail drooping behind her. She held her chin, crimson eyes staring at nothing in particular as her mind wandered. Rose, as well, did the same, entering her thoughts as she wondered how the girl could possibly win against a copy of herself more used to fighting her.

'Using her tail won't work, there's hardly any way she hadn't thought of that during their battle. She can't increase her speed or strength within the simulation either. So that leaves skill, how do you improve someone's skill in a short time?' Rose pondered.

Elsa, on the other hand, stared at the two girls who were in deep thought with speechlessness, wondering if they had suddenly gotten dumber.

"The hell are you two thinking so hard for?" She tilted her head, "If the thing knows your swordsmanship, why don't you just use a new weapon for the trial? Like your fists? It's not like you won't heal, no?"

"Ah-!" Both Rose and Lilias exclaimed at once, the other's tail swinging back up. "That would work!"

Elsa sighed as she massaged her forehead.

Sometimes, two intelligent girls rubbing their brainpower together were far dumber than they ought to be. If Lilias couldn't win against herself in swordsmanship right now, the answer was clearly to use something else at the moment and grow stronger later on.

The android smiled. "I suppose you found the answer to the third trial. If you can't strengthen your current strong point, improve your weak points. That is also growth potential."

"See?" Elsa said, "God you two should be smarter than me but you couldn't get that? That's frickin odd."

Sure, Elsa was quite smart on her own, having repaired a mecha and built her own mechanical contraptions, but she thought both Rose and Lilias were smarter than her overall, especially when it came to things involving combat.

They, however, both shrugged in unison.

"I was focusing on improving her skill in a short time," Rose said.

"I didn't think to use something other than a sword as I've never done so," Lilias said.

Both girls were a bit glued to the idea that they must use swords. Lilias Aunbren was from a house of swordsmen and Rose Ausra's soul was in the shape of the weapon itself. Though the homunculus had been aided to try a pistol by Shana Striker, not once in their lives had the two thought 'okay maybe I shouldn't use a sword for a bit.' It just was not something they ever had in mind.

"You two. . ." Elsa rolled her eyes, un-gloving her hands and tossing the items to Lilias before turning to the android. "Okay, she has my armaments now, so it counts as hers right?"

The android nodded, smiling lightly.

"Indeed. I'll simulate them for her."

"See?" Elsa turned back to the two girls.

"I see. . ." Rose muttered.

"Ah, thank you," Lilias nodded before staring at the two things in her grasp as if they were products from another world. It would be the first time she would use something other than a sword.

Rose almost wanted to laugh as the dragonian gingerly held onto Elsa's armaments and wore them. Even she hadn't thought about just dropping her weapons and slamming into her copy within the trial—it surely had no data on that. It was the fallacy and pitfall of familiarity.

In a way, she now thought, the trial was entirely about courage. The courage to face the blaze falcon head-on as there was no way you could hide from it. The courage to leap into and struggle against the world to reach a goal in the second trial. And the courage to try something new if all else failed within the third trial. From those points of view, the assessment test was of a person's courage.

Lilias entered the cabin once more.

When she returned, she spoke immediately.

"I won," she simply stated.

"Oooh, nice nice!" Elsa clapped her on the back.

Lilias Aunbren rolled her eyes, unequipping the glove armaments and handing them back to the girl.

"Here," She said, "Thank you for the help."

"Aye, and here's your sword back."

Rose tilted her head as she glanced at Lilias. If she wasn't mistaken, the dragonian's face was tinged a tint redder than usual while facing Elsa again. She even thought she saw the girl's lips lift up ever so slightly into a faint smile. Sure, no one else would notice them, but her eyes weren't the norm.

'Odd,' She thought, finding that it somewhat irked her without reason to pin it on. Somehow or another, she didn't like the girl's reaction to her friend.

"Oh? That's rather interesting," The android spoke up at that moment, pointing, "Both of you obtained the same timestamp. 20 minutes and 13 seconds to be exact."

Rose and Lilias crossed eyes. Golden against crimson.

"Oh?" The dragonian said, "That is unusual. It must simply be due to me having been in a weakened state. No spirit. No magic. No twin armaments."

"Yes." Rose nodded. "We were both weakened within the simulation. It can't be helped if we finished at such a lengthy time."

". . ." Elsa looked at the two with a hint of worry. For a moment, she thought she saw sparks fly between them. They weren't going to fight, were they?

The android, on the other hand, wondered what part of 20 minutes and 13 seconds was a lengthy time.