The Giant Resting Facility

As they walked through the facility, they couldn't help but feel a strange mix of excitement and unease. The luxurious surroundings and the sheer size of the place were impressive, but the thought of the ascension challenge still loomed over them.

There were holographic screens everywhere displaying the amount of time they had left, almost as if the nation wanted them to know they can live in luxury here, but that at the end of it all, they would still need to participate in whatever hell awaited them.

Leon's group was heading to the cafeteria, and just by going there and traversing the crowded hallways, they noticed that Dan was right: all groups stuck together, eyeing any other school or students they didn't recognize.

After a quick lunch break at the cafeteria, where they were able to pick out their foods from the screen at the counter and for it to immediately appear in front of them, they decided to head back to the lobby.

"Well, what else to do but pick a room," Dan shrugged, and the rest nodded.

They took went toward the hallway in the middle, then found themselves in front of dozens upon dozens of desks with holographic screens in front of them, where you could your room number, obviously.

There were many options: [Solo Room], [Duo Room], [Trio Room] and [Squad Room], 2000 rooms for each type.

They had to wait in line though, as there were hundreds of students trying to get their own rooms, and so they did.

An entire 2 hours passed before it was finally Leon's turn.

And when he checked out the screen…

[Solo Room - 1372 available]

[Duo Room - 937 available]

[Trio Room - 432 available]

[Squad Room - Full]

They had been pretty damn late, so all the [Squad] rooms had been taken by other groups of students, since people obviously preferred to be together.

But as for Leon…

"I'll take a solo room," he actually quite liked it, and so he clicked on the [Solo Room] option, a key card coming out of the screen, and he grabbed it, "Cya!"

"See you later," Noah and Dan picked the [Duo Room], and Alice a [Solo Room] too.

And just like that, their little group separated.

[Don't you think it's weird?] EGO suddenly said as he kept looking around, his small little eyes burning with aura as he rested on Leon's hair.

'Yeah,' Leon didn't even need to ask how or why, he himself could feel it.

[Why would they invite you all to this massive facility for an entire week, if everyone is ready, then why not start the 'ascension' trial immediately?]

"Yeah," Leon repeated as he kept checking the card in his hands, it was completely white, except for the number [629] on it.

Of course, there was the possibility that they just needed time to set up everything as having 18000 people participate was too much even for them, but if you knew about how determined the 'Crimson Earth' nation is in being the strongest, then you would know it wouldn't take them more than a day.

And in addition to that, why this facility in specific? This giant, luxurious facility with everything they needed to live… in the middle of nowhere?

[Might seem too much, but just remember to be careful, Host,] EGO was much more useful than expected.

'Like a little pet…' Leon mumbled.

[HEY!]

***

The end of the hallway of the [Rooms] section was separated into four others corridors, each with a giant screen above their entrances displaying what they were leading to: Solo, Duo, Trio and Squad rooms.

Obviously, Leon took the solo ones, then he found himself in front of a hallway with hundreds upon hundreds of room in each side.

No joke, that hallway was so long he couldn't even see the end.

[This doesn't make sense, the facility wasn't that big from the outside.]

"I know."

Leon after walking for a good five minutes (praying for the poor souls who get the rooms at the end), he found himself in front of a room with the number [629] on its door, and so he opened it by scanning the card in the card scanner.

~CREAK~

He opened the door, and it was a completely white room, like literally, with a comfortable looking bed, a desk, and another door which led to the toilet.

It was pretty small, but enough to live if it was only for a week.

[What now?]

"The training section, duh," Leon left his room and headed back to the lobby.

The [Training] section was the last one he needed to visit, and it was also the least crowded one of all, as people didn't want to go inside after fighting with their lives on the line and seeing all their friends die.

With no hesitation in his stance, Leon headed toward it, and he found himself inside yet another hallway.

There were actually some people here and there, but not that many, and they looked like the type of students that always sought more challenge.

At the end of the hallway of the [Training] section, there were two massive metal doors, opened.

And beyond them was a massive room, at least five times the size of a football stadium.

The walls were white as well, but also looked to be padded, as you could see small squares everywhere.

But the most interesting of all… were the hundreds of dummies placed within middle-sized areas.

Each square area was delimited by some kind of almost invisible blue barrier, which you couldn't traverse: the only way to enter was through the small opening at the front.

Leon could see that dozens of people were fighting those dummies, and that somehow, these humanoid looking figures made out of wood were actually pretty damn strong.

One of the dummies within one of the square shaped area punched an awakener, sending him flying toward the barrier and knocking him out.

Another tanked all the spear attacks of another awakener, then countered with a sudden slam to the face.

But basically, this truly was a training room of some sort, as you could use it to better enhance your abilities and movements.

"That's pretty cool," Leon mumbled, he could definitely use some training as his movements weren't that smooth to begin with as he wasn't used to fight.

But right as he took his first step inside the room…

~DING~

[You have received a SIDE-QUEST!]

[Quest: "Dummy Slayer"]

[Objective: Beat one of the Dummies.]

[Time: 7 days]

[Reward: 'Pass Card'.]

"Huh."