More Doors

After the little pretest was over, all the regulars that has passed were taken to a waiting area. The regulars that failed however were ruthlessly rejected and failed the floor of tests before the tests even began.

"All regulars line up! The next test will be conducted on a first come first serve basis!" A woman yelled dressed in a yellow costume with black stripes on it.

"I'm the test guide, Yellowy!" She said cheerfully. "For more instructions, please listen to the test guide robot." She pointed to the floating robot beside her.

Yellowy? Seriously? Winston lampooned in his heart.

Winston, Amon and Zarhan were standing in the line. They were somewhere in the 10 to 15 positions.

Winston looked around himself, seeing all the different regulars in the place.

In particular, his gaze kept drifting to the fragile looking boy that stood with the overpowered weapon in hand. He was accompanied by a blue haired boy and a crocodile.

"That's a member of the Khun family." Zarhan said from the side.

Khun family? Winston narrowed his eyes.

"The Khun family? One of the ten great families?!" Amon exclaimed, though only loud enough for it to be heard by his own teammates.

Way to go, Amon! Winston cheered in his heart.

"That's right. Khun family people are all known for having blue hair and dark blue eyes." Zarhan eyed the blue haired boy cautiously. "Supposedly, they're also quite talented in matters of Shinsu manipulation in the form of ice and lightning." Then, he shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know though. Just rumors I heard."

"Wow! There are such people climbing the tower." Amon widened his eyes in amazement before he adopted a serious expression. Then, he balled his hand into a fist and looked at it with a gaze of steel.

Winston looked at him but didn't say anything.

Instead, he focused on the blue haired boy.

Ten great families huh? Interesting...

Just then, a scream echoed in the air.

Aaaarrrghhhh!

"A scream?"

"Is the test so dangerous?"

"That sounds painful..."

A plethora of comments echoed in the quiet hall. The regulars seemed worried for the most part.

Winston narrowed his eyes and looked at the time on his pocket.

9:42, it read.

There's an imposed 10 minutes timer to the entire thing. If you can't complete the test within 10 minutes, the regulars will fail. However, it must not just be a completion task. If it was that, there would be no screams right up until the end of the timer, which would mean that the regulars failed to complete it. Instead, it would be more accurate to judge it as a objective task, in which a certain action needs to be completed from a group of actions.

Winston remembered the group that went inside previously.

If I remember correctly, the previous group completed the test in only a minute. Which might suggest that the right task that is to be performed is particularly easier than all the others. But that is all pure speculation...

Time elapsed. More teams went inside and screams flew out of the test room.

Some teams passed and some didn't. While it was happening, Winston noticed the same pattern.

It happened again...

Before long, it was their turn.

"The test will begin after you open the door beyond this one. I shall open this door for you." The woman said.

With that she opened the door.

As Zarhan pushed open the next door, they walked into a pitch black dark room.

There were 12 doors in total in both sides of the room. In the center, before what looked to be traditional japanese style shoji doors, a beautiful woman was seated with a tea cup in hand.

However...

"Welcome regulars. My name is Hansung Yu, your next test administrator." The voice of a man echoed in the room.

Winston looked at him in surprise.

He's a man?!

Hansung spoke.

"The test is quite simple. The 12 doors you see on the sides, you need to choose the right one out of all of them." He smiled.

"If you find the 'real door' and open it, you will pass the test. If you don't, you will die." He said tersly.

"What type of test is this?!" Zarhan yelled.

"Hmm? Is it not to your liking? Well, can't do anything about it. The test starts now!" He clapped his hands.

"Wait! At least give us some clues!" Zarhan yelled again.

"The clues have already been provided." Hansung replied.

Hearing his words, Winston's mind went into a brainstorm.

The clues have been provided?

He ignored the tantrum Zarhan was throwing and Amon who was freaking out.

The only clues I can figure out are the time limits and the scream. The test was not an objective task choosing, but simply a multiple choice question.

He looked above where a giant clock was erected.

Then, he looked at the timer on his pocket.

1:23

With that, he compared the timing of the clock with his pocket.

It's a 5 minute timer! Winston exclaimed in his mind.

Just then, Zarhan grabbed his collar.

"Oi! Do something!"

"Have I ever told you that between you and me, one of us is smarter than you?" Winston asked him quizzically.

"Huh?" Zarhan's expression turned confused. And then, it morphed into one of anger.

"What the hell did you say?! I'm not good at this shit! Solve it already!" He screamed.

Amon didn't say anything on the side, just looking around nervously, as if in deep thought.

Winston went and put his hand on his shoulder.

"Don't overthink it." He said.

"Huh? Mr. Winston?" He asked in puzzlement.

Winston smiled and nodded mysteriously, then, he walked to the center of the hall.

Hansung who was sitting from some distance to the center quietly sipped his tea.

Walking to the center, he grabbed Zarhan's spear from him and placed it's butt on the ground.

Just for confirmation. He smiled.

Then, closing his eyes, he began to chant.

The right door for the test.

The right door for the test.

The right door for the test.

The right door for the test...

Muttering it three times, he let go of the spear.

Then, the spear stood still without moving. 5 seconds passed and the spear didn't move.

"Did it not work?" Zarhan asked in confusion.

"It most certainly did." Replied Winston, throwing his spear back at him.

Then, walking to one of the doors, Winston placed his hand on it and pushed it open.

The timer on the pocket showed 3:28.

Then, all the doors became green and the sound of clapping was heard.

Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!

"Congratualtions! You passed the test!" Hansung said, smiling at them.

"Huh?"

"Huh?"

Both Zarhan and Amon said at the same time.

"You pass." Hansung said tersly.

Then, he scanned the figures of the three regulars.

"The goal of the test was simply to open a door within the first five minutes. Although the time provided was 10 minutes. Even you has exceeded the given time limit, each door which would otherwise lead to the outside would turn into doors of death." He closed his eyes and sipped from the tea cup.

"Let's go." Said Winston, walking right out of the door.

"Wait for us!" Amon said, running behind him.

Zarhan took one last look at Hansung Yu before also running along.

"How did you figure it out?" Amon asked, perching up behind him.

"Yeah. That spear trick didn't work." Zarhan spoke, surprisingly not shouting.

"It didn't matter which door I picked, it was simply a test of resolve and willfullness to act. As long as any door was picked within 5 minutes, we would have passed." Winston said.

"The administrator already said that. How did you reach that conclusion?" Zarhan inquired.

"It was simply a matter of elimination. The administrator said that all the clues were provided, that being the time limit, the screams and the clock at the top. Any other conclusion could never logically be confirmed from the amount of clues given." He finished.

"I deduced something similar but wasn't sure to act on it." Amon admitted from the side. Then he scratched the back of his head and smiled awkwardly.

"I got too nervous."

Winston narrowed his eyes slightly and chuckled.

"No worries. You'll eventually learn to get through any test you can come across." He said. Then, his slightly gazed at Zarhan who was walking beside him, his otherwise silly and flamboyant expression now turned still.

Both of them are somewhat logical thinkers. Well, one is smarter than the other. Winston nodded slightly, unbeknownst to his teammates.

Amon smiled at Winston's reassuring words and didn't say anything else. Soon, Zarhan also returned to his cheerful temperament.

"What a ridiculous test! Even a kid could solve it!" He declared.

Both Winston and Amon laughed a bit.

~~~

After the test was done for all the regulars, they were given a short rest, of about 30 minutes.

All the regulars were gathered in yet another hall. This one had strange contraptions that looked eerily similar to vending machines. Winston stood in front of one with Amon.

He quietly observed the variety of food and drinking items displayed on the machine.

"Do you have any points?" Winston whispered.

"No." Amon whispered back.

Is there a way to steal it? Winston looked around. Immediately, he could easily spot many of the things that could be stolen on all of the regulars' bodies, however, unfortunately for him, points were mostly a digital thing stored in their pockets.

Momentarily, he marvelled at the Marauder's sense of thievery and the dexterity of his hands that itched to try something.

However, he suppressed the urge... for now.

"What about Zarhan?"

"He said he comes from a hunter tribe. They don't use things like points because it doesn't have any use for them." Winston nodded reluctantly at the explanation. He looked at Zarhan who stood alone at one end of the hall, some distance from the vending machine they stood in front of.

Just then, Winston sensed movement to his side.

He turned and looked.

It was the same boy with the sword. The boy looked nervous as he observed the contents in the vending machine.

Does he have any points? Winston mused.

The boy tried to tap on the vending machines like Winston had just 3 minutes prior, before being told by Amon about the points system.

"Ah, you need points for that." Winston said, trying to talk to the boy.

The boy looked at him, his brown and innocent eyes reflecting the figure of a dark haired man that had hazel coloured eyes.

"Points?" He asked in puzzlement.

"It's a currency system in the tower. It is used universally to transactions." He replied. "I'm Winston by the way. This is Amon." He pointed to Amon behind him.

"Ah! Sorry! My name is 25th Bam! It's the day I was born!" Bam explained.

Bam, Huh? Since he doesn't know about the point system, does he also come from an isolated community? Winston wondered. Then, his gaze wandered slightly to the sword that was wrapped in bandages.

He hurriedly tore off his eyes lest the boy noticed them.

"Nice to meet you Bam."

"Nice to meet you." Amon said from behind him.

"Nice to meet you too! Mr. Winston! Mr. Amon!" Bam exclaimed with a pleased smile.

Winston looked at him with a smile.

Is he really so trusting or is it simply expression control? Winston wondered, not understanding the boy. His expression was too honest and trusting, appearing somewhat eerie in a place such as the floor of tests, where everyone could potentially be your enemy.

It must be deception. Winston concluded.

As they were talking, someone appeared beside them.

It was a normal-looking person with dimples on his cheeks and close-cropped hair. He wore a purple jumpsuit and appeared to he about 180 cm or 6 feet high.

~~~

A/N: Give me your stones.

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