Second Floor (3)

Lumen had a lot of questions on his mind.

Is he actually an Irregular? Supposably, the other Irregular had opened the door to the Tower by themselves. He didn't since he was sent here by Loki.

Was it a misconception and the other Irregulars were sent by other Axis as well?

Where do the other Irregulars come from? Are they also from Earth, or are they from someplace else?

The boy Baam should be an Irregular, and he is searching for a girl. Is she also an Irregular, or is she the Axis that sent him here?

So many questions, yet so little answers.

"What are you thinking about?" A voice broke him out of his thoughts.

Fai was looking curiously at Lumen while Tiana was watching him in disgust. It seemed that the two of them had passed the Shinsoo veil while he was lost in thought.

Lumen didn't answer her, and breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that he wouldn't fail the test because of them. He would prefer if he could climb the Tower on his own, but he was stuck with the girls for the time being.

Lumen had a lot of questions for Baam but now was not the time. He would ask the boy later when the two of them are alone with no prying eyes around them.

More and more, Regulars passed the veil, and in a matter of minutes, the pre-Test finished.

"Those of you who passed the Test, make a line! The next Test will be on a first come first served basis!" Lero-Ro made an announcement and left afterward.

Lumen and the girls got a position around the middle of the line.

When all the teams lined up, a blonde woman walked in. She had a headset on her head and was wearing black pants and a black and yellow shirt. Following behind her was a floating creature with a black and yellow shirt.

"Hi! I'm the Test Guide, Yellowy." Cheerfully she introduced herself.

"The Test will be conducted one team after another. The remaining teams, please wait and follow the instructions of the Guide Robot." After her instructions, the first team entered another room.

Since there were at least 20 teams before them, Lumen decided to play around with the Pocket that he received. The device allowed him to freely communicate with the other races, so he wondered what else it could do.

"Fascinating!" Lumen exclaimed after 30 minutes of playing with the small thing.

It could act as a phone by storing contacts, calling someone or sending them a message. It also had a clock and a timer as well.

It had something like a bank account linked to it with a points-based currency. Lumen currently had 0.

It also had an inventory system with 2 cubic meters of space. If Lumen knew about it earlier, he would have stored a few of the weapons he got from the previous Test.

All in all, the Pocket seemed like an incredible, and he wondered who created it.

The line had shortened quite a bit, and a lot of teams had already entered the room. Despite that, not a single one exited afterward.

From time to time, you could even hear screams coming out of the room.

Lumen wasn't scared of the screams, but the girls were another story. They were terrified of the unknown that's awaiting them in the next room.

As it got closer and close to their turn, the girls got even more anxious.

"You two seem to be very worried." A girl with black hair and glasses spoke from behind them.

"Are you not? We don't know what's in there. For all, we know it could be a terrifying monster." Fai answered her.

"Maybe, but I have a clue that I could share with you." The girl with glasses said with a proud smile.

"And why should we trust you?" Tiana skeptically questioned.

"Well, I don't want to brag." The black-haired girl said and pushed her glasses up. "But I'm extremely intelligent."

"Stop acting cool and tell us the clue!" Fai demanded.

"Fine, fine. From what I've deduced, the next Test has to be passed in 5 minutes. Every time we hear a scream from that room, the team was in there for over 5 minutes." Glasses girl said.

"Really? We will see about that." Tiana was suspicious of the girl with glasses and didn't trust her. Since another team was just entering, she could see if her clue is correct.

7 minutes later, a scream was heard from the other room.

"See, I told you so." Glasses girl had a proud smile on her face.

"Hmmph." Tiana pouted in response.

Another team entered, and the girls set up another timer, to see how long they would take.

Lumen believed there is some credit to the clue given by glasses girl, but rather than focusing on the team that entered, he focused on the teams behind them.

He noticed a member of another team walk up to a different team, and start a conversation with them. He couldn't hear what they were talking about, but it looked suspicious.

4 minutes later, the team that entered passed and another one entered. The girls set up another timer while Lumen focused on observing the teams after them.

He found at least two people separating from their teams to go talk to another one. 'Interesting.' Something seemed wrong about this, but he wasn't sure what.

A few more teams entered and it was finally their turn.

"Next team please." Called out the yellow Robot.

"The Test starts when you open the door beyond this one. I will open the door for you." Yellowy told them with a smile.

Lumen and the girls entered a small hallway with a door at the end. After entering that door, they found themselves in another giant room.

The room had a dozen doors at the other end and a blonde woman was sitting in the middle with a bloodied chinse panel behind them. The woman had her hair tied in a bum and was wearing a blonde and yellow robe. With yellow eyes and red lipstick, she looked like a beauty.

'This Tower sure has a lot of beautiful women.' Lumen though, but then he heard a male voice coming for the 'women'. "Nice to meet you, Regulars."

"TRAP!?!" Lumen exclaimed the second he heard the male voice. Looking closer, the trap had blood on his lips and not lipstick.

"I'm sorry?" The blonde trap questioned.

"Nothing, please go on. I apologize for interrupting you." Lumen scratched the back of his head, embarrassed from his action. The two girls were looking curiously at him but didn't say anything.

"Hmm, whatever. My name is Hansung Yu, your next Test Administrator. Usually, I'm just a Test Supervisor on Evankhell's floor, but this time I will be directly in charge of this Test." Explained the trap.

"This time the Test is simple. Do you see all those doors behind me? Within 10 minutes, find the real door and open it."

"If you find the real door and open it, you will pass this test. However, if you don't find the door in 10 minutes and give up, you will fail. And if you open the wrong door within 10 minutes, you will die."

"How can you expect us to find the real door within 10 minutes if you haven't given us any hints?" Fai anxiously asked.

"We've given you all the hints. Now it's up to you! The test begins now!" The trap said cheerfully.

"Damn." Lumen silently cursed. He was prepared to deal with some kind of a beast, but not this.

The fact that the trap said 'We've given you all the hints' irked him. Did it mean that he viewed himself as both a female and a male? Or was it something else.

While he was thinking, the girls started arguing about what to do.

3 minutes passed and he wasn't sure which is the correct door.

'F*ck it, let's see how are you going to kill me if I select the wrong door.' Lumen cursed and walked to a random door. Since the girls were arguing, they didn't even notice him.

Lumen opened the door and prepared himself to enter his Logia form. However, nothing happened.

*Clap* *Clap* *Clap*

"Congratulations, you've passed the Test!" The trap stood up and told them with a smile.

"We did?" Both girls exclaimed and noticed Lumen had opened a door.

"How did you know which door to open?" Fai questioned.

"I didn't. I picked randomly." He confessed.

"Are you insane? If you had picked the wrong one, we would have died! Did you forget that we are a team?" Tiana was furious at his actions.

"We are a team because we were forced to be one. I wouldn't mind killing you now if I could get away with it and continue climbing the Tower alone." Tiana was stunned at his response.

Lumen didn't bother with them anymore and entered the door.

At the other end, was another giant room with all the other teams that passed the Test. Baam and his teammates, a blue-haired young-looking man carrying a brown bag and a very large alligator-like humanoid with grey skin, were also there.

Lumen found a free spot and sat there. The girls sat near him but kept their distance after his previous comment.

Time passed by and more teams entered the room. In about an hour, Lero-Ro also walked in.

"Did you have enough rest, Regulars?"

"I came here with very good news! I talked with the top supervisor before I came here, and he told us to give you a bonus game!"

"The bonus game has nothing to do with the Tests. It is up to each team to chose whether to play the game. There is no penalty if you don't participate."

"But the winner of this bonus game, get's to pass the final Test of this Floor. They get the right to go straight to the next Floor."

His words caused a commotion between the Regulars.

"So, what is the bonus game?" Someone questioned him.

"The game is called 'The Crown Game'. I will explain the details to you when we get to the game spot."

"Now all of you, prepare yourselves."

The second he said that Lumen blacked out for a moment. When he regained his vision he was in what appeared to be a cage. The cage only had a simple bench and a button inside.

"Now that you've all been transmitted to this spot, I will explain the Crown Game to you."

"The Crown Game is in short, a Crown stealing game." Lero-Ro picked up a golden crown. "The team that holds this crown at the last moment, wins the game."

"It looks simple, but the rules are a bit complicated. First is the time limit. The game consists of 5 rounds and each round is 10 minutes long. Only 5 teams can participate in each round, and the team that possesses the crown at the end of each round becomes the winning team to proceed to the next round."

"In the next round, 4 new teams and the winning team from the previous round will compete for the crown. The true winner will be the team that has the crown at the end of the 5th round."

"If you want to participate in the game, press the red button at the entrance of each of your rooms. Only 5 teams can participate and it will be done on a first-come-first-served basis. If several teams press the button simultaneously, the team that participated the most will get the chance."

"But there is a way to finish the game early. That is to sit on the throne wearing the crown before 5 minutes have passed. The moment someone sits on the throne, the round automatically ends, and the sitting team becomes the winner of the round."

"However, some movement will be restricted. If there was a winning team at the end of the previous round, that team may keep the crown. But at least one team member must stay seated on the throne, wearing the crown."

"If the crown wearer comes off the throne or loses the crown, that team will be eliminated from the Test. And if another team takes the crown and sits on the throne, that team wins the round."

"Well, although there are a lot of rules and limitations, the point is that the team with the crown at the end of the last round is the winner."

"Don't think too much, you just have to steal the crown."

"Oh, and one more thing. Another team from another Test spot will be participating. Also, check the details in the instructions book next to the buzzer."

"Now let's start the game!" He announced and placed the crown on the throne. Afterward, he disappeared from the arena.

A yellow, cube-like object floated at the top of the arena and the voice of Lero-Ro could be heard coming from it. "The crown game begins! I will count to 5. So the teams that want to participate must press the buzzer during the count!"