A Quick Exam and A Break Before...

In an office space that floated in an endless white and pale yellow void...

"...Good. And what were the Level 1 Defences again?"

"The 'Door Pillars' and 'Pipe Shanks'."

"Right. Well, the names aren't really 'right' but you're correct."

A short girl was taking an Exam about death traps from a man who had been stuck in a death loop for longer than he can guess.

The girl was sitting in an office chair that was moving back and forth outside of a cubicle where the man was sitting at.

"Level 3 has....?"

"Moving, Crumbling and Disappearing Walls, Floors and Ceiling."

Vaeril, the man who was simply slamming the keyboard with his fist while looking at the screen rested his chin on his free hand as he said 'Right' and moved on to the next question.

"And Level 2?"

The girl on the moving office chair rolled past the entrance of the cubicle before coming to a stop. Kumi said as her head peeked through the entrance of the cubicle before answering.

"Includes Cameras and 'Pound Walls'."

"The walls that close in on each other, right?"

Vaeril asked for confirmation as he stopped slamming the keyboard with his fist and looked in her direction.

"Well, you said they do it fast as if they were smashing against each other."

"Yes. So why 'Pound'?"

"Honestly, sounds funnier."

Kumi said with a quiet giggle.

"Yeah, yeah. Kumi, as funny as the death traps are they are the same amount, if not more deadly."

Vaeril sighed as he turned towards Kumi while leaning back in his chair, both hands supporting the back of his head.

"Oh, I believe you. I almost got done in from the 'Level 1' Traps here."

"Not surprising."

"Oi."

"We don't know if there are security levels beyond 3, there might be but we'll have to find out as we go."

Vaeril said, changing the topic with efficiency.

"Considering that each Level of Security has mostly the New Trap Features and barely any Old Traps aka Lower Level Traps, shouldn't there be at least one more level where all the traps go hog wild and appear at the same frequency?"

Kumi asked, half serious and half having fun, speaking as if they were simply in an Escape Room.

"Entirely possible. But it probably doesn't have that kind of level."

"Why not?"

Kumi asked as she raised an eyebrow.

"I don't want to. I mean, Gods. Level 2 is Hell to get through on its own. The Cameras there are spawns of shit-eating devils in all honesty. Just seeing them once per run is more than enough for me."

Kumi started wearing a smug expression before resting her head on her hand and speaking.

"You sure seem 'Unhappy' about Level 2, didn't know you can get so 'Angry'. And here I thought you were a 'Nice' man."

"Stop making fun of me like that, Kumi. I just really don't like that place, I was stuck on Level 2 for the longest time."

"Stop swearing over it. You aren't dead~."

"Oh hardy har har, Kumi. I might not be dead now but who knows."

Vaeril said as he reclined in his chair and waved his hands mockingly.

"Get over it and stop the baby rage, Parkour."

Kumi said as she spun in her chair while resting her chin on her arms, she was sitting on it backwards as she constantly looked in different places in the office space, training her ability to sense the changes in mana that had been occurring on the walls of the place this entire time.

"See, Kumi? This is what I am dealing with daily here. I might just end up dying of a broken spirit and a heart attack before any wall crushes my skull for the umpteenth time."

"Oh, how sad it is to be you, Parkour."

"Truly, I doubt you could ever fully understand."

Vaeril commented as he stretched his arms and legs.

"Uhuh. So when do we start anyway?"

Vaeril rested his legs on the desk as he hummed to himself.

"Considering your property grades and the training you've been doing, you should be able to keep up. Now all we need to do is actually start going on runs and get used to each other."

Kumi stopped spinning in her chair as she faced Vaeril and reclined her chair forward, laying on her stomach with her legs spread to keep balance as not to fall straight on her face.

"That's it? I had thought there would be more."

"Well-"

Vaeril stopped mid-sentence as he looked towards Kumi and saw how she was positioned on the chair.

"... Yeah, don't ever do that outside."

"What?"

"Your 'pose' is rather striking. I doubt you want any strange people to approach you."

"I'm not even a year old though? What strange people are you talking about?"

Kumi asked as she tilted her head to the side.

"Nevermind. This isn't something that I should be teaching you. Especially considering your age. You better ask your parents or teacher about stuff like that.

Anyway-"

"Like what?"

"... Yeah, there's nothing else to exactly learn here in this sealed office."

Vaeril changed the topic as he looked at the ceiling above him, his chair still reclined.

"Hey."

"So we better go on a run when we're good and rested, practice makes perfect here."

"Parky~ answer my question-"

As changing the subject didn't go according to plan, Vaeril tried another approach for Kumi to drop the question he was in no way qualified to answer.

"I doubt you want to experience death so if I see you in a tight spot or if you are in one then give me a shout and I'll figure something out.

The feeling of dying isn't something anyone would want a child to experience. The psychological trauma is terrible later in life."

"Yeah. Thanks. So what was I supposed to ask my teacher about? Strange people approaching me?"

Vaeril nodded to himself in silence, completely ignoring Kumi's questions and comments as he stood up and stretched.

"Yeah. That's about it. After resting for an hour or so should we go on the first run? I think we should. You agree? Great. That's the plan then."

He then left the cubicle and walked away without a single glance in her direction. He had enough class to not stare at a child striking a 'suggestive pose' without their own knowledge.

"?"

So, Kumi lay there for a moment in quiet confusion and contemplation.

Sitting upright and letting her chair return to its natural position, she jumped off and followed in Vaeril's steps.

Although Vaeril himself did notice it, he chose to say nothing.

...

A minute passed. Vaeril was at his own desk, drinking some coffee out of his mug.

Kumi sat on the wall of a nearby cubicle as she simply observed the office while training her mana sense to be the best it can.

They had some time to rest so that is what they were doing. Vaeril himself didn't essentially need to rest as in the past there were times when frustration has gotten the better of him and made him go on run after run, barely spending any time at the office and taking next to no breaks.

When Kumi had appeared he was in the middle of one of those 'frustration runs' and now that Kumi was here, he has taken quite a long break from it.

As the silence of the office continued for a while, Kumi let out a breath as she turned around and leaned back, hanging from the cubicle wall with her legs.

"Hey, Parkour."

She started a conversation.

"Yes, Kumi?"

Vaeril replied without looking at her, relaxing and sipping from the mug of coffee in his hands.

"You're Level 89. Right?"

"88 actually."

"Close enough. What Rank is that?"

"Ah, you haven't learned about how Level Ranks are categorized, have you?"

"Nope. And since you're here already and we have this free time, might as well use you."

"Don't talk as if I were a convenient book please."

Vaeril said with a small chuckle as he placed the empty mug on his desk.

Rubbing his chin, he turned towards Kumi.

Seeing how she hung from the cubicle wall, he decided not to comment on it.

"Well, as far as the public knows, there have been people recorded up to Immortal Rank, no person within the humanoid races has been identified with a higher Rank, and if they have then the public just doesn't know about it. Though that is from when I was last outside so it might have changed."

He said as he had a slightly apologetic expression on his face. As Kumi hadn't commented on anything, Vaeril continued.

"It's fine. I just don't know what Level someone has to be to reach the named ranks. Couldn't find any info on it in the System."

"That's fine. So, if the names haven't changed outside then the first Level Rank should be Mortal, from Level 1 to 20. Next should be High-Mortal, from Level 21 to 40, then Master from Level 41 to 90, Grandmaster from 91 to 150, High-Grandmaster from 151 to 300, Semi-Immortal from 301 to 450 and finally Immortal Rank that starts from Level 451 and should end somewhere between 600 and 700, my guess would be 600 since the last few have followed the same trend of 150 Levels."

"Huh. So you're in the Master Rank, right?"

"That I am."

"So if you reach Level 91 you'll get to Grandmaster Rank?"

"Yes and with that I'll get a Major Rank up in my properties."

"Quite the power up there."

"Indeed. Anything else?"

"What do you unlock when you reach the needed Rank? What does the System give?"

"Well, I don't want to ruin all your fun so I'll keep that lone fact to myself. Besides, I bet the 'feature' you unlock will be the one you'll be using the most."

"So like space storage or something?"

"No, we have bags for that. Some have Skills for that. What you unlock is something much more interesting."

"Now I'm even more interested. Feature... Feature. No idea, tell me anyway?"

"Nope, just reach the needed Level and Rank, Kumi. Surprises are what makes life fun."

"And depressing."

"Hey now. Don't think like that."

"Well, it's true. Oh, also, previous topic but if you can reach the next Rank then wouldn't leaving be much easier?"

"Correct to some extent."

"What do you mean 'some extent'?"

"Our Minds are in this space. Not our actual bodies. It recreates them, sure but it doesn't constantly update their condition. For example, you might get a broken leg or cut on your body from the real world but since our Minds are here, we won't know. And the machine doesn't update the information about our body."

"Right. So if we die?"

"Then we wouldn't know until our return."

"Well, that's depressing."

"This time, I agree with you. The thought is rather depressing."

Kumi had jumped off the cubicle wall and was now sitting on the floor.

"Should get back fast then, wouldn't want to go back to a skeleton or anything."

"True. Should we try it out then?"

"Sure. We have to start at some point, better now than later."

Kumi said as she stood up and stretched her legs and arms.

As Vaeril did the same, they focused on the hidden door behind the swirl of mana.