-

  None of the survivors fully understood the message from The Admin at first.

  They had assumed the mission was merely a hunting trial—eliminate some designated threat and move on. But now, they were being told that the survival mission had been completed. Confused thoughts flooded their minds, but strangely, the answers came the moment they began to question it.

  Liebeld, hearing these cryptic responses, simply sat on the ground and smiled.

  Orvel exhaled slowly, his breath cold in the silence that followed. His voice was cautious but curious.

  “What happens now?”

  Liebeld looked up, still smiling, and replied calmly.

  “The trial is over. In ten minutes, we’ll all be transported.”

  “You’ll understand once The Admin gives out the rewards and the next set of information.”

  Conrad listened quietly and nodded. Unlike Liebeld, he didn’t sit. He remained standing, his muscles tight with alertness, waiting.

  Time passed quickly.

  Then it came—the unmistakable voice of The Admin, resonating within their minds once again.

  With those final words, Conrad and the others lost consciousness, their minds going blank in an instant.

  Conrad opened his eyes slowly. He blinked and instinctively shook his head, trying to push away the fog. He was no longer in the harsh wilderness of the trial zone.

  He found himself lying on a soft, pristine white bed—far too comfortable for anything he’d experienced recently. The room he was in shared the same sterile whiteness, but it wasn’t empty. Shelves, a desk, a mirror, and even a chair were neatly arranged around him. Everything had an otherworldly perfection to it, as though made for a being slightly above human.

  There was also a door—sealed, but not locked.

  Just then, a glowing panel blinked into existence in front of him.

  

  Before Conrad could fully process the words, another interface slid into view—this one felt more personal, like a status panel from a game.

  Conrad let out a slow, cold breath, eyes scanning the status screen.

  “I don’t understand everything yet, but at least I’m not bored.”

  “Ever since my first encounter with the 'Mystery', I’ve been calmer.”

  He smirked slightly, then continued aloud.

  “Compared to what I lived through on Earth... this? This is nothing.”

  Memories flickered—moments of pain, survival, and hard choices. He didn’t dwell long.

  “What is the use of Mystery Coins?” he asked.

  The Admin replied almost instantly.

  Conrad nodded slowly, piecing it together. Then he asked again.

  “How much of a difference does a single point make?”

  He began pacing the room, thinking aloud.

  “So... two vials now would double my intelligence or agility. That’s huge.”

  “Right now, intelligence might be the best investment.”

  “I’ll decide on the rest later—when I’ve seen more.”

  “How do I access the Mystery Market?”

  Conrad raised an eyebrow and chuckled.

  “So if that was Liebeld’s second trial, he’d already have access…”

  “I wonder what that market is like—what kind of people do business there?”

  His thoughts drifted, but not for long.

  A warning message blinked into view.

  Conrad didn’t hesitate. He returned to the bed and lay flat, arms by his sides. Whatever or whoever The Admin was, he had no reason to believe it would joke about safety.

  At first, it was only a soft vibration in his limbs, like a low hum. But soon, warmth flooded through his chest and up into his skull.

  His bones ached, tendons tightening, muscles expanding, neurons firing at speeds he couldn’t track.

  A web of light flared behind his closed eyelids—symbols, runes, concepts he couldn’t begin to understand yet—but they branded themselves into his subconscious all the same.

  Then came the pain.

  A searing agony that tore through his mind, like white fire trying to birth itself through a narrow crack.

  His back arched off the bed, fists clenched, teeth grinding together. He couldn’t even scream—the breath had left his lungs completely.

  His body was being reshaped not physically, but metaphysically. His conceptual self—the unseen framework of his soul—was unraveling and reforming all at once.

  His mind flickered, caught between dimensions.

  And then, darkness took him.