Jenna considered the message carefully. “What do you mean, ‘would I like to meet them’? Do I get a choice in the matter?”

  “Is it in my best interest to meet others?”

  “What data are you missing?”

  “Is it a requirement to meet others in order to delve the rift?”

  “Then I would like to meet others.” Even as she spoke, Jenna realized that she needed to clarify something, “wait, does this space still remain private for me?” If it didn’t, she was going to need to sell all of the Hardened Glass now.

  “I would like my space to be private,” she said, before realizing that she hadn’t asked if she was allowed to change the designation later or even what the designations meant.

  “When does the rift open?”

  Jenna hadn’t even considered that. She didn’t have to delve alone. She could find people to delve with, or potentially even find the friends she had from school.

  As she considered it more, though, she seemed felt keen about the prospect. All of the training that she had done up to that point was focused on a single person in melee with goblins. While having a teammate might be nice to reduce how much of the combat she needed to do herself, it also meant that she would be sharing the rewards.

  “I just realize that I never asked,” she said, “how does delving a rift increase my Magic capacity, and is it still a good choice for me to delve a rift?”

  “What about whether or not it remains a good choice for me to delve a rift.”

  Jenna wasn’t sure how to feel about the fact that the Pyramid told her why her question was imprecise. Rather than dwell on that, though, she considered the Pyramid’s framing. It seemed reasonable enough, as it tended to, “guess accepted.”

  “Should I delve alone or with a group?” Even though she felt like the answer was alone, Jenna still wanted to make sure that she wasn’t going to be making a mistake by going into the rift alone.

  That was an annoyingly vague answer. Still, it supported what she wanted to do, so Jenna supposed that it was clear enough. She stepped through the door that would lead her to others.

  Immediately, Jenna was overwhelmed by the number of other people that she saw. She knew intellectually that more or less every twenty year old in the world chose to climb the Pyramid. But, as she was becoming more and more aware, knowing and understanding were two very different experiences.

  She wasn’t sure what the cultural norms were here. Was it uncouth to talk to the Pyramid in front of others?

  “Is there an etiquette guide or anything?”

  That wasn’t helpful.

  While Jenna stood, half panicking at the number of people in front of her, she didn’t notice someone come up to talk. Thankfully, the Pyramid hadn’t tried ambushing her with anything yet. It meant that her instinctual reaction to a surprise was still jumping back, rather than swinging.

  “Are you as nervous as you look?” Jenna realized that the question was directed at her. She stared at the person who had decided to talk to her.

  “I’m sorry, what did you say?” she asked.

  “That came off wrong,” the small woman in front of her grinned sheepishly, “my name is Rita,” she said, holding out a hand.

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  “Jenna,” she replied instinctively, holding out a hand.

  “What Schools are you learning?” Rita asked.

  “I’m focusing solely on Enchanting,” she replied, unsure why this stranger had chosen to approach her. The other woman seemed to be waiting for something, and Jenna considered whether or not to engage in continuing the conversation. After a moment of thought, she realized that the downsides to continuing the conversation were minimal, and the downsides to not continuing the conversation could be massive.

  She wouldn’t want to develop a reputation as mean among the people that she would be spending the next decade with, after all.

  “What about you?” she asked.

  Rita chuckled, “sorry, I’m just so glad that I’m not the only one who is having to relearn how to talk to other humans after the past three weeks.” Seeing Jenna smile, she continued, “I’m focusing on Illusions,” she continued, “though depending on what Spells I get access to, I might end up branching into something else as well.”

  The two of them chatted for a little longer, conversation stilted on both sides. When Rita left, Jenna realized that she had already forgotten what the woman looked like. “Is there a way that you can project name tags above people I have met already so that I don’t forget names or people?”

  That was an unfamiliar option. “What would the Mandatory Project be?” she asked. She would almost certainly say yes, but it felt important to not agree to something without knowing the terms.

  “Is there a cost in points right now?”

  “Then I agree,” Jenna said, “bargain accepted.”

  Jenna realized that she might have made a mistake. “Did I just make my climb more difficult?”

  “Query accepted.”

  With the new Enchantment activated, Jenna could see Rita moving around the crowd of people. She realized that it was nearly time to eat her meal. The stress of meeting new people had distracted her from how much time was passing.

  Jenna figured that it was probably a good idea to try and get to know Rita better, if only because she was the only person she’d met in the Pyramid so far. With as many people as it had hosted, she didn’t think the odds were good that she would run into anyone that she knew from before. More than that, though, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to.

  They had all been content to fail at climbing the Pyramid. Sure, some of them claimed to be ambitious, wanting to reach for the Eighth floor, but that was it.

  “Can you point out others who want to climb high?” she muttered under her breath, “also, is there a way for me to ask you questions without talking?”

  “Guess one accepted,” Jenna replied, “I’ll need to think more about what I’m actually trying to ask with the second.”

  “Yes,” Jenna replied. There was a flash of light as the Enchantment she had to see names changed somehow. To her surprise, it seemed like nothing was different after the light faded. As she scanned through the crowd, they all looked the same. “Is no one here projected to reach the Eighth Floor?” she asked, shocked.

  “Everyone here looks the same. No one is glowing or anything.”

  Jenna paused at that question. What else could it mean. Understanding slowly bloomed, and she asked, “is everyone here expected to reach their Eighth Year?”

  “Guess accepted.”

  Jenna considered that. If she had known that her performance in the first three weeks would determine her cohort, she would have tried harder to improve the Pyramid’s estimation of how high she could climb. As she thought for a moment longer, though, she realized that there was nothing she would have done differently. After all, her goal was to climb the Pyramid, which it also knew. If it didn’t believe that she could yet, that just meant that she needed to continue to push herself harder.

  Still, that did raise some disturbing implications, “what happens if your projection changes?”

  That was good at least. She wasn’t going to be associating with people who would drag her down. If she managed to push further or if they fell off, the rift would reveal it.

  Jenna had been moving as she asked the Pyramid questions, and she had nearly made it to where Rita was sitting. The woman turned around as Jenna passed the last group between them, and she smiled. “How did you find me?” she asked.

  Jenna’s Status: