Spring of 346, A.D.

  Kai looked through the shimmering field that blocked sound between sectors. The girl on the other side had golden curls that shone so brightly in the moonlight that it almost made Kai wonder if the girl’s hair was reflecting the moon or the other way around. She had intelligent eyes, and her lips were pursed in what could be the beginning of a mocking smile.

  “Cassie, this is my best friend Kai.”

  Kai’s jaw dropped as he saw his friend make a series of complex signs as he spoke. Across the wall, the girl performed a similar sequence of gestures.

  “Kai, she says she’s happy to meet you.”

  “T-thanks.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll interpret for you.” Even though Alex addressed Kai, his eyes never left Cassie. “She asks if this is your first time at the Wall.”

  “Yes. It is.”

  “She asks if you think the Wall is sonic, gravitational, or electromagnetic?”

  Kai frowned at the question but played along. “What does she think?”

  “She thinks it’s sonic.”

  Alex didn’t need to look at Cassie to know her opinion. They had chatted about this before.

  “Me too.”

  “She says you are as smart as you look.”

  Kai stared at Alex, then at Cassie, and then again at Alex. “Alex, she can’t hear me, right?”

  Alex made a universal ‘hold on a second’ gesture that even Kai understood and faced his friend. “No, she can’t.”

  “This is awkward.”

  “Don’t worry about it! You just have to say what you’re thinking, and I’ll sign it. I’ve gotten pretty good at it. You’ll get used to it quickly.”

  “No. I’m talking about this.” He made a gesture to include all of the area. “This... surprise. How long have you been coming here?”

  “A year.”

  “A year?! Does anyone know?”

  Alex scratched his head.

  “I’ll take that as a no.”

  “Please, Kai, promise me you won’t tell anyone. If the others find out, they will nag me to the end of days. Please don’t tell. Please. Please.”

  “Alex, look, I-I...”

  “Have I ever told my sister any of the stuff you confided in me?”

  Kai gulped. “That’s low.”

  “I know. But this is important to me. Please?”

  “Fine.”

  Alex grabbed him into a bear hug. “Oh, thanks, bro. I knew you’d have my back. Thank you.”

  Alex started waving his arms to get Cassie’s attention.

  “I’ll be over there. You talk to your friend,” Kai said.

  “Don’t you want to hang out with us?”

  “It’s fine.”

  As Kai walked away, he could hear the laughter of his friend. This was bad. This was really, really bad.

  *

  353rd Daisy Trials, Round of 64.

  Kai had been lying on the ground for the last three hours. After a woodland, a quarry, and a desert, he wondered where Daisy would send him and the other trial runners next. It was time to get up.

  He did the math. It’d be around 4 or 5 a.m., wherever Daisy dropped them next. Still dark.

  He opened his inventory one more time to check the cards he had left. Last round, he’d burned through so many. Hopefully, the ones that remained would have some synergy with whatever the next stage had in store.

  I just hope my opponent had to burn through his collection to get this far, too.

  The scoreboard showed 55 points.

  The seconds ticked down. Then, in a blink, Kai was transported to the next snapping arena.

  The first thing he noticed was the dark.

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  Above him, only slivers of night sky peeked through. He wasn’t outside—that much was clear from the beams of moonlight filtering through high windows and gaping holes in the ceiling, and the distant flicker of a dying overhead lamp. This was a building. Abandoned.

  “Inventory.”

  He grabbed his gaslamp and swept it across the room.

  Rusty beams braced crumbling walls and a ceiling pockmarked with holes. Shattered windows lined the upper levels, their jagged edges like teeth gnashing at the moonlight that dared to creep in.

  The floor was a cluttered mess. Dusty beams, splinters from broken crates, and rusted scrap lay scattered in loose heaps. What he’d thought were skylights turned out to be holes in a sagging roof.

  “It’s a factory,” he whispered.

  Kai looked around, hoping for a sign that [Hunter’s Eyes] had activated. Nothing.

  That confirmed his suspicion: participants were being dropped in at random. He’d hoped they all started in the same place to keep the competition fair, but that was just wishful thinking. Random spawn points meant some runners could land closer to the treasure trove, or even in better terrain. It would explain how his opponent had reached the center so fast in the quarry map.

  If that was the case, then rushing to the middle wasn’t the best strategy. Too inconsistent. Too reliant on luck.

  He checked the scoreboard again—52. His opponent was trailing by three points.

  A sigh escaped his lips. Relief, for a moment—until the weight came back, heavier.

  Pride comes before the fall. Don’t get cocky, Kai.

  If the other runner was pulling even with a worse spawn, it might mean they’d made the most of their deck. Worse, it could mean they’d picked up powerful upgrades. Dangerous ones.

  Instead of heading toward the center, Kai made his way to the factory’s wall, testing the arena’s limits. He didn’t get far before bumping into an invisible forcefield.

  He smiled. He’d been placed near the boundary. Maybe he wasn’t so unlucky after all.

  Walking with one hand tracing the edge, he circled closer to the factory wall. As he moved along the forcefield, the distance between the wall and the boundary began to shift.

  A circular arena inside a square structure?

  He turned his attention to the trash mounds scattered across the factory floor. He reached for a piece at random, but his fingers phased right through it. The piles were fixed—no way to move or isolate anything.

  That made snapping tricky. If something valuable was buried in there, it would be like the pine canopy all over again: too cluttered to frame cleanly. And if more than one element entered the shot, the system would reject the capture.

  Not worth the risk.

  He squinted at the distant piles under the intermittent light of the broken lamp. Trash was everywhere. Maybe there was a secret buried somewhere—a needle in a haystack—but without the ability to frame anything properly, it felt like a trap. A time sink.

  Worse, the invisible boundary playing tricks on his perception. A circle inside a square—maybe not even centered. For all he knew, Daisy had tucked something valuable along the far edges, just like in the quarry map.

  For now, he’d run a full loop around the arena. Let the other guy rush the middle and snap wildly. Kai would take the long route. Keep his head cool. Hunt for something worth the effort.

  He took off running past pile after pile, rusty beam after rusty beam. This space was so massive that he hadn’t left it even after running for nearly a minute. Suddenly, he went blind.

  Your opponent has used a flash bomb. You can’t see for 30 seconds.

  Tsk. So annoying.

  Another trial runner invested in foul play. Although Kai couldn’t see the arena around him, the scoreboard and the map at the edges of his field of vision were still there.

  The bright side was that this debuff didn’t hinder his movement. Although he couldn’t see, he could still do something while debuffed. His map was still being completed just because Kai was passing through. He kept going. He would be OK if he kept his hand on the invisible wall as he ran.

  His opponent was probably trying to keep him away from the treasure trove in the middle. After 30 seconds, he regained his sight. He hadn’t covered much distance in half a minute but had gone through the wall at some point and was in another massive hall. Before proceeding any further, he was again hit with an attack.

  Your opponent has used a stun bomb. You can’t move for 30 seconds.

  Again, with a stun.

  Being stunned was certainly more troublesome than being blind. He could do nothing while stunned except look around and think. He checked the scoreboard. Both scores remained the same. That meant his opponent hadn’t yet found this arena’s treasure trove.

  What an unusual round. Three minutes in and none of us has scored any points.

  Kai tried making the most of the time he was paralyzed. He took the new space in. The previous one had beams of iron and mounds of scrap. Had it been the ruins of a cargo bay? Here, there were no iron beams. That hinted that there hadn’t been heavy machinery here. Instead, Kai saw more vestiges of rotten wooden boards and half-destroyed crates and pallets. Along the concrete pillars were the skeletons of metal frames. It almost looked like there had been racks with boxes here. Was this a warehouse? The fact that this room was situated near the cargo bay only added to his suspicion.

  After examining this space, he turned his attention to the map. Here, the invisible boundary of the arena was quite far from the wall of the building. He only had access to half of the warehouse. He squinted, trying to find anything valuable on the other side of the barrier, but the lighting was poor, and whatever trash was there was too far for him to make out. If only he had binoculars. Soon, the grasp on him was released, and he was again able to move. He resumed his run.

  Just as he was about to pass through the wall and leave the warehouse, something flickered in the corner of his eye—a pop of color, briefly lit by the erratic flicker of a faulty lamp. Kai froze and turned toward it. A few seconds later, the lamp pulsed again, giving him a better glimpse.

  It was an old crate—or half of one. Compared to the surrounding wreckage, it was in decent shape. The box was splintered and aged, but a weathered question mark painted on its side still held a hint of shine. Kai’s pulse quickened. He recognized that mark. He adjusted his angle, framing the box as if it were whole.

  Capture successful!

  Tries left: 19 of 20

  Mystery Box ?? (Rare)

  The [Mystery Box] has been opened. You’ve unlocked [Dimensional Gloves]!

  A [Mystery Box] card. If it weren’t for the quarry arena and his past encounter with this card, he would’ve ignored the broken crate entirely. Instead, he’d just scored a new upgrade. Even better—the [Mystery Box] had instantly converted into a bonus reward.

  He looked down. No gloves on his hands.

  “Inventory.”

  Sure enough, the gloves were there. He pulled them out, holding one between his teeth while slipping on the other. They were dark, soft, and comfortable. Once both were on, faint green circles lit up across the backs of his hands.

  Kai waited.

  Nothing happened.

  He frowned, flipped his hands under the lamplight, then shrugged. Maybe it wasn’t meant for the snap arena.

  Could be a crafting upgrade instead.

  Either way, he’d figure it out.

  Time to move on. He retraced his steps to the edge of the arena and approached the wall leading into the next room. As his body passed through, all his momentum suddenly snapped to a halt.

  If this had been real, he would’ve shattered a few bones.

  “What in the world?” he muttered. It didn’t hurt, but the sudden stop was jarring.

  He stepped back and looked down at his gloves, then back at the wall.

  “Could it be?”

  [Curiosity ??] + [Future ??]

  ?? | HP: 2 → 2

  ?? | HP: 1 → 0

  Crafting successful! You’ve crafted [Early Access ????].

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