Something that Eric really liked about the world that he was currently in was the fact that it resembled Earth a lot in one particular aspect, people tended to mind their own business no matter how odd whatever they were observing was.

  When he first arrived in the alleys, no one paid him any attention, even though he was wearing some odd clothing. Though if he really thought about it, would he question someone walking with martial artist robes? Probably not. And this was true even before the integration.

  And now that he was being carried like simple luggage on another’s shoulder, the people paid him the same exact attention as they did before. In other words, they paid him, and the people he was with, no mind at all.

  Can’t really blame them, Eric began to ponder to himself. I would do the exact same thing as they are. Hell, this world is pretty cyberpunk, do they even value human bodies as much as we do? They can pretty much replace anything they want, and from what I saw, some are barely human.

  Not much time had passed since they left the area where Eric guessed that they fought their third and final test subject. There was also something that Eric had noticed, other than the fact that they were a team from before entering the tower and that they were siblings, it was how calm they were.

  I’m calm because, well, I just don’t care. I used to think I was just somebody that didn’t worry that much, but… well… I guess I now know the real reason behind why I am the way I am. Eric pondered, reminding himself of his true nature. But these guys, these guys are the real deal. I thought they would die like some nobodies but the way they act and move suggests something else entirely.

  Eric wasn’t just speaking from personal experience, of which he had plenty. His parents would host parties which all kinds of people would attend.

  Some were simply rich and boring, while others were more than they appeared. It was moments like these that made Eric think that he always, on some level, knew that he was different from everyone else.

  The difference between the money people and those that were paid was always obvious to me, no matter how much either of them tried to pretend otherwise. Eric mused. The rich never gave me that sense of danger that mom’s friends and coworkers did. And now that I can reframe those memories with the information that I have now, I can even see a bit beyond what I always did.

  With some effort, Eric was able to open one of his eyes. His body was coming back to him faster then he expected. The effort that he made to open one eye was mostly because he didn’t want to be caught.

  While he released some mental tension because of how careful he had to be with every returning sensation, his sight focused on the feet of the one who was carrying him.

  It’s the way they walk and stand. There is something about it that I can’t quite place. Like a readiness that never drops, allowing them to react faster than others. There’s also this sense of belonging anywhere that they always carry with them, even when they clearly don’t. It probably has something to do with confidence that they gained from doing their jobs.

  As Eric assessed his captors—Wait, are they captors? I was unconscious, so I’m not sure about the technicalities that apply because of that— he was able to map out the regions that they were passing through.

  At some point, noise that reminded him of the city became more and more prevalent. It was the unmistakable hustle and bustle of a busy city. A city that with its gray skies, made it difficult to guess the time of day.

  Regardless, Eric continued to map out where he passed through; Mental Focus having come back to him before any other skill. The loud city remained for a while, as it only now began to die down.

  A few more minutes passed and only the occasional passing vehicle was heard. Most of the noise that Eric picked up was now from quite a distance away, seeming like faint echoes when they reached him.

  “How much longer until we get to our destination,” the younger brother asked, fixing Eric’s body on his shoulder. “I’m beyond bored with carrying this guy any further. I have an idea, how about I drag him by the arm?”

  “No,” the older brother answered quickly. “It will just tire you more and you’ll complain more than you already are, and I don’t want to listen to more of your complaining.”

  “Than you carry him. That way I won’t have anything to complain about, huh?”

  “No,” the older brother said once more. “You’ll just find something else to complain about. Maybe the weather, the air quality. Knowing you, you’ll even complain about the fact that I’m pointing out how much you complain.”

  “Turn around and say that to my face!” the youngest exclaimed, rapidly heating up. “Come on, turn around, you son of—”

  “Enough,” Crisas said, his voice calm but carrying a clear command. “We’re already here.”

  Reminds me of Adrian whenever Jamie got too annoying and Luz couldn’t take it anymore, Eric said to himself as the experience rose to the surface. They really are siblings, huh?

  As he pondered the memory, a question arose within his mind, one that was less frequent as it had been previously, but that was still very much present.

  Do I care about them in the correct way or is it only in the way that I think I’m supposed to. Do I even care at all?

  “What’s a morgue got to do with our quest?” the youngest asked.

  “Always so impatient,” the oldest commented. While Eric couldn’t see, he imagined that the oldest shook his head as he spoke.

  “Don’t start,” Crisas warned. “We have to be prepared for anything. This world is odd. I also have no idea how a morgue relates to our current quest, but I do know that we’ve only made it this far because we’re together. So, lets not lose sight of our objective and carry on with caution.”

  “Fine,” the two brothers said, agreeing.

  A morgue? Eric asked himself as soon as he saw a lull in the conversation. How is a morgue related to the quest of this floor? He didn’t have to think too much before he thought about a possibility. Are all the test subjects coming from here? Then what about mother? Wait, is she using the morgue as a place to conduct her experiments.

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  “This world is strange,” the oldest commented, his words heavy. “I feel no reverence for their dead from this place. It instead reminds me of a simple workplace, maybe even a butchering shop.”

  Some rattling was heard but no words were exchanged. Whatever they did was conveyed without words and Eric had to imagine what had happened.

  Maybe a door? Sounded like metal. Considering that we aren’t entering or anything, it must be closed.

  “What reverence do the dead need?” the youngest said, a hint of anger in his tone. “What have they done for us? Make space?”

  “You should respect those that came before. They—”

  “They’re dead and we’re not. In a multiverse of infinite possibilities, they failed to grasp any of them. Forcing us to struggle for survival,” the youngest said, his words venomous. “They want my reverence? Then they should have done something that deserved it.”

  Hmm. Crisas didn’t say anything this time, I wonder if—I’m so fucking bored that I’m actually paying attention to their nonsense.

  It wasn’t only boredom that was slowly growing within Eric, there was also tension. His body was coming back to him with incredible speed, feeling better than ever, but he couldn’t do anything with that since he knew for a fact that the three brothers were way stronger than him.

  He wanted to stretch, take a deep breath, scratch his nose and rub his eyes, but those things seemed to be moving further and further away.

  Wait, if the morgue is where the test subjects are made, then wouldn’t it also be the most protected place? Or at least have other test subjects?

  New Quest!

  Quest: Mother.

  Objective: Cease the continues production of test subjects.

  Rewards: +10 Reward points.

  And there it is.

  “Did you both get the new quest?” Crisas asked.

  “Yes,” the two brothers said, almost in unison.

  “From the objective, I can tell that this will be more dangerous than any other floor we’ve been on,” Crisas said, his voice serious. “If all of our targets are made here, than there is a high likelihood that there are more of them inside.” He paused, Eric heard some light rattling. “If the heavens smile upon us, then they will not be at the same stage as the others, making them easier to deal with.”

  “And if the heavens don’t smile upon us?” the youngest asked.

  “Or if they wish to test us?” the oldest added.

  “Then just like we have done all of our lives… we prove our right to live by using our might,” Crisas answered with firm determination.

  “What do I do with this guy?” the youngest asked, moving his shoulder a bit.

  “We’ll first find a way inside and then you put him somewhere in there. Preferably somewhere where he can’t escape if he suddenly comes to and decides to run away or maybe even attack us if he sees us occupied,” Crisas said, considering the possibilities.

  “I doubt that he could do anything to us,” the youngest began, his tone arrogant and confident. “You saw how he ended up when he fought against the giant. We even saw him make his way toward it. He was so cautious that I’m certain that he was terrified to face him.” Eric could feel the youngest shaking his head. “I question both how he made it all the way here, surviving the previous floors and why a monarch would give him a treasure.”

  Hmm. Nope, no notes from me. Everything that this man is saying is one hundred percent in line with my own thoughts. Though it is kind of creepy that they were watching me since who knows when and they didn’t say or do anything, but it does make sense. They probably wanted to know what I was capable of and after seeing how much I sucked at fighting; they had no issue with coming forward… I really need a sensing skill, not mana but presences.

  “Hey,” the oldest called out and Eric felt the youngest quickly jerk their head.

  “What?” Crisas asked.

  “There’s an opening on this side. It’s completely destroyed,” the oldest added.

  With his attention piqued, Eric dismissed his thoughts and focused on the three siblings’ actions. They made their way to where the oldest had been and abruptly stopped.

  “Is that?” Crisas asked.

  “Looks like one of them, but it’s not reacting,” the oldest said.

  “That’s a good thing, isn’t it? But just in case we should—”

  The youngest’s words were cut off as a figure burst forward, aiming directly at him. He reacted quickly, letting Eric go and dodging to the side, a blade barely missing him.

  Crisas reacted just as quickly, if not more than the others and was about to stop the attack but he noticed that it wasn’t the only one, many more were coming their way.

  Quickly deciding that his brother could handle the attack that was heading his way, he retrieved his weapons from his own storage.

  As soon as the one that lunged for his brother passed by him, Crisas lunged forward and with wide arcing swings, he kept the other attackers at bay. Some ignored the danger of the swings and continued forward nonetheless, only to find themselves without a finger or two almost immediately, causing them to reconsider their actions and pause their advance.

  The oldest brother was not as lucky as his two siblings. When he saw that a figure was lunging forward, he too decided to leave his brother to deal with it as he heard something from within the building. Quickly turning his head to the source of the noise, he recognized what it was.

  It was the same weapon that the previous test subject had used in their fight, but unlike that one, this one fired almost immediately, piercing his leg.

  Even though his leg was pierced, the oldest powered through the pain. The only motivation he needed was the wellbeing of his brothers. With a light grunt, he steadied himself and prepared to dash forward, only to once more hear the same sound he had heard a moment before, but this time it wasn’t only one more.

  Three, four, seven, twelve. He quickly determined the amount of attacks that were coming his way and instead of rushing forward, he swiped the air in front of him and it seemed to solidify, shining as it was hit by the faint sunlight that made its way through the gray sky.

  As soon as his protection was ready, all the attacks that were aimed at him were unleashed. The attacks hit his invisible shield, but instead of bouncing off, the shield absorbed the attack, spread it and made the shield more visible.

  Every attack that followed only made the once invisible shield, shine in an ever brighter neon red.

  In an instant the three brothers were ready for combat; their initial roles decided and focus set. They were ready to deal with whatever came their way, prepared to rapidly adapt to whatever their situation demanded.

  But even with their attention focused almost entirely on both their enemies and each other, it faltered as they all noticed someone else move, someone that hadn’t moved for hours.

  The attack that had been aimed at the youngest was quickly dealt with by him, dodging to the side. The problem was that the youngest sibling had never been the target to begin with.

  ----------

  The test subjects whirred to life as they heard noise approaching the building. They quickly analyzed it, and determined that it was of no concern, at least not yet. As long as the sources of the noise didn’t actually enter the morgue’s legal property then nothing would happen, and the test subjects would return to their standby mode once the source of the noise retreated even further.

  But that was not what happened.

  The sources of the noise entered the morgue’s property, triggering a search of the morgue’s records. Quickly, the test subjects found an instance from seconds ago in which these same trespassers tried to force the main door open. They had only needed one reason to take action, but now they had two.

  When the trespassers became fully visible, one of the test subjects lunged toward the weakest of them all. It knew that smaller numbers were easier to manage.

  As it extended its arm, ready to strike, its target suddenly fell to the ground. But it didn’t matter since it could rapidly adjust its heading and swing downward. The sudden adjustment caused it to falter somewhat, but it didn’t care, it just needed to deal with its target.

  As the test subject swung down with all its might, it suddenly found a sword beginning to pierce its chest. Even though it was now damaged, it wasn’t enough for it to stop its strike. As it descended further and its sharp blade-like hand began to pierce the back of its target, it suddenly found another sword piercing its metallic head.