After less than a sed of a dizzy spell, Izabel was ba her room, fusion all but written on her face. It was clear that she still had more questions, however, Cordis had booted everyo without giving them a ce to speak.

  “Heh, they did mention that it’s a pre-recorded message after all. It’s likely that the spectacle repared beforehand, and they didn’t prepare enough for questions. Though, they did mention that you access Cordis anytime. I think we should re-enter Cordis. I’m pretty sure some others have a simir idea.”

  “Fair, that’s probably the most logical optiht now,” Izabel nodded.

  It took a few minutes of fiddling for Izabel to find the option to enter Cordis, and then, after the increasingly familiar sensation of weightlessness, she was back. However, unlike before, what greeted her was not the sight of ptforms, but the sight of an almost empty room, a small room that was only enough to fit three people at most. In the middle of the room, there was a blue orb pced on a pedestal, and then, behind it, a simple metallic door.

  “Huh? Where are we?”

  “Don’t worry, from what your senses are tellihe air is simir to the pce where we arrived before. I don’t know what the orb is for, but it’s likely that we’re in the same pce, just a different part of it,” Hunter said. “Also, a quick reminder, you talk to me in your mind. Everyone has a Mirror Avatar here, so it’s not a big deal, but be careful outside.”

  “Right, yeah, my bad. I’ll keep that in mind,” Izabel said.

  “Back to the matter at hand, your choice. Do you want to check outside, or do you want to examihat orb?”

  Izabel would be lying if she said that she wasn’t curious about the blue crystalline orb, but it seemed dormant for now, and if it was indeed dangerous, it looks like it will be riskier if they tamper with it without knowing what it was. As she approached the door, the metal pte slid to the side with little resistance, seamlessly blending into the wall to reveal the outside.

  They were in a circur room, or perhaps, surrounded by circur walls would be a more accurate description. There was nothing c the ceiling, only darkness filled with ks of glowing debris in various civing the illusion of decorative lights if one didn’t look too closely. In the middle of the circur room, Izabel saw metallic roots that led to a familiar tree-like structure plete with veins of glowing blue, its top obscured by the dark. Around the base of the tree, five rods could be seen. They looked ordinary and out of pce against the background.

  As Hunter had predicted, there were quite a few people in the virtual world, some chatting in groups, others seemingly deep in thought, likely versing with their own Mirror Avatars or just thinking, really.

  “Hey, Hunter!” A familiar voice called out, “That makes all three of us here.”

  Izabel looked at the source of the voice, and indeed, Pestilence – no, Valerie, was there, dragging a fused Cire behind her. sidering that Valerie didn’t call her by her real name, Izabel surmised that Valerie too must be aware of the potential danger of exposing her identity, or perhaps, her Mirror Avatar had warned her after what happened earlier. Either way, it was a good thing. With the ease of access to information, and how the systems could divulge a lot if left unchecked, she would rather not find out what happens if this whole jig is leaked.

  “Oh, hey, Pestilence.” Izabel replied. “You’re here too, Bar.”

  “Hm, maybe we go with Len? It’s short, and sounds less ominous…” Valerie turo look at her partner, “Why did you choose this name, anyway? Rather than some kind of evil overlord from one of those eai experiences, you look more like you just crawled out of bed, but in a fahan usual nightgown or something”

  The Mirror Avatar only answered with a nont shrug, his mouth moving in a reply that only Valerie could hear.

  “Anyway, uh, right, we’re all here. Should we go look for that Cordis?” Izabel asked.

  “I arrived first and took the ce to survey the pce. Though there are many rooms, they be roughly split into three categories. Ohis circur pce, let’s call it the hub. Sed, at the base of that tree, there’s a door leading to a room, where you look at the physical version of the board mentioned during the meeting. Third, the room I and Bar arrived in, ay room with a blue orb,” Valerie expined. “There is no way to tact that Cordis at all, but there’s… it’ll be faster if you check the board option with your app.”

  Izabel did as Valerie said, and a new mission was listed.

  [Mission 1: Five Spires Hunt – Se E]

  [There are domes beyond this one, which I refer to as number 15. It is likely that you have heard of the existence of other domes, but due to the nature of the domes, travel iween is impossible, justified by the system as ‘all domes are equal, and thus there is no need for travel, and eae has a limited capacity’ or something simir, and some even dismiss people who ask about the domes as believing impossible make-believe stories. To my knowledge, the domes’ structural iy is supported by five spires – and in order tress, we o alter the spires’ nature so that it no longer blocks rge-scale unication attempts between domes. As far as I know, travel would require altering the spires’ nature in such a way that it’s impossible not to notice, so this will have to do for now.

  Holy, even now, unicatioween domes are possible, but doing that to everyone would require resources that are impossible to procure in a timely manner every time.

  I vouch for the safety of the alteration tools and your safety after the alteration; however, I apologize in advahat obfusg your presence from the Primeras while the alteration is is impossible.

  This is a necessary step, and though you won’t be in mortal danger if the Primeras discover you, I assume that you wouldn’t want to find out the sequences. Good luck, and take care.

  Attached with this letter is a marked map of the area your team are assigo search.

  Regards, Cordis]

  Izabel opehe map and saw the picture of a massive piece of nd. On top, it was belled [Dome Number: 15]. The bottht se of the nd was highlighted, and the words ‘Se E’ were written in the middle of it. When she focused on the se, a line of text appeared.

  [Se E is an anomaly. With our current situation, it is impossible to find any more clues other than the general location. Teams assigo Se E are suggested to search the dome for any anomalies and cooperate with the assigned information-oriented Mirror Avatars]

  Izabel sighed. Even Cire, who rarely spoke, looked a little exasperated.

  “Well, it looks like we got our work cut out for us,” Izabel said. “This is supposed to be the first task, dammit!”

  “As they say iertai systems, nothiured, nothing gained.” Valerie said, glee shining in her eyes, while Pestileched with a sort of i, “I, for one, feel like we’re one of those heroes, wielding special power, and—”

  “Those are usually reserved for younger inhabitants, you know,” Cire said. o her, the silhouette of Bar was ughing, the witch’s expression so sihat Izabel could almost hear her voice. “It gets b, because in the end, you always rewind to a previous point and try and try again until you win… Well, more like, as long as the system allows you to access that stuff. Sure, the system is pretty le when it es to things that affect Happiness coeffits. I don’t think we have such a thing in here, though.”

  “We have Miss Serious Business over here,” Valerie took the words in stride. “You’re right, to be fair, but also, no harm in having fun over our current situation. Besides, you, and all of us by extension, noowers simir to those things we see in, from your words, childish eai.”

  “Ooookay, back to the main here…” Izabel said, “if we’re going to do this mission, we do have to find out who are being assigo the same se- “

  “What the hell were you thinking?!”

  Izabel was interrupted by a loud shout. Following the dire of the distorted voice, she saw two people arguing with each other, oh such a palpable frustration it slipped through the default disguise. Though the system did not allow Izabel or the other two to ascertain their identity, the voice was familiar, and the disguise did not obscure their heights, allowing the three to see that the source of the voice was almost a head shorter thaher party, but other than that, it was almost impossible to make out any more crete features with these two, not helped by the fact that both parties looked like their forms were distorted, with less resembo well, actual people. Earlier, even with the featureless disguise, the bck shapes still resembled a person to a degree, but in this case, it’s a little less so.

  “As I’ve said, Adler, you sit this o. I’m sure you know as well as I do why you’re assigned in the sole 4-person team in the Se E search, right?” The other person replied. Even through the filter, there was a tinge of dession ione.

  “Do you think anyone would trust you, Eye?” Adler fired back. “sidering how I hear your dession sihe beginning of this business even through the distortion filter, the way you hide all your cards close to your chest, I wouldn’t trust you with a stick if I could help it. Even though I ’t fight, we trade information in exge for cooperation. I bet my st system eaiime that yoing to be a pain in the ass when it’s the least ve for us, you damn snake.”

  “Talking about trust is free. That is why we have exges and tracts, kid,” Eye replied, their toill as easygoing as before. “I have nothing to lose. If push es to shove, I fight, but how about you without the prote of the other three members?”

  Not far from the twuing people, five people were watg, two leaning against the wall while the others were in various states of exasperation.

  “Adler, I think that is enough. Let the other teams choose.” One of the people leaning against the wall ented. o them, there was a silhouette of something that could be described as a humahe shape of their head indicated otherwise, resembling a creature with a long muzzle. Even with most of their features cealed, there was a dignified air to them.

  “But—”

  “Adler, you’re smart, you know Baskerville is right,” another voice chimed in with a calm tone. “Save your energy for something else that matters.”’

  “Are we done here, Eye? Let’s get a move on,” a gruff voice said. Even though they were cealed behind the disguise, the way they tapped their feet showed their impatience.

  Within those short few seds, Eye had stopped paying attention to Adler. Instead, they walked towards Izabel. With a quick flick of their wrist, they produced a small, bck card between their index and middle fingers. Their movements were full of flourish, every siail calcuted with the precision of a perfer to satisfy their audienbsp;

  “Here you go,” Eye slipped the card between Valerie’s fingers. “Let’s be off now, you two. Herald, where did you say you spotted that thing again?”

  Upoer’s touch, the card brighteurning white. In the middle of the card, there was simple, cursive writing.

  [Eye]

  [Pay the right price, and any information be yours.]

  Below the text, there was a symbol that resembled a runic eye. When it caught the light in the corregle, it appeared as if it glowed in a beautiful, pale pink.

  “Mirror Device Card, huh?” Valerie ented. “Iing. Haven’t seen one of those in a while.”

  “Aren’t they rendered obsolete some time ago? We don’t need Mirror Device IDs to find people anymore. They just meet and tap each other’s device to add each other,” Cire said.

  “It was only a few years ago,” Valerie said. “At first, an MD card was a more ve alternative to, well, putting in a 10-digit number ID. I still miss those sometimes; I remember trying to make the prettiest card. At least, until one of those Primeras came along and said something against it.”

  “I was in the med facility at that time. I remember that annou, and how the cards I got were taken to be disposed of. It’s now illegal to own one. What a waste.” Cire replied.

  “ I see?” Izabel asked.

  “Sure.”

  When Valerie hahe card to Izabel, the first thing she noticed was the odd texture. As far as she knew, MD cards, likely made in the same way as any other thing made by the Primeras, should be smooth and free of blemishes. She remembered reading oime that everything from the Primeras were built on a molecur level, allowing for a perfect result without any fws, unless it was inteo.

  Perhaps this too was the work of Cordis? After all, sihe decration that the MD cards disiivized social es, the system became uo create new cards, and the app required to ize one urged out of the system.

  Izabel decided to use the card, tapping it to the devi her wrist.

  Then, nothing.

  She turo look at the dire Eye went; however, the enigmatiformant was gone along with two other people, presumably part of their team.

  “… and they’re gone. Dammit.”

  “Let me try,” Valerie said, and got the same result, and Cire did as well.

  “Nothing on my end as well,” Cire ented. “I’ll keep it and ask them ter. We’re bound to run into them sooner or ter.”

  “Well, putting that bit aside… let’s see what Adler has to say, shall we?”