Ren looked at his Stone Tablet. A few things had changed.
[Name: Ren Gray]
[Title: None]
[Skills: Instinct Lv. 3, Primitive Stab Lv. 3, Awkward Lockpicking Lv. 1, Gotta Move! (Weak) Lv. 2, Sinner Lv. Max]
[Level of Growth: 0]
[Achievements: 3]
[IMPORTANT: Incompatible Legacy]
'Incompatible legacy? What the hell is that? There isn't even a description... Is it about what it said at the end of the dream...?'
Ren pondered it for a while as he waited quietly next to Lucia, who was visibly confused by his strange facial expressions and quiet muttering. Eventually, he gave up; he wouldn't get answers just by thinking about it anyway. Instead, he shifted his attention to another entry.
{Unique Attributes}:
[Sinner: You have directly disobeyed divinity. Anyone with ties to divinity will immediately know of your sin after looking you in the eyes.
Rarity: Unholy]
"What the fuck." Ren said out loud.
"Is something the matter...?" asked Lucia, looking at him with concern.
Ren blinked as he turned his head toward her.
"...Oh! I'm fine, sorry about that."
"Okay then..!" Lucia smiled.
Ren offered a faint smile back before looking away.
What did that mean? When could he have disobeyed divinity?! Was it the entity in his dreams, or something else entirely? And what did it mean for him going forward? Would he be considered an enemy to all religious people now?
Ren sighed. All of this was giving him a headache.
"I'm going to walk around for a bit. Wait for me here, okay?" Ren said to Lucia as he slowly stood up.
"Oh, sure. I'll stay near the entrance." Lucia answered with a smile.
Ren stared at her for a second before quietly walking away.
———
There were a lot of people, dressed in various styles. Some of the clothing Ren had never seen or heard of, others he was all too familiar with, and some were similar yet slightly off.
The people themselves looked unusual. Some had pupils in shapes that didn't seem natural, others had skin far too pale to be normal, and a few even possessed extra fingers or extra limbs. Most still looked relatively normal, but those with abnormalities clearly stood out.
'What the hell is this...? Is this because of some skills...?'
Ren theorized that these people had acquired those traits through skills. After all, that was the most logical explanation—if anything linked to this situation could be called logical.
Ren checked the timer again.
[71 : 19]
A bit over two hours had passed. What would happen once it reached zero? Would they be sent back to that desert again?
'No, probably not...'
Ren summoned his stone tablet once more.
[Brave the desert and find one of the occupied safe bases scattered across certain oases. Those who succeed will be granted the knowledge to continue.]
That was the mission they were given upon arriving at this place, and the reward was written right there, set in stone: Knowledge.
'Yeah... they'll probably give us information about this whole situation. They have to.'
Ren dismissed his tablet and kept walking.
"Hmm?"
A young, silver-haired man lay asleep, resting up for whatever was coming next. A short iron sword rested beside his unconscious body.
Ren stared at him. No one else seemed to pay the man any mind or even notice him, likely too consumed by their own problems.
"Alright then."
———
Ren returned to the entrance where Lucia was supposed to be waiting, a silver sword now held in his left hand.
"Cutie, over here!" Lucia shouted to get his attention, causing a few surrounding people to glare at her as if ready to tell her to shut up.
"Lucia—" Ren started, turning toward her.
She was standing next to a tall, imposing man in a soldier's uniform who was slinging a familiar blue-haired young man over his shoulder.
"Is... is that your uncle...?" Ren asked, keeping a few meters of distance.
"LET ME GO, YOU BRUTE!" the blue-haired man demanded.
"Yes, he found someone else to join our team!" she said as her uncle set the feminine young man down.
"Finally! Damn it, what's your pro—" Karma cut himself off after noticing Ren. "...It's you."
After Rita's death there was clearly some tension between Karma and Ren.
"Do you guys know each other?" Lucia asked, but neither answered her.
The silence was broken as Lucia's uncle spoke up.
"So, you're that fella my lil' Lulu recruited, huh? Welcome to the team, kiddo. Name's Bartholomew Valencia. Just call me Bart, though." he said with a wide, goofy smile.
Ren blinked.
"Oh, um... yes, nice to meet you too, Bart."
Lucia glanced at Ren before asking, "Um, cutie? Where did you get that sword?"
Karma blinked when Lucia called Ren "cutie" visibly confused by the nickname, while Ren looked at her and then down at the weapon.
"I found it." Ren said, offering no further details.
"You... found it?" Lucia repeated, as Karma shot Ren an annoyed glance.
She was about to question him further, but her uncle cut in.
"So, are y'all not starvin' or anythin'? It's getting awfully dark out here. We should eat somethin' and rest up!"
The group agreed, though Lucia had to spend some time convincing Karma to stay, as he seemed reluctant to team up with Ren again.
Eventually, Bart pulled military rations out of a large backpack packed with survival supplies. Lucia and her uncle talked throughout the meal; Ren kept up with the conversation and occasionally chimed in, but Karma stayed quiet the entire time, unlike his usual self.
Afterward, Bart pulled a bottle of liquor from his bag. Ren wasn't knowledgeable about alcohol, so he had no idea what it was. After only a few sips of the beverage, the man was already on the floor, crying his eyes out while lamenting his love life.
"Why did she divorce me, damn it!" he cried out, drawing awkward glances from nearby people.
"Uncle Bart, not this again!" Lucia shouted.
"But it's not my fault that it's small! I was born this way!"
Ren quickly looked away, and Karma did the same.
Lucia stuffed her uncle's mouth with her ration wrapper to shut him up. "I don't want to hear that!" she said, blushing to the tips of her ears.
He struggled for a moment before spitting the plastic out, immediately falling fast asleep on the ground right after.
"...We should probably go to sleep, too. It's bad for my skin if I don't get enough sleep anyway." Karma said, leaning against the wall and closing his eyes.
Eventually, Lucia calmed down, and after saying goodnight to Ren, she went to sleep as well.
Ren was now the only one awake. Uncomfortable sleeping around strangers, he decided to keep watch. He wasn't very tired anyway, it seemed he had slept for a long time during that dream, if it could even be called a dream.
The night passed without incident or at least none that Ren could see through the dense crowd.
The group spent the remainder of their time learning about one another and sharing information. There wasn't much to cover on recent events: Lucia had already told Ren what happened before she arrived, and Ren had been with Karma earlier. Ren and Karma eventually revealed that they had worked together previously, though they omitted the exact details of how Eric and Rita died.
Instead, they exchanged details about their past lives. As expected, Bart had been a soldier. Although neither Ren nor Karma recognized the country he had served, they didn't dwell on it. Lucia had been a famous model back home; Ren didn't think much of it, but Karma was visibly confused, having never seen or heard of her despite his extensive knowledge of fashion.
Karma himself was unemployed, though he didn't need a job—he was the heir to a wealthy family.
'Bastard...' Ren thought.
Eventually, the timer hit [00:00].
As it did, a bright light manifested in front of the counter, which vanished shortly after. Soon, the door behind them disappeared as well, obscuring the desert from view through the windows. A collective chill ran down the group's spine. If they had taken any longer, they would have been trapped out there. Some people likely were.
Ren looked back up after examining the spot where the door had been a moment prior. The light condensed into the shape of a featureless woman formed entirely of radiance. Beside her, the tall man in the white robe whom Ren and Karma had met upon arrival floated into the air.
"Hello, Survivors," the man said. "First of all, I must express my profound respect and compliments to all 5,179 Survivors who made it here alive, and to the three of you who obtained Unique attributes so early! Four, if we count the deceased. As promised, you will now be rewarded with knowledge.
You are currently in a place known as the Between-Worlds. It is plagued by the defiled, vile creatures of corruption, I am sure you all have already met some of them. Once an intelligent being enters the Between-Worlds, those above decide to test them. The individual is then gifted a soul slab containing information about themselves and their missions. If the individual achieves something great, they will be gifted an achievement. It is the responsibility of us, the apostles of those above, to reward those who have received achievements. The test consists of two sortings to get rid of the weak; you have completed the first one and now must participate in the second. This should be about all the information you need."
He smiled at the crowd.
"What the hell?!" a man in his fourties shouted. "How do we get back home?!"
A woman nearby joined in. "Y-yeah! We want to go home!"
A cacophony of complaints and pleas soon filled the room.
"Home, you say?" the tall man said, instantly silencing the room. He smiled in a way that made Ren tremble. "You will all be sent back to where you came from if you manage to complete the second sorting, I promise. Now, we will shortly start handing out everyone's rewards."
Some people complained that they couldn't go home right away, others felt relieved knowing they could return, and some doubted the tall man's words entirely.
Ren, of course, belonged to the last group. That man was not telling them everything.