The moment Rhode saw the glowing figure in front of him, he confirmed her true ident.i.ty. It was apparent that the only one who could s.h.i.+ne like a huge light bulb in a place like this was the Angel of Light, Catherine. And after making sure of her ident.i.ty, Rhode scanned Little Five beside him, as well as Catherine, who stood opposite her. At that moment, Catherine also noticed Rhode and Little Five. She came to a halt, sauntered toward them, and gave a solemn bow, before asking with a puzzled expression.
“Excuse me… What is this place?”
“I have no idea either.”
After seeing that Little Five had no intention of answering Catherine, Rhode quickly acted as the role of a communicator between them. He wasn’t exactly sure how this situation would turn out. As a matter of fact, he found that Little Five seemed rather unenthusiastic about Catherine, or rather, her att.i.tude toward Catherine was far from that between her and Rhode.
By all accounts, this was the first time Little Five met Rhode and Catherine. But toward Rhode, Little Five quickly let down her guard and chatted with him. Meanwhile, when Catherine stepped forth and raised a question, Rhode noticed that Little Five took one step back. Even though her expression didn’t change much, it was evident that she wasn’t willing to speak to Catherine. That was why he took over the responsibility and began conversing with Catherine instead.
Unaware if it were due to the fact that it was easier for mental projections to trust others, Catherine had no hesitation to Rhode’s plain reply and also gave her response soon after. According to this Catherine, she was the same as Little Five; she opened her eyes and found herself here. But unlike Little Five, Catherine didn’t encounter them until now. Other than that, she also didn’t meet anyone. Judging from that point, Catherine was rather more tragic than them. Perhaps it was for that reason that Catherine went up to them for a conversation.
After a talk, Catherine accepted Rhode’s invitation to join their party. In fact, be it Rhode, Little Five, or Catherine, none of them knew what they should do next. Even Rhode only knew vaguely that he had to handle the 12 personalities of the four holy sword card spirits at once. But as to how exactly he was supposed to do it, Karin didn’t instruct him.
And now, the problem also couldn’t seem to be solved by fighting. Otherwise, Karin could have given the mental projections a task such as defeating everyone they encountered before they could leave this world. This kind of setup was something that he commonly read in novels.
Meanwhile, Karin was so smart that it was impossible for her to not come up with such a simple idea. That was why the possibility of a civil war was absolutely possible. But apart from that, wandering around aimlessly… Didn’t seem to be a good solution either. Rhode believed that Karin must be waiting for some kind of opportunity. After all, she had made it quite clear earlier that this challenge was the biggest test for him and it definitely couldn’t be ended with just a few easy steps.
It wasn’t unreasonable for him to think so; they hadn’t met anyone else since meeting Catherine. He also noticed that Catherine and Little Five didn’t seem to talk to each other much. Although the trio had a friendly chat as they strolled, Rhode played his usual ‘traveler’ role and told them a few stories of his own, to which both of them listened very attentively to, and they seemed to have a good time.
But as a matter of fact, they weren’t because Rhode soon discovered that there was no peace between the two of them. Or rather, the problem was with Little Five. Catherine acted with goodwill and took the initiative to speak to Little Five. On the contrary, Little Five seemed to turn a deaf ear to her and responded in a couple of sentences at most. If Catherine were someone else, perhaps she would have stopped after hitting a brick wall. But Catherine stubbornly insisted on her own ideas and spoke non-stop to Little Five. Fortunately, Rhode switched the topic in time or Little Five might pick a fight with her.
Of course, Rhode was observing them in the process. Based on his first impressions of these holy sword card spirits, he thought that this Little Five and Catherine he encountered might not be the core personality because this Little Five didn’t seem to like chopping people up and also lacked enthusiasm for battle. The same also went for this Catherine. After just a few conversations, he found that she was simply too weak, where one could even say that she was a complete pacifist.
She didn’t want to rely on battle to solve everything and seemed rather hesitant in that regard. This was different from the Catherine that he met in the previous battle. The Angel of Light was very decisive and brave when fighting; thus, he deduced that the two personalities should only be subsidiary rather than the core personalities.
But even so, that was all to the results of his observations. The trio continued to wander aimlessly. Rhode initially considered letting Little Five lead the way to find Eleanor. In the end, they lost track of Eleanor after roaming the place and were left wondering where she had run off to. Despite that, the trio was rather patient. Even though they kept walking in circles, they weren’t anxious or impatient at all. After all, they were mental projections… And didn’t need to eat, drink, or sleep.
“Ooo…!”
As the trio roved, a sudden, deep and odd sound took them by surprise. They looked in the direction of the sound, and it was only then that Rhode discovered that the strange, ear-piercing sounds emitted from the speakers of a nearby tall building. After a moment, the sounds gradually died down. Immediately after, a voice very familiar to Rhode rang out.
“Greetings, contestants. I suppose you’ve found your respective teammates; the compet.i.tion can officially begin now.”
“Huh? What’s going on? What happened?”
Catherine seemed rather astonished by the unexpected voice. She looked around and stared with confusion and curiosity at the sounding speaker in front of her, unsure of how to handle the situation at hand. On the other side, Little Five curled her lips and displayed a look of disdain. But even so, she raised her head and focused her attention on the speaker ahead. As for Rhode, it was apparent that he had already prepared himself mentally. He guessed that Karin would definitely not let him roam the city until the end of time and without a goal. And now, this situation was certainly unsurprising to him.
“I suppose you are all wondering how you arrived here. Unfortunately, we cannot answer that question. And even if you ask any other questions, we wouldn’t have the authority to answer them… So we don’t need to waste time on that sort of thing. The only thing we have to explain here is what this compet.i.tion is about.”
Along with those words, Rhode noticed the bright, dazzling sky darkening, as if it became nighttime in the blink of an eye. Soon after, he discovered that at the top of a tower nearby, something was s.h.i.+ning vividly like the beacon light of lighthouses amongst the darkness, illuminating the city that turned dark and dusky due to nightfall.
Not only that, but also along with the descent of the dark curtain, a distinct atmosphere of danger began spreading in the city. This felt different from before, not because of the emptiness and darkness of this city, but due to something more substantial instead. According to Rhode’s sense, it felt like the same kind of tension that pervaded after some violent beast was released from its cage.
“The compet.i.tion is very simple. We’re sure you witnessed the bright lights located at the top of the tower right now. They are known as mental crystals. If you can gather all of them, you will be able to open the path to the Dream Summit. And after pa.s.sing the test of the Dream Summit, you will be able to leave and return to your respective worlds. Of course, you will also learn the reason why you were here.”
Karin’s speech was as calm, monotonous, and mechanical as ever. But as soon as Rhode heard her words, he puckered his brows. This was just like what he thought and now, he almost guessed what exactly was on Karin’s mind. As expected, the instant this thought popped up in his mind, the flat, emotionless voice like that of a computer sounding through the speaker switched up abruptly.
And this time, as if bl.u.s.tery cold winds metamorphosed into a fresh, rus.h.i.+ng stream, the voice turned soft and lively.
“Of course, since it’s a compet.i.tion, there have to be rules. There are a total of 12 mental crystals and only when each person gets at least three mental crystals will they be able to open the door to the Dream Summit. I’m optimistic about all of you. So, contestants, work hard to win this race… Huhuhu…”
As the soft laughter filled with apparent ill-intentions faded away, Rhode’s party also fell into silence.
“I knew it…”
After hearing the rules of the compet.i.tion, he stretched out his hand to hold his forehead helplessly. As Karin mentioned, the rules of the compet.i.tion were really simple; as long as one could gather three mental crystals, one could open the door to head back to one’s own world. But the problem was that there were a total of 12 mental crystals in this city. If everybody needed to get at least three mental crystals to clear the level, it meant that only four of them would be able to pa.s.s this test, while there was no hope left for the rest.
But it was apparent that no one would just stand idly by. In that case, it was predictable what would happen next; someone would surely go out of one’s way to steal mental crystals from others. And that was the problem that Rhode had to face.
At this thought, Rhode sighed, turned around, and looked at the other two following behind him.
“What do you girls think?”
“Well… I think we should think it through…”
“What else is there to consider? Let’s go, Mr. Rhode! If we act slowly, what if someone else steals the crystals?”
In response to Rhode’s question, Catherine spoke up with some hesitation. But before she finished her words, she was interrupted by the impatient Little Five who stomped her foot hard. Along with that action, a vivid burst of soul brilliance scattered, looking exceptionally bright on the dim street. Or perhaps it wasn’t considered that bright because the light bulb next to them was much brighter than her.
“But… Plundering isn’t a good behavior…”
After hearing Little Five’s words, Catherine clearly felt uneasy. Catherine was about to continue her sentence, but Little Five didn’t seem to have any intention of listening to her explanation. The latter turned around and stared intently at Rhode who stood in front of her.
“Mr. Rhode, what do you think?”
“Seems like that is the only way.”
Rhode nodded in response to Little Five’s question. Then, he raised his head, swept a glance at Catherine beside him, and said.
“I think we’d all like to get the h.e.l.l out of this place and go back to our own world. In that case, there’s no reason for us to hesitate now, Miss Catherine. I know you dislike fighting and I also don’t wish to steal anything from anyone else if I can help it. But now, the mental crystals are unclaimed, so as long as we get them before anyone else does, it’s not considered a plunder.”
“But… Others need them too…”
“…”
Facing this Catherine who raised thoughtful questions before him, Rhode was completely speechless. He had almost figured it out now: this Catherine should be the personality of the Angel of Light. To put it bluntly, she was an extremely selfless and saintly person. She was so kind that she wouldn’t even kill a chicken and would always put others before herself. Rhode didn’t dislike such people but especially in situations like these, he couldn’t say that he enjoyed having one on his side. Only two words were needed to describe her—incompetent teammate.
And at that moment, Little Five, who stood next to her, finally lost her patience and blew her top.
“Ah! I’m sick and tired of this! You can stay here all you want, but that doesn’t stop me from going back! Oh, how about you just kill yourself instead! Let’s go, Mr. Rhode, don’t bother yourself with such people!”
“Sigh…”
Rhode sighed helplessly as he looked at the furious Little Five storming away and s.h.i.+fted his gaze to the pale Catherine. Honestly, he was frustrated. He had felt like something wasn’t quite right before and now, this scene in front of him proved that his deep-seated hunch was correct. He was confident that the reason why Karin started the compet.i.tion at that very moment was because everyone had already a.s.sembled teams like him. Otherwise, she would have started the compet.i.tion long ago when Rhode and Catherine first met.
Although he had no idea of his compet.i.tion, he guessed that they were also in groups of three. In that case, if he didn’t have enough people on his side, it might be difficult for him to achieve the final victory. And now, he was faced with this problem within his team. As for Little Five, needless to say, her strength wasn’t all that excellent judging from the fact that Eleanor thrashed and buried her under the wreckage. Meanwhile, Catherine was a d.a.m.ned pacifist. Not only that, but as soon as the compet.i.tion started, his team also faced the threat of splitting up…
Sigh, why am I so unlucky to have them as my teammates?
But he knew that complaining was meaningless now. More importantly, perhaps this was purely a compet.i.tion to the rest. But for him, this wasn’t only a compet.i.tion but was also a battle with the other personalities. Hence, there was absolutely no way for him to gain victory by eliminating them. In other words, he would not only have to be victorious but also had to gain recognition from each of the personalities. That would require him to not only defeat them, but also turn them into friends…
But the problem was that, if he looked at the situation according to Karin’s rules, there could only be four victors. It was conceivable that even if he were so powerful that he took in all the 12 personalities, it also wouldn’t be possible for him to…
Hmmm?
At this thought, Rhode was taken aback. Soon after, he seemed to connect the dots.
12 mental crystals… Up to four victors… Could it mean…
At that moment, Catherine’s voice sounded in his ears, disrupting his deep thoughts.
“Mr. Rhode, she…”
As soon as he heard her voice, he lifted his head and what caught his eyes was Catherine’s face, which looked as if she had made a huge mistake and was reflecting on it. And after seeing her expression, he shrugged and spread his arms apart.
“No matter what, let’s catch up with her first, Catherine. Forget about the compet.i.tion for now. I think the city is a bit more dangerous now and isn’t as peaceful as before. I’m worried about what might happen to that little one, but all in all, let’s head over to her first.”
“Okay.”
Upon hearing Rhode’s words, Catherine seemed somewhat embarra.s.sed. But in the end, she nodded and followed him.
