The inside of the Gate was completely different than Cain was expecting, greenery and trees covering the landscape in front of his eyes instead of concrete and steel buildings. He had heard from his sister that the inside was different; hell, he had even seen reports about it on television. But nothing that he had heard would have actually prepared him for this. Seeing was believing after all.

“I will give everyone five minutes to adjust. The first Gate teleportation is always rough, especially for those who are younger. We haven’t quite seemed to figure out the reason why yet, but we think it's something to do with the developing brain. There will also be a tour at the end, just so you can see what this city’s training facility looks like.”

Cain nodded absently to the instructor's comments, still taking in all of the environment. His head was still spinning from the teleportation, but the sheer amount of information he was taking in just by looking around could also have had something to do with that. As the group began moving towards where they were supposed to meet up, Cain absently followed them, trying to recall anything he could about when his sister obtained her rating.

The ratings themselves were seemingly assigned randomly, but Ariana had had a different theory. A person's mentality, motivation, and personal drive played a role into what level they were assigned, as well as the method used to kill the Gate creature. She had a sneaking suspicion that the difficulty of the creature played a part as well, but this was just a speculation. However, it had extreme validation in Cain’s mind just based off of the available rating list.

Ever since the trick to gaining ratings had been figured out, the level of ratings had gone down drastically. The lower leveled creatures that were gathered and utilized, the lower the average ratings. However, without proper authorization, there was no way to even leave most Gates main camps, let alone trying to find an undisturbed gate that was a low enough level to not kill everyone. The other way to get a high rating was to grind up from the bottom. The higher missions completed, the higher the level of monsters killed, the number of monsters killed... it all added up in the System, and eventually, the rating of the person in question would increase.

Cain looked around at the group as the camp’s attendants walked around, distributing blue blobs among everyone. When they reached him, Cain put his arms out and tried not to retch as a slimy call was deposited in his arms.

‘Ah, a slime... no wonder everyone’s rating lately is so low.’

‘Ah, a human. I guess it is my time then?’

Cain stood as still as he could, unwilling to even move an inch. The slime just... talked to him?

‘I don’t know why you would be surprised. Humans only learned of mental communication through us monsters. Now, if you would please hurry up, I would like to not be drugged anymore.”

‘They keep you drugged? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised... Well, if you insist.’

Cain looked at the slime with pity. Drugged and contained, only used as live stock for humans to unlock their potential. If any activists managed to get wind of this process and communicate with the monsters, the government would definitely have its hands full.

‘Don’t hesitate now human. A simple punch is most effective. However, that will only give you access to the lowest level of the System, and increase our suffering.’

Cain looked around, watching everyone else ask questions to the attendants and follow the method the slime just described. And sure enough, as the ratings appeared, there was not a single one higher than a Level 2. That wasn’t good enough to appease his sister.

“Um, excuse me,” Cain said, looking at his attendant. When they turned to face him, looking like they wanted to get out of this area as quick as possible, he continued on hurriedly.

“May I utilize a different method? My sister wanted me to test something for her today as she couldn’t be here with me.”

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The attendant looked at him for a second, obviously confused by his question.

“And who is your sister?”

“Ariana Everdale.”

“Ariana.. Oh. The Trap Queen’s brother? We didn’t know you would be here today otherwise we would have prepared something else for you. You weren’t on our list Mr....?”

“Cain, Cain Darkgleam.”

“Darkgleam... Darkgleam.. Yes, I see you right here. And what method did she want you to test?”

Cain sighed, feeling sweat rolling down his skin. It was warm, but lying to someone using his sister’s name wasn’t something that he normally did, and honestly it wasn’t something that he wanted to do ever again. The Trap Queen? What kind of work did she actually do?

“Ariana asked me to see if the rating changed if the method to kill the creature wasn’t the normal method. It’s one of her theories that she hasn’t shared with me. I’m just trying to not walk into a minefield when I get home, that’s all.”

‘Ok, they definitely laughed right there,’ Cain thought as the attendant turned away for a split second. There was no sign of amusement on their face, but he was positive that they were laughing in their head at that image.

“Of course, right this way. We have a special testing area for things like this. There hasn’t been any headway recently with the number of tests we have been doing but...”

Cain followed the attendant out of the crowd and behind one of the main buildings to where there was an entire training area laid out, complete with stereotypical straw dummies to practice combat moves.

“We have a selection of weapons, dulled of course, but they should suit the purpose right now. Go ahead and choose one. I will wait right over here.”

Looking over the weapon selection, Cain sighed. None of them seemed to suit his needs.

‘That axe over on the far right seems to be better quality than the rest. I can sense very faint residual mana, even in this state.’

Cain jumped slightly before leveling a glare at the slime in his arms.

‘I hate the fact that you can surprise me like that,’ Cain thought, moving towards the axe in question and picking it up. There was a slight shock through his arm as he held it, causing a slight moment of panic before he set the slime down and holding the axe with both hands.

‘Good. Now right down the middle, nice and clean.’

‘Before that, why are you helping me? What purpose does that serve you?’

‘I pity you humans, that’s all. You don’t know what awaits you, and the terrors it holds. Now hurry up, I want to see my family again.’

‘Terrors? What terrors? What is going to happen?’

‘You’ll see...’

Cain swung the axe down with force, splitting the slime in two just like it had requested. It was clear he wasn’t going to get any more answers out of the slime, and at this point it was just cruel to prolong its life.

‘Take the axe....’ was the last thing the slime said as it faded into nothing. Cain sighed and let his arms fall to his sides, an uncomfortable feeling crawling over his right hand. Looking down, he was surprised to see something like ink bubbling over his skin, settling in a four-pointed star pattern.

“Oh my god. A four-star rating? This hasn’t happened in ages? How did you do it, what was the difference? Why did you choose that axe?”

Cain held up his hand, cutting off the attendant's flow of questions.

“I just liked the axe. I’m not sure if it made any difference with just me. My sister would agree. I think you should test it out with the next group though. Judging by the sounds, I’m the last one to finish and I am curious about the tour. Before that though, is there any rule against me taking the axe with me? I feel kind of sentimental about it, considering it was my stepping stone into this world.”

The attendant waved their hands rapidly. “No, there is no issue with the axe. However, we will have to fill out paperwork for it, and I am required to report your rating to my superiors.”

“Crap, I don’t want to make too big a deal about this right now... especially considering my sister. Do you have a glove I could wear for the moment? Last thing I need is a bunch of jealous jerks out front giving me crap about preferential treatment and what not.”

A glove placed in his hand; Cain began to walk back to the front of the building with the axe attached to his belt loop. As soon as he slid the glove on, he sighed in relief and felt the knots and tension in his back loosen. This was not what he expected out of today.

“Alright, gather up for the tour!” the instructors voice sounded through the courtyard, causing all chattering to stop as all of the attendees turned to face him. Holding his hand up, the group began moving towards the far end of the camp that was being guarded by multiple people.

“The tour is going to start with a view of the Gate’s boss. I like to start here because it can be a good reminder to keep your limits in mind. “

Cain followed the rest of the group, passing by the enclosed area and the gate guards easily, although he was sweating inside as the axe bumped against his thigh as he moved. As the group entered the main room and the group spread out, he was stunned into silence for the second time today.

Chained to the middle of the room was a monstrous amount of rocks. Upon closer inspection however, Cain realized they were all connected.

‘A golem... dear god how did they even capture this thing?’ Cain wondered, staring in amazement as the instructor began talking, falling onto deaf ears. A small, tiny flash of light caught Cain’s eye, and he turned his gaze to focus on the shadowed area. There definitely was something there he decided, moving around the group slowly to get a better view.

‘What do we have here... A human with a mental connection already?”

Stifling a scream, Cain found himself staring directly into two glowing green eyes, right around the spot that he had seen the flash of light.

‘I see you human, and you me. Help me.”