This floor was a lot more populated than the last one. It was pretty easy to tell.

All of a sudden, [Read] was able to latch onto other people’s language skills.

Though most of that was happening with people who were in actual rooms, and therefore out of sight, every once in a while he did pass by someone in the hall.

More importantly, it revealed that all the rooms were labeled. For example, the sign he’d just passed indicated he was in the 0110’s hallway. He wasn’t sure why it wasn’t just the 110’s hallway, but it wasn’t his problem so he decided to just ignore it.

‘Yeah, we’re already marking the numbers too. You should focus on getting our ears back.’

“Don’t you mean my ears?” Cael asked the cat.

‘We use them at least as much as you do.’

“I’m blanking on a proper metaphor, but just because you use something doesn’t make it yours.”

‘You know,’ Ava interrupted the cat before they could start a proper argument, ‘For the most part, this floor is exactly the same as the last one.’

“For the most part?”

‘Yeah. As far as I can tell, all the halls are the same. The difference is that some of the rooms have been combined.’ She gestured to their left with one wing, ‘Like, this big stretch of wall here. This wall had three rooms downstairs, but up here they’ve all been connected into one.’

Cael peeked inside as he passed by the entryway. It was about the same size as the arena had been, only this one housed an eating area large enough to fit the entirety of the student population he’d seen up to this point.

That wasn’t that many though. He’d probably only seen about six hundred students in total, and that was assuming all the applicants had made it in, which, based on what the crocodilian drake had said in the introduction speech, was not going to be the case.

‘Oh yeah, that other room wasn’t an arena. I saw the sign while we were leaving, and it said it was the theater.’ Meaning he'd also seen it but neglected to read it at the time.

But could you even call it a theater if it didn’t have any seats? Probably, now that he thought about it.

But wasn't there a different word for a theater without seats?

‘You’re overthinking this. Maybe they just moved the seats for an event.’

“What event?” Classes hadn’t even started yet. What events could possibly be going on?

‘I don’t know. Maybe it was where the applicants were told if they made it into the school.’ Ava guessed.

‘Ooh, maybe they only have seats when a show is occurring.’ Tar pitched his own theory.

“We aren’t playing a guessing game. We can just ask someone later.”

‘We can make it a guessing game.’ Tar offered, ‘Where we all bet on what we think the reason is.’

“What would even be the terms on a bet between the three of us? We already share literally everything.”

‘If you lose, it’s ten more push ups every time you use the bathroom.’ Ava responded instantly.

“Have you been thinking about this?” Her silence was confirmation enough. “Alright. If I win, you lose tail privileges for a week.”

‘Is that for both of us?’ Tar pointedly wiggled his tail.

Cael shrugged.

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‘Fine, but if we’re all wrong then we’re going to look stupid for a week. That reflects on you more than us.’ Tar pointed out.

“Oh. Then how about ten less push-ups if I win.”

‘Deal. But we all know Ava is going to win anyway.’

“Come on, I haven’t even guessed yet,” Cael complained.

‘Yeah, but with your [Luck], is there even a point?’

Ava was probably right.

“Well, my guess is that the theater just doesn’t have seats.” Cael thought that could be a real possibility. With high enough stats, it shouldn’t be an issue to stand for the duration of any shows or demonstrations that took place onstage.

And if anyone was unhappy with standing, then they could just figure something out. Mereo was a school for future adventurers. Problem-solving skills were a necessity.

‘That’s some pretty weak reasoning.’

“You guys already chose the best ones. There isn’t-” Cael was interrupted by a door swinging outward suddenly and smashing into his face. He stumbled backward and tripped over his box.

The landing wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been, which was good since the worst-case scenario ended with him dead right then.

Thankfully, Tar had still been sitting on his head and was able to cushion the impact.

“Hell, is everyone okay?” Cael checked his System screen and was relieved to find that he hadn’t even lost any health from that.

‘I literally don’t think I could have been injured there.’

‘Guys, the person who hit us with a door is talking and I have no idea what they’re saying.’

Cael rolled over hurriedly and got back up to face the person. It was a humanoid being, just a little taller than he was. His skin was a dark gray hue and he had no hair. Instead, his head just had an interesting pattern of black markings that Cael was pretty sure were tattoos. Two big horns jutted out of his forehead.

More importantly, though, Cael had no idea what they were saying.

“Slow down, you’re talking too fast.” That sounded too hopeful considering Cael’s situation so he tried explaining again, “I can’t hear anything and I’m trying to read your lips.”

After a moment, their lips visibly slowed and Cael leaned forward a bit to watch them more closely.

For a long moment, Cael studied the motion of their mouth and did his best to piece together their words based on his knowledge of phonetics and the context-

‘Did he just say ‘bagel dog’?’ Probably not, but Cael had seen the same thing and had no better ideas.

‘Yeah, I got that too. And I swear he said ‘carpet friend’ right after.’

He gave the alien an apologetic shrug.

Wonderful. Reading lips was a dead end and the elementals were being completely unhelpful. At least Cael was pretty sure the alien could understand what he was saying. They’d responded well enough to his request to slow down earlier.

‘I feel like it’s our responsibility to respond in this situation.’ Ava was probably right, but what was he supposed to say? ‘It’s okay that you hit me with a door?’ What if he wasn’t even apologizing?

His expression was certainly frantic, but that could also mean he was angry or just venting his frustrations. Perhaps an apology was the safer course of action. It wouldn't be good to make enemies over a small misunderstanding.

“I’m sorry for being in your way. I’ll pay more attention going forward.”

He just shook his head with a frown, which meant Cael definitely hadn’t responded correctly. He said something else and Cael shrugged helplessly.

The alien looked around and managed to pull Cael out of the way just in time for another alien to come barreling out of the room.

This new alien looked like the first, only bigger in every way. About a head taller with muscles and horns to match. Where the first one had long horns that stretched upward, this one had thick curling horns that reminded Cael of a ram.

‘The System calls them demons.’

It made sense that demons existed. One of the first people he’d met had been an angel. Cael wondered if there was any hostility between the two races. It was also possible they didn’t have any specific relation to one another in this universe. After all, there were just so many different races.

Demon #1 said something to #2.

Just going off the looks and gestures he was getting, Cael was pretty sure he was explaining the situation to him.

#2 made a comment and #1 glared at him, but the bigger demon just laughed him off.

‘I guess these two must know each other pretty well.’

‘Come on. With a glare like that, I’d wager they’re best friends.’

Cael was not open to making any more bets so he didn’t say anything.

He offered the new demon a wave as a greeting and was happy to receive a wave in return.

More people began to fill the hallways and the two demons conversed a bit more.

Cael wasn’t sure if he was supposed to leave, so he didn’t. It would be rude to interrupt them too so he just stood there and observed other students passing by them in the halls.

Eventually, the two seemed to come to some kind of decision. At least, that was what Cael figured it meant when #1 grabbed his stuff and #2 turned him around and beckoned him to walk with them in the same direction the rest of the students had gone.

And maybe he shouldn't follow strangers with questionable intentions, but they had his stuff.