“Laughter is like a virus”

I let out a deep sigh. Tired, hungry and dehydrated I could feel my tongue in my mouth, running them across the chapped surface the texture like sandpaper. Out of all the weapons I had chosen, why did it have to be this... Holding the dead weight behind me, the jutting head of the stick was like a nose grinning at me from behind me. Heck I’d even given it a nickname, Big Nose, in all fairness the weapon I had chosen if I could describe it better would be better recognised as a poleaxe, handy in a battle, if I could use it, only I couldn’t, the only upside was the length of the pole which meant if I was to be attacked there would be some distance between me and whoever was attacking.

Looking at Big Nose only gave me more of a headache, the whole thing seemed to be carved from a strange material which must have been a sort of metal because I could feel the heat radiating from it as I trudged further and further underneath the sun. 

Dazed I could only blankly look at the sky while resting on the floor. There was still some things which remained unclear in my head, it was as if my memories were covered by a dense mist. The things I could remember could be counted one on hand, there was little confusion as to what I did for a living, seeing my slim build and neat finger nails, I was certain it definitely was not work that relied on using strength.

A quick mind, the clothes I was wearing helped me narrow this down. It did not seem like the material was cheap, well constructed and branded, these many facts only pointed me in one line of direction: a salary man. Uncomfortable I sat still, thirsting for water, I had been lucky when I first entered here. Arriving I could see myself at the edge of a mountain of sand, one wrong move and it would have ended, looking down I could see movement. I was confident anything moving that could not speak was not friendly at this point.  

Running further and further away from that place I could end up to this point here, before I had fainting in dizziness. After awakening I could only come to terms with the facts that I had been given, concentrating my mind I glanced despondently as my status screen appeared in my mind:

INGEL ???

Occupation: -

Abilities: Slow Metabolism

Modifiers: -

Equipment: Poleaxe

A description of my name, there was not much that stood out. Pointless. Where was the overpowered plot system, it seemed like reality was much different to the countless online reincarnation novels I had been reading. In my case I could not even think of any reason why I had been sent here. Trying to survive would depend on more than my own luck..

Looking at the sky again I could feel the heat fanning my face. One thing I was sure of, this was not a dream, the slight nick on my thumb from Big Nose’s face had proven this point. From time to time I could recall a few facts about myself but for some strange reason my head would start to hurt if I focused too much.

But, I was still the same person. Even though my memories seemed unclear, common sense still prevailed. I could not help but think if I had been reincarnated or abducted by some strange force. The same body, the same face: if this was a reincarnation novel shouldn’t I have woken up as the young master of a clan only to be later blessed with a fortuitous opportunity or gone back in time. The only thing I was glad about was everything below had also remained the same, living a second life as a woman would not have been my idea of fun.

As I was thinking this I was greeted by the familiar notification of a system prompt ‘trial period has ended, you will be now transported to the Labyrinth’. Everything before me became blank as I was again teleported into the familiar white room only to find the slight changes around me as the people who I’d recognised before standing carrying some form of weapon, while others collapsed straight into ground.

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It seemed I was not the only one who had a ‘easy time’. At this time I could not help but burst out. Laugh, laugh, I could only laugh ‘HAHAH HAHA’ I could feel the pent up hysteria and frustration erupt out of my body as I laughed.

“Who’s this idiot”, a stern gaze followed by the overbearing tone of a man several steps away from projected to my side however I could hardly care less, I definitely felt much better. I even caught some people glancing my way with a smirk on their lips. Shouting out I could only feel my mind clearing “why, never saw anybody laugh before” I could only put forward, hastily making myself inconspicuous as I felt the embarrassment rise through my skin.

Wading through the crowd I could see a guy with a massive built and broad shoulders come to my side and exclaim “you’re an interesting person, this fellow is right, there is no crime for laughing, laugh, of course whether you’re happy or sad, you’ll definitely feel better”. I nodded readily agreeing with this big guy, with one glance at his figure no one would have dared to do otherwise. Likewise he patted me across the back and gave out small loud guffaws of laughter. Like sheep following a herder I could see some of the crowd following his example and the atmosphere visibly lightened up. 

Holding out his hands he greeted me, speaking with a confident tone he introduced his name but at this point all I could catch were the words “what’s your name”. There is always one tree which stands out in a forest, if not more, it seems this guy happened to match this in more ways than one. Beaming with a smile he looked at me nodding his head, “you can call me Ingel, for some reason some of my memories are rather fuzzy right now and I can’t remember some of them”. Looking at this small giant I was caught in surprise by the weapon he was carrying on his back, a long bow.

Pointing at my slim build he gestured at the poleaxe by my side, before I could sigh, carrying Big Nose had indeed burdened me heavily, I could only let it trail across the floor. Shrugging my shoulders I couldn’t be bothered to explain. I didn’t quite take him seriously, after all unlike his broad exterior from his eyes I could catch a glimpse of a shrewd man. We all had our own secrets, maybe more than one, what I was wondering at this point was whether everyone had acquired some abilities as well.  I had to be careful at this stage, who knew what would happen, and after all we were all strangers, even treasuring a jade ring could become a crime

As we were finishing our pleasantries I could see that a few of the people in the room had already started to move towards smaller groups, in one I could even see two slim petite ladies with the faces of angels and the bodies of devils: I could slightly feel a fire inside me flaring hotter. Of course this was neither the time or place, dotted around I could even see some young faces and old eyes in the crowd. As I could see there seemed to be a roughly even split between genders, however as I wanted to ask those around me how we had ended up here I could hear another notification.

 “PLEASE WAIT…. THE SYSTEM WILL NOW ORGANISE YOU INTO TEAMS…. 3… 2… 1…”

The last thing I could hear was the familiar greeting ‘welcome to the labyrinth’. We were once again teleported, having experienced it the first time, this time I attempted to relax my body and mind as I tried to feel if I could sense anything. I was soon to learn that I had awfully bad luck, the opportunities that had been obtainable from the trial period has been squandered by me just like that.