“It’s… The same room? This is the same room as before, kak?”

We walked through the stupidly long hallway and arrived in a similar looking room as before.

“No, this might be a different room with a similar look.”

We looked around the room for a while and found out that this does look very similar to the room that we were in before. The color was the same. The location of the pillars was the same as well.

We decided to rest in the middle of the room again for a little while, before entering the door again.

“…This is weird.”

We walked through the hallway again. The same long plain white hallway. In the end of it, we arrived in the same looking room as the previous one.

“Erm… Kak? Are we now in a different room or are we still in the same one? I honestly can’t tell.”

Alisa and Salim both looked at me, confused.

I shook my head at both of them.

“I don’t know too. I have no idea what’s happening.”

After a moment of thinking, I told the two of them that we are going to go around the room and look for anything different.

We ended up spending almost 2 hours looking at the massive room and pillars.

“We found nothing… I─ I honestly can’t tell if anything was different or not…”

Alisa sat down exhaustedly after he did his utmost best at observing the room and the pillars.

“It was ALL just whiiiiiite! Just WHITE! Plain white! There’s no marking! No shapes that I can remember! My eyes just hurt after looking at white all the time!”

He complained and rant about this for several minutes before calming down.

“Want a drink?”

I offered him a bottle of water from my storage device.

“Thanks kak, but I’m not thirsty yet. I think it’s best that we save it for emergencies.”

“Good call.”

I chuckled and put the bottle away. I offered one to Salim, and she refused too.

I put away the other bottle as well and sat down. We are still tied together with a rope, so we can’t be too far apart.

Honestly, It’s pretty awkward having to sit together like this. We just met. We aren’t close yet. Awkward.

We just sat in silence for a while. At that time, I thought of a way to verify whether the room is the same or not. It’s actually quite simple. Like, stupid simple.

“You two got enough rest?”

I stood up and got ready to walk again.

The two looked at one another. I see that they look a little bit confused.

“What are we going to do now kak?”

I showed them my smile.

“I just got an idea. We’re going to check if the next room is going to be the same as this one.”

I opened my storage device and took out an empty potion bottle that I used on Salim back in the cave.

“I’m going to put this down… here. In the middle of this room. I will also scratch the pillars and walls. If they are still there when we walked through the door, then we are in the same room. If not, then it’s a new room.”

Their faces immediately lit up and they jumped up excitedly.

“That was brilliant kak! How come we didn’t think of that earlier..!”

“Hmm! Yes!”

Alisa smacked his head with his palm. His face is full of shock and shame. Salim talked.

She TALKED! Well, she only said a word, but that’s the first time I heard her voice! Her voice was really good. She’d be a very good singer, I think.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

I moved on from my shock rather quickly and we used our sharp weapons to scratch the walls and pillars. I lent one of my iron swords to Salim, since she didn’t have one.

Once we are done, we double-checked our equipment condition and we are ready to go.

“Which door are we going to enter kak?”

“The one that we came in from.”

“Understood.”

We went into the door behind us. As expected, behind the door is the same plain white hallway that we traversed through twice now.

We walked silently through the hallway. After quite a long walk, we arrived in front of a door.

“Alright… This is it guys. We will see if the room is the same or not.”

“I’m hoping for a different room. That way we might finally go somewhere.”

“Hm! Hm!”

I told the two to ready their weapons behind me as I pushed the door open.

The first thing that catches my eye was the semi-transparent lever in the middle of the room.

‘It’s a new room kak! We are entering a new room!”

“Hm! Hm!”

The two skipped ahead a few steps excitedly while looking around.

“Calm down a little bit. We don’t know for sure yet.”

I had to hold them in place by the shoulder because they won’t stop moving. I think they are just happy that we are finally moving somewhere. I mean, I understand where they were coming from, but still. We are still inside a Lost Ground. We can’t let our guard down just yet.

I gestured to the two to follow me and I walked cautiously to the pillars and walls that we scratched.

The marks are there. They are still there. This is the same room as before.

“W─what? But…”

Alisa looked worriedly towards the middle of the room, where the lever was. He wanted to say something, but he couldn’t quite put the words in.

“Yea, it’s very weird. These marks are obviously the ones that we made. There is no doubt about that.”

I put my hand on my forehead and scratched my head with the other.

“We’ll secure the room. Make sure that we are the only ones here. Make sure that there is nothing else new here. And then we will carefully approach that lever.”

Alisa and Salim nodded, and we slowly and carefully went around the room, looking at the walls, pillars, doors, and hallways. Making sure that everything is safe. After that was done, we slowly approached the semi-transparent lever.

The lever is semi-transparent. Seemingly made out of cheap glass. The same cheap glass that my potion bottle was made out of.

I have suspicion that the missing bottle directly caused the appearance of this lever. But I do not know yet… I need more proof.

I told the two to not touch the lever. I left one of my broken swords and one filled potion bottle down beside the lever.

We, once again, went through one of the doors. The result? It’s the same room. The glass lever is still there. So is my sword and potion bottle.

“It’s either the missing potion bottle had nothing to do with the lever… Or there could only be one lever in this room.”

And we have no way of knowing which one is true. Or if neither is.

“This is stressing…”

Salim approached me and offered me a warm towel that she took out of her storage device.

I thanked her and used it to wipe my face. A refreshing sensation washed across me as I do that. Which is weird. Warm towels do feel refreshing, but not to this extent.

I stared at the towel that she gave me.

“This was not just water was it?”

Salim shook her head.

“This is a refresh potion, wasn’t it?

She nodded. Alisa pats her on the back for a job well done.

“Thanks, Salim. I appreciate it. Thank you for using such an expensive item for this.”

Refresh potion is… Expensive. VERY. Expensive. Although it cannot heal, it does recover fatigue. Be they mental or physical. It is very versatile. It’s a shame that the process of making just one bottle costs almost as much as buying a full set of high-tier equipment.

Salim is no simple girl. There’s no doubt about it now.

“Okay… You two rest up. Then meditate after.”

“Eh? Are you sure kak? Why don’t we take turns? Salim can go first while kakak and I be the lookout.”

During a time of crisis like this, it is wise to use time as efficiently as possible. So…

“Leave the lookout to me. You two focus on recovering your magic power. We might need to use them later down the line.”

I told them how important it is to use time efficiently. The stories of how their predecessors did not stop moving forward even during times of grief. Stories of how past adventurers pushed and thrive past crises.

“Woah… That’s the first time I’ve heard about Guardian King Leo! Did he really stop an army on his own kak? That’s very cool!”

I nodded.

“Of course. These stories are recorded by the Storytellers of the time.”

“The Storytellers! So the story is true... Leo really did stop an army on his own!”

“Ali, that is awesome. BUT! I like the Undying Soldier Taryu more! Going to war for the sake of his love, and evading death with the power of love..! What could be more awesome than that!”

“Wha─?! That is indeed cool Sal, but surely stopping countless enemy soldiers using your own power is even more awesome than love!”

A Salim with glittering eyes energetically opposed Alisa. The two went into a quarrel. Fighting about which stories I told them is cooler.

Seriously… These two…

“OW!”

“OUCH!”

I chopped their head with my hands and scolded them. They sat silently while I rail them about the point of the stories I told them.

“Listen. The point of those two stories was that ‘Use your time wisely'. You two quarreling like children was surely NOT using time wisely. Leo wouldn’t be able to stop that army on his own if he didn’t prepare beforehand. And Taryu surely would have died if he didn’t plan his fights and trained his fighting style as much as he could. If you two think that those two are cool, then learn from their stories and use your time wisely. Become stronger.”

“We’re sorry…”

After I’m sure that they have taken my scolding to heart, and after making sure that they started to meditate, I sat down in a convenient spot where I could easily look at the two doors.

While doing my job as the lookout, I put down the black sword and took out my iron swords from my storage device.

I checked their condition intently. Making sure that I know the condition of each sword perfectly.

It turns out, there were only two more usable swords. The others were too chipped and at risk of breaking. Meaning that they are not reliable and therefore should not be used.

I took out some polishing oil and whet stone and immediately started to do maintenance on the usable swords.

These things are just busy work. However, this busy work never fails to calm my mind whenever I am stressed and under pressure. Just mindlessly letting my muscle memory do its job, moving along with the motion of polishing the sword with oil and sharpening them. Bliss.

When I finished, I took out three water bottles and some bread. I laid them out on the floor. The bread was in a container, of course.

Now then… What to do with our situation?