“Are you going to be alright, Daine?” Rion appeared out of nowhere behind her. His sudden appearance caused the already tensed Daine to be startled.

“Don’t sneak up on people like that! That’s rude!”

“My bad. I was just worried, since you know…” Rion pointed at Sefi with his eyes. He knew what kind of drama was between them. “If you don’t want me to hang around then I know a few people that can help you out.”

“I’m fine.” Daine looked at Sefi casually fiddling with her hands. “Actually, I’ll take you up on your offer. I don’t think I’ll make it through today without any protection.”

“Don’t worry about it. The guy I know is as good as I am in medicine. Basically-”

“Basically a genius. I’ve heard it before, no need to rub it in. You weren’t tasked with this if you weren’t at least somewhat skilled.” Daine scoffed. Most of the people stuck here were either geniuses or highly skilled.

The fact that it could contain so many talents still made it hard for Daine to believe so. Although it wasn’t filled with top-tier talents like those in Seal Academy, there were still filled with above-average talents.

“Hey, if I wasn’t stuck in here then that Bandgerette girl wouldn’t be so famous. You hear me? I’m five generations ahead of her!” Rion proudly exclaimed. “If it weren’t for certain circumstances, I wouldn’t even be here. Hmph!”

Daine rubbed her arms in anxiety, “How strong is your friend? I want to know just how quickly I need to run.”

“Hey, putting him down like this will hurt his feelings. If he faced against those guys, he should be able to handle himself just fine.”

Daine’s eyes widened in shock, “That good? I guess monsters really do hang around with monsters.”

“You’re right about that.” Rion’s eyes lingered on Daine. “You’re not half bad either. You just need a stage to show off. Maybe if you’re given the opportunity, you might shine brighter than you would think.”

Daine’s expression turned cold, “It’s not even funny as a joke.”

“It’s funny for me. Go on, I’ll get a hold of him, make sure to meet him up at the park. Red hair, messy clothes, you can’t miss him.” Rion patted Daine’s back and went off back inside the medical tent. Arin’s currently resting alone but Rion needed to make sure nothing went wrong.

Daine felt the pressure finally pile up on him. She had no other choice but to follow along with Arin’s words and show them around the underground city. As much as she didn’t want to do it, as his designated guide, she needed to cater to his orders no matter how absurd.

Noah, Sefi, and Patrick were all standing in a circle, looking at each other. Noah had a non-offensive look as he observed everything around him in detail. Sefi just played around with whatever caught her attention first while Patrick has been keeping to himself for the time being.

“H-Hello, my name is Daine Moile, your guide for the time being.” Daine mustered up as much courage as she could gather and spoke to them. “As Arin ordered, I’ll show you around the underground city. If you have any questions, I don’t mind answering them.”

Noah didn’t miss a beat as he raised his hand.

“Yes?”

“I’m curious, who set up all these plants? The red hue from these plants looks really vibrant.” Noah admired how delicately cared for these flowers were.

“I did…” Daine didn’t expect Noah to ask something as mundane as that.

“These flowers and trees look lovely. If you don’t mind me asking, what do you use to keep the-” Noah was immediately cut off by Sefi.

“Who cares? Show us the city already. I want to see where you’ve been hiding all these years.” Sefi maliciously grinned. Her killing intent was so clear that it was palpable.

“I see, I apologize for being too curious. I’ll keep my questions limited to relevant topics.” Noah slightly bowed, his scholarly aura hadn’t changed at all.

Between these two people who hadn’t changed at all despite being branded, Patrick rubbed the slave mark on the right side of his torso. He knew he was going in deep but he didn’t think it would be this deep.

“Very well, follow me.” Daine started guiding them to the most important place. The park.

Daine could’ve guided them to more important establishments but her safety was more important for her. All along the way, they saw people carrying on as if everything was normal.

A family would even come by, showing joyful faces. If not for the blatant slave mark on their foreheads, one would think that they were a happy family. Right beside them, a person riddled with injuries would show up, it was clear that he needed medical attention yet no one else paid attention to him.

Daine sighed as her hand was tied in this matter. This was not her responsibility and she had no intention of intervening.

“Miss Daine, I have a question. Why is he severely injured? Follow-up question, why isn’t he seeking medical help? If he doesn’t find treatment in a few hours then he would definitely bleed out.” Noah watched over the scene as a spectator. Similarly, like Daine, he had no intention of helping him, he just wanted to know what was happening.

“He failed a Trial and lost everything he owned. At this point, it's only a matter of time before he meets his end. Like the city above ground, the weak get consumed by the strong. The weak often die here.” Daine had a melancholic look in her eyes.

“Wouldn’t that be a waste of manpower? Just letting them die for no reason?”

“One would think that but it’s actually counterintuitive. Since resources have been getting more and more scarce, keeping deadweights only siphon supplies from those who deserve it. I’m sure you would know it more than me.”

Noah rubbed his chin in agreement, “I guess so. Even this underground city is affected by the loss of resources. That’s interesting.”

Sefi didn’t care about the matters of the city. Her eyes were currently glued on the man limping through as his body bled. “Can I kill him?”

She giggled as her bloodlust started showing, “Since he’s going to die, there’s no harm, right?”

Noah shrugged his shoulders, “Do what you want.”

“You can’t,” Patrick spoke out. Even though he fully knew that he had no power here, he still acted out. There were still lines he wasn’t willing to cross just yet.

Patrick tried changing Sefi’s mind but unfortunately, he wasn’t even considered. His authority was the weakest out of everyone. She even ignored his presence, not even bothering to take his words into account.

“You…” Daine wanted to stop her but logically speaking there was nothing wrong with it. It was allowed for people to fight and kill each other here. Since he was about to die anyway, satiating Sefi’s tendencies might be better. “Do as you wish.”

Patrick saw Sefi move about, approaching the injured man, he tried to stop her yet he couldn’t even grab her clothes. She was far too skilled in comparison to him.

After a swift lobotomy, a very bloody lobotomy. Sefi used her finger and inserted it through his eye, touching his brain and digging out a small part. She touched her face in glee as his blood was smothered all over her.

Patrick clenched his fists, feeling just how inconsequential he truly was. He knew that these monsters were already well beyond him but why was the disparity this much? He kept his raging emotions in, trying to rationally think this through.

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Daine sighed, seeing her previously lovely sister turn into someone this sadistic hurt her. “It used to be us as a family, what happened?” She spoke in a volume that only she could hear yet Noah’s ears were more sensitive than she thought.

Sefi manaically laughed, taunting Patrick, “Try a little harder next time.” She enjoyed the helpless look on Patrick’s face.

Continuing on, a few more interesting sights as people obeyed the order that had been placed in the city. People usually moved around in groups of roughly three to six people. These types of groups were mostly harmonious with one another.

The people who moved alone were usually the types that were so strong that they could fend for themselves or a loner who had been cast away by society. Based on their looks, it was clear who was in which position.

Arriving at a seemingly out-of-place area, they all entered the park. As one would expect, there were trees, benches, little playgrounds, everything that a normal park had. There were no gimmicks, no battles, no nothing, everyone inside here seemed to have lost their violent tendencies.

Noah looked around to see that people were having fun. Some were playing a game, others were enjoying the scenic view while the rest peacefully enjoyed their time. He noticed that every single person here had put down their guard.

“Why is everyone so carefree?” Noah asked.

“This is one of the few places where people cannot fight against one another. If you try, your slave mark will activate and cause you immense pain. It’s best not to offend anyone here.” Daine tried to warn them.

“Never expected there to be a safe haven here. That seems so out of character for Kian.”

Daine looked around, hoping to see Rion’s friend. She frantically looked around yet she couldn’t find him. “I’ll be back. Please don’t go anywhere.”

“Can’t promise anything.” Sefi absentmindedly responded.

As the group quietly settled down in place, observing the area, Patrick came up to Noah.

“You said resources have been getting spread thin. Can you elaborate on that?” Patrick wanted to know some of the things happening around him. Now that he was a part of it, he might as well understand his current situation.

“Ah, I see. It makes sense, you’re not supposed to even be here. Very well, I’ll explain to you what’s happening. You know how Trials give out resources based on your Completion Rate?” Noah started explaining.

“Yeah. The higher the Completion Rate, the more rewards you get. After finishing a Trial, regardless of the outcome, it will be closed for a random amount of time. I also heard that the Completion Rate affects how long it stays closed.”

“Exactly, based on my sources, the cooldown period for Trials has started drastically increasing. Some Maze-level Trials have started reaching an extremely long cooldown period.”

“It can’t be that bad, right? What’s a few more weeks?” Patrick knew that a Maze-level Trial usually had a cooldown period of 1-4 days. It was an arbitrary number with outliers but it was generally this long.

“That’s the problem. It’s a year.” Noah’s voice deepened, signifying the drastic impact it had on the economy. “A few more days, no problem. A week or two added, it’s still salvageable. An entire month? Now that really hurts the economy a lot. Now that multiple Trials have started reaching a cooldown period of an entire year, it’s safe to say that the city will sooner or later face a famine.”

Patrick started to have panicked thoughts. With Trials being the only source of resources of everything, it was safe to say that this was enough to collapse society. Weapons and buildings, metals and wood would be gone in an instant with how much repairs there needed to be. People would have to start fighting over food, it would be total chaos.

“What the hell! What’s going to happen?” Patrick subconsciously raised his voice causing a few people from the park to look in his direction.

“That… I don’t know. If everything stays the same there are only two options… well three technically but the other option isn’t realistic.”

“What are they?”

“The first and the most realistic option is to send people beyond The Boundary to get more Trials. Oddly enough, new Trials are unaffected by the massively increased cooldown period. This is the most likely option that the Federation would take.”

“The second option is a little more gruesome than I would like. It’s to cull the population to the point that the influx of resources is higher than the usage of the population. A desperate move but it’s really effective if all else fails.” Noah laughed to himself as if he was expecting this to be the case eventually.”

“That can’t be it. What’s the last one?” Patrick was unsatisfied with the answers, he wanted to know more about what he could do.

“Well, the most unrealistic option is… to make contact with the second layer. But since we lost contact over 19 years ago, I highly doubt we’ll be able to keep in touch.” Noah raised his hands in defeat, there wasn’t anything they could do to affect the overall situation.

“I like the second option!” Sefi maniacally laughed as she thought of how fun going on a killing spree would be. A bloodthirsty aura kept emanating from her. She just couldn’t help herself.

Noah patted Patrick’s back, “If it’s any consolidation, you might be part of the expedition in a few years. Seal Academy has always produced extremely talented Solvers. If you don’t want to die an unjust death, you should start working harder.”

“Then…” Patrick suddenly went into deep thought. “Doesn’t that mean that everything we’ve been doing is for nothing? With such a massive problem ahead, everything we’ve been doing is worthless.”

“Not everything is worthless. Like I said, I like winning. If it helps you swallow it all down, buckling down on Arin’s side should at least let you live a little while longer than the rest. With a lunatic who’s obsessed with constantly struggling to reach the top, he should find a way out of this mess. We just need to tag along for the ride.”

“So doesn’t that mean… Fiona’s dream is worthless?” Patrick recalled Fiona at this point in time since the previous biggest drama he knew was the bet between Arin and Fiona.

“Dean Alabaster knows, Arin knows, her father definitely knows. She might even know. Seeing how she acts despite knowing it all, can you say you agree with her views?” Noah snickered, mocking Fiona’s mindset.

Patrick knew that Noah had knowledge about topics beyond his current reach. For him to be so calculative with his actions, only means that he already knows what actions he should take. In the face of being enslaved or dying a dog’s death, even if it didn’t sit well with him, Patrick chose to live.

Noah continued, “Being a slave isn’t so bad now, is it? Just prove your worth and you won’t be treated badly. Oh, here comes Daine. And to not make a fool out of yourself, every single person here knows about the real problem. Unlike the fools in the City of Sin, running around like headless chickens not knowing their deaths are so close. Welcome to the real world, where you have to sell your soul to keep on living!”

Patrick sighed, “So this is what it means to be helpless.” He clenched his fists, the motivation to push through to the very end so that he could grab ahold of his future with his own hands powered him greatly.

“Sorry I took so long, my friend was a little hard to find.” Daine brought over a frail-looking guy with barely any muscle. From the looks of him, he looked like a homeless person with deep eye bags under his eyes. He looked to completely be in a daze.

As this red-haired young man came closer, one would be able to smell alcohol coming from his mouth. The stench was so thick that it even made Noah slightly tipsy.

“That’s him? That’s the guy who’s going to protect you? Kekekeke!” Sefi’s unnerving cackling made Daine look down, her self-esteem was lowering as time passed by.

“I guess- I guess so? I don’t know. Rion told me you’ll get me more booze so hop to it!” This young man’s slave mark was evidently on his forehead but there was a scratch slashing through it. A scar formed over his slave mark yet it didn’t seem to have affected the control over him at all.

“That’s… all right. We can head to the Commercial District then. I needed to show you around anyway.” Daine sighed in helplessness. She was currently leading people who could individually crush her skull with a mere finger. The pressure was high.

“Whatever, as long as I get something to drink…” The red-haired youth dazedly weighed on Daine, using her as a stand to keep steady. She obviously struggled to keep him upright but no one wanted to help her.

This person was a complete stranger, there was no reason for them to do so. Adding on the fact that the world had made them grow up to be wary of any suspicious person, they didn’t want to interact with this drunkard.

It only took a few minutes to reach the extremely vast Commercial District, there were stores for as far as the eye could see. Based on the transactions they used, it was the same currency that everyone in the city above used.

After walking by a bar, Daine was pulled against her will by this red-haired youth. Despite being obviously dazed and drunk, he could still make sense of his surroundings. “Daine, you better order me the good stuff! Eh? You’re still here? Let’s drink! Go! Go! Go!”

The red-haired youth took the bottle out of the bartender’s hands and started drinking away without a care in the world. Seeing his completely barbaric manners, the bartender wanted to get rid of them but seeing that Daine took out a hefty sum, he decided to let them be.

“It pays good to be a guide, eh? Do nothing for six months and then walk around for a while! A really good job! I’m so jealous! Too bad I’m not a girl! Hahahaha!” The red-haired youth immediately started speaking.

Sefi wasn’t ceremonious, “Give me the same thing he’s drinking!” The bartender followed along with Sefi’s orders as she also gulped down a bottle without restraint. Daine didn’t even bother telling her anything, it wasn’t as if she was going to listen.

Noah and Patrick didn’t partake in drinking. It was the middle of the day, after all, it wasn’t the time to be drinking. Despite being young, there was no regulation on the sale of alcohol since there were more important matters than underage drinking.

“I’ll have some tea if you have any.” Noah came up to the bartender.

“Kid, this is a bar. There’s no tea here. I got some soda and sweet juices but that’s about it.” The bartender shook his head.

“Then I’ll have some soda.”

The bartender took out three metal cups from below the desk. He placed these metal cups and placed it under the faucet of one of the kegs. Filling each one to the brim. Soda poured in alongside a fizzling sound. He then placed it on the table, giving it to Noah.

With drinks in hand, Noah faced Daine. He brought two sodas and gave her one.

“If you don’t mind, I have a few more questions.” Noah started gulping down his own. “Particularly, about what this place is used for.”

Daine fiddled around with the drink in her hand. “Well not for long, we still have to go out and explore the city. I mean I could tell you on the way-”

“No, no, I’m more interested in listening to it first before seeing it. It helps me set expectations.”

“Is that so? Alright.” Seeing Noah and Patrick listening to her, Daine felt a little out of place. This small group seemed to fit right in.