"Miss Justina! Is there anything wrong?" Archie's voice echoed with concern as he called out to Justina.

Archie found himself standing behind Justina, who had turned her back to him.

Minutes had passed since Justina had spun away from Archie, concealing her shock at the revelation that Archie was unharmed despite not consuming any blue egg stone.

Justina racked her brain, trying to remember any instance where she had heard about humans stabilizing themselves after ingesting a red egg stone. She mused,

'How is he still breathing? Does that mean his body is a rival to the Originals?''I've never heard of anything like this. How did he manage to re…?'

Suddenly, a question dawned on Justina that made her question everything she knew about Ethereal and Rifts. In disbelief, she whirled around, her hands slamming onto the table as she stuttered, "How did you manage to return here without consuming any blue egg stone?"

Despite Justina's visible struggle to comprehend the situation, Archie remained composed. He was busy weaving a web of lies, recalling his encounter with nature and plotting a deceptive path.

Archie offered a response he had prepared earlier, "As I mentioned earlier, I rifted back here before I had the opportunity to consume the blue egg stone."

"But what about the seven-hour time gap?" Justina's voice rose in shock, her outburst aiding Archie in regaining control of the situation.

Having grown up in his father’s shop, Archie was no stranger to dealing with unruly customers and scam artists. His mother had taught him how to handle chaotic situations and manage crowds.

"Miss Justina, I don’t know anything about seven hours. I spent only a few seconds inside. All I saw was land. That’s it."

Archie responded truthfully, mentally crossing his fingers. His experiences in his father’s shop had taught him how to handle various types of people.

Justina was the kind of woman who prided herself on her extensive knowledge about Ethereal and Rifts and held Graded Ethereal in high regard. Archie could tell that she had developed an interest in him by her willingness to stay here for seven hours.

'Let me leave already, I don’t care about the damn E-System either.'

Archie grumbled to himself. He had been trying to confuse Justina with things she didn’t know to get her to leave him alone, but…

"SNAP!" Justina's hands moved swiftly, and a plan formed in her mind. Her tone was cheerful, as if she had suddenly found clarity, "Let’s proceed with the Ethereal Screening test, shall we?"

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"UGH!" Before Archie could react, Justina seized his hand and dragged him towards the elevator.

Archie’s plan to confuse Justina about Rifts and Ethereal and get her to leave him alone had backfired. He had hoped to persuade her to let him go home, but he hadn’t anticipated this reaction from Justina.

"Ethereal Screening test! What are you talking about?"Archie was taken aback and attempted to free his hand from her grip, but her firm hold made it impossible for him to move.

Justina pressed the "UG" Underground floor button on the elevator. Archie saw this and a wave of fear washed over him. He had never heard of the Ethereal Screening test before, nor had he read anything about it in his book.

"DING!" The elevator reached the Underground. The sliding door opened to reveal a dimly lit, cavernous room, its stone-pricked walls enclosing a space large enough to park three trucks.

Justina led Archie into the room, her hand still gripping his. Justina was the type who believed she knew everything, but if she encountered something unknown, she would go to great lengths to learn about it.

"TYPE!" "TYPE!"

The sound of keyboard typing echoed in the air. Archie was trailing behind Justina, so he couldn’t see what was ahead. He moved to her side to see a man clad in a white suit and blue pants, seated on a chair, his blue coat draped over the back.

He had a clean-shaven, fair face, with neatly trimmed hair that complemented his black-framed glasses. He was alone in the vast room, typing on his keyboard and staring at his PC system, the light from the screen reflecting off his glasses.

"Max, what are you doing here?" Justina's voice was laced with irritation, but the moment Max heard Justina’s voice, he quickly closed all the tabs on his screen and put his PC to sleep, leaving Archie wondering what he had been looking at.

Justina positioned herself directly in front of Max, with Archie standing behind her. Justina sighed in exasperation, "For God’s sake, this is a private system, don’t use it for pervy things."

Archie buried his face in his hand out of embarrassment as she voiced her accusation directly to Max's face. What made Archie blush was Max's casual response, as if this was a regular occurrence, "My home Wi-Fi is slow. I heard they uploaded some new content on the website, so I wanted to check it out."

While Max was conversing with Justina, he noticed she was holding a hand behind her. He swiftly rolled his chair to see the owner of the hand.

"ARCHIE!" Max gasped in shock and blurted out, "Why is he here?"

Upon seeing Archie, Max was taken aback and rose from his chair to get a better look at Archie.

Max’s gaze made Archie uncomfortable. Archie tried to shield his face with his hand and thought, 'Who is this pervert? How does he know my name?'

Justina pushed Max back into his seat and released Archie’s hand. She began to explain why she had brought Archie here.

Justina filled Max in on the moment Archie consumed the red egg stone, reappeared after seven hours, and stabilized without consuming a blue egg stone.

Surprisingly, Max took it well. He remained composed, at least in front of Justina and Archie. In his mind, 'KABOOM!'A massive bomb detonated, obliterating everything he knew about Ethereal.

Max didn’t want to embarrass himself again in front of Archie, so he kept his cool and retorted, "So, you brought him here for the Ethereal Screening test."

Max turned his PC back on and typed to open a black screen. After inputting some commands, he pressed enter.

"BLINK!"

A brilliant blue neon light illuminated Archie’s face from his right. He turned around, his eyes wide with bewilderment at the sight before him.