Gelvin chose to ignore the storm that had just passed him by. It was the kind of trouble he had sworn off long ago when, as a child, he realized how troublesome and brutal the name "Whydit" might prove to be.

Gelvin also had a particular weakness in his personality—a sort of kindness, if you could call it that. And so, he decided to follow both of them.

At the time, Heletta was fascinated by the shiny turquoise walls of the hallway leading to the testing center. Every time her eyes wandered, Ella seemed to be miles ahead.

Ella walked with the confidence of someone familiar with her surroundings, even though they were entirely new to her. She had trained intensely for this moment—the moment she would be chosen for the climb.

Though she had never reached this point before—never even been admitted—she had devoured stories about the walk, the hallways, the classrooms, the libraries, the tests, the students, the cliques, the so-called secret rooms, the herbalists' observatory, the bestiary. She had memorized it all until it was locked away somewhere deep in her heart, waiting to be called upon when the time came.

And now, that time had arrived, thanks to the strange new girl she had found lost that morning. Ella turned to look at her. Heletta's eyes were fixated on the walls, etched with history.

She was particularly captivated by a statue in the center of an open area. It depicted a creature that seemed human, but was not. Standing on two legs, its body was covered in scales. Its face was a fusion of an eel's and a man's—straight like a human's, but unnervingly smooth, with bulging eyes like two obsidian ovals. It was something not quite human.

The statue was posed triumphantly, its arms stretched upwards in celebration, with a harpoon lying a few feet away, lodged in a rock. It stood among endless columns of jade pillars, each entwined with serpents, creating a majestic spectacle. The place was ancient.

After all, they were in a repurposed underwater ruin. The Whydit family's main base of operations was underwater. The island they inhabited was, in reality, governed from a series of decrepit ruins below the sea.

This was true for all the islands in the Kerrasuk region.

Heletta, satisfied with the sights, shrugged her shoulders and continued following Ella.

They finally reached the testing room. The door was a bright jade color, intricately carved with vines, fish, and faces with needles protruding from their eyes. The sight sent a shiver down Ella's spine.

They pushed open the heavy door and stepped into the testing area for new climbers. The room was divided into two uneven halves. The smaller half, facing the door, was filled with engineers working on their entangled drives.

Light from carved gargoyles above reflected off the marble floors, scattering beams across the room and illuminating various scientific instruments. The entangled drives stood like short pillars, each half the height of a man, with sloping tops engraved with vertices. Hovering above them were screens where the engineers ran their simulations.

Ahead was the testing ground. A world-spinner globe, used to generate environmental and biological simulations, hung above the arena. The floor was hard granite, with silver lines running across its surface in chaotic patterns.

This was where they were supposed to be tested, but the engineers, looking worn out, seemed ready to call it a day.

One of the engineers, a man with long, dark hair that looked like pressed silk, noticed them. Hearing footsteps, he turned around. When he saw the two girls, his face fell into a tight frown.

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

"Not another one," he muttered, waving them off. "Go home. We can tell you’re not worth the talent. Please, don’t waste our time."

"You’re not allowed to deny testing to anyone granted entry," Ella retorted. A bigger argument was brewing when the door creaked open behind them. Gelvin stepped in.

"Good evening, gentlemen," he addressed the group with a calm authority that signaled he outranked them, even without explicitly stating it.

"Evening, Sir Gelvin. What urgent matter brings you to us at this hour?" The engineer replied, his tone sharp and laced with wit, subtly asserting his own status.

"Nothing of importance," Gelvin responded, sidestepping the engineer's subtle challenge. He sensed there was something more critical at play.

"I just figured you would all be tired from conducting tests all day," he continued. "I’m here to relieve you of your duties. I will oversee the testing of these two and determine if they are fit to begin the ranking games."

The engineers exchanged glances and, without hesitation, took Gelvin’s offer, eager to end their day. They quickly left the room, leaving Gelvin, Heletta, and Ella alone in the vast space.

Ella immediately threw a teasing accusation at Gelvin, "Can't believe you followed us all the way here. You really are obsessed with me."

"Please," Gelvin replied, "you’re the last person I—or anyone else—would be interested in."

"You might regret saying that," she shot back.

Gelvin ignored her empty threat and walked over to the entangled drive. Activating it, he entered the code that triggered the simulations to assemble in the testing grounds.

An environment, or the simulacrum of one, began to unfold, transforming the space into something entirely different.

The testing ground now looked like the inside of a bright, sunlit sea, clear and blue like the waters near a sunny beach. Bubbles hovered across the shimmering stage, and a solitary fish swam in the midst.

Heletta, caught up in the wonder of the lights and their effects, darted onto the stage. She chased a bubble she found hiding behind one of the columns.

Gelvin, who hadn’t finished fine-tuning the simulation for beginners, glanced at her briefly before returning to his work, but then quickly looked again. It was just a girl poking at a simulated bubble, squealing with delight when it reacted to her touch.

He distracted himself by entering a few more keystrokes, causing the bubble Heletta was playing with to disappear and reappear behind her, startling her. She turned around and saw the bubble floating there, her face lighting up with joy.

The bubble popped and was replaced by a fish, bright gold with a tail streaked in vivid red. Heletta reached out to grab it, but the fish was nimble, slipping through her fingers and swimming away.

Unperturbed, Heletta chased after it, leaping from point to point across the stage, always just missing it but never giving up. Her endless energy drove her pursuit, her determination growing with every failure.

In her eyes, it was as if a pattern was emerging. She began to anticipate the fish's movements, positioning herself ahead of it, like a hunter.

Gelvin was so captivated by her childlike wonder that he had forgotten to adjust the simulation for beginners. "Catch the Fish" required players to use a needle to strike a fish moving at high speeds, then reel it into a bubble. The more fish caught, the higher the score.

The previous participant, Seizaki Vaingrace of the Whydit family, had been told to use a needle, as catching a fish by hand—even in a standard setting—was nearly impossible.

It was even more absurd with the settings optimized for a prodigy like Seizaki. The fish darted across the simulated area so quickly it seemed to teleport, yet Heletta matched its speed, inching closer and closer, moving like a sea serpent.

Fast and slippery, sea serpents were the apex predators of the waters, and once they set their sights on prey, it was only a matter of time before it ended up in their mouths.

Gelvin wondered, watching her, how quickly innocence could turn into something terrifying.

"Helletta, you’re supposed to use a needle to catch the fish, then reel it into one of the bubbles!" Ella shouted. Gelvin glanced at Ella and saw her knowing smile—the smile of someone who had just made a big discovery.

This girl was special.

Heletta stopped chasing the fish and, still panting, said, "Oh! Of course. That makes more sense."

She pulled a small needle attached to a reel from her pocket inventory. Holding her hand aloft, her eyes focused on a blank spot, ignoring the fish as it swam around. It was as if she knew the fish would come to her—and it did.

The moment the fish moved toward the spot Heletta had chosen, she released the needle, catching it effortlessly, reeling it into one of the floating bubbles.

Finished, she asked, "So, when do we start the test?"

Ella’s smile widened. "I think we just did, Heletta," she replied, glancing back at Gelvin. "Isn’t that right, Mr. Administrator?"

Gelvin was at a loss for words. This could be far worse than he had anticipated. Whatever she was, he told himself, he could not let the world know of her.