Pa, or Kang, as he probably wanted to be known as, stared at the artefact suspiciously:

“And what does this do?”

She smiled. “It lets you uncover the hidden.”

“I’m assuming it’s an illusion-breaker.”

“Put them on and look.” She pointed up.

Tom’s mind finally linked the different clues: Kang’s inability to see them, the specialised artefact, his stupid assumption that the adults were being careless. There was clearly magic protecting the cupboards that must have failed in that first isolation room.

“This is about the cupboards, isn’t it?”

“What cupboards?” Kang asked, confused.

Corrine looked at him side eyed. Her eyes narrowed. “How the fuck do you know about them? Wait! Was it you that went into the lair?”

“Um… I might have.”

“You fucking idiot, you scared the shit out of Dim when you reflected his fear spell.”

Mentally, he froze like a fox caught in the glare of a spotlight. More clues came together: the incongruity of that moment, the pressure he had felt, Dimitri’s reaction. In a strange sort of way, the fact that he had reflected the spell made more sense than a third party acting. It had never felt rational that he had been spared when someone so much stronger than him had been affected.

“Do you have any fucking idea of the chaos you caused? Dim was convinced we were under attack. Luckily, Eden was in town. She swept the place and declared that the wards hadn’t been breached and there were no signs of foreign influence. Anyone fucking else and Dim wouldn’t have believed them, but he wasn’t about to argue with her.”

“Eden?” Tom asked, while thinking about the conversation he had overheard on the first day. The person who they had been terrified of because she had effectively executed someone who had cut corners when giving the awakening lecture.

“Yes, that Eden. Eden of the fucking green. And you, you fucker, wasted six hours of her time.”

“Six hours of a hero of humanity’s time,” Kang shook his head while wearing the ridiculous artefact. He kept staring up at the cupboard. “That’s unfortunate.”

Corrine’s focus shifted. “What the fuck do you know about her?”

“Only a little. I’ve spent a fair bit of time extracting everything I could from the memories of my younger self. I’ve been absorbing them completely. I felt like the two selves were both me, and it felt right to unify the two personalities to make sure both of me had the same memories. So, the younger me experienced the older me’s memories, and my adult brain interrogated those of the younger me. It means I know everything I’ve overheard over the last couple of years, even in passing.”

“I did the same. It really helped to internalise the truth that we were the same people, same soul.”

Tom listened to the two of them and flushed. He felt like he probably should have done that, too. He wondered how much context his laziness had been keeping from him as a result. While, logically, Kang’s process yielded some superior results, he felt like his approach was better - at least, for himself. His method had not formalised anything, but his two near identical personalities had merged in any case. There had been a gulf of experience between them, but in both cases it had been his soul, so the differences weren’t material. Besides, the organic approach to merging suited him better than what Kang and Corrine must have done.

Kang nodded absently, not really listening to what Corrine had said. Instead, he was tapping the lenses, moving them into different positions. “Is this working?”

“It usually takes ten minutes to get through.” Corrine seemed to have been put off-balance by Tom’s revelations. “Kang, about Eden. You definitely didn’t know about her from your first life, did you?”

The other boy shook his head. “Nah, I died about two and a half years in. If she had emerged by then, news hadn’t reached us yet.”

Corrine sighed in relief. “We all did, you know. Everyone reincarnated one had died within three years of getting here. Tom? You too?”

“I died in the first one.” He said grimly.

“I don’t know much about Eden, but she emerged fifteen years in, and I was just making sure you didn’t reincarnate from after that, because that would have been big news.”

Kang grunted uncommittedly. He wasn’t paying any attention to what she was saying.

“What did she do?” Tom asked.

“We, as in humans, got warned about a plan that the fucking wador were coming to attack us. A massive raiding party of a couple of hundred. They had to pass through three temperate forests separated by massive grassy plains. It was about equivalent to crossing America. We responded in force. Approximately ten thousand humans met them in a valley as they exited the area and repelled them. Eden went after them as they fled, and that was where she got her moniker Eden of the green. She was some sort of assassin nature class, and she pursued them as they retreated. According to the legends, she got all of them. Over a hundred kills. Hence her name: within nature, within the green she is unstoppable.

Kang was studying the cupboards intently. “And, Tom, are you sure Corrine is not playing a prank? You can see what I’m looking for? Because I can only see paint. I can’t perceive even a ripple that might indicate an illusionary form.”

“Yeah, they’re real. Fourteen cupboards, and they contain an interesting supply of body tempering stuff.”

Corrine’s attention was back focused on him. “You really aren’t lying, are you.”

“Nope.”

“And the lair door? How about that?”

“I could see it from day one. But it’s locked most of the time.”

“Fuck, that’s ridiculous. Can- can you see through all illusions?”

He studied her. There was no reason for her to lie here, and Kang’s confusion had been clear enough. Somehow, he had pierced both illusions, which was clearly something he wasn’t supposed to be able to do.

“I didn’t even know they were covered by an illusion.”

“And you saw the metal door on day one? No one showed you? Did you see someone exit? Was there a title awarded at any point or anything like that?”

“No ding, no person leaving, nothing. It was just a random metal door. To be honest, I was only curious about it because little Ta couldn’t remember it being there. Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Because it’s hidden under both powerful illusions and spells to turn the gaze away. I knew the lair existed from my reincarnation debriefing. Then I was able to track down where in the gymnasium it was, and that only by observing the older children. Even then, knowing it was there and feeling out the area, I couldn’t locate it. It was infuriating – knowing about it, being aware of its presence, and yet being unable to locate it, even more so when Dim put me on the white list once I was qualified, so I discovered how it was made of metal. To this day it beggars belief that I couldn’t feel the change in texture or the seam. I guess that’s the nature of powerful illusions. But it needs to be so, to stop the unprepared from reaching the lairs.”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Lairs?” Kang asked abruptly. “What’s the point of doing something that dangerous if we can’t earn experience?”

“What type of fucking question is that?” Corrine snapped. “Even if I can answer explicitly, it’s not the sort of thing I should fucking respond to.”

Kang nodded thoughtfully, but not perturbed. “Yeah, it was a dumb question. I shouldn’t have asked it. Instead, can you tell me how strong the monsters are?”

“Relatively powerful, but with large exploitable weaknesses. Despite them being targetable earlier, Dim won’t put you on the white list until you demonstrate at least general two combat proficiency.”

Kang shifted his attention away from the rafters to look at her. “What does that mean - general two combat proficiency? That term wasn’t in use when I died.”

“It’s a term borrowed from the Divine Champion’s Trial.”

“What’s that?” Kang asked immediately. “It sounds fun.”

She went red. “I’m saying stuff out of order. I’ll get to that in a minute. To answer the pertinent question, General Two Combat means that if you fight against random tier two monsters ten thousand times, you’ll only die once.”

“Any monster restrictions?” Tom asked carefully.

“Yes… um… no, but sort of yes. You fight on land, so it’s restricted to terrestrial varieties only. Beyond that, anything goes. And don’t get excited, it’s not anywhere near as easy as you think”.

“Fighting rank two monsters as a rank one doesn’t sound that hard.” Kang disagreed. He had returned to staring blankly right at the cupboard, but somehow still not perceiving it.

The boy’s failure to make progress despite studying it for minutes with the help of an artefact leant credibility to the power of the passive defence. It might have felt undefended, but the illusions protecting them were apparently super strong. There was a very good reason that children weren’t getting their hands on the chemicals stored in the cupboards.

“However,” the other boy continued. “I can see that gaining levels above General Four Combat will be challenging. Monsters above rank four can have some tricky abilities.”

“Level two is hard enough,” Corrine insisted, almost glaring at Kang. “It took longer to reach it than I hoped, and, for your information, the stuff our size is easy enough to overwhelm. Be it a single wasp or a monster the size of an elephant, they’re both incredibly difficult until you grow your abilities to a higher level.”

“How can something that big be classed as a rank two?” Tom blurted out before he could stop himself.

She shot him a smile. “Yeah, I wouldn’t have believed it either until I experienced it. It is fucking big, but the problem is that it’s also comically slow. It had no chance of killing me, but I couldn’t hurt it back, either, and drawing three times is considered a loss.”

“Out of interest, what type of monsters are down in the lair? I fought a bat.”

Corrine nodded. “The bats are one of the easiest to beat, at least if you plan ahead and take an antidote. The rest are between rank three and six. They all have a favourable match-up to let you exploit them and a quirk to make them interesting. Some are intangible, others as hard as metal, a couple have impressive camouflage, another frustrating speed, or debilitating mind attacks, or acid, pretty much every type of attack. To be honest, they represent the full gambit of monsters you’ll fight out in Existentia proper. Just curated in order to reduce their ability to overwhelm you and kill you quickly.”

“And is it worthwhile?” Kang asked.

Tom glanced at the other boy. His questions were dangerous, especially if some of his own guesses around titles and being underage were right.

“You can train skills,” he answered for Corrine, so she wouldn’t say anything they would all regret. “Skills and spells develop faster when you are at real risk. If there’s a variety of different monsters to fight, that means you can choose which specific opponent will stress the ability you want to develop the best. The weekly trial will give us technical combat experience, but as far as the system is concerned, it’s no better than training by yourself in the isolation room. When you fight actual monsters while underage, you won’t earn experience, but you’ll get a significant bonus to the training speed of your abilities.”

“I guess. Seems a lot of danger for not much benefit.”

Corrine pointedly said nothing. Then she studied Tom once more. “Am I right when I say you don’t know how you’ve reflected the fear attack?”

“I didn’t even realise I had done that until now.”

Her forehead wrinkled. “Um… you’re joking, right?” Her confusion deepened as she read his facial expression. “You’re actually serious. You honestly didn’t know. Did you check your traits?”

“For goodness sake, Corrine, I’m not stupid. It’s not a trait. I can read, and I’ve checked.” He waved at the status ritual. “Only a single one of my traits came through, and it was because of a title.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m certain! Plus, none of the traits I got in the contribution store or in Existentia can reflect a mind spell.”

“The illusions?”

“Another mystery.”

She massaged the brow of her nose and absently kicked the floor. “You’ve really got no fucking clue?”

He stared at her. “I’ve been honest with you. I have holes in my memory. But I’ve read,” he pointed at the bookshelf. “Enough to know there are only two explanations...”

“A high-levelled skill or a soul title.” She finished for him.

“Exactly. I have one of those. I just have no clue about when or how I acquired it. There are other issues about my affinities that I need to address. Something happened to me, and I have to find out what. I’m hoping to be able to track down some old friends.”

Corrine snorted. “Well, you’re up shit creek. Your team’s probably well and truly fucking dead by now.”

Kang pulled off the artefact and massaged his brow. “Ouch, this thing makes your head hurt. Why are you saying none of our friends would have survived?”

“Because that’s usually the case. Those who pushed hard in the first couple of years mostly died.”

“At least one of my group is still alive.” Tom told them.

“Wait, you were friends with someone who became a hero?” Corrine asked, catching the subtext of the statement.

“Something like that.” He said neutrally.

“Who?” Kang demanded almost at the same time.

Tom grinned at him. “Sorry, it’s not Cam.”

The other man burst out laughing. “Yeah, younger me was a bit of an idiot. But seriously, is the hero still active?”

Tom nodded slowly.

“And will he help you?”

“I don’t know.” he admitted. “If he thought it was a good investment for humanity, then yes. Would he invest in me otherwise? I honestly can’t predict what he thinks of me now. We’ve had a weird relationship.”

“He fucking doesn’t need to, and shouldn’t.” Corrine interrupted. “It’s better for all if you fuck’s forge your own path rather than searching for handouts. It’s not like you’ll even need help if you’re competent. This place is a fucking gold mine of opportunities.”

“The cupboards, the lair, yearly tournaments and this divine champions thing?” Tom summarised. Only guessing at the last.

“And the not-parents.” Corrine told him, accidentally confirming that the divine trial was a resource that he could potentially exploit. That was something he was definitely going to follow up on.

“Ta and I don’t have a not-parent,” Kang said immediately.

“No, to the best of my knowledge no reincarnators do. We’re all proper little orphans.”

“Then what do you mean?” the other boy asked. “How are not-parents helpful?”

“Because they’re fucking easy marks. So twisted at the guilt of helping their own bastards when they’re not supposed to that you can worm your way in and they’ll give you stuff.”

Tom frowned, surprised by the answer. His memories implied that the not-parents were dedicated to their own kids, not others.

“And that’s a good resource?” he asked, his considerable doubt clear in his tone.

Corrine nodded vigorously. “Fuck yeah. They’re conflicted. They’ve got their loved ones back on Earth and their new kids. But they’re still parents and they don’t want their fucking precious spawn to become disposable foot soldiers. Especially the not-parents with less gifted children. They’re the ones you latch on to. You can manipulate the fuck out of them. Rich people desperate to make amends for their own children’s failures.”

“Got it.” Tom said quietly. He was getting the feeling that Corrine had a chip on her shoulder. Someone who had grown up in a poor neighbourhood and still had all the baggage that went with it? “I don’t understand the Divine Champion Trials yet.”

She frowned at that question. “To be honest, I shouldn’t have mentioned them.”

“But you did.” Kang pointed out. “So spill.”

“Unlike everything else, they’re not a human exclusive resource.”

“Competition locked or global?” Tom asked immediately thinking of the race trial.

“Existentia-wide. The best champions of each god are let in. You need to earn your place. Once in, you fight the representatives of the other GODs under a full GOD shield, a partial one, or no shield whatsoever.”

For a moment, he imagined such a duel. A lot of the other sapient species started with physical characteristics which were so much better than humans.

“That’s bullshit. I’ve fought other species, I’ve battled a dragon and a giant. How the hell can humans compete against one of them? Even one of their young...” He envisaged an infant dragon: the size of a bus and the agility and speed of a cat. There was no way a human who didn’t have dozens of levels would stand a chance against any of those species.

Tom froze. The other two were looking at him strangely. Corrine had even taken an instinctive step backwards.

“What?” he asked, feeling very self-conscious. He wished he had his spear to hold.

Corrine, with wide eyes cleared her throat tentatively. Both hands were raised in a defensive calm down. There’s no need to fight gesture.

“Are you fucking serious! No, it’s impossible. You didn’t fight a fucking dragon. It can’t be. Oh fuck. Jesus. Fuck… I.”

Kang was looking at him with what wide feverish eyes. “What she’s trying to say is… have you really fought a dragon?”