Sui spent the rest of the morning going over her thoughts again and again, and making no real progress. Aife at some point, not that Sui was really paying attention to the when, had offered breakfast, but Sui declined the effort. Trina also managed to wake up at some point, and was now wearing the dress Sui provided for her. Sui spared the briefest of moments, lamenting the fact she’d been unable to create any magical underwear before continuing to ponder over what she needed to consider her top priority.

It was some surprise to Sui, when the next wave notification appeared.

Sui, wave 9 will be commencing in approximately 5:00 minutes, please ready yourself. You will require all members of the team you had in the previous round if they are still alive as well as a large open space.

Well, I suppose that is something to keep my mind off of things. It, at least allows me a time to focus on ensuring that I remain among the living. I wonder why it seems to REQUIRE a team though. The previous summons, have mentioned that I may have a team, or that one time, that said I could skip with my team…

But this is the first one that says I have to use a team and that it has to be the same one as last time. I wonder if that is causing problems for anyone? Sui shrugged off the thought. It really didn’t matter if it was causing issues for anything else, it was simply an interesting idea to consider and now that the wave was approaching, she had more important things to worry about.

Sui picked up what had quickly become her ‘combat thread’. A mixture of spools containing one with spider thread, she’d requisitioned from Ito, a double set, of some of her lower quality thread, she didn’t mind losing, one in a dark green and another in an awful brown, that was already close to falling apart, and finally, some thread that she wrapped around her neck, just in case something happened to the lot she had hanging on to her waist.

Something Sui noticed, while applying the days thread, is that her limit of needing to be touching at least part of the thread seemed to count her whole outfit as ‘part of her’ so even when she wrapped them around her waist using a bit of the brown thread, each spool was available to her power.

Hmm, an interesting thing. This will be quite useful. Did I notice this ability before now? I am unsure, but I will keep a note of it in the future. Sui tapped her leg as the countdown reached two minutes and she got up to head for the door to await the others.

I wonder if I could sew some extra into my dress on the inside or perhaps near the end of sleeves? Maybe just everywhere I can, without adding to much weight? Would that work? My outfit doesn’t like me manipulating it directly and I’m not sure how things would work if I added to it…

Sui bit her lip. I don’t really want to. Forgetting the magic for a moment, it is a complete and very nice-looking outfit. I’m glad I made it, and while it’s a shame it’s stuck on me… if it is stuck on me, I certainly don’t want to ruin it…

On the other hand, this could be something that directly effects my changes of not dying… man I didn’t really think about it before, but the Waves sure have made my life more complicated. Basically, everything needs to be weighed as a chance to prevent possible death.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Then again… if everything is a chance to help me prevent my demise… does anything really help? No that’s stupid. Of course it does. Some things are much more helpful… this is… well honestly, I don’t know if it’s one of those things. The risk that it somehow disrupts or breaks the outfit is a big consideration. Being able to use it in place of skin contact is very nice.

On the other hand… there is a chance it could be better. Should I be scared of trying to improve already made designs? Sui came to the conclusion that yes, yes, she should. I shouldn’t mess with things. Clothes don’t get additions once they are complete. The only exception is repairs, and this outfit is in perfect condition.

When Sui finalised her thoughts, she looked up to Aife pulling Trina along, who was still trying to bite into a half-eaten sandwich. Sui just sighed and pulled open the door as she exited the house and left it open for them both to come through. It appeared Trina had not completely recovered from the previous day’s activities.

Though… it might just be her proclivity to sleep in more than Aife and I. She does seem to require additional time sleeping to maintain herself. I wonder if that is something I’ll need to work on. So far there have been two tasks where we’ve needed to stay up for exceptional amounts of time. If there is actually more then having her practice the skill might be necessary… but it would be a hard thing to train. What if we tried only to have a Wave sprung on us?

I suppose we could use the rest time… but there is no certainty they won’t just spring something on us then. Sui shook her head and started to move away from the house. There wasn’t much time left and she wanted to be completely ready for whatever it was they were about to be tasked, to do.

After about thirty seconds of waiting, a grey pedestal appeared in front of the group of three. Trina, who was still half asleep and leaning heavily into Aife, pushed herself to her feet when she saw it appear. Straight after this, a massive black box appeared right in behind the pedestal, cutting of all vision for the most part.

It was clear they could still see, and the box was simply black, with some slight light absorbing qualities, and the grass in front of the pedestal could clearly still be seen, but the box stretched as far as they could see in all directions. It was a little disturbing how total the darkness seemed to be.

Wave 9 will activate when all members of the current group, places their hands on the pedestal. Once that happens, the wall will fall and reveal a minor obstacle course that you may choose to navigate around.

When the box lowers, each individual will be provided with a paintball gun. While you may shoot your fellow team members, it will not result in anything happening. Shooting the walls of the obstacle course will also not do anything.

The only thing that will react, are Targets. All Targets are bright red with a blue ring around them. Targets may be found throughout the obstacle course, as well as shooting across the sky and random intervals. Targets may be shot anywhere on them for the same number of points. Which is 1. A target that has been shot by anyone will be counted as inactive and will no longer provide points. Targets shot out of the air will disappear. Targets not shot out of the air may land within the obstacle course to be found later. 80% of Targets will be launched.

To pass, an individual requires a certain number of points. Unlike previous rounds, you do not compete as a team, and will pass or fail based on the number of points that the individual has collected.

Warning. Failure to activate and complete the task within 12:00:00 will result in elimination.