As the first trial finally concluded, both of our heroes made it to the next trial. Out of three thousand seekers, only a third were truly able to pass. Everyone else? They will try once again the year after.

  "Ah!" Ax compined, still wincing in pain from his cracked ribs. He couldn't get a proper night's sleep, nor did the Idun Apple heal his broken bones; it seemed that it only worked on flesh wounds.

  "I guess even they have their limitations..." he mumbled as he got up and walked towards the front of the ship, as they had reached the destination, the seaside city where the next trial would be announced. As Ax followed the crowd, his hand rested on his ribs. Seeing Ax's face contort in pain, one of the coordinators ran up to him.

  "You! Yeah, you! Are you injured?!" he asked him.

  "Oh, uh, yes. My ribs hurt a little, but—," Ax tried to expin before he got cut off.

  "Then say something! I assume it's just a minor injury, however..." he said as he raised his hand towards Ax's chest, mumbling under his breath.

  "If alive... heal target... full," he mumbled as a green glow appeared around his hand. Ax's eyes widened in awe. It's as if small lines of text appeared on his chest as his pain subsided.

  "There... you should be good now!" he said as Ax pressed on his chest. Nothing! No pain, no sign of injury!

  "Thank you!" Ax said in gratitude; the coordinator simply waved goodbye and left.

  "That's a neat oddity!" Ax said to himself as he followed his dove. The bird eventually led him to what looked like a rge inn; there were five of these built next to each other. Ax entered the one his dove entered. He entered a tavern filled with seekers and some of the coordinators taking breaks.

  "I wonder if..." Ax thought to himself as he looked around; his eyes widened as he saw her.

  "Eine! What's up?" He ran towards her, full of enthusiasm, which immediately died the moment he saw her look up at him. Eine had four vender-colored cigarettes stuck between her lips. Her eyes devoid of all life, Ax was half expecting his death sense to go off.

  "Oh, hey, Ax..." she said in a low, tired voice.

  "Haven't seen you in a while..." she continued.

  "Uhh... you might have accidentally lit, like, three more than you should've..." he said as half of him was concerned and the other half expected his death sense to go off.

  "Huh...? Oh, right, where are my manners..." she said right before she took out one of her cigarettes and pced it in Ax's mouth.

  "Hey, wait, I don't smo—Mmm! Hmm?" His voice changed as the smoke entered his lung. It was odd and rexing. It calmed him down; any stress he had just vanished into nothing. He couldn't taste any trace of nicotine either. This actually felt healthy, unlike their earthly counterparts.

  'It's as if this one cigarette has halved every ounce of stress and uneasiness that coursed through my veins,' he thought to himself, his gaze lowering to Eine's three... cigarettes...

  "..."

  "I'm going to skip dinner and take a hot bath and just sleep," she said as she got up, extinguishing each of the cigarettes on her right hand and throwing them away.

  "Yeah..." he said as she walked away.

  "I should probably go as well," he said to himself as he grabbed the cigarette out of his mouth and was about to throw it away.

  "..."

  "Yeah, I'll go in like 5 minutes," he mumbled as he put the cigarette back in his mouth.

  ***

  Meanwhile... in a dark room back in the main city of the kingdom...

  "Fascinating, this year's seekers are... exceptional to say the least," an older feminine voice spoke as she peered at rge, holographic screens.

  "What idiot eats a scorpion out of spite?!" a man asked in shock.

  "Forget that, why was the Odontotyrannos rabid? Was it trying to kill someone?!" someone else spoke out, their voice showing disappointment.

  A gss dome-like surface reflected the iridescent colors of the fight between the Odontotyrannos and the seekers who defended themselves. As the gss stared at the battle, it continued staring until the beast was killed. Culled in front of their eyes.

  "I can always come back; it doesn't matter to me. But they can't,"

  Listening to this seeker speak, the gauge behind the gss seemed to decrease in pressure, almost as if—

  "Valve? Is that the gravewalker?" Opal asked as she stared at the seeker with the blue coat.

  "Fascinating... isn't he? Gravewalkers are tremendously rare compared to Elementers and Changers, and even when they do... they usually turn to crime and viliny...," she continued as Ax piqued her interest as well.

  She looked over and stared at Valve, his arms behind his back as he held a somber body nguage, his helmet reading a lower pressure than usual, which showed that he was calmer. As if he were reminiscing, he turned away and walked towards the doors of the room.

  "It seems so..." he said as Opal followed him through.

  Meanwhile... Baron, who was also in this room, witnessed his reaction and Ax's combat against the beast.

  His mind raced, 'Ax was a gravewalker? He must've known if he took him under his wing—wait... no, he couldn't have... He seemed surprised?' Baron kept trying to make sense of the pieces thrown in front of him.

  "What are you hiding...? Valve?" he mumbled to himself as he stared back at the screens.

  ***

  As Ax walked up the stairs to his particur room. He entered through the door to see a spare change of clean clothes, which consisted of bck trousers and a white tee shirt. A seemingly normal set of clothes, next to them y towels and a small bar of soap.

  "Ah... right, the public baths... That's going to be... awkward," he said as he recalled the inn having a public bath separated by sex.

  He desperately wants to avoid going in a public area, but...

  "Right now... my hygiene is even more desperate...," he said as he let out an exasperated sigh. He grabbed his phone from his pocket and threw it on the bed and went to the baths.