Chapter 115: System Crash

"At least, we get to eat three meals a day as dogs," Shin muttered as he watched the assailant go. His joke could not get a reaction from any of them, though he knew it would barely have any impact on such a situation.

"My status window," cried Ileana in horror. "It's not working."

Shin frowned and saw the other person knitting his brows as well. Shin checked, but none of his mental commands worked. There were no status windows, as if there were no guardian system in the first place here.

"What do we do?" Ileana wailed, eyes moving around in frenzy. The calmness she presented all time was nowhere to be seen. Currently, she was only a sixteen years old girl, with no idea what was going on with her life.

"Calm down," Shin called, ignoring his own worries. "Take a deep breath and remember your training. You are better than this, Ileana. Breathe in and out."

Shin's words had some clarity in her mind and with inhaling-exhaling, she got a little better. Though she looked no less wrecked than before. Bruises all over the face with dark, purple red path marks. Her brows were united in an arch, as if it still hurt her. Her nightgown was in terrible condition, showing a good portion of her skin in her navel area, and moreover, she was in her panties, leaving her legs bare with dirt and bruises.

She breathed out long for the last before looking at him, trying to hide her legs and bare skin as much as she could. "Shin," she called. Though the voice regained a little of the clarity, it was still haggard and weary. "What will happen to us?"

Shin had no answer. "Everything will be alright," he said, trying to believe his own words. He tried on the mental commands again, but nothing happened. How could they eliminate the connection between them and the guardian system? Then another thought hit him, and he wanted to check if he still could access his inventory. Inside his inventory, there were many useful things that would be of immense help if he wanted to escape from here. But alas! That was impossible for him to check now. Triggering inventory needs mana, and he was currently sealed from accessing his mana.

Shin wailed inside in defeat. No, this was not the end. I needed to check it out later when they unbound the sealing. He looked around. Thinking there was probably something watching, or a hidden camera put in, he said nothing about it, even to Ileana.

His eyes moved towards the other person he did not recognise. Feldan was someone he knew, as he had somehow defeated him in the tournament, but the other person was someone he never saw. Moreover, he appeared to be older than them by a few years. Probably entered in his twenties, though the scowl on his face makes him look older. He had closed eyes, but still with the scowl and it appeared he was meditating.

Abruptly he opened his eyes and looked at Shin as if noticed his gaze. The scowling face made a frown at him, asking if he had anything to say or not.

"You don't seem worried about our situation?" Shin asked. Somehow, he thought this guy was unapproachable. 

"I am," the scowling guy said and became silent.

"Are you a student of the institution?" Shin asked again.

"No." His voice seemed to have some scorn in it, or it could be the normal way he spoke. Either way, shin guaranteed he heard some scorn in his voice.

Shin raised an eyebrow. "That means it is not just from the institute they have kidnapped," he hypothesized. 

"That might not be the truth," the scowling face said again. "I may not be from the academy, but I was there to get to the trial."

Shin frowned. That means this scowling guy was with them at the academy too, and got kidnapped with them here. He was possibly coming from a long way—from another corner of earth waiting to get to the trial, yet something like this happened. Then again, this could be their trial, too. What if, like, the first time when he was kidnapped from a VR to some unknown space, this time was something similar as well? The more he thought about this, the more similarities he found.

In Trial-zero, it was a surprise test, but they could not make it as surprising for the next one. Does that mean they will fall so cruelly to give them a lesson? Holy hell, he was beaten into crap like never before. Even in the demonic training, he did not feel such aching.

The thought of no assistance from the system was even more horrifying. But how could they break the connection? He had heard only in a few places in the universe could the guardian system fail to work. Was there somewhere like that? Then again, it could be a test as well, to see how they react in such a situation. Either way, they could not take risks.

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"What do you think about this?" he asked the scowling guy. "Could they really capture us from one of the most secure fortresses on earth? Or is it just a plea to teach us a lesson?"

"I don't know," the scowling guy said, and tried to get as comfy as he could get with his hands bound behind him. "It could be both. Corruption is nothing new to humanity. I won't be surprised if I hear someone from the institute had sold us to these mongers, and I won't be surprised if it turned out to be a trial as well. The trial seems to work in mysterious ways, and all guardians who know about it are bound to speak nothing related to it to others."

"So it could be both of the options," Shin acknowledged, though he had a hard time believing someone from the academy would sell them so easily.

"What do we do now?" Ileana asked, biting her lips.

"We plan and wait," Shin answered. It was all that they could do. Wait for an opportunity to present itself.

"I am Shin, by the way," Shin introduced himself to the scowling guy. "And this is Ileana."

"I know," the scowling fellow said, giving both of them a look. "I watched your match."

Shin raised an eyebrow, noticing this guy was not saying much nor introducing himself. "And you are?"

"A guy who would do anything to get out of here," he said and got back to his meditation. Something changed, it seemed. The air surrounding him seemed to change, telling the others that he was unapproachable now.

His eyes drifted off towards Feldan, who was still unconscious, with a mess of a face and body.

"We cannot make changes," Shin muttered and looked towards Ileana. 'Could she contact her earth spirit? He wondered, but did not ask, knowing someone might be listening. He also gestures with his lips to tell her to refrain from speaking freely. Ileana was smarter than him, and even in her state, she got what he was trying to say.

She nodded as much as she could with her arms bound tightly that moving even an inch was difficult.

In trial-one, their life was secure even if they die, but there was no way of knowing if it was trial or not. If they die, then their game is over. Either for the trial, or for their entire life.

The kidnapper said they have 2 hours to prepare their mind, but 2 hours appeared like a lot of time. He could not waste time speaking with Ileana in fear of others hearing whatever was on his mind. So in the end he got busy in mediation as well, and so did Ileana.

In meditation, he got to visualise the mana easily. The small droplets of water were easy to imagine, but moving them turned immensely harder. Even more so was the releasing—it turned far difficult, if not impossible. The seal will break if he was at it for a few more hours. But the kidnappers will not likely give such chances. The only consolation was that the mana was working on healing the wounds slowly. It might not be anything immediate, but within a couple of days, he will be better. He will be better, considering the fact he will not be beaten again.

"Bastard." A loud bellowing awakened him from his meditations. It appeared their friend Feldan woke up from his sleep and was cursing the kidnappers. "Let me go, bastards. I can make your life full of misery. . ." It does not look anything more than Feldan begging for more beating. 

The scowling guy woke up as well and gave a scornful look to Feldan. he did not seem to have a good impression of any one of them, and even more so for Feldan. 

"Can you shut your traps?" 

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This arc will be more on the other characters like Shin, Leroy, Ileana, Lara, and a few more I'll introduce next. Still, Elior will have his part.. An interesting part.

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