It's a struggle to force myself to look at the notification. Because no matter what it is, it spells disaster for us. But I can't just wallow in a muck of unknowing. Worst comes to worst… I have to look this in the eyes so I can watch as it stabs me in the heart.

I look down at my Class Card. At the quest notification. And my stomach sinks through the floor.

Progress Report.

<A group has succeeded in anchoring four of the neighboring districts to their tower.>

< >

<Once the last two are anchored, the quest will progress.>

Even without a hint of confirmation I just know that it's the horizonguard's group. And it almost guarantees that the system's at least nudging them along. Probably with the help of the newly appointed proctors that I had a hand in replacing. Shit… I really made a mistake in freeing Click.

…Wait. Did… did the quest damage Click by itself so I'd be forced to repair it? No. No goddamn way. That's… it's… completely plausible if I look at this just a little differently. Because even though the quest can't do much of anything, this quest was made for paindne. Which means there's probably at least one pure-bred first-wave that the system has some modicum of control over.

Whoever that is, they're probably the one that assaulted Click. And they're so sneaky that the horizonguard himself didn't even catch a glimpse of them. Or there's the obvious potential that the horizonguard was lying to us, but… something tells me he wasn't. Because if he was actively on the system's side, he wouldn't bother with slightly damaging Click for a sneaky reason.

He'd just murder me in cold blood. He's had every opportunity to.

So… where the hell does that leave everything? Is there really a paindne working for the system? Can the quest blatantly favor the others so openly? Were the trials actually damaged when I saved Click, or is this all some convenient bullshit from the quest so it can rig things for the system's favorites?

I sigh heavily through my nose and cradle my head in my hands. I just don't know. Even if this is all my fault because I saved Click… I wouldn't have done anything different. It was a slave to the system. Just because the system took advantage of that, doesn't mean it was the wrong choice. Just one with consequences beyond my wildest imagination.

"Um… Shelby?" Jumble asks quietly. "What happens if the horizonguard clears the quest before us?"

I have no goddamn idea. And that terrifies me. "My best guess is that this place phases in, or some equivalent to that. Whatever exists in the space that it would occupy be damned."

"And the system would get another place of power." Pearl adds somberly. "I can't imagine what it'd do with access to this place again. Maybe… it'd go back to experimenting."

Jumble shudders at the thought. "Okay, I get it. We don't really know, but it isn't anything good. So… um… well… how do we stop it now? The horizonguard is four trials ahead of us. How are we supposed to catch up to that?"

"We can't." I state with grim certainty. "He's had months of a head start. All we can do is finish this trial and hope that whatever progress they make is equally split among all of us–and that it isn't screwed over by the fact that I saved Click too."

"Dang." Jumble hisses through her teeth. "But… if the horizonguard's really had that long of a head start… then how come he's only just finished his fourth trial? Shouldn't the system be directly helping him out?"

"Only when it comes to these trial subquests themselves. Finding them and actually clearing them up to the part that got 'corrupted' by Click getting pulled out shouldn't be affected at all; after all, everything else is the pure domain of the quest. Right here–right now–in these little patches of limbo is the only place where the system can break through."

Pearl's eyes go as wide as saucers. "Wait, you don't think… there's no way…"

I nod solemnly. "The system wanted this."

"But… when?" Pearl furrows her brow as she thinks. "Oh… it was probably after Click told us to go deeper. There's no way the system wouldn't have known how an introduction of more fake shellraiser would affect a construct–especially the concentrated stuff. And since it couldn't stop us within the bounds of the quest… it made sure it got something out of it instead."

Jumble grimaces. "Near impossible trial subquests for us, and much easier trial subquests for everyone else. Heck, we don't even know if the horizonguard's group is the one making the most progress–there have to be so many more people somewhere in the city."

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

We can only hope. I tune out Jumble and Pearl's conversation as it goes down the exact same path my thoughts had taken just a minute ago and stare down at the message. No–the notification. This one is from the quest. Plain and simple. So why aren't the other messages like this one? Who's sending the grey messages if it isn't the system?

Are we being screwed with… or is that actually the system talking to us? Giving us the absolute least information possible while still keeping the subquest 'solvable', which is way too strong a word for it?

I close my eyes and try to steady myself. No matter how shitty it looks, we're not doomed. There's more quest to go after this; the system can't cut out a huge swathe of the actual quest like it did to these trials. That was only possible because Click was supposed to be in charge of everything for some reason. I need to focus on finding some way to clear this subquest so we can at least put up a fight against the horizonguard's progress.

All of it starts with the numbers. And, most likely, a beacon-empowered awareness boost. Maybe that'll let me sense the… pipes! That's it! Before the construct disappeared on us, it said it could sense the tiny insect-like constructs in the pipes! If I can get my awareness strong enough to sense them, then maybe… I can… still not know how these damn things are numbered.

Shit. Okay. That's still a good idea, so file it away for later. Is there anything–anything at all–that'll help me put numbers to the pipes and pools? Our maps aren't useful at all, and from where I stand, I can't see a single hint in this place. The messages are obviously as unhelpful as physically possible, so… wait a second. Why's this announcement formatted so strangely?

I squint down at the quest's announcement to make sure I'm not wrong, and… yeah. There are a lot of spaces where there shouldn't be, greater than and smaller than symbols around the second and third sentences, and an extra set of those same symbols in a line break. It's nothing like anything I've seen the system–or the quest–send out before.

Did everyone get a messed-up one like this? "Jumble, can I see your message?"

She hands me her Class Card without stalling her conversation with Pearl. I nod in thanks, to which she returns a beaming smile, then I enlarge her notification and compare it to mine.

Progress Report.

A group has succeeded in anchoring four of the neighboring districts to their tower.

Once the last two are anchored, the quest will progress.

The differences are stark and immediately noticeable. I read it over twice, checking against my own message each time. Every letter is the same. The contents of the sentences themselves are completely unchanged. But the formatting is all wrong. Am I the only one that got a messed-up version? I quickly tap out a message to Clutter asking if his or Llaliu's notifications had anything strange about them.

A few seconds later I get simple confirmation from both of them that neither of their notifications looked strange. So mine is unique. Why, though? What's with the open diamond shape in the middle? There's six damn spaces between each end, and in the three places where there are too many spaces, each of those have six as well. Six. Hex. It isn't a damn coincidence. So what the hell is it?

I swipe away from the notification to check my inventory. It doesn't leave. Instead, it just stays plastered on my Class Card like something burned into a screen. Hovering over my inventory. I try to clear the thing with a few swipes and taps, but it doesn't change. It won't zoom in or out, or slide across the image, or be interacted with in any way at all. But… something about those spaces bothers me more than ever now. They're so close to lining up with my inventory squares, but since it won't move, nothing lines up right.

But maybe something else will. Something that could actually help us. I swipe over to my map, zoom in until one of the pools is exactly the right size to fit into the six-space zone, and get to scouring every inch of this place. It doesn't take long for Jumble and Pearl to finish up their conversation and start looking over my shoulders again.

"Oh, wow, your message is messed up." Jumble comments. "Why do you have it up like that while you're looking at the map? Isn't it distracting?"

I shake my head. "It won't go away no matter what screen I swipe to. I think it's trying to lead me somewhere."

Jumble raises an eyebrow. "Somewhere where each of those big spaces lines up with… one pool each. Oh! Wow. Um, did I just jump to conclusions?"

"If you did, that's the same conclusion I jumped to." I say with a hopeful grin. "Someone must've hacked into the quest's notification system and put this here for us. Hopefully someone is doing the same thing with their own strange message on the other side."

Pearl slowly nods. "It'll probably take longer with the pipes, unless it looks completely different over there. Maybe they just have one huge wall with them."

"We could ask." Jumble says. "Actually, you know what? I'm just going to ask Dani. We'll give you some space to work, Shelby. Pearl?"

"Coming." Pearl says as she crosses my back to hop onto Jumble's shoulder.

Who then reluctantly detaches from my arm and walks a whole three steps away. Apparently that's all the space I'm getting. Not that I really needed any at all; I've gotten used to the two of them. Pearl's existence is as normal as breathing to me, whereas Jumble's more like a comfortable blanket. Ah, shit, my mind's wandering. Gotta focus on this. There's no telling when the quest will notice I got special treatment and correct its mistake.

Minutes fly by as I get better and better at aligning the spaces in the message with the pools. The place is huge enough that it'll take a long time to check every single pool in the centermost space, but I don't let that bring me down. It's just a matter of time before each of the spaces lines up with something and I–

Before I can finish my thought, all the spaces fall perfectly in line with pools. None of the words cover any others, either. I blink in surprise and stare down at my findings, but before I have a second to second-guess myself, the messages abruptly disappears. My heart skips a beat as I press my thumb down on the right pool, making a mental note of exactly where it is as I look up, and up, and up to see where exactly it is in the room.

A random assortment of pools. And, from where I'm standing, it looks like it's over ninety degrees away on the sphere that is this room.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.