Ren looked at his Stone Tablet. A few things had changed.
[Name: Ren Gray]
[Title: None]
[Skills: Instinct Lv. 3, Primitive Stab Lv. 3, Awkward Lockpicking Lv. 1, Gotta Move! (Weak) Lv. 2]
[Unique Attributes: Sinner Lv. Max]
[Level of Growth: 0]
[Achievements: 3]
[IMPORTANT: Incompatible Legacy]
'Incompatible legacy? What is that supposed to mean? There isn't even a description... Is it about what the tablet said at the end of the dream...?'
He pondered it for a while as he waited quietly next to Lucia, who was visibly confused by his strange expressions and quiet muttering. Eventually he gave up. Thinking about it wouldn't get him any answers. Instead, he turned his attention to another entry that wasn't here before.
{Unique Attributes}:
[Sinner: You have directly disobeyed divinity. Anyone with ties to divinity will immediately know of your sin after looking you in the eyes.
Rarity: Unholy]
"What the fuck," Ren said out loud.
"Is something the matter...?" Lucia asked, looking at him with concern.
Ren blinked and turned toward her.
"...Oh! I'm fine, sorry about that."
"Okay then..!" Lucia smiled.
Ren offered a faint smile back before looking away.
What did that mean? When could he have disobeyed divinity?! Was it the entity from his dream, or something else entirely? And what would it mean for him going forward? Would he now be considered an enemy by every religious person?
Ren sighed. All of this was giving him a headache.
"I'm going to walk around for a bit. Wait for me here, okay?" he said to Lucia, slowly standing up.
"Oh, sure. I'll stay near the entrance," Lucia answered with a smile.
Ren looked at her for a second before quietly walking away.
———
There were a lot of people, dressed in all sorts of styles. Some of the clothing Ren had never seen or heard of, some he knew all too well, and some looked similar but slightly off.
The people themselves looked unusual too. Some had pupils in shapes that didn't seem natural, others had skin far too pale to be normal, and a few even had extra fingers or extra limbs. Most still looked relatively normal, but those with abnormalities clearly stood out.
'What is going on here...? Is this because of some skills...?'
Ren theorized that they had gained those traits through skills. It was the most logical explanation, if anything linked to this situation could be called logical.
He checked the timer again.
[71 : 19]
A bit over two hours had passed. What would happen when it reached zero? Would they be sent back to the desert?
'No, probably not...'
He summoned his stone tablet once more.
[Brave the desert and find one of the occupied safe bases scattered across certain oases. Those who succeed will be granted the knowledge to continue.]
That was the mission they had been given when they arrived, and the reward was written right there, set in stone: Knowledge.
'Yeah... they'll probably give us information about this whole situation. They have to.'
He dismissed the tablet and kept walking.
"Hmm?"
A young, silver-haired man lay asleep, resting up for whatever came next. A short iron sword lay beside his unconscious body.
Ren stared at him. No one else seemed to pay the man any attention, likely too consumed by their own problems.
"Alright then."
———
Ren returned to the entrance where Lucia was supposed to be waiting, a silver sword now in his left hand.
"Cutie, over here!" Lucia shouted to get his attention, earning glares from a few people nearby, as if they were ready to tell her to be quiet.
"Lucia—" Ren began, turning toward her.
She was standing next to a tall, imposing man in a soldier's uniform, who had a familiar blue-haired young man slung over his shoulder.
"Is... is that your uncle...?" Ren asked, keeping a few meters of distance.
"LET ME GO, YOU BRUTE!" the blue-haired man demanded.
"Yes, he found someone else to join our team!" she said, as her uncle set the feminine young man down.
"Finally! Damn it, what's your pro—" Karma cut himself off when he noticed Ren. "...It's you."
After Rita's death, there was clearly some tension between Karma and Ren.
"Do you guys know each other?" Lucia asked, but neither answered.
The silence was broken when her uncle spoke up.
"So, you're that fella my lil' Lulu recruited, huh? Welcome to the team, kiddo. Name's Bartholomew Valencia. Just call me Bart, though," he said with a wide, goofy smile.
Ren blinked.
"Oh, um... yes, nice to meet you too, Bart."
Lucia glanced at Ren before asking, "Um, cutie? Where did you get that sword?"
Karma blinked, visibly confused by the nickname, while Ren looked at her and then down at the weapon.
"I found it," Ren said, offering no further details.
"You... found it?" Lucia repeated, as Karma shot Ren an annoyed glance.
She was about to question him further, but her uncle cut in.
"So, are y'all not starvin' or anythin'? It's gettin' awfully dark out here. We should eat somethin' and rest up!"
The group agreed, though Lucia had to spend some time convincing Karma to stay, since he seemed reluctant to team up with Ren again.
Eventually, Bart pulled military rations out of a large backpack packed with survival supplies. Lucia and her uncle talked throughout the meal. Ren kept up with the conversation and occasionally chimed in, but Karma stayed quiet the entire time, unlike his usual self.
Afterward, Bart took a bottle of liquor from his bag. Ren knew nothing about alcohol and had no idea what it was. After only a few sips, the man was already on the floor, crying his eyes out and lamenting his love life.
"Why did she divorce me, damn it!" he cried, drawing awkward glances from the people nearby.
"Uncle Bart, not this again!" Lucia shouted.
"But it's not my fault that it's small! I was born this way!"
Karma and Ren did not find Bart's tantrum funny, all they could do was stare at him. Both were still pretty shook by the loss of their teammates.
Lucia stuffed her uncle's mouth with her ration's wrapper to shut him up. "I don't want to hear that!" she said, blushing to the tips of her ears.
He struggled for a moment before spitting out the plastic, then immediately fell fast asleep on the ground.
"...We should probably go to sleep, too. It's bad for my skin if I don't get enough sleep anyway," Karma said, leaning against the wall and closing his eyes.
Eventually Lucia calmed down, and after saying goodnight to Ren, she went to sleep as well.
Ren was now the only one awake. Uncomfortable sleeping around strangers, he decided to keep watch. He wasn't very tired anyway. It seemed he had slept for a long time during that dream, if it could even be called a dream.
The night passed without incident, or at least none that Ren could see through the dense crowd.
The group spent the rest of their time getting to know one another and sharing information. There wasn't much to cover about recent events: Lucia had already told Ren what had happened before she arrived, and Ren had been with Karma earlier. Ren and Karma eventually revealed that they had worked together before, though they left out the exact details of how Eric and Rita had died.
Instead, they traded details about their past lives. As expected, Bart had been a soldier. Neither Ren nor Karma recognized the country he had served, but they didn't dwell on it. Lucia had been a famous model back home. Ren didn't think much of it, but Karma was visibly confused, having never seen or heard of her despite his extensive knowledge of fashion.
Karma himself was unemployed, though he didn't need a job. He was the heir to a wealthy family.
'Bastard...' Ren thought.
Eventually, the timer hit [00:00].
As it did, a bright light appeared in front of the counter, then vanished shortly after. Soon the door behind them disappeared too, hiding the desert from view through the windows. A collective chill ran down the group's spine. If they had taken any longer, they would have been trapped out there. Some people likely were.
Ren looked up again after examining the spot where the door had been. The light condensed into the shape of a featureless woman made entirely of radiance. Beside her, the tall man in the white robe, whom Ren and Karma had met upon arriving, floated into the air.
"Hello, Survivors," the man said. "First of all, I must express my profound respect and compliments to all 5,179 Survivors who made it here alive, and to the three of you who obtained Unique attributes so early! Four, if we count the deceased. As promised, you will now be rewarded with knowledge.
"You are currently in a place known as the Between-Worlds. It is plagued by the defiled, vile creatures of corruption. I am sure you have all met some of them already. Once an intelligent being enters the Between-Worlds, those above decide to test them. The individual is then gifted a soul slab containing information about themselves and their missions. If the individual achieves something great, they will be gifted an achievement. It is the responsibility of us, the apostles of those above, to reward those who have received achievements. The test consists of two sortings to get rid of the weak. You have completed the first one and now must participate in the second. This should be about all the information you need."
He smiled at the crowd.
"What the hell?!" a man in his forties shouted. "How do we get back home?!"
A woman nearby joined in. "Y-yeah! We want to go home!"
A cacophony of complaints and pleas soon filled the room.
"Home, you say?" the tall man said, instantly silencing everyone. He smiled in a way that made Ren tremble. "You will all be sent back to where you came from if you manage to complete the second sorting. I promise. Now, we will shortly start handing out everyone's rewards."
Some people complained that they couldn't go home right away, others were relieved to learn they could return, and some doubted the tall man's words entirely.
Ren, of course, belonged to the last group. That man was not telling them everything.