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ILIAS PAYNE

A day after the end of phase one, the remaining participants were called down to the lobby where we gathered around Ivan. He was standing in front of the main desk, patiently waiting with his hands behind his back while counting us with his tail.

   "It looks like everyone is here." He cleared his throat. "Again, I would like to congratulate all forty-two of you for passing the first phase of this year's exam. Especially since we had to add a preliminary phase as there were too many of you. If this was any other year, all of you would be on your way to the final phase, but unfortunately, we are still in phase two. However, I don't doubt that you have the abilities to progress."

   One of the staff workers rolled in a chalkboard. Ivan picked up a piece of chalk with his tail and wrote down: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

   "I can't tell you what will happen on phase two of the exam, but I can say that it's a mental test. Today is a Sunday and the day of the examination will fall on any of the five proceeding days."

   Thaddeus raised a hand. "That's a bit vague. What day specifically?"

   Ivan shrugged. "Telling you would miss the entire point of this phase. This is a mental test after all. The test can take place as soon as tomorrow or as late as Friday. I will give you this one clue: you will all be very shocked when that day comes. Any other questions?"

   We all looked around to see if anyone had any. No one did.

   "Seeing as there are no more questions, I'll leave you all to that. Good luck and I'll see you all on X-day."

   One of Gluttony's portals appeared beneath Ivan. He didn't even move a muscle as it swallowed him up.

   From my understanding, phase two will start tomorrow but the actual test itself can happen on any of the five listed days. I don't think there's a set time as well so there was a chance the test could start in the middle of the night.

   The fact that we were expecting something but didn't know when it would occur would eat away at our minds. As far as we were concerned, the mental test started the moment Ivan disappeared.

   During lunch, Thaddeus kept scribbling on a scrap piece of paper. He slammed it down after a while and exclaimed, "I figured out what day the test will be held! That sneaky chameleon thought he can trick us? I don't understand logic so I see right through his."

   "That doesn't make any sense," Erina scoffed.

   Thaddeus, Erina, and I continued to sit together at the same table as the Bad Attitude members. None of us had to be in teams anymore, but I guess we found each other's company comforting.

   Thaddeus' announcement prompted all the other participants to abandon their tables and gather around ours. Asher was the only one who remained in his seat, drinking his ale while watching us from afar.

   "You attracted a rather large audience here," Roswaal giggled. "I hope what you're saying isn't a joke."

   "It's not. I actually think I have this whole system figured out."

   Erina shook her head in annoyance. "And instead of keeping it to yourself to use as an advantage, you blurted it out loud."

   "Is everyone listening?" He paused to make sure everyone could hear. "This whole thing is a trick. There is going to be a test, but not during the upcoming five days. It'll be held next week."

   The silent cafeteria was filled with an even greater silence.

   "Are you stupid?" Chris snarked. "Ivan clearly explained everything earlier. This is such a pathetic way to trick us."

   "You were listening to him, but you didn't hear his intentions. So, Christina, let me explain before you start making fun of me."

   "There's not Tina!"

   "Ivan said that the day of the test will be a surprise. He gave us that specific piece of information which means that it's important. Let's do a process of elimination on what days the test can't be held on." He wrote down the days of the week on his scrap piece of paper. "For simplicity's sake, let's refer to the test day as X-day. If it's a surprise, X-day can't be on Friday because Friday is the last day. You can't surprise us on the last day because there are no days proceeding it—meaning that Friday is the only option. And if Friday is the only option, it won't be a surprise. With that, we can cross off Friday."

   He drew an X across the word.

   Everyone nodded in agreement, whispering amongst each other about how the logic made sense so far. The participants close to Thaddeus patted him on the back for eliminating a possible day.

   I hate to admit it, but he's right. You can't be surprised if there's only one option left.

   "Now, if Friday is off limits then it can't be Thursday. We already crossed off Friday which means Thursday is the last day X-day can be. With the logic we agreed on earlier, we can't be surprised if it's the last possible day. So we can cross Thursday off the list too. With this logic, we can eliminate Wednesday, Tuesday, and Monday. Friday not being X-day will cause all of them not to be X-day."

   "Then when will the test occur?" one of the participants asked.

   "Next week," Thaddeus answered proudly. "Phase two is a mental test after all. They're trying to trick us into being paranoid for the entire week—weaken us mentally. The next weekend will pass and no one will drop by to inform us of anything. But once Monday hits—bam! Surprise test. That's how this whole thing will play out."

   "Why would they lie to us?" I asked. "That's not really fair."

   "You're not listening my friend. This is a mental test. Besides, they lied to us about the preliminary."

   "Not really, we just didn't know."

   "Fine. But it won't be happening this week." He insisted. "By process of elimination, it physically can't."

   One by one, the other participants returned to their tables, celebrating how they were getting another week off. Thaddeus chugged his drink smugly.

   Asher snarked in the corner. "Your theory is highly plausible. You're smart for figuring it out, but an idiot for sharing it."

   I shook my head at Thaddeus. "Do you know how to whisper? Why didn't you bother to keep that between the six of us?"

   "Or kept quiet until you get back to your room and share it then?" Roswaal asked. "So only the three of you know."

   "Or keep it to yourself to drastically raise the chances of you passing the exam," Erina asked.

   "I realized then and there and got excited, okay?" Thaddeus replied. "When you come upon a realization, don't you blurt it out in celebration?"

   "Well, this is a very different situation. Blurting out things that could've given you an advantage is stupid."

   "Besides, if I had an advantage, it wouldn't be fair."

   "There is no such thing as fair during a fight." Zwergin slammed his mug on the table. Loud enough to draw our attention but quiet enough that he was still calm. "You're not trying to sabotage us with fake information, are you?"

   "He's not," I said. "He's not smart enough to do that."

   The dwarf howled. "Alright, that's enough for me then. It looks like you've convinced everyone that the test won't be happening until next week, including me. But just to be safe, I'm still going to assume that X-day will be falling this week."

   The topic died down, giving us a chance to clean our plates and empty our mugs.

   Thaddeus returned after getting a refill. "Who at this table knows what the others' abilities are? You don't have to say what the ability is, just who knows."

   "Is this another trick?" Zwergin asked.

   "I just want to know who knows each other's secrets—a little icebreaker. If I wanted information on what everyone's abilities are, I would've approached each person alone and asked separately."

   "You did," Erina said. "You asked me if I knew what everyone's abilities were earlier this morning."

   "Liar! I did not!"

   Erina was either indifferent or serious most of the time. This was the first time I'd seen her try to jest with us.

   "Me too," I said. "You asked me when we were in the hot springs last night."

   "Liar! You didn't come to the hot springs with me. You said you were too tired." He pointed an accusing finger at us. "You two are liars!"

   Chris raised a hand. "You asked me as well."

   "No, I didn't! We didn't haven't seen each other since we climbed off that dragon."

   "Now that you mentioned it, someone slipped a note under my door this morning asking me to meet up in the bar tonight," Zwergin said. "That must've been you."

   By this point, Thaddeus' eyes began tearing up. "I didn't do any of these... That wasn't me. Why am I getting blamed?"

   He really does have sensitive feelings.

   "Oh." Roswaal chuckled. "That was me."

   "It was?" he sniffled. "You can do that?"

   "It's one of my abilities. I thought it'd be fun to mess with the others."

   Thaddeus wiped his tears, his eyebrows pulled together giving him the look of a toddler throwing a tantrum. "It's not funny."

   When Thaddeus wasn't looking, Roswaal gave us a wink.

   Thanks for taking one for the team.

   "To make it up for Thaddeus, I think we should do his little icebreaker," Roswaal suggested. "We're only saying who's abilities we know, not the ability itself. We're also not allowed to ask someone to reveal another person's ability."

   The rest of us seconded it.

   "Good, I just activated a contract when everyone agreed to the second part," Zwergin explained. "Now if any of us breaks that contract, the others will know which two people broke it."

  "Smart intuition, old man. Since I instigated the prank earlier, I think it's only fair that I go first," Roswaal said. "Everyone in this room knows what Erina can do. When Zwergin and I rescued Billie and her bird, I saw him use one of his abilities. Thaddeus also revealed his cards when he tried to break out of my Jailhouse Rock. Ilias, Thaddeus, and Erina's party name was Earth, Wind, and Fire. Thaddeus is earth, Erina is fire, which means Ilias must be wind."

   People believing I can only perform wind is good. It's true that I'm most familiar with wind, but that doesn't mean the other elements were off-limits. I just wasn't as smooth with them.

   "One of his abilities," Zwergin repeated. "Ha! I know more about Roswaal's abilities than any of you. We saw what Thaddeus can do; as well as Erina. And with the pattern Roswaal pointed out, you can throw Ilias in there as well."

   Erina set aside her plate. It was so clean that there wasn't a single spec of scrap on it. "For me, I only know Master Roswaal, Master Ilias, and Master Thaddeus' abilities."

   "Everyone here knows what I can do," Thaddeus claimed. "But I only know what Ilias, Erina, and a little bit of what Roswaal is capable of."

   "I guess it's my turn," I said. "It looks like all of you know what I can do because of a pattern Roswaal noticed. But only Thaddeus and Erina know the specifics."

   There was only one person at the table whose name wasn't mentioned. We all turned towards her.

   "Yay!" Chris wiped the beer foam on her lip, slamming her mug on the table. "No one knows what I can do! Nya!"

   "No one knows what you're capable of?" Thaddeus asked. "Zwergin, you liar! You said you took the exam twice with her."

   "That doesn't mean I know what she can do," the dwarf retorted.

   Chris leaned back in her chair, grinning slyly. "I'd give you a hint, but I don't want to enhance your chances of finding a counter to my ability."

   She always had a playful personality. We're never going to guess what her abilities are until she uses them.

   "Are you a skin-changer?" I asked.

   Chris pointed at me. "Nya! Very very very very very good guess. But unfortunately also very wrong."

   "Skin-changer?" Erina asked. "What is that?"

   "For you to know what skin-changers are, you need to know the history of beast people."

   Before there were five, there were only four great races—terrans, nandirs, elves, and dwarves.

   At the beginning of King LaFleur's reign, several jynxists decided to try and impress him by artificially creating new creatures by splicing together existing ones. Their goal was to create strong and obedient creatures that could be used as super-soldiers.

   During the early years of their experiments, the spliced creatures would die within a day. But the more time they devoted to this project, the longer the lifespan of their experiments were. Soon enough, the experiments would live the average lifespans of whatever animals it was made of.

   These experiments were named chimeras. The jynxists designed the chimeras so that all were biologically female and had no reproduction organs. It would be impossible for them to reproduce if two or more escaped.

   Each chimera sported a different look at first but as the jynxists combined them, they all began sharing a unified look—insect-like creatures with bodies made of only muscle and skin.

   One day, the facility holding them caught fire and the chimeras escaped, wreaking havoc and causing ecosystems to fall out of balance. Luckily they were scared of humans. The jynxists didn't want to be held accountable and kept quiet because, without the ability to reproduce, these chimeras would be gone after a generation. King LaFleur found out and heeded the jynxists' advice to wait for the chimeras to die out before having them hanged.

   One generation came which turned to two which turned to five, yet the chimeras continued to wreak havoc and, according to reports, it seemed as if they were growing in numbers.

   That was when a discovery was made—since chimeras lacked normal reproduction organs, they reproduced through consumption. The chimeras operated like ants, where the queen's only job was to eat and lay egg sacs of its offspring. The offspring would be a hybrid of the last two creatures it ate. These offspring would become soldiers whose jobs were to scavenge for food and bring them back to the queen.

   With their sheer numbers, it was inevitable that chimeras began to see humans as prey—which was what happened when a terran child was captured by chimera soldiers and devoured by a queen. The next batch of offspring were humanoid hybrids of higher intelligence and strength. Some even having the ability to perform basic jynx. This in turn caused the chimeras to develop a taste for humans.

   Child and elderly terrans, nandirs, elves, and dwarves were picked off and devoured by the chimeras throughout the country, causing their diet to be made up of fifty percent humans.

   With these new humanoid hybrids, King LaFleur declared a state of emergency and ordered the extermination of the chimeras.

   During this Chimera War Of Extermination, the humanoid-hybrids began becoming sentient—gaining humanistic attributes such as empathy and individualism. This caused the humanoid hybrids to draw out their humanity and desert their chimera hierarchy to start their own isolated villages throughout Armestis. They were scared to go back to their queens or join the humans' side. But some of these deserters had a strong enough resolve to confront King LaFleur and beg them to spare the humanized chimeras. The king gave them an option to either help exterminate the chimeras or be hanged.

   The answer wasn't hard to pick and, within two years, the chimeras were wiped out. These humanoid-hybrids then begged King LaFleur and the four great races to spare the others that had settled peacefully.

   Against everyone's protest saying that these humanoids would become violent like they once were, King LaFleur swore to protect them, saying that it wasn't their choice for their ancestors to be eaten and for them to turn out the way they were. But it was their choice and humanity that compelled them to help exterminate their own kind. For that, they had the right of living normally like any other race.

   The people despised these leftover chimeras, segregating the ones that moved into human settlements and treating them like demons. But over the next hundred years, they were slowly accepted into society. King LaFleur gave them the name beastfolk as he didn't want them to be associated with chimeras. Due to their important settlements and sheer numbers, their status was promoted, making them the fifth great race.

   "Ah, so that's why Ivan and Chris are both technically beast people despite looking completely different." Thaddeus scratched his head. "But what's a skin-changer?"

   "Some beast people had the ability to temporarily transform into whatever animal is mixed with them. They were called skin-changers," Chris explained. "If I could skin-change, I would turn into a giant cat. If Ivan could, he would be a giant chameleon. But as beast people were slowly accepted into society, their ability to skin-change slowly disappeared. There hasn't been a skinchanger in over eight hundred years."

   "I'm pretty sure the ability to skin-change is a type of self-contract," Zwergin theorized. "I think the beast people that had the ability made an unconscious contract with themselves. Whatever the conditions were, it must've been specific to back then."

   Chris laughed nervously. "Anyways, you guys lose. You still haven't figured out my abilities."

   On Monday, Erina and I paired up, asking the other participants if they had attempted the previous years' second phase and what the tests were. According to the majority, they didn't even make it past the first phase—it was a physical and a team test so not only did they have to be strong, but their party members had to at least be on the same level. A few said they passed, but weren't willing to share any other information.

   "I've attempted the exam six times," Asher said when we asked him. He was on his way to the bar. "I did phase two's mental test twice."

   "What were the tests?" I asked.

   "You do realize that the tests in each phase are different every year?"

   "Of course we do. We just wanted to know what the last years' were to prepare for the upcoming one."

   "Let me ask you something," Asher said as we walked with him. "During the preparation week for phase one, did you ask other participants what the other years' tests were?"

   "We did and we got answers," Erina said.

   "Did any of those participants pass phase one?"

   Erina stared off ahead, her silence was more than a valid answer.

   "I told Ilias and Thaddeus this, but I don't recall giving the wisdom to you. Information wins battles. It's about what you know and don't know. Knowing what to expect gives me an advantage, do you think I'm willing to give that up?"

   Erina answered with silence once more.

   Asher ordered a cocktail when we arrived at the bar. "I enjoy giving advice to rookies—to anyone actually. But not at the expense of lowering my own chances."

   The bar that had always been filled the week prior was quite dead. Aside from the three of us that just arrive, only Thaddeus was present. He was in the corner of the bar arguing with a bartender.

   Earlier, Erina and I asked him if he wanted to accompany us. He declined, stating we were just making ourselves anxious and he'd rather use this week to relax.

   "Sir, I'm not allowed to give you any more drinks," the bartender apologized profusely.

   "Why not?" Thaddeus asked, thrusting his reddened face right up the bartender's face. "Everything here is free as long as you're still in the exam, right? I passed phase one two days ago! I want a drink."

   "Sir, you are too drunk and you are being bothersome to the customers and staff. We have a right to refuse service. You can come back once you're sober."

   "Ludicracy! Do you know who I am, Mrs Bartender? I am Thaddeus Mobley! A descendant of the great Minerva Mobley! And Thaddeus Mobley demands a drink!"

   "Sir, let's get you to your room. I'll accompany—"

   "I know! To enter the exam, the bartender lady from Tally Hall offered the jynxist special. Does that drink truly exist?"

   "It does, but—"

   "Excellent! I want one. With the same number of gates as that lady—thirteen!"

   Erina and I agreed that Thaddeus' logic according to Ivan's testimonies was true, but neither of us wanted to risk it. We wanted to be prepared at any time. Thaddeus, however, saw this as a chance to let loose. He stayed up late last night with the other participants gambling the money he got back (and stole) from Jay Geils. He lost half before Erina confiscated his purse for safekeeping.

   "Let's get you back to the room," I said as Erina and I each grabbed one of his arms. "You've gotten too drunk."

   "Ilias, Erina are here too? Mrs Bartender, get them a drink also!"

   "Nope, it's the middle of the day. We'll get drinks later."

   We apologized to the bartender and dragged Thaddeus back to our room where he was scolded by Erina.

   "Do you know how embarrassing that was? You were so loud that people in their rooms peeked out into the hallways to see what was up with you! Do you have any shame?!"

   Thaddeus sat on his bed the entire time, giggling and nodding with his eyes semi-closed. "I'm sorry."

   But even after Erina unleashed a fury of words onto him, she still helped him change into sleeping clothes and tucked him in, making sure to turn him on his side with a bucket directly in front of him.

   "He's such a handful," she complained.

   "It's surprising seeing you take so much care of him now."

   "We're teammates."

   "Not anymore. It's just funny how you hated the guy at first but you're now babysitting him."

   "I misjudged Master Thaddeus' character and this is the least I could do after how I treated him."

   That night, Chris and Zwergin came by our room and asked us if we wanted to watch the midnight play. Roswaal wanted to spend the night at the bar and Thaddeus was still passed out so Erina and I accompanied them.

   We wanted to be prepared at any time which meant we didn't want to take our chances of being drunk and hungover. But a couple of drinks was fine. We stopped by the bar and hung out with Roswaal before going to the theatre. Since the only thing Erina drank was wine, we convinced her to get a couple of cocktails and take shots. Everything was free after all and it would be a waste to not try new things out.

   Thaddeus was still drunk the next day and Erina had to guide him to wherever he wanted to go. He sobered up by dinner and revealed his plan. "Ilias, remember that librarian I told you about?"

   "The one with the list of books?"

   "Yeah. I can't wait any longer. I'm visiting her tonight."

   "Are you still drunk or what? We're not allowed to make contact with the outside world. Just wait after the exam."

   "I just said that I can't wait any longer. I'll only get disqualified if I get caught and I know how to sneak out without being seen."

   When he and I went to the bathhouse that night, he waited until no one was at the baths to lift the giant tiles using Stone Free. He then turned the ground underneath into quagmire and swam through.

   He's an idiot, but he's one crafty kid.

   Erina questioned where he was when I returned to the room. I told her it was best she didn't know. Thaddeus snuck in through the window a couple of hours later stinking of alcohol.

   "I'm so stupid," he giggled to himself before passing out on the floor. "The library is closed at night."

   I was about to go help him, but Erina reacted first, guiding him into his bed and tucking him in.

   The alcohol coming off him is so strong? How much did he drink?

   His hangover was worse the next day. He refused to climb out of bed which resulted in me levitating him to the cafeteria.

   As we finished breakfast, a portal opened up on the ceiling. Leroy hopped out, hovering himself right as he touched the ground.

   "Participants, the current day is Wednesday and it is currently half past nine in the morning. Your test will be at ten, so please follow me."

   Even though the theory made sense, it looks like Thaddeus was wrong.

   It was evident that the entire room of hungover and unprepared participants wasn't expecting the test to be today. The silent stares directed towards Thaddeus cut deeper than any blade.