A blinding light enveloped everything around me, and then I found myself in a completely white room. The white room was an enormous rectangle shaped structure that contained everything one needed. There was a long table that had huge amounts of food and drinks on it. There were also a clothing racks that had hundreds of sets of plain black clothes, and furniture like couches and armchairs.

The things that stood out were modern looking armor stands, white boxes as large as rooms that had doors, and a tunnel that was too dark to see into.

I had thought that we would be transported to a ruin, but contrary to my beliefs, I was in a room most likely meant for doing preparations.

Another thing that surprised me was that 400 of the people who had been in the cave were missing. Calvin and my other group members were also nowhere to be seen. In other words, I would have to make new connections.

"Where is everybody?" asked a katana wielding girl with brown hair and a confused expression.

"It seems that we've been separated." answered a sword carrying man with blond hair, blue eyes and a fairly muscular build.

My attention was on the man who was speaking, but was then directed at a man in a pajama running full speed towards the clothing racks.

"He seems to have his priorities straight." a man quipped with a laugh.

He was probably trying to use humor as a coping mechanism.

"First, let's create a strategy, and then we're going to head into the first ruin!" the sword carrying man yelled, addressing everyone in the room.

"Why can't we stay here?" The confused girl asked.

"The food is eventually going to run out, so it's best that we get through the first ruin in the best shape we can be in." the man answered.

"What if the food respawns after we eat it?" a man asked.

"This isn't a fucking video game, dumbass." a man next to his said as he smacked him.

"Haven't you noticed the voice in our heads?" the man asked aggressively, as he grabbed the man who had smacked him by the collar.

"Stop! We don't have the time for this." the sword carrying man said yelled and separated the men. "We should decide on a leader before things get out of hand. I nominate myself. Is there any opposition?" the man said, and none of the people who were observing the situation nominated themselves.

"Good, then I'll be taking the leader's spot." the blond haired man said and turned his gaze to me. "You can be the vice leader."

"Huh, what?" I asked, taken by surprise.

"Well, you were the first to summon their weapon, so I assueme you got a good head on your shoulders."

"Eh, okay. I can be the vice leader." I didn't desire any leading position but decided to accept, since it was offered to me.

"Great. Now then, everyone should get themselves good clothes and armor, and then we'll have some lunch and enter the first ruin." our new leader said.

"No one agreed to have you as our leader." a man yelled with a voice that sounded like he had been building up courage to say something.

"Does anyone else here have more than 10 years of experience with their weapon?" the blond man asked everyone, but was met with silence. "I didn't think so. Now just follow my orders, and I'll make sure that we won't die."

***

After eating, changing clothes, getting familiar with the soul weapons, and formulating a strategy, we headed into the tunnel to the first ruin.

"Are you sure about not equipping any armor?" Faris asked, since I hadn't taken any armor with me.

"Yeah, I have a dagger, so I'm prioritizing speed, stamina, and mobility over durability."

"Why didn't you at least take a helmet with you?"

"It would limit my vision."

"Okay, suit yourself." Faris ended the conversation.

"You said you had 10 years of experience, right?" I asked, starting a new conversation.

"Well, I didn't say it, I just implied it."

"Was swordsmanship a hobby of yours, or were you a child soldier?" I joked.

"Hahah, it was a hobby. I never particularly liked it, but my parents forced me into it, since they thought that I had some superhuman reflexes and wanted to see me succeed."

"Do you have superhuman reflexes?"

"My reflexes are really fast, but I wouldn't say that they are superhuman. You have some good reflexes, too." Faris complimented me based on the exchange I had in the cave with that random guy.

"It was just muscle memory."

"Oh, you practice martial arts?"

"I know the basics."

"Cool, it seems we're here." Faris said, and we stopped in our tracks.

I looked forward and saw a door at least 7 meters tall. The large door was black and had a dagger facing down in the middle.

"There's no push or pull sign." Someone quipped and soon after the door opened by itself with a creak and revealed a desert of gray sand.

After a bit of hesitation, we walked inside. Uncomfortably warm air greeted us, and breathing started to feel weird.

After everyone had entered, the door closed and then suddenly the door was no more. We were left in the desert with no way back.

Some time went by before a golden line appeared in the sky. The golden line stretched forward as far as the eye could see, and after a little while it started to slowly go further. No, it didn't go further. It was shrinking.

"What are we supposed to do?" a girl's voice came from behind me.

I turned to face the people behind me and noticed that Faris had done the same. I gazed towards Faris, expecting him to share his thoughts.

We all had expected to be faced with some kind of monsters and everyone, except for me, was equipped with armor, but there were no monsters in sight. We were all confused and expected our leader to have figured everything out.

Well, I had my speculations, but I was still interested in what Faris thought.

"It seems we are supposed to follow that line, so we should probably get moving. If you have any unnecessary armor, then leave it here." Faris commanded.

"If we're just supposed to follow the line, then why is the line moving?" someone in our group asked.

"I'm not en-" Faris was about to answer the question when something fell on his head. "Eh?" Faris made a confused sound as the gray sand that fell onto his head slipped inside his armor and clothes.

'Did that sand just fall out of the sky?' I asked in my mind as I turned my attention to the sky like everyone else. We all stood with our gazes pointed at the sky, and it didn't take much longer until some sand fell again.

"This place about to collapse!" a man yelled and started running in the direction where the golden line was going.

"Wait! There's no need to rush. The journey is most likely going to be long, so it would be harmful if we waste stamina." Faris said, and the man stopped in his tracks. "We should travel in an orderly manner, so that if we meet monsters, we'll have the stamina to fight them." Faris said addressing everyone. "Get back in the formation, and we'll start walking.

After Faris said this, the people who had equipped more armor than they needed, started taking off the armor and got into formation.

Faris and I walked in front of everyone, like we had done in the tunnel.

"Do you have a theory about the golden line?" Faris asked.

"I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I think it's a timer of some type." I shared my thoughts, as I started walking a bit faster.

"I thought about that too, but don't you think that it's going too slow for this to be an actual challenge." Faris said, doubting my theory, as he quickened up his pace as well.

"Yeah, but it could just be giving us time to fight monsters and maybe even sleep during our journey."

"Oh yeah, that makes sense. And the sand could be a punishment for being too slow." Faris added to my theory.

"Should we share that with the others?" I asked.

"I think it would just cause panic, if we were to tell them that we're going to get buried by sand." Faris said.

Fortunately, Faris had realized that fact and I didn't have to shove it in his face. The theory would cause sleeping trouble and everyone would be fatigued when we continued our journey, so it was the logical choice to not tell our group members. At this moment, our group members noticed that we were far ahead of them and started catching up to us.

"Sorry for walking too fast." Faris apologized to the men who ran to get caught up with us.

"No, sorry for getting left behind." A man apologized modestly, as he caught up to us.

"Is anyone tired yet!?" Faris asked everyone, but no one raised a hand or said anything, so we kept moving.

***

After having walked for about an hour, Faris said that we could take a 5-minute break, since people we're starting to get fatigued, and we're asking for a break. Faris allowed it, since we were already far ahead of the golden line.

"Are you tired?" Faris asked me as we rested and drank from the water bottles we had taken from the white room.

"No, I'm just worried about what we're going to eat, since we ate everything in the white room." I said with a little nervousness in my voice.

"I thought about that too, but there wasn't enough food there to suggest that we were supposed to take some with us."

"I guess the voice didn't lie when it said that we were going to undergo mental and physical trials." I said.

"Yeah, it seems like we have to make it through this ruin without eating anything." Faris concluded.

"By the way, does the voice in your head sound like your own voice?"

"Yeah, it's super weird." Faris said, almost seeming relaxed.

It was starting to feel like we were friends.

"I think 5 minutes have passed." I said, interrupting our conversation.

"Yeah." Faris said in a disappointed manner and stood up. "Okay, everybody, let's get moving!" Faris yelled and as my group members were whining and standing up, I saw something in the horizon.

It was a sword wielding humanoid figure that was getting bigger and bigger by the second. It was alive and it was running toward us!

I quickly stood up, tapped Faris on the shoulder and pointed at the figure that was now followed by at least twenty others of its kind.

"Faris, look!" I exclaimed, and Faris and the others turned their gazes in the direction I was pointing at.

The second they noticed the approaching humanoid figures, their eyes went wide with terror. We had all been aware of the fact we would have to use the weapons and armor we had been given, but the mind truly recognizes something as real, only after seeing it.

Everyone, myself included, hurried to put back on their armor and grabbed their weapons. After getting ready, we got into a formation, with me and Faris in front.

We watched as the humanoid figures' features were revealed. They were all wielding rusty swords that almost touched the ground in their short hands. None of them even reached the height of 160 centimeters. As they got closer their jagged teeth, bald heads and ears that were pointing at the ground were revealed. I glanced to my left and noticed that Faris' hands that were grasping his sword were shaking.

"Did you practice swordsmanship just to die to some midget with a rusty short sword?" I asked with a little amusement in my voice.

"If I die to these things, then I'm gonna beat you to a pulp on the other side for giving me bad luck." Faris replied.

"You think you can?" I said and rushed at the approaching monster.

The monster was about to swing its sword, when I closed the distance, grabbed its arm and stabbed its golden colored eye with my dagger.

Bright purple blood leaked out of the wound and the monster collapsed on the ground.

I looked to my left where Faris engaged in combat and I closely observed his every move. When you practice something for a long time, it's unavoidable that you develop habits. Faris had already finished one opponent and was currently moving to his next one.

As he was approaching a monster, he suddenly stopped and executed a horizontal slash that split the monster head in two.

After seeing Faris fight, I turned my attention back to the monsters.

It seemed I had been too absorbed with observing and found a blade approaching my right side. I put my dagger in front of the monster attack path and when the sword hit my dagger, it came to a dead stop.

I felt stronger. We weren't told how our weapons were supposes to evolve, but it seemed like killing was the way.

The monster turned its gaze up from its sword and looked me in the eyes with his eyed wide open in shock. I wondered why someone would stop attacking in a middle of a fight, as I introduced my dagger to the monster's left eyeball.

After I had killed the second monster that came my way, a third monster swung its sword at my head in an attempt to split my head apart, but I had already created a strategy against this particular move and quickly ducked under the sword, threw my dagger into my left hand that grabbed the knife in a reverse grip and stabbed the monster into its pterion, also known as the weakest part of the skull.

I pulled my dagger out of the monster's skull and blood fell on my clothes. Even as I got covered in bright purple blood, I didn't feel any disgust. It felt a little familiar even. The sensation wasn't very different from killing actual humans.