“What are you doing?” 

“Em… you see…” I started to awkwardly fidget as I turned to see him, I could see it in his face, he was rather displeased. “I…” QUICK THINK OF SOMETHING. “I was looking for water, heh…” Oh god why… Why are you like this?! 

 

He looked at me with a discerning eye, in the end he sighed. “First day and you are already snooping around.” Sorry… “Here.” He held his hand close, he was handing me something. 

 

Placing my hands to receive it he dropped a small pouch. It was akin to the one I got from the skeleton. I tilted my head in confusion, why was I receiving something?

 

“This is…” 

“It’s the drop from Gartz’s corpse. Drops belong to the killer after all.” When he said that, his words were colder than usual. Making me shiver. 

 

“I am sorry…” I just felt the need to. 

“Don’t apologize, you will show me that you are sorry through work.” Ha… I guess I was going to have to work. “We collect, and all of the rooms around you are not any different.” I had no idea what to make out of what he was saying. 

 

“So um… you collect even corpses?” I asked trying to make out the meaning of the bones. 

 

“That is correct.” Ha… I had a feeling this line of work was definitely not for me. “As for water, you can find some following the hallway.” He gestured at the lit part of the hallway. “This is your new home and workspace. Let’s hope you can get used to it.” He got close to my ear.“Feel free to explore, but make sure you don’t regret it…” This is not a bad omen but it certainly feels like one!

 

“Okay… thank you…” I still had no idea what to think of this person called the collector. He seemed like a rather patient man, so that was on my side… As I shied away I saw him going away calmly walking towards his office. 

 

“Sigh… What am I even doing? I am feeling secure and I do something stupid… What if he would’ve beaten me up?” I muttered in annoyance towards myself. “I am not strong, last time it was a fluke…  but how many times can it happen?” It was truly upsetting. 

 

After being upset for a few seconds I calmed down, there was no point in regretting things forever. Although, my sudden mood change got me confused. 

 

“Is this something that has to be with being a core?” While I didn’t feel happy, there was definitely something about my moods. I would normally feel resentful, or just… would stay in a certain mood for a while, but they had been fading away pretty quickly since I found myself here… Was it because of core sense? I will never know...

 

“Ha… it doesn’t really make sense now that I think about it.” I sighed yet again. “Not much I can do about it anyway... Born with it, yet again...” Oh, there it was... I continued to think in tiredness. And then recalled what I was doing, he did say I was free to explore. And so I took his offer, had nothing better to do at the moment after all. 

 

“I am sorry for the intrusion…” I muttered as I reopened the door and pocketed the bag he handed me in my new clothes. The entire place was dusty, but I entered with pride and dignity. 

 

FWOOOSH!

 

“Cough!” Why? “Cough!” It was a mistake!. The door had closed itself by weight and threw in a gust of wind into the room, essentially attacking me with a dust attack, it was super effective… I was blinded for a few seconds and missed a few attacks, or rather, I missed seeing things. 

 

As I wiped the dust off my face I finally managed to open my eyes. I kind of paused and tilted my head with confusion. There was only one skeleton in the room, it was the same one from the hand I saw earlier. Well, I suppose that was fine, actually more than fine. Why would I want more than one skeleton in the room?! 

 

The room was lit by a window at the top of the wall, it was a rather grim room full of cobwebs and dusty walls. The walls themselves were a dull grey color and they were made out of brick, which kind of gave an old castle dungeon vibe. I mean dungeon as that place in which you kept prisoners, not my kind of dungeon. 

 

I looked at the skeleton with curiosity, it was wearing a ring. Naturally, like any other sensical person, I grabbed the ring. As soon as I got it off his hand I saw yet another icon pop in my vision, it was a crow. Was I really a scavenger?

 

“No, wait… I already got a title for that…” I guess I really was one… I pocketed the ring without putting it on, it was black and looked expensive. There was also a chest inside the room, which made me wonder what it hid inside. The chest was a mix of wood and metal, although it was barely recognizable as a chest from what I assume was wear.

 

I got close to it and tried to open the lid, but the wood just cracked for a second. The old metal and wood amalgam was still going strong. I kicked it, making an echoing sound throughout the room. But nothing really happened, I kicked it one last time and… nothing. I guess, it was time to just stop with it. Didn't want the collector to come back and do something due to "vandalizing" property.

 

With defeat I left the room, so much coughing had actually legitimately made me thirsty. Which was a bit weird, since well… Shouldn’t someone feel dehydrated way earlier than this? Well, pondering about what’s normal and what’s not, isn’t much help now that I think about it, things are simply like that. Don't question it!

 

Motivated by thirst and curiosity I walked down the other side of the hall. The one that was illuminated nicely and stuff, the place was oddly peaceful. It was a nice break from things, I could see the dust particles flying by thanks to the sun rays filtering through the windows. The windows had a view of an oddly fancy modern fountain ⁠— only square shapes. 

 

I kept walking and noticed the pathway ended, with the only opening being an arch to the side that acted as a doorway, without the door of course. It was one of those fancy open-exterior designs. 

I leisurely made my way to the end and went through the dumb arch. I was met with grass and the fountain. Essentially making a little community area with benches and the center-piece. It was a nice and peaceful thing to witness. I mean, really… I did notice there was another arch entrance on the other side of the little patio/garden thing, but I did not want to venture any further. The square-shaped fountain was getting my attention, it was like if blocks got stacked by a 5-year-old and then they clipped through one another. 

 

I approached the fountain, it had running water and stuff. Who wouldn’t approach a fountain? They are entertaining, especially when they seem to be forever dispensing water! Even though it’s more like a party trick more than anything, it kind of made me wonder how did the fountain work? I mean, the only thing that was kind of “technological” that I saw was the master-board. 

 

I got close to the fountain, the cubes were useful for climbing to the top of it. My short stature really wasn’t on my side, I had no idea how tall I was, but I was probably on average for a… 12-year-old girl. 

 

I clumb on top of the fountain and looked at the pooling water inside the hollowed-out cubes. I saw the water pouring out from one cube to the next, like a little nice succession. It was a nice thing to watch. 

 

“What are you doing?” Someone called to me with a disgruntled tone, making me stiff for a second and losing my balance, luckily or unluckily I managed to land outside the fountain and onto the cold hard ground. 

 

A shadow was cast over me, it was a blonde man I did not recognize but he did have a frown on his face. Oops...