I scrolled through the bracelet's menus once again. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
And yet, something was off.
I could feel it.
They had made it very clear that everything would begin exactly at 7:00 AM. Not a minute before, not a minute after. And now that we were on board, the only reference point we had was this bracelet.
[Time: 07:18]
[Name: Noah Arryn]
[Class: Orion]
[Class Points: 0]
[Individual Points: 0]
[Class Objectives: Locked until arrival on-site]
[Available Data: Rules – Point System – Rewards – Map]
In the original story, Noah had realized early on that there was a clue somewhere on the ship, but he hadn't looked into it. He didn't care. He had refused to play their little game.
Liam, on the other hand… Liam had jumped right in. From the very first minutes, he had explored every corner of the interface, every option, every inch of the ship, as if he knew that the smallest detail could make the difference.
"Ah fuck, if only I'd paid more attention back then…"
I had completely forgotten what the clue was.
I swallowed my frustration.
I opened the Rules section again. Then Point System. Nothing.
I moved on to Rewards. Still nothing.
And then, in Map, something caught my attention.
The map slowly unfolded before my eyes, like a weightless digital sheet.
A top-down model of the ship. Simple. Clean. Too clean, maybe.
I clicked on "Detailed View."
And then, the model changed.
Every hallway, every room, every door — all appeared. The dorms, the common room, the staircases, the restrooms…
I froze for a moment.
Why such detail?
Why outline every corner when we'd only be staying here for what, three hours at most?
This bracelet was designed for the island. To guide us during the trial. To help us find our way once things got serious.
But here?
On this ship that was just transporting us there?
Why such a complete map?
I slowly slid my finger across the screen, moving up the upper deck. Nothing unusual.
I scrolled down to the lower deck.
Still nothing.
Then… my finger stopped.
All the way at the bottom.
An extra level.
Marked in pale gray.
A rectangle, unnamed. Without a function. Isolated in a corner of the ship.
No legend.
No visible path to reach it.
I narrowed my eyes.
This kind of thing didn't appear in the other menus. I'd know. I would've noticed.
Few students would bother checking the map so early. Fewer still would scroll down that far.
But Liam had.
If this room was real — and everything pointed to it — then it was somewhere beneath my feet. On some unlisted lower floor. Inaccessible from the visible staircases.
There had to be an entrance.
I was already standing, alone in this isolated hallway, away from the rest of the group. Silence reigned, broken only by the faint hum of the ship.
Ding—!
A crystalline sound echoed in my ear, followed by a slight vibration on my skin.
The ring.
I looked down.
[Maelys: @everyone — Meet in the common room on level 2 for a meeting. We're organizing before the trial.]
I stared at the message for a few seconds, expressionless.
Then I dismissed it with a swipe.
"Too bad, but I've got something more important to do. It's a race against time."
I checked the map projected by the bracelet again. That strange small room, below, slightly east. Isolated.
I walked down the corridor silently until I reached the stairs. I went down a floor. Then another.
The second sub-level.
Officially the last accessible level.
But I knew there was another one.
I slowed down. My footsteps echoed softly on the metal.
I compared the map to my surroundings, counting steps, checking the partitions. Until I stopped.
The wall's surface there was smoother. Less worn by time. As if it had been replaced recently.
I slowly reached out my hand. Nothing happened.
I bent my fingers. Tapped lightly. A muted vibration answered me.
Metal, but not the same kind.
"Let's see…"
I pressed my palm flat against the surface. A faint click, barely perceptible, vibrated under my fingers.
I stepped back.
A rectangle outlined itself in the wall. No sound. No light. Just a hatch sliding slowly to the side, revealing a narrow, dark hallway — like a maintenance shaft.
No student would have noticed it. No student was meant to notice it.
I glanced behind me. No one.
"He's still not here…"
Then I slipped into the passage.
It was dark, stifling. The shaft sloped downward gently, almost like a crawlspace, as if it had been designed to discourage intruders.
My ring vibrated again.
[Maelys: @Noah Arryn — You coming?]
I ignored the message. I felt guilty, but honestly, who could blame me?
After a few meters, the passage suddenly widened, revealing a small room barely lit by a faint bluish glow.
At the center, resting on a metallic pedestal, stood a strange object: a sort of translucent sphere connected to finely braided cables, faintly shimmering.
I placed my hand on the sphere. Nothing happened at first.
Then suddenly, my bracelet vibrated.
A faint static noise echoed, and a holographic screen opened before my eyes, projected directly from the device.
[Artifact Discovered: Return Anchor]
[Use: Allows retrieval of a disqualified student within ten minutes of their elimination.]
A small, blinking note appeared at the bottom of the interface, more discreet.
[Note: Artifact designed exclusively for this trial. Useless outside this context.]
I stood frozen for a moment. A retrieval artifact?
I finally understood why I had no memory of this hidden clue. In the novel, once Liam had found it, he had never needed to use it. The object had quickly been forgotten…
But now that it was right in front of me, I immediately understood its value.
An eliminated student had no chance of coming back into the trial. It was over. Finished. Yet, this sphere broke that rule. It allowed you to rewrite the scenario. To bring someone back from the edge. Within ten minutes, sure, but that was already huge.
And most importantly… it restored their points. All of them. As if nothing had happened.
An item like this was worth more than gold in this exam phase.
My heart beat faster. My thoughts spun wildly.
"What can I do with it? Use it to gain an ally? To save a useful piece? Or as a bargaining chip?"
The smile that spread across my lips had something dangerous about it.
"Hehehehe"
A small laugh escaped me, slipping from my lips like a wisp of steam. A cartoon villain laugh. I stifled it quickly, a little embarrassed.
But I couldn't deny that I was pleased. No — thrilled.
It had definitely been worth it.
I gently picked up the sphere in my hands. Its surface was cold, smooth, almost silky. The energy slumbering within felt soft but dense, like a silent heart ready to beat.
I tucked it into my dimensional ring, like someone locking away a treasure.
Then I turned around, my heart a little lighter than when I arrived.
It was time to go join the others.