OLD-WORLD EXTRA-Chapter 233: Who Am I?

A few minutes later...

Emir, whose face now sported a nice pair of sunglasses, stood before his supervisor.

It was the same elderly man who was watching them on the bus.

A hologram of a binding contract stood between them.

[It's all good.]

[Alright.]

Lyra made sure that it was safe and gave him the go-ahead.

Emir signed it, and as the paper turned into particles of light, the elder before him said:

"Your AI must be quite good for you to sign it so quickly."

Emir chuckled.

"That would be an understatement, Sir."

[That's right!]

"Well, no matter how amazing it is, there's no connection down there, so say your goodbyes now."

The supervisor left after saying those words.

[You heard him.]

[Yes, I did... Good luck in there, prince. And make sure the nanobots are good to go.]

[I did for the millionth time, Ly; don't worry. I'll be fine.]

[Sure, sure. Also, I love you.]

[Oh my, I love me too.]

[Whatever...]

Lyra, who seemingly had nagged him enough, finally cut off her connection with him. 'Cute.'

A chuckling Emir took his sunglasses off and inspected them for a moment.

'Ragnar, huh...'

Emir had fun with him; he was truly genuine...

But that was it.

It was all for two simple reasons.

The main one was that the man was never mentioned in the 'novel.'

The other was a secret shared only between the two men-and Lyra, of course.

'So he died in the test then...'

Emir figured it out quickly.

And the supervisors could easily cover it up too, so no harm would befall their public image.

That seemed to be the most logical explanation.

'Poor guy.'

Emir scoffed, not caring any longer, and focused on the upcoming scenarios.

The first one was a doozy, but he had already finished all his preparations.

Lyra made sure of that.

While waiting, he played around with a small relic in his hands as his fellow candidates signed their own contracts.

That was to make sure that no word of this test would spread to the outside world.

After all, many of its phases could be skipped if one prepared for it.

But even with that knowledge, the test would still prove to be difficult for Emir to conquer.

It was all because of the relic he had busied himself with for the past few minutes.

The phases only worked because of it; without its access to the candidates' neural networks, most wouldn't operate in the first place.

There were eight stages that they had to pass in order to reach the final boss-

Clang!

A sudden noise echoed in the space, cutting off his musings.

'Hm?'

Emir looked to his right, his eyes searching for where the sound originated.

Soon he figured out that one of the groups had already begun their descent.

Candidates had entered prison-like cells that housed them like animals sent to the slaughter. The cage was grimy, dim, and fully black.

It was a stark contrast to the spotless rooms that they were currently in.

Many minutes ago, led by their supervisors, they went down a few sets of hidden ladders and arrived at this large, expansive room of nothing but white.

It was empty, except for the cages separated by hundreds of meters from each other.

The place was just that massive.

From what Emir knew, this location was used as a practice ground for the Canadian military

before Armageddon.

World War III.

When the Elite found this place, it was repurposed to fit their needs, or rather, wants.

After all, none of this was necessary, for they could use VR to test them.

But that wouldn't have been real enough, not exciting enough, and, of course...

Not entertaining enough.

'This's annoying.'

The relic in his dominant hand began to pulse ever so lightly.

As if it were a heart.

It looked like a golden ring, with detailed carvings all over it.

Those 'carvings' were not designed to make it fashionable, even though they did, as they were

runes.

The Arcanist's language.

In its middle existed a tiny socket that housed a gem.

That was where all Technomancers injected the nanobots.

They allowed the connection between the ring and the candidate to be initiated.

And with that initiation came the voices of those that went under.

They echoed in Emir's mind, like soft whispers.

'Where am I?'

"This is scary.'

'Heh, this is fucking easy-'

'Is this is it?'

'Just a forest? Where's the-'

'Damn, I forgot to turn off the oven-'

'Man our supervisor's so hot-'

...

Then, as if it were script, they all thought the same thing at once.

'Who am I?'

'Who am I?'

'Who am I?'

'Who am I?'

'Who am I?'

'Who am I?'

'Who am I?'

They had begun the first phase.

Emir shouldn't have heard this, as that was for the second phase.

'Can I touch this?' fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

The initiation process had a timer, and it would only start after the candidate passed the first

phase.

'What is that?'

But why would he wait?

'This feels funny.'

Those contracts would never bind him.

'Let's wrap up; it'll start in a bit.'

With that thought crossing his mind, Emir wore the ring on his middle finger, which was next

to the Azazel ring he wore on his index finger.

"...Group 1. Step up."

Emir's attention returned to his supervisor.

'Dark, everything is dark!'

Not only him, but six other candidates responded to the elder's call.

'Home? Is this home?'

Each man stepped in front of their cell, waiting for it to open.

Clank!

'Green. It's green outside.'

After their supervisor pulled a lever, all the doors swung open.

Emir stepped back.

'I'm bored.'

He was a hair's breadth away from having the heavy metal smash into him.

"This is fun.'

Some of the others beside him were not that fast, however.

'Help me.' They, who were hit, now fell on their bottom, causing them to become a laughing stock

among the crowd.

'Save me.'

Emir didn't bother with them and quietly entered his cell, closing the door behind him.

'...Kill me.'

He then turned off the ring with a simple command from his neural network.

The voices were now gone.

It was quiet.

Clang!

Until the silence was replaced by a loud noise the elevator made on its way down.

A minute or so passed as it continuously descended until it began to slow down.

'Let the show begin...'

Emir smiled, excited for what was coming next.

Then his face turned... plain?

It wasn't the usual coldness he showed, but a simple face, devoid of anything.

As if he were a newborn.

'Who am I?'