Both Ena and the man looked stunned at his proposal.
Ena was especially in disbelief as she carefully assessed the man who looked so timid he'd be scared of a fly.
"???"
She looked at Haruo once, then at the timid boy, then at Haruo once again. She scratched her slightly before leaning to his ear.
"Did you go blind or something?! With eyes like yours, I thought they wouldn't rot even if you were dead! And with those same eyes, you're telling me you want to recruit that guy?!"
Haruo wanted to roll his eyes at her explanation, but stopped himself before he could. While he was calm, Ena was right behind with eyes that resembled an army of daggers awaiting to stab the man.
It was painfully obvious she distrusted the man.
Haruo carefully adjusted his eyes to the man's attire. He wore an unbuttoned collared shirt that revealed his messily tucked black shirt underneath.
Paired with ordinary straight-cut trousers. He was painfully ordinary, no matter how many times she inspected him, but that made her even more suspicious.
The timid boy's eyes shivered beneath his circular-framed glasses.
"He looks above-average, and dresses so ordinarily, he seems suspicious. Are you sure you want to invite him to—UGHH!"
An elbow met her abdomen as she curled to her stomach. Haruo didn't bat an eye as he kept his gaze stuck on him—but more importantly, at his sword.
'Now I remember. That sword is the one Seiji wanted me to find.'
Reflecting on a memory, he recalled the voice of his master. Back then, he had perfectly remembered a picture Seiji once showed him. And it was that exact Katana, one of the fine crafts he had developed during his younger years.
'If I remembered correctly, it was a craft he had let go and purposely let be stolen by someone, because he said he had outgrown it. But after he met me, he regretted it because he said it would've suited me.'
Under that same regret, Seiji had meticulously sketched the design of the sheathe and gave Haruo its exact measurements on the day he found it in someone's hand. And looking at the katana, it matched the description and sketch to the last detail.
'Although I don't need such a blade. I don't do well with katana's. It's a two-handed sword meant for clean single slashes, so it didn't really match my style.'
Then he averted his eyes to the man's face.
'… But if he had this, then he might be somewhat useful, even if he wasn't the one who stole it.'
Seiji was both a great artisan and craftsman. Anything he had created was better than most artifacts. He had heard many stories from him about when he was with a friend, he made dozens of works that rivaled those of the artifacts, and with Haruo's experience, he could tell they weren't exaggerations.
"Don't mind her, she's just overly dramatic. She's like that to everyone."
The timid boy cleared his throat before using both his hands to shake Haruo's.
"O-Oh, really? Then you really don't mind taking me in?"
Haruo looked at the man and saw that his build almost resembled his. His eyes met his gaze, as he realized that he was at the height between his and Ena's.
He cleared his throat before opening the status window prepared by the test.
"What's your name?"
He shuddered at the mention of his name until he finally opened his mouth. "… Isaac Lysander."
Typing within the screen, he sent a request to Isaac, and almost instantly, a ding resounded in his empty ears. And sure enough, in his own system, was the request.
"Team 216."
"A-Ah, yes! Thank you for accepting me!"
"You must've gone insane during your test if you picked this—ARGHH!"
"Stop messing around."
Haruo had wondered why she was whispering so loudly, but after seeing Isaac's expression, he immediately understood it was another way for her to insult the poor man.
Isaac couldn't help but smile shyly as he gazed at the screen to look at their names.
[Haruo Chiharu, Ena Hyakagure, Isaac Lysander.]
By all means, with just one glance at their names, his expression shattered within an instant, and he gave them an expression of inexplicable shock.
'T-Their the top rankers!!'
His jaw hung in the air, trying to make sense of the situation.
'SECOND AND THIRD, NO LESS!'
The reason he was so shocked was that Isaac himself was far from being on the leaderboard. He was at best in 430th place. And yet, despite all odds, they chose him to be the third member of their team.
'People like them… What are they doing with someone like me?'
Isaac racked his mind with questions as he kept his gaze on the panel.
"It's been about an hour now. To those who still don't have a team, the system will automatically assign you to one."
Without a moment of protest, one person after another vanished from the field completely within each passing blink. Before the trio could process the predicament of the situation, their eyes showed a different scenery from before.
"…!"
Dozens of buildings, large to small, covered their vision under the dim weather, and they, in the middle of it all—on the cracked road—felt confused.
They wanted to move, but they found themselves stuck whenever they tried to force it. Isaac, who had been desperately trying to move, squirmed until he fell on his rear.
Thud!
The duo turned their heads to see his fall, and discovered that their movements weren't entirely restricted.
Haruo sighed inwardly. Not even a second, he had already given up and sat cross-legged. "Just sit down and wait."
Ena turned her head towards the pale boy and gave him a look of disbelief.
"We randomly got transported here, and you just want to sit there all day?!"
By what Ena meant, at their current moment, they were trapped within a tight space that disobeyed their travel. Whenever they tried to move forward or had the intention of leaving, their whole bodies would freeze before they could even take seven steps from their spot.
Haruo already figured this out and decided not to waste his energy for now.
"We're still in the test. If we wait for an announcement, we'll get our freedom."
"You're always so dull, be less biased for once. Who knows! Maybe this is an attack from an enemy!"
'We're in a test, on a foreign planet, within a dimension, in what possibility would an enemy be able to attack?'
Haruo cast away his thoughts and let the semi-pure do as she pleased. Within any scenario, he would have left her be, but with the test currently in progress, energy needed to be spared.
But if she was stubborn, then there was nothing he could do about it.
Just as he was about to give up hope for this team, he saw his other teammate sitting with his katana resting on his lap.
'Despite his timid personality, he stuck to his resolve and calmly listened. People like him would usually panic until they established security.'
Although he was still paranoid, his gaze landed from left to right. He was quite obedient.
For once in Haruo's life, he found a person who didn't make him sigh now and then.
"So at least one of you knows how to stay temperate, you're doing better than I expected already."
With his words, Ena flinched mid-punch on the authority that held them. She turned her head to the side and looked at Haruo's aloof expression with her mind in even more turmoil than when Haruo recruited Isaac.
'H-He complimented him already?! It took me weeks to even gain a simple acknowledgement, but he's already getting compliments?!'
Without a word, she took two steps back and sat beside Haruo, hugging her knees.
"Ahem… sorry for the inconvenience. Anyway, now that everyone has made their peace—most at least—It's time to announce the rules for this test."
The trio sat in silence with their ears perked.
***
After a couple of minutes, the authority that locked the trio had lifted. Immediately, they stood up and quietly made their way into a five-story building. A few seconds after the rules were explained, they had already decided to take base within this building.
The rules of the test were simple:
Just like Ena's tower test, the main goal of this test was to collect as many points as possible. But the setup was different.
"Go to the highest second-to-last floor, and plant the flag."
It was a 'capture the flag' type of test.
'If we place the flag on the second-to-last floor, this lowers the risk of breaking in through the roof and snatching it easily.'
The reason they set their flag on the medium building was not only because it attracted less attention, but also because it provided the perfect amount of security needed to be placed.
Things like traps, surveillance, and space.
'Now that that's settled, it's time to gather some points.'
Haruo and Isaac sprang to the exit and went in two total directions.
The setup they decided upon was that Haruo would venture into the city to look for other teams, and Isaac would survey the block and the neighbouring ones in the area to capture and eliminate potential threats. Naturally, since they needed the flag, Ena became the defender who would stay to protect it.
Haruo slowly disappeared from his base and deeper into unfamiliar territory. He hid in the shadows and traversed only when he successfully surveyed the area for eyes.
He was a cautious man. Even if it took him minutes or hours, he would always endure the wait to ensure his win.
'There are three ways in total to gain points within the second half...'
One, flags serve a purpose by accumulating points as the day flies by. If a person were to steal a flag and stack it into their set base, the accumulation rate would double.
Second, was to scavenge, the task given to Isaac.
'The city was a vast place. It wouldn't have made sense if there wasn't anything to collect.'
Just like the birds in the tower test, countless loots varied from materials to orbs that could be absorbed. However, those absorbed points must be given to the set base to be registered at the team's official points.
Lastly, a manhunt through bountied kills.
Every single team's utmost priority. Unlike the previous two, manhunt was the definitive way to receive the most points. That was because, along with less competition, there was a tracker that allowed one to know where the set bounty was.
'… Bounties are another way of knowing a person's base.'
Of course, not everyone has a target; only one set per team. Those targets are also the targets of others. Luckily, a team could designate a target by choice, and it is not set randomly. Haruo was chosen to be one himself.
And once a person has successfully eliminated their bounty, they will receive a new one in return.
***
Haruo travelled from one building to another, either through the entrance, the window, or the rooftop. He observed many participants in those same places, his eyes darting from one person to another within each timeframe.
Currently, he stood on the twelfth floor of a towering building. And successfully retrieved a flag and his bounty. But he decided not to be careless.
As much as he wanted to kill as many participants as he could and return all those points to base, he had to remain disciplined and remember his priority.
'It's better not to engage with people like them yet. Unlike flags, they were an unreliable source of points, with the only advantage they offered being pinpointing a person's exact location.'
Even then, that wasn't as certain as he could tell. Even if bounties were definitive, as they could give a person multiple points in a single sitting, Haruo would undoubtedly choose to stay within the range of his base.
Of course, there was a reason for this…
'There are two people I need to watch out—'
Crash!
Haruo's eyes swept through the rubble and ash of the crash. His pupils contracted as he observed the silhouette of a person who held a spear twice the user's size.
But those eyes weren't permanent, as they returned to their normal gaze.
'He found me already?'
The one who ranked number one.
… The reason participants hailed bounties as the definitive point system of this test.
The higher the rank, the larger the bounty.