Yaan came up to me. "Nice plan. You're actually pretty smart."

Didn't know if that was meant to be a compliment or not, so I didn't think about it. What I needed to think about was the remaining 11 regulars. 3 of them would have to drop out before the test was over, and there were three other regulars here. I caught Cosmos' eye and we both nodded. I stabbed the fisherman in his side as he was moving off, and Cosmos took care of a scout. The last regular was a spearbearer, and he backed up before throwing his spear at us. I used my lighthouse to make it go off target and Cosmos started attacking him. I looked over at Yaan and saw that he was staring wide-eyed at the carnage.

What was going on? He'd just helped slaughter people with overwhelming odds in his favour, and now he was gonna chuck up at more deaths?

"Th-they were on our side!" Yaan stammered out. "Why'd you kill them?"

What the hell? This kid was climbing the tower and was yelling at me for betraying someone? If it could even be called betraying. No way would such a huge number of regulars stay together, especially with the majority of them being fishermen.

I was still staring at Yaan when Cosmos answered for me "There were 11, and if three more regulars died we'd move on. There were three right here."

Yaan'd stopped backing away like a tiny shinheuh looking at a live steel eel and stood his ground. "We could've worked together to eliminate three more. If they were wandering around by themselves there's no way the 6 of us could've lost."

The hell was with this guy? Did he think that killing three people who we'd been with for 5 minutes was any worse than killing three people that we'd known for 2? Zahard almighty this kid was dumb. Luckily, my big mouth was stopped by the labyrinth going up in smoke. The room we were in was now empty except for 5 other people standing around the training ground and a lift that had been on the left wall. We heard the voice announce that the lift would only be making one trip, and we rushed over before it closed behind us.

We'd gone down a couple of levels to where the next round would take place. Along the way I'd gotten to know some of the remaining 8. I was a little disappointed to realize that I wasn't the only lightbearer who came up with the "climb on top of the lighthouse and hide from everyone" strategy. There were 2 others who had as well. At least there were some smart people here. Too bad they were all lightbearers, and none of the other position holders seemed particularly smart. All in all, we were a few weapons short of a full arms inventory if you know what I mean.

Also learnt that there was not a single wave controller in our group, so we were screwed if it came to a group test. Then again, after having my head shaved by the last wave controller I'd met, I guess it wasn't such a big loss. I Ignored the self-righteous looks Yaan gave me along the way. If the kid still hadn't learnt that there weren't any rankers who started with the moral high ground in an argument, he was better off failing. If he didn't, he'd only be betrayed like every other innocent who trusted someone.

When we got to the next testing ground we saw regulars come out from two corridors. Guess that made for 24 people altogether. Also saw the test admin. You could tell it was him because he walked around like he owned the place (some admins actually did own the land around the testing ground) without needing a hook or needle to make his point. I walked past him and smelt chili oil and saw a badge in the shape of a chicken wing. Great. I tried to be nice to rankers and all, but it's hard when a certain admin is a fan of chicken dipped in oil so hot it soaks up the shinsoo around it. Why couldn't his people see the beauty of fried chicken? So crispy and juicy... He also looked like a baseball fan. He hadn't even talked and I'd already found two reasons to hate the guy.

"Welcome to the next test." He said. His voice was high pitched and sounded like a kid. Throw that in with his short, round figure and we've got a humpty-dumpty in here; who could blame the regulars for smirking at him.

"I am the test administrator, Mule Love." Hearing that I perked up. The Mule clan was famous for wonsulas, and if this guy was one, he'd actually be strong. "Your next test will be one to test your speed. It is a simple race against time, from one point to another. The distance between the two will be 100 metres. You will go in one at a time. Those who finish within the time limit will go on to the next test." With that, he called in the first regular and we waited.

A hundred metre dash? What the hell was up with that? Fine for the fishermen and scouts, not so good for the average lightbearer. Why was there never a knowledge based test? Or a flying test? Maybe I'd run away to another district and start again when I failed. It'd be a pain to do more research on the restaurants there, but it'd be way harder to avoid the loan sharks in this area now they'd found me once.

Cursing Zahard and all the other clan heads, I walked to the door. When I got in I stopped, then laughed my ass off. The ruler of this floor might be a lot of things, but he sure as hell loved screwing with regulars.

It was another maze.

I pulled out the schematics on my lighthouse and looked before the start signal went off. Love had been telling the truth when he said the two points were 100 metres apart. He hadn't mentioned that the distance we'd have to run was at least 5 times that. I grinned at the thought of the fishermen who swaggered in, thinking that they'd just strengthen their body and finish first. Felt sorry for spearbearers and wave controllers. They'd have just been wandering until they got taken out when time ran out. Scouts would have a decent chance. I hoped Cosmos made it. He and I clicked. Not that it was one of those romanticized partnerships that we always read in books, but we could work together, and in this world that was the best I could hope for.

The signal went off and I started running. We had 15 minutes. Plenty of time for someone who knew the route. I jogged and got there in less than half the time given. But when I got there, I stared again. The wall right next to the exit had a huge hole in it. I walked forward and looked through the hole. There was an identical one right in front of it, and another one right in front of that. Someone had gotten desperate and blasted his way to the exit! I didn't know who the hell did it, but I sure as hell hoped I wasn't against him.