I ran to the exit and came into the waiting room. There were 4 people there: the arsonist who burnt my hair off sitting in a corner spacing out; a pale skinned kid with blond hair, he was sitting on the ground and looked way too cheerful for his own good; a plain looking woman with curly brown hair reading something on her box, she had a nice skirt that flared out mid-thigh; and a huge six-footer that was just standing there fiddling with his pocket. One of these guys had the power to blow up specially shinsoo strengthened walls. My money was on the huge fisherman. He didn't look smart enough to finish the maze in time, and definitely looked like he had the power and weapons to back it up. His clothes also looked in expensive, maybe one of those stuck-up bastards from the 10 Great Clans.

I still don't know why I felt like it, but I decided to try again with the arsonist. I went up to where he was and sat down. Tried drawing him out by standing there but he didn't say anything. Should've known. These strong, silent types take pride in their strength and silence. Take that away and what do they have?

"How does a wave controller make it through that maze without any help?" I asked, then yelled as he shaved my stubble off, and three layers of skin in the process. That got some laughs from the other regulars there.

"So I guess that would be blowing down the walls until you found the exit." I continued, then ducked as he sent another tongue of flame in my direction.

"Hey, watch it." The huge regular grunted. I looked around and saw that the wall he had been leaning on had been scorched.

He reached for his arms inventory and pulled out suspendium-edged knuckle dusters. Definitely from a great clan; wasn't anyone here rich enough to afford even impure suspendium "You wanna die now rather than in the next test be my guest." He walked towards the arsonist, but stopped as another regular came in. She stopped at what she must've thought was two regulars ganging up on one scrawny little guy.

I stepped down. It wasn't like the arsonist was going to attack me if I kept away, and if the fisherman attacked the arsonist in a fit of idiocy and the two of them killed each other then all the better for me.

I went over to the blond haired kid and flopped onto the ground. Hopefully this guy wouldn't want to chop off my eyebrows if I started to talk.

"Zahard almighty, that wave controller's touchy." I said

The kid grinned. "Probably not a good idea to share a room with him. Did he shave your head for you?"

"Yeah." I grimaced "And it's not like I was annoying him or anything."

"Probably should've taken the hint." The kid replied. "I'm Nal-Kae."

"I'm awesome." I replied, and we both laughed. Hoped this kid wasn't as dumb as Yaan, it'd make me feel much better if I needed to drop him.

Another person appeared and Cosmos came in. I smiled and waved him over.

He sat down next to me and I said "This is Cosmos. Probably the most agile guy here."

Nal-Kae smiled in return and Cosmos sat down next to me. "Yeah, lot of good that is against the monster who blew holes through that wall."

That killed the mood. How'd I forget about that? Having my half my face burnt off was stimulating, but it shouldn't have been enough to make me forget about that monster who blew holes into the wall. By now the waiting room was getting pretty full. Guess the admins hadn't accounted for a shortcut being made. I pointed out the people that could've done it, basically the arsonist and the fisherman, and looked around for Yaan. He wasn't there. "Did you go after Yaan or before him?" I asked

Cosmos turned. "I went after him. Wh-" Then it hit him. "Shit. Not surprising though, that test wasn't suited for spearbearers."

"I guess." I responded. It really wasn't fair. What kind of tower let insane arsonists go up but pushed innocent kids back into the jaws of those swindling loan sharks. Hoped the kid would find someone else to take him up next time he took the test. Or better yet, find a job and live out the rest of his innocence before trying again.

Nal-Kae was looking at us wondering what was going on. He just looked so young and naive with those wide, pitch black eyes. Almost like-, well, never mind.

"I just hoped that the huge hole some monster blasted in the maze might help him." Cosmos continued.

I nodded. "But there's no way that guy could've climbed the tower." I added bitterly. "Idiots like him only get betrayed."

There was an awkward silence after this. I was surprised. It wasn't like me to kill the mood like this; that was the arsonist's job. I tried to bring the conversation back to life. "Nal-Kae, how long've you been here."

Nal-Kae jerked his head up. "Uh, this is only my first time actually."

Wow, didn't expect that. He seemed pretty capable and confident.

"You from a high-up clan or something?"

Nal-Kae's clouded over. "Not exactly. It's kind of hard to explain."

Didn't see how it was too hard, you were either from a notable clan or you weren't. But this topic seemed private, and for once I didn't push.