"Wait wait, push the brakes a little, you lost me at doppelganger"
The merchant tilted her head in confusion.
"Do you really want me to explain? It will take away a lot of your precious time"
Without a shred of hesitation.
"Yes"
He sincerely asked for someone to explain.
'Anymore and I won't even know where right and left are'
There is a limit to how long one could go for without anyone explaining a single thing and just moving away.
"To start things off"
She pointed at Cale. Red eyes glowed under the dim light.
"You were brought to me for three reasons"
Cale listened intently.
"One: The first practical exam will commence and I am responsible for the safety of transporting you there"
Grabbing a breath, she spoke even faster.
"Second: Due to the damage your doppelganger sustained throughout the duration of your death, I was needed in order to fix it. In other words, the black orb that melted in your hands"
She nudged at Cale's hands.
"Third: Because of detention, your voice was permanently restricted, Iye Idiyele requested me to change it, luckily for me, you already had Dwon on you.....perhaps from that fellow"
Thinking she meant Fiend, he caressed his stitched throat.
'Is that why my voice feels different'
"Unfortunately, the Dwon cannot restore the original's voice, so you will have to stick with that"
"I see...."
Thinking it was a shame, he let it go. The merchant lifted one of her silver brows.
"Hoh? To accept it so fast…It seems you are adapting to the shard quite well?"
"..?"
"Not that it matters anyway, it is bound to help you grit through the exam, if you survive that is"
While she tried to change the subject, Cale couldn't let a certain verb go.
"Hold on, what is this shard you talk about?"
She looked at him, the corners of lips lifted slightly before returning blank.
"According to records...."
Deep in her thoughts, she shook her head.
"No, nevermind"
"...?"
Turning around, the merchant waved a hand to the rest of the items that scattered themselves here.
"There is no reason for you to know. Anyway, pick one item within your capabilities in this workshop of mine, Iye will pay for it"
Seeing how asking more would prove to be a useless endeavor, he twirled to the umbrella he saw.
"This one then"
The merchant furrowed her brows.
"Rejected"
She immediately rejected the purchase.
"....."
'Seriously?'
Already inches away from grabbing it, he asked.
"Why not?"
"You are far too weak-minded currently to wield that"
She elaborated.
"It hasn't been long since you've resurrected, while you did probably grow since you seem to fare a lot better than what I have expected. You won't be able to survive long if you take that"
The item that essentially proclaimed to be the best survival tool out there was called by the one selling it a bad idea. It seemed ironic to Cale.
'How sad'
Turning around, he walked in search of something good, but none were as good as the umbrella he saw beforehand.
"Hm?"
One did catch his interest after long, stretching minutes.
Just like the black sphere that he saw next to the soul slavery contract, it was encased in glass.
But, the difference with this one was that.
"...."
「 Substance Factor of Wrath 」
The name could be seen, its description remained elusive to the naked eye however.
Without knowing, he had already reached out to it.
Ba-Thump
He felt a pulse, not from his heart, but from the substance contained in a small, metal cylinder.
"No"
A hand shooed his desire away.
Frustration on the restrictiveness boiled, and the cylinder pulsed more and more at that frustration. As if instigating it.
"Out of everything in here, this is the one thing you can never have as I will not allow it to be so"
The deep, soothing voice of the merchant distracted him from the substance and forced attention to her.
"If you ever consume a factor of sin, know one thing"
Her glare turned icy.
"You will regret it for the rest of your existence"
She knew how angry Cale must be currently at how much she was restricting his options.
But at the same time, she didn't want a repeat of 'that' happening here of all places.
"You would wish that death was an option"
Her hand clenched.
"Do not try to use something beyond your mortal understanding"
Suddenly, all of his frustration washed away. Nothing good came out of angering the one selling after all.
'Why have it there then damn it'
Clicking his tongue silently, he walked back. The substance that pulsed faded away in the surroundings, perhaps awaiting yet another century to be released from the confines jailing it.
Searching for more and more items that could aid him. Cale had run the clock down, minutes dwindled and grew closer to seconds.
But nothing seemed good, they were all either too powerful for him, too weak or needed great finesse to be used skillfully.
It felt frustrating, but after the merchant's constant nagging, he realized that he had a hard limit.
Not that he knew what or how high it was, just that it existed.
'So, something with not as much load as the others and could compliment my ability to sense danger'
The merchant walking behind Cale stopped when he looked back at her.
He forgot to ask, but this was the most important question.
"Do you know anything about the practical exam?"
If he didn't know anything at all about it, not even its theme.
He would not be able to survive even 15 minutes. This, he was crazy confident in.
"Hm, well"
She tried to think of something good and useful.
"There isn't much I can say..."
Bringing a finger to her lip, she spoke in mumble.
"I do not know the time limit of the survival exam, nor the requirements for passing"
Ears perked at the words.
"Wait, what is the theme of the exam?"
As they walked, the merchant kept her distance. Looking at Cale in case he tries to get anything extremely dangerous.
"...Survival?"
Cale stopped, he didn't know why the theme was survival, what Gardenia aimed to achieve through this practical exam, but if survival was all he needed to accomplish….
"Then..."
Next to him, a coat sat propped for all to see.
He tugged at the coat, as if showing like a child what he wanted so badly.
"This is more than perfect right?"
Frowning, she took a closer look.
'Bloodline equipment? I didn't know I still had that'
The merchant muttered words that didn't quite catch onto Cale's ears.
Looking once at Cale, then at the information she got about him prior, and back at the coat.
She nodded.
"Yes, this is a suitable purchase"
Taking the coat off of its hanger, she gave it to Cale and nudged him to wear it quickly.
Surprisingly, there was a dressing room.
"Oh? Quite the perfect fit I see here?"
As the newly dressed Cale walked out, the coat instantly 'realized' Cale as its owner, latching onto him and activating instantly.
It was a simple coat with a silver pattern on the back, but clearly of high quality.
"Then, follow me"
Tipping her head, she spoke slowly. Walking toward a wall in the distance.
Even as she grew closer to it, she didn't stop.
Cale followed her behind, but when the merchant reached the wall.
"...?"
She disappeared, it wasn't that she walked through it, she disappeared from his sight entirely.
Thinking it was some sort of teleportation mechanism.
Cale stepped and pressed close to the wall.
But nothing seeme—
Clack—!
Gears cracked next to him. Looking to the side.
Two hands pressed on a lever and pulled.
It was the merchant.
In soothing words and a blank expression, her lips parted into words.
"I wondered while watching you"
Cale's body slammed downwards as the floor receded below.
"'Will he even survive?'"
His entire body was submerged in the dark, passing through the floor and falling down to the exam area.
'Was that needed?'
While the heart did in fact leap away, Cale's mind wasn't as frightened. He thought it might have had to do with the shard the merchant talked about, but not being sure, he threw the idea.
Thud!
The words 'I doubt a colorless like you will' echoed in his mind as he crashed into something.
A dark floor kissed on his eyes, gazing up, he spotted a light shining on a podium, a goat, with multiple horns protruding from its head stood, neat suit and a fixed tie as it waited for something.
It was Zenox.
Cale could see Zenox's lips curl into a small smirk.
But more than that.
'Just like before'
Like when Zenox first appeared before him, all movement ceased to be permitted.
He could only sit still, knees to the ground and wait until Zenox started and finished his speech.
Teeth grinded in resolution, and cerulean eyes glared at the principal.
*
*
*
During this time.
Step
A figure behind the merchant walked toward her.
Their entire body was masked by the darkness.
"Oh? Is that your choice?"
With a nod, the figure stepped forward, to the wall where Cale fell.
"You won't die if you fall"
Hearing that. The figure dropped off with no fear of their life being taken.
Falling deeper and deeper into the abyss.