"..." Nox looked at the empty space blankly.
Liam tugged his pant leg. "She disappeared after picking up a flower," the young boy said, reaching for one himself.
Alarmed, Nox reached out to stop him. "Wait-"
Too late. With a startled expression, Liam disappeared as well.
Li Zemin said emotionally, "Well, I guess this is fate. Then, I will follow thy companions into the unknown." With that, he plucked a flower and vanished as well.
Nox groaned. "Dammit." His eye twitched in irritation, but he bent down and took a flower. As soon as the stem snapped off, his body was engulfed in a white mist.
Moments later, he appeared in a white hall full of towering arches and marble floors. Along with his three companions, there was also an unfamiliar face with them.
[You have arrived at the White Palace. Task 3: Enter the White Palace has been completed.]
Nox closed the annoying screen, only for another message to appear right after.
[Visitors from afar, the White Queen greets you and invites you to join her and her sister in the Hunt.
Triggered branch task: Hunt of the Hart
Objective: Win the hunt by presenting the most impressive kill.
Time Limit: 1 Ruoh]
"Hunt of the Hart?" Li Zemin echoed. "Isn't a hart a male deer?"
Bak Soomin looked at the prompt, pondering. "I'm more concerned about this time limit. What does a ruoh imply?
"A deer usually wouldn't be considered as the most impressive kill," the unknown girl pointed out.
Bak Soomin asked, "You are?"
The girl replied, "Zera." She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
Liam shuffled behind Bak Soomin. Bak Soomin let him hide behind her, giving Zera a nod."Bak Soomin."
Nox caught the small action, head tilted to see Liam's downcast gaze. The collected demeanor the sharp eyed doctor had towards other people melted into careful affection whenever she interacted with the young boy.
She did say that Liam was her patient, didn't she?
Nox and Li Zemin introduced themselves as well.
Zera adjusted her green jacket. "I just came from the caterpillar's house in the woods," she told them, noting their uneasiness towards her.
The others fell silent at her words, glancing at each other doubtfully. So there were other people in this trial besides them?
Sensing their doubts, Zera explained, "We're all here for the crystal heart, right?" The short haired girl looked at them expectantly.
A few seconds of awkward silence passed.
Finally, it was Bak Soomin who spoke up. "Yes."
The group unanimously decided to accept the White Queen's invitation. Immediately after, a white suit of armor came to escort them to the back section of the palace.
Along the way, they passed impressive displays of floral arrangements and shiny treasures on display in an elegant manner.
Li Zemin got close to one of the vibrant purple flowers, only to jerk away when it bared shiny white teeth at his face.
Nox stared at a white mace encased in glass, tempted to take it so he could smash the next monster that looked his way.
Unbeknownst to the group, a small shadow flashed between the pillars, avoiding detection even with improved senses at the group's disposal.
Eventually, they arrived at a chaotic scene. There were apparently many more participants, since the small clearing was filled with… unique characters scattered around.
Nox spied a horse head with a human body holding onto a quiver and a large bow. The odd half animal combination reminded him of Hui. Besides the horse man, there was a person with clown makeup and a jester hat.
On the far side of the clearing was a mushroom as tall as a human with its mycelium spread out like arms. Nox's eye twitched as he remembered the red mushroom that swallowed them down here.
Above the commotion, there were two thrones- on one, there was a little girl dressed in pure white, her long white hair draped over her shoulder; pale skin and dark eyes framed by thick eyelashes shimmered like frost under the sunlight. She smiled down at the crowd.
The other throne held an unsmiling woman, her red hair braided and coiled on her head with a fan-like collar. She glared at everyone coldly like they were insects crawling below her feet.
They were polar opposites, in both appearance and their outward personality.
On both sides of the throne, a neat line of human sized chess pieces and card soldiers were standing guard.
They should be the White Queen and the Red Queen. "Let's go find more information first," Nox suggested, scanning for the most human-looking candidate.
Agreeing, Bak Soomin immediately headed for a poor white rabbit. It looked like the type that was easily bullied.
Nox quickly found his own target- a man with a large top hat drinking tea. "Do you know what a Ruoh is?" It was the first time a time limit appeared on a task, but Nox had no clue how much time it measured.
The man gave him a judgemental glance, raising a bushy eyebrow. "This old man, mind clarifying for little ol' me? I am the Hatter, yes I am. A Ruoh of row, the tea will get cold."
It was fine for the man to call himself old, but why call him old too… Sighing, Nox decided to switch his direction of approach. "Can you tell me what time it is?"
The Hatter looked at him with confusion. "Why, it's always tea time of course." As if to prove his point, he picked up a pot of tea and downed it from the spout.
Nox, "..."
"Ah, the White Queen looks lovely as always today." The Hatter burped as he finished chugging the entire teapot.
Bak Soomin, having turned around at such an opportune moment, held a mildly disapproving expression on her face and turned away from the scene. "Excuse me, what time is it?" she asked, staring down at the quivering white rabbit.
Stuttering, the rabbit stammered out a reply, "I-it's currently 2 o'clock."
So he could respond like a normal person, even for a rabbit. Satisfied, Bak Soomin continued her questioning. "What's a Ruoh?"
Shuffling on its paws, the rabbit replied nervously, "A Ruoh is a Ruoh. The clocks decided to be backwards today." He popped open his pocket watch and showed her tentatively.
Nox walked over, curious to see what was going on. The second hands were going clockwise, but the numbers… were in reverse.
Bak Soomin clicked her tongue, brows furrowed. "A Ruoh... is an hour?"
"Could there be a catch?" Li Zemin wondered, peeking over Nox's shoulder. "I feel like everything here has a catch."
He was probably right.
The white rabbit timidly explained, "The Ruoh will become an hour once the clock strikes red time."
... Everyone glared at the rabbit for making things more complicated. The rabbit shrank down pitifully.
Liam looked at the rabbit with wide eyes.
"White Rabbit! You are being summoned!"
Thankful for the distraction, the White Rabbit quickly excused himself and hopped away quickly as if a pack of hounds were chasing him.
Nox suggested, "Let's just follow through with the hunt for now." He turned towards the only person who hadn't shared their input. "Zera, are you going to hunt with someone?"
There was an odd aura around the smiling girl, something he couldn't explain. But it clung to her persistently, always gathering around her like heavy clouds before a storm. Could he possibly sense ability users now?
Silently, he concentrated on Bak Soomin.
Zera shook her head and told him, "I will participate in the hunt by myself. The guard over there said that there were individual prizes that can be won as well."
Nox nodded amicably, looking down as something tugged on his sleeve.
"...Mister?"
He stopped short, a hint of surprise on his face when his eyes collided with green ones. "Liam? What is it?"
The little boy looked hesitant to ask his question. Nox asked Liam, "What did you want to say?"
Liam's fluffy hair shifted as he shuffled his feet. "That… I'm going with Dr. Bak. She said that she'll protect me." The young boy looked at him in worry. "Will Mister be okay?"
"I'll be fine," Nox assured Liam. "Be sure to stay close to Bak Soomin, okay?" He patted Liam's head.
Nox gestured to Bak Soomin. "Mind stepping over for a moment?"
The sharp eyed woman scanned his face. Whatever she found must have convinced her, because she gave a jerk of her head and moved off to the side. "What is it?"
___________________
The sound of a horn signalled the start of the hunt. A card soldier blew into the brass instrument, releasing a flurry of birds before the sound echoed throughout the clearing.
「The Hunt has started.」
Nox headed into the forest with Li Zemin, armed with a simple cold steel dagger given to him by a card soldier.
"Why do you get preferential treatment?" Li Zemin complained, weaponless despite his attempts to haggle for one.
That was a good question. Nox opened his status window, finally recalling the special status he got from the doll trial. [Your affinity with a creator's creations has increased.] Were the cards a creation then? Then what about the queens? A slightly devious expression crossed his face.
If he remembered correctly, the Red Queen was the card, 'Queen of Hearts' and the White Queen was a chess piece. They could both be considered as 'creations.'
"You're making a really questionable expression right now," Li Zemin grumbled, pausing to remove a branch that caught on to his jacket sleeve.
If he wanted to pass this trial, [A Doll's Dream] would definitely be useful. "Do I look like a psychopath?" he asked Li Zemin, lazily tilting his head.
Li Zemin retorted, "Heh, I'd rather go with a beauty like Bak Soomin than stick with you."
Long dark hair, a slim figure, arched brows and full lips. She could basically check off every box Li Zemin had.
Nox shot back dryly, "I never said you had to come along."
"... How could I leave my friend to the dangers of this world alone?" Li Zemin laughed forcefully, shoving his hands into his pockets. Nox smirked at his reaction. "Oh shut up."
"I didn't say anything."
"Your face speaks for itself."
Shaking his head helplessly, Nox asked, "Then, since you paid so much attention to Bak Soomin, you could tell that she was an ability user, right?"
Le Zemin slowly turned, "She is?"
Nox recalled the aura he felt before. Subtle- she had been suppressing it. "Should be. She probably knows that I'm one too."
Based on his friend's silence, the latter had no idea. Now that the topic of abilities was brought up, Nox asked Li Zemin if he had one too. He couldn't sense anything from Li Zemin, but his answer was unexpected.
"My ability is called 'I want one too.'" Li Zemin informed him. "All it lets me do is copy random things."
Nox frowned, "Random things?"
"Nothing living, just objects. The biggest thing I managed to copy was a chair."
… Hey, that was a pretty good ability too.
Nox wondered, "Does it have any limitations?"
"It disappears after some time and I need to study the object to copy it," Li Zemin explained.
"So you're saying you could've copied a gun but you didn't and instead brought in a flashlight." Nox gave a pointed look at Li Zemin's pocket.
The brown haired man scowled at him. "Would I find a gun laying around in my house? The answer is no," he added hastily, seeing Nox about to reply.
"... For now, just copy my knife. At least this way you can defend yourself from a wild boar or something."
He perked up. "Oh yeah, why didn't I think about that?"
Nox watched with interest as Li Zemin turned the cold steel weapon around in his hands, concentrating until an identical blade shimmered into existence.
Following the acquisition of a new weapon, they went on their way.
After ten minutes of walking through the forest in silence, Li Zemin asked uncertainly, "Why aren't there any animals?"
Nox ignored him, stretching out his ability to hunt down the rabbit dashing through the woods. His ability absorbed the blood from each kill, growing continuously stronger as they walked through the forest.
As he watched the meter fill up slowly, Nox narrowed his eyes. He hadn't killed enough animals in this forest to match the amount of blood his ability absorbed from Lilith's roses. That meant the meter didn't fill up by the amount of blood. Then... could there be a difference in the quality?
Preoccupied with his thoughts, he failed to register Li Zemin's question.
"Woah!"