The elevator quietly closed making the group let out a breath of relief.
The elevators can lead to three floors interchangeably. Only level 3 is dangerous of all the levels, while the other two are almost completely safe.
Level 4 is the Abandoned office which is devoid of entities but unlike the monotone hell that is level 0, level 4 has white walls and dry carpet. Level 4 is also praised for being an almost normal place despite still being a strange place that doesn't make sense like every other level. To make things better, there are windows and water fountains, the only difference being most windows are blacked out, while the windows that aren't blacked out are a strange 'entity' that are a trap. The water fountains release Almond water and make this level most famous for being the main source of Almond water.
Level 5 is called Terror Hotel simply for the fact that there can be strange noises heard randomly like party chatter. The hotel looks like a hotel you would expect to see in a photo of a hotel that was built in the 1930s. The level is mostly controlled by M.E.G. and another group called 'Homely Hotel' with a base called 'Outpost Housekeeping'. Level 5 also has a base that is used solely for the selling of maps and information.
The group waited and the elevator opened up to a reception hall to a hotel. The person manning the reception walked up to them and smiled politely.
"Esteemed guests. We here at the Homely Hotel would like to welcome you to level 5..." The receptionist bowed to the group. "Are you here to make a reservation or are you here to stay?"
The group shook their heads and the receptionist nodded in understanding, but their completely subservient attitude changed into a more condescending tone. "Then if you are just passing by I shall lead you out of the level as needed."
Vain really couldn't understand the strange idiots that acted greater than everyone else, but before he could even speak up the condescending tone of the receptionist triggered something in Xavier.
"Hey asshole! Who gave you the right to dictate what I do?! Get out of my way unless you want my dagger straight into your skull!"
Vain on the other hand just shook his head and spoke neutrally, "Xavier I suppose this is where we part ways for now." Turning to the receptionist Vain spoke in the same neutral tone, "We would like to go buy some information, so lead the way to that."
The receptionist was fuming and was just about to blow their top, "I don't care who you all are! I am from a respectable organization! You aren't special in my eyes! Do whatever the hell you want!" Turning around the receptionist ignored the group.
Xavier on the other hand turned to Vain and spoke naturally as if he hadn't just yelled a death threat to a random person, "I can lead you to the library for information. Take that as a small thanks for being a great help in the level."
Vain couldn't really do anything so he simply nodded his head and left following Xavier. Henry on the other hand said his goodbye and moved in the direction of the signs of the M.E.G. outpost.
Vain stopped him just before he left and asked him to take Helen with him to which both he and Helen agreed. Leaving the group Helen said her thanks to the pair who had protected her and followed Henry while getting to know him more than before.
The regular-sized group suddenly shrunk to the size of two people plus a person who was just there to help with directions.
After walking for half an hour through the long hallways lined with doors everywhere, they had finally reached a large sign on the side of an open door that read, 'Information Center'.
Xavier pointed at the door, "There it is. Now I have repaid my debts. I hope you both do well in the future." Waving goodbye Xavier left the pair to their own devices.
Despite having differences in morals Vain didn't mind the strange man. Athena on the other hand resented him for not being able to get as much information as she had wanted.
The pair walked through the doors when suddenly everything became dark. Trained by the constant flickering of the lights the pair raised their weapons ready to shoot anything that came close. The room didn't brighten up, instead, there were rows of books lining the walls that went so far that they disappeared into the darkness. The walls of books that made up the walls kept going straight into the darkness making it impossible to see the size of the place.
Somewhere from the darkness, a voice appeared raspy and old, "Calm down young ones. I see one of you has an insatiable thirst for knowledge. For this reason, you were brought here. Put down your weapons so you don't have to fear me."
Out of the darkness an entity walked out of the darkness. It looked like it had an octopus as a face, while its' arms were the tentacles of an octopus. The entity bowed towards Athena almost seeming to ignore Vain. Vain didn't shoot immediately only for the fact that every entity looked more like a human in almost every case.
After pausing for a moment Vain decided to not shoot in case this entity was like the adult Facelings that were helpful. Still a little wary of the entity he shouted, "I want you to not get too close and I won't attack! Do we have an understanding?"
The entity looked straight to Vain and spoke with the same amount of calmness as before, as if he hadn't just heard a threat on his life. With slow and methodical movements of his tentacles, the entity raised the tentacle to shoulder height and spoke, "This is the library of all the knowledge we have gathered over the past thousand years. Welcome to the Lost Hall Society's library. I would like to extend an invitation! On behalf of the Lost Hall Society; Athena Bolivar, we welcome you to join our organization to gain all the knowledge you desire."
Vain frowned, but Athena almost immediately spoke excitedly while almost dropping her weapon, "I will join, just tell me everything I need to know so I can join successfully! Wait I first need to know more about how I was chosen, and why do you even care about such a thing? Aren't we different species? Why would you invite another species to join."
The more questions came out as Athena thought of it, the more she realized how strange the situation is. Just randomly invited? Why? When was it decided that she would even be worthy of an organization that has so much information? If they have so much information would they even need to test her? Or would a test be the turning point in allowing her to join?
Millions of questions swirled in Athena's head, but the octopus entity just calmly spoke as if he had already expected it, "Calm child. We at the Lost Hall Society accept all races without discrimination. The only thing we care about is gathering more information about our world and yours. We even found a way to force most of the people who transfer here to speak our language.
We have watched you for a while now since we always expect more from children. We only stop our research temporarily once for six months every fifty years. This is to check if someone is qualified to join our organization. As for the time which you have to stop to look for future generations of this society, you won't have to worry for now.
I also know you might worry that you won't have the lifespan to learn everything you wish, so the only real initiation we have is to change the species of our members into something else. If you worry about losing your humanity, you should know that your figure would not change in the slightest as long as you wish. The only real change is the change in your genetic material to give you resistance to all diseases and immortality.
There is only one side effect that I know you so want to know. You shall lose your fertility. If you wish for your fertility to stay intact, you must give up either immortality or your resistance to diseases. I know that some members want to have a child before leaving their species forever, so we can give you the chance to take disease immunity as a beginner, and become a full-fledged member after you have your desired children.
We here usually adopt a child if we are really desperate with our desire to raise a child. Every choice is in your hands. I have given you everything I could give you for now. I shall await your decision.