Sho's group took a total of around twelve hours before they went inside the portal. The first seven hours were to heal Duke and Sumaya. The five hours were for everyone to rest. Ross, Miya and Sho took turns guarding.
It was enough for Duke, Sumaya, Sho and Miya to be ready to venture to the next place. They were lucky enough not to encounter any monster or human so that five hours was enough for everyone to go on another journey.
Upon entering, everyone let out a gasp of wonder. They were in a very different place. Earlier, it was sunrise. But looking at the dark place, they knew it was night time in the area. There was no moon to light their path but there were countless stars above. However, the tall wall made the place look darker.
"We are in different places. I wonder if we are still on our planet." Miya spoke softly. Because it was dark, they couldn't see what was up ahead.
Ross was the one who took action and lit his torch. Upon seeing this, everyone took out their corresponding torches and lit it.
Sho's mouth dropped seeing the tall wall of plants that reached as high as it could. It was no wonder the place was named a maze. It really did look like one. And there would be no cheating trying to climb the wall of the plant. Not only did it have tiny and sharp thorns, it was as tall as a mountain.
"This place doesn't look like our planet." He concluded.
The rest just nodded while being careful. Unknown place that wasn't their planet means more unknown danger. On their planet, there were Dragons creating chaos. There was also those humans creating chaos. But there's also those contacting humans and forming Contracts with humanity. They were unknown variables which they had little knowledge of. Even Alpha wouldn't be able to say anything because of the Binding of Contract.
To be honest, he thought the group's reaction of starting to hate the System was natural. They were human, but upon being forced in the System, they started to fear and hate the system. Because of the System, they saw massacre and hell on their planet.
Even with Alpha's assurance, Sho couldn't be certain of the System's nature.
"Oh, it seems I haven't thank you yet, kid." Duke was the one who broke the tension in the air. He looked more of a homeless than a geek now after experiencing the Impure Energy invasion. His clothes were so messed up that it was begging to be washed. His thick eyeglasses was the only ones giving him his techy vibes. With how the world was, Duke disregarded contact lenses as he couldn't wash them forever and changed back to glasses. He reinforced them with the help of someone in camp so it wouldn't break easily.
Sho almost jumped in surprise. "H-huh? Oh. It's nothing."
"Well, I gambled when I trusted you. My experience told me not to trust a snotty kid, but my instinct told me I can trust you. Such a fascinating thing. Feels like you're some kind of hero from a game." Duke grinned, he was showing genuine interest at Sho.
"I'm not a hero," his smile looked complicated like his feelings. "I'm not part of a game. Also, I'm not a computer, don't try to crack me." He unconsciously moved away when he walked forward.
The man laughed. "Haha! You're really interesting. Is it obvious that I'm looking at you like I'm looking at a computer?" Duke was entertained. People often tell him that whenever he was interested in something, it was when he found a program to crack.
"Computer addict. Focus on finding their trail." Miya tried to save Sho from Duke.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't know the two of you were together. I thought Sho came alone in this Zone, didn't know he was with his girlfriend." his brows went up and down.
"Eww, old man, can't you think of something else aside from a romantic relationship?" Miya furrowed her brow.
Sho nodded. He felt the same thing Miya felt. He knew Miya only saw him as a reliable companion, that's also what he saw from her. If others would ask if he felt any other emotion for Miya, it would be the feeling of having a sibling on her. He wasn't sure why he was feeling like that. Maybe in his past life, he did have a sister like Miya.
"Geez, kids these days. Why so rebellious? Oh, well, forget it. I was also rebellious when I was your age." Duke laughed again.
Sho couldn't help but shake his head as a small smile painted his face. Somehow, the eccentric Duke was able to lift their tense mood. They began to chat happily while searching for clues the other party might have left behind.
They were anxious earlier because it was dark and they didn't know if they could still find the other party. But seeing Duke's attitude, they felt at ease.
They should just focus on their present, savor it and not be discouraged with the dark future.
After some time, "I found it!" Sumaya blurted.
They hurriedly gathered around Sumaya. And sure enough, they saw the marking on the ground carving direction towards their back, which confused the group. They just came here… unless!
"We spawn randomly?" Duke was the one who voiced out their collective thought.
"High probability." Ross said upon closer inspection on the marking. "This isn't Alpha's marking. Let's look over the wall to see other markings. If one of the group members put one in the ground, it's only obvious that Alpha won't put a marking on the ground. There's no other place you can put markings aside from the wall." he explained, trying to teach the group.
For their twelve hours together, they got used to everyone teaching each other. Thus, the group got closer with each other. Ross, Duke and Sumaya started to study Energy while resting. Though the three haven't grasped the Energy yet, they were starting to get the gist of it.
Ross on the other hand, shared his experience and gave Miya and Sho martial art tips that were very useful for the both of them. Both discovered that martial arts and Qi Energy go together. They compliment each other, combining it makes it stronger.
"Here!"
Sho's thoughts were interrupted by Ross' shout. Seeing that the direction of Alpha's marker was the same as the previous one they saw, they let out a sigh of relief. Being spawned in a different place was acceptable. But if they couldn't tell the direction, then that would be a whole different story.
It's better that they have bearing.
"Let's go." They collectively said as they moved forward.
They walked and talked, as if they were just having a trip. But soon enough, they realized something was wrong. They were moving, but they could feel the distance they traveled was not accurate.
"Wait. Let's leave our own marker. Then we would come back." Ross was the one who took the lead.
Everyone agreed and they did as instructed. Soon everyone's face darkened with the realization. Something is definitely wrong.
"What is happening?" Sumaya was the one who broke the silence. He was obviously nervous
"I don't know…" Sho uttered in deep thought.
He was really confused at what was happening. It feels impossible. But then, he remembered that everything that happened since his transmigration was impossible.
He quickly went and reanalyzed their situation. They've been following the trail left behind by Alpha's group, yet they felt the distance they travel was weird. That's why they put a marker of their own, traveled forward, put another marker and got back to their previous marker. With that, they realized that their travel time didn't match at all.
And the weirdest thing was that the travel they took when going back was three times shorter when they moved forward.
Even if they added an error in the calculation, it should be reversed. Going back should've taken more time than going forward. It's because they would be more exhausted than the first time. Thus, naturally affecting their speed. Achieving the opposite was too suspicious.
"There is something wrong, but I don't even know what this is." He was being honest.
Everyone else was silent. They also didn't know what was happening.
Everything felt weird.
*Should I use my skill? But I don't know how I should tackle this specifically. If I use my skill randomly, the backlash is still there. Wait. Should I try Qi and skill at the same time?* Because of the events, he wasn't able to try it yet.
"Wait. Could you hold on for a moment?" he asked the group, determination showing in his eyes. "I want to try something, but doing so, I won't be able to move."
Four pairs of eyes locked on Sho. They looked at him, Duke, Miya and Ross immediately knew he would use his skills. Sumaya however didn't get it. "Why? Do you know something?" He was curious but he was still frowning with doubt.
"Let him do it." Ross said. Fully trusting Sho.