My hands reached to my head to block the blinding light that had taken from me my vision.
A minute after it had appeared I found myself standing in an unfamiliar place. It was filled with people. Hundreds, maybe even thousands were popping up in their own bubbles of light.
Yet that was not what drew my attention. What did was the beings that waited for us.
They truly looked like they had just come out of some fantasy set or even an anime. Some were inhuman in their beauty and others had this rugged ugliness that seemed to paint a picture of their civility.
Others just were different, enough to trigger this uncanny valley like effect. It wasn't just the add-ons they had such as the various animal parts. They just smelled of trouble.
They circled us like sharks. Taking a glance at some and immediately dismissing them and going onto another after giving them something.
Still though, the item they gave didn't seem particularly important as they threw it around like it was nothing.
A moment later and I found myself under the gaze of another. The hand holding my blade tightened as I looked upon her.
She was one of the beautiful ones. Yet still she triggered my flight or fight instincts.
"Interesting…"
She reached her hand out before grabbing the hand that held my sword. I couldn't even react. It was too fast.
My eyes couldn't even follow the movement.
"Kid"
"Yes?" I questioned, wary of her.
"That sword, give it to me and I'll give you a couple tips."
There was greed in her eyes, as if she had found something to her liking. She was skilled at hiding it but I could still see it in her eyes.
I frowned at her all the while pulling my hand back. I expected some resistance but there was none as she seemed to be more interested than she was forceful.
"Heh-" She laughed before reaching into her pocket and pulling out the same item the others got and another card.
"A points pouch and my number heh- lucky kid"
With that she left, the items being deposited in my hands.
Just like she had the rest left just like that. They abandoned us here as if they had already done their jobs.
As if they had explained enough when in reality they had done nothing except confuse us. I looked up and saw the tower that pierced through the clouds.
Was that where we were supposed to go, the tower that I had to go through all those trials for. Was this worth all the suffering I had gone through?
I sheath my sword in the broken sheath at my side. Part of the blade was sticking out but I didn't mind that as I could get a better sheath if I had the materials for it.
All the while I was doing this I stepped from the platform and tried to walk off as everyone else was trying. Only to find myself blocked by a barrier.
"You all may be wondering why this barrier is here." A voice echoed through my head. It was loud like they had used hundreds of speakers to amplify their voice.
"I'll explain a bit more, you see those bags that we gave you. Each of them has a hundred points in them, to exit this barrier you need to collect two hundred and if you can collect a thousand then I have people on standby that will be willing to give you a tour for the remaining eight hundred."
I found many suspicious eyes upon me. They crossed from my figure to the people around them and back.
I imagined that most were trying to figure out the best way to gain these sacks of points. And most of them would come to the conclusion that stealing them would be the most efficient way.
Sighing I set my sights on the people around me. I close my eyes for a second and my magic circuits activate.
For a moment I see the raising of eyebrows from the people observing but I ignore them in favor of doing the task.
Almost immediately I was upon my first victim. I didn't want to kill him and that was why I just snagged the bag from his hand.
He could not react fast enough to do anything and neither could any of my other victims.
The ones that could react to my speed I left alone, there was no reason to get into a fight with people that could injure me.
"Tick tock people you've only got twenty-five minutes left"
My eyes widened at that and I sped up my collection of bags. I had noticed upon my first theft that the bags combined whenever they were touched together.
It solved the problem of holding them but it did make it a bigger target as the number of points listed on the bag just went up.
From 100 to 1000 to 10000. I kept on stealing as fast as I could. I figured that since those people out there wanted points then it would be prudent to take as many as I could.
Even if I was condemning the others to an unknown fate I needed to look after myself before anyone else.
But this did come at a downside. The downside that I was a target for the more combat focused people.
I could see them gazing at me, their own bags full of points.
Yet none of them had moved. Though that wouldn't be for long as if I had counted right then it should have been more than twenty minutes.
If they were going to move then it was now or never.
'Heh' I laughed. I was right.
A spear was swung above me. The same lines that showed my possession of magic circuits filled her own body.
"Hand them over" She said, her voice hard as she gazed intently at me.
She had a full regalia of armor. Better than my scraps. But I could tell that the armor was fragile.
It would not survive much, let alone the edge of my blade.
I still didn't want to harm her so I did not draw my blade. I knew that this might come back to bite me but I didn't care.
I didn't want to kill someone today, not right now at least.
"I said hand the points over!"