The door opened into a small room whose walls were padded with royal-red cushions. A soft blue light coated the space, and as soon as they stepped inside, it changed to a golden hue.
Gray paid attention to this. It might just have been an aesthetic choice, but thus far he had noticed most structures here changed color upon activation; specifically to a golden hue.
A set of buttons numbered two through two hundred were arranged in a section of the front wall. The attendant pressed the one hundred and twelfth, and the doors closed.
~Two hundred floors? If this place really is part of the trials, three days won't be enough to explore all of it,~ he realized.
A long moment passed, and there was no hum, no mechanical whirr, or change of floor numbers… not a single indication of movement. To him, they might as well have been standing around a normal room.
"Wait, this is an elevator, right?" he asked, staring at his reflection on the mirror to his left.
"The wrights have used that as a basis, but it is something vastly different, dominus," the attendant replied, staring straight ahead. A moment later, the doors opened.
It led out into a massive restaurant; with crimson floors, floating obsidian tables, and metallic orbs that hovered around each of them, emitting a faint blue glow. The obsidian furniture and walls gave the room a dark ambiance; with the red and blue lights stationed all around clashing to give life to patches of purple in the open spaces.
There was music in the background, a piano. It played a slow harmonizing tune, but whenever Gray tried to focus on it, he realized he could not follow it at all. It was like several beautiful pieces playing all at once.
Which only served to make the man sitting a few tables over all the more interesting. The entire cafeteria was empty except for the two of them, well if the attendants weren't to be counted as well.
The man in question was humming along to the tune, as he stuffed his face with obscenely sized turkey legs. With a single munch, most of the flesh was in his maw. His attendant, a woman alien shorter and thinner than Gray's, stood next to him, speaking to one of the floating metallic orb, in an odd language that sounded almost like singing.
~This'll be difficult,~ he thought to himself, as he stared at the hippopotamus of a man finish another turkey leg in a few breaths.
He approached the man's table, right as the door behind him shut. It disappeared into thin air and was replaced by a wall.
"Excuse me," Gray said, as loud as he could without disturbing the ambiance of the area.
The man either didn't hear him or didn't care enough to acknowledge his presence. He continued approaching, slowly, his eyes scanning the surrounding area.
"Excuse me," he called out again, now standing opposite the man.
Still, the man ignored him.
He seemed like a jovial fellow, happy at the tune that was playing, and even happier at the food he was eating.
The man's attendant gave Gray a quick once over, before returning to her singing discussion with the metallic orb.
"Would you like to order?" a robotic voice asked, as a metallic orb hovered towards him.
"Dominus, if it pleases you, I will arrange for your meals to be prepared exactly how you like them," his attendant said from right beside him, pulling out a chair opposite the jovial-man.
The table was quite large, about the size of a bed, but only a small section of it was not covered with large portions of food.
『Allow upload of information?』
Gray took a seat, as he accepted the upload. A moment later, his attendant began talking to the metallic orb in that singing language.
"I hope you don't mind me sitting here," Gray said, quite loud this time. Just then, the man froze, his mouth open as he held a greasy turkey leg just inches away from it.
His eyes darted toward Gray, and for a moment he seemed deeply entranced.
~Wait, don't tell me he only noticed me right now,~ Gray thought to himself, however, based on the man's expression, it was obvious.
"I didn't mean to sneak up on you. It's just that..." Gray hesitated, realizing midway that he had no idea how to proceed. He couldn't just ask the guy, what class he was.
First of all, people weren't just going to tell a random stranger what their powers were, and secondly, it was a little forward. Especially considering they'd been fighting for their lives just moments ago.
~I should start like any civil human would I guess.~
"Hello, my name is Gray, what's yours?" he asked.
The man smiled, blotches of brown sauce smeared around his lips. He made a few signs with his hands, before wiping his mouth.
The attendant studied the signs, and then looked at Gray, she seemed bored with her task.
"My name is Charles. You're the first person to come here today," the attendant said, her voice bored.
Charles made even more signs, before pointing at Gray in an excited-impatient manner.
The attendant sighed and added, "The music here is good, isn't it? Like Beethoven and Horowitz had a genius child."
~So he's mute? ~ Gray thought to himself, ignoring the fact that he had somehow managed to sign Beethoven and Horowitz.
"Nice to meet you, Charles," Gray said, holding out his hand.
The man stared at him, confused for a moment, before excitedly wiping his hands on his shirt — a brown blouse that was part of a particularly costly set from the system store, if Gray's memory served correctly.
~So he has a lot of coins,~ Gray thought to himself as the two of them shook hands. His hand felt so small smothered in Charles's.
『1 Vigour point has been temporarily sapped!』
Gray instantly pulled his hand back —which was a little painful considering Charles's iron grip— and stood up.
Charles raised his hands in defence, before turning to his attendant and signing something quickly. He seemed upset and kept shaking his head.
"I did not mean to... I don't know what happened. It's the screen, I wasn't trying to steal from you," the attendant said, her eyes studying Gray carefully. She took a step towards Charles and clutched at her silver necklace.
~What, so his talent just passively saps people's stats? That's a little busted,~ Gray thought to himself, still trying to decide whether to believe Charles or not.
The man seemed genuinely upset and was still trying to sign something to his attendant. However, she was more focused on Gray now.
The music had stopped playing, and now the only sounds in the restaurant were their rapid ragged breaths. Gray didn't want to fight, but the way Charles's attendant stared at him made it seem like the choice might not be his to make.
His own attendant was standing beside him as well, her hand on the silver necklace.
Gray sighed, before slowly taking his seat again.
"What do you mean the screen? How did you do that just now?"