An hour later, Himo, Seji, and Jonhan were seated in a circle inside a green tent, staring at each other. Around them were two small tables and three rolled sleeping bags. A cooking pot stood just outside of the tent's entrance, cooking chicken meat.

Himo had a nonchalant face, while Jonhan seemed anxious. Seji, meanwhile, frowned as he listened to the two.

“So, you’re telling me that I shouldn’t have defended myself against that guy?” Himo tilted his head. He couldn’t understand what Jonhan was worrying about.

“I’m not telling you to not defend yourself, I’m telling you to not kill them! What if you get hunted down by their sect? And what if they start a war with our sect?”

“There’s no way they’d start a war for a single disciple… wait...” Himo stopped for a moment. “Does your sect have something going on with theirs? Rivalry?” 

Seeing that Jonhan’s expression fell, he knew that he was spot on.

“Tell me the situation between your sect and theirs.” Sitting cross-legged, Himo’s face grew solemn. For no apparent reason, he had started to roleplay as a supreme commander asking for a report.

Even if puzzled by his change in attitude, Jonhan replied immediately. “Our sect was always enemy with theirs. No one knows when the conflict started, but each generation was always against the other. Normally, the strength of the two sects would be equal, but lately, our Arasis sect started to decline... While our elders are quite strong, we aren’t getting as many disciples as before; but the same doesn’t happen for their sect—the Veridas sect—which keeps getting a constant influx of disciples.”

Clenching his fists, Jonhan then added, “If it keeps going like this, it won’t take long before they’ll overshadow us.”

After pondering for a moment, Himo gazed straight at his eyes. “Let me ask you a question. How do you all act when in front of them? Do you act as you did before, hiding your rage without saying anything?”

Jonhan sighed and nodded. “We want to avoid the risk of entering a war in a crisis like this.”

Himo frowned at his reaction. “That attitude is exactly why you’re in such a crisis!” Moving and shaking his arms like an experienced politician, he began his speech. “Hear me right now: there is but a single solution for this problem—you have to be more arrogant! If the others see you unable to retort against their insults, what will they think? Obviously, they will believe that your sect is weaker, and hence join the other!” 

Himo shook his head in disapproval.

“Reputation is a fundamental factor for sects, especially for attracting new disciples! You just said that your strength is still enough to fight, so you have to change your attitude before it’s too late!”

After a moment of thought, Jonhan nodded slightly, but he still had one question left to ask. “Since you think that we should be more arrogant, why did you say ‘the most arrogant ones are always the first to die’?”

Himo’s lips curled up upon hearing those words. “There are two reasons.” He raised two fingers. “The first is that the arrogance you need isn’t one to seek trouble, but one to not bend in front of your enemies; the second is that those fifteen were arrogant toward me, and that is their real mistake!”

Jonhan was dumbfounded. That's the second reason?! Can you get any more arrogant than that? Even so, he felt that his words held a degree of truth—the first reason, not the second—and fell deeply in thought. 

Sitting at the side, Seji's head lowered to the ground. His eyes lit up in excitement as a smile rose the corner of his lips.

It was as if, at that moment, he had finally found an aim to strive for.

-----

Yawning, Himo glanced through the gap in the tent's entrance. The sunrise shone on the surrounding area, revealing countless trees and tents.

If we were going to sleep in a tent, what did I train to sleep on a tree for? He sighed.

"Oh, you're up." Jonhan waved at him from outside. "Get ready, we will go to the remains in half an hour."

"Okay." Rubbing his eyes, Himo nodded. 

Half an hour later, Himo and Seji stood in front of the remains' entrance. Surrounding them were hundreds of disciples.

Beneath their feet a green path of grass extended to the entrance, presenting a single dark hole embraced by dirt and rocks. To Himo's disappointment, it seemed just like an ordinary cave.

A red starting line was in front of the passage, with every disciple standing behind it. The elders, meanwhile, gazed at them from the distance—their job was to prevent any external source to come, not to explore the remains.

Every disciple stood in a sprinting position. Ready to dash at the signal, their ears were focused on the elders—they didn’t want to lose a single instant, for it could spell a wasted chance. Only Himo and a few others were standing up without a care.

Stretching his arms upward, Himo gazed at them doubtfully. Is this a race?

“Himo!” Seji turned toward him. “Fast, get ready to run, we have to get inside the faster possible!” From his tone, his bewilderment about Himo’s behavior was clear.

“It’s fine.” Himo grinned. “Just wait for the signal and run, I’ll catch up with you afterward.” He then turned toward the entrance of the remains and narrowed his eyes. From it, he felt something strange. A feeling of madness with an underlying terror, ready to engulf him within. 

His hair stood up as a shiver went down his back. It seemed that it wasn’t an ordinary cave, after all.

Looking around, he noticed that everyone was focused on the race(?) and assumed no one perceived the same feeling. However, three disciples caught his attention. Unlike the others, they were standing up, one of them holding a weird object.

Resembling a thick iron-remote, the object held two sphere-shaped antennas and a few buttons.

What’s that for? Himo raised an eyebrow. He felt that they knew what created the feeling he got from the remains. And not only that—they might be coming right for its source.

“The time has come, any disciple can now enter the remains!” With the announce from an elder, the “race” started. Dashing from their spots, every disciple sprinted to the entrance, trying to enter before the others. Some hindered their rivals, others ran forward without a care.

Meanwhile, Himo stood still, wondering about what that feeling was. He was sure to have already felt it before, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

Being the only one who didn’t run, he soon gained the gazes from the elders. Some of them even began laughing.

"The others are all running, what are you waiting for?" An elder shook his head. "The resources inside are limited; if you don't go now, you won't get... The heck?!"

Before the elder could finish his sentence, Himo had already vanished from his spot.

Snapping his fingers as he dashed through the air, Himo laughed. “That’s it!” In but a moment, he had already overtaken tens of disciples.

Seeing his speed, the elders looked dumbly at each other. Their earlier laugh gulped back to their throat. All of them stared at the child running inside, praying for the safety of their own disciples.

Departing from their view, Himo stepped inside the cave. 

A long tunnel filled with disciples stood in his path, but he sped up through it in a second. At its end, a great hall opened in front of him.

Dust floated in the air, raised by the disciples' steps on the hard stone blocks. Staring at them from above was a chandelier, a single chandelier brightening the whole hall as if for magic.

The disciples were in the hundreds, but they all occupied but a speck of the empty space. Surrounding them were the hall's walls, piles upon piles of dark stone blocks. A myriad of ways stood on the sides, way too many to count. The disciples had to make a choice, but having no clue on which was the best, all they could do was to take their chances with their own group.

Searching amidst the crowd, Himo spotted his ally after a few seconds. “Seji!”

Hearing Himo’s call, Seji sighed in relief. “You’re here! I was worr— Eeeeh!” Grabbed by the wrist, he got dragged by Himo, speeding toward a small opening on the side.

Aside from them and a trio carrying a weird object, every other disciple avoided that route subconsciously. As if they sensed it was a forbidden area. An area that would bring their death.

An area they should avoid at all costs.