During last night, I didn't have enough energy or will to even check if I dreamt about the Divine Event or not. But this morning I was able to quickly confirm it. Claire and Licia had heard the sa ssage, and online it was a hot topic.
I don't have the slightest clue of how it's going to work in relation to the events that my Gift provides, but I'm looking forward to participating in a Divine Event for the first ti.
Since Earth has never won one, I'm extrely curious about what Catherine will offer as a reward.
Before any of that though, I had my hands full with the current event. The suspicious Infinite Hotel. By all ans. it slls like a trap, but whoever is behind this, assured
it would be safe, and used my own system to do that.
Normally, I wouldn't trust soone's words so easily, but this is the first feat of this magnitude, the only other ti that soone managed to "break" [Gacha Kingdom Building] was during the Traveling rchant's Invasion.
And even though it was clearly an unexpected situation, my Gift still tried to abide by its own rules, forcing the rchant out until the tir reached zero.
From that, and the other events, I can see that [Gacha Kingdom Building] has not yet lied directly to , though it does leave things open for interpretation and is not completely failsafe either. But for now, it seems like I can trust it when it says that our lives won't be in danger.
In the worst-case scenario, I can just ask the rchant for help. Not even my Gift can keep him out forever, so I'm betting this Infinite Hotel is also unable to.
It'll put
in his debt, but it's better than getting stuck forever in who knows where.
Still, for starters, I decided to enter the Infinite Hotel and see for myself what it was all about.
In the blink of an eye, I found myself in a completely different scenario... the grass fields of the kingdom beca a carpet that extended through an endless corridor. Of course, the girls around
were nowhere to be seen anymore, and instead, when I looked around, there was a never-ending number of doors.
Behind
was an elevator. A small label on top of it marked the number seven. More importantly though... there was a small table with a bunch of cookies.
The ceiling of this place was quite high, perhaps 10 ters in height, and I found the music that was playing, in combination with the pattern on the walls to be nauseating.
But before interacting with anything, I decided to try and leave the place...
Miwen: "Huh... it wasn't a lie..."
No trouble at all getting out... sohow, it even made
a bit disappointed. Still, this was good. My biggest concern was gone...
But that left
with a lot of questions... this event is called an "Invitation". Most events have their own conditions for being cleaned, and they accept a bunch of different actions to award an ending, so I thought that, for a simple invitation, entering the place, that is, accepting and acting on the invitation, might've been enough to clear it.
Clearly, I was wrong about that... which ant that entering and leaving the Hotel wasn't a valid conclusion... or in other words, there was sothing that I had to do in there in order to end the event.
As such, I decided to enter the Infinite Hotel again, and having confird that there was no problem in coming and going, I felt confident in calling the girls over too.
Ellie: "Ugh... it's disorienting... I feel like..."
Miwen: "Disable your sight-related skills, they are a problem here. And if you're going to throw up, please do it in the kingdom..."
In this closed space, that keeps on repeating forever, seeing far only gives us a headache, and it's a pain when we turn our heads... sure, our bodies aren't in the greatest state as well thanks to all the drinking from yesterday, but we had enough ti to recover for the most part, this nausea we're getting is mostly from... how disturbing the place is.
It's kind of strange for , of all people to say that, when we face the dungeon, a far more grotesque sight, every day. But I can't help it... while that place might also be endless, you can't see as far into it due to the turns and the maze-like structure.
This place, however, is like watching your own image when you're between two mirrors, it keeps on repeating forever, but even the slightest movent of your head makes the image change, which makes it incredibly disorientating and uncomfortable.
On the bright side... I couldn't help but notice that the amount of cookies increased.
It was curious that it did... there were no crumbs in the floor, which ant that, whoever got more of them here in the first place, did a ticulous job... in the few seconds that I was gone. Not only that, they managed to get away from here before I returned...
Apart from that, more than a luxurious hotel, it looks kind of old... even the music looks like it's coming from an antique radio, and when it cos to style... there is none, it's that kind of very simple background music.
Licia: "...I don't understand... is there sothing we should be doing...?"
I can hardly bla Licia for getting confused. Right now, I'm no better. It's clear that... there's a reason for us to be here. Whoever was responsible for this made a huge effort to get into contact with , after all.
And yet... while they seed so desperate through the Event's description... they are nowhere to be found. Not a single soul is here to welco us. But they are leaving cookies, so at least they are true to their promise.
Oh, perhaps it might be important to note that the cookies are actually tasty. They also seem to be homade, instead of being bought. Which is a plus, I guess...
Claire: "You didn't get a room assigned to you, right?"
Miwen: "I don't think so..."
At least, there was nothing about that in the descriptions I got. Unless that strange string of characters was ant to be my room number, but I kind of doubt that since it even included letters.
Beatrice: "A hotel that stretches forever... but no guests... kind of contradictory. Why would it even exist, if it doesn't fulfill its role?"
Indeed... It would be like building a street sowhere cars will not pass through... and not only that, even while knowing it's aningless, the one responsible would make sure that it's the biggest street ever.
It's a reasoning I can make sense of.
Which probably indicates that there is sothing else to it...
Miwen: "...Well, it's too early to say that there are no other guests... as far as we know, they might just be a million kiloters away."
Beatrice: "Should we check the rooms then?"
...That's the other possibility, but... the description said that we should not ss with the rooms. The only problem is that, given the situation, we don't really have any other choice.
We had already ssed with all the other present elents in this place. The cookies were alright, but they didn't seem important. And as for the elevators. Not a single button was working, it looked like it was there simply for decoration.
I thought perhaps the music had so clue but... that was far-fetched, and even if it did, I'm not sure about my... music skills... to be able to gather any clue from that.
Since it was our last option, we went with it, and to our surprise, the first room wasn't locked. Anna opened it just by using its handle, without having to force her way through.
Anna: "...it's empty..."
Not quite... it was just devoid of anyone. There was still so decoration inside, chairs, tables, and even a bed. It seed like a completely normal room from an old hotel... just waiting for soone to occupy it.
Which made
think a little more about the structure of this place and the possible nature of it.
Miwen: "...So it's that type of infinity..."
Anna: "Hm?"
Miwen: "...Forget about the room number, just think about them as 'x plus one'. Every ti we open a door, the room will be vacant because all the contents that should be there will simply be moved to the next room. That way, no matter how many people enter the hotel, it will always have space, thus it achieves infinity."
This way, you can guarantee that whatever the number of people inside the hotel is, the hotel will always have one more room vacant. Even if you have an infinite number of people inside.
Licia: "Uhuh... but then... how do you explain this?"
The second room was completely different from the first. And it broke my theory completely.
There was an actual person in there. Instantly I thought about apologizing to whoever it was, but... his hair didn't move, and his eyes didn't blink... while it's harder to notice small details without sight-related skills, with my level, I should at least be able to notice so movent... but there was none.
And that wasn't the worst part, sohow...
Miwen: "...He looks... familiar?"
Which was quite strange for . The list of people I know is extrely short. About half of them are my family and friends of the family. And the other half would be the girls, Roy, Sam, The rchant, and Pris. It barely amounts to 30 people...
I also doubt I would get this feeling from soone I never interacted with... at the sa ti, I would definitely rember this guy if we ever did talk. This contradiction should not exist, I'm sure of it.
Licia: "Hm... I kind of... feel sothing when I look at him too."
Claire: "Sa here..."
It was the sa for all the girls... which, again, is not possible. They all hail from different worlds and taking Elizabeth into consideration, there are only two people in common between us, and he didn't resemble any of them.
What's more, apart from the sense of familiarity, the only other feeling I have is that I don't like him very much... but I can't pinpoint the reason... it's just the way he looks.
He is also handso, I guess... but not quite like the rchant. That guy is the type who doesn't seem to even care about his own looks and has that as his own charm. But this man... he seems confident and full of himself. I can kind of picture him with a disgusting smile...
makes
want to punch him in the face...
When we approached him, we couldn't hear a heartbeat or see him breathing, but it wasn't like he was a corpse either. There was no sll, at all, coming from him. His face and body also looked healthy.... it was more like ti had stopped with him inside the room.
Miwen: "Licia... can you make an ice stick? Try putting it inside the room and then moving it... but be careful so that you don't hit him."
If there was a ti barrier, I was expecting the stick to get stuck there, not moving, or breaking at the point of contact... but that never happened. She could move it without any delays.
The next step was... trying to have soone go inside the room. This was much more dangerous, but I had an idea.
I used a skill I recently acquired, and had a clone enter it. I just gave it the simplest of instructions, making him walk straight forward.
To all of us outside, we could see that his movent wasn't impeded at all, and he started hitting the table but continued to walk forward nonetheless, which eventually made him fall. Leading to so of the girls laughing about it, and others showing pity to my poor other self.
Miwen: "From outside it seems safe and normal... but it could be that the laws operating inside are different... We will need soone capable of relaying the information though..."
Sadly, ordering the clone to talk wasn't going to work...
To solve that problem, I went to the Kingdom and had Elizabeth enter the room while having a request to join
still open. If she didn't co out in a few minutes, I would accept her request while inside the Kingdom, which would probably get her out. Hopefully.
But again... there was no need for that. She even took the chance to interact with the man, but whatever she did, it felt like she couldn't reach him. Even when she passed her hand through his hair, it didn't move at all. She touched his eyes, but they didn't close. She even got pissed and used magic on him, but again, there was no effect.
Miwen: "Perhaps the ti barrier is not off the table yet... I think it's only affecting the guy, and not the room."
Bea: "I can't see any trace of magic..."
Elizabeth also confird that...
But it's still strange... he is completely frozen, and yet, it looked like he could start walking and talking normally whenever he wanted.
One by one all of my theories were going down the drain, but with how mysterious this place was, I kept thinking about other alternatives.
For now, it didn't seem like entering the rooms caused any problems, so...
Miwen: "Let's try opening a few more..."
The third room was very similar to the second one, but this ti, a girl was inside. The sa rules seed to apply, and she didn't move no matter how much we tried to touch or attack her. Entering and leaving also wasn't a problem.
We all had a sense of familiarity for her as well, lesser than the first guy for sure, but she was still soone I didn't recognize. And this ti, given how out there her style was, I'm sure I would have if I had ever t her.
The fourth and fifth ones contained guys. Sa rules. No familiarity.
sixth and seventh, girls. Sa rules. No familiarity.
Eight, ninth, and tenth, all guys. No familiarity.
Eleventh, twelfth, all girls. No familiarity...
I thought I was seeing a pattern, and the thirteenth would confirm it, but...
Miwen: "...A wall?"
Out of all the things... when finally sothing was starting to make so sense...
This broke the pattern I was starting to realize completely. There was nothing that made this wall recognizable, familiar, or special. It wasn't even made of bricks, just a giant stone blocking the room completely.
Of course, we tried breaking it to see if perhaps it was hiding sothing inside, who knows, perhaps the room was different. But it was no use, neither physical attacks nor magical ones made contact. Bea suggested trying arcanum but Elizabeth confird that there would be no reason for it to work and that our witch was just looking for an excuse to ss with it.
Though I didn't dismiss it completely... but it was better to keep it as a last resort.
Then, moving on from the wall in the thirteenth room... nothing.
All the rooms were empty of any presence aside from the sa decorations and furniture that all the others had. We could enter and leave... and nothing would happen.
Just in case though...
Miwen: "...The rooms are sowhat big, but... if you were to run for about an hour, how far do you think you could get?"
Mia: "Hm... about room 5000? maybe 7000..."
I think each room is separated by about twenty ters so that's actually pretty far...
Miwen: "Alright... can you go to room 4990 for us then? Open like fifty doors after that, and then you can ask to enter the kingdom. You are also allowed to do that if you see anyone else, but if possible, try to keep a distance and ask so questions..."
Mia: "Sure."
We had a lot of free ti to explore this, so an hour wasn't such a big deal.
In the anti, the girls had managed to finish the cookies, and we went back to the kingdom to wait for Mia.
She finished her task right on ti, but she actually managed to open quite a few more doors. The reason being...
Mia: "All of them empty..."
It could simply be that we got unlucky in the doors but... she opened more than 200, so it's doubtful...
Miwen: "I suppose I was told that getting an invitation was rare..."
Claire: "I don't know... this hotel is kind of trashy... I get the gimmick but... it's dumb if there's nothing in it, right? Maybe I should start burning it down, then soone responsible would show up! I know for sure that if it was Licia's I would get in trou-"
Miwen: "That's not a bad idea..."
Claire: "Eh? No no, I was just joking... We will get in trouble if we do sothing like that, right?"
Perhaps... but it's worth trying out.
The cookies that we had finished were suddenly replenished. And there were more of them this ti too. Mia didn't know when they got there, she couldn't capture any sll, nor there was any trace of magic.
But soone or sothing had to have gotten them here... and if they were going to play hide and seek, we might as well try to find them.
Miwen: "Claire... can you burn a hole in the floor? But make it contained so that we can still breathe."
Claire: "Um... sure?"
I thought she'd be delighted to do it, but she seed more confused than anything.
Well, I couldn't really bla her though, it's definitely a forceful way to do it.
Still, while this place operates strangely, this surprisingly worked the way you'd expect. It was quite easy to burn through, and we suddenly had a hole leading to the lower floor.
The label of the elevator marked a six, indicating our current floor.
Just in case, we checked every room, and while the faces were different, we obtained the sa result and pattern from the upper floor. Again, after room thirteen, all of them were empty.
We repeated the process until we reached the first floor...
By now, Claire was getting genuinely annoyed at this place, so she started burning it with a smile on her face.
Miwen: "...Let's try one more."
Licia: "Are you sure about this Miwen? I'm almost sure we'll get thrown out."
Miwen: "Eh... that's what they get for inviting an idiot, right? I am not confident in solving their little puzzle, so I'll just brute force my way."
And while I say that, I think I got enough clues to figure out a few things about this place... And if I was right, soon enough I would have my answers.
...For the last ti, Claire burned a hole through the floor, and we jumped in.
As predicted, we found ourselves in a completely different place. The rooms were nowhere to be seen anymore, instead, a lonely figure sat behind a desk, behind her, there was a single door, and opposite to the desk, the elevator...
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