Gio and Neriah moved together. The nearest platform was right above their heads, making it easy to reach for both of them.
Gio flew, while Neriah leapt fifteen feet into the air and pulled herself onto the platform.
There wasn’t an obvious order to the floating platforms and random structures around them. From where they were, there was a pillar and two platforms they could jump to, each of which led to different paths.
"There isn’t a right path up. We just have to make it to the cave," Gio observed.
"What’s the use? You can fly," Neriah replied.
Gio shrugged.
"I can kind of fly for short periods, but it won’t get up there. Even if it did...where’s the fun in that?"
"Is it fun to ascend these platforms?"
Neriah asked as if she was genuinely confused, stumping Gio for a second.
Was it not fun? He looked down at the lava pools they would fall into if they missed a step, and then he looked up into the abyss they were climbing towards.
Could this situation be described any other way?
Neriah looked at his confused expression for a mont before nodding.
"I see. Forget I asked."
Gio looked mildly offended at her words, but she couldn’t tell why. He was as nonsensical as the other geniuses she’d t. She considered it normal for them to be strange people.
"Hey, you’re fast, right?"
His sudden question caught her by surprise.
"I would consider myself so..."
"Great."
He grinned, causing her to frown.
"Let’s race, then."
"Race? To the cave?"
"Yeah. No energy unless it’s necessary; a fair competition. How about it?"
From the beginning, Neriah was a competitive person. She was only frowning because she thought it was pointless for them to race if he was going to use his Sequence, but if it was just a matter of physical skill...
"Let’s race."
She agreed with a nod.
The two of them stood at the edge of the platform, each looking to a different landing point.
It all started with a quick countdown.
And then they both turned into shadows.
Whoosh!
Neriah put power into her legs and leapt to the next platform, watching as Gio did the sa.
Her eyes glowed a deeper athyst color. The world around her changed, highlighting a path for her to follow.
To the pillar in front of her, back to a higher platform above where Gio was standing, and beyond. Her eyes told her where she needed to go, and she only needed to follow the path.
The air whipped against her face as she increased her speed and leapt from place to place. Her eyes remained mostly trained on her targets, but she made sure to pay attention to her opponent, too.
’He moves well.’
He didn’t move like anyone else she’d fought during the entrance ceremony.
’It’s different from even the senior students.’
Whoosh!
She had ascended several dozen ters in a matter of only a few seconds, yet Gio wasn’t behind her. In terms of sheer distance, he was closer, but he would have to backtrack to go higher.
’I will win.’
It was a firm belief in her mind. If there was one thing she was absolutely confident in, it was the physical ability she’d been training since she was old enough to walk.
She refocused her eyes on the path forward, moving with utmost precision. She was aware of every movent her muscles made. She directly controlled her body so perfectly that people often called her a robot.
The cave ca closer and closer. The hue of orange expanded until the source of the light could be seen. Neriah made the final dash, shooting off a pillar latching onto the side wall of the abyss.
From there, she only needed to let go and land on the ledge, her final goal.
"Huu..."
She exhaled lightly and turned around, facing the cave.
However, she wasn’t alone.
"Looks like it’s a tie," Gio said with a smile.
He reached only a second before her, but there was no reason to make that known.
Neriah glared at him, looking at his feet that were firmly planted in the cave.
"You won."
"I don’t know. It looked pretty even to ."
"No. You won."
No matter how much she wanted to accept a tie, she could not. She was still standing on the edge, but he had fully entered the cave. There was a clear winner among them.
’How?’
She didn’t understand.
She didn’t believe anyone else her age had trained like her. It wasn’t just sothing she’d been told, but sothing she’d witnessed with her own eyes.
Her worldview was being broken down little by little by Gio’s actions since their first encounter.
And she didn’t like it one bit.
Without allowing him to counter her again, she walked into the cave, her eyes cold and still glowing fiercely.
"Follow ."
Without another word, she walked into the back wall.
’Hm?’
Gio barely had ti to comprehend what happened before he was forced to follow her. He walked into the sa wall she did, and mysteriously, his entire body lted into it like it didn’t exist.
The world around him was completely solid and dark. If it weren’t for the ponytail just inches before his face, he would have believed he had truly beco a part of the wall.
’Interesting...’
It was an illusion he didn’t expect, but after consulting his Original Gene, he was able to properly see the space in the wall that looked solid in his eyes.
He could have easily continued to use the [mory Book] to make his way through, but he chose to indulge Neriah instead. She moved so matter-of-factly that it was hard to say she wasn’t bothered by her defeat.
’She’s a headstrong one.’
In a lot of ways, she was similar to how he was as a teenager, which created a more favorable impression in his mind. Perhaps that was why he entertained her whims and allowed her to lead the way.
If anything, Neriah was certainly a good enough pathfinder to take the role. She accurately pointed out the traps hidden in the floor and walls around them as she guided them through the illusory space. They were surrounded by danger, but Gio hardly felt it at all.
It was the swiftest obstacle they passed through, reaching the other side in half an hour purely because of the path’s length.
By the ti they reached the end, Neriah had also cald down.
Partially, it was because enough ti had passed. Aside from that, it was because they were now in a much calr environnt. The hours she’d spent awake were starting to catch up to her.
"Unfortunately, we can’t rest here."
On the other side of the wall was an enclosed cave with no visible exits. The ground was carved out in the center and replaced by a spiral staircase leading deep into the earth.
It looked like a good place for a break, but the sense of security the space provided was false.
Gio and Neriah could both see the traps hidden in the walls. They could leave the cave without triggering them, but if they stayed and rested, they couldn’t guarantee that they wouldn’t end up in another dangerous situation.
Fatigue was setting into their bodies, but the legacy forced them to keep moving.
"Huu..."
Gio took a deep breath, forcing any fatigue in his mind away.
Whether it was him or Neriah, they could only hope that they would find sowhere safe at the bottom of the stairs.
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