A Short Split-Up

Inside Evankhell's mothership, in the second test point, a bit more than one hundred regulars could be seen interacting with each other after passing their last test.

Kaizen, having just been teleported to the room fist looked around. The first thing he noticed was that he was in a large room, its ceiling seemed to be higher than twenty meters, and its area was big enough to accommodate more than one thousand regulars. Its walls had a beige hue, with a red strip right near the ceiling, and many windows, which were all opened, spread throughout all four walls just below the red strip.

This room also had a wide stage at one of its ends where at both of its extremities lied two doors, where the right door was about two times larger than the left one, probably so that it could accommodate for the larger races among the regulars. The room also had large transparent weapons at the ceiling, from where which light shined down to illuminate the whole room.

Then, after a few seconds had passed, Kaizen managed to spot several regulars which he was familiar with. Thus, he was able to confirm that he seemed to be be in the same timeline as the original story.

The ones he mostly remembered among those he saw, were Rak's team, which was composed of Rak, a large crocodilian like humanoid with grey skin and red clothes, Khun, a blue haired, blue eyed slim young man that was wearing a white shirt, a black tie and some black pants. He also was carrying a brown bag, the one which should have contained all the items' he stole from his father's vault.

The last member of their team was Bam, the main protagonist of the original story. He was a young boy with yellow eyes and chestnut colored hair. He was wearing a red vest without any sleeves, and under it he had a long-sleeved black shirt. He also was wearing beige pants and carrying a black needle with him, which Kaizen thought to be the Black March, one of the thirteen weapons given to the best princesses of Jahad.

The second team he was most familiar with, was Shibisu's team. It was composed of Anaak, a young short slim girl with green skin, brown hair hair, black eyes and a large tail going out from her behinds. She was wearing a yellow shirt and a black skirt. And she seemed to be carrying a green weapon named Green April, which also was one of the thirteen weapons. It had the shape of a fishing rod , but, slightly thicker and more elongated than normal.

The second most prominent member of their team was Hatsu, a black haired slim young boy with a pale white skin. He was carrying two swords with him, and he was wearing a red kasaya, a buddhist like robe which extended to his feet, with a short sleeved black shirt beneath it. To top it, he had a stripped belt near his hips that alternated between yellow and black.

The last member, was Ship Leesoo, also known as Shibisu. He was common looking young man with short brown hair and a purple tracksuit.

Other than these two teams, two characters seemed to stand out. The first being Laure, a member of the Phonsekal family who had black hair and seemed to be wearing a black coat. He was sleeping with a cover on his top and a pillow beneath his head.

The other one, was Aleksai. He was a large man with dark tanned skin, red hair, red eyes, small red wings, a black shirt and some white shorts.

After that, Kaizen looked back to his sides to see that both the blonde fox woman and the cat woman were about to go their own ways. So, before they did so, he spoke up, "Even if it was temporary, we were teammates. So, I feel at least obliged to tell you that my name is Kaizen Ziel."

Then he stopped for a few seconds to make sure they were looking at his as he proceeded to ask for their names in a polite way.

Responding to him, the fox woman said, "I am Lo Po Bia Areum, a member of the proud golden fox family", before leaving.

Meanwhile, the cat woman said, "I am Lo Po Bia Kyong, a member of the black cat family", before she also left.

Something Kaizen seemed to only notice now, while being close to them for some time was that both women had tails. Areum had a thick yellowish tail with a white tip. While, Kyong had a completely black thin tail.

Just as both had walked a few meters away each in a different direction, a commotion suddenly broke out.

A tanned tall man with read spiked hair and red eyes who seemed to have lost his right hand had grabbed a younger looking short black-haired boy with casual clothes that was carrying a red needle by the collar of his shirt.

While doing so, he started to scream, "Look what you did to my arm! How are you going to make up for this? Huh?"

"I don't know. Maybe you can buy a stick and attach it to your arm." Said the boy before he looked away.

"Youuuuuuu! Jerk!" Said the handicapped one.

Following that, a priest like pale man with light yellow hair tried to intervene, but both still kept on arguing till a voice was heard.

"Did you not understand? No fighting during break time." Said a yellow haired man with yellow eyes and a dark spot under his right eye. He was wearing a black buttoned shirt, wide pants, and a white cloak. His voice similar to the one which was explaining the rules before.

After saying that, the man placed his arms on his waist before continuing, "You didn't take my words seriously, did you regulars?"

Following it, the red-haired man said, "Who is this guy? He looks like a cricket! Do you wanna die too?" As a bird like humanoid with yellow fur tried to hold him while saying in a nervous voice, "S-Stop! I think he's…"

The blonde man squinted his eyes as he said, " I am the test administrator, Lero Ro."

Following that, the red-haired man's eyes raised a bit as he stutteringly said, "T-test administrator? Then you are a r-rank…"

"Yes. I am a ranker of the tower." Said Lero Ro while his eyes returned to normal.

"A real ranker!" Said the red-haired man with trepidation in his eyes as he started to turn back while saying, "D-damn it! I am only backing down because the ranker is here! But remember I will be the one to kill you!" While saying that, he pointed his finger at the boy who harrumphed.

The ranker, named so since he is one of the people which are assigned a rank every season after reaching the top of the tower, smiled a bit and said, "Well, well, hmm… Isn't this a feisty crowd?" Then, he turned back and got to the top of the stage.

There, he touched a device near his neck and then followed to say with opened arms, "Mic test. Regulars, over here! Please focus! I will explain the next round! Before that, to give you some brief information about myself. I am your test administrator, ranker Lero Ro!"

Then, he smiled with his eyes closed for a second while saying, "Nice to meet chu!" Meanwhile, in this room, many regulars deadpanned when hearing it.

Then, he opened his arms even wider as he said, "Now that you have had some time to rest, let us move on to the next test! But before that, there will be a little pretest! For your information, those who do not pass this pretest cannot take the next test!"

After that, while some in the crowd got a bit surprised, Lero Ro raised his right hand while pointing his index finger up, while placing his left one behind his back as he said, "Ha ha! Don't worry! It is a really simple pretest! Relax."

Then, he opened and moved his right hand towards the crowd while saying, "Alright, let us begin the pretest. Ok, this way and that way, here and there, and everywhere. And boom!"

Suddenly as if a strong gust had passed all regulars where pushed to the back, many of them falling while doing so.

Khun, still standing up asked, "Is this a shinsu?"

While Lero Ro returned his right arm to the side and answered, "Yep, I created a barrier of shinsu. I compressed the shinsu to make a barrier that pushed all of you out. As you know, shinsu is everywhere in the tower, and it plays an important role because it allows us to breathe and provides water. However, shinsu can sometimes be a powerful murder weapon depending on how it is used."

He then raised both of his hands while continuing his explanation, "Highly concentrated shinsu is so strong that it can break an arm. So, all the contestants in the tower use shinsu to fight. However, there are people with adverse reactions to shinsu. In other words, those who can not deal well the shinsu are not appropriate candidates to be in the tower. The people who can pass through this veil barrier don't have adverse reactions to shinsu at least. The teams that pass through the barrier pass as well, and those who don't, fail."

Then, Lero Ro once again closed his eyes while smiling as he said, "Alright then, everyone. Please come through."

In response to that, a regular with brown hair wearing glasses said, "Wait! Did you say team? What if one your teammates can't pass through the barrier?"

"Isn't it obvious? The team fails." Said Lero Ro unreluctantly.

"That is absurd! It doesn't make sense!" Said another regular, this one having black hair and carrying a sniper.

"Absurd? What is?" Said Lero Ro.

"Yeah"

"We joined teams in the last minute! It is not fair if I am eliminated because of a teammate! That is just bad luck!"

"It is rubbish!"

"Is this a lottery?"

Many regulars started to shout afraid of not passing, or of having a teammate that cannot pass.

Lero Ro then, placed right hand on his face, squinted his eyes and started to speak, "Hey, do you knowwhat is the most important factor to move up the tower? It is luck. The luck of having a strong body. The luck of being smart, the luck of being rich. The luck of escaping from death. The luck of saving a teammate. The only reason you got this far is because you were lucky."

Then with a cold look on his face, he says, "And now, you say that it is absurd to test your luck? Stop your jabbering and just take the test regulars."

After that, silence falls in the room for a few seconds till Bam, still inside the barrier says, "Um… I-I don't know why, but I wasn't pushed out… Um…. To take the test, I should probably go out and come back in, right?"

Lero Ro looks with a surprised, perhaps horrified look for a few seconds as Bam starts to sweat and stutter while apologizing and turning to head back.

Then, just as Bam was nearing the barrier, Lero Ro says smiling with his eyes closed, "No, Mr. Bam. You are in. I think I made a mistake, but that is also part of your luck. You passed Mr. Bam."

"What?"

"Damn it! That stupid lucky thing!"

"He is got all the luck, huh?"

"Boooooo!"

"Damn, so the world is all about luck, huh? Like a lottery!"

Shouted many regulars in distress.

At this point, as many people started to approach the barrier, his two previous teammates approach Kaizen, as he says, "Well, I guess we will be together for a little longer."

Following that, both stare at him with a bit of disdain as Kyung says, "You better pass this, otherwise, I am going to skin you alive." And then, she growls at him.

Meanwhile, Areum says, "As if, I will kill him first if he doesn't pass."

Kaizen just smiles wryly as all three of them approach the barrier.

Upon reaching its surface, they notice Anaak passing through it casually as a few others start to pass too while some start to struggle.

Then, both girls turn to look at the barrier and pass through it without nay noticeable difficulty as they turn to stare at Kaizen.

Kaizen who got a bit tired of watching the others and completing the previous tests just touches the barrier and attempts to pass through it. Then, as if the barrier was merely water, Kaizen easily manages to do it.

This in turn makes the girls harumph and turn to look away as Kaizen's smile turns a bit more natural and he starts to think that his C-rank shinsu resistance seem to be quite good.

After a minute, Kaizen sat on the ground while he watched those still struggling to pass.

Then, after a few more minutes pass, a burly man with dark blue hair and purple clothes starts to shout, "I don't know what this barrier is all about but I am strong enough without stupid powers! I am the strongest of all regulars here! How could I be eliminated just because I failed this test? This is nonsense! But that weak little boy passed the test just by chance? Are you kidding me? Why should I be eliminated when I am much stronger?"

As the blue guy continues on his tirade, Lero Ro just slowly walks towards him and passes through the barrier to outside of it to stand in front of him.

"I am sick of listening to your nonsense. You think you are above us just because you are a ranker? Look at how skinny and weak you look. Judging by the fact the fact that you passed this kind of silly test, maybe you are actually weak!" Shouts the blue guy while staring down at Lero Ro.

Lero Ro's frowning face turns into a laughing one, while his eyes are resolute as he says, "Haha. This was my last show of mercy, and you don't even have the slightest clue."

"What?" Says the blue guy.

"Just how stupid are you? Fine then. I will teach you the hard way so that you understand what powers lie above and why you can't go up." Says Lero Ro as a blue like gust energy surrounds him increasing slightly as he continues to talk, "There is no limit to shinsu. With shinsu, you can obtain immortality or God-like powers. There are rumors that Enryu the notorious can create living beings using shinsu."

"However, as it is for every living being, we each have our own limits. When one faces a being with infinite possibilities, and discovers their own limits, they fall into despair." Says Lero Ro as the blue guy starts to scream.

"That barrier of shinsu was my last show oof mercy. Before you enter the tower and fall into further despair, those who don't qualify should get lost." Says Lero Ro with a glimmer in his eyes as the blue guy start to scream louder.

"Feeling pain? The concentration of shinsu I gave you is routine above the thirtieth floor. Do you get it now? The reason you cannot go up. It is not like you were not strong enough, or your efforts weren't enough. It is just because you weren't one the chosen ones. Go back to the floor you came from. You are not qualified to climb the tower." Says Lero Ro with disdain in his eyes as he stares down at the man groveling and crying on the ground before he turns back and returns to inside the barrier.

As the man start lamenting while still crying on the floor, the rest of the regulars still outside the barrier continue to struggle to pass through it.

After a few more minutes pass, all those who have passed move to a new place while those who didn't, one third of the previous group stay there before leaving.

Alternative titles: It Is Kind of Boring to Copy the Talk of Other Characters From the Source So That the Story Can Continue to Flow Like Usual – Those Seeking Death Will Always Exist So That Someone Can Show Off - *Deadpan Looks*