34 34 - Unforgettable

"I think we can all agree that the best decision here is to skip the vote once again… What does everyone think?" Lucian exclaimed, without any restraints.

The room was silent for a few seconds… well, apart from one person who was supporting Lucian as much as she humanly could.

"I agree! Let's do that! Lucian is always right."

It was obviously Ava who had regained her usual demeanor. It was always something for Lucian to notice that change in her personality… but he didn't care as long as it wasn't directed toward him.

He just hoped that it would develop into some sort of obsession… where she would struggle to spend even a day without him around. Maybe it had already developed to such a point… However, Lucian prayed it hadn't, as it could create problems in the long run.

Lucian glanced to his left, where the timer was.

'Only 20 seconds late until the voting process…'

He just hoped that everything he had said would be enough to convince them.

'Either way, depending on what role Alex has… The next round could potentially be the last one. Who knows… We just need to get through this one.'

"I agree with him. I think it's probably best to skip this vote… They did save us, after all," someone said.

"I think so, too."

"Without him, we would have lost."

…

Those little comments started going around the roundtable, and Lucian was so happy. They had gotten through that round from the looks of it. The only thing that was left was the actual voting. But from what the majority had said, no one would get eliminated from this voting round.

[You have 30 seconds to make your choice.]

[00:30]

A new timer appeared, and it didn't take as much time as before. Everyone tapped into the air, making their choice.

However, while that was happening, there was one person who hadn't spoken up yet - that stupid cautious bitch, Emily.

"Are you really going to let this go? Didn't you see what happened back there? They killed all three of them in cold blood. Don't you realize how dangerous those three are?" She shouted, not able to understand the choices of the other participants.

'Oh, thank you for including me,' Lucian thought.

He was touched that she had thought of him when he hadn't done anything. It really was nice. However, he dismissed this thought instantly as he needed to make sure no one would change their votes because of that little outburst.

"I think you misunderstood something," Lucian uttered with an extremely calm voice. "We aren't on Earth anymore, if you haven't noticed. We need to adapt, and… one thing is clear: this system that created this place likes death… he likes killing… he wants to see us suffer. If you didn't understand that already… there's a little problem."

Emily tried saying something else, but… it really was unlucky. By the time Lucian had finished talking, the thirty-second timer had reached the 0-second mark at the exact same time.

What a weird coincidence!

[The second voting is finished.

The results are:

- 4 Votes for Alex

- 1 Vote for Ava

- 1 Vote for Lucian

- 11 Votes for Skip this vote]

[Have you gotten rid of all the impostors?]

[Yes/No]

Everyone who saw this question tapped on "no" since they were still 17… there were good chances there was still one impostor.

'Ah… that's too easy. Still, a vote for me… that's weird.'

The voting hadn't even been close. The only ones who had voted to kick Alex and Ava out were clearly part of the little group that Emily had created. On the other hand, none of the others voted for them, meaning they had made it past another first round.

[The new round has started. You have five minutes to fix as many things in the spaceship as possible… Be careful; don't wander around alone, or you might just get killed by an impostor.]

This time, it seemed there wasn't any imminent threat, which meant people would finally be splitting up, which would make things a lot easier for the impostors.

Lucian stood up, joining Ava and Alex. Multiple people did the same, creating a few little groups of a few people… Emily's group had five members, there were two other groups that had four members, and there was one person who didn't have any group… right now, at least.

All the groups opened their map right away as they wanted to fix as many things as possible. They knew that the faster they fixed things, the faster they would be able to leave this place.

"Hey, you! Join us, we don't mind."

That was Emily. She wanted the person who hadn't joined any groups to join hers since having a bigger group would always be better. There was no doubt about that.

However, the person who was alone didn't utter a single word.

'Why is he looking at the ground? Is he okay?' Lucian couldn't help but have thoughts like this.

That person's behavior was truly weird, and it somewhat made sense that he hadn't joined any group.

The more Lucian thought about it, the more he realized something strange about that lonely person…

'Was there even someone alone in this trial? Didn't everyone join a group?'

It was strange. He had never noticed him even once. Or at least, that's what he had thought.

'How did I not look at him at least once… I made sure to look at everyone's face when we first appeared… Why doesn't he tell me anything?'

The young man looked miserable. It was the first time in Lucian's life that he had seen someone as feeble-looking as this young man. He was wearing nothing but black. His bones were almost visible through his clothing. Overall, the young man just didn't look well at all.

Lucian would have remembered someone like that. There was no way he would have missed him. He was just too different, too weird for him to miss.

Lucian was simply way too curious about him as he activated "Insight". He needed to know if there wasn't a special reason as to why he hadn't noticed this person.

—-----------

[Status]

[Name: Elvin McCalister]

[Tendencies: Observator, Lonely, Depressive, Broken]

[Class: Shadow]

[Title: Master of the Shadows, Cursed Child, Lost]

[Strength: 3 (Common)]

[Stamina: 5 (Common)]

[Dexterity: 4(Common)]

[Endurance: 2 (Common)]

[Shadow Power: 5 (Legendary)]

[Creativity: 20 (Legendary)]

[Luck: 4 (Common)]

[Special Skills]

[Shadowy Figure(Legendary): Shadows are his friend. He can hide within them. They are comforting.]

[Shadow Craft(Legendary): With the help of your Shadows… you can create whatever comes to your mind. Your Creations can even become a reality if you believe enough in them. The strength of the Shadow Creations depends on the Shadow Power.]

—-----------

'Are his stats worse than mine?' Lucian thought as he saw that multiple of his stats were in the single digits. 'Is there someone really worse than me in this world!'

Lucian almost showed the emotions to everyone around him. But then he looked down at the rest of his Status and realized that…no…he was special, maybe even more than Ava.

This broken young man had a lot of potential… especially with that second skill of his: [Shadow Craft]. The things he would be able to achieve with it… Ah, Lucian could only imagine.

'Looks like I found my third teammate, huh?'