The two of them picked up large, plate-sized leaves and some wooden chopsticks before going through the stalls. The array of food surprised both of them. There wasn't just seasoned meat, which they expected at the very most, but even soups, salads, fruits, and more.

Of course, as expected, there wasn't any bread or something like that which would take long to make, but it was impressive nonetheless. As they picked out their food, a hand suddenly touched Alten's back.

Slightly surprised, he turned around to see a familiar face, "Rylan?" Alten said, a look of both confusion and shock on his face, "How the hell are you here?" He said in an even more bewildered tone than before.

The boy who had touched his shoulder was a few inches shorter than him. He was very scranny and also had a pair of glasses like Alten did. Hearing Alten's tone of voice, he quickly replied, "What!? What's that supposed to mean?" In a seemingly offended way.

Leon looked over as well, "A friend?" He asked, moving along in the stalls of food. He was met with a nod from Alten.

Rylan also grabbed a leaf and some chopsticks before getting in line, "Okay, I mean, I guess I understand where you're coming from," Rylan suddenly admitted, a nervous grin on his face.

Alten looked over, "Ya' think? You literally passed the preliminaries by pure luck, and you survived until getting all the way to the center in this place!? You even got nearly 500 points worth of cores! That's amazing!" He exclaimed, still shocked by this.

Rylan looked at the food and paused for a moment, "Well... that's not exactly true. When I first came here, I didn't even actually have more than 20 points in terms of cores."

A confused, dismissive expression quickly came onto Alten's face, "What?" He almost scoffed at the thought of that, "What are you talking about? When did you come to the center?"

Rylan didn't waste time and replied, "Immediately. It was a plan between me and some of my friends, and we immediately came here. It probably took us a few days. Maybe around a week."

Alten was shocked to hear this but didn't wish to exclaim it until Rylan was finished. Rylan continued, "Our initiative was to immediately make it to the center, and then slowly go out and hunt creatures throughout the exam to get the 500 points..." As he said this, his expression shadowed slightly as he looked down, "But... that didn't go so well."

Alten looked over, a hint of concern on his face as he saw some sadness on Rylan's face, "Was it the jerks with the 250-point minimum?"

"No... they came later. We were already here. A lot of people actually had the same idea, a lot of weaklings like us," Rylan awkwardly laughed, "But people also came on the 10th day, the 15th day, and so on. Their plans were the same as ours, just later on. They probably realized how dangerous it was, and didn't want to risk getting cores outside so they came here instead." As he said this and scratched his head, he caught a glance of Leon's face, interlocking eye contact with him, before quickly dropping his gaze down to the floor.

Leon saw this and was slightly confused, but didn't think much of it, 'These types of kids... who are shy to even hold eye contact?' He thought to himself.

Alten wanted to hear why Rylan's plans didn't exactly go right, but before he could ask that Rylan had a question of his own, "I mean... it's not like you're different than me man. Alten, how did you get here?" He said, emphasizing the "you".

On saying this, Rylan immediately caved into his head, 'Shoot! Why did I say that?? It's clear that he was... damn it!' He said, shooting another glance at Leon.

"Oh me? Yea, I am a weakling too, haha" Alten laughed, "But I found some friends to help me get here. It's thanks to them." He said, looking at Leon.

Hearing this, Rylan, who had lowered his head, slowly lifted it up, 'Damn it Alten! Why did you call him your friend!? You never do that to that kind of peopl--' He paused, making eye contact with Leon's nonchalant expression.

Leon found it weird that the boy was just staring at him, and Alten too was slightly confused. To cancel out this energy, Leon simply nodded to him.

"Whaaaa!?!?" Rylan suddenly exclaimed as he jumped back in shock, "He! Leonidas Serroa, is actually you're friend!?"

Alten burst out laughing as he heard this, "What did you think?" He continued to laugh.

Rylan quickly jumped back in line, "I-I totally thought you were his chore boy or I don't know, something! I can't believe it! You are actually friends with a top ranker in the leader boards!" He couldn't express his disbelief enough.

Hearing this, Leon also let out a little chuckle. Rylan continued to try and express himself, "Dude!" He said to Leon, as Leon turned to look at him, "What!?" He said, shocked that someone like Leon would look at him just because he said something to him.

"This is amazing! Alten, how far you have come! You've left me in the dust!" He yelled as tears of joy flooded down his face.

Alten was amused by this, "Wait till you hear who my other friend is..." He said, a sly smirk on his face.

ραndαsnοvεl.cοm Rylan jumped back, his face immediately serious, "Who? You have to tell me." He prepared himself. historical

"Lyrian Theageld." Alten proudly stated, as even Leon looked at him with confusion, 'He says it like it's an achievement.' He mused.

Suddenly, a shocked snot came out of Rylan's nose as he paused for a few moments before bursting out into a scream, "Th-- The Black Sheep!?" He yelled into the air, prompting a few looks from people walking around and also those who were in front of the line.