Chương 47: Collect Every Rumor

The safe spot was positioned underground with single exit. In order to exit the safe area, one had to ascend a flight of steps. Arthur and the other three members of the hunting team walked up the steps. A vast land filled with greenery came into his view; far ahead of this vast land stood a mountain. Arthur stared at the mountain. The distance to the mountain seemed to be five kilometers, so the next safe spot must reside on that mountain.

However, reaching that safe spot would be very easy with the strength of the current kingdom Victor had established. They could even move to the next safe spot after that. But after the [Delta] standard labyrinth, it would become difficult to advance. It still puzzled Arthur how he was going to escape; there was no light at the end of the tunnel.

"Do you think we will escape from this trial?" Daniel suddenly asked. Arthur shifted his gaze from the mountain and looked at Daniel. It was a genuine question, not merely small talk. The man had arrived five days prior, and the effects of surviving without proper food and water were clearly visible on his body.

"I do not know, Mr. Daniel. I am as clueless as you all are," Arthur said in a defeated tone. He was not going to provide false hope just by acting heroic.

"I do not think you are as simple as you make yourself out to be, Mr. Arthur," the woman, Laurene, said. Arthur was surprised by this sudden praise from a stranger he had never met.

"I am curious, Ms. Laurene. Do tell, why do you think so highly of me?" Arthur asked, wondering what prompted her to say that.

"The first person to arrive at this place was Larry, exactly 11 days ago. After two days, a total of four people appeared. Out of those four, two did not wake up; they were not dead, but rather slumbering. After another two days, a total of 15 people arrived, and out of that group, five people did not awaken. Many more people appeared after that, but with every batch that arrived, a few never woke up. According to Larry, they tried every method to wake these people, but they never awakened.

That was until today, when you awoke from the deep slumber," Laurene explained.

"Therefore, I think you are a special person who is capable of escaping this trial, similar to how you escaped from the deep sleep," she finished her theory. Arthur was left unimpressed by her speculation. He had initially thought she was some sort of shaman who was going to tell his fortune, but she simply stated what he already knew, which was not special in any possible way.

"Sorry to disappoint you, Ms. Laurene, but I am not special. Do you want to know what I saw when I was in that slumber?" Arthur asked with a small smile. Hearing this, everyone perked up their ears with great interest. Even Charlton was eager to know what happened to the people who remained asleep after arriving at this place.

"Actually, I was falling endlessly," he said as he stepped into the vast land of the Alpha standard labyrinth.

"What do you mean you were falling endlessly?" When the answer proved to be neither as mysterious nor as special as they had anticipated, the three of them felt disappointed. However, what could Arthur do? It was the truth; he could not simply construct an interesting story. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

"As I said, I was just falling endlessly in my dreams. So, I believe everyone else would be in the exact same situation. There is no mystery. Now, let us get to the job our king ordered us to do." He walked forward, not waiting for the three people who stood there in a daze. —"Did anyone go outside to survey the surroundings?" Arthur asked.

"Yes, a few others and I usually go outside to hunt for the food that has kept everyone alive. However, there was no water source as far as we went. Maybe we could find a water source if we go deeper into the mountain," Daniel said.

"Since there are a lot of strong people here, why has nobody attempted to go to the next safe spot yet?" Charlton asked. Since Victor and his group possessed strong combat Awakeners, why had they not gone out to explore in the past two weeks?

"I do not know. But as far as I can guess, those people lost hope when the rumors of the Maw spread. Even if they fought the monsters to reach the next safe spot, then what? With their current strength, they could only come so far before they would have to stop. Thus, instead of trying hard for nothing, they decided to simply stay alive here," Daniel explained.

"For how long? Since this is a trial, there must be a time limit for how long one can stay in the same location. You cannot expect the trial to let us live here forever, right?" Charlton asked again. Arthur thought about Charlton's point. It had been nearly two weeks, yet no irregular events had occurred here so far. However, at some point, the trial would surely push people to participate in it. Why had the trial still not provided any tasks? Was it expecting more candidates? A thought came to his mind.

He needed to gather knowledge about the Maw from the people here, especially the Old man Larry.

"Well, that rumor was also widely discussed within the group, encouraging the strong people to fight. However, Victor and his group did not bother anyone until your group appeared today. Suddenly, they started to act haughtily. They must be intimidated by your group, especially by the imposing Skeletons," Laurene said.

"My intuition tells me that your group will be the last contestants of this trial. Soon, something is going to happen. We must work together on everything; otherwise, we will die," Daniel said in a serious tone.

"What is the current total count of the people here, including those who are in a deep sleep?" Arthur asked.

"Including your group, a total of 35 people have entered this place so far," Daniel replied after counting. Will we get more people in one or two days? Since Victor mentioned that some prominent family hairs have arrived here, those families naturally would not let them die in the valley. They would send higher standard Awakeners, right? Arthur pondered this. Since Susanne and Nickolas were missing, their families would definitely send a search party.

If more of the wealthy families sent higher standard Awakeners to the Solomon Valley and they got captured by the vines, they would definitely gain more strong Awakeners on their side.

"There is a possibility for that, since some higher standard Awakeners came searching for Victor. We hope more people arrive here with great strength to help us; otherwise, we can do nothing with our current strength." Daniel explained how the three [Theta] standard Awakeners had come searching for Victor after he had appeared here. However, the question remained: did everyone who entered the Solomon Valley get sent to this trial? If yes, would there not be more people here rather than a mere 35?

Did news of the missing people spread over the past two weeks, causing people to stop coming to the Solomon Valley? Arthur thought this was a possibility, since the first person had appeared two weeks ago. Considering this, there was very little chance that people would appear here in overwhelming numbers from now on. He could only expect potential search parties from the Gielgud or Raymond families.

"Tell me all about these rumors and the topics that have been discussed within the group. I want every last bit of what was discussed." After hearing all of these speculations, a sense of urgency arose in Arthur's mind. Currently, they were in the waiting area, serving as a waiting period for all the players to assemble; at any moment, the trial could begin. The knowledge he had gained up until now told him that one eventually had to reach the center labyrinth in order to pass the trial.

However, after hearing these new speculations, there might be active trials with time limits as well, which put an entirely new perspective on this place. Therefore, he had to prepare for everything before things got out of hand. Thus, to start, he had to gather all the rumors and stories regarding [The Maw]. Once he obtained a clear picture, he could then think of a way to approach this impossible trial.