Back in the control room, the technicians type away in their computers.
"Ortho has brought Subjects B and D to the simulation room."
"Instruments calibrated. Ready to collect data. Commencing recording at 2200."
Ortho looks to the camera. "All subjects have been equipped with testing gear."
Idia nods. "Okay. Go ahead and start test one for Subjects B and D."
"Roger! Virtual enemy mode, standby. Commencing dive!"
An image appears on screen with Leona and Jamil in the same training room.
"Where are we?" Jamil asks. "This definitely isn't the same room."
Leona tilts his head, firing a spell at the wall right next to Jamil. "Looks like we can use magic now."
"Hey!" Jamil shouts indignantly.
"Oh, I get it. These headsets are showing us some kind of virtual space."
Ortho and a few Charon troopers appear in front of the two. "Glad to hear you've caught on! Let's get this test started!"
"Test one complete. Subjects are cooling down within the sim."
"Subject B and D's vital signs are all normal. Blot accumulation is within the standard range."
"Simulator has synched with the Lachesis System. Test two is ready to go."
Idia waves a hand. "Okay, moving right along."
Ortho nods. "Roger! Virtual enemy mode, standby.
Commencing dive!"
A new image appears on the screen. It shows Leona and Jamil in the school's botanical garden. The two look around in confusion.
"Heeey, Leona!"
The two whirl around and see Ruggie and Kalim approaching them.
Kalim smiles as he rushes towards Jamil. "Jamil! I finally found you! You can't just leave me like that!"
Jamil looks at Kalim in surprise. "...sorry, Kalim."
Ruggie walks to Leona. "Leona, you've got 'til the end of the day to turn in that potionology report. Professor Crewel was gettin' on my case, so I'm gonna make sure you-"
Leona fires a spell at Ruggie before he could get any closer. Ruggie staggers back.
"WHOA! What's your problem, Leona?"
Leona laughs. "Well, I'll be. That's pretty slick. They must be messin' with my head and projecting an image of Ruggie from my memories."
Ruggie flattens his ears. "Huh? What're you talkin' about?"
"You were gonna wait 'til I let my guard down, then blast me from behind, weren't ya?" Leona smirks. "Nice try."
"Ah, I see. If this is part of how they're measuring blot accumulation," Jamil looks to Kalim with a grin. "Then these guys will probably say all sorts of upsetting things to us. That IS rather slick."
Kalim backs up. "Jamil? What's the matter? Why do you have that scary look on your face?"
"Well," Leona grins. "Let's get this test or whatever over with."
Jamil nods. "Right."
"Oof, that was quick. They figured out how the system worked immediately." Idia tilts his head. "Leona's probably the guy who always knows he's dreaming. Where's the fun in that? Jamil's stress levels barely moved too. How did these guys ever overblot? And Vil, for that matter?"
"Lachesis System desynchronizing. Down to five percent. Four, three, two... Desync complete."
"Simulator cooldown complete. Transferring subjects to the recovery room."
"Testing sequence completed at 2245."
Idia nods. "GG. You can go once the data's backed up."
"Rodger." The technicians all stand and leave the room.
Ortho floats into the room once they all leave. "All subjects have been moved to the recovery room. They're fast asleep."
"Nice work Ortho."
Ortho hovers next to Idia excitedly. "You too, Idia. What do the results look like for Leona Kingscholar and Jamil Viper?"
"They just finished processing. I'll throw them up on the monitor."
Idia types something into the computer and the data they've collected appears on the screen.
"Wow, their numbers are exceptional!" Ortho exclaims.
"Spoiled or not, Leona's still royalty. Totally makes sense he'd have top-notch magic instruction as a kid. His casting speed's off the charts, and his magic pool is huge. He also knows how to be efficient. He tailors his defense spells to match the potency of enemy attacks. He hardly wastes any magic at all. Which means he barely accumulates excess blot."
Ortho nods. "It's also worth noting that stress didn't have much effect on his accumulation levels."
Idia hums. "I dunno if I can draw anything conclusive from that, though. I already knew Leona was tough and could handle whatever danger comes at him. But it's hard to measure how resilient he is when experiencing inner turmoil."
Ortho looks to the screen. "I see what you mean. Because he typically exhibits great mental fortitude, when he does experience intense emotions, it could cause a drastic spike in blot accumulation."
"Stat-wise, Leona would be a great tank, like Vil." Idia states. "But he isn't suited to a leadership role, personality-wise. None of their personalities are a perfect fit for their ideal class, actually. Guess that's why they're in the SSR Epic Troublemakers, lawl."
"What about Jamil? What class do you think he'd be?"
"He could probably handle any job just fine, TBH." Idia brings a hand to his chin. "But he tends to go for efficiency over speed, like Azul. Looking at his background, he had no magic tutoring before entering Night Raven College either. He's constantly assessing his remaining reserves. It's like he's worried about going OOM."
"Ah. So he's the 'calm and efficient, or maybe just stalling and using people as shields' archetype as well." Ortho observes.
"Thing is, he's really quick and precise with defensive magic. Maybe that's his specialty, since he guards Kalim?" Idia questions.
"Then it sounds like he'd be suited to a melee DPS role that supports the tank, or a healer class."
"Yeah." Idia nods. "One of those classes you think is for beginners, but turns out to be really technical and requires a big-brain player to do it right."
Ortho laughs. "This would be a fun game to level in, no matter who you played."
"Night Raven Quest, the RPG." Idia chuckles "That doesn't sound half bad."
"Ooh, I'd play that! You should totally make it, Idia! It could be open world, with seven countries to start."
"No way am I doing open world." Idia shakes his head. "The development costs would be ridiculous just for a joke game. Maybe if it's a 64KB ROM cart. Maybe."
Ortho's shoulders slump. "Aww. But you could whip it up in no time."
Idia shrugs. "Sure, but it'd be a pain, so not gonna happen."
Ortho floats closer to his brother. "Say, Idia. What if you invited the other housewardens to join you in that MMO you play with Muscle Red?"
"What?" Idia looks to Ortho in surprise. "No, that'd be nuts. Where'd you get that idea? None of those guys are interested in gaming. Besides, everyone who's had a run-in with Styx goes down the River Lethe. No exceptions. And as you know, that system can erase us from anyone's memory and from any data."
Ortho goes quiet.
Idia sighs as he shakes his head. "There's no point even thinking about making friends with people on the outside. After all... Sooner or later, they wouldn't remember it happened."
In one of the private rooms Styx is keeping the boys, Grim stirs on the bed. "Mmm... Myah... Lemme go... Ack!"
Grim jumps to all fours and looks around the room. "Where am I? Let's see... I remember SDC wrappin' up. Then later that night I got hungry and I..."
Grim thinks back. He can only recall flashes from his memory. He remembers searching the stage, eating another black stone. Something was there with him. No, more like someone. It was Y/N! He attacked her, scratched at her arm.
"Why did I do that to Y/N?" Grim holds his head in his paws. "Is that why I'm here? 'Cuz I scratched Y/N up?"
Grim recalls the last thing he remembers. All his friends collapsed on the ground.
"They were all beat up. Ace, Deuce, Epel... Y/N." Grim curls up on the bed, tears falling from his eyes. "Am I never goin' back home to Ramshackle?"
Grim clutches the sheets, quietly crying.