Chapter 45: Winding tunnels

The sunspore’s incandescent white light illuminated their way forwards. Eren and Celeste walked with a brisk pace, almost running. Time was not on their side.

For ten minutes, they jogged down the winding path of the cavernous tunnel, expending ten sunspores in total.

The monotonous veneer of the Subterranean Burrows made them realize that their current pace was not sustainable.

Celeste was getting worried. "Where do you think they are?"

After all, they’d been walking for hundreds of meters in a near straight line, and yet they hadn’t even seen any sign of other people around them.

Either they were in a completely isolated section of the Subterranean Burrows. Or they were simply too far apart to run into each other.

Neither boded well for their chances at passing the First Test.

Kaiser told them that sunspores grew all around the Subterranean Burrows. Yet, the only ones they had seen were back in that pit.

Surely, the United Governments would have made the sunspores rare, but obtainable still. No use making them nonexistent. With a dark tunnel such as this, no one would be able to navigate through the maze without any light illuminating their way forwards.

They planned to remove only half of the examinees in this First Exam. So, there should have been enough sunspores for five hundred people to last the entirety of the day.

Except, they hadn’t seen any. They looked extinct. Were they truly just unlucky? Or had they wandered off into a path that had already been ransacked of the sunpores?

"We won’t last at this rate," she told him. "Should we save some of our sunspores? We could walk in complete darkness for a few minutes."

Eren shook his head. "It’s way too risky," he told her.

Their worries were different. Celeste feared that they’d lose light and get forever lost in the cavernous maze.

Unlike her, Eren wasn’t that worried about their lack of sunspores. If need be, he could replenish the mushrooms with his own Ræzoň to give it just a little bit more juice.

The technique worked on sunspores even with a broken stem. He could either extend their light for more than a minute, or he could rejuvenate an entirely limp sunspore from death.

But like his master once told him: a secret was like a bottle of wine. The longer you hold onto it, the sweeter it’ll be when you bash it on your enemy’s head.

So, he’ll keep this certain ability deep in his pockets for now.

The air was biting cold. As if the Subterranean Burrows were lapping at their skin for any signs of warmth.

Finally though, they stumbled upon a fork in the road. The cavernous tunnel bifurcated into two paths. One veered into the left, with a slight decline into the depths. The right path continued straight with a noticeable incline upwards.

They were faced with a choice. Go left, or go right. No clue as to which would lead them to their desired goals.

"Let’s try the left one," Eren said. He replenished their light with another sunspore before walking into the left path.

"Shouldn’t we leave behind a mark or something in case we get lost?"

He didn’t answer her question. His pace only quickened as he explored the left path with seemingly absolute certainty in his choice.

Celeste lagged behind, pouting in disappointment. Seeing Eren continue onwards, she grabbed a few strands of her violet hair and decisively plucked them out.

Then, she sprinkled it on the entrance of the tunnel and ran after him.

"You’re sheltered, aren’t you?"

Seeing as she was being ignored, Celeste continued with her observation. "You give off the vibes of a homeschooled kid. Really intelligent, but a little bit awkward."

Eren breathed out of his nose. "I just don’t care to impress you."

"With how careless you’re being, you certainly aren’t," she replied, her frown evident in her tone.

The light of Eren’s sunspore turned dim. He cracked another and jogged forwards.

Eventually, they were met with more forks on the road. Celeste warned him to slow down and be careful. More paths for them to take meant more possibilities for them to get lost.

Her words were ignored. Eren chose the paths at random, sprinting towards the deep, dark, unknown paths.

Eren felt Celeste’s simmering anger from the resounding footsteps echoing behind him. Though to her credit, she kept quiet and trusted his instincts.

A minute later, they stumbled upon their first dead end. There was nothing here except a rough stone wall. Eren knocked on its surface, feeling for any hidden doors, yet found it completely solid.

"Hells," Celeste cursed.

They spent fifteen to twenty minutes walking into a dead end, expending the same amount of sunspores. Backtracking required them to use more sunspores.

That was about half of their reserves.

And they didn’t even know which of the untaken tunnels would lead to a better path.

They’d have to dedicate another twenty minutes before they stumbled onto the right one randomly.

"I don’t know if I should remind you, but mazes tend to be harder if we’re going through them literally blind."

But despite Celeste’s worries, Eren didn’t seem to be bothered at all.

And if things couldn’t get worse, the sunspore in his hands finally lost its radiance. Whole and complete darkness swallowed them both.

"I’ll use my sunspore reserves—"

Enveloped in the void of blackness, Celeste started as Eren took her by her hand.

"What—"

Eren pulled her forwards as he retraced their way back to where they came from.

Even in total darkness, his footsteps were confident and without any hesitation. He walked with quick, yet unhurried steps as he returned to the fork that had led them into the dead end.

Celeste was stunned into silence. The only thing she felt was the warmth of Eren’s hands as he gripped her wrist and pulled her forwards.

She couldn’t see anything. Darkness entirely. And yet, Eren led her through the cavernous maze with complete accuracy! He knew where the walls turned, which pit in the ground to avoid. Did he have darkvision?