Jax arrived in a large white hall after a flash of light, and found himself standing upright. He looked down as his feet planted firmly on the white marbled floor and was surprised to see himself fully healed.
He had, of course, expected to get healed when he finally arrived out of the 10th Carriage, but he didn’t think it would happen without him even knowing about it.
One moment he was frozen on the ground, staring at the infinite black void that was the sky. And in the next moment, he was standing in the middle of this white hall.
Jax looked around at those that had arrived with him. Every single person that had passed through the Maze had been forced to wait around until the end of the maze, at which point they were finally allowed to come here.
There were easily over a thousand people from what he could see, and those were just those he could see. The hall was so large that it was possible that there were tens of thousands of people who had passed.
"Jax!" a voice called for him right at that moment.
Jax turned around upon hearing the feminine voice and saw the tiny blob of light that was Gemma. His eyes narrowed a bit upon seeing her, almost wondering if he was imagining things.
Her wispy figure seemed to elongate as she flew.
"You did it, Jax," Gemma said excitedly. "Congratulations."
Jax couldn’t help but smile. "I did," he said with a hint of pride to his voice. "You were of great help, Gemma."
Gemma giggled with happiness.
Jax didn’t think she needed to know about him nearly dying, so he kept that information to himself. Instead, he looked around, trying to understand the situation.
"What is this place? It looks like another registration hall."
"It is a registration hall," Gemma said. "You need to register here officially to be part of the 9th Carriage. Only then will you receive your rewards too."
Jax’s eyes widened at that moment. "Right, rewards. I nearly forgot about that."
Being in a half-dead state, Jax hadn’t had the time to think about a lot of things. He had mostly rested his mind at that time.
"Oh right, where is he?" Jax thought, looking around. He needed to find the red-haired young man since he had made a deal with him. Since he needed to pay an absurd 2000 Opal stones to him, he had to find him.
Jax looked around, but he couldn’t see him. That man was not the only one with red hair, as most of the people seemed to have hair of different colors, even strange ones such as blue and green.
"I can’t find him," Jax said softly.
"Who are you searching for?" Gemma asked.
"Someone who helped me," Jax said. "He did a thing for me."
"Oh, you mean the guy who used his technique to freeze you in time?" Gemma asked.
Jax froze for a moment. "You know about that?" he asked.
"I was monitoring you from my station," Gemma said. "You fought incredibly. Especially those kicks on the turtle monster were great. This kobold one nearly killed you though."
Jax wasn’t sure what he could make of this. "You were watching me the whole time then?" he asked.
"Did you expect me to not?" Gemma asked. "I am your helper. I watch everything. Just because I’m not with you doesn’t mean I’m not keeping track of your journey. I am your helper after all, and sometimes I can only help in post."
Jax took a long moment to take in that explanation. It didn’t entirely make sense to him, but it made enough sense for him to not dwell on that topic.
"So you know what my ticket is, do you?" he asked.
"Oh yeah, I saw," Gemma quickly said. "Congrats on the 3-Star ticket. I can only imagine what sort of gift you’ll get."
Jax couldn’t help but be excited himself.
"How do I make use of it?" he asked. "Should I bring it out and be done with it?"
"You need to register first," Gemma said. "So you should head over to the circle."
"Right," Jax said. "I should probably do that."
He walked toward the circle in the distance and stopped as the crowd was too strong for him to get through. He had to wait for people to quickly get registered and leave.
Jax looked around, searching for a tuft of red hair. He wanted to know the person he was indebted to. However, he didn’t remember his name at all. How was he supposed to pay back 2000 Opal stones to someone who—
Jax sensed a strange bit of itch from his palm. When he felt it, he first assumed that he had wounded his palm. However, upon seeing it, he remembered the deal he made with the young man, and subsequently remembered that a debt in this world was marked onto someone else’s body through their name.
Jax looked down at his palm and saw the word written on it.
Carlton.
The red-haired young man’s name was Carlton.
Since he at least knew the young man’s name, he could hopefully find him now.
Jax waited by the circle for the young man to come to the place and register himself. However, upon not seeing the young man come up to him, Jax decided to be done with it himself.
When it was time, he finally walked up onto the circle and stood there. Within a second, he saw a few different things flash through him.
<’Mind’ Path Selected.>
<’Mind’ Path cannot be changed.>
The information faded and something else came up.
<A 3-Star Ticket has been verified>
<Three Ticket Rewards acquired>
<You have received a ’Gift Box’>
<You have received the ability to move back to Carriage 10>
<You have received a bonus ’Skill’>
Jax narrowed his eyes at what he heard. "A bonus skill?" he thought to himself. He hadn’t seen something like that happening.
<Registration complete>
The notification came as a reminder for Jax to move and let the others register as well.