"I have no idea! I do, however have a lot of questions!!" Nived says "Who are you talking to?" "Oh, sorry! Yui is the spirit that controls this tower." Yui says "Hello, Nived. It is nice to meet you!" Nived says "Hi, nice to meet you too!" "There is a lot I need to explain to you. But first I have some companions that look like monsters, but don't attack them! In fact, don't attack anything in this tower." Nived says "Um, okay. You are the boss." Yui says "Speaking of, I have informed them of your return. They are racing up here as we speak." With Yui's warning I suggest Nived to stand to the side, since I am expecting to get tackled. He moves just in time as I spot Kechara charging down the hallway at full speed. She hardly slows before she hits me, knocking me onto my back in a full tackle. To Nived it probably looks like she is attacking me, but I can't help laughing as she starts licking my face. Before I can free myself from Kechara, Asuna joins in and helps keep me pinned. She has grown and is now almost as big as her mother from what I can see. By the time they decide they have had enough and let me up, the fur of my face is soaked. Not that I mind, I have missed both of them quite a bit. Once they let me up I pet both of them as I introduce them to Nived. Nived says "Now it makes sense why you were willing to give me a chance when I was a troll." "Oh, I should warn you there is also an undead around here somewhere named Bones." Yui says "Actually, Bones vanished as soon as you entered the test. That is why I had to tell these two about the test the first day you were gone." "Oh, I guess that makes sense." 'Summon Bones!' "Bones, this is Nived, a friend." Bones says "Friend!" Nived says "Nice to meet you, Bones." "There, now everyone has met. Yui, how long was I gone?" Yui says "This is the afternoon of the sixth day since you entered." "That's not too bad." Nived says "To be honest I was worried about fitting in in your world. But considering your other friends, a half-troll doesn't seem so bad!" "That is somewhat true, but you should still expect discrimination from the humans." Yui says "Lunch is prepared. Why don't you all move to the dining room. Ash, while you eat I would love to hear the story of what happened in the test." "Okay, sounds like a plan." Once everyone has relocated to the dining room and the food has been brought out I start telling my story. Once I am done eating I finish up the story by telling Yui about my score and the rewards I received. Yui says "Rank S? You are sure?" "Yeah, it told me rank S." Yui says "That might explain why no one else has ever brought someone out of the test. No one else has ever scored so high!" "That could be it I suppose." Yui says "Also, from what you described, no one has ever had such a hard time." "Yeah, I kind of figured it was my fault the difficulty went up." Nived says "If my world was a simulation, what does that make me?" Yui says "Well, it isn't exactly a simulation." "What is it then?" Yui says "I did tell you it was made with the help of a god, right?" "Yeah. That is the reason it is true time dilation." Yui says "Correct. It also means that it could contain an entire world. We simply don't know what the god did." "Well, I doubt the test could just create someone. So it being a contained world does make more sense." Nived says "I hope that is the truth. It makes me feel much better. Now, mind telling me about this world?" "Um, maybe I should start at the beginning and tell you about my world first." Nived says "Wait, this isn't your world either?" "This is my world now, but I was born in another world originally." After we move to a room with more comfortable seating I begin telling Nived my entire story. The telling takes all the way through dinner and it is only as I tell the entire story that I realize how much has happened already. Being thrown into the pit feels like it was years ago, but in fact it hasn't been all that long. "Yui, that reminds me, I still don't know how this world works. What I mean is I don't know how time is recorded." Yui says "Well, like your world each day is twenty-four hours, and each week is seven days. But our months are all thirty days long, and a year is twenty-four months." "So each year here is basically two from my world. How are the seasons split?" Yui says "Spring and fall are both around three months long. Summer and winter are usually around nine months each." "No wonder it felt so strange! I've been expecting winter to start for months now!" Yui says "From what I can tell of the outside, winter has started." "And now it is going to last nine months?" Yui says "Affirmative." "So this planet has a quick spin but a slow rotation." Nived says "Huh? You lost me there?" Yui says "I didn't follow that either, could you explain?" After putting my foot in my mouth I find myself having to explain astronomy and how a planet moves within a solar system. It turns out that the ancient mages still believed the sun rotated around the planet. I will need to be careful, I don't want to talk about things like this around humans. The last thing I need is to be branded a heretic and have a mob trying to burn me at the stake. Although, at least in Illium I know the church will be on my side. Still, I need to remember to be careful of letting knowledge from my old world slip. "I think that is enough talking for tonight. We can continue this tomorrow." Yui says "Okay, Ash, goodnight." After showing Nived to a room he can use I head to mine to get some sleep. Only to find Kechara and Asuna already sprawled out on the bed, taking up most of it. When I poke them they move just enough to create a space between them for me.