Thinking there wasn't a point to ask the robot what she meant, "It would probably claim we don't have the appropriate level to find out," Claire thought to herself, then moved towards the shimmering light.

Seeing the green light around the perimeter of the wall, Claire stepped through, and just like the previous time they stepped out of the simulated environment after getting off of the elevator, the experience wasn't much different. What did throw the prior experience out the window was the difference.

"Welcome, Adventurer," A robot similar to Melody addressed Claire.

Not expecting to be greeted on the other side, Claire just stared at the robot. It stood behind a counter, like at a hotel when first checking in.

"Understandably, you're confused," The robot responded in a respectful tone, utterly different from Melody, who seemed to enjoy hiding things from them.

"What is going on?" Claire finally succeeded in pushing out words through her mouth.

Claire walked towards the counter. It was then she noticed that instead of a metal counter, the material was some kind of polished wood. Being wood instead of metal, the impression was more elegant.

"To anticipate various scenarios, Star and Moon has incorporated an Adventure System into each of the underground cities, though with differences for each location based on cultural and environmental factors," The robot explained.

Listening to what it was telling them, Claire couldn't understand the concepts being presented to her. Her eyes wandered behind the robot, looking at several screens that had various information on them.

As though Claire's reaction was appropriate to the situation, the robot continued, "The fact that the shelters would be occupied by people, it was assumed that the local environment would've become hostile for humans to continue living in them. Since humans wouldn't be in a position to defend themselves through conventional means, the Adventure System was deemed ideal for training the residents themselves to become strong enough to fight back the local and potentially global threat."

Claire looked back to see that Hannah and Melody had walked through the wall.

Just like with Claire, Hannah stared at their surroundings, which was a mix between a large city airport and hotel lobby.

Instead of continuing with the conversation with the robot, Claire waited until Hannah was caught up with what Claire had learned.

"How is it possible for humans to fight those things?" Hannah asked, disbelief clearly written on her face at the thought of going up against creatures that even the military wasn't able to handle.

The robot patiently listened to their complaint. "It's understandable that you would be concerned, especially with your own personal experiences telling you differently than the picture I've presented you with." It moved to the side and turned to direct their attention to the several screens behind the counter. On the screen appeared the generic forms of a male and female human. "Though your levels aren't sufficient to be provided with all the information, I can provide some context. As discovered by our scientists, at Star and Moon, the world has some type of energy. This has already been explained by Melody."

Claire looked at Melody, confused by how the new robot knew what Melody had conveyed to Claire and Hannah.

Smiling, Melody pointed to her temple, "Though we aren't the same models, we do share the same network. It allows us to stay in communication with other units inside of this place. The Darlina models have separate consciousnesses, but they might as well be the same. This was decided to make it easier for Adventurers on the offchance any of you are able to make it to the other sites."

"Yes. Just call any of us by our model name. Our identical appearance makes it easy for Adventurers to interact with us, one of our main functions." Darlina explained, giving them a gentle smile.

"Compared to myself, Darlinas tend to be rather plain in their mannerisms. They put more emphasis on customer service." Melody sighed as though it found the idea to be ridiculous.

-----------------------

End of Part 1

Darlina's giggle was like the soothing sound of a wind chime being played by a gentle breeze. "It's true that we were designed to focus on customer service."

Returning to the screen with the image of a man and woman, "As I mentioned, the energy that has appeared again is interacting with living material, changing what humans have lived with for thousands of years into something foreign." Pointing at the images, Darlina continued, "The Adventure System is multiple parts, one of them the process of exposing humans to the energy."

"Melody had told us that we wouldn't become like the Modified Humans, is that correct?" Claire asked Darlina.

Nodding slightly, "Yes. This information is correct. From experiments performed by our scientists, the Modified Humans are likely an abnormality due to combining with something else. Humans only exposed to the energy won't create the mutation known as Modified Humans. Instead, the energy has been shown to provide beneficial side effects."

Claire felt her heart beating stronger as she was hanging on every word said by Darlina.

"Though we don't know all the benefits, due to limited data, the ones we know about are enhanced strength," Darlina said.

The screen with the images began to shift, showing an increase in muscle mass.

"Though this doesn't assist with survival, the human body seems to push out imperfections in the body. This is seen with modifications aligned with accepted standards of beauty." Darlina shrugged, the added benefit not feeling very important. "I understand that humans do have a preference when it comes to becoming more visually desirable."

Hearing that the energy makes people look more attractive, Claire found her mind going blank.

"It makes sense that this would be the case," Melody added. "The energy seems to have the purpose of making humans go through a form of forced evolution." Sighing, "As I mentioned, these are all theories and what we've seen in limited testing."

"Yes," Darlina agreed. "There is constantly new information being gained in our various facilities, increasing our understanding of this energy and how it interacts with humans."

There was a moment as Claire and Hannah tried to digest everything they were being told.

For Claire, learning about the energy and how it would change them was something she wasn't entirely comfortable with, even if it came with benefits. "Would we even still be considered human?" She couldn't help but wonder. At the same time, in order to reclaim the world, they called home...

"You mentioned the Adventure System being made up of several parts, what are the other parts?" Hannah asked Darlina.

The screen behind Darlina changed again. It now displayed a video of people fighting giant monsters. "Having humans survive in a hostile environment was tested by the creation of the World Athletic Battle Arena League."

Claire's eyes widened by this shared fact. Though she was never super into the sport, barely having heard about it, the thought that WABAL was part of Star and Moon's strategy to get them ready to fight the Modified Humans was surprising.

"By designing suits for players to be able to battle creatures several times their strength and abilities, in addition to the weaponry, we were able to test out whether it was even possible for humans to even survive in the upcoming world." Darlina looked back at Claire and Hannah. Smiling, Darlina said, "Fortunately, from the data gathered, we learned that humans would be able to reach the starting line."

Scrunching her face, Claire asked, "Starting line? What do you mean by that?"

"As of this moment, it's impossible for the players to fight off the Modified Humans. Based on projections, we have determined that the various locations surviving against the Modified Humans will reach a point where they are destroyed, just like the Fort above us." Darlina grimly voiced out the reality.