The group continues on their theory crafting session until the hidden intercom in the room fires up with Garf’s distinct voice.
“Trainees, get to the mess hall as soon as possible.”
Everyone’s somewhat jovial attitude from earlier is replaced by seriousness as we all trade looks while wondering what the reason could be for such a congregation. Grabbing Pawl from Benny, I send the younger boy over to intertwine fingers with Kathryn as she leads him out of the barracks.
The cat in my hands mews quietly, and I stroke his thick fur while blowing gently on his face to annoy him. Just as the kitty is about to swipe at me for doing so, I stop and begin to pet him even harder. Instead of scratching me, his outstretched paws are forced to begin creating biscuits in the air, and I relish in the sight before Pawl finally has enough and jumps out of my hands to walk around by himself. I join him shortly after, and we both follow the rest of the group towards the main building while I stick to the back and continue observing everyone.
No one says anything during the trip, and we arrive at the mess hall with all five of our trainers lined up similarly to the day of our selection almost a week and a half ago.
“This will be the last time you see your trainers. The incoming wave’s timeline has moved up. We only have one week until it arrives, so your trainers are needed elsewhere. In five days, an escort will arrive to bring you to the far entrance of the Veil where you arrived a few weeks ago. You will follow orders from Captain Gerard from then on. Is this clear?” Garf commands with his squinty purple eyes.
We all nod visibly and the bald man waves his hand to dismiss us to speak with our trainers one last time. Master Lirin stands amongst the others with his back ramrod straight and hands stuffed into his warlock robes. I approach his stationary position next to the others, and his azure eyes just follow me until I stand before him.
“Give me your access key, boy. I don’t want you messing around with the archive while I am away.”
Fishing in my pocket, I hand him the crystal he gave me without complaint.
“Can I ask you two questions, Master?”
“One was spent on that question, but yes.” He replies with the response I expected.
“How good is a Flame Drake’s regenerative properties?”
I enjoy one last look at the weird face he makes when I do something he doesn’t expect.
“My knowledge of monster’s genetic advantages are fairly shallow.” Despite his statement, I can see his eyes get that far off look when he is attempting to recall something he had researched previously. “However, I am aware that a Flame Drake’s body possesses the inherent ability to close their wounds through intense and focused heat that seals the injury and removes afflictions. This ability is one that allows such creatures to endure long and harsh battles as well as certain environments such as the Southern Deserts where they used to reside. The ability itself does not fall under the healing category of traits, but instead is a tactic used solely to stem tissue damage and does nothing to remedy bone, nerve, or blunt organ damage. This evolutionary adaption is inferior to almost every healing skill, but it allows the creature’s body to naturally heal any lingering damage without the threat of infection or other afflictions.”
“Thank you, Master!”
The warlock nods slightly before turning around in a whirlwind of robes as he heads out of the tavern in that supermodel-like cadence of his.
Man…
I’m really not going to miss that guy.
It’s a shame that I can’t learn any more valuable information from the warlock, but I certainly don’t mind the lack of slaps to the face or thinly veiled insults that will come from his absence. Also, the way his robes would continuously get in my way when I had to follow him around, or how he would give me ridiculous punishments and restrictions on my skill use or ability to relieve myself in the restroom. In fact, I kind of hope he dies in this upcoming wave.
While I stew over my hidden pile of grievances against Master Lirin, the other trainers finish up any last words to their charges before heading out as well. Garf is the only one to remain, and he gives Angus what looks like some type of wand or stick before heading toward the main entrance of the tavern as well. As he is about to leave, he turns around one last time and squints at all of us while smoothing a hand over his bald head.
“I must go to the King’s Castle to make preparations with the attendants. You are free to do as you please for the next five days. Do not cause trouble or else the wave will be the least of your troubles. Is this understood?”
We all nod silently in our usual obedient manner, and Garf offers one last grunt of approval before shutting the tavern door behind him, leaving us all alone with no one but the usual staff to occupy the building.
Like a switch being flicked, I watch as everyone else in the group visibly changes their stances and expressions.
“Wade and Nikki, try to tail Garf so we can get a location on the castle. I’ve heard it’s in the northwest sector of the city. Make sure to keep contact on the Forum for anything that comes up.” Vince commands.
The two raise no complaints and immediately head out after the Mana Engineer.
“Everyone else should form groups of two and begin combing the city. Let’s maximize the time we have now and get as much information as possible for the floor quest. There is no telling if we will have the time to learn anything new after the monster wave hits.”
Everyone gets moving, and their pure coordination and teamwork stuns me for a moment. We had made plans throughout our time on this floor for all kinds of contingencies, so I know the reasoning behind Vince’s commands, yet his authority and everyone’s actions surprise me. I have not had a chance to see how the whole group worked together, but now that I do, it makes sense to me how they were able to survive underneath Vince’s leadership. The entire experience drives my idea about a traitor being amongst us even more plausible, as if Vince had exhibited this level of sound command during Floor One, then more people would have almost certainly survived.
Despite my awe at the teamwork being displayed, it doesn’t distract me from the ominous feeling of the trainers abrupt departure, and sudden time cut on the monster wave approaching. As everyone begins to separate into pairs, I pull up the Forum to try and confirm something.
[Forum]
< Server: Death is Certain >
< Thread: General >
< Members: 67 >
< Wondererer > - Did anyone else get Remus as a trainer? This dude just makes me do pushups all the time, it’s so frickin boring!
< GlassHouse > - Sorry to hear that, friend! One of my teammates is with Remus and has had a similar experience. My trainer is Maria, the Freeform Illusionist. She has been quite helpful!
< Spartan > - Remus is helping whip our group into shape. I think it’ll be worth it in the long run. The monster wave is supposed to be coming in a couple weeks so I just hope the classes we got help us out.
< Wondererer > - Yeah ig u might be right. W classes though, this shit is awesome!
< GlassHouse > - Don’t get too reliant on your class. We always have to remember this is the hardest difficulty- make sure to keep yourself safe!
< Still > - Hey did anyone here get a notification saying that XXXXXXXXX.
< GlassHouse > - Hi Still! I can’t see what you said the notification said, but do you know why it appeared? I haven’t seen anyone else on the Forum mention anything similar yet so you might be the first.
< Still > - Don’t worry about it, it was just something that came from my skills or something I think. Is everyone’s monster wave XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX?
< GlassHouse > - Sorry, I don’t think we are going to be able to help you out on this one. It must be something we haven’t all gotten to yet.
Just as I suspected, none of my attempts to mention the strange notification we received or the fast-forwarded monster wave timeline was able to go through on the Forum. Calling out for everyone to stop for a second, I wrangle the remaining members of the group for a moment despite them all clearly wanting to get moving. Vince looks like he is about to stop me, but I interrupt before he can.
“I don’t think this is apart of the normal floor timeline.” I blurt out.
This gets their attention and the hesitation they displayed beforehand is forgotten.
“What do you mean?” Vince asks while leaning forward with his gaze fixed on me.
“The notification we all got earlier. I checked with the Forum and no one else was able to read it: my message was censored.”
“Couldn’t that just mean we are ahead of them in the floor objective?” Sandra asks with her arms crossed.
“I don’t think so. Think about it, we were the last group to get to Floor Two. So far, this floor has been completely time focused. We waiting for a few days before the trainers arrived, and then we were given a clear date for when the monster wave arrived. So far, the objective timeline has been linear, like a story game we have to get through before being prepared for the boss fight at the end.”
“Just get to the point, Sebastian. We need to make use of our time as best as possible.” Vince says.
“That’s my point! We need to make use of our time. Everyone else in the Forum is still running under the deadline of a couple of weeks before the wave. If we were the last ones to get to Floor Two, then we should have more time than them. Out of nowhere, we now have only half the time they currently do. Given the fact that we haven’t done anything out of the ordinary in regards to the Floor Objective-”
“That notification means we just sped up the entire course of the floor.” Vince finishes for me with an unbelieving look on his face.
His statement makes the others similarly surprised, but I fear that they haven’t realized the true gravity of the situation we are in yet.
“Not just sped up, but this just gave our group significantly less time to prepare for the wave. A floor event that was already supposed to require our best efforts after weeks of preparation and tutelage is now one in which we have to be ready for in a single week without any extra training at all.” I continue slowly, still not having spilled the worst part about this whole situation.
Vince is a step ahead of the rest though. As they attempt to grasp the weight of how the change has effected our situation, the soldierly man is watching me with a dark look in his eyes.
“I can tell there is something more that we aren’t seeing here. What are you not saying?”
I watch unhappily as the group turns in my direction as Vince’s words make all their attention focus on me.
“I could be wrong, but I don’t think the floor’s event will be the end of this. What’s the point of fast-forwarding the monster wave? In the end, it’s not like we are the only people in charge of defending against it, right? Our small group has very little effect on the actual outcome of the wave. Think about it. What could this change have on the long-term effects of the floor?”
They mull over my words for a moment before Sara finally speaks up.
“Oh shit… the Veil.” She practically whispers after realizing what I’m talking about.
“Yes. I don’t know what, but I think the change is going to make this wave much harder on us somehow. We already know it’s going to catch everyone here off guard since it’s earlier than expected, but I think we should be prepared for the worst.” I say grimly while looking them all in the eyes individually to make sure they fully comprehend what I mean.
“It wouldn’t surprise me at all if the gate we're stationed at fails in the middle of the wave.”