The stairs creaked under my feet as I slowly moved up the stairs that flanked the entrance hall.
I held onto the wooden railing while taking a few breaths to calm myself down.
I looked towards my right hand, where a black marking appeared.
The Nightwalker... It was back.
However, I knew that I couldn’t summon it like before.
Thinking back on what had previously happened, I could only bitterly smile.
’It’ll probably attack me if I summon it.’
I needed to think of a way to handle the situation with the Nightwalker. It was a really useful helper. It had already helped me get out of multiple terrible situations.
I couldn’t do without it.
"...Too bad I don’t see anything in the shop that might help me."
There were quite a few items I thought could help, but there was no guarantee they would work. They also didn’t seem to be able to solve the crux of the problem.
I needed to find a way to earn its loyalty back.
But how could I do that?
"Or do I even have to do that at all?"
Perhaps the best way would be to go back to the new recruits trial and get another one?
Would it even be possible?
And... did my skill have some sort of limit?
I needed to investigate the matter further before coming up with a decision. If I can really do it, I’ll start farming nightwalkers... Yeah, that could work.
I imagined myself with an army of Nightwalkers.
By then, I’d feel a lot safer.
As the stairs cracked once more, I realized that I was now standing before the entrance of the second floor.
It was pitch black, and I couldn’t see anything beyond it.
I felt nervous staring at the darkness; however, feeling movements coming from the main hall, I knew that I had to go on.
’The ones from the Guild are starting to get out.’
But before I did that, I slowly removed the mask from my face and replaced it with a pair of sunglasses.
The world around me chilled as I started to shiver.
Holding onto my arms, I walked through the door.
"I see the portal has formed! We can get out!"
"Let’s get out of this place quickly. Report the situations to the Guild."
"...Reports the deaths, too. Damn it."
Coming out of the ballroom, the first thing the Guild member noticed was the gate that appeared right outside the mansion. This usually indicated that the scenario had been cleared and that they could leave.
Many felt relieved upon seeing it.
After all, this entire experience had been some sort of nightmare.
Whatever wrong could’ve happened, had happened, and they had sustained multiple losses.
These weren’t just any small losses. All the people who died were valuable recruits that the Guild spent a lot of resources on.
But with deaths being so common in the containment sector, none of the Guild recruits were too affected by the deaths. They had all seen partners come and go like clockwork.
They were now numb to it.
"Right, the fragments. What fragments did we get?"
Recalling the fragments that they had received from the host right before leaving, several people checked. That was when they took a look at the long crystals in their hands, staring at the swirling gray cloud within the crystal.
"A fragment of conceptualization? That’s pretty good..."
"It looks like they’re all the same."
Coming out of the ballroom, Zoey similarly looked at her fragment.
She also had a fragment of conceptualization.
’That’s not really what I need, but I guess I can trade it off for some points later.’
The crystal was useless to her.
It didn’t suit her Decree at all.
There existed several Decrees, with seventeen the number that was currently known. The fragment of conceptualization was for those who followed the Conceptualization Decree, as in those who could will imagery into existence.
Such a Decree was rare, but also extremely useful.
Many squads tended to bring at least one who followed the Conceptualization Decree with them. There were many times when a certain item could help the team clear scenarios.
From ropes, radios, and so on... They were essential for many teams.
In fact, Zoey’s current squad had one such member.
It was just a pity that the current scenario made it impossible for them to act.
’Everything happened so fast and abruptly that it was hard to do anything at all.’
Zoey thought about the current scenario and shook her head.
Her team composition ended up not being the right one for this scenario.
Kyle, with his Temperal Decree, would’ve been rather useful. Added with her Elemental Decree, or to be more precise, Light one, she felt that the two would’ve been able to clear the scenario alone.
Her specialization of the Light Element within the Elemental Decree was also the reason that she needed fragments of light in order to reach the next order.
But it wasn’t all bad. The fragments were still worth quite a bit, so she could just trade them for some light fragments.
’I’ll have to check the purity of this fragment later. Maybe I can fetch something good.’
The greater the purity of the fragment, the more it was worth.
The highest known purity was at around 80%, which fetched a lot of money. Purity didn’t just mean greater and more efficient energy, but it also meant a more powerful Node.
Zoey made it her goal to keep the fragments she used in order to advance to at least greater than 60% purity.
Anything lower than that wasn’t worth it.
"Captain, what should we do?"
Pulling Zoey out of her thoughts was one of her squad members. She looked behind her to see them all looking at her.
Zoey turned her attention towards the portal in the distance.
She pursed her lips and looked behind her, towards the second floor of the building.
Logically speaking, she was certain that there was a hidden scenario within the main scenario. It was probably related to the crying that they had heard during the main dance.
The rewards for completing such a task would certainly be generous.
However, taking into consideration how risky the main mission had been, she decided to hold off on exploring the hidden scenario.
If she had Kyle with her, alongside her main squad, she wouldn’t have hesitated to go.
But the truth was that she wasn’t with her squad.
Right now, she was in charge of a lower-ranked squad. The scenario had also grown considerably more risky.
She didn’t know if the same was true for the hidden quest.
Zoey couldn’t afford to take the risk.
She decided to abandon all thoughts regarding the hidden mission.
At the same time, she looked around to see if there were any signs of the Jester, but he appeared to have long left the place.
Moving with her squad, they all walked towards the distant portal and paused before those from the Ivory and Crownfall Guild.
Her eyes paused on Tom and the other Team Leader before she shook her head.
Looking at them, it was clear that they were having thoughts about clearing the possible hidden scenario.
That was all Zoey thought before entering the portal and fading.
Soon enough, her squad followed.