"So, as I said, I recommend buying a Detachment token and using it to remove your skill's upgrade. At least for your main skill." I say.

"That shit costs a thousand shards. I’m not paying that to weaken my skill," Maya says, looking up from the smartphone I bought, just to complain.

Then, having said what she wanted to say, she switches to the next song, and from the speaker of the phone, a cheery Japanese pop song starts playing, "Damn, I wish so much I could download something else."

Tess takes the phone from Maya's hand and increases the volume with a lively expression on her face, "I love it!"

When Maya tries to take the phone back, a red and white spark of lightning hits Maya's hand.

That gives me an idea, "Do you think you could charge electronics with your lightning?" I ask Tess.

"Nat… it's Primordial lightning, and I don't think that's how electronics work."

"Not with that attitude."

Aaron jumps into our conversation, "How much did it all cost you?"

"Twenty rare items, I think? Give or take," I answer.

"Damn, how many shards do you have?"

"A bit over 60 thousand."

"Oh, 6 thousand, not bad at all…"

"60 thousand."

"6 thousand?"

"Sixty."

"Sixty?"

"Sixty."

(Food!)

"Sixty fucking thousand shards?"

"Sixty-four fucking thousand shards," I say.

The expressions of everyone around are extremely amusing to watch, and I feel my energy refilling. Vega would call me an asshole, but I'm sure she would be proud of her rich master.

"Won't you be able to buy an arcane item soon?" Min-Jae moves closer, looking at me while, as always, a dozen balls float around him as he practices.

"Nope, I'm saving for a passive."

"If you have so many, you should just give me that damaged ax…" Maya tries.

"No."

"Fuck," she deflates.

I still have to study it. Later, I might even try to fix it. I'm curious what a low arcane item is capable of at its full power.

(Food?)

"If you really want it, I can give it to you, Biscuit," I answer honestly.

At that, he burrows his head into my chest, and I continue to pet him. Such a good snuggly boy. The best doggo of the sixth… no, the best doggo of the tournament floor!

(Food.)

"Thank you, I’ll hold onto it. If you decide you want it, just ask."

The others ignore our conversation, seemingly used to it already.

"So, what kind of person was Tacita?" Tess asks.

"Very quick, high dexterity. She also doesn't hesitate to attack and snaps back easily. I think she has some kind of skills or traits helping her hide her mana signature, and she is hard to detect. Assassin type, for sure over level 200."

"Sounds fun. Gareth, Savant, and her are probably the only ones capable of causing us any trouble." Tess muses, "The others from Hell difficulty shouldn't be too difficult to deal with, even though I'm surprised the First Beyonder isn't here."

She already knows about most of the things I’ve learned on the 5th floor, along with everyone else in our group.

My willingness to share seemed to surprise them a bit, but since then, they’ve opened up as well, sharing as much as they could to help us put it all together. Between the Pairing, the Floors, and the things they’ve been through.

"You met Gareth, right Tess? Tell us about him." Lily asks.

"He’s pretty much the same as he is in the Community. He is friendly and non-threatening, but I think he is a healer. As for his disposition towards self-healing vs healing others, I couldn't tell. His Constitution also seemed to be pretty high. He didn't move quickly, nor did I feel that much strength from him. His mana was fairly normal as well."

“So, a paladin build, perhaps a paladin of justice?” Aaron jokes.

“Or some kind of templar! Maybe he’s rounded out his skills with some disruptive attacks on the side,” Dennis adds smartly.

Tess just gives them a short look and a small smile, “I also met a few people from Hard difficulty. Samuel and some others from a group called Legion. They’re made up of soldiers and the people who follow them. You talked to them too, Nat.”

“I remember the guy. He seemed interested in speaking to people from Hell difficulty. Something about our responsibilities after we return to Earth.”

Tess nods, “Yes, that one. It looks like he took it seriously. He and his group have been moving all over the place, stopping fights and trying to recruit people, but I don’t know how successful he’s going to be.”

“And how many nationalities have you noticed? I don’t think Tacita is from America, and Channeler is probably from Canada. A few of the people from Normal and Easy difficulty were even from Europe or Asia.”The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Gareth is from Germany, even though his family is from Britain, they moved there when he was little.” Seeing my expression, she just shrugs. “He was really talkative. I also met a few smaller groups from South Korea and a bigger one from India.”

“We met a few guys from Japan and Poland, but most people seem to be from North America,” Aaron says.

Maya throws a piece of chocolate into her mouth and says, “I met a few guys from Texas.” She smirks, “They did have a lot of guns. Apparently, they got summoned while they were at a shooting range.”

“I don’t think guns are going to cause us much trouble,” Min-Jae says, seemingly excited at the thought.

Even then, I can’t help but agree with him. At this point, I don’t even think jets, tanks, or missiles could do much to anyone from Hell difficulty. It's a fun thought. It could still be dangerous with a surprise attack using armor piercing ammo, so maybe it's something to test out later.

“I saw a few women with a couple of babies, they can’t have been older than a few months,” Sophie says.

“That’s so damn dumb,” Maya shakes her head, “but I guess people from Easy difficulty would be like that. From what I saw, it's a game for most of them, and they’re rarely over level 40.”

“I did talk with a few from Normal difficulty.” Sophie says, carefully moving Noodle so that Isabella doesn’t jostle him. In response, the white snake thankfully flickers his tongue. “People from Normal seem to be close to level 80, and apparently, people from Hard are a bit higher than that. But everyone seems to be slowing down their leveling.”

“With people from Hell being close to 150, and rare cases reaching closer to 200, there is quite a difference,” Tess breaks off another piece of chocolate and offers a piece to Min-Jae who’s sitting nearby, and he takes it thankfully.

“What level do you think we will be when we get out?” the young Korean boy asks.

Sophie answers, “I don’t think anyone will get to Champion rank, we’re probably a good way off from that. But I can imagine people from Hell and Beyond reaching somewhere within the range of 350 and 400 or close to it. People from Hard, anywhere from 200 to 300. Normal, 100-150, leaving easy at 100 at the most.”

“I wonder how big a difference there is between someone at level 250 from Hell vs someone from Hard,” Lily asks. “I saw one healer from Hard difficulty. She was healing people in exchange for items. She wasn’t even able to regenerate limbs. Even Nathaniel´s pathetic healing passive is better.”

“The difference will be massive. We have better skills, we have better classes, and passives of a higher grade. I wouldn’t be surprised if we even get better traits. Plus, our skills are much higher in level,” I say, chipping in. “I'm willing to bet that I would have been able to beat a level 150 in Hard difficulty pretty easily at level 75.”

While we talk, I watch as the majority of the things I just bought slowly disappear, but today I don’t really mind. When they hesitate, I even open them on my own, and the bottles of sweet fizzy soda move around the group. Everyone seems to be smiling more than usual, even more than when we looted the kitchen in the manor back on the 3rd floor.

Isabella wakes up to the crackling of a pack of chips, proceeds to stuff her cheeks and moves closer to me while Sophie and Tess joke about the country we should take over when we get back to Earth. Apparently, the weather and the quality of food are the most important factors.

“Can I?” Izzy asks, moving closer as she looks at me.

I nod, and then I feel her [Empathy] connect to me.

Curious, I observe her expression, and the 11-year-old girl smiles at me, her green eyes shining brightly.

When she disconnects, she puts her arms around me in a hug and then pats my back, “You are much prettier than you were on the 1st Floor.”

“Really?”

“Yes!” she confirms, acting all smart. “It’s still not perfect, but very very slowly, you’re starting to feel like a hero.”

That amuses me even more, and she seems to notice that even without her skill.

“It’s not funny! I saw it on the internet. Some old guy said that Heroes are not born; they are made, and to me, you’re starting to look like a hero! You saved Soph and helped us so many times.” She explains.

Such a silly girl. One day I really want to see her interact with Vega.

Instead of responding to something so outrageous, I caress her head, almost trying to pull her non-existing horns, something I got used to doing.

“How was Seneca?” I ask her.

A mistake, as I realize quickly, as Izzy spends the next two hours telling me about her adventures on the 5th floor and the time she spent with Seneca, her disciple.

It would be fine if she shared interesting information, but Izzy doesn’t know about the Veil, the Ignition Stations, the Champions, and natives. She mostly talks about her adventures and fights, about teaching her disciple, and other silly things. But being in a surprisingly good mood, I decide to let her talk for tonight while I sit back and listen.

At some point, the boys join as well, and Izzy gets Dennis to talk about his disciple who died.

Such cruelty surprises me, yet Izzy keeps asking with her childish honesty, seeming to have some hidden plan in mind. Aaron tries to stop her a few times, but she manages to talk over him with a fast stream of words each time, and slowly Dennis opens up.

He talks about his time on the 5th floor. How he was scared, how he was annoyed with his disciple, and how, as he slowly opened up, they started building a relationship.

He talks about their adventures and all the silly things. In detail, he talks about the time they found a hill with a beautiful view. He talks about getting scared by a tiny animal in the middle of the night.

Then he gets to the point when his disciple dies, and even though it feels cruel, Izzy keeps asking. And Dennis talks. When he cries, and the little girl moves closer, taking his bigger hands into her smaller ones.

Isabella asks again, she makes him talk more and share it all. She doesn’t even use her skill to share his emotions with us, but it’s all out in the open for us to see.

No one talks over him, no one minds his tears; instead, people offer their support and listen to the quiet words he has to say.

That’s how we learn about his disciple, a young human girl called Draya with whom he spent such a short, yet impactful time.

By the time the night comes, Dennis seems as if a weight has fallen from his shoulders, and he hugs Isabella for a long time, whispering quiet words of thanks.

During the night, the two of us keep watch while the others sleep. And one of those keeping watch happens to be me.

The place we’ve chosen to stay is a bit higher than the plane where the buildings and people are, and I watch the lights down there with abject fascination.

Every single person there is a real person from Earth, not a native of the floor. It’s still a weird feeling.

I listen as some cheer, celebrating late into the night, and making contact with others. Over two thousand people, are all in the same situation. They share information, they trade.

Of course, there are some fights, flames light up the sky, projectiles fly, and mana blazes up, but never anything too serious, they’re just small conflicts aiming to establish a pecking order.

Even then, a small group of stronger mana signatures moves to the conflict, stopping it and building up recognition early. People devoted to taking on that role even after returning to Earth.

I wonder if they are truly selfless or if it's just a cold calculating move with the hope of saving work and time later.

When morning comes, half a day remains until the 1st event, but we finally get a notification from the system with the schedule.

Events for the 1st tournament of the 5th round of the Earth tutorial have been decided. They are as follows:

st event - The Survival Domain

nd event - The Siege of Aether Keep

rd event - Avatar Confrontation

th event - The Arena

th event - Chronicle of the Past

The first event will start in 12 hours. More information will be shared soon.