“I’m telling you to at least consider it!” Calli shouted from up ahead of their column. “Tehna would be a great addition to our party!”

  “But I like our party the way it—”

  “You can take more damage now and cover a wider range, so just take in another party member!” Calli hissed at Leon. “Why do you have to be so…”

  Nar chuckled to himself and shook his head. It was true that Leon’s [Constitution] had grown tremendously, and his [Oath of the Ardent Protector] skill, which soaked up damage from anyone in his party as long as they were within 300-feet of him, had also been upgraded. Together, it meant that the paladin could better protect his party, and it was an obvious choice to increase the small size of his six-person party, perhaps to the full complement of up to ten delvers.

  Leon seemed reticent for some reason, even if this Tehna was apparently yet another close cousin of theirs in what Nar was beginning to suspect was a pretty extended wealthy family, or cluster of families.

  I miss that, having such a big family, Nar thought, glancing down at the dark pebbles that they would soon leave behind. Oh, wait… didn’t they say that these assassins could’ve been sent by someone in their family?

  Perhaps that explained Leon’s reticence, though he doubted Calli would be advocating for someone she didn’t trust with her life.

  Having to doubt your own family, eh? Nar thought, thinking back to his own extended family of Unclean. Unclean would rather die than betray family… In a world of aura torture and abuse at the hands of the Clean, family was the most precious thing we had. The only thing we had.

  He clenched his jaw as his thoughts raced back across time and space, back towards the Nexus, the Minus… and slammed against the shut Gates that would never admit him to return.

  It’s so unfair, Nar thought, his fists shaking at his sides. No matter how much he told himself to let go and to focus on his party, on the new family that had embraced him and sacrificed for him, lately, every time he thought of those Gates, he saw them burning, and cut to pieces by his own—

  “Wild to think of that thing just sleeping in there,” Rel suddenly said.

  “What? Oh, you mean the Guardian of the Lake?” Eum asked. He’d been walking beside Nar’s other side in his own quiet contemplation. “A monster of maws and tentacles, they say…”

  The alfin archer nodded.

  Two weeks and a half had now passed since their arrival at the lake, and the distant plumes of faded red miasma were now the dominant feature upon their horizon. The clouds of washed up red billowed without stop from towering pillars of mat, black metal.

  Nar had reached level 55 and was ready to never set foot in the Hungry Jungle again. Their requirements for the Hungry Jungle had been met and their backpacks padded out some more, and, thanks in large part to the contribution from the dungeon guardian’s quest, they now not only had enough tokens to exit the Brightnight, but were close to meeting the requirements to doing so with the added bonus of the common rewards. Of course, no one was satisfied with just that and fortunately, they still had plenty of the journey to look forward to and acquire more tokens.

  However, it was an undeniable weight that had been lifted off their shoulders. Now, should an emergency occur, they could at least get the Pile out of that jungle and back up to the Scimitar. No assassins would dare touch them there, especially not with two Ascending Ones on the cusp of reaching Named few status on-board.

  “A giant monster capable of turning this whole place into essentially a mini-raid, and needing thousands of delvers to bring down,” Rel said, her eyes roving the silent waters she walked beside, colourful swirls of water forming just inches of her feet. “And we’re just walking right next to it without a worry.”

  “An upper epic beast,” Eum remarked. “I would’ve loved to fight it.”

  “Of course you would,” Nar said, snorting.

  “Wouldn’t you?” the tygaris asked, grinning with sharp fangs.

  “Eh… I guess,” Nar said, smiling back.

  “And to think this is just a low level dungeon,” Rel said, eyeing the horizon. “I can’t even begin to imagine what a medium or high level dungeon would be like…”

  “Will be like?” Nar asked, with a half grimace.

  “Right… We’ll find out eventually, won’t we?” Rel said, her tone distant. “We’re almost level 60 already, and we’ll be at least 70 by the time we leave here. Level 100 won’t be that far after that.”

  “Well, you guys will be elites by the time you reach level 100, so have some confidence,” Eum said, smiling at Rel. “You will be heads and shoulders above the normal delvers then.”

  “Normal delvers? I thought anyone above level 100 was already considered an elite delver?” Rel asked.

  “Yes and no,” Eum said, with a wave of a clawed hand. “It depends on the delver. And the term elite is very, very loose. You might be elite, but plateau in the early 100s. Or you might be elite and keep shooting up all the way up the 200s.”

  “That’s possible?” Rel asked, frowning at the tygaris. “I thought that was like, Named Few sorts of levels.”

  Eum’s laughter rang out across the silent shore, and people turned back to stare at them.

  The tygaris raised his hand in apology.

  “A Named Few is at minimum level 300,” he said.

  “Crystal,” Rel whispered.

  I knew that, Nar thought to himself, somewhat guilty. But I haven’t publicly announced myself yet, nor have I felt like I should speak about Tys’ just like that.

  “If, and that’s a big if, you manage to break through the last great plateau in the mid 200s, then, you might just have a chance of making it to 300,” Eum said. “But a combat class in the 200s is already an existence far beyond our understanding.”

  “Wow,” Rel said under her breath.

  “And if you do make it there, and become a Named Few, then what?” Nar asked.

  It was a question he had never asked Tys, in part because she was always busy torturing and he self-healing, and in part because he hadn’t really considered that there might be an after past making it as a Named Few. Sure, he knew about their sacred duties to safeguard the Nexus, but that couldn’t be everyday nor all the time, right? And so, what did someone do, once they reached the pinnacle of Creation to the point of very much being an existence similar to gods, at least in the eyes of other sapients.

  Eum shrugged. “You just keep growing as you please. There is no max level. At least I’ve never heard of one, so, in theory, you can keep growing indefinitely if you have the will for it.”

  “But the things you’d need to fight to keep getting gains at those levels,” Nar said, frowning. “You’d need to go—”

  “Into the Deep Deep, and probably beyond. Straight into the Abyssal Halls to challenge the Dark Gods Themselves !” Eum said with a bark of laughter. “Can you imagine such a battle, sure to shake the very foundations of Creation itself?”

  “No!” Rel shouted. “Of course not! And don’t mention Them like that. It’s bad luck!”

  “Bah!” Eum said. “Superstitions.”

  Nar could only shake his head.

  Abyssal Halls. Dark Gods. It all still sounded like crazy talk to him.

  But is it? A little voice asked him.

  As one training to become a Named Few, who knew what would be demanded of him. Or what he would come to face one day?

  “Someone’s up ahead,” Jul called.

  A ripple spread outwards from the quam, as conversation died and hands prepared to draw weapons.

  “Wa-Wait! Not like that!” she shouted,

  “Looks like Tsurmirel apprentices,” Sej said, squinting into the distance. “It’s the same tent as yours, at least.”

  Kur nodded slowly.

  “Well, we need to go this way anyways… Let’s go and find out.”

  **********

  “Well, well, well! Kur! I knew you couldn’t be dead!” the morsvar boomed as he clasped hands with the party leader.

  “Dead?” Kur asked, frowning. “What?”

  Nar eyed the other domain party leader from afar, where he and the others awaited by the lake shore. Meanwhile, Kur, Row and Leon had stepped up to the tent to greet the two party leaders.

  It feels like forever since we’ve seen other people, Nar thought, glancing from the ashen, brown scaled morsvar party leader, to the short lengos that was the other party leader in their joint domain party. She has the same eye color as Cen. But she feels a lot more… shady? Hmm, I don’t think that’s the right word. Cunning, maybe? Yeah, that sounds better. But then again, they’re all party leaders here, and cunning is their bread and butter, as the saying goes.

  Nar watched the two groups of party leaders trade pleasantries, and then Kur proceeded to explain their situation as well as Leon’s presence. All the while, something pressed on Nar from the back of his mind, but he couldn’t quite place what it was.

  “He’s different, isn’t he, when he’s acting as our party leader to the outside.”

  “To the outside?” Nar asked, as Gad came to a step beside him, her ponderous arms folded over her chest.

  “With us, we’re family, and he just so happens to be the family head, the one whose orders we follow. But he is still one of us. Same with Row and Leon to us and their own party,” Gad rumbled. “But now, Kur is representing us to an external party.”

  “Representing us?” Nar repeated.

  Gad chuckled at him. “Representing us and protecting us, I should say.”

  Nar stared at her in open confusion now. “From another Scimitar party?”

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  The morsvar tank grinned at him and motioned for him to follow her along the shore.

  “What are we being trained for, Nar?” Gad asked him, as they left the others behind at a sedate pace.

  “To delve?”

  “Yes, but what specifically are we being trained for?” she asked him, pointing a black claw at him, and then at herself.

  His eyebrows rose. “Oh. To fight… Well, me to become, you know, and you to become a controller.”

  “Exactly. And what is Kur being trained for?” Gad asked him. “What are all the party leaders being trained for?”

  “To lead,” Nar said.

  “Right again, but you are missing the correct sense of scale in your answer,” the tank said, as she paused to look out at the neon lines crossing the lake. “The leadership apprentices don’t have a hall like the rest of us do. Instead they have the Circle.”

  Nar frowned at the word, but he waited for Gad to continue.

  “The leadership apprentices are being trained to lead, yes, but not just in the way you think,” Gad said, glancing back at the five party leaders. Nar too looked back, and given the firm expressions he encountered, it seems that the conversation had taken a serious tone. “Kur leads us, true, but after the apprenticeship, he will also be a spokesperson for Tsurmirel when we encounter parties from other guilds, corporations, government bodies, the Church and even nobles.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes. And more than that, we are elite apprentices, so after we’re done with Tsurmirel, we won’t be finding ourselves delving easy dungeons like that forest dungeon was,” Gad said. “Long delves where multiple parties must cooperate will be the norm. And there will be much to consider besides just the fighting… In fact, as a large group of parties, we will likely be based on our own ship, and have our own missions. As such, that larger group will require a leader too.”

  “You mean…”

  “And that’s not all. If Kur wants to stay my party leader, then he will likely have to grow into a raid leader,” Gad continued. “And that’s not even the end of the career path for a party leader. He can rise within the ranks of Tsurmirel itself, to become the leader of several groups, or an entire section of Tsurmirel’s activities in the Labyrinth. He could become a department head, a regional director, or… Well, it all depends on what he wants to do. Who knows, maybe he could even gain a taste for politics… Or for being a guild leader.”

  “What?” Nar shouted.

  “Well, I doubt he’d want to be Tsurmirel’s guild leader. He strikes me as someone who’d form his own guild… To build something from scratch,” Gad mused, the corner of her lips tugging.

  Nar stared at her wideeyed.“Really? I mean, I’m not saying he’s not capable, and he can obviously do whatever he wants but…”

  Gad shrugged. “Is such a goal more or less far-fetched than becoming a Named Few?”

  Nar pursed his lips.

  “Exactly.”

  “So is that what happens in the leadership class? In the Circle?” Nar asked.

  She nodded, her eyes trailing over to the distant purple horizon.

  “The Circle is an auditorium that fully encloses the lecturer’s stage,” Gad said, drawing a circle in the air with a clawed finger. “For that reason, the apprentices are facing not just the lecturer, but each other as well.”

  “You mean… against each other?” Nar asked, holding his chin with three fingers. “But why?”

  Gad raised her scaly eyebrows at him.

  “Fine,” Nar said with a sigh. “If they’re against each other in the leadership class, there has to be a reason… a goal. Wait! A reward?”

  Gad’s deep chuckle rumbled through her. “Not bad. We’ll grow that [Insight] yet, eh?”

  Nar tutted at her.

  “The leadership class is entangled in a battlefield to see who will emerge as the leader of all the party leaders, or, failing that, to see who can distinguish themselves the most,” Gad said. “And the reward is that the better you do, the better your future leadership position.”

  “As well as the better chances for your party’s continued growth?” Nar asked.

  “Indeed,” Gad said. “But the rewards aren’t just for after we finish our apprenticeship. You nabbed yourself a master, and in one way or another, so did the rest of us. Even Mul, while not being taught by a master, his instructor has dropped her other apprentices to focus exclusively on him. Though Jasphaer remains with his instructor, of course. And so does Kur.”

  “Is this about that allocation of resources and attention that the Master of Blades, and I guess the other masters, told us on the first day?” Nar asked.

  “It is. Soon, we will begin upgrading not only our own weapons, but also our own gear. Once we’re done with this delve, we will all be receiving physical gear, just like Leon’s party uses,” Gad said. “And the Scimitar won’t always send all its apprentices into the same dungeon like this. And as you know, entry tickets are expensive.”

  “And the better the dungeon, the more expensive they become,” Nar said. “So the better dungeons will go to the better performing parties.”

  “Who will also gain priority for upgrade requests, time with instructors, access to special resources and so on,” Gad said. “We were warned this was going to happen, and once we return to the Scimitar, what they call the Merit System will kick into effect. The Circle will become the center of that fight.”

  “So the higher Kur climbs in the ranks, the better positioned we’ll be… But at the same time, I’m guessing that the better we do, the better he can do in that Circle, right?” Nar asked. “Ehrm, how well is he doing now?”

  Gad shook her head. “He’s doing exceptionally well and poorly at the same time.

  “Huh? How is that even possible?”

  “Kur leads our party,” Gad said with a touch of steel in her tone. “We are all exceptional. Not only are almost all of us taught by masters or close enough, we have two Named Few disciples amongst us and me, a future battlefield controller. Not only that, you took down that Raid Boss for good, and in so doing, you saved a lot of those who had been left behind or who were carrying the injured out of that damned place.”

  “I did?” Nar asked, frowning.

  “I guess you only had eyes for us!” Gad said, tapping a fist to his chest. “But yes, you did. That gratitude extends to Kur, as some of those parties who didn’t leave people behind also made it onto the Scimitar as well. Then, Kur’s party was also the one to face the heart of the corruption in that cluster of dungeons and take down what should have been, for all rights, the corrupted boss monster that should’ve killed us all.”

  “So he should be doing really well, then!” Nar said.

  “He is. There are two factions that split the Circle. Juf, who led our middle bridge during the Ceremony is on one side, and Dak who led the left bridge is on the other. They have both been recruited to the Scimitar, though the raid leader of the right bridge wasn’t,” Gad explained. “Kur is currently a neutral faction that stands in between them, but which can sway things either to one side or the other when the two main factions clash.”

  “Damn, I had no idea this was going on. So does that mean that there are people in his… faction? Party leaders that follow him?” Nar asked. Gad’s explanation was only getting deeper and deeper, and truth be told, he hadn’t expected the leadership class to be such a cutthroat environment, or for Kur’s role to be so crucial for their future growth and performance.

  “There are. Row is one of them, of course, and there are three other parties that follow Kur, meaning that there are five parties in his faction,” Gad revealed, raising five fingers. “But Kur also has many sympathizers amongst the other two factions, especially Juf’s, and he could potentially swing them to his own to form a proper third group in the Circle.”

  “But he’s not doing so?” Nar asked.

  Gad shook her head.

  “Is it because of that thing that’s been bothering him?” Nar said, glancing back at his party leader.

  “Yes,” Gad sighed. Nar frowned as her shoulders sank. “I have tried to help him resolve it, but in the end, this is something that only he can resolve for himself.”

  “I see… But, that aside, why didn’t Kur tell us all this stuff from the Circle and the Merit System?” Nar asked the tank.

  She rumbled a quiet chuckle, pushing around a larger pebble with her foot.

  “He will soon, I think. Probably before the end of this delve. My guess is that he’s still trying to figure things out and hoping to clear his head before then… But the main reason he kept it under wraps is because that is his fight,” Gad said. “I tell you little of what goes on in the Controllers Hall, and you tell me little about what you endure at the hands of the COO. It’s the same for everyone in the party. We all face our individual challenges and paths, and it's our combined results from our struggles that will open the way forward for the party.”

  “Right.”

  Nar scratched at the back of his neck. “My head is a lot clearer these days, and I’m not saying that I can help where you couldn’t, but—”

  “Talk to him,” Gad said, smiling down at Nar. “And don’t discount yourself. You have a certain way of clearing the way for us, you know?”

  Of clearing the way? Nar thought. Gad’s words settled heavily upon his mind.

  He reached a hand to his chest without noticing, resting it over his core…

  Clear my way.

  That was the intent that had materialized his first, true [Aura Blade], and which broke through the illatrian that had nearly ended their path. Thinking back, had there not been other instances where the exact same intention had crossed his mind?

  Clear my way.

  You will not block us.

  You are not the end of us…

  I will go on.

  Was there something here? Something to his affinity?

  “I speak the truth, right?” Gad said. “And that brings us to what I actually wanted to talk about with you today. Roles.”

  Nar glanced up into Gad’s bottomless, all-black eyes, set upon her strong, scaly features, her spines relaxed atop her skull and down her back. She placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed.

  “It’s time to let go, Nar,” she said. “Our party does not need a secondary tank anymore, and it’s time for you to be free in order to properly grow your path. Otherwise, you will end up stunting yourself.”

  “So, I really was being a nuisance,” Nar said, passing a hand over his face.

  Her laughter broke through the still, dead air of the lake shore. “Of course!”

  “Why didn’t you tell me anything, then! I assumed it was fine!”

  “Hey, don’t pout!” Gad said, patting his head. “It was necessary training. I’ve always known that sense attributes are crucial, but it was only after my flow affinity unlocked, and I began training to be a controller, that I understood just how truly critical senses are. Without them, we would all be helpless, and unable to use even a tiny portion of our capabilities in combat.”

  “Which is why the System helps party leaders through [NPL], and why Cen needed to unlock [Sensory Augmentation],” Nar mumbled.

  “She, and all the other casters too,” Gad added. “You too, needed to train your sense attributes, and the Hungry Jungle was perfect for it. You should continue to do so, but not like this.”

  “Because I made a mess of things for you,” Nar said.

  “Well, that too. To be honest, I found it to be a great opportunity for training. Everytime you disrupted my flow and forced me to change my plans, it was a chance to train my adaptability, and for that I’m grateful. I doubt that whatever battles I end up controlling, that everything is going to unfold smoothly and without hindrances, both from my side and the enemies,” she said. “But the reason why I want you to drop this is because it won’t help you grow. Instead, I’d rather you used your senses and training in order to become better able at reading the battlefield itself instead.”

  “Isn’t that what I’m trying to do?” Nar asked, frowning at her.

  The morsvar shook her head, her scales glistening softly in the diffuse purple light that hung over the lake.

  “You are reacting right now, looking at the enemy, at our people, analysing the danger, even throwing yourself in its way in order to make use of your [Instinct] to cover the others. And then you act, as a response to danger to one of us,” Gad explained. “Instead, I want you to use your senses, especially your [Awareness], so that you can read the battle, and predict the way it flows before it happens.”

  Nar snorted. “I am not a controller.”

  “I’m not telling you to become one. I’m saying that the shift from tanking to self-tanking has left you lost and disappointed, because you think you can’t protect us anymore… But, there are many ways of tanking, aren’t there?” Gad said, a mischievous glint to her eyes. “Say that you have someone that can accurately predict the flow of battle, and that someone is capable of not only keeping himself alive no matter what’s before them, but also to destroy it, and then, what do you think happens when that person moves about the battlefield, and chooses certain spots to stand on, or fights to take on?”

  Nar half-frowned, half-glared at her for turning his brain to water and yet, not just giving him the answers he needed.

  He sighed.

  That’s just her, and that’s really the way it has to be, he thought, pondering over her words. If I can predict the flow of battle, and I move myself around to occupy certain spots or pick certain fights over others…

  He looked up at her, his jaw falling, and she grinned back.

  “Wherever I stand, nothing will get past me… and whatever fight I pick, it’s a fight that won’t reach the party,” he whispered.

  “Boom!” she said, her grin widening further. “Now if only it was as easy with Kur.”

  “But won’t I still disturb your flows?” Nar asked her.

  “Not if you’re reading the battlefield correctly and using your [Awareness] to its full capability,” Gad said. “You have the senses needed for a controller, and between me and Jul, with our different ways of sensing and making use of our attributes, I think we can shape you up into something very, very nice, eh?”

  “You would teach me your controller stuff?” Nar asked, floored. “Are you allowed?”

  “Who cares?” Gad said, her grin turning feral. “I might have signed their one hundred year contract, but Tsurmirel does not owe me. My family does. So I'll fork over all the good stuff to you!”

  For a moment, Nar could only stare into the deep, bottomless eyes of Gad, the big sister he could always rely on. Then he groaned.

  “I swear… Is this just an elaborate way for you to drag me into leadership?”

  “Who knows,” Gad said, and she pinched his cheek. “There are many ways to tank, many ways to control a battlefield, many ways to lead, and… Maybe even many ways to build a hybrid path, no?”

  “Ugh,” Nar said. “Why do I feel like it’s useless to resist?”

  “Because it is,” she said. “On that note, senses and [Awareness], the new skill that Tuk suggested to you, continuing to develop your [Aura Blade], plus upgrading your new pain resistance skill and gaining your passive self-heal skill… you have a lot on your plate already, but I would like to suggest one more skill for you to unlock.”

  “Really? Which one?” he asked her, frowning.

  “Ask Cen and Jasphaer to help you unlock [Aura Sight]. Not only do I have a feeling it will help you down the line, but it also means you’ll be able to see my aura threat flows. That will help us work well together,” Gad said. “At least for as long as we continue to fight together.”

  Nar’s frown melted. “Gad…”

  She sighed. “The future is the future, and we’ll worry about it if it ever comes to it. But, what do you say?”

  Nar snorted and shook his head.

  “I say, should I start calling you master, too? Are you also guiding me to some unseen result?” Nar asked, smiling at her.

  “Maybe,” Gad said, returning the smile. “But Kur is back, and he doesn’t look happy. Think about what I said. There are many ways forward in this Creation, and many ways to reach your goals.”