Chapter 64. Recover

We had a week until the tower allowed us to enter, during this time Chloe had to recover her strength and get used to her new stats. But she was smart and one of her passive skills was related to healing.

This way she could heal faster. While she got back to her full strength, I was out on a hunt, clearing out monsters that most of the soldiers would not be able to face.

I only returned during the evening, when we would sit down and she would teach me what each flower meant. That hour was the only time when I could relax.

The nights were sleepless as even a single second without trying to control the 'voices' would be unbearable. The noise, and chaos driving me to an edge of no return.

I knew that if I chose one of them, the other would be lost forever. I was confused and scared, who am I? What are these voices, and what are they making me choose between?

And why do they become silent just when we were together?

Tomorrow was the day. The path to this lake was marked and the monsters were cleared every day. This did lead to me leveling up to 49 in both of my classes.

The monsters were stronger than the ones that appeared on the outskirts of the forest. They were nearing the 'ascend' phase and I had not fought a 'true' ascended beast before.

The ant queen was not one in my books.

And even though there were so many that were on the verge of ascending, not one of them had reached that stage. Would we even be able to kill them after they actually do ascend?

It was a worrying matter.

This tower and the time, it all felt planned. No one knew if there were actually a hundred thousand people that crossed level 45, I already had doubts regarding the Record and was starting to trust it less and less.

But if the difference between 'mortal' and 'ascended' was as huge as I was thinking it to be, this tower was an opportunity. It might decide the direction this planet develops towards.

Chloe had fully recovered by now. The side effects from the berserk skill took three days to vanish.

She could move her body, it was the skills that did not work properly. It got better every day, but only on the third day, did the skills activate like normal.

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Today there would be no heavy activities so we could condition ourselves before entering the tower. After we killed the moonflower monster, the water never glowed like that during the night.

Everything on our side was done, I hoped that there were no accidents in the city and everything was under control.

"How many do we have?"

"Nearly 100 from the army, maybe some more if they work hard today and reach the requirements by today."

The meeting hall was quiet.

"What about those that are not in the army, those from the church or the adventures guild?" I asked. The population had reached 15k during this last week as the soldiers kept going into the city to hunt monsters.

Seeing a big group of people killing monsters so easily made the other survivors more comfortable in showing themselves. 150-200 people cleaning the city regularly was enough to map the entire area.

There might be some people that hesitated to seek help and might not trust us, but most of them did. Now there was a rise in population by 50 percent.

We were lucky that the crops could be harvested this fast, as the amount of food consumed had increased by 75 percent after the second batch was enlisted.

'Was this why Teacher didn't want to conscript people into the army this soon, knowing that if the army ventured out in the city, we would see a sudden rise in population? And if he did predict all this...'

I was glad we were on the same side and he was my teacher. If I ever stood against him, there was no way I could outsmart him. And even if I did, no one could beat him in a fight.

No one.

"We do not have an exact number, but we expect each faction to send 75 members." Lucy was in charge of collective information, which she was surprisingly good at.

"That is more than I expected,"

"This is if we count everyone. The combat personnel amounts to only 20 in the church, while there is not much cooperation between those of the Guild. They are internally fighting in parties to select a leader."

"That is good, that means they do not pose a threat even if we all go. The two hundred remaining soldiers can handle pretty much everything. What about the hundred armors Garry, are they ready?" I asked.

"Haha, finished the last one just before this meeting. They are ready to be distributed any time."

"So after this meeting, call everyone, we will give them as a reward to those above 35. The rest will have to wait." I said looking towards Lucy, to which she nodded.

"I wish to talk about something," Luke spoke. He rarely spoke in the meetings and for him to speak up in a serious tone at that.

"There is something fishy with four of the squads, their leaders to be honest."

"Do you know exactly what is wrong with them?" If this was true, it was a matter of utmost priority.

"No evidence, it is more like a gut feeling but the four leaders often disappear with some of the recruits under them."

"Have those recruits returned or are they missing?" Chloe asked. There were some deaths, but that was not something we could have avoided. But people going missing, there were no such things reported.

"Every single one has returned, but something still doesn't feel right." He finished his part there.

"It might be like a process to get familiar with each other, they are going to fight alongside each other. Trust is important during that time."

"Anyway, this needs to be investigated. For now, we'll try to collect as much information as possible, and then inform Ray about this matter. Lucy and Garry, both of you are good at collecting info, so look into this matter."

They nodded and we were done for the day.

Tomorrow the tower opens its gate.