I leaned in close to Arga and pulled away from Veldor so he couldn't hear us whispering.

“Hey…are you sure about this? Why did you invite that guy of all people?”

“Is it really that strange? We need strong people if we’re going to get stronger, right?” She replied firmly.

“I guess so, I just don’t get why you chose him.”

“Y’know I can hear you two, right?” Veldor added angrily.

Both of us flinched upright and turned to him.

“Oh–Uh, welcome aboard…” I said.

{A new party member has been added}

My eyes lit up.

He’s actually pretty strong…looks like this won’t be a total bust after all.

The symbol next to his name was of a shield, no surprise there. What caught my eye the most was his level.

{Veldor Lv19}

He’s a higher level than me…I knew we were a ways apart but I thought it’d only be by one or two.

I avoided making eye contact with him and stared off to the wall. My eyes flickered with excitement as I noticed what hung there.

“Are those…my chakrams?”

In complete awe, I walked over to the wall where two refined blades hung. The rings were as good as new, with even finer details etched into them than before.

“I finished those last night after we got back. It was all I could do to sit still, y’know?”

So she was affected by what happened. I can’t believe I was considering quitting when she was here prepping for my sake. I can’t let myself sink that low again!

{Agos Blade} {Attack Status:50}

{Belos Blade} {Attack Status:35}

“Woaaahhh!!! The stats are higher than before!”

“What stats?” Veldor asked with a suspicious glare.

My shoulders flinched into a rigged pose and my teeth shut right. I accidentally let it slip without thinking, in front of Veldor no less.

“It’s uh…a feeling. They feel stronger, somehow…you know what I mean? Ha-ha-ha…”

My forced laugh faded to silence as Veldor’s stare cut through them. He didn’t budge but it looked like he chose not to pursue it either. He scoffed it off and luckily, left it at that.

“As for your armour, there wasn’t much I could do there so I just repaired it. Both your armours are repaired, so why don’t we get back to the main reason we’re all here.” Arga stated firmly.

Arga’s surprisingly taking the lead on things…she’s scary when she isn’t being silly, I thought.

Without her hands working on anything, I was able to see them shake. They had a violent tremble just from speaking.

“I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was nothing but dead weight back in the Tower. Like when Mister Shield Guy and those dragons were all fighting so that I wouldn’t get hurt…but all I could do was watch.”

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

Arga’s eyes sunk to the floor and the depressed aura that surrounded her spread through her words. The room fell silent.

“It’s not just you, I felt that way too. I need to get stronger, much stronger.” I squeezed my fists.

“You’re not alone…” Veldor added.

Arga let off a slight smile, probably relieved that Veldor had opened up to us. We both looked at each other and then again at him with a grin. He didn’t react as joyfully as we did and tried to play it off with a sigh.

“So then?” Veldor asked. “If we’re going to get stronger, how are we going about it? We need a plan of action after all.”

“You might be right about that…we’ve never really had a plan going into the Tower up till now.”

“What–never?!” Veldor snapped back in surprise.

“It’s not that weird, is it? I always thought we were doing well…”

Arga rubbed the back of her head. “What’s the point of planning every trip? Isn't the whole point to discover new things when yer there?”

“Sigh…no wonder you guys are only on the seventh floor. Listen, if you want to grow stronger then you’ll need a plan of action. Setting a goal for every time you enter the Tower, knowing what monsters you’ll possibly face and preparing items ahead of time. Are you following?”

Veldor listed off things one after another without breaks. His experience in a large guild began to show. Having him in our party, even if it was for a short time had already proven effective. If only his personality weren't a problem.

“This is all on you!” Veldor turned to me.

“Wha–why me?”

“You’re the leader of this party, aren't you? Did I get it wrong?”

“A leader? I never…we don’t have anything like that.”

“No, he’s the leader!” Arga added. She pointed a finger at me and looked at Veldor with a smug grin. “It’s all his fault as our leader, so just yell at him.”

“That’s low, even for you Arga!”

“As a leader, you’ll need to take control of the party’s big decisions. Since I have more experience, I won’t mind handling formations and field stuff until you can take over.” Veldor added.

“Fine, I get it!”

My head was spinning, there was so much I didn’t know that I had to do as the ‘leader’ of our party. A role I hadn’t even signed up for but somehow got.

“If you get it, then you better know all this stuff by the time we set out in a couple of days. Got it? It’s good to air on the side of caution so…two days should work.”

“Fine!” I snapped back irritably.

If I’m the party leader, then why am I the one getting chewed out…

Veldor walked to the door, nearly halfway out he turned back. “That reminds me, a member of the guild told me that he went in for a case report on what happened in the Tower. Obviously, with the loss of a guild leader and one that’s that important, there was no room for bending the truth.”

“What are you getting at…?” I raised a brow.

Veldor rubbed the back of his head and turned his head away in annoyance. “Geez I hate giving news like this…everyone saw you use those strange abilities against me. I didn’t say a word about it but it looks like they’ve figured out your secret.”

“Not good.” Arga frowned.

“Not good? This is totally bad–really, really bad! This sucks…I didn't even get the chance to tell Kana yet.” I planted my face into my hands.

Veldor grew even more uncomfortable and faced the door again. He looked as though he was considering just leaving there and then but ultimately decided to stay for one last word.

“You’ve got a day at least. Normally with how these things work, the public only learns about these things after a day or so. It used to happen a lot with…just do what you have to.” Veldor turned away and walked out.

I jolted forward from where I stood and called out to Veldor before he left the store.

“Veldor!” I stood there as he froze at the front of the store and thought of everything I could have and wanted to say. Nothing seemed right except, “Thank you.”

“Hmph. Don’t be an idiot.”

With that, he was gone. It was the smallest of a second but I swear I saw him smiling before he left.

“So what are you going to do?” Arga asked.

She had already moved on to her work and started unwrapping a long blade from the cloth it was hidden under.

“I have to go talk to my consultant–Kana–before we head into the Tower again. I don’t want to leave her out of the loop again, so I think I should come clean about everything that’s happened. I just hope she doesn't hit me for it…”

Clank! Clank!

“I assume you’ll be keeping yourself busy like this until we’re ready, right?”

Arga flashed a thumbs-up over her shoulder as she continued with her work. I didn’t want to loiter so I took my equipment and left promptly.