Malii graciously refilled my cup and his own, while Carol still hadn't touched hers.

"The elevator is protected by one of the largest Goblin camps around," Malii began.

He then took a small notebook out of his pocket and flipped through a few pages.

"Ah! Here it is," he exclaimed.

He read for a moment and then looked at us :

"There are approximately 50 goblins in that camp, led by Bunglin," he explained. "Bunglin is a large Orc-Goblin hybrid, much bigger than the goblins you've seen before."

He turned a few more pages and continued :

"The camp is situated against a mountain, and the entrance to the elevator is right against the rock, so you'll need to cross the entire camp to reach it. The camp is also protected by tall metal walls."

"How tall are the walls?" I asked.

"I don't believe you'll be able to climb them, if this was your idea. As per my last information, they are covered in spikes," Malii replied.

"Can we break through them?" Carol inquired.

"I highly doubt it. There's only one entrance - a drawbridge protected by two mini-guns, each manned by two goblins. Additionally, the front part of the camp is surrounded by swampy water, necessitating the use of the bridge."

"Is the bridge always closed?" I asked.

Malii flipped through his notebook, searching for the answer, and then replied :

"The bridge is closed at all times, only opening to allow goblins to go in and out. They're quite paranoid. One goblin mentioned to me that they made him wait over 3 hours before lowering the bridge because they 'didn't trust him.'"

"What's our way in, then?" I commented.

Malii sipped his tea, taking a moment to gather his thoughts :

"I'm neither a fighter nor a strategist," he finally said. "I can only provide you with information. The rest is up to you."

"What can you tell us about Bunglin?" I asked.

Once again, Malii searched his notebook and then explained.

"Alright, so Bunglin is a fearsome leader. He took over the elevator camp from another Orc-Goblin hybrid with a small group. He killed everyone there and secured the contract. Since then, he has made adjustments to enhance the camp's defenses. He's the one responsible for the drawbridge and the water protection. He also installed the two mini-guns. Naturally, he has no intention of losing the gold. He has never left the camp since taking over, relying on his minions to handle anything outside."

"So it's basically a castle that the two of us will have to conquer on our own," Carol said. "Protected by a paranoid leader. Perfect."

She finally took a sip of her tea, and I could tell she liked it. I smiled at her, and she grinned back.

Meanwhile, Malii continued browsing through his notebook. Eventually, he said :

"Alright, here's an interesting detail: the drawbridge is operated by two chains that are controlled via powered lever, and the mechanism isn't in good shape. The goblins have been searching for a way to repair it, but Bunglin killed their main engineer a while back, and nobody knows how to fix it. It's been unreliable. Being as paranoid as he is, Bunglin doesn't trust any external goblins to take a look. At one point, they were considering kidnapping Enkis for help, but as of my last information, they hadn't been successful yet."

"How recent is this information?" I asked.

"Maybe three months old," Malii replied.

"So it's possible things have changed," I noted.

"It's certainly a possibility, but you have to remember that goblins move slowly. It would be a safe bet to assume the mechanism is still in pretty bad shape."

"But you can't be certain," Carol interjected.

"I can't," Malii agreed.

"Where is the bridge mechanism located?" I asked.

Malii consulted his notebook and replied :

"Facing the castle, it's in the left-guarding tower, right next to the mini-gun."

I nodded. "We need to see that camp for ourselves," I finally said, looking at Carol.

She nodded in agreement.

"Thank you, Malii," I said.

"Thank you for the information on the stones," he replied.

We stood up and were about to leave when Malii, still looking at his notebook, mentioned :

"Oh, one last thing. When Bunglin set up the two mini-guns on the ramparts, he also requested a third one, a portable model. It's likely he still has it, so be aware of that."

"That's good to know, thank you," I replied.

We bid farewell to Malii and left the shop.

Carol looked at me and asked, "So, what's the plan?"

"Aren't you the leader of our party?" I asked with a smile.

"I'm hungry," she replied.

I laughed. We agreed to grab something to eat first, and I also wanted to catch up with Calexa. So, we headed towards the inn. Glancing at the nighttime counter :

9 hours and 49 minutes.

We still had some time.

We grabbed some quick food at the inn restaurant while chatting about our approach to the camp.

"We need to scout the camp," Carol said, savoring her dish of what looked like a big lobster covered with creamy sauce.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

It looked delicious. On my plate was an algae salad, which I quickly regretted ordering after the first bite. It was excessively salty, akin to eating spoonful of salt.

"I agree," I replied, taking a few sips of water to wash down the overpowering taste.

Then I continued :

"Would calling our guide here work?"

"It could, but it might draw too much attention to ourselves. I wouldn't recommend it," she explained.

I nodded in understanding.

"We still have almost 10 hours before nightfall. We could go check out the camp now and plan to attack early tomorrow morning," I suggested.

"I like the plan. I don't trust the information from Malii; it's outdated, and who knows if it's even accurate."

"He seemed to know a lot."

"Perhaps, but he's never been to the camp. It's second-hand information at best," Carol said, taking a big bite of her lobster dish. "Besides, it's information from drunken goblins. How reliable do you think it could be?"

She had a valid point.

Pushing my plate away, as the saltiness was unbearable, I proposed :

"Let's consult our guide - I need to talk to Calexa about her lack of explanation and catch up with her - then we can head to the elevator camp and scout it. We should be back before nightfall."

"Sounds like a good plan," she replied.

"I also have a vehicle," I said, displaying the now recharged orange Gem on my armband.

She looked intrigued and asked :

"How long does it take to recharge?"

"About 4 hours," I replied.

"Then we should save it and use it only in case of emergency."

"Smart thinking."

Carol finished her food, and we left the restaurant. She pointed to a small street :

"There's a small park over there. It's usually empty, and that's where I chat with Patate."

I nodded, and we walked towards the park.

The place was indeed empty, but it was beautifully designed - a circular area with lush grass and flowers. In the center stood a stone statue of Abzu, surrounded by a few metal benches.

We sat down on one of the benches, and I called Calexa. The white Gem materialized from my forehead and floated in front of me.

"Hello!" she greeted me.

"Hey, Calexa," I replied.

"It's been so long! What took you so long to call me back?" she asked.

"Well, YOU forgot to tell me that I needed to be in a safe space to call you," I responded.

There was a brief silence before she changed the subject completely :

"Hello there! Who is this young woman?" she shouted while floating towards Carol.

"This is Carol," the French woman replied. "But you didn't answer his question."

"It's not so much about finding a safe place," Calexa explained. "It's about not being in a place that could turn into a combat zone. It's different."

"You still didn't explain that to me," I said.

"I... forgot," she simply replied.

"You seem to have forgotten quite a lot of things."

"No, that was the only thing!"

I smiled, knowing that wasn't true.

"What about the skill points we receive when leveling up, the party dynamics, the shared loot, the non-shared loot..." I listed.

"Okay, okay," she interrupted me. "Maybe I forgot about those too, but they're pretty straightforward."

"Patate!" Carol suddenly shouted.

From her forehead emerged another white Gem, but this one had a rounder shape, actually resembling a potato - fitting his name.

"Hello!" Patate greeted us.

"Hey, Patate," Carol began.

"Hello, Carol. You're looking quite dirty," the white Gem said, floating all around the French woman. "Dirty, dirty, dirty little girl..."

It was an awkward comment.

"Stop it," Carol said, waving the Gem away.

Suddenly, Patate turned towards me and flew close to my face.

"A new party member," he observed.

"I'm Simon," I said with a smile.

"Look at that, here for less than a week, and you're already hooking up," Patate remarked.

I laughed.

"I didn't 'hook up,' you idiot," Carol retorted. "Simon and I are just in a party together, nothing more."

"Is it the kind of party where we throw keys into a bowl?" the Gem asked mischievously.

"Gross," Carol said, clearly not amused.

Calexa floated closer to Patate, and a burst of white particles emitted from her.

"Oh no, not you!" Calexa exclaimed.

Patate also emitted numerous white particles, and I wondered what it signified.

"We're screwed," Patate said.

Calexa flew swiftly in front of my face and said :

"This Gem is a moron and a bully. You need to break the party."

"Excuse me?" Patate responded. "You're the moron here. You have the memory of a goldfish."

"I have no idea what a goldfish is, but it's still better than being you."

"You never learned anything about Earth. You're living in your own world."

"I beg your pardon? I know plenty about Earth."

"Yeah, what's an Elon Musk?" Patate challenged.

Calexa paused for a moment, seemingly at a loss for words.

"It's... it's the elephant-looking... the safari... the horn! The horn from the... the horn, the bird..."

"I think you've made my point," Patate cut in. "Checkmate."

"Oh yeah? What about..." Calexa began but stopped abruptly, unable to come up with a response.

"What's going on here?" Carol asked. "You two know each other?"

"Most guides know each other," Patate explained. "And we know each other quite well. This is probably the 50th time or so that we've had party members in common. It never ends well, mainly because she's unreliable."

"Oh yeah?" Calexa interjected. "What about the Gate of Bill? Huh? You don't know about that, right? You..."

"See what I mean?" Patate remarked. "It's Bill Gates, you moron."

"Hold on a second," I interjected. "How do you know about Earth? And speaking of Earth, does that mean we're on another planet?"

"No," Patate replied. "You're in another world, not another planet. It's complicated and your tiny human brain couldn't possibly understand it. So I am gonna try to explain it to you in a more simple way, hence avoiding explosion of the aforementioned tiny brain."

I didn't like his tone, but I really wanted to know, so I kept quiet.

Patate moved a bit a way from us and pretended to clear its throat ;

"You could think of it as a parallel universe, although it's not exactly what humans typically envision. It's a complex concept, but to put it simply, imagine this world as a different layer than yours. A higher level, but also distinct. Both - and many other - existing in superposition with each other and affecting each other as well."

"Yeah, ELI5 Musk," Calexa chimed in.

"Quiet," Patate said. "The grown-ups are talking."

He continued, "To make it so your basic lifeform and limited consciousness understand ; Imagine the universe as a PB&J sandwich. Your world is the jelly and this world is the peanut butter, they are separated but also they mix a little bit. You are essentially visitors here and not fully integrated into this world. As I mentioned, it's complicated. However, we, the guides, are well aware of your world - well, at least some of us are."

An arrow-shaped projection appeared from Patate's shimmering body, pointing towards Calexa.

Calexa emitted another burst of small white particles, and from her body materialized a crude drawing of a miniature wolf that promptly devoured the arrow then vanished.

"Miss here, never cared much about your world," Patate continued. "She's young, inexperienced, and honestly, quite useless. You'll probably meet your demise soon, Simon. My apologies."

I was shocked. In less than a day, I had received an overwhelming amount of new information. But slowly, I began to piece together how this world might actually work.

"Hey!" Calexa shouted. "I will guide and protect Simon. I'm great at my job. I'm Calexa!"

"Sure thing, sweetheart," Patate said. "Oh, Calexa... Alexa? Like the Amazon spy?"

"Spy?" I asked, feeling puzzled.

"Well, yeah, haven't you read 'reddit'?" Patate questioned.

"I haven't read ALL of it," I replied.

"Oh, you should. I have over 500 accounts and quite huge karma in most of them."

If this was how guides learned about our world, we were in trouble, I thought.

"But yes, it's a blend of Alexa and Clippy," I finally responded.

"Brilliant," Patate remarked.

"Anyway..." Carol began, trying to end the discussion. "We have to head to the elevator. So..."

"I have more questions," I said.

"We need to get moving. We can talk tonight," Carol replied.

"If you're still alive," Patate interjected.

"We will be," Carol assured.

"One last," I interjected, wanting to confirm one of my hypothesis.

"Shoot, just not on my face," said Patate in a really bad taste.

Carol grimaced, as I questioned ;

"Let me guess, guide aren't from this world either, correct?"

Patate stayed silent for a moment, then replied ;

"You aren't as dumb as you look. And you are correct. Guide aren't from neither your world or this one. In the PB&J analogy, we are from the bread. It would be too complex to explain what the bread is. You would literally go insane if I was even trying to explain it to you."

Calexa flew closer to me again and said :

"I'm sorry. I forgot about some of the things I was supposed to teach you, but I'm a good guide. I focus on the important things."

"It's okay," I reassured her with a nod. "I'm still alive, aren't I?"

A small heart shape formed above Calexa, and she swiftly returned into my forehead.

"Man, you're lucky you partnered with Carol and me," Patate said. "Otherwise, you'd be in big trouble."

Patate flew into Carol's forehead and vanished.

"Well," Carol said, breaking the silence. "That was weird."

"Still, Patate seems to know a lot. I'd like to talk to him more," I stated.

"After we scout the camp, we'll have time. But we can't risk being stuck outside at night and we don't know how long it will really take for us to go there, do what we need and come back" Carol replied.

"Agreed."

We stood up from the bench and headed towards the West Gate of Green Tree.