I tried to stand up, but my wounds were too severe. The cooldown on my health was still over 1 minute.

"Is she..." I started.

Malii looked at me, then back at Carol.

"I'm not sure. I think she's still alive, but in really bad shape," he replied.

I crawled towards them, but they seemed so far away.

Malii came to me and helped me stand up, supporting me until I reached Carol.

She lay on her back, her head covered in blood, eyes closed.

"Carol, are you okay?" I asked.

I sat next to her, trying to see if she was breathing. I brought my face close to her mouth. Her breath was there, but so faint.

"She's alive," I said.

I used a health patch on her, but it had no effect. She was probably still on cooldown as well.

Malii tore a piece of his cloth and bandaged her head, trying to stop the bleeding. We sat there in silence for a moment.

As soon as my cooldown ended, I used a patch, bringing my health back to 42 and closing the wounds on my chest.

I attempted to use another patch on Carol, but it didn't work.

"Thank you for saving me," Malii suddenly said.

I looked at him, his face bruised and stained with dry blood from Bawa.

"Of course, I'm sorry we didn't know sooner," I replied.

"You came, and that's all that matters," he said softly.

Rain started to fall, but as the camp was covered by the Tower base, it didn't reach us. In the distance, I could see a group of flying fishes approaching to avoid the rain. We sat there in silence for a few more minutes, as I attempted multiple times to use the health patch without success.

Finally, one patch triggered, and Carol's body momentarily glowed green. She started to cough.

"Carol!" I exclaimed.

"I have a headache," she replied, still coughing up blood.

"You were badly wounded, and I had no idea about your cooldown."

"Idiot," she suddenly said, trying to smile.

I was taken aback.

"Excuse me?!"

"You always forget about FOCUS. You can use it on a party member to check their health and status."

"Huh... I didn't know about that," I replied, feeling ashamed.

She sat up, with Malii and I helping her, and then looked at us.

"We won?"

I smiled.

"We certainly did," I replied.

"Thank you for saving me," Malii said. "Without you, I don't know what would have happened."

"All good," Carol replied.

She coughed up blood once more and continued.

"Damn, I feel pain everywhere. Those Oxanes were so strong. But I leveled up again."

I checked my status and realized I had also leveled up.

"I'm hungry," she finally said.

I laughed, and Malii joined in as Carol looked at us while trying to grin. We waited for another cooldown, and once we were healed further. Then we started to loot the bodies.

"Where is Bawa?" Malii shouted.

I looked in his direction.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Malii had an angry expression and explained ;

"His body was there, it's gone!! He can't be still alive."

I walked towards him, on the ground was a huge pool of blood, but no body.

"How the fuck did he survive?" I asked.

"I stabbed him so many times, there is no way."

We quickly looked around, but couldn't find him.

"This makes no sense," Malii said.

"Can you use health patch like us?" I asked, wondering if this was the way he escaped.

"Not really, we use them for healing, but it isn't as fast as for you. Also, it seems health patch directly close your wounds and restore your body, we don't have that luxury."

We kept looking around but Bawa was nowhere to be found.

"That Watoo was some solid motherfucker," Carol said.

I nodded.

There was nothing we could do for now, so we finished looting, finding mainly gold and some health patch.

"I got a potion from one of the Oxane," Carol said, lifting a glass bottle filled with a purple liquid.

I used FOCUS on it ;

"Potion Of Mana, Category I,

Restore 10 points of Mana. Cooldown, 1 hour."

She threw it at me ;

"I don't use spell, you take it."

I grabbed the potion and placed it in my inventory. We then waited another cooldown while distributing our stat points. I decided once more to add to my Strength ;

Level 8 Rider BASE Iron Ring of Strength Chrome Survivor suit Ring of Blood Wall Sword Of Tamius Cat II TOTAL Strength 30 2 10 8 50 Vitality 145 55 5 205 Intelligence 20 20 Engineering 30 5 35 Dexterity 50 8 58 Charisma 5 5 Luck 5 5 Chaos 5 5 Mana 20 20

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We walked back slowly to the fishermen's village, using health patches as soon as our cooldown allowed it.

It took us another 2 hours to reach the village, and we headed directly to Tabi's motel. As we entered, the old Watoo rushed towards us.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Long story," I replied.

"Maybe we can explain over some food?" Carol interjected.

Tabi smiled and waved us towards the tables.

"Go sit, the food is on me."

We sat down as he chatted with a waiter before joining us.

Food arrived quickly this time, including a roasted flying fish - Carol's favorite - and we began explaining what had happened to Tabi.

"Bawa was always incredibly resilient," Tabi said. "I wouldn't count him out just yet."

"But now," I started, turning to Malii. "Do you know where they're keeping Danalii?"

"Not really," he replied. "But I know Kage has her."

"I've heard of Kage," Tabi interjected. "He's a Watoo bandit who usually works with Bawa. He has a floating camp, more like a massive flying boat, really. So he's constantly on the move."

"How can we find him, then?" I asked.

"I can ask around with the fishermen," Tabi replied. "The problem is being able to reach him. He has multiple Oxanes in his clan, and now he's partnering with this Keres. I'm not sure what kind of defenses he'll have."

"Can you describe this Keres woman?" I inquired.

"She's of average size for a Revival. She wears a white ceramic armor and a mask. She's powerful and has a fireball spell. Based on the number of times I saw her using it, I'm assuming she has a lot of Mana," explained Malii. "It's the first time a Revival has partnered with goblins and Watoo bandits."

"It's also the first time goblins and Watoo have worked together," added Tabi.

Malii nodded and continued, "Yes, it's strange, but that woman is strong. Simon, you know Danalii really liked you, and I believe that's the reason Keres took her. It's a trap. She's hoping to lure you and Carol. I could hear her asking about you two as she rushed the village."

Carol and I exchanged glances.

"But," Malii added, "she wanted the Gem, and she didn't get it, Danalii gave it to me and managed to give me enough time to escape, I then followed them until they took the elevator. After that I went looking for help. If you hadn't come to rescue me, Keres might have the Gem by now, and I could be dead. So, again, I want to thank you for saving me."

I smiled.

"It's not a problem, and we'll get Danalii back too," I said.

I glanced at the countdown to night, which showed a little less than 3 hours remaining.

"But now it's almost nighttime," I continued. "We should rest first anyway. That battle at Bawa's camp was exhausting. In the meantime, Tabi, if you can ask around for information about Kage's ship, it would help us. We'll also need to come up with a plan."

Tabi nodded.

Then I turned to Malii and said :

"Malii, you need to heal and rest. Keep the Gem hidden. We'll take care of getting Danalii back."

He smiled, his head still bruised.

"I'll ask around too. I have some contacts here as well," he mentioned.

We left the table and headed to our respective rooms.

"Do you have a plan?" Carol asked as we climbed the stairs.

"Not yet, but I have some ideas," I replied. "I just need to sleep first."

She entered her room, waving me good night.

I waved back.

As I entered my room, I went straight for the shower. My body was sore, and while I was now completely healed, I was extremely tired.

As I stood under the warm water, I examined my body. My muscles were larger than before, perhaps due to the Strength stat or the battle, or maybe both. My skin bore scars from the wounds that had since closed.

I grabbed a towel and lay on the bed, letting the air dry me. My thoughts raced as I tried to recap what had happened. This Keres was a mystery, and though the name was different, I couldn't discount the possibility that it might be Cleo.

I began contemplating the best approach. A floating camp would be challenging. Two obvious options came to mind: first, we could wait for the ship to anchor somewhere and try to board it then, but that seemed unlikely. Second, we would have to find a way to board the ship directly, but how? We didn't even have a ship of our own.

I took a deep breath, attempting to clear my mind. I was still exhausted from the previous battle. We had barely made it out alive once again. My hands instinctively moved towards the four now-healed holes on my stomach where the Oxane had grabbed me with its mouth. I could feel the raised bumps of the scars.

"That was a close call," I said aloud.

We needed a ship, and perhaps we could convince a fisherman to transport us. But how could we board without being seen? Furthermore, attacking at night would be dangerous.

I decided to call upon Calexa, and the white Gem materialized in front of me.

"Hellooo!" she said cheerfully.

"Hey, Calexa."

"The Potato isn't here this time?" she asked.

"No, just you and me," I replied.

A heart popped out of her and slowly vanished.

"I have a few questions for you," I began. "I was wondering about nighttime. How does it work exactly?"

"The night is dangerous. You don't want to be out," she explained.

"But why exactly? You mentioned that the mobs are higher level and more numerous. What exactly happens at night?"

The Gem floated for a moment before replying :

"At night, new enemies appear. They're much higher level than the average mobs on the floor. They're spawned by red Crystals that grow from the ground as soon as the countdown hits zero. These enemies have a demonic nature and are extremely aggressive."

"Do they provide more XP?" I asked.

"Oh, yes, a lot more. But they're tough, and there are a lot of them."

"Does the night affect existing mobs, like the Watoo bandits, for example?"

"Not all mobs are affected. Watoo bandits are not impacted by the night. However, any mobs with a demonic nature or certain beasts will be affected. For example, wolves will grow in size and gain levels. Goblin-Orc hybrids as well, and any Mage class that isn't a Revival, unless they have a specific class that works in tandem with the night."

I pondered for a moment, then explained :

"Okay, here's my dilemma. To save Danalii—"

"OOOH, you're going to save her?! Great! I didn't want to say anything, but I THINK you should help her!" she interrupted.

"Hold on, hold on," I said.

"Sorry! Did you save Malii already?"

"We did, but let me finish," I tried to continue.

"Sorry, sorry," she said, and a zipper appeared and closed where her 'mouth' would be.

"Thank you," I finally said. "The thing is, to save Danalii, we need to board a ship filled with goblins, Watoo bandits, and even a Revival."

I expected Calexa to chime in, but she remained silent.

I smiled.

"What I would like to do is attack at night. I noticed that most 'NPCs' also try to stay inside during the night. I'm betting they won't expect us to board the ship at that moment."

I waited for her to respond, but still, nothing. I waved at her, laughing.

"You can talk!"

The zipper vanished, and she said :

"Okay, that could work. The night mobs spawned by the crystals won't be in the air, and they won't be on the ship either. If there are any species affected by the night, they'll be stronger."

"Goblin-Orc hybrids?" I asked.

"Yes, and considering there are Watoos, I'm guessing Oxanes might be there too, and they'll be affected by the night as well," she commented.

Oxanes were already challenging opponents, and if they were even higher level at night, it could prove problematic. However, it also meant we might be able to get in and out without being detected.

As I remained silent, lost in thought, Calexa asked :

"So, is Malii okay? What about the Gem?"

I smiled.

"The Gem is fine, and it was quite an insane rescue," I said.

"Tell me! I want all the details!"

We talked for the next few hours as I explained everything that had happened, and Calexa listened intensly.