"I thought that heroes were supposed to be young, boss," Mahruss said as he looked at me, while Zolast continued to layer several spells on the dungeon entrance, doing his best to remove the pocket dimension that we used to make them join my Heroic Party, collapsing it to remove the evidence.

Mahruss and Takis, we invited while moving to the dungeon, and they decided to accept the offer after another explanation.

Adding five new people to the party had been surprisingly eventless. Just a very complicated blocking spell, and not only was I able to take over their bond, but also managed to push through whatever that was blocking my connection with the System enough to improve their Live Elevation abilities.

"Maybe they decided to make a change?" I said with a chuckle, not really wanting to go to a whole new discussion about how I stole the opportunity of a young man to escape my assassin. Not because I was ashamed of it, but we simply had too many things to discuss to bother with it.

"I still don't understand why they thought Jertann was the hero. What kind of Ability might cause such a mistake?" Terma asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know either, so that's going to have to wait until Zolast is finished collapsing the pocket," I said. "Attack me, all of you, at once," I said.

"Are you sure, boss," Takis said. "Five against one, after our improvement—" he started, but before he could finish, I took a step forward and slammed my foot against his stomach, throwing him against the wall.

Even with his most recent improvement, it must have hurt horribly.

"We don't have much time," I said as I looked at them. "Before leaving to search for Jertann, I want to make sure that you are strong enough to deal with any threat that might pop out without bothering the old man over there," I said, pointing at Zolast.

"Maybe we should be the ones to search for him?" Karak offered as well.

I answered him with another punch, sending him next to Takis. "No, I trust you to hold the fort in my absence, but going alone to a new territory without support, not just to survive but to build a web of contacts is too much for you," I warned.

"If you say so, boss," Takis said, then he let his Charisma expand, and connected with the other four, taking the command. They attacked.

In the beginning, I stayed on the defensive, giving them a chance to adapt into their sudden increase of power. Even with their skills helping, doubling the effectiveness of their stats was no simple matter. I mainly relied on Agility to stay away from their touch, not even needing to use my Speed to challenge them.

I expected a gradual improvement as they practiced, so I was surprised when I had been forced to dodge an explosive attack from Mahruss … one that had been accompanied by some kind of familiar whisper I felt through our connection.

It felt like Strength.

"Awakening?" I asked as I gestured for them to stop.

"Yes, boss," he said, looking surprised. "I don't know why, but somehow, it just clicked. Maybe all those exercises are finally paying off."

"No, that's too much of a coincidence," I said. "Stop the practicing, and go through the exercises I had taught you."

"Yes, boss," they replied, and they started to go through them one by one. Soon, I felt another whisper … then another.

That whisper was valuable, I realized as I started practicing while I started to go through the same exercises. As the Agility already showed, developing a better understanding about the stats helped me to get a better understanding of them. And, once I focused on those whispers, I realized that they were useful to extend that understanding somewhat.

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We alternated between practicing and sparring until Zolast joined us an hour later. "Impressive progress," he commented. "Did they just manage to awaken all of their stats?"

"Almost," I answered. "There's a couple stragglers, but it's mostly there. It looks like your theory about the connection with the gods somehow limiting the Awakening was correct," I said.

"But why?" he asked, then nodded as I explained how I benefited from their Awakenings. "Another benefit for the parasites," Zolast commented darkly.

"It would seem so," I agreed. "Still, that's good. With their stats awakened, I'm much more comfortable leaving the place," I said.

"So, you're determined?" he asked.

"That's the best way. Now that we have enough victories under our belt, and our connection with the Princess is stronger, we need to focus on the next step."

"What's the first destination? Ralum?" he asked.

"No, that was the initial plan, but after the awakenings, I decided on a new direction," I said.

"Somaton?" Zolast guessed.

"Exactly. Why don't I cause them some trouble so that their precious Marquis has to return to take care of things," I said. "That way, we can take over the dungeon without raising too many questions about their capabilities."

"Especially if someone takes out a few of their commanders at the same time," Zolast commented.

"Limenta?"

Zolast's smirk was positively vicious. "No, I was thinking of having some proper exercise."

"Good idea," I said as I watched the younglings, their exercises getting smoother and smoother. However, Terma soon stopped. "I don't understand one thing," he said. "Why did they mistake Jertann for being a Hero? What was that ability?"

The rest were quick to gather around Zolast, and he started. "You remember how I mentioned being tricked," he said. They nodded. "That Ability relates to the Calamity," he said.

The younglings gasped. I was silent, but my shock was even higher because I realized a possibility. I kept my mouth shut.

"How so?" Takis asked, maintaining his calm.

"We have already explained how the gods are using some kind of ritual to trigger the Calamity," Zolast started. "To do that, they need some unique abilities to work as a conduit. They call those abilities Calamity Seeds."

"They must be rare," Mahruss commented.

"Yes, rare enough that my old church should never have them," Zolast agreed.

"Meaning, someone had planted it just for you to take them," Silas said. "That Bertnam person?"

"No, definitely not him. He's too immature to plan such a thing," Zolast countered. "However, the organization he's working for is a different matter…"

"At least now, we have a clue," I said. "Bertnam is too smug to erase his tracks, so it shouldn't be too hard to find him. And, since they need Jertann to trigger the Calamity, they wouldn't harm him," I explained … which was more to calm the others down than anything else.

"Maybe some of us should come with you, boss?" Karak said.

"Don't worry. I'll arrange it if needed," I said. "However, for now, you can't keep up with me." It was certainly accurate considering I planned to swim across the sea. "What I need you to do is to work hard in the dungeons, and collect Experience for me. The stronger I am, the easier things will go," I said.

"It would be good training for them as well," Zolast agreed.

"That's enough chit-chat. You have just awakened your stats. Go and practice. We have wasted enough time already," I said.

After sending them away, I turned to Zolast. "Did you come to the same conclusion?" I asked, tense.

"About the fact that they somehow expected that we would meet…" Zolast said, shuddering as he left his sentence halfway, which was understandable. "But how, I have no idea."

"Don't you have oracles or fortune tellers that can see the future," I said.

"Well, there are tales of them, but they are not exactly common. I only heard legends," Zolast said with a sigh. "It looks like they wanted you to have that ability."

"I'm guessing the Calamity Seed and the Hero Class wouldn't have meshed well," I commented.

Zolast shrugged. "Actually, I have no idea. Even with all the resources I had received from the princess, the amount we know about the Calamity and the System is limited. There's some descriptions about the rituals, but nothing about the mysteries behind them. My best guess is that it somehow interacts with the unidentified energy that was used to empower monsters and build stat stones."

"It probably has something to do with it. Otherwise, they wouldn't have gone through all that trouble, setting the encounter up."

"I'm more interested in how they were able to see your fate. Predicting fate is not exactly a simple affair."

I shrugged. "Let's not jump to conclusions. Even if they foresaw my presence and arrival, it's clearly through a method that has some flaws. Otherwise, they would have known that I wouldn't have accepted an item of unknown quality."

"Maybe it was just a coincidence," Zolast commented.

"Maybe, but not likely. The coincidence of your location and the summoning is easy to explain, but the rest, not so much…" I said. "As much as I hate the idea, I have a feeling that it's even more complicated than we realize."

"Then, it's a good thing that you're going out to find out, right?" Zolast said.

I nodded. "I think it's time for me to leave."

"You're getting antsy," Zolast commented.

"True enough," I answered. "Let's see how much they'll enjoy someone playing tricks in their backyard."