Warping into the containment room alongside the rest of the second expedition, Thomel noted the heightened level of security.

Three dozen guards wearing varying states of armour and welding everything from small arms to heavy weaponry were keeping watch over the cube.

Perhaps the first expedition hadn't been as disposable and unimportant as he'd assumed.

It would make sense that the second expedition was just a stop-gate measure while they gathered more elite troops to send in.

“You first.” The hunter who’d been first to have a problem with him said snarkily.

Shrugging, Thomel leaned down and placed his hand on the circle, getting his hand pricked and blood drawn by the thin needle.

“Now how about you?” He said, letting out a bone-tired smile.

“I think I’ll wait.”

“Why bother?” Thomel asked curiously.

“Because you might be toxic, I don’t want any needles delivering a fatal poison into me.”

“Aren’t they enchanted?”

“I don’t know and I don’t care, just shut up until we get the results.”

Shrugging his shoulders in mock defeat Thomel gave up on small talk and stood there quietly.

After no alarms bleared out and the assistants began to wave at Volly's team to hurry up, everyone relented with their intense stares and began to touch the circle as well.

Within a few minutes, they were free to go, the decontamination chamber doors sliding open for them all to enter.

Undergoing the cleansing process alongside the rest of the second expedition, Thomel walked out and looked around the room in mild amazement.

He’d half expected himself to be summarily executed or taken as a test subject, not let within the facility without any real contestation.

“Happy now?” He said, letting a slight smirk grace his lips as he looked over at the aggressive hunter.

“Not quite, we lost a lot of people in that mission, I’m glad you’re alright at least. Check out a doctor or something for your head, it’ll cost you but you can’t spend the money if you’re dead.”

Taken a back Thomel looked at the other hunters to try and figure out if he’d accidentally talked to the wrong one and in the process locked eyes with Volly just as she took off her helmet.

“Yeah?” She asked him gruffly, voice hoarse and eyes bloodshot.

“Nothing.” He said, turning around and beginning to walk off.

“Hey now hang on.” Volly exasperatedly requested, rushing up and hooking her arm around his shoulders.

“For what?”

“We’re friends right? I know I messed up but I came back for you, lets go and eat, I’ll buy you whaever you want?”

“DId something happen between you and the others?” Thomel questioned, the gift of emotional intelligence briefly blessing his weary mind.

“What do you mean?”

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“You’re being less Vollyful than normal.”

“The hell does that mea- oh I get it. Yeah kind of, it's fine though. More importantly, are you fine, what happened?”

“Like I’ve already said, I don’t remember. Everything after leaving the monitoring station is blurry.”

“Hmm, well a good meal will sort that out, we’re having a get-together with a couple of other guys. Planning out another hunt, it’ll do you good to tag along.”

“No.” Thomel replied firmly.

“Thomel come on.” She begged, yanking him as she took the lead.

He shrugged off her iron grip, throwing her a glare as he did so.

“Thomel?” She tilted her head slightly to the side as she stared at him in surprise.

“No.” He repeated, barging past her as she stood stationary in shock.

Running up to him she grabbed onto him again.

“Look it’s just not safe, come with us, eat some food, relax, then sleep alright?”

“I’m not going to say this a fourth time Volly, no.” He warned, though, in reality, he would say it a fourth and even fifth time if necessary.

Reaching out he pulled her arm off himself and kept walking, eyes locked on the path forward.

“Uh, alright, we’ll be at the canteen if you change your mind.”

Thomel only nodded his head in response, he just wanted to be away from everything and have some personal space.

He didn’t care about the awkwardness but she seemed to, slowing down and chatting to one of her teammates rather than keeping pace with him.

Walking through the checkpoints he sped up until he was essentially jogging, it got him a few weird looks from the guards but they only really cared if someone was entering, not leaving.

Reaching the faculty centre he headed up the stairs and began trying doors at random.

All the closest ones were already occupied so he had to move further into the hallway before finding a room.

When a door finally slid open he let out a sigh of relief.

Stepping into it, he closed the door and then slumped onto the bed, breathing in its sterile and cold scent.

He expected that he would fall asleep the moment his head touched the crisp pillow but that failed to occur.

Turning around onto his back he stared up at the dimly lit ceiling. A single light blue light was the only thing illuminating this small room but it did a good job of it.

The light felt surprisingly comforting, it was a nice tone shift from the harsh white of every other light in this base.

He curiously wondered why this colour had been chosen, had it been an oversight perhaps? It was one of the few things in this place that wasn’t purely white. Even the food trays and guards' armour were white.

After nearly a quarter of an hour spent trying to decipher why this was the case, he gave up.

Somehow sleep still alluded him after all that time and he couldn’t figure out why.

NAME: Thomel

CLASS: Apostle

LEVEL: 56

EXPERIENCE: 4322/18148

Physical

[76]

Attunement

[0]

Magical

[0]

[Boons]

Tracking

Hunted Hunter

Survivor

[Gifts]

Bringing out his status again to figure out if there were any abnormalities revealed nothing out of place.

“Are apostles not capable of sleeping.” He murmured out loud, before clamping his mouth shut.

“I wonder how all those community leaders keep going.” Pausing for a few seconds as though in thought, he continued. “Prehaps it’s drugs?”

He was likely being paranoid but he didn’t want to risk his words getting picked up by some listening bugs.

In terms of physical ability, he’d clearly improved, unless Volly had somehow gotten far weaker. It was possible this extended to his mental facilities as well.

Letting out a groan, he rose to his feet.

He didn’t feel hungry either but eating something and talking to people sure beat staring blankly at the ceiling.