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Mantle of the Gods
Book 3 - The Replacement - Chapter 30

Book 3 - The Replacement - Chapter 30

Trent answered as soon as it connected.

“Were you expecting us?” I glanced over at Ether, who was still sitting beside me.

“I’m always expecting you.” The gray haired man looked at us. "How did today go?”

“We beat the first floor boss.” I found my eyes darting anywhere except the virtual image of him. "We also picked up another person.”

“You did?” It sounded like both a statement and a question. "What do you think?”

“She’s…” I couldn’t think of the right words.

“Eager to prove she deserves to stay.” Ether finished for me.

“You’re thinking about bringing her in?”

“I…” I looked over at Ether. I felt like I was confessing to stealing sweets from the kitchen. I looked back towards Trent, but I couldn’t look him in the eye. Instead, I focused on his chin. "I was just going to add her for the afternoon, but her teacher told me to keep her as long as I wanted to and that I could take her with me back to the Cathedral.”

Trent shook his head. "Every year, they try more and more things to get us to open more classes.” He looked over at Ether. "She’s a Mundane?”

Ether nodded.

“Who did you talk to?” Trent turned back to me.

“Nun Margrave.” Just invoking the Nun’s name was enough to send a shiver down my spine.

“Trela or Tiana?”

My eyes widened. "There’s two of them?”

“Trela.” The old Adventurer stroked his chin.

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“How’d you know that?” I hadn’t thought I reacted to a specific name when he listed them.

“Last time I saw the sisters…” He grinned widely. "Tiana was a warm ray of happiness and Trela...” He grimaced, which transitioned into a grin. "Let’s just say after a few rounds, she wasn’t so bitter.”

I did not want him to start giving more details about that. “Does that mean anything?”

Trent bobbed his head from side to side. "She’ll probably spin it to her superiors that I specifically asked for the student, which will make things a mess for the student if we send her back.” He looked at each of us. "Do you want to keep her?”

I swallowed. "I don’t know. She wasn’t my first pick, but then Aelin decided and now we’re here.” I looked at my teacher. "How bad will it be if we don’t take her with us?”

“I’ll make a few calls.” Trent leaned back wherever he was sitting. "How close is she to reaching your level?”

“We could get her to level two tomorrow if we really tried.”

“Really?” Trent seemed surprised by my answer. "They’ve got them that close by now?”

“No.” Ether interjected. "But Atlas, Rix, and Aelin can all oneshot a slime.”

“And they’re each farming individually.” He grinned. "We’re going to have to come back here for a weekend when you all hit level four.”

I did not like the mischievous look in his eye. “Why?”

“Monster rooms.” He smiled. "They happen on the fourth floor. You’ll see groups of monsters spawn at a time instead of one or two.”

“Two?” It didn’t surprise me since I knew that monsters could spawn in groups. The sixteenth floor was a favorite of Farmers because of its group spawns. "I thought that was just on the Event floors.”

“Zeb is a Common dungeon.” Trent started thinking. "The Temple Dungeon here shouldn’t have any double spawns outside of Event Floors, but the Dispatcher’s Dungeon is an Uncommon one, so you should start seeing some double spawns on the second floor there.”

“Does that mean the Cathedral dungeon will have triple spawns outside of event floors?” I wasn’t sure if I was hopeful or dreading that possibility.

“Yes, it does.” Our teacher smiled. "Legendary Dungeons are also a thing, but there is only one that we know of and it’s on an island in the Tejir Sea.” His smile faded away. "But it broke years ago, and no one has tried to take it back in a long time.”

We had gotten off topic. "What do you want me to do about Fray?”

“See how she is, if she’s someone that we can trust and you like her, then we’ll keep her. If she’s not, then I’ll figure out something.” Trent waved at us. "Don’t worry too much about that right now. Just enjoy your vacation.”

The image on the console vanished as he ended the call.

“If this is a vacation.” I looked at Ether. "Then I don’t know if I want to go back.”