You have entered a safe room.

Each safe room provides different amenities. You will know what they are when you enter them.

You have been granted use of a toilet.

You may rest here. You are safe.

Time remaining in safe room:

07:57:45

Warning: If you remain in the room when the countdown is over you will be punished. The door will open 5 minutes before the timer ends.

No food…

There was no food for him.

Crystal, just how much do you want me to suffer? he asked, dropping his shoulders. He could go on rationing, of course, but not forever.

Against one of the corners in the room however, there was a familiar looking cylinder.

There’s at least that, I guess.

“Cen, do you need to go?” Mul asked his sister.

“Yes, but not right away…”

“Then, I’m first!” the brawler said, sprinting for the toilet.

Nar shook his head as the toilet door slid silently closed.

“He could have asked the rest of us,” Tuk muttered.

Kur sighed. “Alright, rest everyone. We’ll be safe here. I’ll set the watch later,” he said, and raised a hand before anyone could protest. “I don’t doubt that we’re safe here, but I don’t want us to sleep through our deadline. There are no shift calls here.”

With that, they were left to their own devices.

Small squares around the room, where the walls met the ceiling, cast the ceiling in a soft yellow glow.

Nar took a quiet corner and sat by himself, holding his head in his hands.

More Aura. No gains. No food.

What was he to do?

He snorted.

Endure, what else? What other options did he have but to wait, to keep praying, to keep begging for forgiveness and for his class’s success?

Meanwhile, the others took turns using the toilet.

Nar found that he didn’t really need to go, given how little he had been subsisting on, but given how it had basically been a month, or almost 58 shifts since he had last gone, he figured that he might as well go. Crystal knew when next they would be given the use of a toilet again.

He went, he returned, and silently sat by his corner again. Brooding.

Not long after, Jul sat down next to him.

She avoided looking at him and pretended he didn’t exist.

Nar, in the grips of his own mix of dark, spiraling thoughts, and prayers and praises that were at times heartfelt, at others fear induced, and yet still at some others entirely apathetic, ignored her.

Then Tuk came along. And with him, there was no possibility of silence.

“Crazy stuff today, eh?” he said. “I was starting to think that was it. Depleted of stamina and then, wham! Gone!”

Jul nodded with a very serious look, while Nar only offered him a noncommittal grunt.

“How do you manage to hear them, anyway? And the Pressure too?”

Jul fidget with her hands on her lap.

“It's part of my class,” she whispered. “I-I have attributes for it.”

“No way!” Tuk breathed, eyes shining. “That’s awesome. A little insane, but awesome!”

He twirled one of his rings in his fingers, seemingly lost in sudden thought.

“H-how…” Jul said.

“Hmm?”

She gulped and pointed at the ring. “How do you…”

“Throw them?” he asked, smiling.

She nodded and he chuckled.

“I just know how to throw them,” he said with a shrug. “Though I guess I should call it tossing I suppose. I am a ring tosser after all!”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

He laughed at himself.

“So, you just know?” Nar asked. For a moment, he regretted speaking, worried that his mood had come out through his tone.

However, the trugger carried on, unfazed. “Yep. I just know how hard, how much spin, which angle, and a bunch of other stuff, right as I think about throwing it. Of course, I’m still getting the hang of it, but I’m getting better, and faster. There’s probably still a lot to learn, though.”

Nar nodded slowly. “I thought it was amazing that you could toss them without hitting us. And even more that the rings came back to you after hitting the guardian.”

Tuk grinned. “All in my head. Or should I say in the System’s? I’m still not sure who is doing the tossing. To be honest, when I walked out of the chapel with my rings, I had a bit of a panic attack. It's not like a sword, or some fist weapon, where it's obvious what you’re supposed to do with it. And I had gone in expecting a bow! What in the Nexus was I supposed to do with those things? Even the priest was at a loss as to what they were. He had never seen a ring tosser before.”

Nar considered his sword, leaning on the wall next to him. The weapon still felt clumsy in his hands, but he couldn’t deny the truth in Tuk’s words. It was a sword. Even not knowing what he was doing, he could still use it, even if poorly. Tuk, however, and perhaps even Cen, now that was a different story.

“You’re pretty good with that thing, too,” Tuk said. “Gad has her shield, but you? Man, you’re something else, stopping all those limbs with just your sword.”

Nar nodded slowly. “Barely know what I’m doing to be honest. I hope to find someone that can teach me. Afterwards.”

“You plan on continuing fighting, then?” Tuk asked. “Keeping your class?”

Nar was suddenly very aware of himself, and when he looked away from his gray blade, he found both Jul and Tuk waiting for an answer.

Clapping drew their attention to the middle of the room.

“Alright everyone,” Kur said. “It’s been over an hour and we all need to sleep. We’re safe here tonight, so, everyone, sleep easy, okay?”

“Nice!” Tuk said.

“However, as I said, we still need to have a watch rotation. Tonight, Gad will be exempt. Viy as well, as she is still recovering from the Pressure. The rotation will be Cen and Mul first. Then Tuk and Jul. Then lastly, me and Nar. Everyone okay with that?”

Everyone was. Even Mul. Kur had probably placed him with Cen so that he wouldn’t have anything to moan about.

“Alright. Get to sleep people!”

********

The lights dimmed as they lay down to sleep.

Tuk, Jul and Nar claimed that corner for themselves, and Nar found that he didn’t mind the company. In fact, he found some comfort in it, though he tried to deny it.

He missed his dad and the others, and his heart clenched with loneliness. He wished his dad could be there, to both advise and chastise him. Nar would’ve done anything to hear him say “I told you so!” right about then.

Slowly, he fell asleep remembering faces and names, smiles and laughter.

Sometime later, he was woken by Tuk.

“Your turn.”

“Thanks,” Nar said, rubbing his eyes.

Jul, curled up next to him, already looked to be asleep, and Tuk lay down next to her, with a bundle of clothes to place under his head. It was a practice they had all quickly adopted to protect their heads from the hard floor and walls. It had been a welcome change from sleep sitting, propped up against a wall.

Nar looked around as he stuffed his clothes back into his pack.

On the other side of the room, Kur rose from his spot next to Gad and Viy, and waved at him, beckoning.

Nar stood up and followed him towards the toilet, around which nobody slept.

“We can stay here,” Kur said. “It's the furthest from the others, so us talking here won't bother them.”

They sat, Kur leaning against the side of the toilet and Nar against the wall adjacent to it.

“I’ve been meaning to have a chat with you about your class.”

Nar tensed.

“I’m going to be talking with everyone, actually,” Kur said, sweeping the sleeping party with his eyes. “As your party leader, making sure that your needs are met is also part of my duties. That includes making sure you gain what you need for your path as well. If things aren’t going as well as they should, I want everyone to come to me about it.”

Nar looked at him in surprise.

Really? But why bother? It’s not like we’ll stay together after the Climb.

Kur turned back to him.

“So, I’ll make sure to have a watch alone with everyone, to talk. Then, it's up to you guys to come to me when things aren’t right or if there’s something you need. I’ll try to check in once in a while though.”

This sort of managerial talk was something Nar had definitely not expected to have in this Climb. However, he found himself grateful for it, and his respect for the man grew even further. He didn’t need to go that far for them.

Kur smiled. “You’re the first one, so, I hope you’ll be patient with me.”

“O-Of course! No worries! I mean… Thank you.”

Kur nodded, then his smile faded, as he adopted a serious expression.

“So, your class,” he said. “You’re not in an easy spot.”

Nar looked down at his hands.

“Yeah…”

“Not only are your skills not great, but you also deal less DPS than the others and you don’t have Gad’s taunt skill. Nor a shield either, for that matter.”

Nar nodded.

It was all true, and he dreaded where the talk was going.

“Since it’s been 58… Crystal, I need to stop thinking in terms of shifts. Anyways, since it's been a month already, and we’ve gone through three fights, I was wondering if you had had a change of heart.”

Nar did not reply.

“I’m sure your class can be changed, if you decide to go full DPS instead,” Kur pressed.

Nar had somehow managed to not tell him, or the others listening nearby at the time, that his class was just Basic. Nothing else.

And now, here, away from family, in that endless corridor, with crappy skills and no shield, it was tempting to say that he regretted it. That he wanted to be a normal DPS. Just take turns with Viy and Mul, battering the enemy while Gad kept it relatively safe for him.

He sighed. This too, was a test to his faith. And, much more importantly, to how much he wanted to save his dad.

You’ll have to do worse than this to break me, Nar thought, unable to stop the words from forming in his head. Unable to deny their truth either.

“No, I haven’t,” he said at last, preparing for Kur’s reaction.

“Good!”

Nar looked up in surprise.

“I was hoping that you would keep at it,” Kur said, smiling. “But I didn’t want to sway your decision.”

“I… But I thought I was pretty much useless!” Nar said, confused. “My skills, and no taunt and…”

Kur chuckled.

“I mean, yeah, you’re a bit crappy right now. But that’s now! And remember, you saved Cen, and you took Viy’s spot twice! And today, I was only able to focus so much on the fight because I knew you had our backs covered. Like I said, and already repeated, you bring something really good to this party. A flexibility that I doubt many other parties will have. And now, I add something else too, a sense of security. A DPS that can step in when the others falter? A tank that can step in when the other tank gets tired or bypassed or is too far away to do anything? This kind of stuff is amazing! Other parties won’t have it, you know?”

Nar stared at Kur, completely floored. The party leader was glad to have him, and his half assed class, in the party?

“Actually, I’ve been thinking about it,” Kur said, rubbing his chin. “How about we call Gad the main tank and you can be the secondary tank? You can cover our backs and step in when needed, for either DPS or tanking. Oh! And don’t worry! I’m not going to keep you stuck to the back forever! I’ll have a chat with Gad about it and see if she’s okay with swapping with you, though I doubt she’ll have any issues with it. And, yeah, you probably won't last as long as her, of course, seeing as you can only use your sword to defend yourself… And your arm. Don’t think I didn’t notice. But! I think you’ll get better. I really do! You just need to hang in there for now. Get through the sucky beginning you know? Before things start looking up…”

Nar worked his mouth, but no sounds came out.

“No good?” Kur asked him, suddenly bashful.

“N-No! It’s perfect! Thank you so much! I swear I’ll get better!”

Kur patted his shoulder. “It won’t be easy but, I really think you can build your path into quite the something.”

“I… Yeah. I hope so too… Thanks.”

“No worries, man. We’re all here for each other!”

Nar couldn't believe the sudden and entirely unexpected turn of events, and could just barely nod in reply. Kur had come to him, before Nar had had to go to him for what he had anticipated to be a difficult conversation? And rightly so, there was no denying the risks to the party that this plan entailed. A lot could go wrong from swapping him with Gad.

Still…

Thank you, Crystal, for guiding me to this party.

Maybe, just maybe, it would all work out in the end. And maybe these people really weren’t all that bad after all. Well, excluding Mul of course.