The minutes dragged and turned into hours.

Nar had forced himself to stand, to ensure he didn’t drift off.

He had gone over all of his skills, his sword, his attributes, the HP and stamina information multiple times.

He had found he knew a dozen new words like “pierce” and “parry”.

Off of his sword alone, he had learned to name every single part of it. Or at least, all the parts the System deemed important enough to tell him about.

Pommel, hilt, grip, guard, edge and point. He wondered if there were more. His mind cycled back around to that question every couple of minutes. There really wasn’t anything much to keep him distracted in that blank, yellow corridor.

He hadn't tried approaching Jul again. He didn’t want to force his company on her.

Maybe, little by little, she would come to realize that she was safe from whoever had hurt her like that.

He glanced at her. The quam never looked tired, and remained ever vigilant over the party.

Nar, without realizing it, decided that he liked Jul as well. She was the third one he liked, along with Cen and Tuk, which was three more over what he had originally expected.

Maybe, in time, he would grow to like all of them. Even the annoying brawler.

As for the others…

He snorted. Snob and snobbish were two other new words he had learned. As well as standoffish.

They had come to him while he thought of Viy, supplied by the System itself. He wasn’t entirely sure how it applied to her just yet, but he hadn’t really thought much of it.

Gad seemed dependable. In fact, she sort of exuded it. He found himself trusting her almost completely. That both reassured him and worried him. He barely even knew her to be trusting her so much.

And that left Kur, his party leader. So far, he seemed dependable as well.

Confident, in control and smart. All qualities he was happy to see in a party leader. However, they hadn’t faced any issues yet. When they did, he would know for certain what Kur was made of, and if he had what it took to lead them through the Climb.

Nar also spent a lot of time worrying about his own performance.

The party was his means to the surface, yes, but he didn't want to disappoint them or just be carried up by them either. Afterall, they had trusted him, accepted him, and he had attributes to gain and a path to build. Besides, it wouldn’t be fair. They were all risking their lives there. They each had to do their own parts at the very minimum.

He stopped his pacing.

Ugh… It's been two hours! Should I just wake them up?

He was taking well to this new time tracking thing. Seriously, why had they stopped using it? Then again, he had never seen a clock before. One couldn’t really track time without it, unless they did nothing but count seconds.

Maybe they had just lost all of their clocks, like they had their doors and windows and Crystal knew whatever else.

He took a deep breath. He was getting tired of his own thoughts.

“Nar!” Jul suddenly shouted. “It’s coming again!”

“What is?” he replied, stunned.

“Wake up!” she shouted. “Wake up!”

“What-what’s happening?” Kur stammered.

“Wake up!”

Nar stared into the dark ahead of him. He could hear it now.

“It’s coming back…” he whispered, finally understanding. “It’s the same thing! It’s going to hit us again!”

The roar rushed at the frightened, half awakened party.

Mul and Cen hugged.

Tuk looked around in confusion.

Viy looked grumpy that she had been woken up.

Kur and Jul both stared into the dark, lost as to what to do.

Gad stumbled up, and raised her shield in front of her.

Seeing her reminded him of his own sword. It had grown heavy, and he had leaned it against the wall.

Now, he looked back to where it was. Only a few steps away from him, the distance now seemed to stretch before his eyes.

He had been stupid.

In his tiredness and irritation, he had left his weapon behind. Out of reach.

He ran to it, but the roar got to him first.

He screamed.

Noise blared into his mind. Static and howling and roaring. An endless cacophony, blasting through his brain, nerves and every inch of his body.

The weight pressed him down to his knees, and the rising heat scorched him from within and without.

He was helpless.

For the second time after stepping out of the cubeplant, Nar went down.

********

He returned from far, far away.

His battered body welcomed him back with a chorus of complaints.

Climber, you have taken damage for the first time.

This will be your last reminder to keep track of your status.

He groaned and wished the window would throw itself onto the pile.

In the darkness behind his eyelids, he saw his HP bar flashing green at him. It read 82/100.

Holy damn… It’s real.

Everything was real.

The pain was real. The damage was real. The threats were real.

His head was splitting, like someone had taken a piece of blunt aetherium to it and bashed him multiple times.

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The simplest of movements ravaged him with nausea, and when he flipped himself onto his back, the floor moved under him.

And it was so heavy.

Why was it so heavy?

And what was that sound?

Ssssssssssss…

He opened his eyes.

“Ow…”

The light, once warm and welcoming, was now a furious glare against the back of his eyes and everything beyond it.

Other than that droning static scratching his brain, he heard nothing else. Once again, he seemed to be the first one up.

He coughed, weakly, tasting metal, and blinked against the slowly diminishing glare of the light.

Everything felt slow. One second inching towards the other, as he lay there, recovering and trying to make sense of what had happened, and still was happening to him.

A few moments later, he heard the sounds of the others coming to.

“What the fuck is happening?” Mul croaked.

“It’s the Pressure… It has to be!” Cen said.

Of course, Nar thought. What else could it be?

“It’s… So much worse than I expected,” Tuk said.

Nar couldn’t agree more.

Groaning, he pushed himself onto his elbows. Then on one hand, and dragged himself until he was finally seated against a wall.

The party was in disarray.

Cen and Mul were seated against the wall, like him. They looked pale, and sweat shone on their bald heads. Mul seemed a little worse than Cen, looking like he was or had been close to getting sick.

Tuk was still floored. He stared at the ceiling with a distant, pained look, his face also gleaming with the sheen of sweat.

Jul was on all sixes. She shook her head slowly, and Nar could have sworn she was muttering something to herself.

That left the other three.

Ah… Damn it.

“Hey!” he tried to shout, his voice coming up raspy. “Hey! Are you guys alright?”

“Shit…” Mul said, following Nar’s stare.

Nar stumbled to his feet and crashed against the wall.

“Be careful!” Cen told him. “I-I think they’re just passed out.”

On the other side of the corridor, Mul had also managed to get himself upright, and the two of them swayed towards Viy, Kur and Gad.

Mul kneeled next to Gad, unsure of what to do.

Nar, on the other hand, had seen plenty of downed Unclean. Passed out or in a more final state.

He felt Kur’s pulse, and listened for his breathing. The pulse was fast and erratic, and the breathing weak and labored, but they were there at least. Viy and Gad turned out the same.

“They’re alive,” Nar said, sitting back. “But they’re not doing great.”

“Thank the Crystal!” Cen whispered.

Tuk sat up with a groan. “What do you think is wrong with them?”

Mul sighed. “They’re just weak to it. Damn it, this is going to slow us down.”

His sister didn’t give out to him this time. After all, Mul was just stating a fact.

“But why?” Nar asked. “Why are they weaker?”

Mul shrugged. “The fuck I know.”

“What do we do though?” Tuk asked. “I mean, we need to go, right? After the arrows? Maybe we’re supposed to make it through? With the Pressure on us, I mean.”

Nar grimaced and cast his eyes around them.

The weight pushed him down. The heat burned his nostrils and throat, scorching his lungs. A weakness touched his muscles and bones. And the low, dull, thumping pain that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere all at once… And yet, there was nothing around them.

The Pressure, it turned out, was invisible.

“How long do you think it's going to last?” Cen asked.

It was anybody's guess. As long as the Crystal, or the System, wanted to torture them. That was probably the only answer Nar could’ve ventured, but he kept it to himself.

“I think we need to keep going…”

The four of them stared at Jul, and she flinched from their combined stare.

“I just… I have a feeling…”

Nar stared at her with raised eyebrows.

“What do you mean?” Tuk asked.

Jul fidget with all four hands, looking at her feet.

“Please… You have to trust me. I just know…”

The four of them exchanged a glance.

“Well…” Cen said. “I guess you are our scout. Is that the right word?”

Jul nodded. “That’s what it says. Basic Scout 1.”

Nar swallowed the sudden flush of panic.

Basic Scout? But I’m only Basic! Do they all have better classes than me? Did I…

He shook his head, discreetly.

His path was different. Harder, and driven by a different need. It didn’t matter where, or how, it started. Only that he made it get him to where he needed to be.

“Also, we took damage,” Tuk said. “I’m down like a third of my HP already. I don’t think we should stay here.”

“Fine. But what do we do with them?” Mul asked. “Can any of you carry the tank?”

Nar considered Gad’s strong, muscular bulk.

“I-Maybe?” he said. “I have [Strength]. That has to do something, right? I mean, we’re not just… Workers anymore, right?”

Mul stared at him like he had grown a second head. Then, the pieces fell into place.

“Oh… Oh! You’re right!” he said. “Hmmm. I have [Strength] too, but I’m… You know.”

Nar nodded, avoiding making eye contact. He didn’t want to elicit the guy’s ire again.

“Tuk?” Nar asked. “Can you carry Kur if I take Gad? I think stamina will also help us with it.”

The trugger considered the big man and rubbed his chin.

“Well… I’ll have to, won’t I? What about Viy though?”

Jul raised a hand. “I-I can try. I have a little bit of [Strength] too.”

They stared at one another, unsure of what to do, and waiting for someone else to do it first.

“Right,” Nar said. “Let’s go before it hits us again.”

“I think it comes every two hours and thirty minutes,” Jul said, her voice so low Nar barely heard her.

“What?” Mul said. “Speak up! Can’t hear a word you say!”

Nar shot the lengos a baleful look.

“T-Two hours and thirty minutes!” Jul said, forcing her voice to come out louder and cracking.

“Oh… That’s…”

“Well done, Jul!” Cen said. “I glanced at the clock earlier, and I think you might be right.”

“Good job,” Nar said, smiling at Jul.

Jul nodded, twisting her hands and looking down at the floor.

Tuk bent over to try and lift Kur. He grabbed the party leader by the arm and pulled, and Kur went nowhere.

“Ooof… I think I need some help here. I don’t have any [Strength], you know?” Tuk said bashfully.

“Ugh,” Mul said, rolling his eyes. “What good are you then? Without [Strength], those little rings of yours aren’t going to do shit.”

“I have a tone of [Agility], though...” Tuk muttered.

“I’ll help you,” Nar said, quickly, before Mul could continue pestering Tuk. “Turn around. I can lift him onto your back.”

He glanced at Jul. “I’ll help you too.”

“And with Gad? Will you manage alone?” Cen asked.

Nar winced, glancing at their bulky tank. “Guess we’ll see.”

He bent over Kur while Tuk turned around.

He grabbed onto the party leader’s right hand and pulled him to his feet.

He felt no surge of power or energy. He felt no warmth, no rush, and no windows popped up. However, Kur came off the ground with much more ease than he had expected. So much so that Nar stumbled backwards.

“Woah!” he said, in surprise, steadying the two of them.

“Nice!” Tuk said, clapping his back.

Nar nodded, still stunned by how easy it had been.

Crystal! These attributes… They’re really something.

“Wait! Your pack!” Cen said.

Nar looked at the bulky pack tied to Tuk’s back. Like him, all the others carried their own provisions in similar makeshift cloth packs. He had expected their packs to be much bulkier than his, but Tuk’s was staggeringly huge.

How much food is in there? Nar asked aghast. He had never seen so much food in his entire life!

“Oh, yeah! Hold on!”

Tuk hurriedly untied it from his shoulders and tied it again, this time over his chest.

“Can you walk like that?” Cen asked, looking up at him with concern.

Tuk gave his pack a shake. “I think so… Should be okay.”

Nar couldn’t help but keep staring at the bulging pack.

“Okay! I’m ready!” Tuk said.

Nar pried his eyes off of the veritable feast, and gently, and aided by Jul, hoisted the party leader onto Tuk’s back.

“Damn, he’s heavy!” Tuk breathed.

“Can you do it?” Nar asked.

“Yeah. Not forever though. Hopefully this Pressure doesn’t last all the way to the top.”

“Crystal…” Mul muttered. “I hope not.”

Nar nodded. Those few minutes under it hadn’t been pleasant.

Ignoring the weight, the heat and the dull pain, the sensation that something was crawling inside of him was starting to become harder to ignore.

It was easy to see why Climbers went mad.

“Come on. Hurry!” Mul snapped at them.

Nar swallowed a retort.

“I-I’m ready,” Jul said, offering him her back.

Nar noticed how tightly her fists were clenched, and again, that surge of anger boiled within him.

He lifted Viy up with even more ease than he did Kur, and placed the spear woman on Jul’s back.

The scout flinched as Viy made contact with her, and she ran from his touch before he was done.

“Wait! Careful!” he said.

“I-I got it!” Jul said, adjusting Viy on her back.

That left only Gad.

“Me and Mul will carry the weapons,” Cen said.

“Thanks!” Tuk said, grinning at her.

Nar stared down at Gad. How in the pile am I going to do this?

“Maybe kneel down? That way I can help you,” Mul said.

Nar stared at the brawler in surprise.

“What? Hurry up!” he said.

Nar did as he suggested, and grunting, huffing and swearing, the lengos managed to lift Gad high enough for Nar to be able to brute force her arms past his shoulders. Then, he stood up, lifting her up as he went.

Oh, my Crystal…

He had found the limits of his new found [Strength].

Mul hastily helped him grab onto Gad’s legs, and that made things better.

“Can you do it?” he asked.

“Think so,” Nar said. “Not sure for how long though.”

“Just do your best,” Cen said. “All of you.”

“We got this!” Tuk said, beaming.

Crystal. How is this guy so cheerful? Nar thought, staring at the grinning trugger.

Mul struggled to hold all of Gad’s shield and mace, Kur’s buckler and Nar’s sword, while he held his own knuckledusters in between his fingers. Cen, on the other hand, sweated under the weight of Viy’s spear, Kur’s scepter, and her own staff. She also did not have any [Strength], though that was expected of her Caster class.

Tuk carried his own rings through his fingers, and Jul, as a non-combat class, had no weapons to speak off.

“Looks like we’re ready,” Cen said.

“Let’s just go,” Mul said. “Before something else happens.”

Nar cast a glance at the darkness behind him.

“Don’t worry,” Jul said, not looking at him. “I’m listening.”

“Oh… O-okay. Then, I guess, I’ll go first?”

“You’re half a tank, aren’t you?” Mul threw at him.

Nar bit his tongue, the little hope that maybe the brawler wasn’t so bad after all evaporating just like that. Between the Pressure and the brawler, he wasn’t sure which one would drive him over the edge first.

He re-adjusted Gad on his back one final time, and glanced at the wall where they had come from.

There was nothing there. He wasn’t even sure if he was staring at the right place.

B0234-19371289… I’ll be back, dad. You just wait for me, alright?

Then, with a deep breath, he stepped forward, and led them into the dark unknown.