“I’m Myra,” the leader of the group introduced, “I’m in charge of… what’s left of our party. My job’s mainly ranged and I have minimal close cover options, which is why I normally act as a backline commander in fights.”

I nodded, “Any notable abilities?”

“I can switch ammunition for different effects, but that takes up limited resources,” she answered, taking out a few cartridges to show me, “I can use those, but I’m running short already. I didn’t have time to prep anymore for this stage.”

I looked at the cartridge, “Can you make more?”

“Yes…” she replied slowly, “But I’d need the proper equipment and materials, not to mention time. I mean, the others can help out as well, but I’m still teaching them how to make the ammunition properly.”

Well, at least the leader of their group had potential. Myra was only limited by time, resources and information. If she was allowed time to prepare for a known threat, then I can see her being pretty invaluable to the survival of Pandora as a whole, not to mention the fact that others can help prepare those magazines for her.

Pair her with the Regressor’s knowledge and all that money that I had, and I think she’d be a great fit into the Abyss guild in the future, even if she won’t be a part of the Guild’s core. But all of that is assuming I can even get her out of this situation in the first place. Let’s try to make sure that at least she survives out of the three left.

“And if you have neither time or resources?” I asked.

“I’ll have to rely on mana or regular bullets, I have a lot stocked up, but their usefulness is kind of limited.” Myra answered, “It’ll do in a pinch, but I’d be operating at half efficiency at most, maybe even less.”

I nodded again, “So you have a job that’s great with enough preparation, but your options are limited after. I’m assuming you can change the properties of your shots depending on how you make them?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“Then you’ll need to rely on planning and information more than the rest,” I added, “We’ll work on that. What about the other two?”

The other girl answered first, “I’m Alina, I have a support class. I can help buff the others, but I can’t heal or anything like that.”

“Two backline members, great,” I muttered.

Alina looked down, “The frontline was picked off once we lost Dan…”

I stopped them before they could begin moping around, “Alright, and what’s the last member of your group do?”

The older man stepped up, “Name’s Bishop, and I’m… also backline, hence why we were running from those creatures earlier.”

Wonderful, even with Absolute Luck I was sent to a party with the worst possible mix of combatants. How the hell was I supposed to work with this assortment of classes and abilities without handholding them along? Shit, if this was the best situation that Noe considered, then I don’t even want to imagine what the worst-case scenario would be. I was starting to think that Pandora was doomed for failure.

He continued with a sigh, “Where Alina can buff other’s attack and defenses, I can recharge mana and stamina, and I have some skills that can hinder our enemies. The two of us were the core of our party’s normal strategy, but-”

“But there’s no one to use those abilities on other than Myra,” I answered for him, “Which means you two are essentially useless unless we fight from range.”

“Well…” Bishop began, “I wouldn’t say-”

Myra put a hand on the man’s shoulders and shook her head, “No, what our guide’s saying is correct. Our combat capabilities are severely limited at the moment, and being in this boxed-in location’s not helping either.”

“It’s good that you recognize your current situation,” I added, “That means that you have accepted the limitations of your current party; it’s a start. Everyone here knows that fighting is not a real option unless you can ambush the foe from range, and even then it will be a risky endevour since Myra is the only source of offense left.”

“That’s true,” the leader agreed, “So we have to lean on stealth.”

“But none of us are geared towards stealth,” Bishop muttered, “How are we supposed to hide in this city? There’s no cover to use, we can’t be separated ‘cause of those damned shadow things, and we don’t even know where our enemies will come from.”

“Can… can you help us fight?” Alina asked me tentatively.

You know, that was a good question. With those constraints, trying to do anything would be difficult. Could I just do the heavy lifting for them and force them through this stage?

“Notification, my Host,” Noe’s voice interrupted, “But that is not an option. Unit Noe has searched through the relevant regulations for this training stage via the neural link, and Central’s regulations stipulate that the host of a Trial, official or not, may assist the participants in a limited capacity.”

Of course it would be like that. Nothing’s lined up in my damn favor!

I forced myself to calm down, although I could feel my nerves slipping from my control as each piece of bad news compounded upon the other. Nothing had been going right ever since I came back from that last Trail, and with the stakes so much higher than it’s ever been before, I couldn’t afford for anything to go wrong, much less everything!

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Please calm down, dear Walter,” Noe continued, “Unit Noe has detected elevated levels of stress; your brain is still recovering from the earlier emergency measures that Unit Noe enacted, and further mental distress will cause catastrophic consequences.”

How can I calm down, Noe? If I fuck this up, I’m dead. The Aspirants here will all die. The Regressor will be kicked out and sent to who knows where, and everything that I’ve been doing since the start of these fucking trials will die with me. I can’t fail. What do I do?

“Unit Noe does not have an answer to that…” she answered with melancholy, “I apologize, my Host. Please do not despair, dear Walter, this is but a fleeting moment, a dream.”

I took a deep breath, I… I’ll keep it together, Noe. I’ll keep going. Just… never mind. Just tell me how much I am allowed to interfere here.

“I apologize again,” Noe murmured, “But to answer your question, as an official Host of this mini-Trial, you can guide the Aspirants here and give them hints. You may even tell them directly what to do, but directly assisting in the Trials will not be allowed. What you did at the beginning was already stretching the limits of what would be tolerated.”

So I screw up again and I’m done for, right?

“Yes, my Host. Jordan and the Trash Matrix would be well within their rights to remove you if that happens. They are only showing leniency because they know your situation is hopeless, and to show their detractors their “good-will” towards your cause.”

Great… I’ll think of something.

Then a thought struck me, Wait. can I defend myself if the monsters attack me first? Jordan did say that they’d be hostile to me if I came in as a human.

“There are no rules against self-defense, my Host, but doing anything overt may alert Central,” she answered, “Keep in mind that the major creatures stationed at the chokepoints of the city will not attack the Host. They have been specifically programmed not to do so by Jordan and the Overseer.”

But the other things are fair game… I can work with that at least.

I collected my frying nerves and answered as naturally as I could, “No, I cannot help you in combat, nor would it do you any good if I did. I am here to ensure that you are able to survive the Trials ahead of you, and if you think that someone will always be there to help you along then you will be sorely disappointed. Saving you from that horde of mutants will be the extent of my help in combat.”

I saw that all of the newly acquired hope in the eyes of the three survivors started to shrivel up as I spoke those words.

“However,” I added before they lost all hope, “That does not mean that I will leave you to fend for yourselves entirely. Remember that stealth does not rely solely on hiding from existing enemies, but it is also the art of avoidance in general. I will assist with planning and organization, and having an extra body around will help with avoiding danger when scouting.”

“Right,” Myra said, “We’d have to scout with all three of us if we want to avoid those shadow things. Just having an extra body around’s helpful.”

The others nodded in agreement.

“But as I said,” I continued, “I will be here to assist and mentor; ultimately, the onus is on you three to improve. You will not survive the later trials if you can’t even pass a simple training stage like this one.”

“Understood, sir!” Myra all but shouted. The others followed her lead and all stated their affirmations.

It’s still surprising how fast they came around to my way of doing things. Although a stat like Charisma was something relatively intangible unlike strength or dexterity, I was starting to realize just how impactful it was. People tended to believe anything I said, even when it was going against their already established beliefs. It’s kind of scary how effective I was as a speaker.

I looked at the woman in charge, “So as the leader, what do you think our first priority would be, Myra?”

She thought for a moment, assessing her situation, before answering, “The three of us need rest; we’ve been on the run for too long and our reserves of both mana and stamina are too low. So to do that, we need to scout for a safe location first.”

I nodded and the ghost of a smile started to creep up on my face, “Good, and who would be most suitable for scouting?”

She thought again, taking the time to deliberate on her choices, before answering, “We need to go in pairs, so the best option to go would be myself and Bishop.”

“Explain your reasoning.”

She stood to attention, “Well, I have the best eyesight and perception out of the three of us here, so it would naturally make the most sense for me to find a location suitable for us to rest. I figured that Bishop would be the ideal companion if we needed to make a hasty retreat, since he can provide me with the most beneficial buffs if something unexpected happened.”

I smiled, “Good reasoning, you make for a competent leader.”

Myra blushed at the complement, if you could even call being considered competent a compliment at all. She looked like someone who just got praised by their idol or something, it was kind of disturbing since we just met. It’s the damn Charisma at work once again, although I might have to learn how to tone things down for the future. I couldn’t have everyone I meet gush over every word I say.

“Get going then,” I grunted, breaking Myra out of the weird happy trance she was in, “We don’t have all day.”

“Yes, sir!”

Honestly, unlike what I thought when I initially met the three decrepit party members, Myra and her two teammates were quite competent all things considered. The leader had the respect of the other two, and they followed her orders to the tee and without any signs of complaint. Most importantly, they were efficient.

Myra was able to locate a relatively secluded area in the city to rest in. She chose an alleyway with a short wall where they would be outside the visual range of most of the monsters roaming the streets, while the wall could be easily climbed over, providing an easy enough escape route if they were attacked.

The four of us made our way over to the alley, and without prompt, the three of them took out various items from their inventories and quickly went about securing the area with traps and various early warning systems. They even had a strange blanket thing that they draped over the entrance. This thing reflected light or something similar because it made it look like the alleyway was completely empty when you peered from outside. Bishop also told me that it muffled sounds and even low-level detection spells.

If there’s anything good I had to say about Central, then it’d have to be their tech. I needed to get one of those when I came back to Pandora.

Once the area was secure, Myra’s party took some time to eat and rest. She was able to replenish a few magazines in the process, but her reserves remained low. It would have to do. All in all, it took them 2 hours and some odd minutes to recover enough to forge onwards, partly because I found out a new way to utilize my high Charisma: morale boosting.

Apparently, if normal Aspirants just hear me encourage them, their motivation would go through the roof. Hell, if the Regressor’s plans for taking over Pandora ever come to fruition, then we’d never have to worry about inspiring the masses if all it took with a few rousing speeches on my end. But that’s something to think about once this current shitty situation’s over. I had to ensure that Myra, Bishop, and Alina were alive first.