"I know you've been keeping it there. Since that feather has been whispering these odd voices whenever I came near it. What is up with that thing?"
The second 4-star in the lobby stated.
I raised my brows in great curiosity.
"You've been hearing the whispers too? Since when?"
"Ever since I arrived here, actually. The whispers got louder whenever I approached the alchemy lab. That was when I discovered the feather there."
The elementalist explained.
I turned to the other two mages.
"Do you hear the whispers as well?"
They immediately shook their heads.
"Yuxia asked us about this before. So we checked it out before you returned from your exploration."
Vallerynne said.
"But we couldn't hear anything. Even after we entered the alchemy lab. Nothing."
Matrias added.
I formed a wondering frown upon their words.
Yuxia heard the whispers, while Matrias and Vallerynne could not.
I previously had also asked the others in the lobby. Nobody could hear the whispers except for me.
In the entire forged land, only Yuxia and I could hear those strange voices coming from the feather.
If being a mage was the requirement to hear the voices, then the other two wildlings were supposed to be able to hear them as well.
Based on that observation, what separated Yuxia and I from the rest of the people in the lobby would be our star-rating.
Both Yuxia and I were 4-star heroes. The only 4-stars in the forged land at the moment.
Could us having more stars allowed us to hear those whispers?
After all, we were the only ones who remembered of the voice who invited us to the forged land.
I was suddenly reminded of the passage on the first page of the grimoire.
[The wings shall summon the light whom will don the power of eternity.]
[Many will be drawn and answer the call for the light. But the light shall come.]
[The light will either begin, end, or destroy everything.]
One line in particular interested me.
Many will be drawn and answer the call for the light.
I was not certain about the 'light' that the passage was referring to. Nor what the 'light' was supposed to do.
But the 'wings' term must had been referring to the feather sending out inviting whispers to those who could hear them. The 4-stars.
Many will be drawn and answer the call…
Many…Which meant not all. It could be why only the 4-stars could hear the whispers.
Drawn…Which was referring to the whispers that attracted us to the feather.
Answer the call…which was something I was still wondering about.
What did it mean to answer the call?
It could not be about the voice I talked to before coming here.
I only started to hear the whispers on the tenth floor after all.
So perhaps us reaching the feather? Going to the temple in the second Quintal Trial?
Yuxia said he started hearing the whispers once he arrived to the forged land. After we cleared the tenth floor and obtained the subquest rewards.
Actually, his arrival in the first place surprised me the most.
The fairy said the chance would be very slim for a second 4-star to appear in an advanced summon. A 4-star mage nonetheless.
Apparently she was also surprised that two more mages appeared alongside the elementalist.
The chance for a 3-star mage to appear in the advanced summon was turned out quite slim as well.
Even more so for two 3-star mages at once, along with a 4-star elementalist that was.
Mages were indeed rare, by some definition, in Dunia.
I always assumed that the forged land could not freely spiriting talented people away from Dunia. Hence all these low chances of summoning powerful high-rated heroes in each summon.
There was a price of some sort that, perhaps master, had to pay in order to summon their army of heroes to the forged land.
Because if there was no such limitation, master would surely summon all the Watchers of the Realm and the entire force of the Seven Great Houses and the Tower of Circle to the lobby right away.
We would be able to reach the 100th floor in less than a month with them on our side.
So with that limitation in mind, a law that even master had to obey to, Yuxia still appeared.
Was master's fortune really that good? To the point their army of heroes was blessed with yet another 4-star?
Many will be drawn and answer the call…
The line kept repeating in my mind.
Could the feather instead actually had something to do with Yuxia's arrival?
Perhaps the power of the Wings extended deeper into the mysterious intricacy of the forged land.
The fairy never confessed any knowledge about the subquest rewards.
The warden only said she knew those items were incredibly useful and that she was excited to see how we would benefit from them.
If the feather really did affect the chances of summoning stronger heroes to the forged land, then it was truly a great reward.
I could feel my guilt of the tenth floor lessening had I been able to prove it.
Well, only time would tell if this was really the case.
If another 4-star appeared in the next advanced summoning, I would be more inclined to believe the feather truly had that much power over the forged land.
Oh how I wished I was already Vice-Master.
I would ask master to perform another advanced summoning right away.
Would I even have such right though?
Well, no use dwelling about it. We needed to clear the fifteenth floor in order to know master's judgement.
"Don't bother about the feather for now. Focus on performing the formula simulations. We need to solve the grimoire formula before we attempt the third Quintal Trial."
I told my pupils.
"You said this particular formula we're researching would enable us to process the special ore you got from the tenth floor?"
Yuxia confirmed.
I nodded.
"That's right. The material is strong enough to hold multiple advanced enchantments. I intend to create strong weapons and other useful equipment from it."
"How strong of a weapon are we talking about?"
Matrias asked.
"Something that would rival Sandomer's artifact collection."
Vallerynne gasped at my words.
"Dear Goddesses! I heard they have something that could level a mountain or a whole city."
I nodded again.
"Should we rely on anything less to save our world?"
The three's expressions grew solemn upon my words.
Yuxia had told Matrias and Vallerynne to an extent that our world was already destroyed.
At this point, almost everyone in the lobby had known in various degree that there was no home we could return to at the moment.
The lobby's general population mostly received the news from the past 1-stars who were previously promoted right before our climb to the tenth floor. Tarran, Luan, Kori, and Tamo.
The spread of information was slow and not sudden. So we managed to prevent mass hysteria.
Some did panic upon hearing the revelation.
But their emotion soon quelled after we cleared the second Quintal Trial, when we were celebrating the victory.
They heard of my speech regarding our mission in the forged land was to climb the tower, undoing all the bad things that had happened, and save our world.
"Well, I better get these simulations done quickly. I want to hurry reach the top of the tower and meet my family again."
Vallerynne said, scribbling on her paper filled with complex rune problems.
Matrias nodded to her and hunched down to his own simulation.
"I previously just wanted to survive in this place. But now that I heard about what has happened to our home, it's hard not to give my all. I got people waiting for me too."
Meanwhile, Yuxia stayed silent and continued working on his paper.
A dark expression was hanging over his face.
He had not told me what happened to him before he was summoned.
Since he also did not ask me about my circumstances back then, I supposed I could leave it at that for now.
I would still need to pry his stories once we were finally at the point of studying the mysteries of the forged land itself.
We went on with our duties in the lobby and time passed.
Tomorrow arrived.
[Party 1, gather up!]
Our brief resting period was over. It was time to climb to the next floor.
[Climb the tower and save the world!]
[Main Dungeon]
[Floor conquered - 11 -]
"It would be the twelfth floor this time, right?"
Shanny asked as we entered the mirrored chamber in the rift of space time.
I nodded to her.
"Be ready to fight immediately. We never know how long the enemy will wait to strike us."
My comrades nodded back to my instruction, readying their weapons and battle stances.
"Will it be undead again this time?"
Darius asked, nocking a non-explosive arrow.
"Whatever monster we'll face, we'll have to kill them no matter what."
Jonah replied, raising his spear.
"Nothing will stop us saving the world."
Devisha added, twirling her curved swords around.
Their high spirit made me confident to face the upcoming trial. I readied an offensive spell in my mind.
The bluish-white light soon engulfed us and we were transported from the mirrored chamber, into another terrain.
The surrounding shifted into a broad paving road.
The sun was just rising from the faraway hills to our east.
Giant open gates stood to our west, allowing a view of an expansive empty city inside.
Towering walls extended to the distance toward the north and south of us.
[Floor 12]
[Mission Type – Subjugation]
[Objective – Annihilate the enemies!]
With the mission window's emergence, my comrades and I scanned the battlefield.
There stood our enemies in front of the gates to the west.
"Drop your weapons!"
The knight in silver armor and brown cape shouted toward us.
A row of soldiers stood unwavering behind him. Spears and swords raised against the heroes of the forged land.
Humans.
We were facing fellow humans in this trial!