It was a fresh morning. The sun had just risen.
Icard opened his eyes then in a world outside the frost tower after what felt like ages now.
Then suddenly, he jerked up in a flash, breathing fast and unstably, his eyes darting everywhere and back on his body like he had just had a nightmare.
And following him was Alia who screamed as well from Icard's sudden movement.
"What...are you okay?!" she asked on seeing Icard wake up that way.
The others followed immediately; Reya and Eric.
"What's wrong?!"
***
"How long was I out?" Icard asked after calming down.
"Since yesterday. It was all yesterday" Alia answered.
Icard quietened. He looked at all of them and noticed Jack wasn't with them.
"Where's Jack?" Icard asked. The question shifted the atmosphere a bit.
"Uhh. About that, Jack...left us" Alia explained and an awkward silence followed.
"He left not long after you went to gates. And he said he wasn't going to come back" Reya said.
"Why?"
Reya sighed then.
"I'm not sure. But then, I always had a feeling that guy never really fit in with us" Reya said.
"That's true. Like, every time he's all by himself, even when we try to welcome him" Alia added.
"I see" Icard muttered.
'So he's done it already. I was just wondering when he'd leave' Icard said in his thoughts.
'It's probably because he wasn't one of us in the first place. The people he came to the base with were in the truck behind us. They were attacked by that ant lizard and are all dead' Icard thought to himself for some time.
Then he sighed before his eyes fell on Eric.
Looking at Eric now--actually, since he saw Eric back then, he could tell Eric had changed even more.
He was barely nervous now, unlike he would have been before the apocalypse. Neither was he as chatty.
Next, his eyes followed Reya. Her visage was a bit off though, like she had been worried for some time now.
The same for Matt as well.
"I didn't think you were seriously entering that gate. It was after Eric and Alia disappeared that we came there after searching around" Reya began.
"And against my very reasonable decision, we also tried getting in but we couldn't" Matt added. "I don't know why but no one could enter then. It was like--repelling everyone"
'Hmm. That must have been the moments after the chieftain was defeated' Icard thought to himself.
"Well, thankfully, not long after, people began coming out and soon enough, we saw you guys"
Matt sighed then.
"I saw a lot of bodies too, man and people with crazy injuries…I can't believe you survived somewhere like that"
Icard sighed as well.
"I guess it was more dangerous than what I thought" he said, his expression softer.
'They've only begun to learn about their abilities. If they were there, they could have been in real danger' Icard thought.
Thinking he could protect them was the reason he asked them to come along. But he was glad they didn't...seeing how desperate he ended up being inside there.
Then suddenly, he shivered at the thought of his deal with Alyxara.
"Hey! Are you okay?!" Reya asked.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm alright" Icard answered, bringing himself together immediately.
'Hehe. She's definitely done it. I never expected she would go that far' he thought to himself, sweat gathering on his face.
Then he glanced at Eric again.
"Yo, you've been sleeping for days and the first thing you do when you wake up is jump inside a gate?" Icard asked, finally bringing it up.
Eric huffed lightly.
"I heard you were there so I came" Eric said.
"Is that all you have to say?!" Reya asked with an irked growl, pounding Eric on the head before Matt rushed in to hold her.
"Why did you disappear like that!"
"Hehe. I tried to stop him but he..." Alia said but her voice trailed off, hoping not to catch Reya's attention.
"..."
"The truth is, I felt something strange before I woke up. And when I did, I realised it was coming from that gate thing" Eric began, pressing the bump on his head.
"When Alia told me I had been out for a long time, I thought the gate woke me up somehow, so I got curious. And when I heard you were there, I decided to go"
"Still, after laying in bed for so long, you're not supposed to push yourself like that" Alia said.
"I was a bit dizzy and hungry at first, so I grabbed some chocolate bars" Eric said flatly. "After that, I was all good"
Reya growled even more at his nonchalant attitude but the rest tried to calm her down.
Icard smiled faintly.
'Well. If he's alright, that's good. I thought he was unnecessarily pushing himself'
"And that Albert guy...he said we should meet again"
Icard's eyes narrowed a bit.
"I see" he replied.
"Seems like you met him there. He was really strong" Eric said.
"That's true" Alia muttered. "You guys were both monsters"
Icard laughed gently again.
"Was that one of your forged skills?" Eric asked.
"Yeah. But it was too strong for me to handle so I got knocked out"
"Well, that much makes sense. That skill was overkill. I thought the effects would even have a greater toll on your body" Alia said.
"Hehe" Icard forced a smile then.
'It did draw on my body though. I used a special skill and got completely drained of mana, straining my body and leaving me in a mana shock state' Icard recounted.
Then he closed his eyes a bit and memories of a month's worth of time inside the frost tower flashed through his mind.
'I can't believe she made me stay that long'.
"Icard" Alia called him, snapping him out of his reverie. "Are you really okay?"
"Yeah. I'm just, a bit still stressed, I guess" he answered. "But I'm alright"
"Ohh. Sorry about that" Alia said.
"You should rest more, if that's the case" Reya said and Matt nodded.
"Yeah" Icard muttered.
Just then, the thought suddenly weighed on him. The fact that it had been more difficult than he made him quite angry with himself.
'I was really pathetic. I exhausted my mana before fighting the chieftain and ended up giving Alyxara a little leverage on me. In the end, I ended up not growing stronger from this gate. It's just stupid'.
It hit Icard hard but he had just realised how weak he really was.
'I need to get stronger and I have to do it with them'
"Guys. There's... something i have to say" Icard said before they left.
"Huh? What's wrong?" Matt asked.
"I know it was really dangerous but there's a reason we have to enter the gates"
Icard breathed.
"Those who enter the gates and kill spawns get stronger just by doing that" Icard said.
"Eric, you saw a stone Albert must have gotten from that thing, right?" he asked.
"Yeah..." Eric answered a bit confusedly. "How did you know..."
"That's called a core stone, guys. All spawns have core stones that get absorbed into your body when you kill them with your ability. That's the fastest way to get stronger" Icard explained.
"Right now, they might not be aware, but those who survived the gate would have definitely gotten stronger from it. That's why we can't afford to fall behind. So when the next gate appears, it's risky, but we have to go" Icard finally blurted.
The group stared at him awkwardly for sometime.
"Oookay" Reya said. "But Icard...how did you know about all this?"
Icard's eyes widened then.
'Oh crap'
"It was that talking porcupine, wasn't it?" Eric said coolly.
"The Erwald you guys talked about earlier?"
"Yes. I think I heard him say something like that too"
'Woahhh! Good save, Eric!'
"Yeah. That's true!" Icard said, nodding affirmatively.
"Seriously?" Reya's eyes widened in surprise.
"Not a lot of people know about it now. Even those who entered the gates probably don't know but we do. We can definitely get stronger"
Reya and the rest processed this for some time.
"But it's dangerous though" Alia said.
"I know. But if we keep practicing our control, we'll have a better chance when we go in together"
Icard's confidence beamed around the room. From his face, they could see it...the possibility of getting in and coming out safely.
"Well, I was already getting bored of all this. Something like that would definitely make things interesting" Matt said with an awkward boldness.
"Hmph. If Matt is courageous, then we all are, isn't it?" Reya said, smirking with a huff.
"What does that mean?" Matt said, visibly offended.
"Well, you should get better first, let's see how far we can go together" Reya said with an assuring smile.
Seeing he had somehow managed to convince them, Icard smiled to himself.
'Like this we can get stronger much earlier and faster'.
"Yeah. I will" he said to them before they finally left.