By the end of the second day of training, Maud and Glorp had both gotten a pretty good handle on using their new abilities, especially in regards to fighting each other with them. I, on the other hand, had managed nothing. Despite Elody’s thoughts on the matter, I was nowhere near being able to control the new soul mana flows, and any attempt to use my mana orbs quickly turned into a disaster as the charges built out of control until I had drained my soul too far.

  The only saving grace I had going was that Corey was still able to regulate the mana flow once it reached them. The mallet’s channels hadn’t been affected in the same way my body’s had. This meant that Corey was still effective in combat and even able to use the imbuing orb contained in the mallet. All that said, I was at least confident we could handle tackling the eighth floor now, and so was Mel. Beyond that, I was worried.

  “Once yer in there, there’s gonna be six paths. The entrances ta each are only gonna be open for five minutes, so pick yer path and get going. Maud, make sure ya stick with Dave,” Mel had explained right before the porter showed up. It was someone different, more kangaroo-like than human, and much more cordial than the last one who had come to pick us up.

  “Thank you, Rorge. We had a very unprofessional porter last time. It’s nice to see there are some who still respect the job,” Pryte said, greeting the man who had appeared in the front yard and waited perfectly calmly for us.

  “Yes, Floor Master requested I personally handle the Empire of Dave’s porting duty. He found the previous interactions with your squad distasteful and wanted to ensure a more efficient experience for all involved,” Rorge replied, sounding as though he entirely agreed with Floor Master.

  “Ah, good. I suppose you wouldn’t have any word on my official request for his continued representation throughout our climb?” Pryte asked. I hadn’t been aware he had done that, but it made sense assuming it was possible. Floor Master had treated us entirely fairly, and if he were involved with the judge as we suspected, it would be incredibly beneficial for us this way. Why should we be the only ones without real connections behind the scenes?

  “I am aware of your petition, and it has been granted. I am, in fact, allowed to bring you all straight to your designated waiting room now. You are now longer required to use a generic one,” Rorge replied, nodding his head to Pryte as he spoke. I thought I caught the slightest smile from the man, but if I had, it was gone before I could be sure. I got the feeling that Pryte and Rorge knew each other better than either was letting on, which considering our situation, was likely the best for Rorge’s safety. I was just happy at the idea of another potential ally. We needed all we could get.

  “Ah, good, so we can actually focus on the match now,” Mel replied happily, and while it wasn’t the first time I’d heard him so upbeat, the fact that it had been holding strong all day now was somewhat unnerving. I hoped it just meant he had started to believe we had a real chance of success here, and not that this was some nervous coping change in attitude.

  “Are we ready?” Rorge asked, bouncing up and down on his large legs while his head went from side to side, scanning the area.

  “We are,” Pryte answered, and the yard around us vanished to instantly, being replaced by a smaller waiting room than our previous one. Unlike before though, we weren’t stuck pushing our way through any crowds, and the room wasn’t already full of yells and cheers. There was also a full table of food sitting out waiting for us, and no one besides ourselves and Rorge was anywhere in sight, so it was all ours this time.

  “Did the food get better too?” Glorp asked between bites as he immediately ran to the buffet table and downed several sandwiches. I followed behind him and noticed many of my favorite foods were present as well, leading me to grab my own handful of fried egg sandwiches without hesitation. Somehow, the bread tasted exactly like the way my mom had managed to toast it. I needed to talk to Pryte about how this worked, not that I wanted to take away from John’s cooking, but this food had managed to fill a long empty void each time that I hadn’t even realized was still there. The pure nostalgia for the meals I had shared with my family as a kid had been found somewhere deep inside me.

  “The food should now be purely representative of the things you all enjoy instead of catering to a larger audience,” Floor Master said from the doorway that had just opened, allowing him entry to the room.

  “Really, even me?” Maud asked as she examined the buffet and then squealed. “Yes, Swedish meatballs!”

  “Yes, Ms. Fisher, even you. Pryte provided necessary details in a full update with plenty of time to make the needed preparations,” Floor Master answered, some of Maud’s joy seeming to echo in Floor Master’s words. I got the feeling the spider was happy that we were happy.

  “Awesome!” Maud replied through a mouthful of meatballs. I bent my head forward as I shook it trying to hide the laughter at the scene, and to contain the food in my own mouth.

  “Are there any last-minute changes we should be aware of, Floor Master?” Rabyn asked the spider seriously.

  “There are not, please prepare yourselves as the floor will be starting in the next few minutes,” Floor Master answered before walking over to a monitor and checking several readouts. While I could understand the words themselves, what they referred to seemed like gibberish to me. There were fields that said things like mana redundancy and area of reality that were followed by measurements in units I didn’t at all recognize. I guessed they were tied to the floor being ready for us. How that worked was still a complete mystery to me. I could feel my inner tinkerer begging me to take it apart and see what I could learn, but now just wasn’t the time to let that impulse out. One day soon though, it was coming.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  “Any last words of wisdom?” Elicec said to Mel while his brother ate something that resembled a dark blue turkey leg.

  “Nope, yer all doing great. None of ya have balked at any of the shit I put ya through. Honestly, I’m proud. Yer gonna get through this, and we’re gonna get ta working on the rest,” Mel said, that cheeriness still there.

  “I know that I’m merely an observer and referee, but I do agree with Melhelm; considering the things stacked against you, your performance thus far has been impressive,” Floor Master spoke up in agreement, having returned from the monitor.

  “Thank you,” Elicec said giving them both one of his own rare smiles.

  “You are very welcome, but it’s time. Please follow me,” Floor Master replied, beginning his usual walk toward the door in the front of the room. The hall on the other side was the same as it had been previously, and the moment we were all inside, Floor Master closed the door behind us, sealing us inside for floor eight to begin.

  “What happens now?” Maud asked, but before anyone could answer, the hall disappeared, and a new reality came into view, leaving us in a circular room with six passageways. Each of them looked identical from where I was standing.

  “Please proceed to your desired path. The passages will seal in five minutes,” a disembodied voice echoed throughout the small room.

  “Does it matter which we choose?” I asked. I didn’t think it did, as no one had mentioned anything about that, but I wanted to make sure.

  “No, while they’ll all be different, we won’t have any way to know the differences until it starts,” Rabyn answered.

  “Alright then, everyone grab a passage. Maud, stick with Dave,” Elicec said, ending the discussion.

  “And you stick with Cecile!” Maud called as we walked, both headed for the same passage. Once inside I realized why they had seemed so similar. They were designed in a way to look like they opened deeper into another area, but in reality it was just an optical illusion, leaving only a small inner chamber for us to stand in while we waited for the time to run out.

  “You ready for this?” I asked Maud as I removed Corey from my System storage. They were going to be doing the bulk of my fighting, as my next to no control over my channeling would be a disaster for me. So, I was staying back unless I absolutely had to join in.

  “Yep, well, no, probably not, but I’m ready to fake the enthusiasm that I am!” Maud replied, the fake enthusiasm shining through strongly already.

  “Just try to remember everything Mel said, and pace yourself. We won’t get any real downtime once this starts, so we’ve gotta conserve our mana as we go,” I said, aiming that more at myself than her.

  “I’ll do my…” Maud started to say before the slamming shut of the passage behind us loudly cut off her last words. The wall with the optical illusion vanished at the same time, revealing a well-lit room with a long passageway leading deeper into our chosen path. Inside the room was a single golden egg sitting in a basket in the center of the room, with a sign that said we must bring all eggs to the final chamber to complete the floor, just as Mel had told us we would.

  “I’ll put the egg in my storage and then we can make our way further in. Corey, please scout ahead,” I said, touching the egg and placing it safely on a shelf inside my mind.

  A loud smashing sound came from where Corey had just flown at the same time that a chat window popped up.

  I closed the window and realized that Maud hadn’t even waited. Her form disappeared down the passage as I chased behind her. “Maud, wait up!” Either she didn’t hear me, or she chose to ignore me, as I didn’t catch her until she was already firing a shot of lightning at a three-headed flying frog creature. There was a pile of them already on the ground under Corey. She had managed to get here just in time to take out the last one, as the lightning knocked it from the air to join the rest in the pile.

  “Sorry just got really excited,” she said, looking at me nervously.

  “It’s alright, trust me, I get it. It’s a little intoxicating. I’ll tell you about just exactly how Corey and I first met once we are done here,” I said, reassuring her. Even if I’d have preferred she waited for me, I’d rather she keep her confidence than get a scolding from me for doing something nearly the same as I had.

  “Yeah… I can feel that. Are we ready to continue?” She asked. I gave her a nod in return, and we headed off down the path behind Corey.

  The eighth floor of the Arena is one of the first real choke points for squads. It requires more than one person to make decisions on their own, preferably at least six. The squads that are built around only a single strong man tend to fall apart here. Sometimes, they can compensate, and the ones that do are almost always better off for the experience. Famously, Sanquar is known to have somehow beat the floor entirely alone. It is not recommended anyone else try, as he is the only known person to have done so outside those on a reascent.

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