While things have gotten hectic since receiving the news, it couldn't have come at a better time as the week slowly progressed. The otherworlders worked hard to improve in what little time they had, but most of the time discussed what they could do. While a month wasn't enough to push Lyle and Janet to Journeyman, they were getting damn close since their Class Skills were hard at work to the point of reaching max even before meeting Zeke and Mikella.

On the other hand, the two received their own improvements after their crazed duel, to which Zeke decided that it was a bit much even for his standards. However, when they dueled like that, it was hard to stop enjoying the thrill of the moment.

First off, he received a rather surprising amount of skill notifications.

Parallel Thought Level Up! It is now Level 10.

You have gained +1 INT (x2) from your skill. You have gained +1 SPI (x2) from your skill.

…..

Parallel Thought has been maxed. Bonuses are now applied:

-Increased thought process speed. -Increased number of diverted thought patterns. -Evolution available -Advancement available

Seeing his useful skill maxing out and having the option to evolve it stunned him a bit. After careful consideration, he checked his evolution path for the skill.

One side was called 'Freelance Parallel Thought', and like the name suggested, it helped the user have free range in their thoughts, allowing them to have as many as possible without any downsides or time heavily spent. It wasn't as though it allowed him to think forever in a stasis of time, but helped him have as many thoughts in a short span of time.

That, quite frankly, scared him a bit. He didn't like having his thoughts wander so much, especially having many at once. Sometimes his skill was actually more annoying than helpful, and going down this path might actually harm him internally, so he would gladly pick the other option, a more constricted evolution, but the safest by far.

Skill Evolution has commenced.

Your skill Parallel Thought (Uncommon) has evolved into Iron Parallel Thought (Rare).

Your skill Iron Parallel Thought has been reset to Level 1. You will still retain the stat bonuses you have acquired before the evolution.

…..

Iron Parallel Thought (Rare), Level 1 Evolved from Parallel Thought, your mind is not only capable of quickly assessing different thoughts, they are refined and focused, allowing you better control of your thought patterns even in dire stress. Increases your mental capacity and willpower to focus on several tasks at once. Your capabilities and speed of thought increases according to the level of the skill and the current Intelligence and Spirit Stat.

This much was obvious. He wanted better self-control, especially during chaotic times. He found out that no matter how high his Steadfast Mind skill was, it was still not enough to counter practically everything reality hit him with. Plus, he would rather not darken his thoughts with potential consequences should he fail at basically anything the angels threw at him. Keeping his thoughts in check while making them durable to handle anything was the best possible thing for his mental sake.

As for the other skills.

Kinetic Manipulation Level Up! It is now Level 6.

You have gained +2 DEX (x2) from your skill. You have gained +1 END (x2) from your skill.

…..

Unarmed Mastery Level Up! It is now Level 8.

You have gained +2 STR (x3) from your skill. You have gained +1 DEX (x3) from your skill.

…..

Ethereal Manifest Level Up! It is now Level 9.

You have gained +2 INT (x2) from your skill. You have gained +2 SPI (x2) from your skill.

…..

Mythril Skin Level Up! It is now Level 9.

You have gained +1 (x2) SPI from your skill. You have gained +1 (x2) VIT from your skill. You have gained +1 (x2) END from your skill.

He made plenty of progress, surprisingly so, considering he only did simple sparring with Mikella with his new weapons. That's when he learned just how valuable having momentum is. With enough inspiration and motivation, you could find new ways to use your skills, thus enabling the system to level them up faster than normal.

Whether it was pure willpower, or just luck at the time, Zeke never felt more assured in his path. Mikella also did some improvements as well, much as one would expect.

Mana Manipulation Level Up! It is now Level 6.

You have gained +2 INT (x2) from your skill. You have gained +1 SPI (x2) from your skill.

…..

Acrobatics Level Up! It is now Level 7.

You have gained +2 STR (x3) from your skill. You have gained +2 DEX (x3) from your skill

…..

Warp Jump Level Up! It is now Level 7.

You have gained +2 SPI (x2) from your skill. You have gained +1 END (x2) from your skill.

…..

Aerial Advantage Level Up! It is now Level 6.

Increased attribute increases (x2).

It was a surprise, and also not, when her Tempest Dance didn't level even once despite using it constantly. Considering its rarity, it would take her a while longer just to see it level even once. Hell, even their Legendary skills don't level as often, so it wasn't much of a surprise for either of them to see her skill stuck at level 1 for a while.

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That doesn't mean she's gonna stop trying to level it either way. If anything, she's invigorated to level it as much as possible considering how useful the skill was.

Then came an important question, to which Zeke asked during one of their off times before leaving for the mission.

"So, what do you plan on learning now?"

Mikella looked at him questioningly while they just chilled on the sofa in the backyard of Alissa's home. It was a fairly large field with nothing in it, since Alissa was too busy to even make something of such a field. So instead it was used as Clara's training field.

Her shouts and grunts when she swung her training sword could be heard loud and clear with Zoan by the side giving her instructions. Mikella considered the training adequate, and they were all certain she would take things too far with her. It was decided to let her take control of her training when she reached system initialization, for Clara's mental sake, of course.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean your skills," Zeke clarified. "Now that you got your fancy Mythic skill, what do you want to learn now?"

Zeke said it with as much sarcasm as possible, just to make a joke, but Mikella looked down on the ground with such a thoughtful look that it made him pause. She really was thinking hard on what to learn next.

He waited patiently, knowing full well that she works at her own pace. He had some ideas of what she could learn, but they were all his own opinions in the end.

When she finally answered, he was stumped.

"I'm thinking about learning some crafting skills."

"Wait, really?"

Mikella nodded rather enthusiastically. "Yeah. You know how annoying it gets when we get times like these, and I can't do anything other than just chill? I want to keep moving, and keep improving. Sometimes I can't swing my weapons, and sometimes I need to rest. So what better way to use my time than to have a new hobby?"

"That is…" Zeke thought about it some more. While it came out of the left field for him, she really considered what skills to learn. And now that he thought about it, it only made perfect sense. "Damn, that's a good point."

He did notice that Mikella would get antsy when she forced herself to get rest days for her training regimen, something that she did quite a bit during their year before reaching Journeyman. Whenever she does, she would always get fidgety, and often just try to pass the time by talking with either him or Clara, or helping the Mystio family around the house.

She had to force herself to be patient to start training with her weapons during a better time, so she really had no other choice but to stand still, which is something she hated to do.

"But what do you think?" Mikella asked, surprising Zeke some more. "You think that's a good idea?"

"Why would it not be?" Zeke asked.

"Well, I know that if I just start training another combat-related skill, it might be better overall for me. But I thought that having a crafting skill might be useful for me in the future too. Sometimes, beating people's asses isn't useful when we're helping others like in Eve Glade, y'know?"

Zeke shook his head, smiling at her. "Then it's all the more reason to do what you think is right. If you want to have a crafting skill to help others while fighting isn't available, then all the more reason to try it out."

"Are… you sure?" MIkella asked again. "Don't get me wrong–I just want to make sure you're not just agreeing with me because this is what I want to do. I want you to be honest with me."

"I am being honest with you," Zeke said assuredly. He made sure to keep staring at her beautiful yellow eyes when he did. "What's more important than doing what you want? What you think feels right? Hell, didn't you say the same thing when I wanted to fight with you guys a year ago? So, I'm giving you the same answer."

He grinned, which finally got Mikella to blush at the memory of her own words now used against her. She scoffed at him, which only made him chuckle.

"So… what kind of crafting skill you wanna do?" Zeke asked, now curious. There was a gleam in her eyes as she told him all sorts of ideas she wanted to try, some of which Zeke couldn't wait to see finalized.

…..

"So these are the newbies joining us, eh?"

Saang said, staring hard at the two new otherworlders. Lyle and Janet looked mildly nervous, more Janet than Lyle.

It was the next day where they headed off to the guild. They wanted to go through the process, but unfortunately they were unable to join the party as official adventurers as per under contract by not only the Alchemist's Guild, but also the Assassin's guild.

If they were to join any other organizations (disregarding the alchemy guild to put up their front as regular shop owners), the Assassin's guild would take it as a sign of betrayal as they can easily give away information regarding their dark underworld. Needless to say, it would be terrifying to go against them at the moment.

On the other hand, it's not like they're banned from getting outside help. As long as they have some 'supporters' that the party itself is willing to fund for the sake of a successful quest, they would be granted to go with them even without a license.

Still, that didn't mean the Tempest Winds would just casually accept them. After all, despite their harsh training, they were still in the upper Expert stage, nowhere near as capable as the Journeymen. There was just too big of a gap. It was a different case back in the biodome takeover, with only having just three Journeymen on hand, but in this case, they had other options.

Still, Sang smiled at the nervous looking pair and slapped each of them by the shoulder.

"But if Zeke and Mikky decide you're good enough, then that's alright by me. Just make sure you keep to your roles and not go out and be heroes, got it? Especially if we do find more of your folks there."

Of course, the Tempest Winds also knew of their status as otherworlders. It was included when Zeke and Mikella introduced them. They also knew about the last case of otherworlders trapped in the tower, and both Lyle and Janet nodded with grim expressions.

Zeke hated to admit this, but they were too weak to consider taking actions on their own. If Janet was able to control her higher-realm attunement a bit better, then perhaps that was possible. However, Zeke knew more than anyone that relying on that power was a gambit, not a skill.

Thankfully, they have their heads on straight, so the chances of them taking independent actions are slim. Outside of trying to survive, of course. Zeke wouldn't blame them for acting human in the face of danger.

"Still, all this time, I can't believe you were an otherworlder," Hamil said, staring at Lyle with incomprehension. "I knew you were young and new to the city, but I just thought you came from a good background."

"Technically, the tower was a good background," Lyle said with a shifty smile. "It just put me through the worst course of my life."

"And you worked as an assassin," Kote said, glancing over at the clearly nervous Janet with a look of sympathy. "I see now how rough you all have it in this world with no backing whatsoever. Still…"

"That doesn't matter," Saang pointed out. "What matters is that they want to help us and their people. That's good enough for me."

"Of course," Kote nodded. There was a smile despite the cloth covering his face.

"Thanks again for accepting this," Zeke reinstated. "I know things are chaotic right now, with the nobles and everything, but we really appreciate letting them come with us."

The group was at the moment standing outside of the guild hall, after explaining to the people inside on where they would go. The Adventurer's guild didn't want to mess with any of the nobles, so after hearing the A-rank adventurer team assure them that they have permission, the guild let them off even with supporters still in Expert stage. Zeke can understand their plight, like trying to mess with the government in the real world. It was too much of a pain in the ass to deal with the aftermath of it all.

After signing everything off and leaving, the group had a closer discussion. When they first entered, they were surrounded by people in the guild, so it made sense that they didn't start this conversation right then and there.

"Just make sure you take good care of them," Hamil stated. "We have no problems since you two could easily handle it on your own, but we're not really good at keeping pace with the lower-stages. No offense to you two, I hope you understand."

"We know," Lyle nodded, though Janet looked more upset at being treated so weak by everyone. Lyle just jostled her playfully with his hand, catching her off her frustration. "Just think of it as being carried. After this, we'll shoot straight up into Journeymen!"

"...Yeah," Janet smiled. The glint in her eyes showed everything that she was thinking about. Zeke can basically read her like a book as a fellow gamer in the old world.

"So, where to?" Saang asked. "The tower from here is a lot farther away than the last one. You think we'll need the Jetrail for this?"

"Nah, that's fine," Zeke stated. "I can get us there easily."

"You sure?" Kote asked. "It's pretty far away, even for Journeymen. Normally it would take almost a month to get there even with ordinary travel."

"We can always take breaks on the way, and I got plenty of Mana to spare. Besides, the less people that see us, the better it is for the nobles, right?"

Zeke knew how these things go, and obviously the nobles would want nothing more than to keep this quiet. Hearing this, the trio nodded in approval, understanding his logic. If people saw strangers approaching a noble's land, they would start asking questions. If those questions reach the nobles–like frightened and cornered animals, the nobles would jump tactics and might try something drastic.

He was pretty sure he saw that happen in a movie before, and seeing the trio understand him made him just that more disappointed in the nobles once more.

"Wait," Lyle asked, seemingly out of the loop with Janet in tow. "How are you gonna get us there? And how is it any faster than the Jetrail?"

"Oh yeah…" Mikella said with a rising grin. "You guys still haven't seen Zeke's Barrier Car."

The two quickly turned silent as Zeke led them out of the city with his own smile spread across his face.

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