Council of Mercenaries

'He knows about the crystal?' Adam looked calm from outside, but inwardly he was quite taken aback.

From what he knew, the information about the respawn crystal shouldn't be widely spread. However, Ron and the mercenaries outside seemed to know about the importance of the find.

'I would understand that those mercenaries knew, as they only worked in the tutorial, and some of them must've been working here when the respawn crystal on the fourth and fifth floors was discovered.

'Then some of them must've shared it with others, and that's how they all came to know.

'However, Ron should be only the tutorial's supervisor for this month, as the supervisor usually changes every month. It is well-paid and comes with additional benefits, but he shouldn't be aware of the respawn crystal.'

After leaving the safety of his thoughts, Adam crossed his arms and nodded, "Yeah, I saw some kind of luminescent crystal hovering in the middle of the room. Do you know what that was?"

"I-incredible…" Ron, with an absent look on his face, walked past him and entered the hidden, darkened room.

There, he saw pieces of the precious crystals strewn across the room—their beautiful luster long gone, now looking dull and lifeless, like pieces of rock.

"Y-you…" Ron took a handful of broken crystals in his hand and turned his head around to gaze at Adam. "Destroyed it?"

"Yes, I did." Adam nodded. "I heard a voice in my mind, telling me to destroy it. Was I wrong in destroying it? Was it valuable?"

After a night of thinking, he had to think of a way to explain why he destroyed the respawn crystal to keep away the suspicious gazes from him.

There were many ways that person would react upon seeing the respawn crystal—some saw visions, some started bleeding from their eyes, and some heard voices whispering in their ears.

Adam, in the end, decided to choose voice one. Now, he only had to act mostly clueless about the respawn crystal, as he shouldn't be able to know anything about it.

"Voice…" Ron gently pocketed a few pieces of the crystal and walked out of the room. He then tapped Adam in the shoulder and said, "Adam, mind coming with me?"

"Alright…" Adam said, following out of the room while the mercenaries gave way to let them pass.

After they left the room, the rest of the mercenaries rushed inside the hidden room to investigate and report everything. This was, after all, one of the biggest discoveries they had made in years.

Adam followed Ron down the staircase, then down the castle's front lounge, until they reached the front yard. There, the players were gathered while whispering with each other.

They didn't understand why they weren't allowed inside the castle anymore.

At that moment, they saw Ron and Adam step outside; many eyes flashed by surprise as they wondered where Adam had disappeared off to. Now, it looked like he had been inside the castle all this time.

"You all may return to the safe area." Ron said to everyone. "It is quite late, and you guys need to rest as the third floor opens soon."

They all nodded and started to slowly depart from the castle.

At the corner of the yard, Ramon shot suspicious gazes in Adam's direction. He was tapping his feet impatiently against the ground, trying to boost his thinking prowess.

'Where did he go? Is he the reason why Ron and the other mercenaries came? What did he find?'

The sky on the second floor had turned a deep shade of black, and the storm clouds were circling ominously. It looked like it was about to storm heavily, as if the floor was reacting to the destruction of the respawn crystal.

Rumble!

Following a loud rumble, a silvery lightning bolt struck a tall tree that had stood there since the creation of the floor. Now, all that remained was a smoldering stump.

…

Tap, tap, tap.

Footsteps echoed down the corridor, growing louder and louder.

With long strides, Ron made his way down the corridor that led to the mysterious door at the end of the hallway. Adam followed right behind him, trying to match Ron's pace as they both rushed.

'I've never been here; I wonder where this leads.' Adam thought to himself.

As Ron reached the end of the hallway, with two powerful hands, he pushed open the heavy-looking doors and stepped through without a single beat wasted.

Adam followed right behind him and saw a dimly lit room with seats arranged like in a cinema and facing a large screen at the front. The screen was currently dark.

At that moment, Adam noticed that there was already one person seated. The person, as soon as they entered the room, stood up and bowed.

"Muriel." Ron nodded briefly and crossed his arms. "Is the connection set up yet?"

"It has, sir." Muriel said in her usual monotone voice.

However, once she saw Adam, her eyes brightened slightly as this player again went beyond her expectations.

First, he managed to discover the Adult Centipede Skeleton, which could've caused enormous destruction if left unattended any longer, and now he found an even more important thing—the respawn crystal!

"Alright, start the connection." Ron said and turned to Adam, "I need you to be in your best behavior. Disrespect is not tolerable in this situation."

"What's happening?" Adam asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You have an honor to speak directly to the Council of Mercenaries." Muriel said with a serious tone.

"Oh…" Adam's eyes turned. 'I had a hunch that this would happen. I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing.'

The screen started flickering, and then suddenly started to show something hazy. It was seven high-end chairs, shaped like thrones, and then a voice boomed, "Bow your heads!"

Muriel, Ron, and Adam quickly bent their backs and bowed their heads low.

At that moment, seven figures began to materialize in the seven throne-shaped chairs. Each figure had a majestic presence, radiating power and authority. They were the leaders of the Seven Ancient Guilds and the people who were in control of all mercenaries.

The Council of Mercenaries!

"State your name, Coinfeeder!" An old, powerful voice boomed like the rumbling of thunder.

"Adam Palestar, at your service." Adam put his hand on his chest and bowed respectfully to the Council of Mercenaries.

"Palestar?" A rightmost figure repeated the surname with a hint of recognition in his voice but immediately turned silent afterwards.

"So, you've discovered the respawn crystal. Do you know about its importance?"

"No, I don't." Adam simply replied, feeling the weight of all the eyes in the room on him.

"The crystal is life." One of them said in an elderly voice. "It holds the power to bring back the dead."

"Without that crystal, the Chaosbeings of the second floor lost that ability. Now, when they die, they stay dead."

"That's a good thing, isn't it?" Adam said in an unsure tone.

"Depends on the perspective." This time, a feminine voice sounded from the screen. "It is important in the fight against Chaosbeings. However, the second floor's Chaosbeings were never a threat to begin with."

"Why did you destroy the crystal, little one?" A person with an amiable voice asked. "May I know why?"

Hearing that voice, Adam cracked a smile, recognizing it. It belonged to a very important person in his past life.