Free Web NovelChapter 48: A Tricky Mission
Silas did not hesitate the moment he saw the message. Even so, by the time he arrived, he knew he was late.
As he ran, he could already feel the difference in his body. It was not merely his physique that had changed. His reflexes were sharper, his movements smoother, and his thoughts noticeably clearer.
At some point, he even wondered whether this was the full extent of his gains or if there were still changes he had yet to discover.
When he reached the garden, the sight of his four teammates waiting beside the shuttle did not surprise him. However, his own appearance clearly came as a surprise to them.
Before his arrival, everyone had been on edge. The mission notice had arrived only a few hours earlier, and no one had wasted time gathering at the designated location. Yet despite arriving promptly, Silas had failed to show up.
According to Cher and Lara, other teams had already begun their preparations.
They had been ready to reprimand him for being late. The moment they saw him, however, their frustration melted away and was replaced by confusion.
"Oho! Did you go through puberty growth overnight or something?"
Darius burst into laughter while the others openly examined him, waiting for an explanation. He even went up and measured Silas’ height with his hand.
"Wow! You did indeed grow taller since yesterday."
"I just went to sleep and woke up like this."
Silas had no intention of revealing the details of his enhancement. Instead, he pointed toward his wristwatch. freēwēbnovel.com
"By the time I woke up, I found a detailed message regarding our upcoming mission..."
"Not here."
Before he could continue, Cher stepped forward and grabbed his arm.
"We’ve spent the past few hours trying to gather information about the mission," Alfred said with a sigh. "We even looked for rumours, but found nothing."
Silas moved his eyes around in confusion. After all, the content of the message he received sounded like a copied text sent to other teams. So he couldn’t tell what the reason for such secrecy was in the first place.
"Other teams are keeping everything secret," Lara noticed the puzzled look on his face. "Regardless of the reason, we should do the same."
Darius nodded in agreement while Cher simply fixed Silas with a warning stare.
"Fine."
Understanding what they meant, Silas shrugged.
"Let’s head to the floating platform first. But before that... would you mind releasing my arm?"
The casual remark at the end caught Cher by surprise. She even blinked for a few moments before looking down at her arm holding his. Then a faint blush appeared on her cheeks.
Without saying a word, she immediately let go and strode toward the shuttle. She even made sure to sit as far away from him as possible. Silas had no idea what he had said wrong.
As the two of them felt a bit awkward, fortunately, nobody asked anything about the content of that message. Everyone suppressed their curiosity until they reached their training platform. And silence was always the best remedy for any awkward situation.
Inside the protective barrier surrounding the floating platform, they finally had privacy. Silas cleared his throat, activated his wristwatch, and projected the mission briefing as a large hologram.
The moment the hologram appeared, everyone stared in curiosity at the message content. The message was quite long and was indeed quite detailed. It even included a map at the end. The team studied it in silence; no one spoke, no one even breathed. ƒreewebɳovel.com
For several minutes, they simply reread the contents over and over again. The message itself was straightforward, yet the implications behind it were anything but.
First of all, something significant had happened in a region adjacent to their Elfine kingdom. Every high-ranking Enhancer had been urgently deployed, along with a large number of C-Grade and above personnel.
The message did not explain why; it only detailed the consequences.
Their sudden deployment had left numerous positions vacant, including several outposts responsible for guarding crystal mines. Silas’s team had been assigned one of those outposts.
Their mission was simple on paper. For ten days, they would occupy the outpost, defend it against monster attacks, and maintain control of the surrounding area.
Merit points would be awarded based on various achievements, including the number of monster cores collected. However, several additional points stood out.
Teams would receive substantial merit rewards for assisting distressed allies. They would receive even greater rewards if they managed to secure additional outposts. The message also included a simplified map showing the locations of every outpost around the mine.
Finally, it stated that once the mission concluded, all teams would be ranked according to the merit points earned during the operation. Their current rankings would become completely irrelevant as everything would be reset.
"This is one hell of a mission."
Darius was the first to break the silence.
"Ten days? They’re sending first-years to hold a mine for ten days?"
Darius moved his eyes around, as if he were asking for support.
"Defending a mine is way different from defending a simple rune structure."
Lara looked the most to apprehend the meaning of his words.
"Each mine is considered a ticking bomb. After all, crystal mines attract large monster waves. And this just happens to come after the appearance of Cracks."
She didn’t need to say much. They all knew how huge the Cracks phenomenon was. After all, their first admission test revolved entirely around it.
Yet Alfred was struggling with something entirely different.
"That crisis out there... What exactly happened to require sending all top Enhancers alongside an army of C-grade and higher?"
His remark made everyone more confused, as the message didn’t give any hints about this point.
"We can’t tell," Lara bitterly smiled, "that can be considered top-secret-tiered information. I guess it’s our luck, good or bad, to just get a glimpse on such an incident thanks to the mission."
Darius nodded in agreement, while Cher openly supported her friend.
"We shouldn’t bother ourselves with things way above our current abilities." She moved her eyes around. "Don’t forget what we are here for. We have to do exceptionally well in this mission, beat the other teams, and secure the top spot for ourselves."
Cher looked in particular towards Silas. And the latter slowly nodded.
"That’s indeed going to be a tricky mission, but we need to do our best to secure the first spot regardless."
