The party's coordinated attack finally brought down the monster. It collapsed with a heavy thud before dissolving into dark miasma.
Before they could catch their breath, a massive light appeared in the sky above them. They raised their arms to shield their eyes as the brilliant radiance engulfed everything.
"What was that?" Ryker asked as the light receded.
But before anyone could answer, a notification materialized before him.
[Scenario Cleared]
[You will be automatically expelled from this apocalypse world in 30 minutes]
[Leave Now] [Wait]
"Are you guys seeing this?" he asked, staring at the screen in disbelief.
He'd never seen or heard of such a thing before.
The others nodded, their expressions equally confused.
Ryker studied the notification carefully. Could this be related to what Cipher had discovered?
Speaking of, where was he?
"What about Brother Cipher?" Maya asked. "If we get expelled, what happens to him?"
"Calm down," Ryker said. "Since all of us received the notification, he probably has too."
When they heard this, they visibly relaxed.
"So what do we do now?" Maya asked. "Should we leave now or wait?"
Dante raised his shield with a grin. "Of course we wait. We should be able to hunt another monster or two with this time."
"He's right," Ryker agreed. "Leaving now would be a waste. Let's try and get a few more kills in before we leave."
Thirty minutes later, as they were about to confront a third monster, a bright light enveloped them.
They vanished.
…
Light flashed, and suddenly they were standing outside the Gate.
Ryker looked at his hands, turning them over slowly. He'd really exited the apocalypse world without going through the safe zone.
As he processed this, he heard the others shouting.
"Cipher, you're back! We were so worried about you!" Maya rushed forward.
"Sorry for worrying you guys," Cipher said with a smile.
Then he glanced at Ryker, his expression turning serious. "Vice Captain, I need to talk to the Captain."
"The Captain seemed to have been summoned to a mission by the Association. She'll be back soon," Ryker explained. "I'll send her a message and we can wait for her in the resting area."
Dante threw his arm around Cipher's shoulders. "Brother, why don't you tell us about your experiences while we wait for the Captain?"
"Alright," Cipher agreed.
The group headed toward the resting area.
The Association's resting facility outside the Griffith Park gate cluster was built specifically for awakeners returning from raids. The large complex had everything they might need - private lounges, cafeterias serving hot meals at all hours, medical stations, weapon maintenance shops, etc. Some awakeners practically lived here between raids.
Despite being close to midnight, the place was still bustling with activity.
Cipher and the others found an isolated corner and settled in, exchanging their experiences. Although five days had passed inside the Gate, only about half a day had gone by outside.
A few hours later, Selene arrived.
"I just saw your message. Did you not go in yet?" she asked. It hadn't been that long since she'd left.
"No, we did go in," Ryker responded.
Her expression turned serious. "Why did you leave early? Did something happen?"
"About that..." Ryker began.
Cipher stood up. "Captain, we need to talk," he said, his tone serious.
Seeing his expression, she nodded. "Alright. Follow me."
…
A few moments later,
"Is this information true?" Selene asked.
Cipher nodded.
"It's not that I don't trust you, but this is really..." she trailed off.
"I understand. I just need to prove myself, right?" he asked.
"That's right. My trust in you means nothing here. You're still just a newbie who joined a day ago. You need to gain trust from the other captains and Association executives for your information to be taken seriously," she explained.
"Alright," Cipher said. "I awakened a special class known as All Rounder. It allows me to not only increase all my stats equally like a Magic Swordsman, but it also allows me to unlock all sorts of skills, even those from other classes."
He paused. "One of those abilities I unlocked was S-rank Appraisal. If my appraisal is tested, it should lend some validity to my statements, right?"
Selene was surprised by this information. All Rounder? She'd never heard of such a class. It seemed to be a unique one, and its abilities... wasn't it too overpowered? Magic Swordsman was already known as one of the strongest classes out there, but it had its own weaknesses. Wasn't this an advanced form of that?
She cleared her throat. "Ahem. You must be tired. Go get some rest. I'll go discuss with the others, and we'll test your appraisal tomorrow as well as refresh your rank."
"Alright," Cipher said, standing up.
As he was about to leave, she spoke again. "Wait."
He turned around.
"You haven't told anyone about this, right?" she asked.
He smiled. "Of course not. I know there's a chain of command."
Selene smiled back. Cipher was quick to catch on compared to others. The Association executives would definitely like him. As long as someone respected authority, those people didn't have problems. They only gave a hard time to newbies who thought they were something special just because they were a little strong.
"One more thing," she said. "Even if we haven't confirmed your appraisal yet, S-rank Appraisal has never been seen before. After tomorrow's test, your class and skills will likely be classified as top secret Association information. You'll need to be careful about discussing them outside official channels."
"I'll keep that in mind," he said, giving a small bow before leaving.
…
Back in his room, Cipher sat at the study desk after freshening up.
It was just a few hours until dawn, so he didn't have much time to sleep. Not that he needed it - every time he leveled up, his status effects reset, which meant even his sleepiness disappeared.
He closed the Awakener Handbook he'd been reading and leaned back in his chair.
He needed to prepare for what was going to happen with the Association.
Since he didn't want to reveal the Cheater Class, he'd made up the All Rounder class on the fly. But the way he'd described it to Selene... it wasn't that far off from his actual class. In fact, it was quite overpowered as is.
He needed to add some limitations to make it less suspicious.
More importantly, he needed to think about a solution for his "S-rank" Appraisal claim.
He hadn't had a choice - saying that was the only way to gain immediate credibility. But it came with severe restrictions. The Association would want his skill so badly that they'd protect him at all times, treat him like a national treasure. With that level of surveillance, he wouldn't even be allowed to leave his house, let alone raid apocalypse worlds.
Which meant he wouldn't be able to keep his promise to the Heavenly Demon.
He pulled out a sheet of paper and began drafting countermeasures for what was to come.
…
A/N: Just one today. Me drafting the next arc.