"Morning," Ivy waved at him as Arthur entered the dining hall. She was sitting on a long table that had several candles with an embedded tablecloth. There was a window that brought sunlight from the outside somehow and brought a refreshing feeling to Arthur's spirit.
The dining hall had a kitchen to the side where fire and water runes supplied it. There were also runes to cut apart vegetables and storage runes that kept the meat fresh. Another cabinet where you can grab some ice for refreshments.
There was another set of plates next to Ivy. Toasted bread, butter, cheese, eggs, and syrup. A cup of orange juice was also placed on the side.
"Is this for me?" Arthur asked with suspicion with a glance at Ivy. She swallowed and nodded, embarrassed.
"As a senior, I need to take care of my junior after he does his best." Arthur smiled without saying anything and sat next to Ivy. After forking out a piece of bread drenched in syrup and eating it, he felt Ivy's hand rest on his wrist.
"Are you okay after what happened yesterday?" She asked with worry and concern that Arthur didn't experience from a person other than his mother. He paused as he felt slightly awkward and played with his food.
"I am," He said as lightly as he can. "It had to be done and it was my suggestion, to begin with."
"Just because it was your idea, doesn't mean you have to suffer through it alone." Ivy sighed. "We're all here for you, even the bastard William."
"Who are you calling a bastard?" A sharp voice came from behind them as William made his entrance and sat next to them. "She's right though. I know newbies have it rough after their first slaughter, but you'll do just fine. Look at me!" He said pointing his thumb to his chest.
"That's not reassuring," Arthur grumbled and William stiffened as the rest came in and started to laugh.
"He's not wrong," Si said as he pulled a chair. "No sane person would want to walk around blowing things up."
"My explosions are cool! Manly!" William protested and Arthur saw Li nodding in agreement as they sat down as well.
"My explosions are cool~" Hua mimicked in a gruff voice while arching her mouth in mockery. The group laughed as William and Hua bickered. It seems the two had some sort of rivalry being two sharpshooters. Hua preferred elegance and accuracy while William preferred destruction and explosions.
The hall grew noisier as the group bickered with each other and complained that Ivy was favoring Arthur by making him breakfast. As he looked at them being basked with sunlight, Arthur smiled to himself as he remembered a scene where Erin and his gang ate together while he sat far away alone.
After their breakfast, the group asked to explore the fifth layer. Space expansion made this place huge and they had no idea how much time it would take to explore it on their own, so they had Arthur guide them as the master of the fortress.
"Gladly," Arthur answered with a grin as he stood up from his chair. He guided the group toward the foyer they had first entered before walking them to a different corridor.
"The fifth layer surrounds the core, but it's not shaped like a dome as the space inside has been expanded. You can think of space as jelly and the runes here work to stretch it as far as they can."
"We know how space-expansion runes work," Zas grumbled since he considered himself to be specialized in this field.
"Yes, but what you don't know is that I can control those runes in this fortress." Arthur grinned as he felt the stares land on his back. "For example, I can build more rooms given enough resources, knowledge, and time."
"Space is a delicate thing, don't tamper with it as you please," Hua said more in a warning than a provocation. Arthur smiled and didn't say anything.
"We've arrived at our first destination, the training hall." Arthur could feel their excitement as every awakener dreamed of a suitable training hall. As he opened the door, a giant gymnasium appeared in front of them.
The training hall was as big as a soccer field and a brightly lit interior. It had a black painted ceiling and dark grey floor. As the group stepped on it, the texture of the wood greeted their feet. It had a fighting ring, several bronze pillars, and several chambers on either side.
"The pillars can measure your strength if you touch it." This function reminded Arthur of his legacy, and he was sure that his Jizo used the same runes to create these pillars. "Who wants to try it?" Arthur looked at them expectantly.
The group hesitated before they had Li do it first. After all, he was their strongest physical member. With his mask and short black hair, the mysterious person stepped forward and touched the pillar.
The pillar glowed before it showed several rows of words like the one Arthur received on his legacy. They were always in the language that the person looking would recognize, so they appeared differently for every person looking at them. As he read the numbers, Arthur gasped.
[Strength: 903.]
[Agility: 631.]
[Stamina: 350.]
[Perception: 330.]
[Mana: 663/668.]
All of the stats were in the range of Deme-rankers except for Perception and Stamina lacking behind. However, this was already astonishing. Li had three of his stats in the Deme-rank with strength a short distance away from the Astra rank. Arthur had no doubts this person could flatten him with a slap.
'Why did he struggle against the Ender, though?' Arthur wondered as even though the Ender was powerful, it shouldn't be the case for Li. He didn't want to hide it and asked Li directly.
Li looked at him and tilted his head before shaking it. It seemed it was true this person didn't talk at all. However, Ivy was there to answer since she also shared the fight.
"When we attacked that creature, we felt as if whatever strength we attacked with gets absorbed into a giant pillow."
"A giant… pillow?" Arthur was confused by the analogy but nodded nonetheless.
"You didn't feel it?" Zas asked with a frown. Arthur shook his head and lied.
"I stall lack the control to perceive such things. I was just your average joe a few months ago." He said with a shrug and the rest didn't protest. Zas also didn't ask further as he remembered that Arthur was still a neo-ranker.
The real reason was that his runes were effective against the Ender. Arthur's strength was always augmented by runes and his blade was always covered with the fire rune. That's why he didn't feel the Ender being able to do what the others said.
There was also the matter of him using the Teleportation in front of them even though they thought his ability was related to fire. He had no idea how to explain things to them without revealing that he could control runes, the source of every ability out there.
Even though they didn't ask directly, as it was an unspoken rule that abilities shouldn't be forced to reveal, Arthur knew that a certain doubt would forever exist in their hearts if he didn't explain it. However, his well-being mattered more than their trust at the moment, so he left it at that.
"What's the standards for these numbers?" Si asked with curiosity as he looked at the pillar. To be honest, Arthur was caught off guard. Luckily, Si continued talking. "Is it the standardized stats used in some artifacts?"
"Yes, 10 points are the average non-awakener. That doesn't mean a thousand non-awakener can beat Li, not in a million years. Maybe they could do some harm if they all struck him at the same time in the same spot, nothing more. The higher these points get, the more strength each point represent."
Arthur snickered inwardly as he felt he should provide them with a graph showing how these points didn't represent a (strength points = actual strength) function, but rather (strength points*x= actual strength).
He had a vague idea of what (x) represents, but he knew it wasn't a direct relationship between the points and how much strength a person can wield. It can be dependent on talent, mana, or arts.
The rest also hurried to test their stats and Arthur was more shocked. First was Sier with his insane perception.
[Strength: 536.]
[Agility: 707.]
[Stamina: 423.]
[Perception: 1000.]
[Mana: 402/402.]
His stats were rather abnormal as 1000 was the limit for Deme-rankers. Arthur had no doubts that if Si wanted to, he could see anything even if it was thousands of miles away. What worried Arthur was his low mana, was this the reason he couldn't help him find his father at the moment?
Ivy came next and Arthur wasn't as shocked anymore until he saw her mana. He never considered Ivy to be the fighting type of the mage types, since most of her attacks were reliant on her ability or mana.
[Strength: 630.]
[Agility: 302.]
[Stamina: 399.]
[Perception: 209.]
[Mana: 703/703.]
She had a higher mana level than Sier and Li, but she didn't seem proud as she knew that they were stronger than her. The next person to test their stats was Hua, and they were rather ordinary except for Mana and perception.
[Strength: 361.]
[Agility: 588.]
[Stamina: 344.]
[Perception: 699.]
[Mana: 606/606.]
As for the other two, they declined, saying that numbers didn't mean anything, echoing each other.
Arthur smiled and nodded, leading them toward the chambers on the side.