"We are disposable."
What Rean said echoed in all their minds.
Thankfully, they all made it out of the dungeon.
"Making it out was the easy part. What's harder is what comes next," Michael said.
They all looked at him.
Again, no one said anything.
Shom was just ahead.
"Alright guys, let's not delay this speech. The lecture is inevitable — everything from Porter's solo action, Rean's incompetence in the boss's chamber, and well, Lin's— whatever. Let's just go," Michael said without a care in the world.
It didn't matter if he was hurting any of their feelings. As a superior, he owed them the truth, and that he delivered on.
All eight members walked towards their captain.
In no time, they came face to face with Shom.
Shom looked around.
He was disgusted.
Disturbed.
Troubled.
It was like he was going through a myriad of emotions.
They couldn't read him.
Shom raised his hand.
He covered his face.
It was clear he didn't want to look them in the eye.
"I understand why none of the S-ranks wanted anything to do with you lot. This batch is embarrassing."
"There's always going to be the excuse of you all being new to this. How long is that going to hold?"
"I know I ought to chew you all out right now, but I won't. Why?"
"A situation just came up. If you prove your worth to me, you'll earn your stay," Shom said.
"I know things got heated and I said a lot of things, but I don't regret any of the things I said," Shom said.
"This is very rare, even for the most seasoned veterans, but something came up like I mentioned earlier. There's another gate in the area. I requested permission to clear it, and that I was granted."
"Prep, rest, or whatever you can. We move out in 30 minutes," Shom ended as he made his way to the bus.
This was definitely an unexpected turn of events.
A second raid right after the first.
They were noobs.
Most of them would probably have their stamina spent at this point.
"I don't believe it. The captain was surprisingly chill about all that," Charles noted.
Michael looked perplexed.
Something was definitely up.
He just couldn't figure out what at the moment.
"It seems you get a pass this time, overachiever," Michael said, looking to Rean.
"Knowing you, a second chance isn't coming. I can't wait for your next screw-up. But I guess I don't have to worry, since waiting isn't something you know. If we had things your way, you'd screw up right now," Michael said.
"That's enough," Zeta cut in. "I don't know what happened — I had my own pair — but if you guys don't stop right now, I'll make sure none of you make it to the next raid."
Michael stepped back.
He turned and started sprinting in the direction of the bus.
"Okay, we might as well make for the bus, huh?" Charles said.
Everyone took the initiative.
The bus was full.
Shom told the driver to begin the journey.
They reached the intended gate and boarded off the bus.
"Listen up," Shom began. "Something just came up."
"I don't care how you do it. I won't be going in with you guys," Shom said.
"It's another B-rank gate. Use the experience from your last gate to claim this one," Shom added.
"I believe I don't have to explain this, but I'll be tagging each one of you with this micro-controller. It contains a camera feed with an audio sensor."
"I'll know just what happens in there. Don't let Michael and Zeta take all the credit. Now get!"
They were shocked.
An unsupervised raid this early on was practically unheard of.
Even more, after raids, captains tend to give correctional advice — explaining hunters' flaws in previous raids and helping explore room for improvement.
'We're going in with no revision. We're basically no different from the versions of us that just did that raid. This makes no sense,' Rean thought.
'No... I saw Shom fight. I internalized what I could. I haven't used my reward points yet, but I am definitely, to some degree, stronger than I was prior to the first raid,' he continued.
"If any of you did an upgrade before entering this gate, please say so," Shom said, shocking them all.
Charles raised his hand.
"Okay, good. You'll be skipping this," Shom said.
"The rest of you, don't delay. Go ahead," Shom said, sending them off.
'I don't get it. Why cut Charles?' Rean questioned internally.
They made it through the gate.
Immediately, the driver asked, "Why did you lie that something came up, Mr. Shom?"
"Hahaha," Shom laughed. "I just got tired of babysitting. If I'm going to continue on this project, then those guys have to prove to be worth my time," Shom replied.
"I get the sentiment, but do you actually think that a B-rank gate is the best thing to assess them with? Don't forget, there are still noobs," the driver responded.
"Not still noobs — noobs the guild expects to scale to S-rank," Shom responded, ending the conversation.
The driver's name was Mr. Carl Don.
He had also been assigned to Shom's past team.
When Shom got selected to lead this new division, he requested Carl join him.
"Okay, Charles, over here," Shom called. "You're probably wondering why you're being punished. Well, you're not," Shom said.
"Then why am I being exempt from the raid?" he asked.
"Well, that's to give the others a fair chance. There's a huge chance you'd be above a couple of them by a margin. Not all, because I doubt that little upgrade would make you a threat to the Lush siblings," Shom responded.
"You were the only one smart enough to take the initiative to make the upgrade. That's classic hunter instinct right there. I am going to give you a premium lecture right now. The duration? Till the others close the dungeon," Shom said.
"You got it," Charles responded enthusiastically.
In the gate.
'I don't get it,' Rean thought. 'Why is Charles getting punished? We weren't told explicitly not to do upgrades. Is there something I am missing?'
"Goblins up ahead!" Rose shouted.
In an instant, all were dead.
"12, huh? I expected more. Goblins reproduce way too much. This is bound to get steamy," Zeta stated, as she had killed the entire horde.
"Um... you missed one," Michael added as he claimed a goblin's head.
Zeta sighed.
"You really want to do this, huh?" she said.
"Why not?" Michael responded.
'Forget Charles. These guys aren't thinking about that. They've got their minds fixated on what's in front of them. I have to do the same,' Rean said.
'I'll leave the crowd and use my skill.'