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His expression made Lucien and Selene tense, there was something beyond what they had witnessed at the wall.

"The deposit..." Elio began, his voice controlled but heavy with weight. "We conquered it, but the cost..." He paused a moment, organizing his thoughts. "Micah didn\'t make it."

The silence that followed was heavy. Selene stepped forward, but Elio raised a hand and continued:

"He sacrificed himself to prevent the monster from obtaining information. But I didn\'t include it in the general report..."

"...I\'ll tell Zara myself," his voice hardened slightly. "She needs to hear it from me. I can\'t risk her going out to look for the monster in her grief."

"What else happened there?" Lucien asked softly.

Elio then told them about the encounter with God, the revelations about the deposits and wind ring, also about obtaining the emblems. He explained about the challenge\'s nature and how they had to split into two groups to complete it.

"There are four deposits in what God called \'the wind ring,\'" Elio spread an improvised map of the city on the table and drew a larger circle around it where he arranged the 4 deposits.

"Water, Fire, Wind, and Earth, canceling each other in that order. That\'s why we could defeat the King Locus... we found its elemental weakness to fire."

"That\'s why you asked me to send orders to the builders to expand the tunnel around the wall," Selene observed. "You intend to redirect them toward the next deposit?"

"If the deposits are ordered as I think, we have a 50% chance that the next one is the fire deposit," Elio explained. "That would be ideal. The other possibility would be earth."

"And if we find water?" Selene inquired.

"It would mean they\'re not ordered according to their weaknesses," Elio responded. "Which wouldn\'t complicate our plans but would delay them considerably... Still, it\'s worth taking the risk for the chance to save time."

"So the wind deposit conquest was just yesterday, is that why the barrier hasn\'t failed?" asked Selene. "Because of the deposit\'s conquest?"

"I think so," Elio nodded. "But we don\'t know how long this stability will last. And there\'s something else..." His expression darkened. "The monster... you said they\'re called Artromus?"

"Yes, it mentioned that during the confrontation," Selene confirmed.

"The Artromus said something about a level 10 limit, right?" Elio continued.

"About the level 10 limit it mentioned..." Selene began.

"Could be a lie," Lucien interrupted, "to demoralize us."

"Or it could be truth," Elio responded. "We can\'t risk ignoring the information, if it\'s true I can only go down easily one more time..." He made a significant pause.

"I need to go down again," Elio said, his gaze fixed on the map. "As soon as that Artromus is far enough away, I\'m counting on you to monitor its movements... And next time to go down..." he paused, "I would have to fight my way through eliminating Locus until reaching the cores."

"Which would be too visible," Lucien understood.

"Exactly. That\'s why I need to take advantage of this last chance for conventional entry."

The implication of his words weighed in the room. Lucien and Selene understood what Elio wasn\'t saying directly: they wouldn\'t see him for another long period.

Elio pointed to a specific spot on the map.

"I\'ll enter right in front of the new deposit. That way I\'ll have a clear direction reference when I fall, and with luck, I can connect with the existing tunnel in a few days."

"And the blue sphere?" asked Selene. "Zara has it, shouldn\'t we recover it first?"

Elio shook his head. "I thought about asking her to come out with it, but any exit requires pushing Locus and absorbing cores. With the Artromus watching..."

"A swift?" Lucien suggested.

"There are still Locus on that side of the wall." Elio studied the map carefully. "The quadrant no longer produces Locus, but those from other deposits have been occupying the space. Only this triangular area near the new deposit remains free."

"I see, it would be..." Lucien understood.

"Too risky. We don\'t know how normal Locus would react to the sphere. If one swallowed it, it would be impossible to identify which one."

"So, what\'s the immediate plan?" asked Selene.

"Your immediate mission is critical," Elio looked at Lucien and Selene alternately. "We need more builders, but above all, we need to raise the level of all trustworthy soldiers we can. This time the barrier is giving us is invaluable."

"Most loyal soldiers have already reached level 5 thanks to the information we shared," Lucien reported. "But going beyond… It\'s risky."

"The builders are also progressing well," added Selene. "They only had two casualties in the mass ascension process."

"Keep at it then, we need them strong even if hard to manage, I trust you two… I\'ll get provisions and leave as soon as I recover all my mana."

"We\'re in a race then," Lucien observed. "The Artromus watching from above, us expanding underground."

"And we have to win it."

♢♢♢♢

Elio was finishing arranging his provisions when a familiar voice surprised him.

"Elio! It\'s been a while," Ren approached with a smile. Something about him seemed different, more relaxed than usual.

"Ren!" Elio left what he was doing to greet him. "How have you been? I haven\'t seen you in months, you\'re different."

"Many things have changed," Ren scratched his head.

Elio proceeded to tell him a bit about the situation, hiding only some heavy stuff.

When Elio told him about the new summons…

"I\'ve been doing some calculations while helping with the builders\' logistics. Did you know we have approximately forty trillion cores accumulated around the wall?"

Elio raised an eyebrow, intrigued by the data. "You took the time it took me to get the first batch of cores and the approximate area of the effect it had?"

"Yes, well..." Ren brightened, as he always did when talking about numbers. "The density is impressive near the wall, though it must decrease as you move away. The height near the deposits must be lower... Even with a few million Locus impacting daily against the barrier, there can\'t be more than 500 billion in what you call the wind ring."

"Interesting," murmured Elio, who had been worried precisely about obtaining cores. "I was avoiding getting the next summons to avoid creating a visible hole in the area."

"But you don\'t have to do it all at once!" Ren got excited. "If you walk constantly around the wall, gradual absorption would go unnoticed based on the amount of Locus. You could easily obtain the level 8 one."

"And the level 9 one?"

"Five or six days, moving constantly. Ten billion is a lot, but if you give time for the cores to rearrange..." Ren interrupted himself, as if remembering something. "Oh, and there\'s also what you mentioned, that deposit\'s core challenge, even if they\'re just 10,000-point cores... Maybe it would be worth checking again."

Elio then noticed that Ren\'s usual nervousness had considerably diminished. "You seem different," he commented. "More... confident."

Ren blushed slightly. "Ah, that... Diana convinced me to learn the tactics and try the challenges. She made me see I was being too cowardly." He let out a soft laugh. "Turns out they weren\'t as terrible as I imagined. I\'ve already reached level 5."

"Diana?"

"Varick\'s sister," explained Ren. "Though now I\'m afraid of the tunnels in the new challenges, to be honest." He lowered his voice. "Although that monster everyone\'s talking about... that does sound terrifying. Maybe I should keep leveling up, at least to be able to defend Di... defend myself if necessary."

Ren\'s words gave Elio much to consider.

Not only was the information about the cores valuable, but seeing the change in his friend reminded him that everyone was growing, adapting to this new reality.