PICK ME UP, ANOTHER LOBBY!

The next day.

Party 1 idled ourselves in the lobby's second floor after breakfast.

We were anticipating for master to call us to retry the sixth floor.

It had been customary for master to make us reattempt cleared floors, pardon the fifth, of course.

From our experience clearing the first till the fourth floor, master would make sure we could clear a trial comfortably before moving on.

And so, we waited that morning for our summons.

But, surprisingly, master did not call for us.

Master did summon Party 2 to the rift that morning.

We thought it was probably their turn to try the sixth floor.

But once they returned, Zecht told us they were just retrying the fourth floor.

Party 1 was not mobilized at all that day.

However, there was something worth noticing during my conversation with the fairy as I was researching in the afternoon.

[You can no longer retry the sixth floor.]

The fairy said after I asked why master did not send us there again.

"As in, we can no longer access it anymore?"

I asked.

[Yes. Just like the fifth floor. It's a one-time thing.]

Now there was the answer as to why master did not send the other parties to the fifth floor.

Apparently it was now off-limit.

Although, unless the party was as strong as those in Party 1, master would only be sacrificing those parties to the fifth floor.

I refocused my attention to my earlier question.

"I suppose since it's an exploration mission, we wouldn't be given plenty of chance to observe the trial. We had to really pay attention on our first try."

[Now you're getting it.]

"Will what we saw on the sixth floor matter to the seventh or the tenth floor?"

I asked again.

The fairy looked to me with a flat expression.

[Climb the tower if you want to find out. Don't ask me.]

"Okay, then. But was I right about the Quintal Trial? That the special trial happens every five floors?"

I asked another.

[For one last time, 'climb the tower if you want to find out!']

Or so she said.

That was also her reply when I inquired to her about the fifth floor as we were preparing to enter the first Quintal Trial.

The fairy was quite tight-lipped regarding the trial's mission itself.

She then hovered nearer to me at my research table.

[Anyway, don't forget master's new instruction. You now have to do research three hours a day. Not just one.]

This was the reason why the fairy and I were conversing in the first place.

She came to me to relay this new order.

"Why is master extending the research hour?"

[Beats me. But just you know that the reason why the lobby has nice things now was because of the research points you gathered.]

I heard about it from the fairy around when the lobby added the second floor.

Other than the 'Hero Reaction Research' which blessed us with abilities to see the mission and status window, apparently there was another one called the 'Lobby Expansion Research.'

The latter research allowed master to construct facilities in the lobby.

The further master improved that research using the 'research points' I gathered by solving magic problems on the research table, the better facilities we could have.

So far, from my time of doing research for just one hour a day, we were able to receive a blessing that allowed us to see the status and mission window, which was through the improvement of the Hero Reaction Research.

Not only that, we could also improve the Lobby Expansion Research and added a second floor to the lobby.

Now, master wanted me to gather more research points by having me work three times as I usually researched.

I wondered what master wanted to provide by having me do this much work.

My schedule had definitely filled up even more.

I was already busy with my spell and physical training.

But much of my time was also spent by making potions in the alchemy lab, even more so now that I had been preparing to create advanced health potions.

With the research hours being added, I could see myself losing few hours of sleep.

Even so, this was the kind of burden I needed to shoulder given I was the only mage in the lobby at the moment.

It would definitely help if master could summon one or two mages from the summoning chamber.

I would not complain if they came and lighten my workload.

But I just had to bear with the hand I was dealt with for now.

And so, my hours of the day ran out with me cooped up inside the magic hall.

I even had my meals sent to me as I failed to arrive on time for mealtime at the lodging. Mostly because I lost track of time from working and training.

When the next day came, my limbs were slightly aching with tiredness due to my lack of sleep.

But I was definitely not too fatigued for battle.

I made sure my face looked alive and ready for the trial as I joined up with my comrade on the second floor's training ground.

"Pauline told us about what you and the fairy talked about yesterday. About the sixth floor can't be entered anymore."

Trudy said.

When Pauline was delivering my meals the day before, I told her about my conversation with the fairy and asked her to pass it around to the others.

"This means that the next time we enter the rift it would be to try the seventh floor."

I told her and the others.

The middle-aged archer formed a troubled look.

"It will be difficult for the other parties if the seventh floor will also be inaccessible after we entered it. In terms of the enemy levels, that is."

He said.

"Yeah. Imagine them jumping from the fourth floor all the way to the eight floor if that's the case."

Shanny replied.

"It'll be worse if the eight floor is closed after we entered it too."

Jonah added.

It was then that the fairy's voice echoed from the square.

[Serafina, Jonah, Shanny, Trudy, and Darius! Come to the square!]

I turned to my comrades.

"We'll deal the matters of the closed floors later. We've got a trial to focus on first."

With agreeing nod, my party and I descended to the first floor and entered the rift.

I shifted my gaze to the shining mirror on the furthest left.

[Climb the tower and save the world!]

[Main Dungeon]

[Floor conquered - 6 -]

Six floor cleared.

Time to move upward.

The mirror shined even brighter and we were engulfed in the familiar otherworldly light.

Once the light diminished, our party found ourselves back to the mountain path.

This time, however, we were back to the crossroad we encountered two days ago on the sixth floor.

As soon as we were certain it was the same crossroad as before, the mission window appeared before us.

[Floor 7]

[Mission Type – Exploration]

[Goal – Investigate the unknown area!]