PICK ME UP, ANOTHER LOBBY!

Murmurs filled the room.

They were nodding as they calculated the distance within their head.

"If I measured the distance from where we were on the sixth floor to where we ended up on the ninth floor, it is about eight to nine kilochoro at least. The blessing would certainly be useful there."

Jonah said while running the imaginative numbers.

Shanny suddenly scratched her head with confusion.

"But, Serafina, didn't you say party leaders can't communicate if one of them is in the trial and the other in the lobby?"

I smiled at her question. A bitter smile.

"What if all the party leaders were in the trial together?"

Her frown deepened.

"As in they're put together in the same party?"

I shook my head. My joyless smile persisted.

It was then that Zecht's eyes widened instantly. His face was riddled with shock.

Norn, Darius, and Ashta wore the same expression as him. While Jyrgil smirked enthusiastically.

The others wondered what sort of conclusion those people had discovered that they did not.

I decided to relieve them from their wondering.

"The blessings master has provided us so far have been to help us inside the trial, especially the Quintal Trial. There is no doubt the communication blessing between party leaders is purposed to do the same."

I continued.

"It is very likely in the upcoming Quintal Trial that more than one party is needed."

The murmurs in the room grew louder. The clear voices that reached me were tainted with shock and dread.

In the midst of the slight chaos, Ashta raised her hand to propose a question.

"Do you know how many party will be needed?"

Before I could answer her, the fairy's voice echoed throughout the lobby.

[Samel, Adjah, Bahn! Come to the square!]

I turned my eyes beyond the window, toward the first floor square in front of the rift of space time. The others also peered through the windows due to simple curiosity.

There I saw the fairy equipping the three called people with basic armors and swords from the storage.

No baskets or the usual gathering equipment for the Weekday Dungeons could be seen.

They were heading to the trial. And only three people at that.

It was then that I knew why those people were called and the answer to Ashta's question.

"Three parties."

I said while returning my gaze to the dining hall.

The whole room turned quiet upon my answer, they directed their eyes back to me.

I continued with a clear distinct voice.

"Three parties will be needed for the tenth floor."

"H-how did you know it would be three parties?"

Rhyss of Party 3 immediately asked. There was a hint of worry from his voice. Great worry.

I decided to inform him something of the past, when Cecily and Gerson were still with us.

"Prior our climb to the fifth floor, master sent one man into the rift of space time. Back then the Weekday Dungeon did not open yet so we knew he was going into a trial."

I continued.

"That man was an insignificant force to the climb. We tried to figure out what was his use as a one-man party."

"What happened to him?"

Luan of Party 2 asked.

"He never came back. Despite we knew for sure he could handle the first to the fourth floor by himself. He had levelled up quite enough, you see."

I said to her. I continued again.

"That was when we realized he was sent to the fifth floor, a Quintal Trial."

The murmurs came back alive. Louder than before.

"Why would master do that? If he truly went to the fifth floor, it's the same as sending the man for slaughter. It's like an execution."

Tamo of Party 3 now asked.

"We did not know for sure. But we thought master was probably sending that man as a scout. To get a glimpse how the Quintal Trial was like and examine whether their army in the forged land was prepared to face such trial."

I turned to the three called people on the first floor square. They were about to enter the rift.

"And now, master was doing another scouting. Master did not just send one, not two, but three scouts to investigate the tenth floor."

I gazed back to those in the dining hall.

"It is my assumption that the tenth floor requires three parties to be entered and master is currently sending three one-man parties to fulfill the requirement."

"How can you be so sure those people out there are scouts for the Quintal Trial? They could be sent to the Weekday Dungeon."

Ashta said.

Tarran immediately shook his head and replied in my stead.

"I recognized those names. Sister Harl told me about them. Those three people the fairy called, alongside three more others, committed offense recently. All six had been confined ever since."

The boy continued.

"They were either stealing from the Weekday Dungeons, or harassing the kitchen staffs, or both. I can assure you that master won't be sending them to the Weekday Dungeons."

"Even if they're sent to the Quintal Trial, how can we be so sure that those three people means that three parties are needed? Maybe only one party is needed and master sent three people so the trial would last longer and they'd be able to gather more information."

Ashta desperately tried to give a rebuttal.

Shanny was now shaking her head.

"The Quintal Trial is too hard for another scout to make a difference. And even if what you told was the case, why didn't master send the others who committed the crime as well? At least make them a full party of five? There're six of them, right? The scouting would last much longer with five people instead of three."

I nodded to her and settled the argument to Ashta.

"Would you be willing to risk the chance that only one party is needed? What will you do when it was finally time to climb the tenth floor and Party 3 was also called alongside Party 1 and 2?"

Ashta was silenced by my last sentence. 

She knew it was better to anticipate the worst rather than hope for the best and be caught unprepared.

The others in the room felt the same.

Nobody in the dining hall was asking any more question or doubting my assumption of the tenth floor.

They were all now steeling themselves to face the Quintal Trial.

I stared at the faces that some, or most, I would probably no longer see after we ventured to the tenth floor.

I imparted to them words of someone who had survived such hellish trial and intended to repeat the feat.

"All of you will soon be facing the greatest battle in your life yet. From this day forward, always train your hardest as if your life depends on it. Believe me, it does."