PICK ME UP, ANOTHER LOBBY!

The glowing runes on the enchantment pedestal shimmered in front of my eyes constantly.

The light pulsed from the symbols at the edges of the platform and waved into the center, toward the fifth golem core I was preparing for the Quintal Trial.

For the past week, I kept spending my nights inside the alchemy lab.

Before dawn broke, or when it would usually be, I would wake up and start pouring my mana into the enchantment pedestal, instilling thousands of spells into the glowing brown stone until it developed into a proper golem core.

The sky had darkened outside.

Consecutive hours had passed since my eyes fixed themselves onto the shining pedestal.

After facing it for so long, I was finally hypnotized by the glow and my mind wandered.

The thought of the Quintal Trial.

The things we discovered from the sixth to the ninth floor.

Surga Pass and Loro. The buried valley. Traces of black powder. The imperial army ship. The buried path. The dam. And the ruined outpost.

I had made sure all three parties knew of every single point of information gathered from the explorations.

We made copies of the map of Loro that Norn sketched and had everybody learned the lay of the city.

But still we were not entirely sure how the second Quintal Trial would go.

We had guesses. Unfortunately, we had nothing to turn any one of them into more than a conjecture.

Anything could happen in the Quintal Trial and we needed to adapt to whatever that would happen.

Including the golem core I was currently preparing, we would have five golems aiding us in the trial.

I also recently finished making the fifteenth vial of advanced health potion. Allowing everyone from Party 1 to 3 to be supplied with one vial alongside two vials of intermediate health potions which were abundant.

I could always replenish the intermediate health potions with my dimensional portal for those close to me in the trial.

Every weapons, armors, and equipment were enchanted and imbued with elemental attributes.

All members of every party had levelled up to the highest level they could reach at this point in the climb.

We did our best to prepare for what could be a bigger challenge than the fifth floor.

Still, doubts remained within me.

Would these all be enough?

Would all of these preparations be enough for the Quintal Trial?

What exactly was my definition of enough?

Whether we all returned safely or simply clearing the tenth floor?

Could not it be both?

But I had a strong feeling telling me that I had to choose.

Before I was completely drowned into the endless abyss of dreadful wondering, a knock on the lab's door woke me up from my trance.

"Am I interrupting?"

Jonah said from the door.

The tall blond-haired shepherd was carrying two plates of full meal and silverwares with him. The two dishes balanced well over his big and strong forearm.

I cut off the flowing threads of mana from my fingers, causing the enchantment pedestal to stop glowing.

"You're not. Please, come in! I could use a break."

I invited him while pointing to a small table fixed with a tea set at the center and a pair of padded chairs around it.

That was the spot where Pauline would leave my meals while I worked in the magic hall.

But seeing Jonah setting the two plates on each side of the table, it did not seem he intended to be a mere delivery person.

"After our training match with Party 2, you returned to isolating yourself in here. Pauline said you've been working without rest, and sometimes, you did not even touch your food."

Jonah said as he drew the chair back for me.

As he readjusted the seat once I positioned myself at the edge of the table, he continued.

"I just wanted to make sure you're eating properly. Can't have the health of my party leader failing before a Quintal Trial."

"The lobby heals all illnesses and injuries. I would never get sick in here."

I told him as he took his seat across me.

The shepherd grabbed his silverwares and pointed his fork to my plate.

"But you could still drain yourself out. Eat!"

I grinned at his commanding tone.

"Mister Brohm, is that how you talk to your party leader?"

"My party leader works hard for the sake of everybody here, Lady Zeref. I have made it my duty to ensure that someone, at least, still care for her own."

"My, my! Your duty? Wherever did you learn to speak in this manner?"

"Darius taught me how to properly behave in front of a noble lady. He used to be a knight for a noble household, you know? That was before the house fell and he thought he no longer deserved to be one and decided to take on the path of a mercenary."

So that was where the archer's proper speech came from.

I was right when I thought he would be a knight if he never confessed himself as a mercenary.

"Then I guess I should thank the honorable Sir Mare for turning a countryside shepherd from the far north region of Shalju into a proper gentleman."

I said as I took a small bite of the sauced lamb.

Jonah finally chuckled and the air of formality swirled away from him.

"Despite how much Darius taught me, I don't think I could ever pull off the image of a nobleman."

"Why not? You did very well just now."

"Though I meant what I said earlier, the speech was just an act. I could never become one of those noble knights in fairy tales."

"Trust me, Jonah. From the way you fight and the unwavering courage you've been showing me, I can definitely say you've already surpassed many honored knights in the empire."

I noticed reddish tint across Jonah's face upon the sound of my words.

He then swallowed his food and spoke to me with words that inflicted me with a similar reaction.

"You're an incredible woman, Serafina. I've never met someone who continuously amazes me day by day."

I swallowed my food hard and tried to suppress the swelling heat in my head, hoping Jonah did not notice the reddish tint on my face before I forcefully made them faded.

"I'm not incredible, Jonah."

"How could you say that? You keep coming up with new abilities that surprises all of us! The wind magic, the potions, the weapon enchantments, the GOLEMS?!"

He pointed his lamb-skewered fork to the enchantment pedestal at the end of his sentence.

I chuckled upon his statement.

"If I were to go to the Tower of Circle, I would be nothing more than a junior apprentice. Not so low as a novice. But still not that high in the ranks. There are plenty of more skilled mages than me that does deserves to be called 'incredible.'"

I continued.

"I had to spent a whole day, sometimes more than that, just to fully enchant one golem core that could form into something close to a golem. While there are mages who did not even need a core. With a swish of their hands, they could command the elements to form into countless soldiers of their imagining."

I pointed at him.

"In fact, there was a great alchemist who hailed from the Shalju region. Yuriana Bromstead. 400 years ago she poured all of her mana over the great northern mountains of Puncak and raised cloud-kissing titans of snow and ice."

I continued.

"With the might of Puncak's nature as her army and the twelve tribes of Kutub warriors as her allies, Yuriana Bromstead pushed back the Guntur invaders away from the northern coast of the empire and send them back to the islands of never-ending thunder."

I laid down the silverwares, my plate was cleaned out of food.

"Yuriana Bromstead was the one you should call incredible. She was incredible."

Despite the grand tale that had turned some of the greatest mages in Tsatu to awe in wonder, Jonah shook his head with a disagreeing frown and fixed his gaze on me. Determined.

"I don't care what that great alchemist could do nor what any other great mage there is in Dunia could too."

He reached for my hand. I allowed him.

His eyes still remained on my face. On my eyes.

"The mage that I care is you. Because you are here with us. Not them."

His grip tightened on my hand.

I could feel the warmth of his strong and yet gentle hand penetrating my skin.

"All the things you've been doing for the sake of our survival in this forged land, those were the things that amazes me."

He continued with his firm and reassuring voice.

It sounded like an invigorating aria to my ears.

"You don't try to achieve wonders for the sake of it. You strive to do what's necessary. What is enough for our cause. You don't stop trying before it is enough."

He pulled my arm closer to his face and kissed my forehand like how a proper gentleman would.

"I don't need those great mages you talked about. I have you, Serafina. You are enough for me, if not more. Plentiful more."

Like a sharp knife, those words cut deep into myself.

The endless abyss reopened and pulled me back to be drowned within.