The Last Dainv-Chapter 183

The Last Dainv-Chapter 183

"Gale?" Rachel's voice came through the barrier. "You in there?"
He checked the door lock. Simple twist mechanism. Nothing fancy. He turned the handle and then pulled it open.
Rachel walked in, looking around. "Found something useful?"
"Sleeping quarters," Gale said. "Ten beds. Everything's clean."
Rachel touched one of the made beds. "Too clean. Look at this place."
"I noticed that too."
"Where are the personal belongings? The clothes, the toiletries, the little things that accumulate when people actually live somewhere?" Rachel opened one of the lockers. "Empty. All of them."
"Like nobody ever used this room."
Rachel went to the window and looked at the fake forest outside. "Do you feel them? The watchers?"
"No. Whatever was following us before, it's not here now."
"You think this place is safe?"
Gale reached out to the maximum of what his Breath of the Void could pick up. Nothing. There was nothing in range.
"We should be fine for now. Probably," Gale said.
Footsteps came from the hallway. Kyle showed up first, then Clyde, Ollie, and Lily.
"Jackpot," Kyle said, looking at the beds. "Actual beds. This is great. Don't remember the last time I slept on something that is actually supposed to be for sleeping."
"Don't get too comfortable," Ollie said.
Lily pushed down on one of the mattresses. "These are better than anything we had at base."
"If Gale thinks this place is safe," Clyde said, "maybe we should set up camp here. Rest properly before moving on."
Ollie took out the control panel tablet from his jacket. The device lit up when he tapped it, showing information in blue symbols.
"Interesting," Ollie said, reading the screen. "Shows current environmental conditions for this level. 28C, and 55% humidity."
"That's perfect plant life I guess," Rachel said.
Ollie looked at each member of the group. "Alright. Everyone gets to rest. Full rest. After that, we split up and search for the next elevator."
"Split up?" Lily asked. "Is that smart?"
"Smarter than wandering around as a group in unfamiliar territory," Ollie said. "We can cover more ground faster. If anyone encounters danger, run back here immediately. Don't try to be heroes."
Kyle raised his hand. "How do we stay in contact? This place is huge."
"Use your phones," Ollie said. "Walkietalkie app has a local range of 50 kilometres. This level is definitely within that radius."
"What's our range limit?" Clyde asked.
"The agriculture level spans roughly one hundred fifty kilometres. We'll figure out our next moves once we reach the fifty-kilometre communication boundary." Ollie turned to Rachel. "You're in charge of teaching Gale how to charge his phone with ether. Make sure he understands the process before we split up."
Rachel nodded. "Not difficult. Just basic energy transfer."
"Good." Ollie picked one of the middle bunks and put his gear on it. "Three hours. Then we move."
Kyle put his stuff on the bottom bed on the left side. "Finally. Real sleep on real beds. Almost makes this nightmare worth it."
"Almost," Clyde said putting his stuff on the top bunk above his brother's.
Lily chose the bed at the end of the aisle that had a window.
Gale sat on the bottom bunk of the right side, and Rachel took the top bunk above Gale's choice. After hours on metal floors and hard surfaces, the soft bed felt like luxury.
The others left, leaving just Gale and Rachel.
"Your phone," Rachel said, holding out her hand. "Let me show you the charging technique."
Gale gave her his phone. She held it in her palm.
"Like this," she showed him. "Push a small amount of ether right into the power cell. You'll know you hit the right spot when the charging icon lights up. Then you can add more, but not too much. Phones these days can only take about 250 watts. Go over that and you'll fry it. You'll feel the limit when your phone gets hot."
Orange light flickered on the phone's screen as Rachel's ether went into it. The charging icon pulsed, showing the energy transfer happening.
"Is that how you and Ollie always seem to have your batteries topped up and reply so fast?" Gale asked.
Rachel burst out into a laugh, holding her stomach and crouching over. She wiped the tears pooling at the corners of her eyes.
"What's so funny?" Gale asked, face flushing
"Nothing really. I mean, you're asking that and-" Rachel wiped her eyes. "It's just so different. We've escaped life and death like giant killer robots and the watchers. Suddenly, you're just curious about my and Ollie's phone habits."
Gale broke eye contact, eyes turning to anything other than her. "I sometimes forget to even reply to my Andrew, Mia, or even Jacob, let alone charge my phone. It's funny 'cause I only have a couple of contacts."
"That's actually kind of… sweet," Rachel gave the phone back to him. "Try it yourself. If you can do this, then you'll be able to use the super secret Aur-App that can let us overload our phone to communicate long distances without a network."
Gale took his phone. He held it like Rachel had and tried to push his essence into it. All he needed to do was convert his essence to basic ether. Simple enough. Probably.
[Essence: 660/1500]
He remembered Guide's explanation about energy types. One unit of essence equalled 0.0001 units of ether. Gale focused on making the smallest thread of essence he could, pushing it into the phone's battery.
[Essence: 659/1500]
The charging icon lit up right away. For a second, he felt proud of his quick success. Suddenly, the phone heated up too fast. He pulled back his hand immediately.
Rachel bonked his forehead.
"Try again," she said. "And this time, smaller."
Gale rubbed his head. "Smaller how?"
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from NovelFire. If you spot it on Amazon, please it.
"Think of it like water pressure. You're trying to fill a tiny cup with a fire hose. Turn down the flow."
He picked up the phone again. This time, he imagined the thread to be a drop of water within a waterfall. The phone started charging, but it wasn't enough. In just a couple of seconds, the phone's battery started to heat up.
Another bonk to his head.
"Again. You need to make this work. The app requires a lot of battery. Some Aurians don't even stop charging their phones and it becomes second nature."
"Why would they do that?" Gale asked.
"Most people don't rely on Artifacts for communication since they're too expensive." Rachel moved her dark red hair away from her left ear. She had a small silver earring with a red gem embedded in it. It looked simple at first, but the tiny symbols etched into it made it more than ordinary. "These earrings are artifacts and allow me to communicate up to 100 kilometres with other Ann family members when I call them through it or if comms are open. Usually used when the family is tasked to do a rift run."
She let her hair fall back. "Your phone is much cheaper to maintain."
Gale tried a third time. This time he pictured a molecule-sized thread of essence. The mental strain of controlling such a tiny amount sent a dull ache through his head. Not painful, but enough to tell him he was pushing his limits in a new way.
He pushed the tiny stream into the phone. The charging icon lit up again, and this time the device got warm but not too hot. The temperature stayed stable.
[Essence Control Lv.2->Lv.3]
[Essence regeneration increased to 75/hour.]
[Prerequisites for Essence Conversion unlocked.]
"Good job," Rachel patted his back. "Keep practicing that. I want to go look for Lily. I'm still worried about her."
She walked up to the door. "Rest up. We'll need everyone sharp for the search tomorrow."
After Rachel left, Gale sat alone on his bunk, still holding his charging phone. The quiet hum of the facility's air conditioning filled the room.
"Guide," he whispered. "What is essence conversion and how is it important?"
[Essence conversion represents advanced energy manipulation capabilities. Primary applications include Origin Matter synthesis and transmutation of essence into alternative energy forms. The Dainv race serves as the source of Origin granted by the Ancients.]
[Secondary function enables conversion of essence to energy types optimized for specific spell matrices, resulting in smoother activation and reduced power loss.]
[Previous data regarding essence categorization remains relevant. Essence categorized by potency levels. Ascending order: Ether, Mana, Qi, Prana, Essence, Alseith, Sreith, Seith, Enri. Host's advancement to Essence Control Level 3 has unlocked methods for energy type conversion, enabling more efficient spell casting through targeted resource selection.]
Gale put his phone aside. He took off his boots and jacket, and put them on top of the drawer beside his bed. The soft bed felt weird after all the hard metal surfaces from the lower floor. Though, he thought the same the first day he slept in the soft beds of the orphanage.
Outside the room, he could hear the others moving around. Kyle's laugh came through the walls, followed by Clyde's quieter response. The sounds felt normal, almost nice after all the chaos from below.
The artificial sun shined through the windows, replacing the artificial moon from hours before. Gale sat on his bottom bunk with a metal bowl on his knees. He stirred the gray paste that used to be a nutrition brick. The daylight felt weird after so much time in darkness.
Rachel's bare feet swung below her from the top bunk. Her legs swung right beside Gale's head, almost touching his shoulders. She hummed "End of a Life" by a certain pink haired artist as she put another scoop of the paste into her mouth.
Kyle lay across the aisle on his bottom bunk with one leg hanging off. Above him, Clyde sat cross-legged, eating his nutrition paste without saying anything.
Lily sat on the bed by the window at the far end. She poked her spoon at the paste. Ollie sat above her, already halfway done with his meal.
"Alright," Ollie put his bowl down. "Since we're splitting up to search this level, let's talk strategy."
Kyle swallowed a mouthful of paste. "Strategy for wandering around a big forest?"
"Strategy for not getting anyone killed," Ollie said. "There's only three people in this group with the defensive skills or physical toughness to protect others. That's Lily, Gale, and Rachel."
"Hey," Kyle sat up. "I'm fast as fuck boy. That counts as defensive."
"Doesn't count," Ollie said flatly. "Agility keeps you alive. Defense keeps your partner alive. We need to pair up properly."
Kyle, Clyde, and Rachel all grumbled when they heard what Ollie had just said.
"This isn't highschool guys. You can't just choose who you like and pair up with them and just talk all the time and not do any work," Ollie said. "We're talking about survival here."
Kyle dropped his spoon into his bowl. "Hold up. Me and Clyde have to stay together. The twin teleporting thing only works between us. You split us up, you're cutting our effectiveness in half."
Clyde nodded from his top bunk. "Kyle's already borderline useless in most situations. Take away the twin telepathy and he becomes completely worthless."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, bro."
"Just being honest."
"Fine. You two are cockroaches anyway. You'll probably survive whatever you run into." Ollie looked between Gale and Rachel. "That leaves our two vanguards. For safety purposes, the two of you can't be in the same pair."
"That's stupid," Rachel said, her feet stopping. "Lily already has defensive abilities. She doesn't need additional protection."
"Lily's defence is more for herself as a scout," Ollie replied. "She's built for evasion and mobility, not protecting others. Plus she had an episode yesterday when she saw that artificial moon."
Lily's spoon stopped moving in her bowl. "I'm fine now."
"Maybe you are. But I'd rather not make another mistake by putting you with someone who can't cover your weaknesses if something goes wrong." Ollie pointed at Gale. "Gale goes with Lily."
"Are you serious?" Rachel's voice carried an edge.
"Dead serious. Lily gets a vanguard who can handle close combat. Gale gets a seasoned scout who knows how to do shit," Ollie said. "It's the logical pairing."
Kyle finished his paste and put his bowl on the floor. "What about communication ranges? If we spread out too far, we lose contact completely."
"Phone app has a fifty-kilometer range," Ollie said. "We'll use that to coordinate. Each pair takes a different direction from this facility. Cover as much ground as possible."
"And when we find the elevator?" Clyde asked.
"Mark the location and call it in. Don't approach alone. We regroup here before moving to the next level."
Rachel dropped her bowl to the floor beside Gale's bed. "This whole splitting up thing feels like a bad idea."
"Staying together and wandering around aimlessly for days feels worse," Ollie said. "We've got limited supplies and no idea how big this agriculture level actually is."
Lily stood up from her bed and stretched her arms. "How long do we search before regrouping?"
"Six hours maximum. If nobody finds anything by then, we come back here and try a different approach."
Kyle lay back on his bed, hands behind his head. "Six hours trudging through a forest with my brother. Joy."
"Could be worse," Clyde said. "Could be six hours listening to Lily's spell lectures."
"Those lectures will save you," Lily said.
"We know. You
told
us every day."
Gale scooped up the last paste and stood up. He grabbed his jacket and boots that were on top of the drawer beside his bed, putting them on.
The artificial sunlight from the window felt good as it touched his face. Ever since they got here, it had always been night. A welcome change.
Rachel dropped down from the top bunk onto the floor. "What if someone runs into trouble?"
"Run back here," Ollie said. "Don't try to fight anything big on your own. This level might seem peaceful, but we've learned not to trust appearances in this place."
"Speaking of trust," Kyle sat up again. "How do we know this facility is actually safe? We're just assuming because it looks nice and has beds."
"Gale cleared it with his spider-sense," Clyde said. "If something was watching us here, he'd know."
Everyone looked at Gale. He became the light bulb in the room. Again, tendrils spread out. Again, he saw nothing within range.
"Nothing's watching us here," he said. "At least, nothing I can detect."
"Good enough for me," Kyle laid back down.
"Time to split up. Rachel and I will take twelve o'clock, straight north from here." Ollie picked up his deagles from the drawer and pulled out his phone. He pointed through the window toward the dense tree line. "Kyle, Clyde, you two take eight o'clock, southwest."
"Finally. Some quality brother time." Kyle chuckled.
"Try not to kill each other," Rachel said.
"That leaves four o'clock for you two," Ollie turned to Lily and Gale.
Lily grabbed her own guns. "What's our check-in schedule?"
"Six hours maximum. If you find anything that looks like an elevator access point, mark it on the map and call it in. Don't approach alone." Ollie pocketed his phone. "Lily, make sure you AppDrop AurMap to Gale before you head out."
"Already planning on it."
Kyle grabbed his brother's shoulder. "Come on, Clyde. Let's go find some robot trees or whatever passes for excitement on this level."
"Robot trees aren't a thing," Clyde followed Kyle toward the door.
Rachel stopped beside Gale's bunk. "Stay sharp out there. This place feels too quiet."
"I will, you too," Gale said.
Ollie walked out the door after the twins had left. "Six hours, people. Not a minute longer."
Rachel followed him out, leaving Gale and Lily alone in the sleeping quarters.

.
!
Chapter 183