Heading back to the living space, Neal thought about the speech he had given Xavier. Tingles shot up his spine as he made an awkward expression.
'I can't believe I said that. I was still under the influence of whatever calmed me down in the dungeon.'
Upon getting to a certain point in their journey, the group changed direction, catching him by surprise.
"Where are we going?" Neal asked.
"Well you defeated your first monster. It's about time you got armor of your own," Marcus explained with a smile.
"Wait, wasn't I supposed to get the armor before the fight?"
"Well, it doesn't really work that way," Maya said soon after.
Neal did not really understand what they meant; however, it didn't matter. He was going to find out sooner or later.
After minutes of walking, the group had come across a familiar place. One that they remembered all too well, the Forging pond.
Some differences seemed to have developed since the time Neal jumped into it's depth. Multiple azure colored particles hovered in the air, attempting to reach the top of the zone.
Crystals seemed to be drawn towards the pond, as they shifted their positions to face it. This was something that up till now they believed only plants were capable of doing. Moving towards the pond as plants would to the sun.
Plant life around the area changed in form as well, mutating into life they had never seen before. Even with all of this development though, the group were not weary at all.
Handing the piece of Lizard man skin to Neal, Marcus pointed to the pond. "Go ahead, you will know what to do when you get there."
Already accustomed to something like this, Neal asked no questions as he walked forward to the pond. His body seemed to take over as it's first reaction was to toss the skin into the pond.
Soon after, bubbles emitted the skin as if it had been tossed in acid. Multiple colors shot all round the pond afterwards, enveloping his gaze in it.
The Forging pond eventually stopped at a blood red color, drawing all of this color into one spot. In front of Neal's eyes, multiple pieces of armor formed under the pond.
In the blink of an eye, he jumped into the pond, swimming towards them. Grabbing them all in his hand, he swam back up to the surface, dropping them on the ground for everyone to see.
All of a sudden, the plants and crystals in the environment enlarged, seemingly affected by Neal's entrance into the pond. This did not hold the others attention for too long as they soon gazed upon the equipment he had received.
They were nothing special in all honesty. A chest plate, fore arm guards and a pair of shinplates. Things that would not tamper with his speed in anyway. Armor that was similar to that of Maya in more ways than one. That to him was a good thing, even though it meant he was more exposed to injuries.
Focusing on the others, he realized they were not all too surprised about what he had gotten. The armor parts seemed to have a similar aura to that of his blades. However, they did not draw him in like his daggers originally did.
"Well now that you have gotten yourself a new armor, I will be the first to say welcome to the family," Marcus said with a comical expression.
"Thanks, I guess.."
"Neal, it means that from now on you will be going into the dungeon to fight along with us," Evans explained.
Just then, he realized he had never actually gone into the dungeon with all of them as a group. This indeed was a new development.
"Though the thing is that it only gets harder from here. Once we get back home, I will explain what our objective is exactly."
"Objective?" Neal stated rather confused.
"Yes, our objective," Evans stated with a cocky smile.
Up until now, he believed that their only goal was to get out of the dungeon. However, he never really thought about how they intended to do so.
*****
Upon entering the meeting hall, everyone settled down, waiting for Evans to explain everything. Neal could feel not help but notice the tense aura in the room. One of seriousness and nothing more.
"Neal, do you know why we count the number of monsters in the dungeon?" Evans asked staring at the ground.
"I assume it's because you want to know how much the monsters have multipled."
"Well that is not the case. Just like us, the monsters in the dungeon are incapable of reproduction. We count the number of monsters for only one reason, and that is to know how much monsters are left to be killed. At the moment, there are more than a hundred of them out there. A discouraging number if I am being honest."
Neal only became much more perplexed when he heard this. It naturally did not make any sense why they needed to kill all the monsters. Evans who noticed this early on proceeded to explain even further.
"When we first came to the tower, we had one dream. A dream that showed us the only way to escape the tower was by killing every monster in the dungeon. Since then we haven't had anymore dreams; however, that is our best lead on how to escape the tower."
Neal only kept silent upon hearing this. Knowing he had never had such a dream, Neal felt like the odd one among the group. The only thing he remembered having was a nightmare entirely different from that.
One thing was clear to him however, it was a big risk following the information they had acquired in a dream. He couldn't blame them for doing so as they had no other lead. But what were the chances that this dream actually held truth to it.
In the end, it was up to him to decide whether to this was true or not. Not that it actually mattered.
"Our goal is simply to exterminate all the monsters out there. In doing so, we believe we should be able to leave the tower. It won't be easy but, we have no other choice but to try," Evans spoke with determination.