13 The Others

Tabitha kneaded her groggy head. They had finally come out of that godforsaken place. She took a sniff and noticed the weird expressions of the people around here. Carol even held up her axe and stood in front of the team. Tabitha's eyes traced her teammates' gazes and saw a few strangers standing by the counter.

The girl's muscles tensed up. Who were these people?

"Oh, you guys don't have to be so nervous. We've already rested for quite some time now are planning to embark on our next mission. You guys are safe."

A cap-wearing man stood up and waved to them, indicating they meant no harm. He appeared to be the leader of that team. Tabitha looked at her teammates and saw Aaron looking less grim than before. It made her relax a little.

Aaron put on a friendly smile and explained to the cap-wearing man, "Hello, I'm Aaron. We've just returned from a terrible mission. We overreacted a little when we suddenly saw so many people here."

"I understand." The hat-man waved his hands again. "The Rubik has turned for the worse. I've heard about teams being robbed. Your reaction was only reasonable. You can have your break now; it's time for us to leave."

With that said, he gestured to his teammates who were located behind the counter. All of them left the mission room with the cap-wearing man. After Aaron confirmed that the team was gone, he heaved a sigh of relief. Alfred and company also relaxed visibly. Tabitha was still in a state of confusion. She had been come nervous subconsciously because of her teammates' reaction, but she was still clearly puzzled by the words of that cap-wearing man.

Aaron noticed Tabitha walking towards him with a dazed look, while Alfred and Carol had begun walking towards the counter.

"As you can see, we are not the only ones in the Rubik World. There are countless teams that have fallen into this world but there is only one mission room." Aaron went straight to the point. "To be precise, there is one unique mission room in every dimension. That team just happened to coincide being in the same dimension as us."

"Since we are all human..."

"No, perhaps you haven't realized it yet, but humans are not the only ones who have fallen into this world. There are other creatures from other worlds. The first team I joined had a teammate who was an orc." Aaron shook his head. His countenance turned heavy as he continued his speech. "As the man implied earlier, there are no security measures or guarantee against attacks in the mission room. Most of the time, nothing bad will happen when encountering other teams but, rumor has it that some teams will kill teams they encounter to rob them of their supplies." The man's voice turned cold, seemingly feeling contempt for such behavior.

"Killing..." Tabitha was stunned. Even though she had killed a lot of monsters in the hospital, she knew she could not bear to do that to innocent lives.

"Captain, it's your turn." Fay's sudden interjection interrupted the conversation. Aaron sighed, rubbed Tabitha on the head, and got up and walked towards the counter. Fay slumped into the captain's previous seat. She was not holding a snack with a smile as she usually did; instead, she took out a bottle of water and a biscuit from her pocket and placed it in front of her. She looked at them sadly.

Tabitha could not understand Fay's behavior and asked her, "What happened, dear? Why don't you eat?"

"Uncle Hale did not come back..." Fay's voice sounded downtrodden, "He was with me but I left him. Uncle Hale was so nice to me..." said little girl, almost close to tears. Tabitha was at a loss for words. She had not even noticed that someone on the team had disappeared. However, despite not having much contact with Hale, she also felt a little sad for the loss of a teammate. She was not sure how to comfort Fay who had still not come of age. Tabitha stretched her arm out and gently hugged Fay's skinny back. She leaned her head against the girl's head as she patted Fay on the back, in an attempt to make her feel better.

"Tabitha, you can sign it first. We will discuss the next mission in a while." Aaron returned after receiving his supplies. Tabitha looked worriedly at Fay but Fay suddenly looked up. "Get your supplies, Tabitha. I'm okay. I really mean it! I won't keep acting like this! Sorry for making you guys worry about me." Tears were still shimmering in her eyes, but she tried to force a smile.

Tabitha said nothing. She had realized the cruelty of this world and how weak she was. Thinking of means to survive was fundamental.

She walked towards the counter. The mission book still looked like it would fall apart at any time. She signed her name just like how she did it the last time. Text gradually appeared:

Distribution of materials (please choose three kinds of materials for yourself):

Bottled water*10

Pilot biscuit*10

Chocolate bar*5

Military-grade multi-functional chopper*1

Basic Defense Method I (choose this option to abandon other materials by default)

Tabitha frowned. This Basic Defense Method I was obviously useful, but that would mean she would have nothing to eat...

"Our supplies are enough to feed you," said Alfred as he approached her. Tabitha was startled. "Our team has lost an offensive teammate... My ability has been... If you choose this defensive method, it might gain an additional level of security for our team." The man's voice was like a whisper. Apparently, he did not want others to know about the problem that had cropped up with his ability.

Tabitha smacked her lips. She didn't know what the guy was thinking, but he was right. This was more useful than food, even if she needed to sacrifice her meals. It would be worth it. Besides, her teammates would absolutely not let her starve.

The girl finally checked on the Basic Defense Method I. The ink on the paper changed again and presented her with her current physical attributes.

Tabitha

Physical fitness: 11

Reaction force: 25

Spiritual power: 15

Therapeutic power: 7

Skills: Recovered Light - d

Both her Physical fitness and Reaction force had basically remained unchanged, but both her Spiritual and Therapeutic power had increased. Tabitha cocked her head and noticed that her skill's level had changed from e to d. It surprised her. Tabitha initially believed that the skill growth would be particularly slow but to her surprise, her skill had leveled up after one mission. At this rate, it would not take too long for her to become a reliable support member.

Her finger touched the skill and the text changed again: "Recovered Light - d, upgraded by using Recovered Light - e five times, basic healing ability. Can be used to heal (repair) all CREATURES and NON-CREATURES with minor damages. The healing effect restores 3/30 per 10 seconds. There is no time limit after the skill is turned on and 1 healing power will be consumed every 50 seconds. Attention: There is a certain probability of failure when repairing non-creatures."

The upgraded skill now seemed much more reliable than before but as it depicted, the mission's completion had nothing to do with the upgrade of her skill. She received the upgrade because of the numerous injuries they had suffered; otherwise, her skill would not have leveled up so fast. As Tabitha pondered about upgrading her skill, she left the counter.

Aaron clapped and signaled for everyone to gather.

"Everyone has received your supplies, right? There are five optional missions this time. Two of them are suitable for our team. One is an E-grade mission, and another one is a D-grade mission. The E-grade mission is to find a missing mercenary, but there is no specific mission introduction. But the place with mercenaries must have towns or even cities. We can take this opportunity to purchase things that we need. If we are lucky, we might even find weapons in the market. The D-grade mission is to get the Lich King's scepter. This D-grade mission has a time limit, but the difficulty isn't that high and the amount of supplies rewarded is relatively high. What do you guys think?"