Fellow Supporters

These moments couldn't last forever, though. Only about an hour later, Ais and Isaac had to part ways again, because they both still had things they needed to take care of today.

Although he had the option to meet the group of supporters he was assigned to tomorrow, it wouldn't hurt to do so today. After all, he had purposefully taken the day off to take care of such matters.

About twenty minutes after he had changed his clothes and started his search, Isaac finally came across the courtyard they were currently training in. It seemed like it would be a bad idea to interrupt them, so he patiently waited for the group of ten to pause their exercises. Observing them wasn't a total waste, however, as he got a glimpse of what he would most likely be dragged into later as well. He couldn't complain about that though, as improving his cooperation and coordination with the other members of this group would surely be vital during the expedition. While it was highly unlikely for him to make a mistake, if he knew his teammates well, he could cover for their blunders as well.

The first one to notice him was the one Riveria had told him to meet, the one in command of this team of supporters - a girl by the name of Line Arshe. Her bespectacled, copper brown eyes widened in surprise for a moment when she spotted him leaning against one of the walls of the courtyard. She didn't want to keep him waiting for even longer, though, so she hurried to greet him, her impressive bust wobbling slightly with every step.

It wasn't the first time that the two had met, far from it. As she was quite close to most of the members of the main forces of the familia, they had run across each other on multiple occasions. The first time was when Loki had introduced Isaac as the newest member of the familia - Line had been one of the huge number of people to enthusiastically welcome him. While they may not be friends yet, by now, they could at least be called acquaintances.

"Ah, Isaac! Sorry to make you wait. Lady Riveria told me you'd be stopping by."

After finally arriving in front of the newcomer, Line happily clasped her hands behind her back. Although it was a little difficult to discern in this position, they were clad in long, white gloves. Her long black hair was braided into a tail that reached all the way to her lower back. She wore a white headband, a brown-white short-sleeved top with somewhat puffy shoulders, a white belt with quite a number of pouches, a short, brown skirt, black thigh-high stockings with a white band at the top and somewhat delicate black boots. Her attire was definitely different from when they had met before, as she had been in more casual clothes back then. As she was currently training, however, it made sense for her to wear her dungeon delving gear.

"No need to apologize. I'm the one barging in, so I should be sorry for interrupting you guys instead."

A few more pointless pleasantries later, Line brought Isaac to the other nine people in the courtyard, who had been resting and eyeing them interestedly. The moment Isaac got a good look at them, he had to admit… they were quite a diverse group: Five Beast People, two humans, an elf and a Pallum. There was also another thing of note - he hadn't met any of them before, even though he had stayed at the manor for quite some time now.

"As you're probably aware of, I'm the commander of this bunch. They are divided into two squads of five, the first one being led by Orba - ah, that's him over there. The second one, the one you'll be joining, is led by our lovely Randi here."

Line took this time to introduce Isaac to each of the members he would be spending a lot of time with in the coming weeks, while explaining interesting bits and pieces about their roles during the expedition and the expedition itself. Apparently, their eleven supporters strong team was just one of many. Besides three of the main forces of the familia, three supporter teams would be descending down into the depths. The rest of the familia would stay aboveground to ensure their home could be defended during an emergency.

The leader of the team's first squad, Orba Hayes, was just a little taller than Line, while still being almost a head shorter than Isaac. He was a Chienthrope with short and wild brown hair, brown-black eyes, upright dog ears and an otter tail. His age was about the same as Isaac's physical body's, while his face was angular and could be considered to be quite handsome. He wore simple, black boots, beige trousers with strapped on pouches, a black gambeson undershirt and a dark-grey monster leather jacket with a frayed fur collar. Above that, he wore a black belt with a matte golden buckle, which fastened all of his attire together securely.

From the warm-hearted welcome Orba gave him, Isaac gained quite a good impression of him, although he was a little worried that the guy might turn out to be a social butterfly. What awed him, however, was that the guy was already a Level 3, whereas Line was only a Level 2. While not everything was governed by Levels, it was still rare to see lower ranked individuals in command of higher ranked ones. Therefore, Isaac could only conclude that Line's organizational and command-related abilities were quite outstanding. At least compared to the rest of the competition.

As for the young woman who was in charge of Isaac's squad, Randi Dolph, she was almost as tall as Isaac, which was a rare sight in this world. She had shoulder-length dark-red hair with a couple of braids interspersed and - courtesy of her being a Boaz - relatively small boar ears, which barely stuck out from underneath her hair. Her small boar tail was almost unnoticeable as well. Although she was quite beautiful, her relatively thick and muscular neck easily diverted the attention of any observer. Well, her sizeable breasts, which were only covered in a black, belly free shirt that didn't cover much more than a bra would, did so as well. Above this, she wore an open, reddish leather jacket, which further emphasized her front side, whereas her arms were partially covered by gauntlets made of the same material as her jacket. While her upper body's attire somewhat reminded Isaac of an Amazoness', her lower body didn't follow that trend at all. Her legs were clad in black-red, baggy, padded trousers, which looked remarkably similar to cargo pants, and boots, which were yet again made of reddish leather. Besides that, there was also a black belt with a silver buckle. What Isaac's gaze was focussed on, however, were her grey eyes, which sized him up without any shame whatsoever.

Once Randi, who also was a Level 3, had finished her inspection, she nodded her head in approval, before suddenly walking up to Isaac… and giving him an uncomfortably tight hug while laughing heartily.

"You certainly look like you can carry your fair share of supplies. Glad to have you on board!"

Even though he was anything but comfortable, Isaac didn't feel any malice from Randi, so he decided it would be for the best to just endure this intrusion into his personal space for now.

But another person had decided to make Isaac's predicament even worse: a member of Orba's squad, a male Cat Person by the name of Bryce Flores. With a mischievous smile and a playful glint in his blue eyes, the 17 year old Level 2 meandered over to Isaac as well and patted his shoulder.

"Try not to let her suffocate you, okay~? Wouldn't want even more victims on our hands."

The moment he felt Bryce touch his shoulder, Isaac turned his head to take a closer look at him. He was slightly shorter than Orba and had almost shoulder-length dirty blonde hair. His long, plumed cat tail was of the same colour, while the ear tufts on his upright caracal ears were slightly darker. His face looked perfectly average, just like a person you could find anywhere on the streets, yet the naughty smile on his lips made him stick out like a sore thumb. He wore dark-brown boots, black shorts that were just long enough to cover his knees, a beige-brown short-sleeved shirt with a few pieces of boiled monster leather armour strapped above, a dark-brown shoulder cloak with a currently unused hood and gloves of the same colour. His thin belt, which was dark-brown as well, had a grey-silver buckle.

If Isaac hadn't glanced at the troublemaker before, he wouldn't have noticed Bryce motioning at the two mounds that were slowly getting closer to his face at all. He didn't get much of a chance to grow worried, however, as Randi quickly let go of him and focussed her attention on the cat boy instead. Compared to her genuine smile from before, her current one was a lot more sinister.

"Brycey boy, let this big sister give you a hug~"

Before the now somewhat pale cat boy could run away, Randi had already grabbed his tail and dragged him close, after which she gave him an even tighter hug than the one Isaac had just suffered through. If Isaac hadn't seen the somewhat sleazy look in Bryce's eyes when his face got submerged in certain mountains of fat, Isaac would have felt bad for the guy, as the creaking sounds that his bones gave off really couldn't be healthy.

Although it had escalated a little, the situation calmed down relatively quickly and Isaac got introduced to the rest of his new comrades.

The other three members of Orba's squad were Tanzi Doughtery, Kell Allaigh and Aselina Sceaga. All of them were Level 2's.

Tanzi was a human girl of the same age as Bryce. She was a bit shorter than him and had straight, dark blonde hair that reached halfway down her back, while her bangs partially covered her eyebrows. A perpetual smile played across her lips and her bright green eyes shone like lanterns from the inside of the white-ish grey hood of her cloak. She wore light-brown boots, a mint-coloured, padded gambeson dress that reached the middle of her thighs, a few pieces of boiled monster leather armour fashioned to look like a corset without actually being one, a brown leather belt with a number of pouches fastened to it and somewhat dainty, white gloves. Besides introducing herself, she didn't talk much and mainly observed the conversation.

Just like Tanzi, Kell also wasn't much of a talker. Compared to her, however, the Pallum gave off a kind of depressed aura. It felt like he wanted to jump in and say something on multiple occasions but then decided that he would be better off if he just kept to himself. He had middle-length, curly dark-brown hair, which he didn't seem to take care of much, even though it almost covered the left one of his earthen-brown eyes. Although he was already a 21 year old Level 2, due to his Pallum origins, he didn't look much older than a young child, even his facial features were very soft. He wore black boots and gloves, long trousers of the same colour and a brown belt with a silver buckle. Underneath his light-brown gambeson, he wore a green, long-sleeved shirt. Overall, his attire reminded Isaac a lot of Finn's, so he suspected that the young man had taken inspiration from their familia's charismatic Captain.

As for the last member, she initially gave Isaac an unapproachable feeling, mostly due to the icy look on her face. Surprisingly, however, the 18 year old Aselina didn't shy away from conversation at all. Rather, Isaac got the impression that she simply wasn't aware of how her expressions and actions impacted other people at all. So while she embodied the stereotypical 'ice queen', it was entirely unintentional.

Because she was a Raccoon Person, Aselina had grey-white raccoon ears sticking out of her greyish-white hair, which she wore in a ponytail of moderate length. Of course, she also had a raccoon tail. She was about as tall as Tanzi, had deeply black eyes and a somewhat round, adorable face. Her black boots were purpose-built to have a good grip, while her dark-brown, tight long trousers were sufficiently padded to cushion attacks from weaker monsters. Although Isaac was sure that it wasn't her intention, her dark-blue, form-fitting, short-sleeved shirt made her breasts stand out quite a bit. Most likely, Bryce had recommended this attire to his gullible comrade. The rest of her outfit consisted of a brown leather belt and dark-red arm protectors made from high-quality monster furs. On a side note, Aselina was also a Level 2.

As for the last three, they were all members of Randi's squad and therefore the ones Isaac would spend the most time with during the expedition. Their names were Claire Ingram, Auroch Baiman and Cedar Copseway.

The first one, Claire, was quite the chatterbox. Although she was the youngest person in the entire team, being only 15 years old, she had bombarded Isaac with questions as soon as the self-introductions had finished. She was a little bit shorter than Aselina and had reached Level 2 only recently. Her raven-black hair was fashioned in a shoulder-length bob cut, while her eyes were of a stark icy-blue colour. Just like Line and Tanzi, she was a human. She wore almost knee-high dark-brown boots with black stockings underneath. Her blue skirt reached the middle of her thighs and was held in place with a thin, black belt with a silver buckle, while her dark-brown gloves almost went all the way up to her elbows. Beneath a beautifully decorated blue gambeson, she wore a sleeveless, black undershirt, both of which had a deep V neck, which was quite obviously intended to show off her moderate 'assets'.

Auroch, on the other hand, was a lot more quiet. He was also just as tall as Isaac, which helped reduce the uncomfortable feeling Isaac felt from inadvertently becoming the center of attention in most crowds, simply due to his height. The 18 year old Auroch's maroon hair was cut extremely short, so that even the places where his two large upwards horns grew out of his head could be made out without a problem. A Cow Person's other features, the ears and the tail, were present as well, of course. Although Auroch's body was the closest to a hardcore bodybuilder's that Isaac had ever seen, he still had a little bit of baby fat on his manly face. In sharp contrast to what one might expect, his yellow-ish green eyes gave off an all-encompassing peaceful and relaxed feeling. He wore dark-beige padded trousers, black boots, a reddish-brown belt with an iron buckle, a light-brown undershirt, a heavily padded reddish-brown gambeson and a few pieces of metal armour, made out of standard quality steel. In short: He seemed very reliable and like the kind of tank anyone in Isaac's old world's MMOs would have wanted to party with.

The last person, Cedar, was the one who attracted Isaac's attention the most. This wasn't because the 29 year old elf was a Level 3, no. Instead, it was because of the slight hint of hostility he could see in his lilac eyes. Although Isaac had a few ideas as to why Cedar could be showing this dislike for him, he couldn't be sure of the exact reason. But because the elf didn't meet him with open hostility and kept those negative feelings under a tight lid, Isaac decided to just wait and observe for now. If he ever turned out to be a threat… well, that's self-explanatory.

Although Cedar was almost half a head shorter than Isaac, he was still considered to be quite tall in this world. Just like every elf Isaac had seen before, he also shared the usual elven beauty, complemented by his about 8 cm long elf ears. He wore quite long, stylish light-brown boots, grey padded trousers and a light-brown belt with an ornamental stone buckle. The dark-grey collar of his long-sleeved grey gambeson shirt was beautifully decorated with golden threads, while the rest was mostly covered by a boiled monster leather breastplate. Above all of this, he wore a dark-green cloak.

Even though it had felt like it would take forever, all these introductions and the following friendly banter soon came to a stop when Line attracted everyone's attention with a few loud claps.

"We're not just here to play around. Let's restart the training exercises, everyone! I'll explain everything in detail, so pay close attention, Isaac."

A supporter's work wasn't exciting. In fact, it could be considered to be quite a drag. Still, compared to normal adventurers, who faced terrifying monsters in direct combat, it was a very safe position to be in if one was part of a huge familia like the Loki Familia. Supporters had to carry all the supplies needed during their foray into the 'deep floors' of the dungeon, which included food, water, materials for campsites, various tools, etcetera. Of course, those couldn't all be transported just via backpacks and pouches, so during most expeditions, most of those things were loaded onto carts. Pulling those carts was yet another job for the supporters. Although it was quite easy to keep them steady, the environments in the 'lower floors' and deep floors were sometimes quite unsuitable for the carts.

So during the entire descent, supporters had to transport the supplies, while the main forces kept them safe. Occasionally, they had to fight off a few stray monsters themselves, if they managed to break through. After any battles had concluded, they had to cut the magic stones out of the monsters' corpses, so there really was never any moment to take a rest.

Even once the last known safety point, the 50th floor, was reached, a supporter's work didn't end. They had to build the campsite and do miscellaneous tasks all around, while keeping tabs on the supplies that remained and safely storing away the drop items, magic stones and other gathered resources.

All of this required the supporter teams to work together seamlessly. To Isaac's pleasant surprise, the team he was now a part of was already working like a well-oiled machine. During all the exercises, where they tried to simulate situations they would run into in the dungeon, they didn't make any mistakes. At the beginning, he hadn't always made the right decisions himself, as he had simply not been aware of how all of them usually worked together, but it only took him about an hour to get the hang of it completely.

Usually, a supporter who would accompany an expedition would need a few weeks of training to be able to work together well with his fellow team members. But due to the short time span before the expedition would set off, Riveria had simply given up on letting Isaac go through the usual proceedings. Instead, she sent him to one of the best and strongest supporter teams, that could hopefully make up for his initial mistakes without great difficulties. While she was aware that the young man was a genius, it was better to be safe than sorry. If something happened and lives were lost, it would be too late for regrets.

About half an hour before it was time for dinner, the training finally concluded. Everyone was in quite the jovial mood, as the new addition to the team didn't seem to be a detriment. Most of them had been a little worried about Isaac joining them on such short notice, but those worries were pretty much null and void now. After an enthusiastical temporary farewell, which included Randi patting Isaac's back a lot more heavily than he would have liked, he finally extricated himself from the group and went to take a shower.

Thankfully, he didn't have anything scheduled during the next four days, so he could finally refocus his efforts on growing stronger, his dungeon exploration and maybe even searching for some potential retainers.

Today, Isaac had to get at least six hours of sleep just to keep his body perfectly healthy. Before this, however, he still had a few hours of time to work on circulating more drops of mana. After all, it was only about 7:30 p.m. by the time he had finished eating dinner. As Ais also excused herself pretty early today, at shortly after 8 p.m., Isaac had nothing better to do.

Ever since he had gotten his ichor upgrade, Isaac hadn't circulated his mana, so he was positively surprised when the whole process went even easier than before. The mental strain was a lot less than he had expected, so he wantonly increased the amount of drops he would circulate at a time. By the time all three hours had passed, he had worked his way up to 507 drops and he didn't even feel exhausted, distracted or pained yet.

Because of this, shortly before falling asleep, Isaac had an idea. What if he tried to circulate his drops of mana while he was busy with other things? If he managed to do so without diminishing his focus while exploring the dungeon, it could potentially be a major time safe. He even suspected there to be other benefits once he mastered this ability.

-----

Over in her own room, Ais was starting to get antsy. In only a few minutes, her week of waiting would finally be over. When she thought about how she would soon be able to experience and observe a huge portion of Isaac's life again, her eyes glimmered in excitement. She had already mentally prepared herself and lain down on her bed. Now, she was simply staring at the system's countdown patiently.

It would be a lie to say that she wasn't a bit apprehensive about the feeling of disorientation she would undoubtedly have to endure once her mind returned to the present. But compared to satiating her curiosity, that was a small price to pay.

Finally, at shortly after 11 p.m., the system notification Ais had been waiting for finally appeared.

[ Cooldown until 'Isaac's Past - Episode 2' can be experienced has finished.

You can now experience 'Isaac's Past - Episode 2'. ]