As the shepherd was leaving me, a party was heading my way.
They were heading toward the rift of space-time.
Considering they came from the Evaluation Center, they must be the scouting party the fairy announced earlier.
The scouts knew why they were called too.
Their tense faces and the tight grip on their weapons showed what they were feeling inside.
One of them was so nervous that he had a bow, a spear, a shield, and a sword with him. All those weapons just for himself.
The entire equipment would be useless if he panicked in the trial and got weakened as an effect.
Seeing the expression on their faces, I doubted they would be able to keep their composure in the trial.
Hopefully they would scout enough of the nineteenth floor to prepare us for the actual climb.
[Main Dungeon, the current challenge floor is the 19th Floor.]
[The doors will open after ten seconds. Get ready!]
The scouting would take a while. I best use the waiting time by inspecting the first floor.
After the scouting party entered the rift, I teleported myself to Trudy's office in the first floor academy.
"And be sure to remind the other instructors that we would continue climbing to the seventeenth floor tomorrow."
Trudy said to a couple of Apprentice Instructors as I arrived.
They replied promptly with obliging tone.
"Understood, Chief Calle!"
Trudy immediately noticed my presence.
"Serafina? What are you doing here?"
The instructor candidates were surprised and quickly turned around and bowed deeply to me.
"Your Excellency!"
I gestured to them so they could straighten back up.
"I'm waiting for the scouting on the nineteenth floor to be done. You know how long it usually took for Master to fully convey what they saw in the mission."
['Regyn (★)' has returned to the Goddesses' embrace! His fighting spirit will be remembered forever.]
"You want to start having the mock battles as soon as you can, don't you?"
Trudy said as she excused the instructor candidates away.
"I figured I would check in on the first floor trainees as I wait."
"Well, I've plenty to report to you. Let me pour you a cup of tea as I give my report."
Trudy said while gesturing to a chair and preparing her tea set.
The former maid quickly handed me warm mint tea and presented a stack of report for me to read.
"I suppose I should first tell you what I was discussing with the Apprentice Instructors earlier. We're resuming our climb tomorrow."
['Damien (★)' has returned to the Goddesses' embrace! His fighting spirit will be remembered forever.]
As Trudy promised, she would keep climbing the tower even if she was no longer part of the Raid Team.
She previously done this by joining volunteer parties with her promising students.
Now she did it with the instructor candidates.
The apprentices did not have a fixed party assigned to them. So this would be a good arrangement for the trainers.
All the instructors would keep getting stronger through leveling up in the missions and they would be able to experience the floors that their trainees would go to later on.
Not all the heroes could attend the strategy meeting in the War Hall.
The first floor trainees, especially, could not.
They would not receive the intensive explanation on how the mission would be like on each floor.
It was then decided the instructors would be the one relaying those precious information to the trainees.
As part of their formation and tactical training, the trainees would be guided by the instructors on how to clear each floor of the Main Dungeon.
Master could not be present when the volunteer parties were trying the lower floors.
And there would come a time in the climb when the sixteenth to the nineteenth floor had become the 'lower' floors in the lobby.
We needed the instructors to teach the trainees on how to clear those missions, given Master would not be there to aid them through the Tactical Post. Nor the Raid Team could teach them as we would be focusing on the current highest floor by then.
And in order for the instructors to be able to teach the trainees properly, they needed to experience those floors firsthand.
"So you're heading to the seventeenth floor tomorrow?"
I asked Trudy.
"All of the instructors have reached level 16 and are about to plateau in growth. So we need to move on."
She said.
The Chief Instructor continued with pleased expression.
"The climb has been affecting us really well. All of the instructor candidates have reached level 7 in main weapon skill. And they've obtained all the auxiliary skills required from them."
Level 7 in weapon skill would put them on par with the 3-star heroes that we had.
There were barely any 2-star raider outside the Main Forces that had developed their skills that high.
Just as Trudy claimed, the Apprentice Instructors were the finest talent we had other than my party comrades and few others in the Raid Team.
"The candidates are almost ready to qualify for the full positions. We should have this academy running properly very soon."
I told as I sipped my tea.
['Nimsha (★★)' has returned to the Goddesses' embrace! Her fighting spirit will be remembered forever.]
"If you look at the report, you can see that the trainees have been affected by the Apprentice Instructors' improvement."
The Chief Instructor said.
She continued.
"We now have 186 trainees on the first floor, but the percentages of trainees sent to the Evaluation Center each week have been decreasing.
"There were few trainees that managed to reach level 4 in main weapon skill even before they challenged the eighth floor.
"All sorts of weapon-users are now improving simultaneously. We even managed to teach few talented trainees some of the unique skills that only the raiders possessed so far."
['Karro (★★)' has returned to the Goddesses' embrace! His fighting spirit will be remembered forever.]
I nodded to the Chief Instructor's reports.
"The improvement is visible. But remember, Trudy, the training standard still needs to be raised further."
I then grabbed a pen and a blank paper from Trudy's desk and continued.
"In fact, I'm adding more training plans for the first floor trainees. The instructor candidates would also receive few additions in their qualification requirements."
Trudy watched me as I wrote down a list of new training programs and lessons for the trainees, as well as additional set of skills and auxiliary skill level revisions for the instructor candidates.
"I can see why you're doing this. The trials are getting harder, after all. Even the regular floors."
Trudy said.
"If possible, I'd like our first floor academy to be able to consistently produce trainees with level 7 in weapon skill."
"That might take a while to achieve, Serafina. We are still struggling to get our trainees to reach level 5 in weapon skill before they finished Basic Training and got transferred to the second floor."
"I just want the lobby to be prepared. There is always the possibility that the entire Main Forces and all of our 4-stars would be wiped out in the fourth Quintal Trial, after all."
I said to my former party comrade as I took another sip of my tea.
"Don't be ridiculous! The Raid Team will be victorious on the twentieth floor just the way Party 1 did on the fifteenth!"
Trudy said with full conviction.
I shook my head to her.
"You must be ready for every outcome in the Quintal Trial, Trudy. If we failed, it will be you, your trainees, and the other supporters who remained in the lobby."
I said.
I continued with dreading eyes.
"It will be the duty of those that remained to carry on and continue with the climb."
"Party 1 and all the others will return from the twentieth floor. I'm sure you will!"
Trudy said again with even more conviction.
"Anything is possible in the forged land, Trudy. It is our responsibility to understand that."
I said acceptingly as I glanced to the shining rift of space-time.
Trudy sighed upon my words. A hint of exasperation was sounded on her breath.
"You're just saying that because it's the logical thing to say, Serafina. But I know you won't let it happ—hm? What are you looking at?"
The Chief Instructor followed my gaze toward one of the balconies in her office, the one facing the first floor square.
She frowned disbelievingly at what she discovered.
"Someone just came out from the rift."
I nodded as I stood from my chair and prepared a teleportation spell.
"One of the scouts just returned from the nineteenth floor."