The next day.
The streets outside were buzzing with people, each one minding their own business as if yesterday's incident had never happened. The Rookie Dorms' rooftop was under repair, but it did not affect the residents' lives much. Even the media aired a report on what occurred last night, but that information was drowned in the sea of other news involving other monsters.
"Get used to it. Inside the tower, incidents like these are the norm." Erik said, shrugging his shoulders. He answered Luna, who was wondering why the people did not cause a ruckus when a giant monster invaded the city.
The trio—now called [The Jay Family]—was inside a luxurious hospital room provided by Alice. While Luna was relaxing in a comfortable chair for guests, Erik was peeling some apples. During yesterday's fight, Erik received some injuries, with some being mild while others were more serious. Still, he was already fine enough to move. The doctor told him that it would take at least a few days for him to heal up completely if he kept on receiving treatment here. It also meant that any physical activities were forbidden for the next few days—at least for him.
Erik wore his casual clothes over the bandages that were wrapped around his upper body. Meanwhile, the third member of their newly formed team was in a much worse state. Relaxing on his large bed, Jay was completely bedridden. Last night, he took on the mutation's brute force directly and also more than just once. He was lucky that he escaped death, as one more hit could have been deadly for him.
With his whole body in bandages and nurses treating him most of the time, the doctor was hoping that Jay could make a full recovery in two weeks at the earliest.
"Two weeks in this room and surrounded by people caring for you... This is pure king treatment here." Luna joked with a tinge of jealousy in her tone as she tested out the bed's softness.
"Guess we'll have to cancel activities for two weeks." Erik sighed. This time, he was not getting worked up by the fact that their journey got stalled; after all, they did not know yet what their next quest was. In other words, The Messenger would come personally to issue the next quest.
"Well, since there's nothing we can do for now..." Luna muttered, grinning playfully as she was rummaging through her bag.
"Let's celebrate the formation of [The Jay Family]!" she announced happily, taking out snacks and drinks.
"You do know that this is a hospital, right...?" Jay remarked, taken aback by Luna's enthusiasm and willingness to party in a hospital room, even though they had a room for themselves.
"You don't have to eat or drink anything if you want to." Luna retorted, glaring at him.
"That's not the issue..." he muttered in defeat.
"Before we do that, let's make some things clear." Erik stated with a smile as he opened a bag of chips.
"As [The Jay Family], we have two goals. Ascending the tower and searching for other Jays." he declared, pointing up two fingers. Most parties' only priority was to climb the tower to get their wishes granted, but there were also a lot of teams that had other agendas and goals in mind, branding the tower climb as a lower priority.
"I'm fine with that!" Luna replied firmly, nodding as well. She knew from the beginning what the duo's ambition was, so hearing it now was no surprise. She even wanted to help them genuinely. The only thing that mattered to her the most was the fact that they moved as a team.
And obviously, Jay also nodded. He glanced at Erik, who was pouring two glasses of cola, and handed a glass to Luna.
"Then, cheers!" Erik shouted.
"Cheers!" Luna returned the sentiment.
It marked the official birth of [The Jay Family]. Sounding like the name of a big family, the trio agreed on it after not finding another suitable name. Luna initially wanted a cool-sounding name, but none of her ideas resonated with the other two. Erik and Jay wanted to keep it simple and suggested naming them like a family, just like other parties did. However, Erik was too embarrassed about calling the party [The Wagner Family]. Jay, who was teasing Erik, was thrown off when the other two suggested [The Jay Family]. He was surprised at first and wanted to reject it, too, but he did not come up with a better idea; thus, it was decided to call themselves like that.
"What's the grumpy face? Still hung up on the name? I think it suits us, though." Erik chuckled, looking at Jay, who was glaring at them.
[The Jay Family], who were climbing the wish-granting tower and hunting the other versions of Jay. Indeed, it was a very suitable name for the trio.
"That's not it...! Just wondering why I don't get a glass..." Jay pouted silently, trying to get up. But as he attempted that, the pain was forcing Jay to stay in bed.
The previously quiet and lonesome hospital room was filled with laughter and joy as the three comrades indulged in trivial chatter, irrelevant to the tower climb or anything else. Just pure chatting like normal friends would do from time to time. However, Luna suddenly remembered something.
"By the way, where's Alice?" she wondered.
"Most likely returning home. She wanted to visit us, but she had some urgent business at home." Erik responded.
Luna was a little disappointed hearing that. She hoped that Alice could come as well, as Luna genuinely wanted to get to know her more.
"Maybe I will go visit her tomorrow..." Luna muttered pensively.
"I don't think that you're able to." Erik responded, smiling wryly at Luna.
"Why? Doesn't she live here?"
"Her home is in one of the middle sections of the tower. You can only freely visit a section after you've been there once." Erik explained, trying to cheer up. That meant that Luna had to climb the tower until she finally arrived at the section of Alice's home to visit her whenever she wanted to.
"I-in the middle sections...?"
"Although there's a Supervisor, almost every section is also partly overseen by certain groups. With the exception of three sections, every section is home to at least one Conqueror Family. And among those families, the Kilgen Family is the only family that has two homes. One is in the middle section, and the other one is actually in the Tutorial Section. But only new or lower-ranked members of the Kilgen Family are stationed in the Tutorial Section." Jay elaborated, still grumpy about the fact that he could not partake in the food and drinks of the small celebration.
Supervisors tended to get involved with the people if the section or tower itself was threatened, whereas the Conqueror Families were more active and interacted with the section's people frequently.
"Alice was sent here for the sole purpose of searching for the source of the monster stampede on the hunting fields back then." Erik added.
"Is that so...? And here I thought that we could somehow recruit her into our team, too...!" Luna lamented, letting out a groan.
"Even if you ask her, she won't join us." Erik said, chuckling softly at Luna's idea.
"But why though?"
Even Jay was interested in the reason. From his perspective, she would have made a great addition to the team.
"Because neither she nor we have the intentions to team up yet." he answered simply. However, that answer caused even more confusion among his peers as they tilted their heads.
"We? But we do have the intentions! Do we not, Jay?!"
Jay did not reply when Luna sought his agreement. He silently stared at Erik, who did not show anything on his face aside from his typical smile.
"I guess, this formation will do, too." Jay yawned before pulling the sheets to his shoulders and closing his eyes.
"Hey, don't sleep now!"
It started to get dark outside, so Erik was about to switch the lights on, but before he actually pressed the switch, light appeared from behind.
"So it's time..." he muttered sternly, turning his attention to the source of the light.
"I know this light..." Luna remarked, her mouth agape.
"Greetings, my dear Challengers. Allow me to express my gratitude and congratulations for defeating the mutation that disrupted the section's wildlife for a while."
Finally, The Messenger appeared in front of them. Floating over the bed, with her hair and white gown fluttering softly, she locked her emerald eyes on the trio.
The trio, however, could not utter a word. In her presence, it felt like their mouths were forcefully shut, and their words stuck in their throats.
"As your Supervisor, I am here to bestow upon you your next task."
It was time for the announcement of [The Jay Family]'s next and eighth quest.
"Protect your territory."