Chapter 123: Five Percent

The next morning was unusually quiet.

Rhea sat in one of the medical center’s recovery chairs with her arm wrapped in fresh bandages, while Lily sat nearby with several bruises across her shoulder and side. Neither injury was serious, but both had been enough for the medical staff to order them to rest for the day.

Yuna was recovering as well. Holding the collapsing structure together for as long as she had during the mission had drained most of her Mana, leaving her looking more tired than usual.

The others had avoided anything serious, although nearly everyone carried some sign of yesterday’s mission.

The report sat on a table near the window.

[Mission Result: Partial Success.]

Nobody had bothered moving it. They already knew what it said.

Reinhard walked into the room carrying several bags of food and drinks, looking entirely too pleased with himself for a man delivering breakfast.

Mara looked at him. "What are you doing?"

"Eating."

"It’s barely morning."

"Exactly. We’re recovering."

He placed the food on the table and looked around the room. "Everyone’s eating."

Mara stared at him. "We have a mission report to review."

"We’ll review it after breakfast."

"You’ve already decided that?"

"Of course."

Rhea immediately reached for one of the drinks. "Finally, someone sensible."

Mara sighed, but Reinhard had already pulled a chair toward the center of the room. "Come on. If we’re going to keep working together, we should at least learn how to eat together. Besides, I bought too much to carry it back."

"You bought it. You could carry it back."

"I could. I won’t."

Nobody argued. It was a small thing, but the Ashcrofts and Nephilim gradually gathered around the same table. There was no Ashcroft side. There was no Nephilim side. Reinhard had simply made one table and expected everyone to use it.

Kael quietly placed a drink beside Rhea. "You looked thirsty."

Rhea looked at him and smiled. "Thanks."

Adrian glanced toward Lily. "Does your shoulder still hurt?"

"A little."

"Do you want me to get someone?"

"I’m fine."

Across the table, Maki had already opened her notebook. Seraphine looked at her for several seconds. "You haven’t slept enough."

Maki didn’t look up. "I’m fine."

"You said that yesterday."

Maki paused.

Reinhard reached over and calmly took the notebook from her hands.

Maki stared at him. "Reinhard."

"Tomorrow."

"I need to analyze the Abnormality."

"You need sleep."

"I can do both."

"No, you can’t."

Maki reached for the notebook. Reinhard moved it away. Seraphine laughed quietly.

Maki looked at her. "You’re enjoying this."

"A little."

Maki looked back at Reinhard. "Give it back."

"No."

"You’re not my commander."

"True." Reinhard smiled. "I’m your big brother~"

Rhea burst out laughing.

Maki stared at him for several seconds before finally giving up. "Fine."

Reinhard handed the notebook to Seraphine. "Keep this away from her until tomorrow."

"Understood."

Maki looked betrayed. "You two are terrible."

"You’re welcome," Reinhard said.

Emily was checking the bandage on Rika’s arm when Rika tried to pull it away. "It’s not that bad."

"I know."

"Then why are you checking it?"

"Because you said that last time and then kept fighting with a wound that needed treatment."

Rika looked away, and Emily finished checking the bandage. "Better."

Reinhard watched the exchange with a faint smile. The important thing wasn’t that everyone was getting along. It was that they were beginning to look after each other without being told. That was useful. More importantly, it meant his decision to keep bringing the two groups together was working.

He had noticed the Nephilim’s strengths almost immediately. They had field experience the Ashcrofts lacked, while the Ashcrofts had resources and abilities the Nephilim had never worked with before. Keeping them separate made no sense. Reinhard had no intention of wasting useful connections.

Rhea suddenly looked toward Lily with a mischievous expression. "You know you’re never hearing the end of this, right?"

"About what?"

"You jumped into an unstable Abnormality zone after me."

Lily shrugged. "You needed help."

"That’s not the point."

"Then what is?"

Rhea opened her mouth, then closed it. "Forget it."

"You’re the one who brought it up."

"I know."

Kael quietly joined the conversation. "It was reckless."

Lily turned toward him. "You too?"

"Yes."

Rhea pointed at him. "Exactly."

"You were injured too," Lily said.

Kael considered that. "I stayed where I was told."

Rhea laughed. Adrian tried to hide his own laugh and failed.

Lily looked around the room. "None of you are helping."

Reinhard leaned back. "I think they’re making a compelling argument."

"You too?"

"I’m the impartial observer."

Rhea immediately pointed at him. "You’re absolutely not impartial."

Reinhard looked offended. "I’m extremely impartial."

"You brought breakfast."

"That’s unrelated."

"It absolutely isn’t."

Reinhard smiled. "I brought breakfast because I’m generous."

Mara looked over. "You brought enough for everyone."

"Exactly."

She narrowed her eyes. "You planned this."

Reinhard looked pleased. "Finally, someone noticed."

The room broke into laughter. Yesterday, they had been fighting to make sure everyone came home. Today, they were arguing over whether Lily had been reckless and whether Reinhard had planned breakfast as part of some grand strategy. For some reason, that felt like progress.

Rika eventually looked toward Emily. "Can I ask you something?"

Emily nodded.

"How do you know when a mission is going badly?"

"Usually, you don’t." Emily thought about it further. "Not at first. Experience doesn’t mean you can predict everything. It means you learn how to recognize when your original plan isn’t working anymore."

Rika thought about yesterday’s battlefield. "The moment the environment changed."

"Exactly."

"And then we kept adapting."

"That’s why everyone came home."

Rika was quiet. "But the mission still failed."

"Part of it did." Emily didn’t soften the answer. "The rescue objective wasn’t completed. We didn’t recover the core. That’s a failure. But failing part of a mission doesn’t erase everything you learned from it."

Rika nodded slowly. "Then yesterday wasn’t completely bad."

"No. It was expensive."

Reinhard nodded from across the table. "That’s a good way to put it."

Everyone looked toward him. He leaned back in his chair. "A successful mission gives you a reward. A failed mission gives you information. If you’re smart enough to use it, the second one can become more valuable."

Maki looked interested. Reinhard noticed. "No notebook."

Maki immediately looked away. Rhea laughed.

Mara and Yuna exchanged a quiet glance. After a moment, Mara spoke. "When Lily jumped down there, I thought she was making the wrong decision."

Yuna glanced toward Lily. "Professionally, she was."

"That’s what I thought too." She paused. "But if it had been one of ours—"

She didn’t finish. Yuna understood. "If it had been one of ours, we would have gone after them."

Mara nodded.

Reinhard listened quietly. That was exactly the kind of connection he had wanted to create. The Nephilim had knowledge. The Ashcrofts had strength. But neither meant much if they were still thinking of themselves as separate groups. Yesterday had changed that. If Rhea was trapped, Lily would go. If Lily was trapped, the Nephilim would go. Sooner or later, they would stop asking which team someone belonged to.

That was the point.

Yuna looked toward the others. "They’re becoming attached."

Mara smiled faintly. "So are we."

Reinhard raised his drink. "Good."

"Good?"

"Yes." He smiled. "I hate wasting good investments."

Mara stared at him for a moment, then laughed.

By the time everyone was cleared to leave, Reinhard had already made another decision. "We’re eating together."

Rhea looked at him. "Again?"

"Of course."

"We just ate."

"That was recovery food."

"And now?"

"Celebration food."

Mara raised an eyebrow. "Celebrating what?"

"Everyone coming home."

Nobody had a better argument.

The restaurant was busy, but Reinhard had chosen a large table near the back, and once again nobody separated the seating. Rhea sat beside Lily. Kael sat beside Adrian. Seraphine sat near Maki. Emily and Rika ended up across from each other. Yuna and Mara took the remaining seats. Reinhard sat in the middle. The arrangement had happened naturally enough that nobody questioned it.

Rhea immediately reached across the table and stole food from Lily’s plate.

"That’s mine."

Rhea continued eating. "I know."

Kael immediately moved his plate farther away. Adrian noticed and did the same.

Rhea looked at both of them. "You learned."

"I watched Kael."

"Experience," Kael said, with a small nod.

Lily looked between them. "You’re all terrible."

Maki laughed. Seraphine shook her head. Even Emily smiled.

Then Reinhard noticed several people at nearby tables looking toward them. One person whispered, "That’s them."

"The Ashcroft team?"

"Yeah. The ones who climbed from the bottom of the rankings."

"I heard their mission yesterday went badly."

Rhea’s hand stopped halfway toward Lily’s plate. She slowly turned her head. "Did he just say badly?"

Lily sighed. "Don’t."

The conversation continued. "They only completed part of it." "I knew it. Their earlier rankings were mostly luck."

Rhea’s expression changed. "Luck?"

Kael quietly put down his drink.

Another voice: "They’ve been climbing way too fast. There’s no way a team with that little experience should be beating established groups." Someone else disagreed. "That doesn’t mean it was luck." "They got lucky with their missions." "They broke Arena records." "They had the right matchups." "They still climbed to eighteen." "Yesterday proved they’re not ready for the Top Ten."

Rhea slowly looked toward Reinhard. "Should I be offended?"

Reinhard continued eating. "No."

"Why not?"

"Because they’re discussing us." He took another bite. "That’s good."

"They’re insulting us."

"I know."

"And you’re happy?"

Reinhard shrugged. "A few weeks ago, nobody knew who we were. Now strangers are arguing about whether we’re strong." He smiled. "That’s progress."

Rhea considered that, then grinned. "I like that."

"I don’t," Lily muttered.

Reinhard glanced toward the people talking. "They’re not completely wrong." Everyone at the table turned toward him. "We did get lucky."

Rhea stared. "What?"

"We’ve been very lucky." He raised his drink. "Luckily, we’ve also been strong enough to survive the luck."

Kael’s mouth twitched. Mara sighed. "You’re impossible."

"I’ve heard that before."

Someone at the nearby table suddenly spoke louder. "They still brought everyone out alive."

The first person scoffed. "They failed the rescue."

"They rescued most of the people."

"They failed the core recovery."

"They stopped the contamination."

"Still a partial success."

Another leaned forward. "And they survived an unstable Abnormality that had already caused two teams to fail."

The conversation quieted.

Rhea smiled.

Lily noticed. "You’re enjoying this."

"A little." Rhea looked toward Reinhard. "Because our fans are fighting for us."

"See? I told you."

"I don’t remember you saying that."

"I was thinking it."

"That doesn’t count."

"It does to me."

Rhea laughed, then reached for Lily’s plate again. Lily immediately moved it away. "Not this time."

Rhea stared. Lily smiled. "I learned."

Kael nodded approvingly. "Good."

Rhea looked offended. "Why is everyone against me?"

"Experience," Kael said, without hesitation.

The table erupted into laughter. For Reinhard, that was the real reward. The two teams weren’t acting like two teams anymore. He had wanted connections. Now he had them. And connections meant possibilities.

Mara’s communicator suddenly vibrated. Her expression changed as she checked it.

Reinhard noticed immediately. "What is it?"

Mara placed the communicator on the table. "An opportunity."

Reinhard smiled. "Finally."

She opened the file.

[Top 10 Challenge-Class Expedition.]

Maki leaned closer. "What are the requirements?"

"Recommended Team Ranking: Top 15."

Everyone glanced at one another. Their current rank was #18.

Mara continued. "Primary Objective: Locate and suppress an unidentified Abnormality." She scrolled. "Secure a relic-class Mana source. Rescue missing Awakener personnel. Investigate confirmed Bloodkin activity. Prevent Mana contamination. Deal with hostile Awakener interference."

Rika frowned. "That’s a lot."

"There are warnings." Mara read them one by one. "Environmental Instability: Extreme. Abnormality Classification: Unknown. Bloodkin Activity: Confirmed. Hostile Awakener Activity: Confirmed." She stopped at the final line. "Previous Expedition Status: Unknown."

Silence settled over the table.

Reinhard looked at the mission. Then he smiled. "We’re taking it."

Mara looked at him. "We’re ranked eighteenth."

"I know."

"The recommended ranking is fifteen."

"I can read."

"The previous expedition is missing."

"Sounds interesting."

Mara stared at him. "You’re enjoying this."

"Obviously."

Rhea grinned. Lily looked at the mission again. Maki was already studying the details. Emily’s expression had become serious. Rika straightened. Kael and Adrian stopped joking. Even Archon turned her attention toward the table.

Reinhard looked around at them. "Yesterday showed us what happens when we’re unprepared." He rested his arms on the table. "So we’ll prepare."

Nobody promised victory. They didn’t need to. They had a direction. And Reinhard had already decided they were taking it.

His vision suddenly changed. A familiar notification appeared before him.

[Investment Opportunity Detected.]

His expression became slightly more serious.

[Target: Emily Ashcroft.]

[Current Rank: C.]

[Current Value: C.]

[Objective: Reach Top 10.]

[Difficulty Grade: S.]

Reinhard paused. Then the final line appeared.

[Success Probability: 5%.]

Five percent wasn’t much.

But it wasn’t zero.

And Reinhard had never been particularly good at leaving interesting opportunities alone.