"Shit!" I cursed at the sight. The base of operations I was only just beginning to establish for myself was now gone, and I didn't know where to go next. I was so focused on surviving and leveling up. I should have explored the surrounding regions more. There was no use regretting it now, so I turned to the party and asked,

"Where do we go from here?" I couldn't even fake a confident smile this time, as I felt I was truly at my wits' end, but that was when salvation swooped in from the most unexpected corner.

"I know of a place!" Phildina said while excitedly raising her hand. She's always bubbly, isn't she? 

"Where?" I asked, the hope starting to infect me. 

"Inval! It's one of the biggest cities in Camelia, and it's also where I stay!" 

"So... you didn't even live in the town?" I asked in disbelief.

"Phildina never told you?" Kimmel interjected with a surprised expression on his face. Everyone else seemed to be in on it, so why was I the only one left out?

"I have no love for the countryside," Phildina stated matter-of-factly.

"Doesn't that mean you were flying back and forth regularly?" I asked, and she answered,

"Yeah, but it was no problem for me. I love flying, after all." Yikes. She's all types of crazy, huh? "As I am now, I could easily take all of you there one by one in less than an hour!"

"To your place?" I asked.

"Yes! And I'll start with you, Daphne!" In the blink of an eye, I found myself soaring through the skies at unimaginable speeds. I couldn't even process what happened. That was how fast she was moving. I tried to scream, but I couldn't hear my voice, and that's when I realized it. S-she broke the sound barrier... My mind was a swirling mess, my stomach was in knots, and I felt like I would die at any moment, but luckily for me, the journey didn't last long, as I would soon lie on a soft bed before losing consciousness.

When I woke up, everyone was in the room with similar expressions. Kimmel tried to stand but lost his balance and almost fell. Hertz looked like he was about to vomit, Matilda was still out cold, and Lucia was hugging her knees while literally quaking. You've traumatized all of us, Phildina. Good job! I thought.

As I waited for the culprit to step into the room, I took a moment to look around and appreciate my surroundings. I looked up to see the beautiful red canopy overshadowing me. How much did it cost? There was a large, oval, crystalline mirror to my right with a stool in front of it. How much did that cost? The brown carpet complemented the cream walls beautifully and seemed relatively normal at first until I felt it with my bare feet. So soft! This must be exotic! I suspected as I turned to the window on my left, which exposed a wonderful view. It's like we're in a mansion! 

"Heyyo! Everybody!" Phildina barged into the room at that moment with eight maids following behind her, each carrying an assortment of mouth-watering dishes, which they placed before everyone individually. I didn't even know what to say at that moment, but it did confirm that we were in a mansion. 

I ate the Mutton stew they gave me with tears coming out of my eyes. Finally, meat! It was so good it made me want to be rich like Phildina and own a mansion. Someone should give that chef a raise! All good things came to an end, unfortunately, and I finished everything before I even knew it. I was even tempted to lick the plate clean, but I managed to control myself.

"I didn't know you lived in a mansion," I remarked as I looked around once more. I honestly wanted to bash her for her selfishness, but I was willing to overlook it because of the food. I was a simple guy... or girl? I dunno, but you get the point. 

"Ah, no, it was actually a gift from a friend." I wish I had such a friend who would gift me a mansion out of nowhere! I knew I probably shouldn't have ventured there, but my curiosity got the better of me, so I asked,

"What were you doing before you joined the party?" At this, everyone's ears perked up, as they all probably shared the same question, but Phildina remained silent. The look in her eye had changed as she maintained eye contact with me. They were cold, empty, and intimidating. It was almost like she was gazing into my soul itself, so I hurriedly spoke up, saying, "Y-y-you don't have to answer if you don't want to!"

"Okay!" She said while suddenly switching back like nothing had happened, but I felt like I had caught a glimpse of her true self in that moment, and once again, I was terrified.

"S-so, let's talk about our promotion options!" I said, trying to change the subject. "First of all, I'll need to know who qualifies for a promotion, so please indicate by raising your hand." I looked around, and it was exactly as I expected. Kimmel, Sarde, Batti, Kathryn, Lucia, and I were all ready for promotion, while Hertz and Matilda would have to wait for their turn. Sorry guys! So, I started with Kimmel and Sarde.

"What are you planning to go for?" I asked, and Kimmel answered for the two of them,

"Sarde and I are thinking of promoting to Paladin. We have no interest in learning magic, and we'd like to remain close-range fighters." Every class had three promotion options to choose from, and the Cavalry class was no exception to that rule. They could either be promoted into a Paladin, Magic Knight, or Ranger, each option having its respective benefits. I could see the appeal of the other two, but I agreed with their decision.

Magic Knight would give them access to magic, but as powerful as magic was, it was more or less useless on a physical unit. I mean, they would see an increase in their magic stat upon promotion, but after that, their growths would screw them over, leaving you with a magic unit you wouldn't really use for their magic. Quite trippy, huh? Paladin, on the other hand, would greatly boost their speed, offense, and defense while giving them access to a greater variety of weapons like axes, greatswords, knight swords, and the like. I wouldn't comment on Ranger, as I felt it was stupid to move two good front liners to the back.

"Yep, I'm on board with your decision!" I said as I handed two Limit Breaks to them. I moved on to Batti next and asked him, "What are you going to choose?" He furrowed his brows and contemplated for a while before answering,

"I think I'll go with Berserker." Oh, good pick! He could either go with Gladiator, another good pick that gave him access to more weapon types and had excellent stats across the board, or War Priest, which gave him access to healing staves but sucked for similar reasons as the Magic Knight. Healing depended on the magic stat, too, you know? Or, he could go with the best pick, in my opinion, Berserker. 

Berserkers were limited to axes and greataxes only, but like the Gladiator, they had excellent stats across the board. They were a bit lacking in magical defense, though, but that was the only drawback, as they were armed with the [Killing Intuition] passive skill, which greatly contributed to their critical hit rate. They could also use the [Berserk] skill to drastically increase their stats at the cost of the player losing control of them. In this world, Batti would probably go insane for a while, but we'd just have to prepare for that in advance. And we'd never know when such a skill could save our asses, so I was all for it!

"It's a good pick," I said to him with a smile as I gave him his Limit Break. "What about you, Kathryn? What class would you choose?" Did Wujia even have the same classes? 

"I want to be a Swordmaster!" She exclaimed with a beaming smile on her face. It seems like they do, I concluded mentally before giving her the Limit Break. What? Thought I was going to delve into the different promotion options? Naw, Swordmaster is the best, hands down. 

"What about you, Lucia?" I asked, hoping she would choose wisely. 

"I want to be a Magic Knight." Hmm, this is going to be tough, I thought to myself. Mages had three options to choose from: Sage, Magic Knight, and Geomancer. And what made it so difficult was the fact that they were all excellent choices! Magic Knights could use Elemental Tomes and Staves, acting as both good attackers and healers on the battlefield. They also had mounts, which greatly increased their mobility and did wonders for their speed. In contrast, Geomancers were the best support units in the game. They could channel energies to temporarily boost stats, which could be the difference between winning and losing, living or dying. 

Sages, on the other hand, had access to light magic, which was known to be especially effective against monsters. They could also use Staves, and their [Mana Overcharge] passive skill greatly contributed to their critical hit rate, almost like [Killing Intuition] for physical units. In addition, they had the highest magic cap out of any class in the game, so thinking about Lucia's growth, Sage should have been ideal for her, right? So, I told her, but she insisted on Magic Knight instead. We have a problem on our hands...

"Let's talk about this later, okay?" I asked.

"Fine by me," She agreed, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I still hadn't even decided on my promotion option, but as it was getting late, we decided it would be good for us to go out and explore the unfamiliar city, which would become our new base of operations. As I was just about to leave, Phildina grabbed me by the arm and asked,

"Can I talk to you alone?" She was dead serious, and I could feel that this wasn't going to be a normal discussion. I hope it's not what I think it is!