"You should've told me sooner, y'know! I got so scared and thought that you two were the ones that killed them off! This is so incredible! I'm so glad that we get to finally go home after all this time! Well, maybe not 'home' home, but way better than this!"

The young woman kept speaking so fast and in such a coherent manner that it still got Mikella and Janet reeling in silence.

After the little meeting they had, Mikella and Janet first explained who they were, and how they were not responsible for the destruction of the carriage that they spotted. Then they told the still frightened girl where they come from and the news about their current situation.

That got the girl to go through a wide arrange of emotions in a span of a few seconds. Terror, then rage at the possible loss of life, despair that they couldn't go home to their old world, accepting her reality, then finally enjoying the fact that they can at least get taken care of after getting out of this hellhole.

Mikella wasn't sure whether this extreme bipolar disorder was a product of the tower or this is how she always was.

Still, while Janet looked ready to panic whenever the girl would ask her questions about, well, everything–Mikella was thanking their good fortune that she was still alive. She was tired of seeing so much despair, so she would rather let this girl talk her ear off to the ends of eternity if that meant she was still happy with herself.

But damn this girl talked a lot.

"So, where you come from? I'm from Tennessee, 21 years old, getting my bachelor's degree in psychiatry! But wouldn't you know–all of a sudden I was sent here with a bunch of random strangers and now we're all trying to survive here! But I'm betting you all went through the same thing, right? But you actually got out of here, didn't you? What's it like? Can you really learn any kind of skill out there? And you're a dragon girl too! Can you become anything when you level up? Oh, and are there any handsome men out there? Not that I'm a gold digger or anything, but a girl's gotta survive if you know what I mean, so I want to at least figure out how good looking they are and all."

"Whoa, whoa," Mikella held her hands up, her mind still processing less than half of what she just said. "Slow down. No amount of skills can keep up if you talk so fast."

She turned to find poor Janet looking like she had a meltdown, imagining steam coming out of her ears trying to process everything.

"Oop! Sorry–a lot of people always think I'm annoying when I talk so much, but I can't help it! I'm so nervous and scared, and whenever I get nervous or scared, I talk a lot and and when people call me out on it I talk even faster and–"

Mikella put a hand over her shoulders, looking more exasperated by the second.

"Breathe," She said slowly. "Breathe, and calm down. You're safe now. You're not in any danger–at least while we're here. I know it's scary, and I get that you're nervous, but first–I wanna know your name."

The girl easily calmed down, seeing the steel-like stare coming off of Mikella's yellow eyes. She nodded, breathed as she said, then talked slowly for once.

"Whoo… sorry, again," The girl smiled. "I can't believe I didn't even tell you my name. Umm, my name's Ellianore, but you can call me Elly. Everyone calls me that."

"Name's Mikella," Mikella smiled. "Mikky for short. Everyone calls me that."

"J-Janet's my name," Janet finally spoke up. "Umm… there's nothing short of that."

The girls giggled, relaxing the atmosphere around them. Once that was clear, Mikella asked about the carriage, and of course, about the people that got stuck together with her.

"Wow, you really don't know, huh?" Elly asked in genuine surprise. "You really did come from the outside… We've been like this ever since we got stuck here. As for the people… I think there were about a hundred of us or so?"

"A hundred?" Janet asked in shock. "You're kidding me. All at the same time?"

"Yes, and it was very chaotic the first time around," Elly crossed her arms, her hands holding her naked shoulders. Now that she saw it, Mikella saw her appearance for the first time after that initial shock.

The girl was around the same height as Mikella. Her hair was orange like the sunset, a bit razzled but there was an attempt to comb her hair whenever she had a chance. Other than that, the rags she wore were simple cloth that covered her torso and not her arms, and pants that looked like jeans that were ripped not for fashion's sake, but because they were honestly ripped and shredded. Her sneakers, from the looks of it, were beaten even worse, even showing one of her toes at the front of it.

Her skin was peach white but had various dirt spots that seemed to never go away, and her eyes were a sparkling blue. That sparkle really got to Mikella, giving her that movie-star like appearance even in this getup–actually, she really did look like a movie star that was going through an apocalyptic phase in a movie.

Engineer, Level 15.

What surprised her was her class. She knew there were plenty of crafter classes out there, and none of them go under any archetype like the combat classes so she can easily pick out which one she specializes. However, she never saw Engineer as a crafter class in the time she's been in Tarial, making her wonder exactly how does that class work in fantasy standards.

"At first, everyone tried to help each other out. A lot of folks thought we got kidnapped by aliens or something. That seemed probable, considering how we all got taken without knowing why… then the monsters showed up. So… So many people died."

Elly shivered at the memory, and Janet went over to comfort her with a hand on her arm. Elly stopped shivering, smiling at the girl who smiled back at her.

"After that, the whole 'system' thing came into the scene. It was so bizzare, and if I knew I was gonna be playing a video game in real life, I shouldn't have given so much crap to my ex-boyfriend about playing so much," Elly chuckled a bit bitterly. "Goes to show how great my foresight is, huh?"

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"It's not your fault," Mikella said. Her voice was soft and smooth. With Janet there, she knew that Elly would be comforted some more. "Everyone went through what you felt. But for us, we only had one other person with us. I can't imagine what it's like to lose so many people."

"Really?" Elly asked in surprise. "I see…"

"What happened after the monsters showed up?" Janet asked, continuing the topic. "Is that what happened here? Monsters showed up?"

"Well, after the monsters showed up, everyone started… to differ in opinion," Elly winced. "I get that some people are scared, but some started to fight each other. We thought that this is our new land, and now we can't share it anymore if it means sharing resources to live. so… We sort of got into a really bootlegged kind of civil war."

Elly shook her head. However, Mikella and Janet stared at her in abstract horror.

"I know. I didn't want to do it. Hell, everyone who I thought had common sense didn't want to, but that didn't stop the others who were more violent to start making demands. And because they were more violent, they got more levels from killing monsters. So now I think we got into two different groups; One side where I am where we're trying to figure out how to get back home, and the other side who thought this is our home now. And sometimes… sometimes the people at that side come and attack us if we're alone."

"T-That's crazy!" Janet started. "Who can justify attacking someone else like that!? I can't… I can't believe this!"

Janet looked ready to burst into a fiery blaze, her hands gripping into tight fists. Mikella wanted to too, but she held herself back. Of course she was mad, but she was more worried about the current state of affairs.

Considering how big this dungeon is, it's no surprise that if there were more people here, that meant it was better to fight in numbers. In the bigger picture, fighting each other and killing one another would only make leaving the tower even more difficult than it had to be.

"So you think that the carriage there was driven by your camp's side, and the other folks at the other camp went ahead and attacked? How would you figure that?"

"I'm not really sure," Elly frowned. "But since the carriage didn't look burnt or on fire, then it wasn't one of the monsters. They're always on fire, at least the ones we saw. The one that killed most of us was some fox made entirely out of fire… It looked so cute at first, but now it has started to haunt my dreams."

Mikella and Janet took a glance at each other. In that moment, they swore never to tell Elly that they met that possibly same Fire Fox that ran away from them.

Deciding it would be best to jump topics, Mikella and Janet let Elly lead them back to her camp, the side that was supposedly trying to get out. According to her, there were a small number of people there compared to the other camp where they were just trying to survive by brute force. Understandably, since the other camp had more higher level folks compared to this camp mostly due to attacking the surplus amount of unguarded people trying to get out.

How else can they get out of here if they have to be on guard against their own people? Mikella swore that she would man-handle every single one of those bastards if she ever spotted one.

After a while of traversing, which was a surprisingly long trek considering Elly's low stats and level, they reached the camp.

The sight wasn't as bad as Mikella imagined it to be. She supposed the lack of people here made things easier as there were several physically made tents scattered about everywhere. There were strewn items like pots and pans for cooking, a fireplace where the stones looked already charred and had ashes at the center, and several other man-made items like tables and chairs to rest on.

What truly made her gaze last longer were the other people scrambling about–alive and well. She didn't think she would feel so emotional seeing so many lively people at the campsite, yelling out what they needed and even offering a joke here and there. They were dirty, ragged, and clear exhaustion showed in their eyes.

But it was proof that they were alive, and they intend to stay alive. But just because there were one or more people in a good mood doesn't mean the mood around here was vibrant. There was a sense of stillness in the air, her skin shivering at the hint of depression and overall despair. That much was natural considering everyone's circumstances.

Elly walked forward with the two in tow, and once she came in, another person–a woman seemingly her age, ran over to her.

"Hey! Elly! Did you find out what happened with the carriage?" She shouted, but the moment she spotted two more people she didn't recognize, her eyes widened. "W-Who are they? And… is that a dragon girl?"

Mikella winced, trying her hardest to hide her wings behind her as much as she can. She was slowly starting to get used to her wings, and hopefully it would be soon when she can finally retract them into her body to hide them for her benefit. But for now, she tried to be inconspicuous and losing miserably when other people started to notice her.

"Don't worry, they're on our side," Elly said, but then a frown showed on her face. "And the carriage was… well…"

She explained in detail to her friend, and just as one would expect, the friend frowned and had an empty look in her eyes.

"Of course… I should've figured," The friend said, her tone bitter. "And… and you don't think these two were the ones who–?"

"If they were, they'd killed me by now," Elly countered, making the friend nod in reaction. "Anyways, can you go and bring Mark over here? He definitely would want to hear this."

"O-okay," the friend said, mostly surprised by Elly's attitude. "I'll get him here now."

The girl then ran off, shouting out to the one named Mark who is supposedly the one in charge. After another while of waiting, a single man walked forward with Elly's friend in tow.

The man was tall, just as tall as Zeke, Mikella wagered. However, he was built more compared to when Zeke first arrived, dense muscle tone from his exposed lightly tanned arms through a tank top, and long military-style pants and boots that were kept in fit condition. He also sported brown cropped hair, but it looked as though it had grown over to reach his forehead in small tufts of hair with a stubble growing on his lips and chin.

Zeke would've been salivating in envy at the man's easy way of gaining facial hair. Mikella had to force herself to hold in a chuckle as she introduced herself.

"Mark, right?" Mikella nodded, prompting the man to narrow his eyes as he stared at both her, and Janet to her side.

Clearly he was eyeing them warily, especially at Mikella. Mikella would've noticed if it was a lustful stare, but all she could feel from the man was assessing her abilities and, more importantly, her danger levels. The wings certainly didn't help making a good impression, she was sure. He spoke, still wearing that narrowed gaze on her.

"...Where did you come from?" Mark replied. "You're showing no levels, just question marks. You're definitely not from one of us–or from the other camp."

Elly's eyes grew wide like dinner plates. "Wow! How'd you guess? I was just gonna tell you that!"

While Elly looked content, the friend on Mark's side widened in alarm, stepping away. Her hands flexed, but it was clear that she had no intention of fighting them.

Janet took a stricter stance, but changed nothing else. She knew well enough that putting on a look ready to fight would put them in unease, but she also wasn't willing to get hit by some sucker punch to the face.

"That's actually what we came here to tell you," Mikella replied, showing no change in her expression or emotion. "We come from the outside–from outside of this dungeon that you're all in."

Finally, the normally stoic Mark's eyes widened, enough to almost call it a copy of Elly's expression.

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