This starting village has met the requirements for entering the final phase. During the final phase all adventurers must band together to withstand the Upheaval. The Upheaval is an event where multiple mana creatures are rapidly created in the wilderness before gathering together to devour all sources of mana. The Upheaval will occur in five days and the system has created a quest for the adventurers that will face the threat. In three hours, there will be a Messenger at the arrival location that will give a deeper explanation. The Upheaval is a deadly event, but it is possible to endure it through teamwork.

How is a person supposed to react when they hear about their inevitable death? Are the supposed to tremble in fear or runaway in panic? Perhaps they might laugh in disbelief. Zane didn’t do any of these actions. Instead, Zane became numb. He laid on the ground, staring at nothing as he tried to process what he just heard. It took some time for Zane to take in what he heard, but once he did, he started laughing.

The laugh started out a low chuckle, but it quickly became a loud full belly laugh. Zane’s laughter wasn’t caused by a feeling of disbelief and his laughter didn’t contain the slightest ounce of joy. Instead, his laughter was filled with anger. Anger at the impossible task that the system and the divine spirits created. In Zane’s mind it would have been better for the system to directly kill him instead of forcing him to pointlessly struggle.

“Endure?” Zane chuckled in anger. “Teamwork?” Zane started laughing out loud. “How does the system expect people who haven’t even reached the first tier to withstand an Upheaval? The starting village isn’t a trial it’s a death sentence.”

With a belly full of anger, Zane canceled the isolation of his private room to contact his friends. However, Zane’s mind was clouded by anger and he didn’t know what to say. After he spent a few seconds thinking, Zane decided to ask a stupid question.

“Did everyone hear the message?”

“Zane,” multiple people mentally called out.

“It’s good to hear from you,” Sophie said. Zane could make out the worry she felt through their mental connection.

“Zane, I’ve been telling the others that the system message wasn’t real,” Shane said. “It’s probably a way for the system to test our courage or maybe it’s a joke.” Shane tried to sound confident, but Zane could make out the panic and fear in his voice.

“We need to run away,” Lana said. “If it’s a test of courage then we fail and go home, but if the message is real then we stay and die.”

“I think running is a good idea,” Shawn added. “Five days doesn’t give us a lot of time but I’m sure I can find a way to hide us once were deep into the forest. The further away we are the less likely we’ll be discovered.”

“We should wait for Jason to finish his upgrade before we make any final decisions,” Sophie said.

“Can you all calm the fuck down and stop freaking out?” Britney demanded.

“Calm down?” Zane asked with an angry tone. “Did you not here the same message we did? How can you remain calm when the system is basically telling us to go die?”

“The reason why I can remain calm is because I don’t even know what the fuck is going on.”

“What my sister is trying to say is that we would all be grateful if you guys could explain why you’re so worried about the Upheaval,” Whitney said.

“I agree,” Sam said. “All we know is that the Upheaval is an event that is more dangerous than normal. We were able to complete the den quest without any problems. Although we were told this quest is dangerous, we should still be able to handle it.”

“Those quest can’t compare to an Upheaval,” Sophie replied. “Imagine a hundred thousand mana creatures no, a million mana creatures all charging forward to kill you. The majority of those mana creatures at the first and second tier and a few of them are at the third. Tell me do you think that we should be worried?”

“Holy fuck!” Britney exclaimed.

“You can’t be serious,” Brad spoke up. “There’s no fucking way we can face that many monsters.”

“Does the system really expect us to face tier two and three mana creatures?” Frank asked. “We would probably die from one hit, right?”

“I can see why you guys reacted the way you did,” Sam said. “If tier two and three mana creatures will be arriving in five days then I agree with the plan to run away.”

Hearing everyone talk about the terrifying situation they were in made Zane pause. Hearing about the situation out loud made him realize how ridiculous it was. His anger started to disperse as he started to truly analyze the situation. The more Zane thought about what they would face, the more he realized that he overreacted to the situation. In fact, Zane started feel extremely embarrassed and he felt his face starting to heat up.

“Uh, everyone,” Zane said. “I think we might have overreacted to the situation.”

“What?” Brad exclaimed. “But Sophie just said-”

“Zane’s right,” Sophie interrupted. “It doesn’t make sense for the system to send us to a place where we would be forced to fight thousands of creatures above our tiers. Now that I think about it, the system said that we would be able to endure so the situation probably isn’t what we expect.”

“Has anyone looked at the quest?” Zane asked. He continued talking after receiving a no from everyone. “I think we should look at the information for the quest before we make any more incorrect assumptions.” Everyone voiced their agreement and Zane directed his attention to the information about the new quest.

Quest: Upheaval Defense

Description: Thousands of mana creatures will surge forth to attack the six inns. The mana creatures will attack eight times and you must work with other adventurers to defend the inns.

Quest Objectives:

Survive (8) attacks from the mana creatures

Protect (6) inns

Quest Rewards:

Varies depending on your performance during the quest

Quest Failure: All six inns are destroyed

Quest Failure Penalty: Loss of all village points earned during the Upheaval and transported to your original location.

Would you like to accept this quest? Yes or No

Looking at the quest information helped alleviate much of Zane’s fears. The part he enjoyed reading the most was the quest failure penalty. It basically guaranteed a way out for the people participating in the quest.

“Well, what does everyone think?” Shane asked.

“I-I think we should stay,” Whitney said. “The quest description makes it seem like the mana creatures will be focusing most of their attention on the inns.”

“That’s right,” Sam said. “Even if they focus on us, we only have to avoid them until the inns are destroyed to survive.”

“We still don’t know how strong the mana creatures will be,” Lana added. “I don’t think we will be able to run if a tier two mana creature appears to attack us.”

“I think we should stay until it’s time to talk to the Messenger,” Zane suggested “We should be able to get the answers we need to make the best decision.”

Everyone continued talking for a few more minutes before agreeing to wait till after they met the messenger to make a final decision. The group would have to split up because they arrived at different areas. Sophie suggested staying together despite not being from the same arrival point, but Zane said that Frank and the others should go to their arrival point. The people at their arrival location may ask questions that the people at Zane’s arrival area did not.

“Are you guys there?” Jason asked. “Did you see the message? What’s going on? How does the system expect us to be able to survive an Upheaval?”

Zane smiled when he heard Jason’s voice. He was panicking and Zane could understand the worry and confusion he felt. After all he felt something similar a few minutes ago. Everyone greeted Jason and tried to calm him down by explaining their analysis. They told him that they were planning to head to their arrival locations, but they were waiting for him to respond.

“After reading the quest and listening to your explanation things don’t seem as bad as I initially thought.” Jason said. “However, I do have a suggestion. I think you guys should consider upgrading to the next tier. We will be a lot stronger and increase our ability to deal with whatever challenges the quest throws at us.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Brad said. “I think-”

“It’s a terrible idea,” Zane interrupted. “Jason is extremely talented and he most likely experience a great increase in his strength. However, that doesn’t mean that all of us will experience the same increase. Plus, leveling up will become harder after we reach the first tier.”

“Why is it such a bad idea? I think we should at least consider making the attempt.”

“I know we told you that you can upgrade your tier at any time, but you really should make sure you prepare as much as possible. A hasty and unprepared attempt will result in a poor source field which will negatively affect your future.”

“Right, the source field. That super important thing that you barely explained.”

“The reason why we have barely explained it is because it isn’t easy to explain.”

“Zane’s right,” Jason said. “Preparation is important for each tier upgrade. The reason I suggested upgrading to the next tier was because of the excitement and power I felt from my own upgrade. I guess I’m still getting use to the changes my upgrade brought to my mind and body.”

“Do you need more time to adjust?” Sophie asked.

“I’m more than capable of casting multiple spells right now, but I wouldn’t mind some more time to adjust.”

“Then you should take your time to adjust. We can all head over to our arrival location in two hours.”

Zane had no problem waiting a few hours to head over. It was better for him to spend his time training in the private room. If he went to the arrival location know he would have to patiently wait for the Messenger to arrive.

Before Zane started his training, he had an important question to ask himself. Should he try and upgrade to the first tier? He was only one level away from fifty, but he had already fulfilled most of the requirements that he had set for himself. Also, the group wouldn’t be meeting for another two hours. Two hours was more than enough time for him to upgrade to the next tier.

Zane knew he felt pressured to upgrade his class because of the Upheaval. So, he closed his eyes activated Meditation and focused on calming down. Once his body and mind were fully relaxed Zane made his decision.