We swept our gazes through the surroundings as we stepped into the unfamiliar square.
The regular summoning chamber and the synthesis-promotion chamber were still around the square where they used to be. Their size and appearance were still the same as when we saw them last.
The checkroom was still where it used to be too.
But that was where the familiarities ended.
The entire expanse of the first floor had at least doubled. So was the facilities within the district.
The first floor square itself, or what we assumed to be the first floor's, had become almost thrice as large.
The grand fountain, carved stone benches, as well as gilded dark iron pole lamps decorating the plaza made the whole place fitting to be part of the scenery of the illustrious imperial capital, which beauty surpassed even Seraphold.
The training ground had expanded. It could easily hold more than a hundred heroes training at once.
The lodging beyond the training ground had grown triple in size too. Two hundred heroes could fit in there with plenty of more rooms to spare.
While the workshops seemed to have disappeared from the first floor, the storage remained and its size had increased significantly as well.
Most importantly, there were many unfamiliar faces strolling about.
It was truly like being in a whole different lobby.
There were still those that we recognized walking around, enough to made us certain we had returned to OUR lobby.
Not that we actually thought there was another lobby with different sets of heroes. Or was there?
In any case, these crowds of new faces were making their way around the first floor in a knowing sense. As if they had been here for a while.
"We've only been gone for two days, right? But why has everything changed so much?"
Shanny stated with a deep frown.
I nodded to her.
"I'm certain master could transform the lobby in that amount of time. But some of these new heroes could not have been here only yesterday."
Some of the newcomers were walking out of the training ground.
I could sense from their strengths that they had levelled up quite a bit.
The kind of progress newcomers could not achieve within only one day. Unless through synthesis.
I doubted the latter possibility. Master only used synthesis for the raid team members, so far.
[Well, well, well! Look who's back!]
The fairy suddenly appeared before us, looking all bright and welcoming.
Something must had made her happy.
[Hey, everyone! Did you enjoy your trip?]
She asked as if we just returned from a vacation to a recreational resort.
"The exploration mission went quite productive. We brought back a number of things for the lobby."
I replied to her while gesturing to the luggage my comrades were carrying.
[I know! Master is very happy with your performance in the expedition! On top of your reward for clearing the tenth floor, master has allowed each of you to request another gift! Isn't that awesome?!]
So that was why she was in a good mood.
As much as I wanted to indulge myself with a whole pan of creamy chocolate pie right now, I had other matters I needed to clear up first.
"Rewards can wait, warden. Much things apparently have changed since we were gone."
[Many things can happen in a week. Especially given the kind of master you serve.]
My comrades and I exchanged glances with each other.
We all caught up on the same thing.
"A week? I thought the exploration only lasted two days? We were definitely in there for only two days."
Trudy said to the fairy.
[There is a time difference between the dungeon and the lobby. Two days in there is about six days here.]
She explained.
This was not the first such phenomenon was brought up.
The fifth floor trial took place around a quarter of a day. But we were actually gone from the lobby for almost a couple of days, according to Trudy who was excluded from the party at the time.
I believed the tenth floor trial also went on for considerably longer time in the lobby than how long it actually went inside the rift of space time.
I intended to make something of this fact.
However, I would need more powers and resources to do that.
It was not something I could do anything about at this point in time.
I had plenty more things waiting to be taken care of first before I could even bring up a discussion on that subject.
"Will you fill us in on what has happened while we were away?"
I asked the fairy.
As expected from her good mood, the fairy was eager to catch us up on the news in the lobby.
Through the research points accumulated in the magic hall, master improved the Hero Reaction Research as well as the Lobby Expansion Research right after we left.
The former's improvement granted a new ability to the party leaders. A very useful ability.
The latter's improvement explained the changes to the lobby's first floor.
After we left, master added a third floor to the lobby, altering the living arrangement of all of the heroes.
There were three separate lodgings now. Each floor had their own accommodation building and purposes in the lobby.
The first floor housed the newcomers. The 1-stars and 2-stars summoned through the first floor summoning chamber.
They still received the first floor treatment as we remembered. No beds and no consumption of the Weekday Dungeons bounties.
The first floor of the lobby would be where new heroes resided and began their journey in the forged land either as tower climbers or lobby supporters.
Aside from the lodging, the first floor had a large training ground, a grand storage, the checkroom, the regular summoning chamber and the synthesis-promotion chamber.
The second floor housed the kitchen staffs, crafters, gatherers, as well as the accomplished combatant escorts in the gatherer parties.
Heroes who remained in the lobby performing supporting tasks to the climb effort. Lobby supporters.
Promising heroes from the first floor training ground would eventually get invited to reside here as well.
The second floor residents received the same treatment we got last. Comfortable bedrooms and home-cooked meals three times a day.
As for the combatants, they were also allowed to train on the improved training facility on the second floor. Which was about the same as the one we used to practice in before, except that it had expanded almost twice in size.
The workshops had been moved to the second floor. All were improved.
Another grand storage was also built here.
Its size was comparably bigger and looked sturdier than the one on the first floor. Supposedly keeping the better weapons and potions.
The fairy said it was the main storage of the lobby. All the important things used and gained in the Quintal Trials and the other tower floors would be kept there.
While the storage on the first floor only held the basic equipment and necessities for the first floor newcomers.
Other than those facilities, the second floor also had the advanced summoning chamber as well as the mysterious stone gate similar to the rift of space time on the first floor.
Finally, the third floor housed the raid team as well as the chief cook, chief crafter, chief gatherer, and a new position, chief servant.
The third floor as a whole held the finest facilities in the lobby.
The lodging was even more improved than the one on the second floor.
Bedroom furniture were of the best qualities of the three lodgings.
Each room had its own bath chamber with those huge copper tubs where you could submerge yourself in nice warm water. The fairy was quite meticulous in describing that addition.
The kitchen staffs employed were those of the most skilled in the lobby. Food served with the best ingredients.
There were even servants now who would attend to the residents in their quarters at all times.
While working in shifts, these servants lodged in the second floor lodging. They were all supervised by the aforementioned chief servant.
The privileged treatment was almost similar to my life as a noble back in Damai.
There were also several training grounds on the third floor.
Party 1 and 2 each had a whole training ground for themselves and still had several others for at least three more parties.
These training grounds still possessed the duel chamber, individual confined training chambers, and the main training yard equipped with firing ranges and weapon practice zones.
But all of the facilities were much improved than the ones on the second and the first floor.
The magic hall had been moved to the third floor as well. Conveniently close to where I would be lodging in, of course.
Apparently master had improved the magic hall even further and enabled three people to research at once.
Though the function would only be useful once there was more than one mage in the lobby.
But there was an addition to the magic hall that was definitely useful.
[Master had built a depository in the magic hall. A storage where you could keep materials and other kinds of things. You'll be allowed to use all elemental stones master stores there.]
"That is nice to hear. Now I would have a clearer estimate of my alchemy supplies."
I replied.
[And guess what, master is allowing you to keep all the elemental stones you brought from the Exploration Dungeon!]
"I can store all of them in the depository?"
[Uh-huh! They're yours! But also remember that you can only open a dimensional portal to the main storage on the second floor. If you want to summon potion or anything in the floor's mission, be sure to transport them first to that storage. Not your magic hall depository.]
That would be fatal to miss.
I better remember to arrange some people to transport the potions and weapons I created in the magic hall.
"Is that all the news? I would like to visit the magic hall and resume my work. My comrades must have been wanting to visit the newly-built third floor as well."
[Eager to be back in the trenches, huh? Well, you should be glad. There are more people helping you with the climb now!]
Somehow I knew she was not referring to the lobby supporters.
My comrades and I exchanged questioning looks with each other once again.
"More people? Who do you mean?"
I asked.
[Master performed advanced summoning after you left. There are new faces staying on the third floor.]