Chapter 15 Wait n train
Rohan didn't have any other tasks to do for the rest of the day so he recovered to the best of his ability and tried to practice with his skill.
He went around and talked with Lynn for some time. She introduced him to the other people that were staying around. They had some people for security, but most of the people were outside focusing on contacting others or finding a way out.
There was one cook, named Thon, but he kept himself quiet and busy. Lynn said that he didn't like to talk much to anyone, not even to Follin or Brady.
The other person doing more stuff in the shelter was Amanda, who was running errands for Follin most of the time. Lynn was feeling a bit sorry for Amanda because she had to do so much, but she looked happy all the time when she was busy.
Rohan didn't speak much with other people and was just waiting for the first exploration team to get back.
Follin explained what had happened the first few days and how they had managed to set up this working shelter so quickly, even with all the panic setting in.
The most important aspect was the coincidence that all who reached the shelter were actively aiming for it in the first place. This is how Follin and Brady met as well. They quickly teamed up with others and set up a basic camp at the shelter within the first 36 hours.
The first scouts from the teams were very useful in giving information and they all managed to get back safely. But they couldn't get far into the city center as the amount of enemies they encountered increased drastically.
Training with Oswald continued for 2 more days, and he seemed to enjoy it more than Rohan did.
Rohan felt much more confident in keeping his balance and swinging the shortsword. He was starting to like the length of it, allowing for more quicker moves.
But he was still a beginner, and very much so as he got beaten by Oswald every time.
"How did you learn all this and when?" Rohan asked Oswald when he fell on his back again losing grip of his sword.
"Never let go of you sword is what I told you at the beginning." Oswald hit Rohan with his stick on both hands, that were already bruising quite a bit.
"My family has a long history of dueling with rapiers for honor." He said with a cocky tone, knowing he was good. But Rohan had to give it to him, he was really good. Although pushing his age a bit.
"I may look old but I still can do this for hours so don't worry." Oswald said with a serious side-eye, knowing what Rohan was thinking.
Rohan was dumbstruck, he had been red like a book. He could feel the next rounds became more fierce as Oswald didn't hold back much.
The session ended not much later as Amanda came in and told them that Fiora's expedition team came back and Follin would soon hold the debriefing meeting.
In the evening, 13 people would gather at the central plaza including Rohan. Who was still trying to move around with his sore muscles.
Follin was sitting on a chair while all the others were either standing or sitting around. Oswald was there as well, including Amanda, Lynn, Thon, someone called Ancy, Nidea and members of Fiora's team and a couple of the mall guards.
Fiora was standing next to Follin, she was tall and had deep dark brown eyes that matched her shoulder length black hair that was kept in a ponytail. She was wearing a brown shirt and jacket, black pants and leather boots.
She was wearing a belt with two holsters, but didn't have the guns with her. In front of the holsters she had dagger sheaths with dark black leather hilts. These were shorter than Rohan's own blade, but looked more deadly.
Fiora was looking through the room and kept her eyes for some time before moving on.
Follin started speaking in a clear tone so that everyone kept quiet, "Fiora if you would tell what you found out, I will discuss the next plan after that."
Fiora had a domineering voice, something she needed to lead to a team and make sure everyone made it back.
"My team has made three significant discoveries." She paused for a moment before continuing
"The first is that the city is surrounded by a impenetrable barrier as we expected. It starts a bit further south of the main valley exit and following the calculations done by Follin and Leslie it goes in an almost perfect circle to the north of mount Rhino's horn."
Hearing some sighs Fiora continued.
"This is both bad and good news, since we are unable to leave we should focus on what is keeping the barrier standing. But the barrier is also impenetrable from the outside, so we do not worry about situations outside the city." This news made some faces light up, while others were still rather down. Expect for Thon since he never had any expression at all.
"The second discovery is that we have found another group of survivors, similar of size as us. They found us at the southern valley exits barrier. They have had similar experiences and we shared information, but a stable contact point is still being set up. They have their campsite in the southwestern area of the city." Fiora said while pointing at the map of the city.
Their shelter was closer to the western mountains and slightly north.
"The other group also mentioned a third and potentially fourth group of survivors, located in the northwestern and northeastern part of the city. They did confirm the northwestern group and have regular contact with them but do not know about the northeastern survivors."
Hearing this the atmosphere in the room became lighter and Rohan felt more at ease hearing Fiora explain as she continued.
"Our last discovery is important for the leveling up system that we got. I have reached past level 25 and my realm status changed to Enlightened and the whole system layout changed again."