Casey left, the next day. Lam left with her as well, only staying long enough for her to visit the Tower Administrative store, pay in the necessary contribution points and then for the Administrator to wave their hands to make her disappear. Of course she hadn’t collected the contribution points herself, instead just borrowing a large amount from the family. It was the point of having a lot of people around, gathering and farming such points to push someone higher when necessary.
Arthur, of course, didn’t have that luxury. It was probably for the best, since he did need to train himself a little with the changes that his body was undergoing. He could have asked for some of the points the White Lotuses had acquired, but since most of them had no intention of moving upwards, they’d used most of their points for quality of life items rather than banking them.
All of which meant that while he might be able to scrape enough points together from his people for a few of them, it wouldn’t work for the entire team.
That was, in fact, easier to do than Arthur ever expected. For one thing, outside the occasional dinner with Lady Wei, there was no longer any major issues pressing on him. Their victory against the Ghee Hin and the actions they had taken meant that everyone started treating them with greater respect. Now, it wasn't to say that people were rushing to make alliances with them - their long-term viability was still in question, of course - but they were certainly too dangerous to handle right now.
No, things settled down really fast, and that left Arthur time to train, to cultivate and run the various quests that were necessary on the floor. As usual, they varied in kind - from gathering quests to straight out kill and collect quests. Arthur much preferred the second, but he made sure to collect whatever he spotted. Even his meager additions helped, as the team would pool their findings and then at least one or two of them might finish the quest that trip.
Well, outside of Eric.
"Never knew you liked picking flowers so much," Arthur teased the man who had purchased literal boxes and wooden cylinders, often filled with dirt at the bottom, to collect the plants. Most of which weren't flowers, but who cared about accuracy when teasing?
"Good points lah. Also, as Tsifu said. Do it, do it right." He patted the boxes slung around him, then grinned. "You just jealous I got more points than you."
"If I decided to buy traits that let me see in more colors, I'm sure I'd...." Arthur shook his head, realising he was caught up arguing with his friend. "Whatever."
"Hah! I win."
"Uh huh. So. When you and Leia leaving?" Arthur asked, curiously. He knew the pair were a lot stronger than him, already past the third transformation. They were, in fact, hitting the point where more cultivating was a bad idea. The quiet cap of the Tower was fast being neared and soon enough they would need to spend too many resources just trying to inch forward.
"Trying to get rid of us, ah?"
"No. Just asking." Arthur hesitated, then lowered his voice. "Also, could use some help, you know."
"Help?" Now Eric looked interested.
"Outside. Getting things ready. With tsifu, but also our seniors and juniors and just in general."
"Oh... ohhh!" Eric brightened. "Leia said something like that."
"Yeah. If you are ready to go, best for you all to do that. Get ahead of me, get things sorted." He bit his lip, continued. "You all are new, so there are fewer people who know you're connected to me. At least, in here." Arthur cocked his head to the side. "Not the same for others, you know."
"You think it helps?"
"I think it might. And right now, we're working on a lot of maybes and mights," Arthur said. "So, if you need to, if you can, move ahead. both you and Leia, that'd be good."
Silence, and then Eric whispered. "I'm scared."
The obvious answer for Arthur was a fear for himself. But he knew Eric better, knew he wouldn't care, not for himself. Fear for himself, not a thing that had influenced the senior that he knew. On the other hand... "Leia."
"Yes. What if she fails? If I fail. She'd be hurt..."
"There's more Towers too, you know."
"I know." Eric hissed those words, then reined in his temper. "But it's more than that. It's hard to deal with it, with the fear for someone else. You know..." The last two words trailed off, hesitant.
"Rub my romantic failings in my face, why don't you?" Arthur said, making his friend wince. He waved it off. "I don't know what to say. Other than the fact that she's strong. She's the one who stayed behind, if you forgot."
Eric grunted, raised a hand to hit Arthur and then dropped it.
"Fine. Three days." He paused, then added. "If she agrees."
Arthur nodded, dropping the subject. After all, he had gotten everything he wanted. He'd go over details, over the things he'd want from his friends, what they needed to set-up. What might happen.
Possibilities, a lot of them.
Because they closer they got to getting out, the more problems he could see.
***
His Seniors left without much fanfare. The few points they were missing were easily donated, Arthur promising to send over more. Now that he didn't need to rush as much, he felt the need to upgrade himself. Knowing he still had to weigh it all, the speed of his exit with the strength he would have as he left. The longer he took, the more time those outside had time to marshal forces against him, to build him up in their minds or tear him down. To decide, like the Ghee Hin to cut him down.
And the longer he took, the easier it would be for him to fight them off. At least, as an individual.
But one thing anyone with any real experience in this world knew, was that you never could do anything worthwhile, alone.
He wasn't the only one training, pushing himself. Gaining new abilities.
Uswah perfected her ability to shift through shadows, though the jokes about her needing to wear black and join a shinobi clan was making her roll her eyes constantly. It didn't help that she had taken to carrying small knives with her, sharp and light such that her shadow tentacles could wield them for her, giving them an edge.
Jan slipped harder into her aura, building on that and her own skill with the spear. She spent time, learning to channel the aura around her into a flaming attack, to hurt and burn those around. At the same time, she worked on greater maneuverability, quickly outstripping everyone else at the ability to conjure multiple clouds.
Mel, as always, was the most diligent. Yet, she kept her attention on the basics. The Focused Strike, the Empowered Attacks with her halberd. She had her ranged attacks, but those were secondary to her ability to fight and excel in melee. Like her personality, she was quiet and contained, but all so deadly.
Yao Jing, on the other hand, felt like he was just getting flashier. He used weapons, a parang, a small shield, a spear. But whenever he was pressed, he dropped them to get in close, to lash out with his fists. Now, his techniques and traits were finally allowing him to make full use of his own propensity to get close, to grapple and punch and brawl. One of his favorite techniques boosted his strength, his ability to take damage. It was possible for him to ramp it up, quick and fast, but at the cost of his energy.
Rick... well, Rick was probably the one least changed. His focus was on his attributes, on using his weapons. Empowering them, though as he pointed out, he could not learn many of the techniques he wanted because it was not available here. However, in the future, once they were out, that would change.
One after the other, his team grew stronger.
And then, it was just him. Just Arthur, who was still not certain he was ready.
But it was time to go, ready or not.