We left the bar immediately after all information has been divulged to silencer.
We parted ways with silencer, the four of us went into hiding in Ghostdoctor's original apartment. Without GPS, apartments ae a safe haven for us yet again from Living Cemetery.
"You pull it out..." Ghostdoctor unscrews his earpiece, took it out and left a disgusting hole in his head.
"Does it not hurt?" Ken asks.
"No, your body has adapted to it." Ghostdoctor then flipped the earpiece around and showed an empty cavity on the extended plate, "Here, there's a circuit board here for all your earpieces, mine's missing and I'm still doing just fine, just pull it out, don't worry about damaging the earpiece." He explains.
The room knows of what happened, I don't just become the first maxed out player out if nowhere. Eleanor and Kenneth showed no objections, but the situation is still awkward.
Only Ghostdoctor don't seem to mind, I think he also has the same thoughts as me, GPS is simply a small price to pay.
"Then you just put it back, screw it tight." He explains.
The screwdriver was first passed to Ken, which Eleanor got worried and went to help him unscrew the device.
"You didn't tell him." Ghostdoctor turned to me and said. Eleanor and Ken wouldn't understand it, but I would.
"If you wanted him to know, you would've told him yourself."
"...thank you Sean, I don't know how to face him." Ghostdoctor says with guilt, "Where is he now?"
"He'll come back, he can't leave this alliance without my permission."
"He doesn't understand huh? Whatever means necessary should be taken against the game, whatever means necessary."
Ghostdoctor said passionately, I can also say the same that I'm also doing this to stop the game, to save more people. However, to be honest, I'd be lying.
"How'd you break in?"
"Fought my way through the guards, then had to kill a player to get his earpiece, that's who Ghostdoctor is."
"What are you guys talking about?" Ken said confusedly after his earpiece is done modifying.
"Not strategic talks, don't worry about it." I said.
"To strategic talks though, none of you has stage 1-10's super strength boost. That's a much bigger disadvantage than you might think.
You're gonna encounter close range combat a lot during tournaments, it doesn't matter how big of a lead you have in terms of power levels, if you're opponent has the boost, don't expect to win against them in fisticuffs."
"We have an advantage now though right? You've passes that stage before, you can just tell us how it goes, and our memories won't be erased when we actually enter the stage."
"Yeah. It's not entirely a cakewalk however, stage 1-10 requires 10 players to start, with one guaranteed death."
Eleanor halted her movements modifying her earpiece, Kenneth also immediately averted his gaze to Ghostdoctor when they heard about the guaranteed death.
"Guaranteed death?" Eleanor inquires.
"Guaranteed death. Of the ten players that enters the stage, one is bound to die. However, it's absolutely worth the risk, otherwise we won't even have a chance at beating Guillotine."
That's something to be wary of, guaranteed death. We really can't afford to lose even a single one of our members right now.
"It's best if we wait until Frostbite comes back before we enter."
"Isn't that just higher chance one of us gets eliminated?" I asked.
"Well, if it's only the four of us, we don't have a Tank. Do still keep in mind, Living Cemetery wants us dead now more than ever, they'll be greeting us in the game. I'd rather a 5v5 than a 4v6."
"How the hell is the strength boost worth it then? The risk is way too high." Eleanor retorts.
"We have two massive advantages. One, we know how the story of the stage goes, and how to achieve the objective that way. Two, if Living Cemetery sends out Mages, simply leave them to me, a good hit on their drone will be enough to render a Mage useless. Overall, I'd say our chances are higher in stage 1-10 than in Tournament without the strength boost."
Hearing that explanation, Eleanor aggressively plugs out the circuit board on her earpiece. I don't blame her, it must be frustrating having both me and Ghostdoctor in the same team, with the other option being all alone hunted by the third alliance in-game.
"Sean, when do you think Frostbite will return?" Ghostdoctor turns to me.
"No idea. There's no way for us to find him, no way for him to find us. He doesn't know morse code, the only way to contact him would be point transactions using the alphabets, 1-26 points. Will he figured that form of communication out? Most likely not especially since he's in a bad mood.
But if my predictions is correct, he'll be camping the game lobby, knowing we'll be there eventually. Either he'll enter stage 1-10 with us, or he'll be waiting for us right outside." I explained my view on our situation.
"I see."
"Nonetheless I think our advantage of knowing the story of the game itself is great enough for us to enter immediately. Even if it's a 50/50 chance that it's a 4v6, I'm confident I can win."
"Here." Eleanor passes me the screwdriver after I'm done speaking.
"Thanks. Basically, I think our best course of action right now will be to enter stage 1-10."
And I'm certain no one will object, Ghostdoctor obviously wouldn't, and Eleanor and Ken wouldn't because they also need to win the tournament, get out of this game so they finally escape Living Cemetery.
"Okay." Eleanor agreed weakly.
It's settled then, we're playing Campaign again.