Book 8: Chapter 83: Return
Qin Lun fell silent. He had long expected the choice Nicole and Longer would make. Stark was dead, Philip was dead, all other members of Fortress were dead. Maintaining the Silver Team no longer held any meaning.
Neither Nicole nor Longer were ambitious Apostles. Their only remaining wish was to find a good team willing to accept them. In that regard, the Lost Team was their best option right now.
Kelly and Robin’s performance had already proven Lost was a good team. Even though nearly all the novices they led perished in this world, it wasn’t really their fault. Both Kelly’s bravery and Robin’s wisdom were deeply impressive.
Most importantly, they truly valued new blood. When danger struck in several places, the leaders themselves tackled the most perilous tasks instead of sending newbies to their deaths as cannon fodder. For Nicole and Longer, this point was especially crucial. No one wanted to become the veterans’ shield the moment they joined the team.
Likewise, for Kelly and Robin, Nicole and Longer were valuable new blood worth absorbing. Longer’s fighting strength wasn’t high, but his scouting talent was decent.
Back in the Alamir Mountains, it was him who first discovered the hollow passage in Ironstar Fortress – Qin Lun, with his several Eye Techniques, hadn’t noticed anything amiss. A first-order scout Rogue, as long as he can stay highly vigilant at all times, is considered competent.
As for Nicole, she was actually Fortress Team’s most valuable legacy. The Lost Team wasn’t short on fighters. Powerful warriors like Stark and Philip were abundant. But a pure support Divine Caster is highly prized in any major team. Back in the Valley of the Undead, if Stark and Philip hadn’t been so slow, bolstered by Nicole’s stamina-replenishing abilities, they might well have escaped.
Such Apostles are extremely difficult to cultivate, usually requiring a massive investment of resources. Picking up a second-order healer for free, one rich in adventuring experience and who wouldn’t abandon comrades in a pinch? To put it bluntly, even if all the new recruits in the Lost Novices batch had died out, it would still be a profitable gain.
Nicole and Longer possessed strong team spirit, loyal to comrades and unwilling to abandon them, matching Lost’s recruitment standards perfectly. Moreover, accepting these two meant Fortress’s Silver Team title would also pass to Lost. By building a team around Nicole’s abilities, Lost would gain a new, formal sub-team.