"What?" They all looked at each other as Elena and I exchanged glances. "Why are you looking at each other? Did something happen?"
Elena was the one who spoke up first as she kept glancing in my direction awkwardly.
"The first monster wave will happen in 10 days. We just received an alert from the Tower."
I nodded to confirm everything she had just said.
"What about what you said about our weapons? Can they really not hurt the monsters?"
"You will have to trust me on this one. Everything humans have made will have no impact on the monsters. Please communicate this information worldwide, since there are seven towers, one on each continent."
All the presidents nodded, unsure if they could trust me. However, even if they looked like they were agreeing with me, I could tell they wouldn’t listen—or not completely.
"How did you know about the monster wave?" Elena asked me.
After all, she had entered the Tower just like me, and she had just learned there would be a monster invasion. It was normal for her to ask such questions. And I had the perfect answer for her.
"It’s not information that Easy Difficulty Challengers have access to."
"Is there really such a big difference between Easy, Hard, and Hell Difficulties?" another president asked.
I didn’t say anything. Instead, Elena was the one who asked questions once more.
"What were your starting stats, and what kind of boss did you have to face at the end of Floor 0?"
The presidents were looking at us as if we were speaking some unknown language, which was pretty funny.
"I had one in every single stat. However, because of the First Player Bonus and the Mana Stone I obtained before entering, I managed to boost them all the way up to 3 points with 10 points into Mana Power."
"Mana Power? What’s that?" she asked.
"A hidden stat you obtain from consuming a Mana Stone."
"What about the boss monster you faced?"
The more I spoke, the more her eyes began to widen in shock. After all, the difference in what we had faced was like day and night. She couldn’t even begin to imagine how I had managed to make my way through the first floors without the help of a single person.
I began talking about the Noble Demon Knight, and that was where she had difficulty even believing what I was talking about.
"You managed to defeat that alone?" She frowned. "Do you have previous martial arts training?"
"You could say that, I guess."
It was one of the first times in both my past life and this one that I could see Elena actually troubled by what I had said.
Before, she would always stay perfectly calm, not showing the slightest reaction, which was why her nickname was the Ice Queen.
Even if her reaction wasn’t as big as I had hoped, it was better than nothing.
We were about to continue talking when one of the officials stopped us. They knew this conversation wasn’t what they were here for. They wanted to know the best plan of action to prepare against the upcoming monster invasion.
"What do you suggest we do to prepare?"
I sighed. "The first thing you should do is remove all the protection from the Towers and allow everyone who wants to enter the Tower to do so. After all, they will be the ones defending it against the monsters."
"Aren’t the Towers dangerous?"
I shook my head. "They’re only dangerous when they release monsters. Apart from that, they’re inoffensive."
"Is there anything we can give them to prepare themselves for the Tower?"
"They should bring a sharp knife. It can help slightly in the first floors."
"That’s it?" They looked over to Elena, trying to see if she agreed.
It was obvious that they trusted her a lot more than me. However, when she nodded, they all seemed to understand just how bad the situation was. They would never be able to reassure the people with such sentences.
"And what about the difficulty they should choose?"
Elena was the first to speak.
"I think we should have a proportionate amount of people in each difficulty. Do not scare people away from any options and let them choose out of their own will. Since Caliste managed to return from the [Hell] Difficulty, more people might choose it. You can also mention that the higher the difficulty, the more powerful you’ll be and the greater the rewards."
She pointed to Emma, sitting next to me.
"You could even obtain the help of an elf."
They then looked over at me. But I couldn’t even add to her answer. It was literally perfect.
’If that’s her opinion, then why was every single person advised to choose the [Easy] Difficulty in the past?’ I frowned, unable to make sense of it. ’Did she change because I returned early?’
I had no idea. However, I dismissed those thoughts as they began talking about Emma.
"Right..." the U.S. President said. "What’s your relationship with her? Can she tell us about the Tower?"
"Caliste is my master, and I have no information that would be useful to you about the Towers." She saw the way everyone glanced, and she gave the same explanation to them that I gave Alexia.
It seemed to calm each of them.
However, they were still filled with doubts.
"There’s something that keeps being repeated, but we have no proof of it. You two say that the higher the difficulty, the higher the potential."
We both nodded.
"What do you think of sparring against each other to see just how big the difference between the two of you is?"
"A spar?" Elena’s eyes widened. "But I can tell you right now that I’m a lot weaker. I can... feel it."
"Unfortunately, we cannot feel it, and we want to make sure before advising the world’s population. So, do the two of you agree to spar?"
"I don’t mind it," I said nonchalantly.
Hitting Elena’s face had always been a dream of mine.