"...damn the United Governments..." Eren couldn’t hear everything clearly. The walls muffled the sounds coming from the room. But even then, he could feel the aggravation emanating off of the man’s voice.
"It’s hard... detect rogue portals..." An older man’s voice. More rugged, less angrier than the younger’s.
Jackpot. Eren put his ear closer to the cold metal floor of the room’s vent, which was directly positioned over its ceiling.
Thanks to the nurses’ gossip, he knew that one of the rooms was unoccupied, courtesy of the patient being sent to the psychiatric ward due to his erratic behavior.
Once inside the empty room, he used the chairs to reach the ceiling and get into the vents. His smaller stature allowed him to squeeze through the tight ducts and maneuver his way through the system of channels that distributed cool air throughout the entire floor.
Now, he finally had free access to listen in on conversations he so desperately wanted to hear.
It didn’t take him long to find a disgruntled Awakener who couldn’t wait to air out his grievances about the rogue portals.
"I understand once or twice... but... twenty... in the last two months... that’s unacceptable," argued the younger Awakener.
"It’s not... fault... portals... always unpredictable..."
The two spoke a little bit more, but Eren couldn’t understand their words. Their conversation was quiet and was centered around their personal lives, which wasn’t useful for him at this moment.
Then, he heard something that interested him greatly.
"...they’re doing an Expedition?!"
Those words, he heard clearly. The younger man’s voice was heightened with shock and surprise and a little bit of apprehension.
"...keep your voice down... but yes... if they don’t start an Expedition... not find out... the reason... rogue portals..."
Eren kept his breathing steady. He maintained the same rhythm as the breeze coming from the air conditioning units.
"... oh... so that’s why... doing another License Exam?"
"...conscripting... new talent... United Governments..."
"... so they’re really... planning... new Expedition..."
The door creaked open as a few nurses entered the room, stopping the conversation cold.
But it didn’t matter. Eren heard enough.
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A couple of hours later, Nieve entered his room for their daily practice. "Haaa... sorry if I smell like pee today. Don’t ask why."
She noticed Eren laying peacefully on his bed, not practicing the Foundational Moveset, not torturing himself with intense exercises. He was acting like a good patient. Very uncharacteristic of him. "What’s wrong?" she asked him.
"Can I borrow your phone?"
Nieve warily handed him her phone. "Fine... why?"
Eren inputted a few keywords on the website before he eventually found what he wanted to see.
"What’s an Expedition?" he asked her straight up.
"How do you know about that?"
"Are you not allowed to tell me?"
Nieve sighed and shook her head. "I guess there’s no point in not telling you..."
According to her, the Expedition was common knowledge to everyone in the world.
After all, it was the very reason they survived the Cataclysm in the first place. It was humanity’s hail mary to save their race from extinction.
"Portals are a one-way gate," Nieve said. "Once Phantoms go out, they can’t go back in. Our first generation of Awakeners tried their hardest, to no avail."
Humans were trapped in their own world. Vulnerable to the whims of those portals.
But it seemed that they did eventually figure it out.
"After a very costly sacrifice, they were able to breach the portal just long enough for them to start the world’s very first Expedition to Immoræ, the world on the other side. There, they found the knowledge to make use of the Psions in their body, allowing them to finally fight back against the Phantoms that roamed our world."
Eren’s heart beat wildly in his chest. Immoræ. The Cultivation world. His home.
Everything was starting to make sense. Those portals were connected to Immoræ, allowing the creatures and monsters inhabiting that realm to pour into this world. Including Ræzoň.
He would have run out of this room, out of this hospital and into one of those portals if it weren’t for the fact that it was impossible to do so without help.
"Every few years, the United Governments start an Expedition to unravel the mysteries regarding the Cataclysm, and hopefully, eventually, stop the Phantoms from entering our world in the future."
The United Governments held the key to break through those portals and enter Immoræ.
He didn’t ask how they did it. They’d no doubt keep a tight lip on such secrets. Nieve wouldn’t know anything about it.
He couldn’t go to Immoræ. Not unless he was part of that Expedition.
"How many Expeditions have they done?"
"There have been two more Expeditions since the first. One in 2019, and one in 2023."
And according to what he heard from those Awakeners, another Expedition was going to happen soon.
"How can I become part of that Expedition?"
Nieve looked at him as if he was crazy. "Eren. You can’t. Only Licensed Awakeners are allowed to join an Expedition. And not just anyone. The best of the best. The dangers of the Expedition cannot be overstated!"
Her frustration peaked when her cautionary words fell to deaf ears. She could see the excitement gleaming off of Eren’s eyes.
"As long as I have a License...," Eren muttered.
"Which you can’t," Nieve countered. "The License Exam has already finished. There won’t be another one until next year."
Eren smiled. "Are you sure about that?"
He showed her the article on her phone. It didn’t take him long to find evidence of the rumors he heard yesterday.
"What are you—" Her eyes widened as she saw the headlines:
{Unprecedented! United Governments announces second License Exam of the year.}