Chef in the Apocalypse

After Jayce had finished what he had to say, he sat back down. Now that he had explained his theory aloud, he felt that it was definitely close to the truth.

Yet knowing the truth did not bring him any closer to solving the issue at hand. When he looked at the situation objectively, it was obvious that they were at a complete disadvantage.

Not only was the enemy unknown, they also had access to all sorts of items and power that they knew nothing about. The prison would have easily trapped any of the combatants on Earth possibly indefinitely, apart from himself.

Speaking of, he had yet to find out how their side had suffered such a defeat. A lot of the participants of the feast who had lost their lives had successfully replaced their mana with Qi, improving their overall strength dramatically.

Was it merely items that the enemy relied on to defeat them?

"I need to understand the enemies strength. Can you tell me what happened?" Jayce asked the room, looking at his party members in particular.

The people in the room frowned, some even scratching their heads.

"I’m not exactly sure what happened, the surroundings suddenly went misty and I was alone, being attacked from all sides." Ben was the first to answer, drawing everyone’s attention to him.

"I was attacked by monsters."

"We were attacked by mages."

Everyone started answering one after the other, however none of the answers were the same. Even though they were all in the same space, each survivor had experienced something different.

Jayce frowned deeply. None of it made sense, how could there be such a situation? Unless...

"Did you see anyone doing anything odd before the fight broke out?" Jayce asked calmly.

Each person in the room looked at each other, yet no one could remember such a thing. Just as Jayce was about to give up, a small woman in the back stepped forward and raised her hand.

"I saw someone with what looked like flags walking around. I thought it was for some festivities during the feast so I didn’t inquire any further." Her high pitched voice rang out like a lark, yet her words were like a lifeline for Jayce.

Jayce stood up quickly and asked with urgency, "Can you come and point out where you saw that person setting up the flags?"

The woman was startled at the sudden enthusiasm from Jayce, however she soon composed herself.

"I’m not sure, but I’ll do my best." She said timidly.

The two then left the room, the small woman trying to keep up with the enthusiastic Jayce who all but ran out the door.

The group was left in silence now that the two had left. They merely stood or sat in place, deep in thought. After all, they had just been given some information that could possibly spell the end of Earth as they knew it.

They stayed like this the entire time, only stirring when Jayce and the small woman returned. Jayce appeared at the top of the stairs holding 4 small flags and one large one in his arms, his face stern yet tinged with a hint of excitement.

"Thank you Lily." Jayce said, taking his seat and placing the flags upon the table.

Lily blushed a little, returning to her spot at the back of the group.

"What are these flags Leader?" Ben asked curiously. He also noticed the pleased expression hidden under his leaders stern face.

"These are formation flags, to set up portable arrays." Jayce said simply, unable to hide the smile that tugged at the corner of his lips.

Needless to say, everyone in the room had no idea what he was talking about and waited for him to explain in more detail.

Jayce sighed quietly, ’It’s tough being a genius sometimes.’ He thought inwardly.

However in the next moment he remembered that not everyone would have read the cultivation and wuxia novels that he did as a kid.

He cleared his throat before continuing, "Ahem. You have all used the teleportation array before, so you should have at least some understanding about arrays."

There were some nods around the room, although they didn’t understand the specifics, they at least knew that it was called a teleportation array.

"Well, setting up the teleportation array requires someone to inscribe the array or magic circle into a surface. It is then powered by mana stones which allows it to function. However, with these formation flags, you can set up arrays wherever as long as its placed correctly."

With Jayce’s explanation, they suddenly gained a bit of an understanding, however there were still some pieces that were missing.

"So are you saying that these people set up an array using these flags? What kind of array could make us all experience different attacks?" Cloud asked, going straight to the point.

This time, Jayce did not have a confident answer. While in his previous life they had researched and perfected the teleportation array, he was not privy to whatever other arrays were being developed. After all, it took almost 8 years to perfect the teleportation array alone.

"I’m not certain. However it was probably something like a killing array." Jayce answered with no real confidence.

This was a common feature in the cultivation and wuxia novels that he read as a kid, however he didn’t know if something like that could be trusted. It was bizarre enough that the cultivation aspect of Inner Qi existed, so he couldn’t exactly hope to use those books as a reference for this life.

Once again the group went into silent contemplation, bringing the atmosphere down.

"Leader, do you think we could use that array as well?" Amber asked, seeing that everyone had gone quiet.

Jayce shook his head. The only reason he was able to produce the teleportation array was because of the hard work of all those people in his previous life.

"The best I can do is create a temporary teleportation array, but there aren’t even enough flags for that right now."