Rowan was tempted to wake the others to collectively determine their next steps. Rowan also wanted to determine what they had gained from the Hell, to gauge their overall combat ability.
The wolves of the first tier had been challenging enough, but even with their abilities, the wilds would be a difficult place to survive. But they had earned their rest, so Rowan saw no harm in leaving them to recover. Unlike him, their bodies wouldn't be boosted by an ability, and would have to recover naturally over time.
Sitting down against the wall again, Rowan shuffled around, as he tried to get comfortable. The other two didn't look particularly comfortable, though Rowan doubted their ability to continue to rest if he shifted them to a less sprawled-out position. Nadia especially, as she was lying on the floor rather than against the wall like Rowan or Aoife.
'I wonder how long we were in there. Our sense of time was certainly messed up, so it's just a matter of if we're off by hours, days, or weeks.'
The area was surprisingly quiet, despite the untold number of creatures in the near vicinity, and Rowan began to wonder about the conflicts between the beasts.
'Do they behave as normal beasts? Do they have fights over territory and food? Do they even need to eat? I never saw the wolves in the Hell eat, but maybe that's different from out here.'
As he was lost in the semantics of beasts outside of Hells, Nadia began to stir, slowly coming to her senses. By this point, the sun had risen well above the cave's opening, and the light wasn't as blindingly bright as it had been when Rowan woke.
She grumbled and clutched her head, obviously in pain from some injury which Rowan hadn't seen. She climbed to her feet and stumbled slightly, prompting Rowan to jump to his feet, ready to catch her should she stumble too far.She righted herself however, and looked around in a daze.
"So we did make it out."
Her voice held a weight Rowan understood. As he had been falling unconscious, he had truly believed that it had been the end for him. From Nadia's apparent head injury, she had likely lost consciousness before Aoife's victory over the hybrid.
Rowan nodded with a smile on his face, which brought out the same in Nadia, as she collapsed back down to the floor, a dazed smile on her face. Then, a flash of realization came across her face, and her eyes seemed to fog over as they focused on something Rowan could not see.
Rowan's anticipation rose slightly as he watched her eyes flit over an invisible screen, pondering over information about her fear, and new ability. Hopefully, she had ended up with the healing ability she had always wanted.
Rowan decided to give her time to come to her senses, and turned to look at Aoife, who was still passed out against the wall. He knew she would likely take the longest to wake, without a regeneration ability and sustaining as heavy injuries as she did.Nadia's voice called out to him, and he turned around towards her again.
"I got a Special type. What about you?"
There was a hint of apprehension to her voice, which Rowan couldn't quite place. He also remembered the ability types from her prompting, noting how the abilities fell into different categories based on their output. Trying to remember Lenny's words, he recalled the offensive, defensive, utility, and special types.
His fit somewhere between defensive and utility, as it would allow him to endure more blows, while still having a utility aspect, in the form of self-healing. For Nadia's to be special, it meant that she had something that didn't explicitly damage, but could. and the same with the utility and defensive categories.
"Mine's somewhere between defensive and utility. I got regeneration. It was described under the system as the fear of-"
She cut him off by waving her hands rapidly, panic in her face. This confused Rowan, why couldn't she know about his fear of injuries? He wasn't ashamed. After what he had endured, it was only natural for him to have developed that fear. She took a deep breath before explaining, her hands wrung out in front of her.
"Normally, we don't discuss those sorts of things. It's sometimes normal to talk about abilities, but not where they're from. Before I knew, I thought it was weird, but it makes sense now."
Looking at it from that perspective, Rowan did see how it made sense. But it still seemed strange to him. He understood the not talking about the fears aspect, but not talking about abilities seemed insane to him. How were they supposed to know what each other did? Vague descriptions of 'sort of offensive maybe defensive'?
Shaking his head, he decided not to worry about it. Maybe Aoife would be able to have an actual conversation with him, but he doubted it. She came from the same place as Nadia, after all.
"So what does your ability actually do? It's a special, so it must be pretty cool right?"
Nadia nodded a bit too quickly before she began to talk, even quicker than her nods had been. But before Rowan could focus on that detail, he was too busy thinking about what she said.
"I can use yours and Aoife's abilities at a significantly weakened level. I can only use one at a time."
Rowan had to blink to clear his surprise away. That ability sounded amazing! Yes, it was weakened, but the versatility would be a significant boon as Nadia grew stronger. Turning his head to Aoife, he asked Nadia if that meant she knew what Nadia's was.
"No, I just know that I can co- uhm, use it too."
Which meant that Aoife's ability remained a mystery. Ideally, it would be an offensive attribute, as they likely wouldn't make it very far if they only ran and defended. Yet they would have to wait to find out, as Aoife still lay soundly asleep.