The Author's POV

"Woahhh."

Taking a step out of the portal, Emma looked at the scene presented before her with amazement.

Wearing a white baseball hat along with a simple shirt and shorts, Emma's curiosity piqued as she looked around the place with an excited gaze.

"Curb your excitement."

Exiting the portal after her was Melissa. Squinting her eyes and taking out her glasses, she glared in the direction of the sun.

"If only that damned bastard didn't force me to come here…"

She muttered out loud, obviously not hiding the displeasure in her voice.

Overhearing Melissa's comments, Emma turned around and asked, "What's wrong about coming here?"

"I would've much rather spent my time finishing my project.

"And what's fun about that? You never go out. Just look at you, you remind me of a vampire."

Pausing, Emma pointed at the sun.

"The first thing you did as soon as you got out was glare at the sun!"

"Shut up."

Rolling her eyes, Melissa put her glasses back on.

As the two of them were bickering, not far from them, the other group members were slowly coming out of the portal.

It wasn't long before eight more people exited the portal. Once the last person came out, an elf came to greet them and led them to an area outside of the portal where there were others waiting.

As they were headed towards the larger group, Emma was instantly able to spot Amanda.

"Amanda, you're already here."

This part wasn't hard since she stood out quite a bit.

The fact that most of the males' gazes were directed at her also didn't help since it only made it easier for Emma to spot her.

Walking up to her, Emma tried to hug her, but Amanda swiftly dodged, prompting Emma to pout.

"Hey!"

"Save that stuff for Kevin."

"Hey!"

Emma shouted even louder as her cheeks turned rosy.

"How long have you been waiting here?" Emma asked, in hopes of trying to switch the topic.

Fortunately for her, Amanda had tact. Pretending to have not seen anything, she casually answered, "It's been about three hours since we arrived."

Lifting her head and staring into the distance, toward the direction of where Emma came from, Amanda continued.

"Besides you, we should be waiting for one more group before they will bring us to the city."

"Another group?"

Emma turned her head and stared in the same direction as Amanda.

"Any idea who it is?"

"They are from another city."

"Oh? Which one?"

too sure

said from the side, gazing into the distance

group was a young man with black hair and blue eyes. He may have been the youngest of the

"Aaron… so it's him."

everyone's faces as their eyes

when he had been a thorn on their side during their first year. Second and third year

and a surprised look flashed across his face. It

while since I've seen

soon stopped on Amanda. His

I think we maybe briefly met during your first year. It was unfortunate that

with a short and indifferent acceptance of his

smile froze for a very short second before he regained

too keen on talking to me, so I will take my

at Amanda, Aaron turned around and

from behind, Emma turned to look

you want to treat him like that? His guild is pretty powerful. You sure you won't regret this in the

"No."

shook her head as she stared at Aaron's

what type of background Aaron had. He was the heir of the most powerful guild in

very powerful. They were not someone that the

at Emma, Amanda softly said, "The reason I'm doing this

"He is?"

flashed in Emma's

would they reach out for

"Because they are greedy."

her voice

now spread wide, and not just the guilds in Ashton city, but even the other guilds from outside wanted to

by this, but she was also helpless at the

for coming all of the way here

crisp and melodious voice

paused on an elf standing

addressed them, he seemed to be very

the long wait. Now that everyone has gathered, I will escort you to the main city. So, if

started to walked along a pathway that led to

left, one by one, the other people present slowly started to

"Let's go."

the three girls was Emma who quickly lined

flashed across her

"Here, take this."

was about to follow Emma, grabbing her shoulder, Melissa handed her a couple of

displaying your talent to everyone, you might as well be useful and advertise this as well. The better

Melissa

her head, Amanda stared at her hand where several different cards of various colours

her lips tugged upwards ever so

***

Clank—!

small room as a broadsword crossed

from the point of contact between the blades as the two individuals distanced themselves from

each other from the distance, the individual holding onto the broadsword lowered it and complimented

"You've improved a lot."

"You too."

individuals were none other

to the elven domain and meeting up together, they decided to spend most of

Lock, both of them were quite familiar with

the Lock, the both of them were still quite familiar with each other's styles. Hence, they were able to make the most out of their

two, it was that Jin was now

than ever. The reason

improving his dagger art, the time he spent

it was because of this that he lagged behind Kevin,

accumulated on his

today, the others will be

"Okay."