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?"

not too sure

Melissa said from the side, gazing into the distance where another group was slowly headed in their

a young man with black hair and blue eyes. He may have been the youngest of the group, but his demeanour was unmatched as it contained this rare elegance to it that made him the focal point

"Aaron… so it's him."

on everyone's faces as their eyes paused

he was. After all, it was hard for them to not have heard of him when he had been a thorn on

a surprised look flashed across his face. It

a while since

eyes soon stopped on Amanda. His brows

I think we maybe briefly met during your first year. It was unfortunate that you left after and we were unable to

short and indifferent acceptance

such a reaction from Amanda, Aaron's smile froze for a very short second before he regained his

on talking to me, so I will

Amanda, Aaron turned around and

Emma

want to treat him like that? His guild is pretty powerful. You sure you

"No."

as she

the most powerful guild in Lutwig city, one of the

of power, his guild was not as great as hers, but in terms of influence, it was very powerful. They were not someone that the current Amanda could deal with if they

Amanda softly said, "The reason I'm doing this is because he is already working with another diamond-graded guild in

"He is?"

Emma's

would they reach out for the

"Because they are greedy."

coldly replied, her voice taking a

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

but she was also helpless at the

you for coming all of the

Amanda out of her thoughts was a crisp and melodious

Amanda's eyes paused on an elf

addressed them, he

escort you to the main city. So, if

elf started to walked along a pathway

other people present

"Let's go."

out of the three girls was Emma who quickly lined up and followed the others into the

flashed across her

"Here, take this."

follow Emma, grabbing her shoulder, Melissa handed her a couple of

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

speaking, Melissa also lined

in confusion, lowering her head, Amanda stared at her hand where several different cards of

her

***

Clank—!

a small room

point of contact between the blades as the two individuals

individual holding onto the broadsword lowered

"You've improved a lot."

"You too."

none other than Kevin

domain and meeting up together, they

this for the past two years back at the Lock, both of them were quite familiar

the Lock, the both of them were still quite familiar with each

two, it was that Jin was now a

training, however. Jin had been training harder than ever. The reason

art, the

of this that he

had accumulated on his forehead,

for today, the others will be coming here

"Okay."