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

from the side, gazing into the distance where

youngest of the group,

"Aaron… so it's him."

of solemnity appeared on everyone's faces

it was hard for them to not have heard of him when he had been a thorn on their

group, and a surprised look flashed across his face. It wasn't long before a smirk followed

while since

Amanda. His brows knit for a

maybe briefly met during your first year. It

short

Aaron's smile froze for a very short second before

too keen on talking to me, so

Aaron

back from behind, Emma turned to look

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

"No."

shook her head as

He was the heir of the most powerful guild in Lutwig

influence, it was very powerful. They were not someone that the current Amanda could deal with if they truly decided to

said, "The reason I'm doing this is because he is already working with another

"He is?"

flashed in Emma's

they reach out for the other

"Because they are greedy."

voice taking a

Ashton city, but even the other guilds from outside wanted to have

this, but she was also helpless at the same

all of the way here to

Amanda out of her thoughts was a crisp and melodious voice that came

Amanda's eyes paused on an elf

he seemed to

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

walked along a

one, the other people present slowly started

"Let's go."

of the three girls was Emma who quickly

flashed across her

"Here, take this."

Amanda was about to follow Emma, grabbing her shoulder, Melissa handed

to everyone, you might as well be useful and advertise this as well. The better the

Melissa

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

couple of times, her lips

***

Clank—!

ring sounded throughout a small room as a broadsword crossed against two

wind sprang out from the point of contact between the blades as the two individuals distanced

the distance, the individual holding

"You've improved a lot."

"You too."

none other than Kevin

domain and meeting up together, they decided to spend most of their time sparring against each

of them were quite familiar with the way the other fought, hence

together ever since leaving 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

about the two, it was that Jin was

wasn't due to a lack of training, however. Jin had been training harder than ever. The reason for his current rank was that he had acquired a

more focused on improving his dagger art, the time he spent on improving his

it was because of this that he

had accumulated on his

today, the others will be coming

"Okay."