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

from the side, gazing into the distance where another

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

all naturally knew who he was. After all, it was hard for them to not have heard of him when he had been a thorn on their side during their first year. Second and third

flashed across his face. It wasn't long before a smirk

while since

stopped on Amanda. His brows knit for a second

year. It was unfortunate that you left after

short and indifferent

Aaron's smile froze for

seems like Miss Stern isn't too keen on talking to me, so I will take my

at Amanda, Aaron turned

his back from behind, Emma turned to look

guild is pretty powerful. You sure

"No."

as

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

terms 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

I'm doing this is because he is already working with another diamond-graded guild in

"He is?"

in Emma's eyes at this

reach out for

"Because they are greedy."

voice

had now spread wide, and not just the guilds in Ashton city, but even the

was obviously enraged by this, but she

coming all of the way here

crisp and melodious voice that came from

an

he

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

the elf started to walked along a pathway

he left, one by one, the other

"Let's go."

girls was Emma who quickly lined

across her

"Here, take this."

follow Emma, grabbing her shoulder, Melissa handed her a

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

speaking, Melissa also

Amanda stared at her hand where

of times, her lips tugged upwards ever

***

Clank—!

throughout a small room as a broadsword crossed against two sharp

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

distance, the individual holding onto the broadsword lowered

"You've improved a lot."

"You too."

none other than

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

they had been doing this for the past two years back at the Lock, both of them were quite familiar with the way the other fought,

leaving the Lock, the both of them were still quite familiar with each other's styles.

it was that Jin

than ever. The reason for his

on improving his dagger art, the time he spent on improving his rank lowered

that he lagged behind

the sweat that had accumulated on his forehead, Kevin put away

for today, the others will be

"Okay."