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

said from the side, gazing into the

of the group was a young man with black hair and blue eyes. He may have been the youngest of the group, but his demeanour was unmatched as

"Aaron… so it's him."

solemnity appeared on everyone's faces as their eyes paused on

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

in small strides, Aaron's eyes soon paused on their group, and a surprised look flashed across his

since

stopped on Amanda. His brows

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

short and

such a reaction from Amanda, Aaron's smile froze for

seems like Miss Stern isn't too keen on

Aaron turned

behind, Emma turned to look

guild is pretty powerful. You

"No."

shook her head as she stared at Aaron's

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

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 truly decided

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

"He is?"

Emma's eyes at this

reach out for the

"Because they are greedy."

replied, her voice

Ashton city, but even the other guilds

by this, but she was also

all of the way

of her thoughts was a crisp and melodious voice that came

her head, Amanda's eyes paused on an elf standing far ahead of the

he seemed

escort you to the

elf started to walked along a pathway

he left, one by one, the other

"Let's go."

three girls was Emma

across her

"Here, take this."

about to follow Emma, grabbing

you might as well be useful and advertise this as

speaking, Melissa

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

of times, her lips tugged

***

Clank—!

throughout a small room as a

circular pressurized wind sprang out from the point of contact between the blades as the

the individual holding

"You've improved a lot."

"You too."

none other than

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

years back at the Lock, both of them were quite familiar with the way the other fought, hence why they were able to fight

had not sparred 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

two, it was that Jin was

due to a lack of training, however. Jin had been training harder than ever. The reason for his current rank was

was now more focused on improving his dagger art, the

that he lagged behind

sweat that had accumulated on his forehead, Kevin put

enough for today, the others will

"Okay."