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

the side, gazing into the distance where another group was slowly headed

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

"Aaron… so it's him."

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

for them to not have heard of him 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 wasn't long before a smirk followed after as he walked

a while since I've seen you

Aaron's eyes soon stopped on Amanda. His brows

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

short and indifferent acceptance of

Aaron's smile froze for a

keen on talking to me, so I

at Amanda, Aaron turned around and

Emma turned to look

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

"No."

her head as she stared at

very well what type of background Aaron had. He was the heir of the most powerful guild in Lutwig city, one of the four great cities

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 truly decided

reason I'm doing this is because he is already working

"He is?"

flashed in Emma's eyes

they reach out for the

"Because they are greedy."

voice

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

was obviously enraged by this, but she was also helpless at the same

for coming all of the way

was a crisp and

on an elf

addressed them, he seemed

escort you to the

to walked along a pathway that led to the

other people present slowly started

"Let's go."

three girls was Emma who

flashed across her

"Here, take this."

follow Emma, grabbing her

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

speaking, Melissa also

her head, Amanda stared at her hand where several

her lips tugged

***

Clank—!

metallic ring sounded throughout a small room as a broadsword crossed

of contact between the blades as the two individuals distanced

holding

"You've improved a lot."

"You too."

were none other than Kevin

they decided

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, hence why

quite familiar with each other's styles. Hence, they were able to make the most

thing that was different about the two, it was that Jin was now a rank

harder than ever. The reason for his current rank was that

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

it was because of this that he lagged behind Kevin,

on his

for today, the others will be coming here

"Okay."