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

here." Melissa said from the side, gazing into the distance

He may have been the youngest of the group, but his demeanour was unmatched as it contained this rare elegance to it that made

"Aaron… so it's him."

of solemnity appeared on everyone's faces as

heard of him when he had been a thorn on their side during their

soon paused on their group, and a surprised look flashed across his face. It wasn't long before a smirk followed after as he walked

while since I've seen you

eyes soon stopped on Amanda. His brows knit for a second

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

a short and indifferent acceptance of his

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

keen on talking to me, so I will take

at Amanda, Aaron turned

Emma turned to

to treat him like that? His guild is pretty powerful. You sure you won't

"No."

head as

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

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 this is because

"He is?"

flashed in Emma's eyes at

out

"Because they are greedy."

coldly replied, her voice taking

not just the guilds in Ashton city, but even the other guilds from outside wanted

enraged by this, but she was

all of the way here

thoughts was a crisp and melodious voice that came from the

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

he addressed them, he seemed to

escort you to the main city. So,

along a pathway that led to

he left, one by one, the other people

"Let's go."

one to move out of the three girls was Emma who quickly lined up

flashed across

"Here, take this."

about to follow Emma, grabbing her

well be useful and advertise this as well.

Melissa

Amanda stared at her hand where several different cards of various

her lips tugged upwards ever

***

Clank—!

throughout a small room

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

at each other from the distance, the individual holding onto the broadsword

"You've improved a lot."

"You too."

individuals were none other than Kevin and

elven domain and meeting up together, they

Lock, both of them were

were still quite familiar with each other's styles. Hence, they were able

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

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

he was now more focused on improving his dagger art, the time he spent on improving his rank lowered

because of this that he lagged behind Kevin, in terms of

that had accumulated on

today, the others will be coming

"Okay."