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

said from the side, gazing into the distance where another group

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."

appeared on everyone's faces as

After all, it was hard for them to not have heard of him when he

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

while since I've seen you

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

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

Amanda replied with a short

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

keen on talking to me, so I

Aaron turned around

behind, Emma turned to look

guild is pretty

"No."

head as she stared

the most powerful guild

as hers, but in terms of influence, it was very powerful. They were

"The reason I'm doing

"He is?"

flashed in Emma's eyes at this

they reach out for

"Because they are greedy."

coldly replied, her voice taking a

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

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

coming all of the way here to

out of her thoughts was a crisp and

Amanda's eyes paused on an elf standing far ahead of

addressed them, he seemed to be

that everyone has gathered, I will escort you to

around, the elf started to walked along a pathway

the other people present slowly

"Let's go."

Emma who quickly

flashed across her

"Here, take this."

Amanda was about to follow Emma, grabbing her

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

speaking, Melissa also

stared at her hand where several different cards of

couple of times, her lips tugged

***

Clank—!

small room as

between the blades as the two individuals

other from the distance, the individual holding onto the broadsword

"You've improved a lot."

"You too."

were none other than

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

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 they were able to fight

both of them were still quite familiar with each

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

however. Jin had been training harder than ever. The reason for his current rank was

art, the time he spent on improving his

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

sweat that had accumulated on his forehead,

should be enough for today, the others will be coming here

"Okay."