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

here." Melissa said from the side, gazing into the distance where another group was slowly headed in

youngest of the group, but his demeanour was unmatched as it contained this rare elegance to it that made him the focal point of

"Aaron… so it's him."

on everyone's faces as their eyes

he was. After all, it was hard for them to not have heard of him when he had been a thorn on their

small strides, Aaron's eyes soon paused on their group, and a surprised look flashed across his face. It wasn't long

while since I've

His brows

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

replied with a short and indifferent acceptance of his

smile froze for a very short second before he regained his

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

at Amanda, Aaron turned around and

Emma turned to look

are you sure you want to treat him like that? His guild is

"No."

shook her head as she stared

was the heir of the most powerful guild in Lutwig city, one of the four great cities in

of power, his guild was not as great as hers, but in terms of influence, it was very

head and staring at Emma, Amanda softly said, "The reason I'm doing this is because he is already working with another diamond-graded guild

"He is?"

in Emma's eyes at this

would they reach out for the

"Because they are greedy."

voice taking

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

by this, but she was also helpless at the

for coming all of the way here to

was a crisp and

eyes paused on an elf standing far ahead

them, he seemed to be

Now that everyone has gathered, I will escort you to

around, the elf started to walked along a pathway

he left, one by one, the other people present

"Let's go."

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

flashed across her

"Here, take this."

Emma, grabbing her shoulder, Melissa handed her

be displaying your talent to everyone, you might as well be useful

speaking, Melissa

lowering her head, Amanda stared at her hand

her lips

***

Clank—!

room as a broadsword

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

distance, the individual holding onto the broadsword

"You've improved a lot."

"You too."

were none other than Kevin

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

back at the Lock, both of them were quite

Lock, the both of them were still quite familiar with each other's styles. Hence, they were able to make the

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

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

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

he lagged behind Kevin, in terms

that had accumulated on his forehead, Kevin

today, the others will be coming here

"Okay."