The Author's POV

At the same time.

Aaron calmly walked around the venue with a glass cup in his hand.

His brows were locked into a tight frown as he looked at a small letter in his hand.

The first thing he thought as he stared at the letter was, 'Why would they give this to me?'

He was merely drinking and trying to make as many connections as possible when suddenly one of the elven workers handed him the letter.

It was apparently from one of the higher ups. Dwarven elders to be exact. Their comments were rather vague, but in short, they wanted to arrange a meeting with him.

'What exactly do they want from me?' Aaron wondered, taking a sip of his drink.

"…maybe they've heard about the product my guild is making."

A sudden thought occurred to him.

Lowering his head, he looked at his smartwatch. Tapping onto it, he looked through a series of files on his watch.

[Project - Nolon]

[Project - Convention467]

[Project - β98]

[Project - Rentolv]

On his watch was a list. A list of projects that his guild was working on behind the scenes.

Being the number one guild in Lewington city, one of the four great cities, their guild invested in many side projects. This was just what guilds did.

Staring at the list, Aaron's finger soon paused on a certain file.

[Project α-12]

Project detail : Automated machine.

Time of operation : 12 minutes, 09 seconds.

Capabilities : D rank.

Licking his bottom lip, Aaron had a sudden look of enlightenment.

'They must be curious about this.'

He had been worried over nothing. The reason why the dwarves wanted to meet with him had to do with this. Project α-12, one of their latest projects and something that they had been working on for over a decade.

The project idea was simple, create an automated artifact that would act on its own and kill monsters without the need of sending actual heroes. Sort of like a golem.

It was a project in which they had invested billions and billions of U. It was still in the testing phases but without a doubt, it was something that would revolutionize the world once it got out.

Most likely, one of the elders from his guild leaked the contents of the project to one of the dwarven elders in hope of catching their interest.

'I'm sure it's this.' A smirk appeared on Aaron's lips. Folding the letter neatly, he quietly placed it inside of his pocket before heading for the back exit of the building.

Even if it wasn't because of the project, Aaron wasn't suspicious of the contents of the latter.

After all, he didn't think anyone would have the balls to plan something against him when he was so close to so many elites. His death would definitely be a sign of incompetency from them, as well as a declaration of war on the humans.

'According to the letter, I should have no problem exiting the building.' Aaron lightheartedly thought as he followed the instructions written in the letter.

It wasn't long before he arrived at the back door exit of the building where an elven guard stood.

Standing with his back straight, the elven guard stared up ahead. An imposing presence emanating from his body.

Rummaging through his pocket, Aaron showed the elf the letter.

"Here, I've been told to go out of this place."

the elf wordlessly took the letter in his hands

Ci clank—

opened the door

Aaron, but he didn't seem

"Haaa…"

got out, Aaron let out a long breath. He felt

contents of it were legitimate. He no longer needed to worry about it being

Wooosh—

took a step outside of the building, a fresh nightly breeze brushed past him as his clothes and hair fluttered. Around him were a

'What next?'

the place and only seeing trees,

and taking a good look at

"Go straight?…Okay."

deeper into the forest. Not an inkling of worry was displayed on his face as he

Rustle—

then that out of nowhere a rustling sound rang from next to him. Snapping his head in the direction of where the sound came from, Aaron saw the silhouette of a figure in the

was hard for Aaron to make out the features of the silhouette, but staring at its outline in the distance, Aaron could tell that it was not

With a relaxed tone,

are you the guy that I'm

narcissism and pride

here to

and staring at the

you want to meet me here, but here

Rustle— Rustle—

slowly walked forward, and Aaron, who was paying

squinted. Trying to get a better look at the features

an elf. The more he stared at the silhouette the more Aaron was sure

"….hm?"

to come out from the bushes as its features were soon revealed

eyes, and rounded ears. As he had suspected,

you?" Aaron asked, the frown

him as the figure just stared at him without saying anything.

mute

here to

spoke. His calm and collected voice echoed throughout the

calmed down and a smile returned to

I see. That's good. You

through his sentence, Aaron suddenly stopped

the figure

slowly clenched his hand and ripped something off of his face, revealing two distinctive blue-colored eyes that were

onto his shoulders, and a serene look appeared on his face. But the serene look did not last for long; what replaced

on?…he

couple of times, trying to comprehend what was going on, Aaron tilted his

suddenly took a step forward and his face became

get a clear look at the figure,

the other side, the figure

"You remember me?"

***

"Fuck, where is he!"

shouted in frustration. His voice was quite loud, gathering the attention

what he had done, Kevin

"Huuu."

a long breath, he lowered his head and

direction of where he had last seen Ren. He only missed him for a split second, he was bound to

Ren…no,

of times, Kevin looked at the names of everyone present, in hopes of finding Ren. But regardless of where he looked, he was unable

be within my visible range,' Kevin tiptoed to

I have missed

out loud with a voice filled with

looking

up, he suddenly heard

"Who?"

voice came from. Kevin's eyes soon paused