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."

wordlessly took the letter in his hands

Ci clank—

which, extending his hand, he opened the door for Aaron

single word to Aaron, but he didn't seem to care

"Haaa…"

Aaron let out a long breath. He felt a lot more

letter and accepted it, it must mean that the contents of it were legitimate. He

Wooosh—

a fresh nightly breeze brushed past him as his clothes and hair fluttered. Around him

'What next?'

and only seeing trees,

and taking a good look at it, his head tilted

"Go straight?…Okay."

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

Rustle—

in the direction of where the sound came from, Aaron saw the silhouette of

it was dark, it was hard for Aaron to make out the features of the silhouette, but staring at its outline in

worried. With a

guy

narcissism and pride behind

to meet me

head and staring at the greenery,

to why you want to meet me here, but here I

Rustle— Rustle—

Aaron's words faded, the silhouette slowly walked forward, and Aaron, who was paying

like a human?' He thought as his eyes squinted. Trying to get a better look at the features

he have pointy ears like an elf. The more he stared at

"….hm?"

out from the bushes as its features were soon revealed for Aaron

emerald-colored eyes, and rounded ears. As he

asked, the frown on his

stared at him without saying anything. Aarons's muscles tensed, reading himself for

you mute or

here

suddenly spoke. His calm

words, Aaron finally calmed down and a

see. That's good. You weren't

his sentence,

the figure suddenly

the figure slowly clenched his hand and ripped something off of

slowly fell onto his shoulders, and a serene look appeared on his face. But the serene look did not last for long; what replaced it was a cold and indifferent one. Standing beneath a tree, half of his face was

going on?…he looks

trying to comprehend what was going

a step forward and his face became clearer to see for Aaron

was able to get a clear look at the figure, his

from the other side, the figure softly

"You remember me?"

***

"Fuck, where is he!"

His voice was quite loud, gathering the attention

had done,

"Huuu."

breath, he lowered his

had last seen Ren. He only missed him for a

Ren, Ren…no,

looked at the names of everyone present, in hopes of finding Ren. But

my visible range,' Kevin tiptoed to get a better look at

could I have missed

out loud with a voice

looking for

up, he suddenly heard

"Who?"

came from. Kevin's eyes soon paused on an old man who was looking at