The three of them were walking on the street while Yusa commented.

"What are they even thinking about? Sending us to such a dangerous place, they might as well ask us to suicide."

​​

Ao also complemented

"There is also this thing about sending someone to protect us, I would say it's more likely that this person was sent to spy on us. We have been improving way too fast after all, and it has probably raised some alarms."

Krune agreed with their point of view.

"They say that this is a great opportunity, and I believe they are not lying about it. From what we heard from this 'Furiu' realm, great fortunes are waiting for us. Still, did they think we need that at the moment? Our cultivation speed is already good enough. If we need anything, we can do some missions and buy them directly! Combat experience? We are going through our own fights every time we enter the Danger Zones to complete missions, so we have plenty already."

Krune might be in a hurry to improve his cultivation. Still, he isn't desperate to the point of throwing his life away just yet. Not to mention, if the one who is in danger isn't him but his friends, does it mean that that 'protector' won't lift a single finger to help? Fuc* it!

Yusa nodded.

"But I'm still curious, who exactly would they send to join our team in the end? Since they said this person would be able to protect Krune from most of dangerous situations, it's bound to be someone very strong. Usually, someone like that already has a team, so why would they leave it to come to us? Other than spying, I can't think about any other reason."

They kept talking until they got to the restaurant.

---

Back at the mercenary guild, Lu Ganan still had a blank face, and his brain stopped working altogether. It wasn't until five minutes later that he came back to himself.

'They must be kidding! Do they even know how much effort the Headquarters put to bring them together to the Furiu realm? No, wait! How am I going to report this in the first place?'

The mercenary guild never forces its members to take any mission since there are several other great powers in the Yule Continent, after all. This measure is to prevent their own members from running to different sides. Still, no mercenary team would ever think about refusing such an opportunity. This is unbelievable!

Lu Ganan then called the Headquarters and told them the news.

At the Guild Head's office, Bary and Kassius were looking at the roof. How could they ever expect Krune's team to refuse? That's illogical. Kassius looked at Bary and sighed.

"So, what now? We can't force them since it would just scare them away. Not to mention that the Alchemist Guild would love to hear that Krune left the guild and would definitely extend an olive branch for him."

Bary smiled bitterly.

"What exactly can we do? Did you see the reason they gave? They said that they are already improving fast enough and have no need for extra risks. As for combat experience, they are getting it from missions. But that isn't the main point, Shinja Avril is."

Kassius looked at Bary puzzled. Why would Shinja Avril be a problem? Since there is no more Furiu Realm for Krune's team, then she is basically free to do whatever she wants. He knew that Bary would explain, so he just waited. Bary then sighed as well and said

"Her blood contract is the main issue, it stated that she would have to stay by Krune's side and protect him until the Furiu Realm closed again. But nothing in that specifies what we would do if he refused, so I believe you can understand already."

Kassius jaw dropped.

"Doesn't that mean that she will have to protect him until the realm closes whether he enters it or not? I see... She will probably think that this was a trap we made to force her to join a team. Usually, we also don't know how long it takes for the Furiu Realm to close. All we know that it won't be more than six months, or at least, that was the longest time it stayed open according to the records."

Bary then said

"That's not all. Shinja wanted to enter that place as well, and she wanted to find an opportunity to breakthrough into the Core Formation Realm while at it. But if Krune doesn't enter, she won't be able to enter either, so I'm afraid that she will find problems for Krune's team, which would also lead to scaring Krune away."

Kassius then thought.

"Why don't you tell Krune's team about that then, they would at least understand it wasn't on purpose."

Bary shook his head.

"I can't since one of the conditions on the contract was that we couldn't tell Krune's team about that. Shinja wanted to prevent a situation where Krune would court death by himself just because she is bound by the contract."

Kassius heard that and smiled bitterly. In the end, they can just pray for everything to end well.

---

Krune's group was having their lunch back at the restaurant. After Krune learned how to cook, they got pretty used to have good food even when they are out on missions. When they are in the city, they also go to a restaurant now and then. As for the time that they are out, Krune is responsible for their meals. Of course, Yusa and Ao always helped with whatever they could.

It was then that someone appeared at the restaurant's entrance. She was a woman with blue hair and white skin, and her face showing no emotion what so ever. Who else could it be other than Shinja Avril? The people there, especially the men, couldn't look away from her, and It raised quite a few fights between the couples who were lunching. Shinja cared little for all of that, though. She was already used to such a scene anyway.

It had only been a little bit more than one hour since Krune's group refused the offer to enter the Furiu realm. Kassius and Bary had just had their conversation back at the Headquarters too, so Shinja still had no idea that Krune wasn't going to the Furiu realm. She just came here earlier to find her protection target.

Krune's group was lunching on the second floor, and when Shinja appeared in front of them, Krune's group got puzzled. Did they know her? She was very beautiful, but to her surprise, neither Krune nor Ao seemed to care much about her looks. It couldn't be helped since Krune is a wisp to start with. As for Ao, ever since he joined Krune's group, he lost interest in anything else other than training. Every day his cultivation and abilities soared, and that changed his way of thinking. A simple cute face isn't enough to move him anymore. Only Yusa showed some interest, not in that way, of course.

Krune just gave her a single glance and focused back on his meal. He is a wisp, so other than Feifei, he doesn't care about the appearance of any other man or woman. It's just that his affection for Feifei has a lot to do with the fact she saved his life that day.

Shinja went straight at Krune, and from the picture she got, this was definitely the right target. Well, it was easy to notice due to Krune's rainbow hair anyway.

"You are Krune, right? I received the request to act as your bodyguard during the Furiu realm exploration. If possible, I would like for us to move straight away to prevent any accidents from happening before we get there."

Yusa, Ao, and Krune looked at her puzzled. They refused taking part in the Furiu realm exploration, didn't they? What is she talking about? At first, Yusa thought that the mercenary guild used this beautiful woman to convince Krune to enter the Furiu realm. But soon, she discarded this idea. The mercenary guild knows very well the Krune isn't human, so a human beauty has little to no effect on him to start with. Finally, Krune's puzzled face was gone and he showed a look of understanding.

"Supervisor Lu Ganan had told us about the Furiu Realm opening and offered us the chance to enter, but we refused. I don't know why they haven't told you that yet, but simply put, you are free to go. There is no need to protect me anymore, so goodbye."

Krune then went back to his lunch.

Shinja was taken aback! This was probably the first time in years that Shinja had a blank expression on her face. Refused? Who would refuse to enter the Furiu realm? It was an event where everyone at the Foundation Establishment wanted to join but had no way to go. Did he just say that his team refused? She took some time to come back to herself, but when she did, her face went from cold to dark.

"Are you making fun of me? Who would refuse such an opportunity? Do you think I'm playing here? I couldn't care less if you entered or not, but if you don't go, I can't go either, so stop wasting my time and let's go already."

This time it was Yusa who answered.

"If you want to go, just go! What does that have to do with us anyway? We have decided that our cultivation progress is good enough already, and we don't need additional risks for the moment. First of all, what is that about if he doesn't go, you can't go either? We are not imprisoning you here as far as I know. I can see that your realm is much higher than ours, and you probably are close to the Core Formation Realm, right? Then take this opportunity and go by yourself. If you want, we can even give you our three slots, you can make a team of your own and look for fortunes together with them."

Ao also complemented.

"We are pretty confident in our cultivation speed, whether we enter the Furiu realm or not will have little difference on our path. So I thank you for your concern about us losing this opportunity, but you don't need to worry. We are good the way we are at the moment."

Krune just nodded his head while eating, they are doing pretty well for themselves already.

Shinja was almost losing her wits! But she couldn't say that she is bound by a blood contract to protect Krune until the Furiu realm closed. Not that she couldn't talk about it, the blood contract only specified that the mercenary guild couldn't tell Krune about that. If she wanted, she could say it herself. Still, it would be too humiliating for her, not to mention the risks behind revealing such information.

In her eyes, Krune might as well throw himself inside some perilous mission just because he has her to protect him. But then again, there is another issue. If she sticks around even after being chased away, it will be evident that something is fishy. They would figure out sooner or later. She calmed herself and left, the Furiu realm hasn't opened yet, so her protection mission hasn't started as well. Shinja first needs to contact the mercenary guild and ask them what is going on.

Back at the lunch table, Krune's group was discussing what just happened. Yusa looked in the way that Shinja left and breathed heavily.

"I know who she is. That's Shinja Avril, a peak 9th stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. She is quite famous, and I heard that she has a pure Yin Body. Because of that, her control over the water element is unbelievably high. Also, as a late-stage Foundation Establishment and a genius at that, she can use other elements at the same time. I heard that she specialized in using water and thunder elements together."

Ao was surprised.

"So that was her? I also heard about this genius woman. It seems like she only acts alone. She has never joined a ranking team before, nor did she ever tried to build one of her own. Because of that, people can't say for sure just how strong she is."

Ao then looked at Krune and said.

"This is just a rumour, but I heard that she also has a universe foundation just like yours, Krune."

Krune put his spoon down and said.

"It's not a rumor, I'm certain that she has a universe foundation too. I don't know why, but I could feel it, and I'm sure she could too."

Krune was, in fact, just as surprised as Ao and Yusa. He didn't expect to find another universe foundation so soon. He always used his universe foundation as an excuse for a lot of things, and Shinja appearance might cause him some problems because of that. Fortunately, she has left already.

"Forget it, since she understood that we won't be going to the Furiu realm, she will just leave. We should pay attention to our next mission in the Raskie Danger Zone instead. I'm planning for us to have some bigger challenges other than completing the mission. This time we have to beat down at least one 8th stage Foundation Establishment beast. It's going to be hard, and death is also an option. Still, at least it's not as crazy as this Furiu realm thing, so the two of you better get ready for that."

Ao and Yusa nodded. They know that although the Furiu realm would probably bring some dangerous situations as well. But in the end, the most dangerous thing would be the other groups or maybe even their own protector, Shinja Avril's greed. So, they prefer to have their own way of acquiring combat experience.

---

Back at the mercenary guild branch, Lu Ganan had a gloomy expression. In front of him was a beautiful blue-haired girl, but he couldn't feel the least bit happy about it.

"Cough, cough. How can I help you today, Miss Shinja?"

A cold aura started to spread from Shinja, and her face was getting darker and darker while looking at Lu Ganan.

"Help me, you say?"

Lu Ganan was almost crying. The Headquarters left Shinja for him to deal with, or to be more specific, he was the sacrifice for the day.

'Oh, gods! Why must you forget about me?'