Day 10

[One hour till the games start, all participants are invited to gather in the Great Assembly Hall]

Emery and his four friends decided to meet up when they saw the notifications. Emery met with all the boys, when Klea, the only one who hadn't arrived yet, jumped out of nowhere, which resulted in her stumbling and almost falling to the ground. However, she quickly stabilized herself and looked at the four boys in front of her with an excited expression, even more than usual.

"The game will begin soon! I'm so excited for this," said Klea as the expression on her face clearly showed her excitement. She then observed the four boys in front of her or more precisely, the outfit they currently wore.

"The four of you looked so cute and handsome now, especially with our matching uniforms," said Klea with a smile.

At the moment, Klea was admiring their group outfits for the impending Magus Games. The five of them were wearing an obsidian-black shirt and pants as their uniforms, coupled with a grey-colored leather vest with streaks of white.

Although this vest could look dull when combined with the color of their uniform, Emery and the rest were truly happy with these tier two protective vests. Unexpectedly, all of these outfits were provided by Klea and were given to them to be worn today.

[Protective Vest - Tier 2]

[Light Armor]

[Weight : 3 kilogram]

[Protective Energy 100/100]

Each of these Armors cost at least 5000 spirit stones, Julian was shocked and couldn't help but say. "Klea… Did you spend all of your stones on these outfits? I really appreciate the effort, Klea, but… you shouldn't have done-"

Before Julian could finish his words, Klea quickly waved her hand expressing her disagreement. 'Ai… It's just a small amount of stones. It's no biggie at all." said Klea. She then looked at the others, whose expressions were more or less the same as Julian, and her expression turned soft.

"I knew that all of you spent your stones on the spirit serums and weapons that you needed. That's why I did that."

The four boys were about to be touched by her words, when suddenly they heard her muttering "Heh, men always weapons first."

Klea realized she was speaking her thoughts out loud again. She then hurriedly waved her hands and said, "Anyway, you guys don't have to worry about that at all. I've used my entire charm to get the best discount for these outfits. Therefore, it was not that expensive."

"And also, after seeing you guys looking so handsome and dashing on those outfits... I felt that every stone I spent was completely worth it." said Klea.

Emery could see that Chumo seemed to have many words he wanted to say to her. He could even swear that he saw Chumo's eyes were all teary. It seemed what Klea did really moved his feelings.

Taking another look at the gift prepared by Klea they currently wore, all the boys were truly touched by her heartfelt gestures; including Emery himself. He had been too excited and busy with his new skills.

He spent too much time on his practice and didn't get the chance to shop around yesterday. Fortunately for him, thanks to Klea, he was now fully prepared.

Emery stood up and smiled at Klea, "Thank you so much for your gifts, Klea." He then turned around and faced the others, "To not let Klea's gifts go to waste, we need to make sure that we do our best during the Games. Do you guys agree?"

"Yeah!" shouted everyone loudly, startling the wildlifes around them.

The three of them who were still seated quickly stood up as this group of five people went to the place, where their class gathered. Not long after their arrival, Magus Minerva came before them, "I truly hope that all of you can succeed in the Games, but I would already be happy if just half of you managed to finish the first stage. Nevertheless, do your best, I wish you all the success."

They then went to the location where the portal was. When they walked along the path towards the portal, they could see dozens of other acolytes who also joined the Games walk alongside them. They then quickly entered the portal and went into the Great Assembly Hall.

As they reached the Great Assembly Hall, they could see hundreds of second year acolytes from a hundred classes had gathered and lined up inside the hall. Just like before, one could see several magus standing in front of the huge stairs. However, the headmaster has nowhere to be seen.

Emery could see that most of the hundreds of acolytes here had worn their fighting gears. The ones who didn't most likely had theirs kept inside their storage ring and would only take them out when needed. All the acolytes were visibly excited as they waited for the game to begin.

Using this opportunity where every second year acolytes were gathered, Emery once again tried to find Silva among the sea of people. Unfortunately, he still didn't manage to find her. To his surprise, Emery saw another girl he didn't expect to find. The skinny pink haired girl also noticed Emery and quickly approached him.

"Emery! I'm glad to see you here."

This skinny pink haired girl was the only other person, beside Silva, who survived from the incident near Elder Respite last time. Emery saw that Mags seemed hesitant to speak.

"What is it, Mags? You can say it to me," asked Emery with a smile.

"I-I have been wanting to find you to give you my gratitude and apology for the incident last time. After I left you behind and managed to escape alive, the guilt always gnawed at me ever since I realized I cowardly left you to die." said Mags with tears in her eyes, "A-After I heard that you and the other girl defeated the monstrous orc, I had tried to find and meet you, but I wasn't able to do so."

"I-I'm truly sorry."

Silent for a while, Emery then opened his mouth, "Don't worry about it, Mags, we were all just trying to survive that night."

"Thank you, Emery. I owe you my life. Therefore, if you ever need anything you can come and find me." said Mags while patting her chest, "By the way, I'm from Class 36."

Just before Mags walked away, Emery suddenly said something, "Actually…"

Mags who already turned her body quickly turned back towards Emery. She then saw Emery take out a bag from inside his storage ring and shoved it to the girl's hands. When she opened the bag, Mags could see six green-colored potions. Raising her head, she looked at Emery in confusion.

Seeing her confusion, Emery calmly said, "This was the reward that we got from the clover mission. We received nine of them and I already took my share. Those were yours and Cole's share."

Mags was startled when she heard Emery's words, "Yo-You are weird, Emery. I don't deserve any of these after I left you behind like that and that included Cole. The guy most likely died already so you can keep them all." said Mags as she returned the bag to Emery.

Receiving the bag, Emery said, "I see… I'll keep them then"

The pink haired girl then braved herself to stare Emery's eyes directly, "Emery, you truly are a good person," said Mags to Emery, before she suddenly jumped and hugged him.

While being hugged by Mags, Emery could hear a soft whisper in his ear, "Thank you, Emery."

The girl then released her hug and quickly left, soon her figure disappeared among the crowd. Emery was still shocked by Mags' abrupt action, when he heard a cough coming from his back.

"Ahem! I see that you are much more popular than I thought… Am I right, Emery?"

Turning his head, Emery saw Klea stared at him with an emotionless face, "How did you charm all those girls, E-M-E-R-Y?"

"C-C-Charm?" stunned by the sudden accusation, Emery stuttered. "No, no, no. She's only a friend."

"Oh? A friend, you say?" asked Klea, still maintaining that emotionless face. "It seems that you are getting too many of these so-called friends. I guess you need to be leashed."

Hearing Klea's words, Emery's mind suddenly filled with disturbing imaginations, followed by unspeakable cold sweats running down his back.

At the same time as Klea finished her words, the crowds suddenly turned rowdy, attracting Emery and the others' attention. Emery could see that the headmaster had already arrived on top of the stairs.

"Huh! Once again, our discussion was disturbed," said Klea. She then walked closer to Emery and grabbed his arm with her both hands, "It has started"