“Is everyone ready?” Jordyn Price, president of the Stone Mace Guild, asked. He surveyed the crowd of Hunters waiting at the bottom of the steps of the Guild building. As an A Ranked tank, his stature was impressive. Bold black and red armor amplified the hulk of his muscular body making him appear larger than life. His squared features were handsome in a strong, mature way with full lips and narrow eyes. His dark gaze landed on me for a second. He frowned briefly before looking away.

I let out a silent breath and shifted, trying to ease the tension in my body. Before I got the System, I struggled with the feeling of pressure that exuded from other Hunters. Interesting enough, the edge had dulled since I started to level up. But now in my weakened state, the pressure and predatory threat I felt from other Hunters was back in full force. Especially the brief moment the Guild leader sent his displeasure at me from seeing someone so weak in his group.

“Nervous?” Emma whispered as she shifted closer to me.

I smiled at her and shook my head, even though I was dying inside. The whole mission had been laid out in the confidential agreement I signed fifteen minutes ago — we were going to Feng Jungle, we’d find a giant energy crystal that had been sighted there, and we’d bring it back to Eden.

And I’d take advantage of my only friendship so I could screw up the entire mission. Such a jerk move.

Emma beamed at me, completely ignorant that she'd been scammed. “Don’t worry about a thing. Just keep close to me, and nothing bad will happen.”

The gaze of six surrounding Hunters zeroed in on me, five of which were hostile and one patiently neutral. Mason, the neutral one, was the only name I remembered from everyone that Emma had introduced me to. All the rest of Mason’s group had clearly already labeled me as dead weight, but they were nice enough not to show it in front of Emma.

“On the other side of the Gate, mages have already set up the travel route. Each group leader is responsible for handing out the route tokens to their squad. Don’t lose them,” President Price warned, “If you do, you’ll have to walk back to the Gate.” He didn’t have to add that only an S could survive the long perilous journey back to the Gate before nightfall. “Once at Feng Jungle, teams will split and search for our target. This will likely be a multiple day quest and it won’t end until we are successful. Expect the unexpected. Hunters of all ranks disappear in Feng Jungle all the time for unknown reasons. If you come across a tough situation, call for help. Losing a bit of pride is better than losing your life.”

He said that, but it was obvious from scattered expressions of smirking lips, determined brows, and a few eyes rolled around me that no one agreed with their president. The fight for hierarchy in a Guild was brutal, a constant blood bath that drove Hunters to abuse themselves just to get a cut above the person next to them. As someone who’d inherited a cushy position, I was sure Jordyn Price had never had to deal with that kind of competition, though I bet he knew it went on. And let it happen anyway. When he looked at the group, did he see the faces of the people, or the dollars the Guild spent in developing the Hunters he commanded?

“Let’s move out!” Price motioned with his hand towards the Gate.

The Stone Mace Guild cheered as one. I glanced at Emma. She threw her hands in the air and hollered with her Guild. The echo of their voices ricocheted off surrounding buildings. “I’m so excited!” she squealed. “It’s my first large operation.”

“Mine too.” I smiled weakly.

I counted heads around me. There were about a hundred Hunters, give or take. Every Hunter had an emblem on their shoulder signifying which squad they belonged to. Whether it was a leather patch or a metal patch depended on what kind of armor he or she wore, but all patches had the Stone Mace symbol at their center from which multi-colored stripes spiraled to the edges. Emma and her squad’s patches were trimmed with maroon. I, of course, had no patch at all.

“How often does your Guild do big operations like this?” I asked as I fell in step with the rest of the crowd behind President Price.

“Ones this size?” Mason spoke up from the other side of Emma. “Not often. Our Guild takes on quite a few quests. But this is only the third one since I joined four years ago that the top eight teams have been included in. Normally they use just the top five or so.” He paused and answered my silent question. “We’re number seven right now.”

I considered the size of the group I’d just counted. If there were only eight teams here, and Emma’s team only had seven in it, she was in a considerably small team. They had five Bs and two Cs, one of which was Emma. I didn’t know how many teams the Guild had in total, but I had a feeling that the reason why Emma’s squad was ranked so high without an A ranker was because of their synergistic teamwork. I could see the way they moved around each other, always shifting and pivoting, automatically keeping the B ranked Healer, the mage, and Emma, the archer, at the center of the group. It was a subconscious defence formation that would maximize their potential. I couldn’t be more aware of this fact because I was also being shuffled into the middle of the group.

Other teams seemed to move in similar ways, always aware of where their teammates were to their position. But there were other groups that strutted forward, ready to plow through, no matter if they were pushing aside another team or even their own teammate. I wasn’t too surprised to see that most of the groups that were like that consisted mostly of As. Power and pride go hand in hand. It had since the beginning of humanity, and it would continue until the end of the world.

President Price led us to the Gate and motioned us to stop.

I shifted until I could look through a gap to see what he was doing.

He walked over to clap hands then lock fists with a man standing at the head of a squad waiting at the Gate entrance.

My eyes widened as I recognized the Hunter being so buddy-buddy with the Stone Mace Guild President. I could still feel his hands as he lifted me in the air, feel the helplessness as I was thrown to my death.

Blake.

He smiled wide and clapped the president on the shoulder, his gauntlets clanging against Price’s black leather pauldron. They exchanged words and President Price laughed.

“I forgot to tell you he was coming,” Emma whispered low in my ear. “Sorry. Blake has the top team in the Guild. He goes on everything.”

Mason glanced at us and frowned.

I took a breath and forced my heart rate to slow. The top team even though he’s only a B. In fact every single person in his team was an A, except for Blake. I recognized several faces standing behind him, like his right hand man Mark and the lockpick Penny. They made such a deep impression on me that I’d never forget them, even with my lousy facial memory. But it seemed like at least half of Blake’s teammates were new.

“It’s fine,” I muttered. It didn’t matter if he was there or not. I just needed to get to Feng Jungle.

“What’s up?” Mason asked, trying to be discreet though others in their group glanced at me, obviously listening too.

I pressed a smile to my lips. “Nothing. Really.” I watched as the president walked into the Gate with Blake and his group a half a step behind. I just needed to make sure that I didn’t see them again.

“If it’s going to complicate our teamwork, we need to know,” a melee Hunter pressed. What was her name again? Lita? No, it was Reina, a versatile melee from the looks of her light steel armor and the only front line female in the group. She frowned at me, dislike heavy in her dark blue eyes.

“It won't. I promise,” Emma piped up.

Reina glanced at Emma, her face softening. She was obviously trying to be nice to Emma, but like the other people in the team, didn’t like that I was there.

The force of the crowd thinned, as the crowd filtered around us toward the Gate. I was a pebble caught in a current of power.

Pressure settled on my body, threat coming from somewhere to my right. I glanced over, weary and a little shocked. Who knew me in this crowd enough to specifically threaten me? I mean, I was a hermit. I went out of my way to avoid people.

Two men a couple years older than me, flat out glared at me as they walked by. Their eyes stayed on my face all the way until they vanished into the Gate. An impressive feat, if I do say so myself. But what the hell? Who were they? I sucked at faces and names, but I knew for a fact that I’d never seen those men before in my entire life. They were both C ranked. Were they upset that an E was going on the quest?

I glanced at where the hostile men disappeared into the Gate then at my unfriendly temporary team members around me. This is why I avoided people. Seriously, what did I do wrong? Breathe?

“Okay, okay.” Mason drew my attention. “That’s enough. I need to give you all this.” He held out his hands. Eight purple stones cut into nautilus spirals appeared on his palms. “There’s one for everyone. You have to have it on you — in your hand or Items Bag, it doesn’t matter — when you step on the magic circle. It’ll take you to the paired magic circle in the Feng Jungle. Don’t lose it, there aren’t any extras.”

I waited until everyone else took one, then I pulled a cloth napkin from my Items Bag and used it as a buffer between my skin and the crystal. I didn’t know if it was okay to touch this stone, all I knew was that the System wouldn’t let me touch an energy crystal. And from my experience a couple days ago, I didn’t want to anyway. I got more odd looks as I wrapped up the token in the napkin and buckled it into the pocket of my hip satchel.

I ignored them and looked at Mason, waiting for his order. Until the mission was over, I was part of their team by contract. Even though I was more comfortable as a loner, it was time to take orders like a good little Hunter.

Mason took a breath. “Here we go.” He turned and led the team to the Gate.

Inside Gate Vale, four mages with Stone Mace badges on their robes were positioned fifty feet beyond the entrance. They stood around a glowing purple circle lying on the grass. A thin group of Hunters hovered around them, waiting for their turn to be transported.

I’d seen hundreds of transportation circles, but I’d never been in one. Most of the transportation circles were done by mages in Guilds and no one else was allowed to use them. The Hunter’s Association had some available for non-Guild Hunters to use to get the far corners of Gate Vale, but they were crazy expensive to use. Then again, I’d heard that kind of magic was also crazy hard to do, even for an A ranked mage. Since mages were prone to a specific type of magic, not all mages could cast the wind-based transportation spell.

We were the last group to use the transportation circle. I watched as Emma’s squad stepped into the purple glow one at a time. One by one they turned into a blur of movement that arched up and aimed for the northern corner of Gate Vale.

Mason glanced at Emma and smiled. “See you on the other side. Be careful landing. It can be rough.”

She grinned back. “Thanks for the reminder.”

He stepped forward into the pale purple circle. The magic wasn’t flat, it was more like a self-contained pool of light that wafted from the ground only high enough to conceal Mason’s ankles. He gave Emma one last smile. The next second, the magic flashed bright and he was nothing but a blur.

How often do people get motion sick during transport? And if they did, what happened to their bile until they arrived at their destination? I shuddered and watched as Emma hurried forward.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be waiting on the other side,” she promised very seriously.

I smiled. What was this, acting like my nanny? “Sure thing. I’ll see you in a couple minutes.”

She stepped in the magic and disappeared.

My turn. A smile pulled at my lips and I almost felt giddy. I’d heard this was the closest a person could get to flying. The magic cooled my feet through my boots, like I was walking in invisible snow. But I only felt it for a second before my body became weightless. It wasn’t quite like Feather Stepping. When I used that ability I felt weightless — more so with every level I gained — but I remained in control of my body.

That wasn’t the case here. My body lifted up into the air. Then suddenly, the world turned in a mesh of colors around me.