"That's everything that happened in the Realm of Defenders," Alex finishes his story.

"Wow! Big bro, you're awesome," Elsa stares at Alex with admiring eyes after hearing his exploits in the Realm of Defenders.

Of course Alex didn't tell everything to his family. He left out the more dangerous parts of his experience because he didn't want to make his mother and sister worries. Despite that, his mother still has a worried expression on her face. As a mother, she can't help but be worried about her children, especially in a dangerous place like the Realm of Defenders. She knows that his trip must have involved some dangers. Otherwise, her husband wouldn't have died without any news in that place.

Alex, with his sharp eyes is able to see the flash of worry in his mother's face. He tries to change the subject.

"Oh yeah, mom. I earned some money from this first trip. I will transfer it to your account to help with the family expense," Alex says to his mother.

"It's okay, you can keep it in your account. Use it to have fun this time. After all, this is your first earning," replies Erina with a warm smile.

"Ah, but I won't have time to have fun. I plan to return to the Realm the day after tomorrow, after I prepare everything I need tomorrow," Alex replies to his mother.

Erina shows a bitter smile on her face and urges her son to change his plan, "I think you shouldn't push yourself. You should have more rest."

"Besides, you haven't met with your friends for a while. Don't you want to meet them?" Erina continues to persuade Alex.

"Elsa also missed you, so you should spend more time with her," Erina then faces Elsa and blinks at her daughter.

"Yeah, big bro, stay and play with me for a few more days," Elsa pleads with her big brother with big moist eyes.

"Ahh.. Okay. You guys win, I will stay two more days," Alex can only surrenders to his mother and sister's scheme.

"Sigh.." Alex exhales his breath as he sees his mother and sister's happy face for succeeding in their scheme.

He decides to return to the Realm of Defenders on June 24th, 4 days later.

....

Alex spends the next day playing old video game with his little sister. Then at night, he takes his mother and little sister to a nice dinner after his mother finished working. Erina told him to use his money to have fun instead of treating them to dinner, but Alex insisted that this is fun to him.

On the next day, June 22nd, Alex calls up his two best friends to meet up. They agree to meet up at the cafe near their training dojo. The training dojo is a small dojo that teach martial arts to people aspiring to become a Defender. Currently this kind of dojo can be found everywhere.

Alex walks into the cafe and finds two youngsters sitting near the window waving at him. He walks up to their table and sits down across the two youngsters. The bespectacled youngster to his left is a Japanese boy with dark hair and firm body. His name is Takeshi Fuji. To his right is Karl Heinz. He has blonde hair and brown eyes with toned muscles. Karl's father is from Germany while his mother is Japanese. Both of them are Alex's two best friends. They were classmates in school. They also aspire to become a Defender, so they joined the dojo together. Alex has "graduated" from the dojo earlier than them.

"So, how are you mister esteemed Defender?" Karl opens up the conversation by teasing Alex.

"Haha.." Alex laughs embarrassingly.

"Cut it out, Karl. So, how was the first trip to the Realm of Defenders, Alex?" the calm Takeshi cuts off Karl and seriously asks Alex.

"Well, it was very interesting. I got an unexpected skill," Alex starts telling them his experience.

"Ah, what skill? Is it perhaps {Ice Bullet}?" Karl asks Alex excitedly.

The calm Takeshi also can't help but gets a bit excited, "Is it {Earth Armor}?"

{Ice Bullet} is considered as one of the best F-ranked attacking skill due to its strong controlling capability, while {Earth Armor} like its name is one of the best F-ranked defensive skill.

"Neither. I got {Energy Manipulation}," Alex whispers to them while smiling.

"What the hell?! Why are you smiling? Isn't it the useless skill that's impossible to learn?" Karl was surprised and starts cursing.

Takeshi also shows a stern expression and asks, "So you went out without learning any skill?"

"No, I managed to learn it," replies Alex.

"You managed to learn {Energy Manipulation}?" this time it is Takeshi's turn to be surprised.

"Yes. It doesn't lose out to {Ice Bullet} or {Earth Armor}. In fact, I think this skill is better than those two," Alex continues surprising his friends.

Both Takeshi and Karl wear dumbfounded expression on their faces. It takes a few seconds for them to calm down. Alex then starts telling them his experience in the Realm of Defenders. This is also a valuable information to the both of them as they also want to be a Defender in the near future. The two friends often shows dumbfounded expression while Alex tells them his experience in the Realm of Defenders. Their face even froze for a good 20 seconds when Alex tells them that he managed to rank-up within 9 days.

After talking some more, they said their goodbyes.

"Be careful on your next trip," Takeshi reminds Alex.

"Yes, don't go dying on us before we explore the Realm of Defenders together," Karl jokingly says to Alex.

"Haha.. Yes. You two also need to work hard. Don't make me wait too long," Alex encourages his two friends before saying goodbye.

....

As Alex is about to reach his apartment building, his old smartphone suddenly starts ringing. The screen shows an unknown number.

"Hello," Alex answers his phone.

A man's voice replies to him, "Hello. May I know if this is Alex Volff?"

"Yes. I am him. May I help you?" Alex replies.

"My name is Ichiro Tanaka. I am an assistant to the manager of United Defenders Association branch in Kyoto," the man introduces himself.

"Oh.. The UDA?" Alex was surprised.

"Yes. My boss wants to invite you to our office for a chat tomorrow. May I inquire if you are available for noon tomorrow?"

"Ah, your boss? The UDA's Kyoto branch manager wants to meet me? Did I do something wrong?" Alex asked confusedly.

"No. You did nothing wrong. So, may I know if you're available?" Ichiro assured him.

"Oh, yes, I'm available. I will go to the UDA office tomorrow," Alex replies still a little confused as to why the UDA invites him.

"That's great. Then see you tomorrow."