“Well then, now that that's all sorted out, I should get everyone out of here...well almost everyone. Some people are not grateful to me at all even after what I did for them” Eden said waving his finger around letting out a blue light that eventually was formed as a magic circle.

Miriel looked at it in shock and muttered aloud, “A 7 circle...no 8 circle spell constructed just like that..!”

Hearing this, Eden was a bit happy, “Ah, a mage in the group...there at least 3 of you that are involved in magic right? Good good...well I can teach you and the other two the same either way. Anyway don't expect too much from me, I'm just normal; average in magic uses and a number of other things” he finished making the large teleport circle that was 10 metres long in diameter and ordered everyone to get on it.

“As usual using powerful like that without a care in the world...no voice incantation or preparation needed....a monster as always in the field of voiceless incantations,” muttered Jenny stepping on the teleport circle, “If someone like you is considered a normal than everyone else can jump in the Dragon's mouth!”

Eden pointed out, “I can actually make that happen you know.”

“That was a rhetorical statement!” replied Jenny frustrated.

“Then why did you say that?” asked Eden confused.

Jenny sighed and said, “Because if it's you then you might actually do it.”

“....”

Everyone was silent not wanting to disturb the conversation like this. Amongst the new recruits Miriel in particular thought, 'Master....seems to be more agitated than usual thanks to this Eden...no Guildmaster...I wonder why.'

However she didn't want to appear rude in front the Guildmaster and decided to question her at a later date. First of all, she wanted to do what the Guildmaster wanted them to do which would be in the form of some sort of training.

Soon enough the teleport circle flashed and everyone disappeared by it.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

When Lyndis and the others appeared once again, they were in front of a relatively normal building. It was two stories high and rather than big, it was long taking up three times more room than the other buildings near it. At the top, there was a clear sign placed on it.

'Headquarters of the Sleeping Sheep Center'.

'It looks like this will be our new base from now on. We still have a long time until the due time is near us...better go with the flow for now....must remember not to be rude to Eden....no the Guildmaster' thought Lyndis wanting not for the incident at the beginning when she met the others to repeat itself.

“This is the Guild base, it's at the east side of the city so you it's kinda easy to find” said Eden opening the door and walking in before anyone else. The others also walked in but Lyndis stopped and heard her master say:

“What happened to those three?”

Lyndis looked around and the ones called Gen, Mel and Jenny weren't here at all. Was there some mistake or did they bolt off before anyone could notice.

'Well they'll probably be fine since they are all strong' thought Lyndis also entering the building.

The inside of the building was quite simple. At the front was a receptionist desk, the right of that entering in was a place with a number of sofas for some reason while the left had a large board and a table with a number of seats around it.

There were stairs to the left as well which led to the second story of this building and there were a total of three doors that Lyndis could see. One that was directly behind the receptionist desk, one that was to the right side and one to the left side. Lyndis had no idea where they went and immediately started to explore this place.

But before that...

Grab!

“I hope that you don't go exploring yet, I haven't disabled all of the traps yet for you” said Eden with a smile.

'Trap....?' everyone thought at the same time. By then Ron entered the building after Lyndis.

Craaaaaaaaaaack!

There was a loud cracking sound under his foot for some reason.

BOOOOM!!!

And a large explosion as well.

“What the hell?!” shouted Lyndis in surprise. He did not expect to see Ron exploding like that. Strangely enough, the explosion was contained to outside the building and nothing inside the building except for the few burn marks on the door was harmed.

“....” Eden looked a bit confused and then said suddenly, “Crap! Didn't disable the Fire Hell Pit Trap!” before running to where the explosion was.

“Wait, did we all just go over that place a moment ago?!” retorted Miriel seeing what just happened. Ron was nowhere in sight and most likely...

“Daaaaaaaaaamnit Eden! If I wasn't a part spirit!!!!!” Ron's shout could be heard from below for some reason. Eden ran over to show the group that there was a large hole enough to drop a person at the entrance of the building and opened it.

“Hurry up and get out of the lava pool!” Eden shouted at Ron who was down at the bottom of the lava pool.

'Lava Pool?!'

Lyndis was already shocked to the point that she couldn't even find the strength to retort anymore. Then from the hole came flames that flew out and reform to become Ron.

“Pant....pant...pant....that was close” muttered Ron with a pale face.

For some reason Lyndis has a urge to kill Ron right now with the expression he has on his face. Lyndis just now realised why most women hated Ron in the first place. It wasn't his attitude or behaviour but that damn face that wants to make you kick it into piece!

In fact Eden did just that in front of Lyndis.

Kick! Kick!

“What was that for?!” shouted Ron still recovering and yet was still taking damage from Eden's kicks.

Eden made a look of disgust and said, “For that damn face that makes you want to break it into pieces!”

'It seems Eden thinks similar to me in some ways....' wondered Lyndis a bit too innocently.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

After the 'incident' with Ron and the trap that nearly killed him, Eden thoroughly disabled the rest of the traps that were placed around various places in the guild. Since Shadow had the 'detect traps' skill, he actually tried to check the place for traps as well interested in where the traps would be.

“Why the hell is this entire place blue?!” he retorted loudly without knowing it.

“Blue?” asked Sain.

“Yeah! Any place that's covered in blue for me means there are traps there! Everywhere, the floor, ceiling to the walls are completely blue! Even the tables and chairs are trapped as well!”

The group had a shutter in the fact that their lives were in constant danger in this place. But then Eden came back and Shadow could not see the whole place in blue anymore.

Ignoring the fact that the group was frightened beyond hell from the previous statement from Shadow, Eden started explaining where everything was.

“Anyway I think I should be the one to tell you guys where everything is. First of all, the place we're in is called the front guard where the receptionist desk is, the place where people can wait is on the right, the place to the left is places where we discuss things that involve Guild Quests” explained Eden to the group.

He then looked at the stairs and said, “Upstairs is the living quarters where you may stay. There are rooms for you all....well there are only 3 rooms so you need to split that between yourselves” there was a slight chuckle from his mouth that everyone didn't miss. He was definitely the one who caused this to happen!

“One the three doors leads to the kitchen, feel free to use it and not blow it up. That's the one to the right mind you, the one to the left is the storage area where a number of things are kept; don't go in there without me since something worse than death may happen~. You can store the excess loot you find as long as you organise it and keep it clean.”

'Wait, why did he covered the frightening statement with something quite casual?'

Unfortunately Eden ignored any words right now as he was thinking whether or not let the group see the last room in this building the solely belonged to him.

Eden walked through the door behind the receptionist desk.

“And this is my office where I do thing.”

He opened the door and a flood of paper came through collapsing all over the place.

“....”

Sain's mouth was open, no everyone's were at the same time.

'How much paperwork is that to the point that it ends up like that?!'

“Ah, don't worry about this, I'm the one who has to deal with his insane amount of paperwork....well all of them are the same anyway. Burning Touch.” Eden's hand turned into flames and he lightly tapped the piles of paper which quickly burned to ashes....no there weren't even ashes left of the paper.

“....”

'Was it fine to burn them all like that?' wondered someone.

“Umm....” Sain was about ask a question about that, but then saw the actual office that Eden used.

It was made of sort of dark wood and had a glossy look to it. When you look at it you would first think of one of the old nobleman's room in old T.V shows. Beside the fact that it was just completely filled with paper, it was quite clean.

In the end Eden muttered to himself without anyone else noticing:

“You have no idea how many times this room was destroyed....”

[p=center]xXx[/p]

“Right, this is the most special part of the guild building....well it isn't exactly part of the building....took me a lot of favours to be allow me to create such a space.”

Eden lead the group along with the only 3 remaining masters underground through a hidden hatch that was located under the stairs.

You have entered the Vortex World

- When Health reaches zero, you will faint and recover rather than die

- Natural Mana Regeneration increases by 10 times

- Injuries will heal rapidly

- Other effects are not revealed due to low amount of wisdom

When they reached the room the group was completely surprised by the appearance completely ignoring this message that the game showed them immediately.

“Wow....!” muttered Lyndis in admiration.

“To think something like this was under the city” said Miriel.

Serena looked around with shining eyes and said, “It....so big!”

“Why does that last comment sound so dirty?” muttered Shadow a good distance away from the others so they won't hear him.

The underground room was in fact quite bright and was completely white in colour. To make sense of this, you can say that the underground room was at least hundreds of metres long and looked quite modern which was in great contrast to the actual setting of the game. However this underground space was in fact greater than the group expected.

“This place is called the Vortex World and is completely separate from the mortal world. The hatch was a door to this place in fact. Wait a second, need to change the settings.” Eden then proceeded to fiddle with some things with his finger in the air.

And the ceiling disappeared revealing the blue sky.

“!”

Everyone's mouth was wide open at this scene.

“I have never heard of something like this....” said Sain loss on words to describe how he was feeling.

“It's impossible....but yet...” muttered Raven who was also shocked seeing this scene play out before him.

Shadow however took a darker approach, “Does this mean she has enough power to create a world? If we get on her bad side...”

To the words spoken in particular to Shadow's, Eden replied, “By the way, I'm a guy you know.”

“....”

Another shock to the group especially the girls and even more so to Serena.

““““““A man?!””””””

“What is this, a damn Korean drama show? Despite how I look, I am a man.”

“Impossible!” “A MAN is prettier than me?!”

Both Miriel and Lyndis retorted at the same time. It seems that the could not endure the fact that it was a male that was standing in front of them.

Perfectly kept hair that shone, pale skin that made men want to protect you and that perfect face that captured the hearts of everyone who saw. And this person was a man?! They just could not believe it. It hurt their pride too much.

“Well I was about to explain all about how this world exist in the first place but...oh well” sighed Eden since the new recruits were not paying attention at all while the three masters did nothing at all to help and were simply watching all of this play out.

“By the way, you three can leave now” said Eden looking at the 3 masters with them.

Park that was an old man, Ron with countless scars on his body and Anna the petite assassin....rouge. Each of them were powerful, something that the group knew but they easily paled before Eden.

“As you wish” said Anna first leaving the space. Park and Ron soon followed her out without a word. It seems that in front of the Guildmaster, they were completely serious...unless something bad happens to them in which case they would complain like Ron did with the pit explosion trap at the entrance.

With the masters gone now, all that were left were Eden and the group. Eden looked at the group and then muttered, “Around level 50 I think...? Well....I guess I can give them some advantage...”

The group was confused on what Eden was saying.

“Umm....what are we going to do now?” asked Serena shy towards Eden now. While she had only admiration towards the 'female' Eden, she was not certain now since that 'female' Eden was actually a 'male' Eden.

In fact Serena was quite shy to all males besides the one in the group and maybe some of the masters as well. It was her natural instincts since she always seemed to have a hard time around them.

“Ah, I'm just going to evaluate you lot the quickest way” replied Eden without hesitation.

Many people would at least take a moment or so to think of what they would say but Eden didn't even take that moment and simply told them the truth outright. It was a bad habit in which he would piss a number of people off due to it but at the same time, a number of people would place their trust in him as he wasn't the type to tell lies....well at least when he didn't want to screw them over.

“What way is that?” asked Shadow that reverted to his usual rude self even to someone like Eden.

“By fighting.”

“But aren't you a lot stronger than us because of the level difference and such?”

“Well that depends on your perspective of strong but I am a lot higher than you in terms of levels. So much that even if I stand like this without doing anything, you six can't even kill me no matter how you attack. My defence without armour is considered beyond top class that a number of people attacking before complained that my body was too sturdy.”

“Then what's the point of fighting someone we can't defeat no matter what?”

“To test your strength. Plus I'm not that cruel so I'm going to lower my level to 50 to give you six an advantage. That way you can't complain if you all lose to me. Don't worry, my skills proficiency will also decrease with this skill so most of my skills will be in the Beginner levels as well.”

The conversation between Shadow and Eden was very surprising to the others. They did not realise that Shadow was this kind of person to speak lightly to someone extremely strong. Eden switched to some light leather armour from his casual clothes for the test. At this time the group also prepared against a level 50 Eden.

“Let's say it's your victory if you get one hit in”

Eden gave the group a smile that told them that he was serious.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Eden was standing a good 10 metres away from the group. They had no idea of what powers he had even at level 50. But before they actual began this test, Eden gave some pointers again.

“First of all, in this Vortex World of mine, you can't die and wounds health extremely fast so don't worry about those things. However if your health reaches zero, you will faint for a while. Another thing is that the skill I used to revert myself to level 50 also reverts my skills as well so I can only use the skills I had when I was level 50. Another advantage for you lot.”

Eden gave a smile and then gestured for the group to attack him.

“Since we can't die....” said Sain, “Go for the full frontal attack! Mana Bolt!”

Sain started the battle firing 9 mana bolts at Eden at extremely high speeds.

Bang!

Eden dodged by jumping to the left with a humoured smile on his face without a care of the attack. To this, Lyndis, Raven and Shadow all moved in to attack.

“Melody of Speed!” chanted Miriel

Agility will increase by 25% for 10 minutes

“Minor Health Regeneration!” chanted Serena placing the spell on Raven.

“Footwork, Ram!” Raven used these two skills together to increase the power of his attack heading in a straight line at Eden with his shield up.

However Eden once more dodged by jumping to the side and then started to comment on Raven.

“A powerful skill for your level but it can only move in one direction, that means it's weak at the side and back!”

Eden moved extremely, faster than even Shadow who was further buffed wit Miriel's 'Melody of Sound' and got behind Raven as he was charging before the skill ended and before he could react to dodge.

Kick!

Eden kicked Raven from the back and he flew forward taking around 20% of his health in one go.

'What the hell is with this speed and power?! Isn't he suppose to be only level 50?' thought Sain seeing Eden's battle power even though he should be lower levelled than them.

“Fire Blade!” Lyndis using Eden's large attack to get close was about to hit him with her sword.

“Nice speed but it lacks power!” said Eden easily seeing through the attack in a glance. He dodged it in close range and smashed his palm into Lyndis' body at the same time blasting it away with a single hit as well.

Bang!

Half of Lyndis' health was taking in a moment.

“Minor Heal!” chanted Sain bringing her health up a bit as well.

“Miriel! Combine attack!” shouted Sain more nervous than ever.

“Right!”

“Mana Bolt!” “Mana Bolt!”

A total of 18 Mana Bolts came from the two and were shot at Eden. However Eden smirked once again and simply smashed them with his fist while heading towards Sain, Miriel and Serena.

“Backstab!”

Shadow appeared behind Eden but Eden reacted just before the blade hit him and did a sudden round-house kick to the head behind him knocking Shadow back easily like the other two as well.

Bang!

“Quite scary seeing that even I lost his presence for a while there. But again, it lacks power!” said Eden continuing in his charge.

Taking this time to think, Sain thought of several things from what he saw.

'Eden is a close combat type that has insane amount of skill. He must be some sort of martial arts class at least since there is no way those movements are normal!'

However Sain was wrong, very wrong indeed about where Eden's true powers lied.

“Life Burn!” Lyndis taking her life in her own hands, got up and threw fires that were created through her own health at Eden that covered the area he was in.

“Blood Burst!” chanted Serena at the same time firing her spell at Eden as well. If it works out then even Eden would fall since he was now level 50 for this fight. The two spells hit Eden at the same time.

BOOM! BANG!

'We won!' thought Sain happy of their power and coordination together.

However he noticed something was wrong when he saw the flames and the red orb from their spells being blocked a bit further away from Eden as if there was an invisible barrier in the way.

“Mana Shield” calmly said Eden, “A very interesting spell combination you know. Quite flexible to use but at it's current level, quite weak since the sight of the target is cut so you don't know what they will do. That attack was quite nice. If you combined it with those mana bolts from earlier than it would be a lot more powerful giving less chances for the target to react to that orb.”

In the mist of being attacked, Eden was lecturing the way the group attacked him. He stopped in his tracks but the group also stopped in their attack shocked.

“Why are you guys attacking me separately? At this rate you guys will lose without me getting serious you know” the words from Eden's mouth sounded like taunts to the group as he was toying with them.

While others may get angry and attack, Sain on the other hand calmed down and asked:

“Sorry, but can we get a break to talk things over?”

“....”

Eden thought about for a second.

“Sure” replied Eden without a care. Sain knew that Eden wanted to know the true extent of their abilities and right now it wasn't that. The group gathered together a distance away from Eden as he pretended not to hear them.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

“What the hell was that?! Isn't he too strong for a level 50?” complained Lyndis immediately, after all Eden dodged her attack in close range and used one punch to disable her easily.

“His speed is faster than mine as well” commented Shadow who was recovering from his kick to the head from Eden.

Sain sigh and said, “So his power is higher than Raven and Lyndis' whose strength stats are around 130 and his speed is faster than Shadow's whose agility is over than 180. He's a complete monster and his level is currently lowers than ours as well!”

“That's not the worst part. We don't know completely of what abilities she....he has. That skill...mana shield is something involving magic isn't it?” said Miriel.

“True but it can be just a one off skill he has and nothing more” replied Sain though he really didn't believe it. It was a common thing that later on in the very late game that many players can use at least some basic magic due to their stats increasing enough for that. Even warriors can eventually use magic since it only requires 400 in intelligence which by the time you reach level 600 or so, you may have enough ways to increase it high enough although the majority still don't to further sharpen their current skills instead of what they could get. However it still remains that around 5% of melee classes at that point learn one or two bits of magic.

“I doubt it, someone at that point can't learn magic unless it's related to their class” said Shadow bluntly.

“So...there's a possibility that he can use more magic?” wondered Lyndis.

“No, I doubt he'll use it since this is a test after all” said Sain.

“....”

The group silently wondered how they were going to deal with this. They can't die here which is a good thing but that means Eden doesn't need to hold back at all when dealing with them. To be honest, at this point the group completely forgot about the respect they were suppose to have with Eden and now just call him 'Eden' instead of 'Guildmaster'.

“Teamwork” said Raven.

“Right!” said Serena, “Eden did say that we were attacking separately. We just need to take together.”

“That....” said Miriel, “A bit easier said then done. We haven't exactly trained in working together and till now only relied a bit on each other while fighting.”

Sain remembered the month worth of hunting outside the city. From the beginning, since they were trained, they didn't need to completely rely on each other like normal players. Even when facing boss monsters or the likes, they only attacked and backed each other up a bit and never thought of using a combination attack except in rare cases.

The simple fact was that they were inefficient in fighting and only facing Eden made it more clearer for them.

“In that case.....” Sain started to explain what they were going to do.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

“Are you guys ready yet?” asked Eden still very patient with them, “You can start any time. I won't attack until you do.”

Was it arrogance or pride that Eden said this? Not at all. While stats and levels determined many things, it still did not improve reaction speed and judgement at all. That came from the player's individual's efforts which was the true reason why top players out class everyone else so much. Call it Talent or the results of hard work, in the end being able to react to something and also being able to know what to do are the core reasons why casual players cannot compete with hardcore players.

But the group did not think of this at all yet. It was time for their fight once again.

“Melody of Speed!” chanted Miriel.

Agility will increase by 25% for 10 minutes

In this place that they cannot die and injuries healed themselves quickly, having points in anything but speed was a waste of time. Plus power did not matter unless it connected.

“Minor Health Regeneration!” chanted Serena placing the spell effects on Raven once again. It was normal to give the greatest healing to the one that is certain to take damage and live.

“Cracked Barrier!” chanted Miriel placing the spell on Raven as well. The 35% damage reduction over 2 attack would also be useful here as well. But even so, the group did not attack yet or do anything.

“Summon Familiar!” chanted Sain. In front of him was a wolf that was as big as him and was a silvery blue colour due to the spell. When the spell was completed Sain shouted, “Start plan A!”

Everyone with the exceptions of Miriel and Serena who could not attack in melee rushed at Eden with weapons drawn to kill.

“A frontal attack with no restrains eh” said Eden as he also charged forward to the 5 beings that were able to attack him, “First I'll take you down first again.”

Eden moved in and took aim at Raven about to hit him slipping through his defence.

“Plan B!”

“Footwork!”

Suddenly Raven retreated rapidly backwards using his skill. Eden's attack hit the air and now there were 3 people and one wolf surrounding him.

“Fire Blade!” “Double Strike!” “Ha!” Gar!”

All 4 of them attacked at once at Eden who was in the centre of this formation. Plan B against Eden was to surround and trap him and attack from all directions. Plan A was just to rush in to attack which would be used to distract Eden. When Plan B was in motion, the person being attack would retreat immediately if it was Raven or Shadow.

“Mana Shield!”

BANG!

But even attacking on all side, Eden's 'Mana Shield' prevented all of them at once.

“An attack on all sides, not bad~”

Seeing this Sain clenched his teeth since Eden was still not taking them seriously.

“Plan C!”

Everyone retreated as well leaving Eden alone in the centre. Sain prepared his spell along with Miriel and Serena. Plan C was simply attacking using magic or range attacks.

“Mana Bolt!” “Mana Bolt!” “Blood Burst!” “Life Burn!”

18 mana bolts and a red orb as well as flames flew in to strike at the mana shield.

Bang Bang Bang Bang...!

“Hahaha, do you think I would stay in one place all the time?”

The Mana Shield broke and the red orb was about to hit Eden but he dodged and retreated without a word quickly making the effects of the spell useless. But this wasn't the end of the attack yet for the group.

“Plan A!”

4 people and a wolf went in to attack Eden once again. But Eden was getting a bit serious now.

“Fireball.”

Eden calmly said that but something that was several times larger than a person's body was produced and thrown at the group like a raging sun that just appeared in front of them.

'What kind of ridiculous thing is this?! What kind of power...what kind of skill proficiency do you need to make a simple fireball this large?!'

They expected Eden could use magic but not to this extent.

'Damnit! Take the blow!' thought Sain commanding the wolf to die in their place. The wolf quicker than even Shadow, leaped into the fireball and made it exploded on itself.

BOOM!

The ground stained black from the blast where the explosion took place. The group was shocked but Eden did not give them time to rest at all.

“You let your guard down.”

Bang!

All of a sudden Raven's was blasted back and Eden appeared above him in the air kicking him to the ground.

Party Member: Raven has fainted

Not even 2 seconds pasted since the fireball hit and killed the wolf familiar and Raven was already taken down. Eden lightly landed on the ground as the rest of the group realised that needed to attack.

“Mana Bolt!” Miriel was the first to react and moved to attack him from a range.

“That spell has a range of uses but using it alone will only waste mana.”

Eden side stepped the attacks dodging them with ease.

“Backstab!”

Shadow moved in as per the plan and attacked Eden without hesitation. But Eden predicted this.

“Ice Spike.”

From the ground a spike made of ice rose and stabbed through Shadow leaving him there propelled in the air with a lump of sharp ice going through him.

Party Member: Shadow has fainted

“Using your allies attacks as a distraction is fine but make it less obvious that you are attacking. I could feel you the moment you moved behind me.”

'This is bad!' thought Sain immediately running with Lyndis to attack Eden in close range together.

“A frontal charge will do nothing at this point.”

Without even looking at them Eden said:

“Fireball.”

And another fireball, the same size as before appeared and flew to Lyndis.

“Life Burn!” Reacting to the danger, Lyndis used fire to hit fire and to come extent cancelled the damage she would take.

BOOM!

However that blow still took her health down to critical without much issue since her flames were weaker than Eden's that she took damage instead of going through the fireball. Sain now near Eden via charging at him tried to stab him with his spear while Miriel and Serena supported him.

“You are not that skilled in close combat. Why are you attacking like that? Always do thing in your advantage.”

Eden moved in close and kicked his right arm breaking it, elbowed Sain's face while grabbing his head and slamming it to the ground.

BANG!

You took 1651 damage

“Arg!”

That attack alone almost caused his health to drop to zero.

“Now to finish things off. Support without any guards are easy picking you know.”

Eden looked at the two and flicked his fingers saying:

“Ice Bolts!”

Ice appeared in front of Eden and shot at Miriel and Serena hitting them without them being able to even dodge.

Party Member: Miriel has fainted

Party Member: Serena has fainted

Eden then pointed at Lyndis and she exploded into flames as well.

Party Member: Lyndis has fainted

And finally Eden looked down at Sain with only two words addressed to him.

“You lose.”

Eden calmly smiled and pat his head while saying, “It was a good effort though.”

Sain without much effort surrendered in defeat to Eden. They couldn't even get a hit in against Eden who lowered his level to 50 and was outnumbered severely as well.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

“Well then, that was actually quite fun” said Eden with a smile on his face. He seems to be enjoying himself so far, “However my body still has a lot of energy left in it....what to do....” He also seems to be laminating the fact that facing against weaker players didn't even make him sweat at all. His body's condition was still at it's best even after all of that.

“EDDDDDDDDDDDDDEN!!!”

Three people followed by another three people barged into the Vortex World via the Guild hatch.

“Ah, you're alive” said Eden astonished.

“Like hell we are! Why the hell did you change the teleport location for us?!” shouted Gen in anger.

Mel and Jenny were the next to complain as well.

“There were monsters everywhere!”

“And we were dropped under a lake as well!”

'Wait, what the hell happened to them?' thought Sain seeing their current states.

All three of them were soaking wet and more to the point, they were wounded all over their body. From what Sain saw, it wouldn't be surprising if they dropped dead due to the blood lost. However the Vortex World kicked in and healed their wounds in mere seconds.

“Your alive right? Or are you ghosts that came to haunt me...?” muttered Eden serious thinking of whether they actually survived or not, “Well I made you guys more durable than most things.”

“Damn you!” shouted Gen taking out a large spear from somewhere that Sain couldn't see, “Die!” throwing it at Eden with a shockwave when he did.

BANG!

The spear hit an invisible wall, most likely a mana shield and twisted into itself from the other colliding forces were too much for it.

“Hey, that was a rare spear you know” complained Eden for some reason, “Don't forget who gave you that spear to use.”

“Damnit! I'm going to-”

WHACK!

Anna kicked the back of the head of Gen and he fell forward motionless for a few seconds due to the power of the flying kick. Sain looked over and saw that Park restrained Mel and Ron restrained Jenny into place not allowing them to attack.

“Good work you lot” Eden praised them for stopping the fight.

Eden then looked coldly at the three that attacked him, though only one did and said, “Well then, are you angry about what I did before, angry about the fact I'm going to teach the new recruits or angry at the fact that I almost killed you by dumping you in a lake filled with monsters?”

“““ALL OF THEM!!!”””

The three retorted at the same time to the unreasonable...no ridiculous sounding question. Then Eden thought up of an idea that would work well for him.

“In that case....what if we play a little game like I did with those six?”

“A game?” Gen frown getting all serious now since whenever Eden said 'game', it often ended up as a life or death situation for all of them. However this was the Vortex World where you cannot die. The most that could happen is that they would be tortured for a bit and nothing more.

The six masters looked at each other and nodded. Three of them were very enthusiastic about this while the other three sighed since it was going to be a pain.

“Fine” replied Gen as the representatives of his comrades.

“Okay then, I have to modify the rules a bit so we are on equal standings” said Eden, “Unlike when I faced the new recruits, I'll be keeping my actual level and strength, but I'm not allowed to use large scale destruction type magicks okay?”

Gen smiled to these words. Eden was most prominent at using large scale destruction type magicks to the point he was no.1 in it. Without this, around 60, no 70% of his true power was sealed just like that. However he was still a being that transcended humanity. But the same could be said for the six masters as well. None of them were actually human anymore but looked the part at least for the well being of the minds of normal people they have to protect.

“In exchange, you guys can't use 'that' okay?” said Eden after Gen had thoughts of using his full power against Eden. With this, both sides can't use their full power at all though Eden was at more of an disadvantage compared to the six masters.

“Fine” replied Mel, “If both side used too much power, the new recruits will end of fainting immediately. The thing you wanted to show them was our powers since normally we wouldn't be able to right?”

Eden let out a small laugh with told her that she was very wrong, “No, I just want to....play with you all.” His eyes gleamed with a light that looked at them all like they were toys; toys to this monster.

Seeing this, all six of the masters backed away a bit and the group watching all of this moved back as well though several times more than the masters. Finally it was Park who agreed to this:

“Damn, we just have to fight against you until it ends right?”

Park's armour that was quite plain until now turned into a silver colour while in his hand was a silvery white spear that looked quite well with his white hair and beard.

“Honestly....” Mel was the next to change her appearance. Her green robes turned into a dress that looked like something that would be worn by elves or fairies and was transparent at some parts at the bottom while being shoulder less at the top. Her green staff had a large gem in the centre as well.

Then Eden spoke to the group commenting on this fact.

“Just for you guys to know, those two have the greatest power amongst them. Jenny and Ron have the greatest 'defence' in the group and Gen and Anna have the greatest 'speed'. It's quite a balance party they have. I'll tell you all about it later~”

By the time Eden finished talking, the others changed their appearance as well. Ron was wearing a blazing red set of armour that looked like it came from some sort of Chinese based game while Jenny's robes had strange white lines coursing though it with her bow at hand as well. Anna was wearing a dark purple mask on her face that had no holes and was completely blank and Gen took out several weapons at once with his normal clothes.

Out of nowhere Eden started to apply several defences to the group in order to protect them.

Eden made a final remark.

“By the way, I'm not going to hold back.”

[p=center]xXx[/p]

“Fire Explosion! Chain Fire Blast!”

Eden immediately started off the battle causing a large explosion that caught the masters immediately and adding onto the attack with more explosions that came from the first explosion itself though each one was smaller.

“Seriously, is there no concept of waiting in your mind?! Also, breaking the rules already?!” said Jenny complaining immediately as well. She created a large barrier that protected everyone in it just before Eden had the time to attack.

The barrier was a large circular object that had 4 points to it with the lines of the magic connecting together to form 3 barriers as one. If one point broke, it would become a 3 point barrier and then a two point barrier in the end before completely breaking. However the group did not know how many points the barrier had to begin with but it now had 4 points left.

“You always were good at quick casting~ Time to get serious at last~” said Eden humming at bit, “Hmm?”

Then he noticed that Park and Anna were missing from the rest of the master. They were already attacking him just like he did without warning. Both of them appeared behind Eden without him knowing and activated their skills to take him down in one go.

“Assassinate!” “Pierce him, Hoektand!”

A black blade and silver spear went towards Eden on both sides.

“Shit!”

Both attacks were extremely powerful with the amount of mana used in both attacks. One was the classic 'Assassinate' that was quick and powerful to the point while the other a charged attack that held extreme power itself.

Bang! Bang!

Eden narrowly dodged the two attacks though was hit two times in that one exchange though it only scratched him a bit on the edge.

'Amazing...'

This act itself shocked the group since their masters...no former masters now managed to do what they couldn't so quickly and Eden was taking them completely seriously from the start.

“Damn defence isn't my forte...”

'Like hell it isn't! Didn't you survive after being stabbed multiple times at vital points, had a Dragon attack and fought against a legion of soldiers and eventually taking over their castle in one go and still had enough time to fight for the rest of the day?!'

Seeing that this was actually a bad situation to be in, Eden tried to at least stall for more time to change the favour in his tide once again.

“Mana Blast!”

BANG!

Eden sent out a shockwave that caused the two to retreat for a bit before attacking again.

“Keeping attacking!” called Park.

“Right” replied Anna.

They were stalling for time as the others would take care of things involving taking out Eden. Namely, waiting for Mel to finish her spell that could be very useful against Eden right now.

“The crimson night falls and gracefully drops from the heavens!” Mel started chanting her spell while the battle continued.

Eden fought Anna and Park while looking at the rest of the masters seeing what they were doing.

“Ron, Gen, get out there and attack” ordered Jenny really annoyed that those two didn't move yet, “Flashes of light that give wings of light, Wind of Might!”

Jenny increased the speeds of both Gen and Ron at the same time through her spell. They were now 3 times faster than normal for an hour.

“Thanks.”

“Let's do this.”

Both of them were already quite fast but now they were even faster like wind itself! Both of them joined Park and Anna in attacking Eden.

“Ah damn, time to retreat~” said Eden in a humorous manner again even though he was quite in danger right now.

“Don't you dare run!!!” shouted Gen in rage as Eden saw 4 people about to gang up on him and started retreating.

“Deadly Sprint!” Gen increased his speed even further and ran in a straight line at Eden.

“Tch, take this!” Eden created 20 or so magic attacks in the air and fired them all at once on several directions.

“Magic Cut!” shouted Ron cutting down a magic projectile that Eden fired randomly at Gen.

Ron was backing him up cutting down the magic attacks that Eden fired at everyone with his sword covered in a blue white aura.

“Die! Lance Earth Combo!”

Clang! Bang! Clang! Clang!

Eden deflected several attacks from Gen at once with his bare hands and was on the retreat. The attack was something like a four chain attack that were three slashes with a stab in the middle of the attacks without a delay. It was certainly a powerful skill to use and something normal people can't block nevertheless with only their bare hands!

“Hey, let me some room to breath here!” Eden complained at once seeing that Gen was not holding back at all.

Gen was being too aggressive to which Eden could only point to the fact that he DID dump him and two others in an underwater lake filled with monsters.

“““NEVER!””” Three angry people replied at once.

“Thousand Shot!” Jenny drew her bow and shot out arrow after arrow rapidly at Eden to the point that she was like a machine gun.

If any archer saw this, they would be shocked since she was firing several tens of arrows at a time which was proof of her skill although she still mainly a magician skilled at illusion and sound based magicks.

“Damn no choice...Illusional Retreating Steps!”

Eden's body disappeared and reappeared at several places while moving further and further away from Jenny and her arrows in the air aimed at him.

Bang Bang Bang...!

The places where the arrows hit turned into small holes as well.

Eden with his inhuman reaction which was more likely to be due to some sort of cheat code rather than his actual abilities did not get hit even once by the arrows fired at him. Seeing this, Jenny switched to another strategy.

“Let light and dark twist and replicate! Illusional Bodies!”

The bodies of the 4 people who were attacking Eden at once increased by 4 times to a total of 16. Only 4 of them were real but the illusional bodies felt real and had a presence. Think of shadow clones from a certain series...

“Damnnnnnnn!” screamed Eden has he struggled to keep up against all of them at once with his bare hands deflecting every attack away from his body.

After a few clashes and Eden being injured more and more, he started to ignore certain attacks against him which were from the illusional bodies which by default had less power than the original and was controlled with simple movements.

“Let's see...those four are the real ones then...”

In some mere clashes, Eden figured out which bodies were real and which one were fake. Eden was about to begin his counter attack but was too late since their goal was done.

At this time, Mel finished casting her spell that took a full minute of high speed chanting to cast.

“Judgement of Nature!” she cried pouring out a massive amount of mana that was inconceivably large to the group, especially Miriel and Serena.

Mel as the centre, a tornado of leaves and green dust appeared out of no where and turned into waves of things that surrounded Mel to attack Eden.

A giant made of leaves and other materials appeared.

“Tch” Eden's hand turned dark as he shouted, “Dark Claw!” sending out five waves of some dark things from his hand that was most likely some sort of dark magic but Mel's spell that did the same thing though it only looked the same.

“Flame Kick!”

Eden covered a leg and flames and kicked the air and fire was shot out at the arm of the giant that Mel controlled. Some parts were caught on fire but by discarding those bits, the giant continued to exist though slightly smaller.

Seeing that Eden was being distracted right now, the other masters did not leave this chance to attack.

BANG!

Eden was suddenly kicked down to the ground.

“Heavenly Seven Slashes!” shouted Park moving in taking the chance as Eden landed on the ground.

Slash Slash Slash Slash Slash Slash Slash!

Park hit Eden seven times with his spear but Eden finally decided to get a bit more serious after taking the damage. As his body immediately recovered by healing the wound he said:

“Battle Aura.”

BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!

Golden radiance burst out of Eden literally pushing everyone back including the giant spell that Mel was using with ease.

“Damn what the hell is this?!” complained Park who was the nearest one to Eden when he activated his battle aura and therefore got the most of the blast in his face.

The golden aura retracted and turned into a thin layer that protected him in a thick density. There was no smile on his face now, Eden finally got truly serious bringing out part of his full power.

“Golden Spear” he called as a Golden Spear appeared in front of him as if it descended from the Heavens. He held on it and swung it a few times to get a feel of it.

“Haaaa!” Gen threw one of his weapons, a large great sword at Eden at this moment. At the same time, Eden threw his spear at the great sword as well.

Bang!

Eden's spear easily broke through the great sword and flew to Gen threatening to pierce through him.

“Makeshift: Legion of Weapons!”

Gen managed to block the spear by grabbing several weapons he just created with his mana and sacrificing them to lower the power of the blow while dodging it barely.

BANG!

The spear narrowly missed going through Gen's neck completely. At this moment, Anna who was around 6 metres away from Eden prepared her attack as well.

“Double Slash: Burst Edition” said Anna kicking from several points in the air at once and moving in to attack Eden at once at what seems to be several bodies at once though it was through all speed and no illusions this time.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Anna was kicking the air to accelerate herself at Eden with terrifying speeds.

Eden looked calmly and decided the best course of action to this.

“Fire Wave.”

Eden easily countered Anna by covering his body in flames and having it burst out in one go.

BOOOM!

A crater appeared around Eden due to the force of the fire spell that covered the place all black. However Anna did not stop her attack at all simply using the force of the spell to further accelerate herself and charged in at Eden.

“Golden Spear!”

He summoned another spear and hit Anna away.

Bang!

Anna was sent flying the other direction away from the others though Eden did not target her. His target right now as Gen.

“Burst Strike!”

With great speeds, he pierced his spear into Gen in one go flying above the ground using the skill to push him forward. A great hole was made in Gen that could easily kill him several times over but, Gen smiled and said, “Got you” holding onto Eden's arms not letting him go.

“What?!” Eden was surprised that Gen had the strength to do this. Normally at the verge of death, a person's strength becomes non-existent.

“Good work Gen! Song of Gravity!” Jenny used this spell and caused the gravity around Eden to increase 10 times over.

BOOM!

The ground cracked under the pressure and even gen was feeling a bit crushed right now but Eden took it on without a blink of the eye though he seems a bit strained right now.

“Damn, he's a monster as always!” Jenny complained seeing that it didn't affect Eden at all at a first glance and instead actually made it difficult for Gen. However when Eden tried to move away from this field of increased gravity, he found himself unable to.

“Chains that drag down angels, Gravity Trap” said Jenny redoubling her efforts in keeping Eden in one place causing the gravity around Eden to increase to 30 times the norm.

With the gravity trap in place and Gen not letting go of Eden, the others continued their attack from long range now.

“Good job!” said Park taking out a few throwing knives. Anna did the same though her ones were black while Park's were silver.

Both Mel and Jenny were able to prepare more magic to use even though Mel was sustaining the giant and Jenny was controlling the gravity trap Eden was in. Ron on the other hand was increasing the amount of flames he had and condensing them in his sword for an attack at Eden.

“Now!”

Weapons and Magic both flew at Eden without regard to the well being of Gen at all.

“Wa-wait a moment!” cried Gen realising what his comrades were doing. At this rate he would really die...mentally that is.

BANG!

“Ahhhhhh!” Gen let out a death cry...no he was still alive but barely. Eden kicked him a few times to spare his mind from the trauma, a rare act of kindness and broke his arms in one go when Gen let his guard down seeing that he was being attacked by his allies.

“Ultimate Health Regeneration! Major Wound Treatment!” Mel casted those two spells on Gen out of pity rather than concern and drew her attention back to Eden again. Her 'Judgement of Nature' spell was still ongoing even after all of that time with the giant slowly decreasing in size as time went on.

“Honestly you guys are too strong for your own good, that attack could take down a Dragon you know...” muttered Eden.

Eden leaped back a good 20 metres from the masters while being attacked as if they were pushing him back. However before the masters could realise what he was about to do, it was too late.

“Dragonic Release.”

The aura around Eden increased several times in both power and intensity. His presence overwhelmed everything else in the space. His eyes changed colour and his hair started to turn silver at the end. The marks on his whole body started to shine.

“Golden Bow.”

A golden bow appeared in his hands. Without a word, Eden drew it and fired it once.

Then....hundreds if not thousands of arrows made from pure mana fell onto the masters after splitting so many time from one arrow.

“Grand Barrier!” shouted Jenny blocking the path of most of the mana arrows that Eden fired at once with the most powerful barrier she could use in an instance.

However around a quarter of them still made it through her barrier that was forced thin. She did this since the arrows were also homing arrows and would twist and turn unnaturally if not completely blocked.

“Air Slash!” said Park deflecting a large number of mana arrows as he retreated to the others. The master eventually moved closer together to deal with the buffed up Eden firing arrows at time since they would need to cut down less arrows this way per person.

“Is he a battalion of archers or something?!” Jenny complained.

If you compare how Jenny used her bow, she would be the equivalent to an anti-personal unit while Eden would be an anti-army unit. The sheer difference in fire power was astonishing indeed at a different scale.

“Since your cuddling together means you want me to take you all out in one go right?” said Eden with actual malice in his words. When people tried to defend themselves from harm, it just gives a chance for Eden to use a more powerful attack as well.

He started gathering mana for his next spell.

Unlike the earlier attack, this one was much more frightening. Lightning and Fire gathered in his hand and combined into one chaotic spell that would be the envy of all magicians that saw it if not for the fact that it had an extremely high mana cost compared to the damage it caused.

“Crimson Nebula!”

The spell was shot out at the masters in one go as a giant beam several metres wide that would instantly kill them if not for the barriers that Jenny set up before rapidly appeared in front of them.

“Transcendent triple Barrier! Guard Point Barrier! Flow Diverting Barrier!” Jenny created three different types of barriers at once to block this attack. The reason was simple, she did not have the raw power until certain people to stop it head on.

BOOM!

However this attack alone drained all of Jenny's mana in one go as she collapsed on one knee due to exhaustion of mana. Eden immediately took this chance to take her out. Those who are strong are not strong due to having many opportunities but taking advantage of every opportunity.

“Lava Tower!”

A small part of the ground under Jenny broke and she was consumed in the pillar of lava that appeared out of nowhere. Jenny was the first to fall from Eden's attack. The other masters reacted and dodged the attack before they could think of what happened.

“Jenny” Mel was shocked that it happened so fast.

“Damn, we have to attack!” said Gen getting cold sweat from just looking at Eden who was in semi-serious mode now.

“Makeshift: Giant Cannon!” he shouted creating a large metal cannon in front of him.

Bang!

The cannon ball was shot at Eden but with his hand that looked darker than normal easily sliced it into two.

“That all?” asked Eden.

Gen was getting very nervous now since Eden was acting as if he was being very serious in this fight. That would mean a lot of pain later on as well in the fight since Eden was the type to make people suffer while fighting.

“Makeshift: Gatling Guns!”

Then several Gatling Guns appeared around Gen as well. Gen's skill was one that he used to recreate any weapon he has seen or thought up. It was quite limited in the fact that the creations itself had low durability but their power was the real deal.

Bang Bang Bang Bang...!

With a single giant cannon and several Gatling guns, Gen started his attack on Eden.

“Too Weak!”

However before his Battle Aura, none of that affected him at all but Eden didn't take that chance at all, for all he knew, Gen had something up his sleeves. Eden started to move in high speeds left and right dodging the rapid fire of weapons that really shouldn't be in the game.

Seeing that Gen was rapidly relying on his mana to attack, Eden simply said, “Mana Absorption” while running and firing magic back at them to stop their attack and force them on the defence.

“What the hell?” muttered Lyndis seeing her mana quickly disappearing.

The others also noticed this as well and was quite shocked that such an overpowered skill existed in the first place in this game.

It didn't even take a minute for the group's mana to be completely taken while the mana the masters had was decreasing rapidly. Gen could not use his makeshift weapons if he didn't have mana.

“Damn, he sealed my Makeshift skill just like that” complained Gen without mana to sustain the Makeshift weapons anymore. The cannons and Gatling guns disappeared. But before his mana completely disappeared, he used the skill one last time.

“Makeshift: Legion of Weapons!”

A hundred weapons all of sizes and kinds appeared around Gen as they were fired at Eden at once.

“Dark Claw!”

Eden's hand was covered some dark force and sliced through the hundred weapons with one sweep. Seeing this Gen despaired a bit.

As such, he took out two swords that weren't made with his skill and dual wield them together.

“Mel, distract him!” Gen said using the remainder of his mana to increase his power and speed at the last moment to strike down Eden.

“The leaves of nature fall and reduce to ash, crimson light reflect onto nature's gaze. Type 5 Nature Magic: Nature's Hell!” Mel used one of her most powerful spells that reduced anything to dust and fired it at Eden.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuush

With the giant for defence and the colourless offence, Mel's danger levels to Eden shot up high. But Eden didn't mind this at all since he faced way worse situations in the past. At this level, Eden could break Mel with pure power alone.

“That all?” asked Eden as he took out a certain sword that glowed in Divine Light. No it was simply a copy of the real thing with modifications.

Changed from a hundred years ago, the Divine Sword Kotoko was several times stronger than before with all the upgrades Eden had on it. As such it gained many more effects and became more cost efficient in use. However Eden found that using copies were much more useful since while their attack power was lowered, their mana and stamina costs decreased down to a suitable level as well to spam.

“Heavenly Slash.”

Slash.

The spell that Mel used was completely cut in half even though it shouldn't have a form and disappeared. Heavenly Slash was a downgraded version of Heaven and Earth Separation, something that Eden could use multiple times at least and was still extremely powerful in it's own rights against single foes but could not create a city wide level of destruction like Heaven and Earth Separation.

“Heavenly Slash. Heavenly Slash. Heavenly Slash”

Eden flicked his sword once again three times and Mel was cut in half by the sword skill. But Mel completed her role and stalled for time, enough for the rest of the masters to concentrate all they have on one final series of attacks.

“Heavenly Steps” shouted Park charging along with Ron and Anna at Eden.

Most of their mana were consumed and was still being consumed by Eden but they could still fight with their weapons alone. Plus there were many skills that relied on other things besides mana like stamina or even health to use.

Park was the first one to try and attack Eden among the three.

“Haaaa!” Park used his spear to attack Eden 15 times in a moment.

“Full Counter!”

But Eden countered them using his 'Full Counter' skill. Eden beautifully counter-attacked Park 15 times in a row leaving him in almost pieces as he fell...fainted in this Vortex World due to the complete lose of health.

Full Counter was something that completely redirected the attack back to the person as well as adding in the damage you would normally deal as well in there. Because of this, no matter how small or weak the attack, you would be able to counter attack at an extremely powerful amount of power.

Ron was the next to attack Eden.

“Flame Sword” Ron covered his sword in fire as his armour also glowed a vicious light as he strike holding his sword with two hands letting out flashes of light as he swung his sword at Eden.

“Ice Crystal!”

But with force alone, Eden placed his hand on Ron and froze him in a giant ice cube taking him out.

Now all that were left were Gen and Anna.

“Enchant Dual Delax!”

The dark purple mask that was Anna's face had a face made from light glow on it as it moved across her body as something similar to a tattoo though on her clothes. Using something other than mana to power, it was something that increased the body's performance several times in exchange for massive strain on the body.

“Enchant Dual Swords!”

The same marks appeared on the swords that Gen now used as well as his arms. It was not complete like the full body one Anna used but was still powerful.

“Strike together!” shouted Gen as he charged straight at Eden kinda ignoring his own advice.

The two moved in perfect harmony to Eden and attacked him at the same time which was very surprising since they were on bad terms to begin with. Gen was half thinking that Anna would betray him in this fight to be spared from Eden's torment since Anna was the most loyal to Eden after all.

Bang!

“Full Counter!”

Eden countered the blows naturally but the two continued to attack with great speeds that were too fast for the group to see ignoring their own wounds that should have made them collapse already. Eventually the battle went faster and faster and their bodies now turned into mere flashes here and there as they collide.

Then....

BANG!

At the same time, Gen and Anna's bodies flew in opposite directions with very apparent hand marks on their vitals. Eden had in that kind of high speed battles, attacked both of them with his hand techniques and took them out. Surrounding him were 20 Golden Swords hovering around him that blocked the attacks of both Gen and Anna at the same time and allowing him to quickly strike them down at the same time.

“Golden Swords~” Eden dealt the finishing blows on all of the masters by moving Golden Swords around him to rain down on them even though they all fainted due to the special feature of this world instead of dying.

Eden created more weapons and started to attack the 'corpses' of the master. The group did not know but after a certain level of familiarity in this Vortex world, you can stay conscious after you faint though you can't move or speak.

The masters were fully experiencing torturous pains from Eden right now.

Several minutes later....

“Ah~ That was a nice workout though it was still not my full power hahahaha!!!” Eden laughed out loud being refreshed with a 'moderate' battle.

“....”

The group could only stare in awe of that kind of power. Power that they most likely will never achieve. A power that was beyond any other even in legends. It was something that you could not help but to want.

Onwards?PreviousExitNext

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Author's Notes:

- Word Count: 11100~

- Eden is more or less a powerful house even though he didn't even use his full power in this chapter...well either did the other side. I'm more or less giving a preview of what they can all do to expand on later; well if you think about the fact that they were taught by Eden in the first place it is reasonable to say that they are much more powerful than a usual level 700 person.

- Oh yeah, next 2-3 chapter will be training chapters for the group mostly by Eden....you will see tomorrow on the bits that I had too much fun writing