“Yes, I must welcome you all here despite me not being here for most of the time. I spend way too much time in Royal Road like some of you!” he let out a laugh which was followed by laughter of the other students around them.

“As you know, this school was formed to help develop talent and every last one of you here have talent. We made sure to check up on that. However talent alone cannot keep you in, you need to work hard to develop that talent or even discover new ones. I wish you all luck.”

With his speech done, Eden was about to leave but then quickly doubled back and said, “And before I forget again, we have a new nurse, Alexandra and a Guidance Councillor, Viv here as well. Please go to them if either or body or mind is damage.”

After Eden left and the group noticed that Alexandra and Viv were gone with him, the Vic-Chairman started to speak.

With their mouth still hanging from seeing Eden of all things here, the group more or less spaced out even more seeing that Alexandra and Viv were here as well. As such they didn't really pay attention to the rest of the orientation as they were moved to a classroom together.

“Hmm? Why are we in the same classroom?” Hina finally asked noticing that they were still together and no one made any moves to tell them otherwise.

They looked around and found people of their age, people older than them, adults and even children who are younger than Grace!

“This classroom is strange...” Maria muttered seeing this scene. The group with their own personalities and with little trust and communication skills outside of themselves other than Peter who seemed to want to see what would happen stayed shut up for the next 5 minutes where a woman appeared.

Eventually someone came in and told them to get seated to which the group sat down at the third row to the front together.

“Tch” Peter could heard that sound coming from both Hina and Maria as well as the other girls for some reason while everyone else, well mostly...no all of the guys were excited for this person except for the ones checking out other guys.

She was in her mid twenties, blonde hair green eyes and looked like a model. Peter, Ian and Mark as well as all the other males in the room eyed at her while Hina pinched Peter on the leg with some anger on her face.

“Why are you staring?” Hina asked with a tensed tone in her voice as she whispered that question.

“Why did you pinch me just then?” he asked her back while keeping a straight face in a whisper not taking his eyes off the teacher.

“....” She did not replied when that woman started talking to which was when Peter could not pester her for an answer any longer.

“Welcome to Eden Academy, as you all know, you are considered talented in some way which allowed you to enrol into this school. There are no age restrictions at all in this school as long as your age is reasonably within the age bracket. My name is Lisa and I am your homeroom teacher” Lisa, the homeroom teacher said at once.

There were some murmuring from the other students but Lisa gave them a look and they all quiet down.

“This Academy gives each student almost complete freedom on how they will spend their time here. However in turn, each year, you are to present what you have learnt and depending you will advance a year or even be expelled if your results are that bad.”

Lisa proceeded to write up some times in which were written onto the touch screen at the front of the room.

“Homeroom which is now will start each day at 9.30 am and will continue to 10 am. After that you are free to take whatever class you wish though it is not required to come to homeroom” she said, “Homeroom will be used to tell you of the events that are happening in this school at the time as well as to ask questions on what to do in future classes.”

She then took out a terminal and said, “Please input your name here to enrol into this class. I must repeat for some people over the years that you have to stay in the class you enrol in. Not running off to another one.”

The group opening up the terminal at their desks did so enrolling into this homeroom and then continued to listen.

“Each lesson after homeroom will be 2 hours long each. The first class will span from 10.30 am to 12.30 pm, the second class will span on from 1 pm to 3 pm, the third class will span from 3.30 pm to 5.30 pm and the fourth and last class of the day will span from 6 pm to 8 pm.”

“There is a list of lessons that you can go to as long as you are enrolled in them. You do not need to attend class even if you enrol though you are expected to complete a final exam on it when the semester ends. That is all for homeroom. There are no lessons for today.”

With that, Lisa stopped her talking and the room fell into chatter including the group. Lisa was standing there observing and answering questions to whoever asked as well.

“So this is interesting at least” Ian said, “Didn't expect for them to put the Uni like system in the first grade.”

“Hmm....” Peter said thinking of what Eden said before, “Does that mean Eden lied to us about the grades?”

“More like he changed his mind and changed the entire structure of the school while he was at it” Hina said, “If you listen you know that this change happened only weeks ago.”

Maria nodded and then smiled saying, “It's nice how it made it so we could be together still.”

“....”

“What?” she asked hearing the silence.

Grace then took her courage and spoke up, “Maria...I think it's...more along the lines...” in the end she couldn't say it so Hina did instead.

“More like to make sure we won't break down separated from each other. I mean the best way to make us...communicate with others is to separate us but if we don't then everything would be for nothing.”

“I think it was a good choice still” Peter said.

Mark then tapped Peter and the others on the shoulder and said, “He's here” making them look at the doorway where a certain person had to appear.

Lisa also saw this and said, “Chairman!”

Eden smiled entered and then said a few words and made a finger gesture to the group to follow him. They got up ignored the chatter about Eden and them and followed him. Immediately when they got out of the room Hina asked in a harsh tone, “Why are you here?! We have just attracted a LOT of attention there thanks to you!”

“Don't worry, ignore it” Eden replied putting down Hina a bit before she burst out again, “How can I, how can we just ignore all of that?!”

Eden stopped in his track making the rest of them stop as well and stiffen up frozen fearing that Hina may have overstepped her foot. She was almost in tears when Eden turned around and said, “I thought you were more like Viv personality wise since you are usually...but seeing you now all nervous and anxious, you are more like Alexandra in that way...else Jenny might have affected that while teaching you.”

He then took a glance at Maria as well, “Though there seem to be a lot of people like her around for some reason.”

He turned and started walking which caused the group to follow him thinking of what he just said. Eventually they entered a place that was mostly white in colour and smelt of medicine. It was a small scale hospital.

“Why are these fancy equipment here? Isn't this a school?” Maria asked looking around the place where some of the latest machinery were placed though there were only two more people in the room with.

“That is” one of the two people, Alexandra answered, “We do not want to take any chances here. Besides there is less chance someone blows up a lab here than someone committing suicide or murder. That's how good the safety measures are in this place. Plus the machines does most of the work now.”

“But” Viv who was next to her answered, “There is a chance that the machines won't work or does something wrong which is why a fully qualified doctor is needed even now though the profession is rather watered out in this era.”

“Wait why are you here as well?” Maria asked pointing at Viv.

In his suit which made him look like he was cosplaying as an adult or a character from somewhere, Viv placed his hands on his hips and said, “We're here to talk about you lot of course!”

“Us?”

The group pondered of what was so important that they had to take them out of class, though there was nothing going on and here though there was nothing here as well. Seeing this reaction, Eden sighed and said, “Don't tell me you already forgot what I said. That was only a little over 2 weeks ago...”

“Said what? I remember of course” Hina said, “Though understanding what was the point before erasing it was another matter altogether.”

“The point that you need to talk to other people!” Eden said really not liking this since it reminded him of dealing with an 'uncaring Alexandra' too much.

“We do talk to other people” Maria said referring to the rest of the group. Furthermore there was 'no thinking Alexandra' as well and an actual Alexandra in the same room. Eden could only sigh as Alexandra looked humoured as Eden struggled without hurting their feelings.

“You need to talk and communicate with other people! It is an essential skill no matter what!” he almost shouted.

“....”

It was at this time that Viv spoke up and said, “He does have a point. Even when we...more or less isolated ourselves in the game, we were still able to at least talk to other people.....though many still try to run away from us.”

“But you got on well enough even without other people right? I mean there are many people today that live without human contact and are happy” Ian pointed out.

“Yep~” Alexandra said happily. It was fine as long as she had Eden and Viv with her since they were able to relate to each other from the very beginning and that relationship continued even now.

“But you are already within human contact as it's a waste not to~” she said rejecting Ian's idea. Really what was the point of isolating oneself from the rest of the world due to past reasons.

To take a risk and to keep on taking risks to live life is the way Alexandra always been.

“And that I even arranged things for you all to have a happier school life as well..” Eden muttered sighing too much and as a result sat down on the bed to rest for a bit. Taking care of brats was difficult on his mind especially when they had a smart head and smart mouth.

Seeing that Eden was in this state from just a few seconds of talking meant that he was tired of this and would rather just force them his options. Viv had to step in to save this group of children.

“You guys are far to young to isolate yourselves from other people” Viv said, “Even though your pasts prevent you from doing so, it is still better to be able to and choose not to than to not be able to.”

He remembered that ever since they became 'monsters' that were too powerful, other people slowly drifted away from them. However they were still a bit older than them and he considered it too early for them to do the same.

“Nothing is wrong with us” Peter ensured, “The others agree with me right?”

There was silence as he said those words. Peter honestly believed he and the others were fine. No, he had to else what he reformed will break again.

“....”

“What's with that silence?” Peter had to ask frowning. Was his view on them wrong? To him, they were all quite capable to the point that many would want them on their teams. Plus as someone said before, all of them had a talent above others.

“Uhh...Peter” Hina started, “Grace here can barely look at another person aside from us and a few more in the eyes. It's even worse for men but women are generally fine when they are in range. I myself feel sick when I'm near strangers not to mention having to talk to them.”

Grace was the extreme shy types to those she didn't know. Only rarely does she become close enough to some people to talk to. Other than that she had a habit of stuttering though Peter didn't know that only applied to when males were near.

Hina on the other hand was something who hated crowds and thus people in general as well. There was nothing to say as she put up a cold act to anyone besides the group and a few others.

Maria raised her hand and said, “That's the same with me though I can suck it up and endure for a while at least.”

Maria being the type to be hated and still wanted attention was similar to Hina but in the opposite way. She would act friendly to other people if they talk to her but never really wants to. It was just in act to protect herself.

“Don't mention Mark since he barely talks to even us! As for me, sometimes they know I'm there sometimes they don't” Ian finally said as well.

Mark due to past events, would never talk to other people and even those he trusted like the group, he would only talk rarely saying only important things. Ian like in the game was an invisible person, no even more so in reality. It was easy for him to never develop the skills to talk to others that much though he was a chatter box with the group.

“And there you have it” Eden said following all of this, “It's thanks to this that only one of you” he looked at Maria, “Perhaps two are able to do things without the others for a while though I believe even you won't last long without the others” he looked at Peter while saying that.

Peter seemed normal but he was one that would take all his pain and hide it from the others. This made him a time bomb in the making with those he didn't trust and like. A person who seemed to be ready to be used and yet at any time snapping back was a bad thing.

“But it's not a problem if we stick together right?” Hina asked. Since Eden made the effort to and they didn't want to separate at any rate, it would be fine like that right?

“There will be a time when you can't. You cannot always be with the ones you care about” Eden replied. There was a sad look on his face and the group noticed that Alexandra and Viv had the same look as well.

However this expression changed when Alexandra said with a monkey like face, “So did your relationships with each other change at all from the last time I saw you? Any...blossoming feelings of love?”

Peter remembered the appearance of Hina in the new outfit...though immediately put it off to keep a straight face.

“Looks like there are two...maybe a third person!” she grinned at them with Eden rolling his eyes at her.

“Enough joking already Alexandra” he said but then turned to the group with some advice, “As a good tip, never get romance advise from Alexandra. She is hopeless with it.”

“Hey!” Alexandra hit Eden on the side though he did not react much to the damage though there was some irritation showing slightly on his face.

“Anyway since we can't do anything about you guys not liking other people right now, I might as well get to talking about what is happening in the game” he said causing the interest of the group in listening to increase several fold.

“In game? Did something happen?” Peter asked. Though he and Hina more or less were the only ones to actively scout out information there wasn't much going on right now. The game was starting to stale in content.

“Of course things are happening! It's just that no everyone knows what's going on. Only a few people, those who are in A rank or higher Independent Guilds knows about this. Actually only the leaders of those guilds and a select few know” he answered with a tone that was almost lecturing them.

“So why are you telling us?” Ian asked.

“Because we have a small rule of telling others what is going on with them” Viv answered, “And you may be dragged into this as well.”

“Another Guild Quest?” Maria wondered.

“Larger and worse” Eden replied, “Try a near inexhaustible ghost army along with a being that almost cut me down and another one that is still unknown.”

“....?”

The group was confused on what Eden was getting at. Normally people would run away from all of that and what he did didn't seem strange at all. However Eden, Alexandra and Viv all sighed at once.

“You guys really don't know what I mean do you?” Eden asked in the end which the group shook their heads. All they really know other than some rumours of them once in a while were that they were all extremely powerful as seen before when Eden took on all of their masters and won and were all infamous seeing that no one dared to piss them off.

But one being surely could not take on an entire army on his own right? If that was true than what was the point was an army?

“Alexandra...get the projector on...” Eden muttered.

“Eden you are a bit out of touch with technology recently, terminals serve as the one all the same” said Alexandra while taking out her terminal which seemed several times more expensive than the ones the school had.

“This is a clip of what we mean by 'bad'” Alexandra said showing them a clip.

The clip showed them a wasteland filled an army of transparent beings that were yet at the same time physical in nature as well. A true ghost army that materialised. And on the other side fighting this endless army was a pitch black dragon.

“Dragon?” Hina wondered, there weren't many of those in the game at at with a few select areas.

“That is me” Eden said.

“Eh? Weren't you” Maria asked remembering something from the first guild quest they did with him.

“A lot smaller? Well that is my true size in dragon form. I can compress my size quite well to be that small if I wish but that is the size I can go up to and my full power in a nutshell” he explained while allowing the clip to continue.

Soon enough something strange happened. One of the wings of dragon Eden was cut off and he fell to the ground. A few moments later a second attack cut the other one and he turned back into human form. They saw the person who did this and was surprised that he was not wearing any armour and only had that sword, katana.

Then Alexandra appeared and they talked about something and then teleported away ending the clip.

“Tell me what was the problem here?” Eden asked.

“That you were cut down like that? Isn't that your fault?” Ian asked with some sarcasm in his tone again.

However Eden nodded and said, “Think of it this way, my defence in that form is even higher than Alexandra's here and not even Alexandra can cut me down like that. Meaning there is almost nothing that can withstand that attack.”

“Which means that the enemy is really really strong” Alexandra added in, “I fought that one for a bit and he was stronger than me...well the current me that is. Plus add in his fighting style....he is easily the strongest swordsman in all ways.”

“That is actually saying a lot as you will find out later when you take a combat arts class with Alexandra” Viv added, “Al is is one of the top 10 people based off swordsmanship alone. There are only a few people who can beat her with that.”

“Umm...isn't Alexandra the nurse here? Why is she the combat arts teacher?” Peter pointed and asked confused.

“Because I want to” she said as if that was not strange at all.

Eden interrupted and then said, “We can dabble on those things later. First of all this army will invade and is coming from the west. Basically that means eventually Lily City will be in siege and as a result you may need to fight as well.”

The group gulped thinking of the army they saw...none of the enemies looked weak and in fact all of them seemed extremely strong.

“But there is a chance you will not have to since they can just go pass the city” Eden added for comfort.

“How long will it take them to come...?” Hina finally asked.

“Around few months if we don't do anything. But if me and Alexandra combine our abilities we will be able to stall for maybe over a year I guess before they reach you. If we continue after such event it would take them another 6 months or so to reach the capital as well and attack there” Eden said but then stopped.

“Now...don't worry since I have sent you 'Arch' for some protection. Out of everyone in the guild he is one of the most deadly since he is called the 'Zero Range Archer'.”

Maria snorted hearing that name. It mean that that archer had literally no range at all, only to attack practically next to the enemy.

“Maria, I suggest you don't do that in front of him. When you see him and think him as an archer you will understand that he is also a 'monster' like Eri who doesn't look that harmful...which I heard you met for a while and also the rest of the guild you haven't met as well. You may meet some of the others as well during your time in Lily City.”

xXx

Next Eden had the group to sit down in a row as he talked about matters that personally involved them.

“First of all, I heard from Viv that you...took off the gloves and went to the first stage...right?” Eden really did not want to say this in front of Alexandra who from the very start disapproved of him doing this and creating the 'marks'.

“That is correct” Peter answered ignoring that Alexandra was close to attacking both Eden and even Viv for this happening.

“Why didn't you stop them?!” she shouted throwing a punch at Eden, “Are you planning on destroying their minds?!”

“Both of us weren't there Al. We only found out later as well” Viv reminded her trying to calm her down so this place with expensive, no very expensive machinery wouldn't get smashed up. He and Eden stopped Alexandra in her rampage while the group sat there stiff not trying to attract any attention to themselves.

“Plus it was their decision to make. Gen and the others made their decision a long time as well” Eden said holding down on fist while Viv did the same with the other. But that didn't stop her from trying to kick Eden.

The bodies they used were more tough than a tank and could deal more damage than a missile with a punch. And more to the point, they were very expensive so if Alexandra somehow broke or damaged one...

“Let's continue without trying to smash each other up” Viv reminded the two or rather Alexandra again. He was worried about the piling costs of them messing around.

“Hmp!” Alexandra in a bad mood looked away not caring anymore and let Eden and Viv explain it from there on.

“Anyway what changes could you feel since then? I have a good guess but it's better to know exactly what happened since then” Eden asked the group.

“Well...” Peter started to say, “For some reason they haven't been reacting at all since then. I mean before when I go into dungeons I kinda...change personalities while when Hina here grabs her whip she goes...”

Eden nodded and then said, “It's just a bit unstable right now or rather it finally became more stable at last. Explain the abilities you got when the 'Marks' were active.”

“Stable I thought-” Maria said before being cut off by Eden, “Normally your marks shouldn't react at all with those gloves on. Well there are rare exceptions or should I say supposed rare exceptions where they react. Now explain the powers you gained. I need to remodel your gloves to fit them later on.”

“Why can't you do it now?” Ian asked impatient. He did not like the possibility that his personality would be altered like that.

“Because, I have things to do and the effects are long term not short term” Eden sighed and said in the end.

Then it was the group's turn to explain some things. While Peter said some small things about their powers with the 'Mark' active, it was not in detail like Eden wanted.

“Well first when my one was active, from what Hina said, my eyes changed colours to be like a snake and for some reason I could tell what abilities that others could do and what the enemy could do as well” Peter said.

Eden nodded and said in return, “An interesting ability...similar to Gen in some ways. Your one seems unique though every power you gain with the 'Mark' is unique.”

Next Ian explained what happened to him, “It was like several of my skills plus some more that I didn't have were active at the same time. I could make clones of myself and move them independently and travel to each one when I was attacked. Plus I can past through physical objects in that mode as well.”

“Powerful and suits your base abilities” Viv said, “Another unique skill there. We need to find out the names of these powers later on.”

Hina spoke for both herself and Maria since their powers were similar, “Both my and Maria's powers are ice and fire respectively. From what I could tell, we could form them into whatever shape we wanted and even make them 'living' as well.”

“....”

The three were silent and the group thought something was wrong.

“Is...there something wrong?” Maria asked hesitant.

“'Genesis Flame' and 'Living Ice' eh...” Eden muttered with a worried look on his face. Seeing this, the group became more worried as well.

Seeing this, Eden quickly changed his expression waving his hand with a dumb look on his face saying, “Don't worry! It's just that I didn't expect your two to gain 'that' power considering our history for it!”

“What happened?” Hina asked wanting to know.

“Not for now” Viv replied stopping her and letting Grace speak next.

“Umm....t-there was this s-strange energy a-and I u-used it to p-power my spells” she managed to say.

“Did this energy come from outside your body?” Viv asked.

“Y-yes!” she replied.

“A user of 'Natural Energy' it is then” Eden said hearing this, “An energy based power is certainly one of the more powerful abilities you could get but is often dependent on your own skills without it. Train hard and it will be more powerful than anything else” he advised.

“Yeah like you did that” Alexandra snorted, “You were so lazy that we had to force you to train!”

“Hey! I was young and didn't want to do much work!” Eden retorted.

“Keep your quarrel shut!” Viv suddenly said causing both Eden and Alexandra to flinch. He looked at Mark and then said, “You your power?”

Mark opened his mouth to speak. He could not let anyone else speak for him at this moment since only he could describe it save Peter.

“There was an invisible...'thing' around me. Like water it moved as I thought of what I wished it to do” he said slowly with a surprisingly deep voice.

“That sounds like an aura...but invisible?” Eden thought quickly, “Hmm...not sure what it is. But it seems like an energy based ability as well...”

With that the conversation of what abilities they had ended and then the conversation on the drawbacks started.

Eden said, “Viv explained most of the drawbacks when using that power but as the creator of that power you now have in the game, I must warn you again to never use it unless you have to. Trust me it's better that way.”

“....”

As Eden continued to talk, Peter thought about something that someone mentioned before.

“Ah!” it was then that he remembered and asked, “Summer said that the power of 'Demon Kings' was similar to our marks!”

“....”

It was then that Eden, Alexandra and Viv along with the rest of the group was completely silent. To this point in the conversation Eden gave the largest sigh yet and muttered, “Why do they have to have good heads? This makes it more troublesome...”

“Why are you muttering like that?” Hina asked with an eyebrow raised. Eden and the other two's reactions were strange. There was definitely something going on and the relation between their marks to Eden and 'Demon Kings' was a key.

“And it looks like Hina figured there was a connection...actually I think all of them have by now~ Not bad~” Alexandra said humming at Eden's annoyed expression towards her.

“I thought we agreed to not tell anyone about this matter unless we had to” said Eden to Alexandra. She in turn said, “You placed those marks on them, so you have to deal with it!”

“Tch” Eden annoyed turned her face away from Alexandra and looked at the group staring down at them. They in turn felt some chills coming down on them. Was this something they should not have learnt?

“The relationship between those 'Demon Kings' and your 'Marks' are very similar as they are filtered out power. Basically they come from a similar source of power. In your case, me and the 'Demon Kings' something else,” Eden basically explained it in one go though slowly.

“You? Why does it come from you?” one of them asked.

“Don't worry about that for now” Eden said immediately kinda regretting saying that one word to them.

“Anyway don't do anything too rash like trying to get to the second stage so soon else even I can't save you” he repeatedly said to them as he explained some more of the minor details of the usage of the marks. Some of them included temporary immunity to certain status effects and other include sudden changes in strength against powerful enemies though both are not to be replied on.

“I just have one question...” Hina said.

“What is it?” Eden was getting a bit tired of Hina asking so much. He could see Jenny, her master through her. She always did ask too many questions.

“Why did you create such things as these 'Marks'?” she asked.

“....Why indeed...” he said thinking deeply about it.

“Well it is indeed an experiment that was partly inspired by those 'Demon Kings'....else the only other real reason other than to see if it would work or what will happen if it did was to prepare” Eden said firmly.

“Prepare?”

“Yes prepare” Eden nodded.

“Prepare for what?” Hina asked again.

“....”

Eden as well as the other two were silent on this matter. They would not tell anyone anything about this. The only ones who know are them, Weed and Seoyoon, the Empress. These five are the only ones, excluding those who figured it out on their own as well of what is to come.

“There are in total including all of us, 29 members of the guild now. Excluding you six who are the newest and weakest of everyone, the average level of the guild is around 700 which is quite high even for elite guilds. Moreover, each person in the guild are all exceptional people. Each and every one of them are unique and powerful. But at the same time the total number of people that rejected joining the guild one way or another is too much. Thus the 'Marks' are a way to compensate for that number” Eden said tapping his finger on his arm that was crossed.

“Plus it's not like we can't contact those people if we need help” Alexandra added, “It's just that they didn't want to join a guild and be ordered around. Though we really don't care what you do as long as you gather once in the end.”

“Another thing is that the number of these people Eden referred to are very low itself, only around another dozen and none of them have joined a guild” Viv finally said.

“Basically the 'Marks' are a back up just in case we don't have the numbers in the end.”

'As well as allow you all to not be helplessly killed at the end when your other powers don't work on 'them'...' Eden thought.

“I see” Hina seemed satisfied with the answer at least for now.

With that, the conversation about the 'Marks' ended and the six went back to their dorms since there were no classes about.

xXx

“Lucky I didn't tell them anything about 'Destroyers', that would be a spoiler” Eden sighed in relief lying on the bed deciding to sleep for a while.

Alexandra in turn lied in the same bed as him and said, “Well at least they now know not to use that power as much. They think they suspect anything more than what you relieved?”

“Unfortunately, they are at least sharp” Eden said, “Well they will find out the real reason later on either way.”

“How much time is there left?” Viv asked.

“If...we succeed in this 'Trial of the Emperor' another issue will appear in another 4-5 years and there are two more after that as well so...another 12-15 years I would think though it could be 10 years or 20 years still.”

“Not exactly a reliable source then” Viv muttered.

“Well I have no idea what will happen after we get out of this mess...it would be a miracle if we are not dragged into something else...again.”

The trio sighed seeing that even though a hundred years passed, nothing changed that much in their journey.

xXx

“Do you guys really believe Eden? That Eden who is still hiding things from us?” Hina immediately asked when they were not being listened to by anyone else in range.

“He seems concern of us nonetheless” Peter said in response.

“But at the same time concern that we won't be useful to him in the end” Ian added in.

“Lots of secrets” Mark nodded agreeing with Ian in the end. Meanwhile Grace tried not to join the conversation as it seemed that an argument was likely between everyone at this rate.

But at the same time Maria said, “Either way, whether Eden and those two are using us, they have housed us, taking care of us and trained us to be stronger as well.”

“But to be tools in the end” Hina added.

“Everyone is a tool to another. We're using Eden and the guild for ourselves right now aren't we? If not for Eden's pity” Maria raised her voice a bit seeing eyebrow coming up, “Yes pity! We would be quite literally stuck in another group doing what they want! From the very start everyone around us wanted to use us so who cares if Eden is using us as well!”

“....”

Due to the spirited speech that Maria made, the others did not want to go against her though they all shared the same thoughts as her anyway. It was just that they were extremely suspicious of what they don't know.

“Anyway we should sum up what we know so far from what Eden and the other two said” Peter said with the rest of the group agreeing. Talking and thinking about something will allow them to see more about it as a whole.

“Well first they made it VERY clear that using the 'Marks' is a bad thing to us in the long run” Hina said following up with, “But from what they said as well, it's fine to use it only once in a while at most when we can't beat something otherwise.”

Maria nodded in agreement and said, “We were able to beat something twice our levels thanks to using it that time. But at the same time...” she remembered the sensation to which that came before that point.

The pain...was something that she would rather live without remembering or feeling again. If using the 'Mark' meant that she would need to experience or worse pain than it would not be worth it to use it casually.

“That power...” Ian said thinking aloud, “It could be useful to use it as a reference for new skills. I mean I think I can replicate the phenomenon to a certain extent by using 'Burst Speed', 'Become Mist', 'Shadow Step' and perhaps one skill that creates clones and another to teleport to these clones at will.”

“Wow, that's a lot to do to get those strange shadow clones you made” Maria exclaimed.

“It's not like your one is easier to do Maria” Ian replied, “You and Hina have the exact powers from what I see and it is near impossible to replicate.”

“You can't say that for now” Hina cut in, “Maria has a higher chance of doing so than me, since she has a direct fire manipulation skill.”

Peter nodded and then directed his gaze at Mark and Grace.

“On the other hand, both Mark and Grace seemed to have an energy based type power. Mark was about to flip those creatures without touching them while Grace could use hers to boost the power of her spells several fold” he said.

“Quite normal” Mark said in response, “Compared to everyone else.”

“Oh?” Ian raised his eyebrow, “How is your one normal even compared to ours. Only you can flip giant creatures without touching them here. Plus Grace over there is another monster that can easily overpower the rest of us.”

“Ah...d-don't worry! I w-won't use it against you gu-uys!” she said in the end shuttering due to speaking to quickly without warning.

To this Peter smiled and said, “Don't worry, I don't think we will use these powers against each other at least. Plus I'm wanting to know more information on that army that Eden showed us.”

“Yeah, I'm wondering why the Kingdom hasn't sent an army against it?” Hina wondered. Perhaps they can't or they chose not to leaving it to Eden to deal with trusting that he would finish them off easily.

But they in the end retreated and now the Kingdom was in danger. An army that size...would be nearing the million point and simply cannot be ignored.

“Either way we will know later on about this army” Peter said simply, “I'm more worried about that one that managed to cut Eden down like that.”

Maria nodded and said, “From experience...well not exactly but from word of mouth and such, Dragon scales are some of the hardest things in the game and Eden...Eden seems stronger than a normal Dragon seeing his size. But for something to cut through him that easily means a super strong enemy.”

“Which will be impossible for us to deal with as well in case you want to fight that being that managed to nearly take down Eden” Ian had to remind her. She was having that look where she was happy fighting to the death.

This was troublesome to him since usually he and Mark were being dragged around with her and had to fight along side her in order to make sure she didn't die as a result of herself.

“Don't worry, we can't think of those sorts of things that are way off for now” Maria said grinning, “First I want to test out our new outfits in the game. I heard there was a tournament in the city few months away in the game.”

“Isn't that the one where you need to be at under level 150 to enter?” Hina asked.

“Yep.”

“And isn't it in another week?” Hina asked again.

“We can always take the one after that if you want. They come every quarter year and are individual based” she said with a smile. In this way, there was a possibility that they would be able to face each other.

“There will be people who are 30 levels above us there!” Ian immediately said expressing his discontent on dying because the enemy would be too strong.

“Levels aren't everything remember? We were able to defeat monsters much higher level than us in the end” Hina said.

The group looked at Peter decided on something

“So...should we enter?” Peter asked the question they were waiting for.

“Of course” Maria said with confidences.

Hina made a arrogant expression and said, “Naturally” which would be perfect if she had glasses. The other four also agreed and therefore they made their goal to get a little bit stronger before the tournament started.”

xXx

With the time that they had for the rest of the day, the group went back into the game and was greeted by Alena.

“How was your day?” she asked with a kind smile that was completely different from what you could expect from someone who knocked a high levelled commander out with her fists. That slim figure was able to...

But before Sain could finish that thought Lyndis answered, “It was nice! We met Eden and the others there as well!” she said with a bright smile.

Alena once again smiled in return and said, “From what Viv tells me, you will have less time to come here as well. This school will take up some of your time I believe.”

Miriel shook her head and then said, “Not really since there is a lot of freedom there. We don't even need to attend if we want as long as we do fine in the end.”

“But you should still go since it is your education” Alena replied quite worried that the group would slack off and fail later in life.

“Ah, all of us already had enough education. All of us before we met each other already completed everything on a high school level. This is, unlike back then is some extra things that Eden is forcing on us” she said.

“However at the same time I think there are courses that relate directly to this continent and some other things as well that will be useful later on” Sain said after Miriel, “Plus we were forced to enrol into a combat class with Alexandra as the teacher.”

“Ah, is that so” said Alena, “Have you decided on anything here that you wish to set as a goal?” she asked them.

“The tournament in a week” Sain answered immediately.

Alena paused for a second in slight disbelief and remembered that they were part of 'that' guild which she was raised with. It made sense that they at least could do this. As such she also decided to give them some information.

“The tournament in a week's time is an individual fight between singles. There is a prize of 1000 gold for first place which is a lot for your level and second place gets 300 gold and finally third place only gets 100 gold” she said.

Immediately when she mentioned the gold involved Miriel's eyes flared up seeing that they could be able to get up to 1400 gold from this. Right now, they only had 300 gold between them all even when Alena had given them new outfits as well which could possibly cost them 500-1000 gold each.

She was ever thankful to Alena for this.

“Another thing to note is that there are hundreds of people competing even in this city which only houses 300K people in it at a time. If it was a major city, the numbers competing would go up in the thousands and force them to have a battle royal style fight first to lower the numbers” Alena pointed out.

Depending on the number of people competing, it would mean that they would be faced with more dangers then ever before. Even if it didn't result in a battle royal, having multiple matches in a row could only leave them exhausted and easy pickings for other players.

“I see, thank you are telling us. Is there a time period where we need to enrol in?” Sain asked politely. For some reason Alena had this strange presence that didn't allow him to be disrespectful to her.

“Don't worry about that. I am one of the people who take admissions to the tournament, well only those who are in Independent Guilds that is though it is very rare for one under level 200 to be part of one and uncommon for one under level 300 to be in one as well.”

The group thanked Alena once again and headed out to see what their new equipment can do. Walking down the layers of the city that was made in tune with the entire tree that was giant, they noticed that they were being stared at.

“Don't worry” Sain said to the others, “Since our appearances are more...flashy, they will notice us either way.”

“I still don't like those looks...it's like they're leering and undressing me with their eyes” Lyndis said discomforted.

Miriel then said coldly, “If they come close, it's fine to attack right?”

“You will attract the attention of the guards” Sain warned.

“Not if I assassinate them” Shadow replied hiding within the rest of the group so everyone else think there's only five of them instead of six. Thanks to this new outfit, he was at least able to do this else...be super embarrassed about his skin tight outfit.

But at the same time there were people noticing Shadow though he had not realised it. Ignorance is bliss after all.

Walking through the city gate, the group continued onwards to a nearby dungeon that was suitable for those at the level 120 point. It was 'Giant Mice' dungeon where the mice were the size of large dogs or wolves depending on their strength.

They ranged from the lowly level 100 brown mice, to the more powerful level 120 white mice and finally the powerful level 150 black mice.

It was truly a place that was suited for them to train in. Arriving at the dungeon, there were already a number of players gathered but none disturbed the group for two reasons.

The first was that their party was a full six man one and the second was that due to the recent incident involving Viv, they were now known as part of an Independent Guild. Such players rarely allied with others unless they had to.

To say, they are the elite players even if their levels were low. As such the group entered the dungeon that was a maze of countless rooms and started their training. After taking the paths that took them to the white mice which were level 120, they entered a room where there was an easy three white mice.

The white mice reached up to their knees but they could also jump quite high over their heads and had fangs that were sharp enough to break through stone in a single bite. At the same time most of their bodies were made of muscle and little fat was there making it hard to cut through with a sword.

Their weaknesses include, poison and fire. As such Lyndis who could use fire, and Serena and Sain who could use poison would shine the most here.

But they weren't here for that alone. They wanted to see their limits and as such Sain, Miriel and Serena were taking a break as the other three took the three white mice on their own.

“Haaaaa!” Lyndis as she was, naturally charged in straight without anything else and started attacking while dodging the surprisingly high amount of kicks to her by the mice. Chaining it up with 'Sword Dance' she managed to kill the white mice in less than a minute without any active skills.

Raven was the same letting the white mice crash into his shield before stabbing it while it was partly stunned before repeating rotating around it and repeatedly attacking it while on guard. Raven finished around the same time as Lyndis.

On the other hand Shadow was completely different. From the start he was toying with his white mice using only his natural lack of presence to avoid attacks and stabbed it in multiple places before it died bleeding to death.

It only took him half the time than the other two while he could have ended it instantly with a stab to the head.

“Shadow is it necessary to do that?” Lyndis asked seeing his work displeased. Shadow looked back at her and said, “I wanted to see the fatal spots for later. I don't know the body of giant mice that well.”

Lyndis shrugged it off since Shadow usually did this every time they encountered something knew. He needed to know where the weak spots were and as such had to experiment else his effectiveness would be lowered.

He knew there were several skills that allowed one to see weak spots and such but he didn't have it yet so had to resort to this. Otherwise he would had to randomly slash at the enemy until it died. Something that Shadow found cruel and unnecessary.

With this, the group headed for the next room looted the bodies of the white mice and got some good quality white fur and were met with another set of three white mice. This time it was Lyndis, Raven and Shadow's turn to stay back as the other three fought.

As the three separated to fight their own foes, Sain held his spear, Miriel with her whip and unsurprisingly Serena held her staff in one hand now opting with her right with the claw was a last measure self defence.

The white mice being of low intelligence attacked the three individually not thinking of numbers at all. As such the three smiled at once.

Sain moved in quickly while casting 'Magic Arrows' at it shooting it a few times before hitting it with his spear. The white mice let out a small scream before backing away. Not willing to let it go, Sain then shot a 'Paralyse Shot' at it which hit and caused it to slow down dramatically. Sain continued on this manner until it died at the 30 second point.

Meanwhile at the same time Sain started, Miriel simple held her staff in her right hand and her whip in the left waiting for the white mice to attack her. When it moved in, Miriel attacked with the whip first causing it to flinch for a second. That was all she needed as she casted 'Ice Bolt' and killed it quick quickly at the 10 second point.

Finally there was Serena who unlike the others had little to no skill in close combat. Her agility may be high for a magic user but her strength was still just over average to a certain extent and was not worth mentioning at her level. But at the same time her spells were possibility stronger than Miriel's.

“Root Bind” she said wrapping the white mice in her vines onto the ground. She then immediately went for the killing blow using 'Leaf Cutter' which led to it dying within seconds. The three went back to the others as they commented.

“We finished faster” Miriel said bluntly.

“We did not use skills or spells” Lyndis replied with a 'Hmp'.

Miriel placed her hand on her hip and then said to Lyndis, “I thought we came here to test our limits with our new outfits not to know who can do what while holding back!”

“That's enough Miriel” said Sain interfering so this wouldn't get dragged out. Serena too got in between the two afraid that they would trade blows right now.

But expectations were betrayed as Lyndis said, “You're right but you didn't go all out yet did you.”

“Naturally, these weaklings don't require my full power. It's enough to use enough to blow them away and continue” Miriel replied to Lyndis.

Meanwhile Shadow muttered so only Sain and Raven could hear as Serena caught up to the other two, “That was disappointing. I wanted a cat fight.”

Sain let out a scowl and said, “Now is not the time for that” though changing to his usual tone saying, “It's better if they get along at least.”

With that, the group continued heading deeper and deeper into the dungeon soon facing the Black Mice that proved to be a challenge. However with Lyndis using her fire skills more actively and with the others using their skills as well, they weren't as bad as what they faced before.

Eventually they managed in another 5 days to reach the boss room. The dungeon was actually quite small if you kept on a certain path.

“From what I hear this boss monster is a giant black rat called a 'King Rat' which can summon other mice to it's command. It is several times larger than even the 'Black Mice' we faced...for good reasons” Miriel said expressing her knowledge of the boss.

“But it still has the same weaknesses right?” Lyndis asked.

“Of course” Miriel smiled wickedly. If things goes right, they may get some rare item from the boss monster.

“Okay then, let's go. Formation as usual okay” Sain said pushing the door to open the boss room.

There at the other end of the room was a giant rat that was 5 metres tall and looked as if, no could eat an entire person in one go. Seeing the group it let out some noise and mice of all kinds and size came to attack the group.

“Lyndis is on protection duty! Raven charge the rat! Everyone is as usual!” Sain shouted quickly. Miriel before already lay out some buffs for the party which was increased speed and defence with her barriers on them.

Immediately following this, Lyndis started using her fire skills to burn away the enemies and keeping them away while the rat not that afraid charged at them and was intercepted by Raven.

“Footwork! Ram!” Raven said slamming himself at the rat. However due to the size and weight of the rat, it was Raven who in the end was being pushed back.

“Poison Shot!” Sain chanted aiming and shooting it at the rat's mouth. Instantly the rat became noticeably weaker due to the poison inside of it. Sain had a good feeling his 'Weaken' spell would be useless against it.

At the same time, the group was being overwhelmed by mice.

“Shriek!” Miriel chanted.

Shrieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!!

The high pitch noise caused all the mice to either be stunned or run away from the group and Miriel, the source. Taking this chance Serena used 'Root Bind' to help Raven stop the rat as Sain and Lyndis focused fire on the rat as well.

10 seconds later the rat was covered in it's wounds but at the same time was about to crush Raven with it's raw power that was fitting for a boss monster.

“Backstab.”

But at the same time, Shadow moved in and killed the rat in one shot stabbing his short sword into it's head at the precise location where it would die instantly.

“Well I suppose that study before had some merit then” Lyndis had to admit seeing this.

After this, the group went out of the dungeon and got out of the game as they were able to start their first class at school after skipping homeroom to slay the boss monster. After the class which would only take 2 hours, they would have another day in game to prepare for the tournament.

Yes, this was their first class...'Combat Arts' led by Alexandra as the teacher.

Onwards?PreviousExitNext

Author's Notes:

- Word Count: 9700~

- This chapter was a bit later than the last one which took 2 days. The reason is not because my fingers are being swollen due to typing too much. It's because I wrote another mini-chapter to use for later while I was inspired to do so.

- There isn't too much action in this chapter, most of the small details were omitted. I'm thinking of slowly getting to this style instead of complete details of battles if it's not that important to the plot.

- The next Arc I think for the remainder of the volume would be the tournament unless I manage to finish quickly on it with a chapter or two left.