Suddenly, this female voice erupted suddenly from the direction this monster just came from. They were surprised to meet someone chasing such a monster, but the most astonished one here was Arthur.

He couldn’t detect this girl’s position, or even sense her presence at all. Without her warning words, he would have never known she was there! that was scary, as his senses were bested up here, just like this.

“Show yourself,” Arthur said, in a vigilant tone, abandoning his previous promise and moving forward, to stand in front of everyone.

Suddenly, a gale of wind erupted, few meters to his left, to show a figure of an alluring girl, with rounded eyes, little nose, fair skin and cheeks. Her body was carved beautifully, wearing revealing clothes that showed many of her hotness to them.

“I’m Emy, from Dorgazire Academy. I never saw you there before, what academy are you from?”

She was from the legendary academy everyone wanted to join, including them, so it was totally understandable for their faces to blush and their reaction to be little sluggish, except for Arthur who said back:

“I’m Arthur, and they are my friends. We don’t belong to any academy, as we live in lands near the forest.”

His reply included so many lies and one fact. devoid of any valuable information, his respond was perfect, and for those behind him, they were surprised by his attitude and his bizarre words, but they weren’t stupid not to understand the meaning behind his move.

He was careful, just careful. If he had learnt something from his past life, then trusting strangers you just met was one of the biggest fatal mistakes in life.

“Oh, that’s weird. I could swear I felt some powers coming from you, like experienced students. Though your rank is low, I thought you might be hiding your powers or just belonging to a mediocre academy.”

Her words were directed mainly to herself, as if she wasn’t seeing them at all. She was like someone, used to live alone, a life Arthur knew very well about it.

“Big sis, are you going to kill this monster?” Lily suddenly moved out, with her bow in hand, as she was already captivated by the elegance and beauty of Emy.

“Ah, I don’t want to kill it,” she shook her head, “this is a rank four monster, a monster that is hard to deal with. He just attacked some of my academy refresh recruits, causing severe damage to us, so the academy dispatched high ranked fighters like me to chase it away.”

She narrated the story in a casual fashion, like she was dealing with old friends here. This easy going nature was a constant feature for someone who was living alone, and so strong to feel threatened by anyone. Arthur knew she was telling the truth, though he didn’t drop his vigilance, after all she was so powerful to stand here and speak up her mind without reservation.

He was about to turn around and leave, when Madly hurried to say:

“Big sis, if we went up and killed it, you won’t be angry, right?”

Emy just looked at her, before she laughed a short one, putting her palm over her mouth. “Sure, honey, you are so sweet. Do you want to try and kill it? I can’t even do it.”

Arthur just looked at Madly, and before he could say a word, Drago jumped in, “Good, we badly wanted to test our innate talents on this monster. thanks big sis.”

The bear was moving slowly, yet steadily, and it got close to them as they were speaking with Emy. Arthur didn’t feel any good about it, as he didn’t like others to peep over his matters, especially if this was a total stranger for him.

But he had to admit, controlling these kids was harder than what he expected.

“I think we should select another monster to practice,” Arthur finally spoke up, attracting everyone’s attention and halting their advancing steps. they glanced, weirdly, to him, while Emy looked at him in suspicion.

“Don’t worry about me, I won’t interfere and steal your kill,” she jokingly said, as if this was what that troubled Arthur.

“I think we can’t kill this monster,” Arthur insisted, as he was ready to move away.

“What a regret,” Emy sighed, before she took out a rounded token, big enough to fill the grip of her hand. It was bronze in color, with some writing over both surfaces. Emy played, casually with no interest, by the token, “this is an invitation token, to the grand talent tournament in my academy. I was instructed to give it to superb individuals, what a regret.”

Others looked without understanding what she meant by her words, but Arthur knew exactly what she wanted to say. She was using this strange token as a bait, to push them to show her their true potentials. Arthur felt much more doubt towards her, as it seemed she wasn’t a simple student back at the academy.

“What is this tournament?” Arthur asked.

“It’s a tournament for rogue talent personnel, a chance to join the academy.”

This time, it wasn’t Arthur who was showing interest in her, but everyone else, as their eyes moved in unison towards her, like shreds of iron pulled by magnet.

“Can we join the academy?” Drago rushed to ask.

“Isn’t the age of joining the academy only nine years old?” Ouly asked, in a tone full of expectations.

Emy observed their intense reactions and laughed a short laugh again, putting her hand per habit over her mouth. “You are mistaken here, we have other ways to join the academy. Yes the age of nine is considered an optimum age to start at the academy, but it’s not the only route to the inside of the academy.

For example, this tournament is held annually, by inviting those outstanding talents from all over the world to compete and be assessed again. people that might have missed from before in our screening tests, or people who joined other mediocre academies and done brilliantly there. chances aren’t expired by missing the screening test, and those who have dreams must be willing to chase them to see them happen.”

Her words were sane, carrying some wisdom in them. Arthur greatly valued her words, which elevated her position in his mind by a lot. She wasn’t just a dump strong person, she was a wise one too. Arthur, like others, eyes this token carefully, with greedy eyes. If there was such an opportunity ahead of them, presented itself like this, then they would be stupid not to exploit it.

Emy saw the drooling look over their faces, and that made her feel somehow amused. She hid the token as she said in a fake sorry tone:

“I’m sorry y’all, I would have thought highly of you, but it seems I was mistaken.”

Her words were the last straw that crushed their hesitation, even Arthur wanted to get his hands over this token. The plan he had in mind was much longer and harder than just entering a single tournament. He planned to get hold of his territory, defending it first, then train this little gang and start building his own small army with them as the centre.

After doing all that, he intended to find a way to show his and his group skills over to one of the teachers or highly-ranked powerful figures at the academy, even inviting one to his home, hoping for them to accept him and the others.

But now there was no such long and hard ordeal. All they had to do was to impress this chick here, and then the token would be theirs. That suited Arthur, that he even decided to risk exposing his talents in front of her, after all even if he asked her to leave, he wouldn’t be sure she might lurk around, observing their deeds and fights.

Others looked at Arthur, pleading and requesting for his approval. He was their leader, heart and soul, so they asked for his decision, hoping he would agree.

“Wait,” he finally gave in, throwing all his worries away, “we will kill this monster and claim the token for ourselves.”

Emy turned with a wide grin over her face, as she was sure of their approval. “That’s great, now let’s see how strong you are. Just a reminder, even if your lives are in danger I won’t interfere to help, is it clear?”

Her words were met with a sneer from each other. If their lives were on stake, they were sure Arthur would be the one to interfere and help them.

Once decided, everyone moved to take their position. Arthur preferred to stay away, looking at the fight from distance. He didn’t do that for fear of the monster, but in a futile attempt to keep his own true powers hidden, if possible.

The bear was just ten meters away from Tally, who was wielding a shield and sword, standing alone at the forefront, facing the monster as he was told before from Arthur.