As Emery entered the premise of the residence, his ears were immediately attracted by a loud commotion. Making his way in, he saw how Julian and Thrax were currently arguing about something in the living room, while Chumo was sitting on the sofa opposite of them enjoying himself with some drinks.
"Emery!! You're back!!" Thrax said loudly, when he noticed him entering the living room.
Emery couldn't help but let out a wry smile at this friend of his. The Thracian seemed to be half-drunk, as he could see his body swaying slightly left and right when he walked towards him.
Thrax quickly brought Emery to his side by grabbing him in the shoulder. The two then immediately walked towards Julian, or to be precise, Emery was dragged away by Thrax. Apparently, the former wanted his help in settling their argument about the game, which he found a bit silly.
Julian, however, didn't seem to want to continue entertaining the drunken champion's antics any longer. He ignored the babbling Thracian and looked at Emery while saying: "I told her already that you would definitely return in one piece. See, here you are!"
Julian emphasized the last part of his words while glancing at Klea who stood behind Emery.
The Thracian, in his drunk state, suddenly cut into the conversation. "Huh! If you were really so sure of what you just said, why have you planned to see the headmaster with Lord Izta's army tomorrow?!"
"That was just a backup plan! Don't you know we should always have a backup plan in our life?" Julian said those words as he glared at Thrax, as if the latter had divulged his family's secret. Then, he scoffed. "Forget it, I guess a barbarian like you will never understand!!"
Chumo, as the reigning champion of last year's drink competition, was apparently the only one who was still fully sober. Therefore, he would be the one to ask the question that everyone desperately wanted to know.
"So what really happened, Emery? Tell us. Why did the enforcers take you away earlier?"
The question quickly brought everyone to silence. Thrax immediately stopped his antics, while Julian fixed his attention at Emery. As for Klea, she was sitting a bit further from the group and looked like she didn't care, but she certainly listened attentively, as everyone saw her body slightly lean in their direction.
Under the four pairs of eyes that focused their attention on him, Emery began to talk about the interrogation he had just gone through. He talked about how he was brought into a dungeon-like room and bombarded with many questions regarding his involvement in the Wolf and Serpent Bloodline issue.
He narrated everything from the beginning to the end, but not about the mission, as he had promised to not tell a single other soul about it.
In the middle of his explanation, Klea suddenly turned her head and commented.
"I told you that snake girl would bring you nothing but trouble! Now you see it yourself!"
Emery could only let out a wry smile at her remarks.
Overall, the group was relieved he was being released and that his name was cleared from suspicion. Emery was about to say more, when a notification suddenly came out of nowhere to his mind.
[Emery Ambrose, congratulations on your acceptance in the privileged class]
The notification was followed by certain information about the time and place to go.
Julian and the others noticed how Emery suddenly stopped just as he was about to speak.
"What is it?" Chumo asked worriedly.
Emery returned to reality, turned to his friends and shook his head.
"It's nothing bad. I just got my invitation to the privileged class. Apparently, I will start the new class tomorrow."
The words brought another round of silence to everyone in the room. Obviously, it wasn't a bad piece of news; it was a very good one. However, it also meant that starting tomorrow they would no longer be in the same class.
Eventually, it was Thrax who broke the gloomy atmosphere.
"What are you bunch of sorry-ass people sulking about?! Stop putting on those looks and let's make a toast for our friend's success!"
Chumo quickly brought his glass to the air, following Thrax's initiative.
"That's right! Let's make a toast! To Emery! Earth's strongest acolyte!"
Klea followed suit by taking a glass of her own and raising it to the air as well. She looked Emery in the eye and said, "Hope you get what you were looking for in there!" After saying those words, she immediately drank down her drink.
There seemed to be another meaning in Klea's words, but Julian quickly cut in before Emery could ask.
"This is my toast for you, Emery!" He said as he drank down his drink. "Promise me you will show those arrogant privileged acolytes who you really are!"
"Here, here!!" Thrax butted in, with a glass of his own. "Cheers!!"
The five looked at one another and felt complete. Emery felt as if he could achieve anything in the world as long as these people were beside him. Naturally, there was also a twinge of fear that appeared as he hoped for this precious moment would never end.
It was at this moment the group suddenly sensed several figures approaching the residence. As a result, they separated away from the hugs and walked towards the window to see who these people were.
"Enemy?!" Julian blurted out, as his vigilance returned albeit foggily.
It took the group a few seconds before they realized who was coming. Following that was the sounds of multiple knocks on the door, which then followed by a bunch of people entering the residence and into the living room where the five of them were at.
"Sorry, we came late!!"
"Emery my friend! I heard that you finally entered the privileged class! Congrats!!!"
The ones who came were people that had some relation to Emery and the others; Gerri, Igor, Ivar, Okoye and even the quiet jade flash Aiko. It was basically Gerri's team, but Emery was surprised when he saw Orycon, the strongest of group seven, and Anas of the Kaleos were also present.
"Surely we must celebrate together, we did help you win the bonus stage!" Anas said, while showing off Orycon, who he forced to come.
"We brought food!!" Gerri said excitedly. "Let's celebrate!!"
Without even asking for permission, after throwing the bags filled with food on the table, the Violet Flame ran to the middle of the living room and passionately sang a song.
Klea was visibly confused, as she stared at this group of people. Later, she found that it was Chumo who spilled the beans and told these people about the party they were having.
"I was worried Emery couldn't come and we would be sulking… so…"
Chumo's flat, innocent face made Klea unable to say anything and decided to make the most out of it.
The atmosphere of the room started to turn strange when Okoye and even the indifferent Aiko started to join the fray and dance to the song Gerri was singing. The two big half blood goat bloodlines made the house tremble with the odd-looking jumping they did as they followed the beat.
Knowing it was inevitable, Earth's team could only join the craziness of the celebratory party. Things quickly turned wild and the party went on until the morning. Unlike last year, their rank 8 and 9 cultivation couldn't easily make them intoxicated and passed out from all the drinks they had.
***
When the morning light arrived and shared its brilliance, Emery groggily stood up from where he was lying. Even though the drinks he drank last night caused him a slight hangover, he still swiftly prepared to head towards his destination.
The others gathered outside of the residence, as they wanted to send away their Group 7's best acolyte, who went up to the privileged class.
"Don't be a stranger!!" Gerri shouted.
"Of course!!"
Emery glanced at his four friends one more time, before he created a spatial gate and left the residence.
Seeing that Emery was gone, everyone also started to leave the place, leaving only Klea who was still looking at the spot where Emery stood earlier.
Julian approached her from behind and said, "I understand how you feel.."
"How can you know how I feel!" Klea said emotionally, while turning her head around.
Julian wasn't angry that Klea was yelling at him.
"I know, because I feel exactly the same: the feeling of chasing something that seems only goes further and further away each day."
Hearing that, Klea turned silent for a moment and said with determination.
"No, I will definitely catch him."
"Good, I feel the same. The Harlights have formally accepted me into their clan. You will see Klea, I will definitely catch up."
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Author Note:
Dear privileged readers, thank you for your support for the month of December. It's really only because of your support that the novel can keep going forward for more than a year. I am hoping next year I can create much better content for you all.
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Happy New Year 2022,
I share a few newly created illustrations in the comments, I'll see you again next year.