[Marshal Lopol: Well, it won’t be hard at all. We can just pay for an entry cost. But…sending you alone with strangers inside a dungeon, don’t you feel the risk?]
Almond thought hard. Did he feel at risk after being surrounded by his crazy summons, with his stats already surpassing the adventurers who would enter the same dungeon with him? Nope.
He had Admiral Rudra’s protection item, and he also had his own trump card.
The point of revealing some information was to hide something more important. He wasn’t going to tell anyone else about his Legendary class’s skill, not even Julian or Roken.
That knowledge would be confined to a small sphere and wouldn’t grow any further. It wasn’t about trust. It was about keeping the information from spreading in a simple sense.
Admiral Rudra had told him to keep a tight lid on his Legendary Class’s information.
But he could show his primary class, in turn, to make it his main attraction point if there was going to be one out in the light eventually.
So he was ready.
[Almond: Well, if you feel I would be at risk, then how about sending a guard or two with me? I’m sure Admiral Rudra wouldn’t mind paying for two people extra.]
[Marshal Lopol: Alright, I’ll inform the Branch Master about this. She will make a positive decision in light of you having Admiral Rudra’s stamp, but the two people coming with you would be the ones I select. Julian and Roken won’t go there. They are not strong enough.]
[Almond: No problem. I am coming there in half an hour and will leave for Thunderbird City at your arrangements.]
‘I wonder if I can get my summons to my pocket no matter the distance?’ Almond wondered and tried.
He had a faint connection with his summons, so he tried to put Infernal Knight into his pocket, and it surprisingly worked.
‘Interesting, so the distance doesn’t matter when I want to recall my spirit wraiths.’
Almond still returned to his house. He put everyone except for Alfred in his pocket and left the house in Alfred’s care.
…
A funny coincidence. Almond was about to enter that dungeon tomorrow to get lightning affinity and learn the skills. Meanwhile, the reason Lady Aria took Lily to that hidden island was for Lily to experience the darkness and let her acquire darkness affinity.
As someone on the 7th rank of the Global Leaderboard, Lady Aria was strong, suffice to say. But her dangerousness was masked by her rank for general people.
If someone asked veteran adventurers about who was the most dangerous Adventurer on the global leaderboard, everyone would have the same answer—Lady Aria of Crimson Shadow.
She was someone who had mastered the art of assassination on a new level. Her skill set, her both classes, and her entire being augmented her role as an assassin.
The island where she took Lily was a special one. It had a strong alignment with darkness, and this was also where she improved.
Natalia accompanied them for other training, but she was alone at a beautiful river stream with glowing flowers.
On the other hand, Lily and Lady Aria were below the river stream in a hidden underground area for their special training. This area had an underground water stream where Lily and Lady Aria sat.
It was illuminated by strange dark purple crystals and flora that oozed out shadowy energy and black hues.
“What are you thinking? Your mind is not in complete darkness yet. Permeate your senses into the darkness here.”
Lily’s eyes twitched as she heard Lady Aria’s voice.
“I was thinking about Almond.”
Lady Aria sighed, “What do you want to do?”
“Nothing. I will continue to live with him, and you have to agree.”
Lady Aria’s expression became stern, “If you continue to be this stubborn, I’ll have no choice but to revoke this mentorship.”
Not flinching at all, Lily replied while looking straight at her, “Fine.”
“…”
Lady Aria sighed, “Are you serious? You want to forgo this mentorship for some boy?”
“Are you serious? You want me to forget someone I love for some mentorship?”
“…”
“Fine, fine,” Lady Aria snorted. “Since you’ve praised him so much, then I’ll approve as long as he performs well in the Rising Star Tournament?”
“He defeated Xavier, and you think it’s not enough?” Lily pouted.
“That brat is nothing much,” Lady Aria snorted. “Even you are better than him, so winning against Xavier doesn’t count. And you are not telling me about his class skills and other things as well, so I’ll have to see him fight in the Rising Star Tournament.”
“Fine, but I will still live with him until the tournament starts,” Lily firmly said. “As for his result in the tournament, I have no doubt he’ll take the first rank, humph.”
“…Alright, I got it. Now, close your eyes and focus. You told him you would return after a day, but that’s not the deal we have. You will only return once you grasp the darkness attribute. Since you said you would do that in one day, then keep your word.”
“Watch me,” Lily closed her eyes and focused.
…
It was already almost 2 o’ clock in the morning when Almond arrived at the GAA. The sky was completely dark, and the jet was ready to depart.
The two other people going with him were Level 100 Gold-rank Adventurers Nikki and Anton. Both of them were in their mid-twenties and members of the same party.
Everything was arranged, so the trio departed at 2:20 and arrived at the GAA branch in Thunderbird City half an hour later.
The dungeon raid was supposed to start at 7 in the morning, so Almond decided to sleep in the dorms at the GAA branch.
…
Northern Mountain peak area, Thunderbird City.
A group of six Adventurers, all above Gold level 80, were gathered near the Dungeon Door.
“Leader, are we seriously going to have three extras in this raid? What the hell?”
“Are they going to take items and stuff or just going along with us?”
“They might be coming for some lighting affinity training.”
“Do we have their profiles?”
The leader sighed, “Give me a break. I’ll answer your questions one by one, so listen. They paid for the slots, so they will take the rewards they earn. We’ll move with the contribution system in place.”
“Tsk…”
“Don’t tsk. Things have changed, so earn your rewards. We are six, and they are just three. It won’t be hard.”
The leader paused for a second before continuing, “And they are indeed coming here because one of them wants some lightning affinity training. I don’t have their profiles, but we’ll be meeting them soon.”
Just as he finished speaking, the aircraft arrived on the mountain and flew towards them.
The group saw three people jumping off the aircraft and landing nearby.
Almond looked at the group as he walked towards them and was surprised to see a familiar face, “Henry?”
“Huh, you know him, leader?” asked the orange-haired girl standing beside Henry as she blinked in surprise.
Meanwhile, Henry was shocked.
‘This guy…’
Meanwhile, a few of Henry’s party members narrowed their eyes.
‘Is he the one whose poster we saw?’
‘Damn…he is definitely that one, and Henry’s reaction says it all.’