Free Web NovelChapter 39: Chapter 39. Invitation
Aiden walked towards the door and opened it.
"Mr. Vhorn, may I come in briefly?" Asmodeus, clad in an anime styled t-shirt, said.
"This dude is an otaku?" Aiden thought. "Well, I’m a gamer too. Why should I be surprised?"
"Sure," Aiden replied.
Asmodeus nodded and entered the house.
Aiden led him to the living room.
"Tea, water?" Aiden asked.
"Not really. Stuffed," Asmodeus replied. "It’s quite late. I should not waste your time. So let me get right to business."
"Would love that," Aiden replied.
"Alright. I would like to head into a gate tomorrow," Asmodeus said. "And heading into a gate requires a team. Since you helped close a special gate, I figured you have more experience navigating a pocket world than I do. After all, I’ve not been into one before. It would be beneficial to have you as part of the team."
"Straight to the point," Aiden thought. "That’s good. I was planning on heading into a pocket world after the monthly combat assessment tomorrow anyway. It won’t be a bad idea to team up with him."
"Do you have a team figured out already?" Aiden asked.
"If you agree, it’s you, me and Desmonda so far. A couple of second years I know from Harland City will also be joining us," Asmodeus said.
"Do they belong to any society?" Aiden asked.
"No. I don’t plan on getting involved with anyone who belongs to any society. If anything were to happen to them, their societies may hold us accountable," Asmodeus shook his head. "Inasmuch as I’m from a rich family and many senior year students will think twice before coming after me, it does not mean I should go around putting myself in troublesome situations."
"It seems it won’t be a problem teaming up with him," Aiden thought. "He’s careful. As for Desmonda, she has not joined any society yet, so I don’t have anything to worry about. I can’t enter a pocket world without a team too. So I have no other choice but to team up with them. They are the best option I’ve got."
"Alright. I agree," Aiden said. "It’s a rank 1 gate, right?"
Asmodeus chuckled. "Don’t worry. I don’t plan on committing suicide. It’s a rank 1 gate. In fact, you can check the mission log. The gate appeared just this morning. The other rank 1 gate missions are all taken, so this is the only one currently available."
Aiden nodded.
"Then, I’ll see myself out," Asmodeus said.
"Alright... thanks for stopping by. When are we meeting?" Aiden said.
"Oh right. Sorry, I forgot," Asmodeus said. "Tomorrow is Monday, right? After the combat evaluation. 4pm."
"Alright," Aiden replied.
Asmodeus nodded, then left.
Aiden closed the door behind him.
He sat down and opened the missions log.
After scrolling through the missions for a while, he came across the mission Asmodeus was talking about.
[Mission description:
A rank 1 gate has opened in Cryo Shopping Mall in the eastern district of Derulo City.
Task: Enter the pocket world with a team of 6 warriors and stabilize/close the gate as soon as possible.
Mission difficulty level: High (Possible death)
Reward: 10,000 contribution points for each participating member]
"So it’s this mission." Aiden selected the mission.
After that, the AI system of the university added him to a chat group of five individuals.
He was the sixth person to join.
No one was online at the moment.
Aiden went through the list of members.
Desmonda Creed.
Asmodeus Vincent.
Luke Bryan.
Seraphina Moore.
Candice Marcus.
...and of course, himself.
Aiden did a bit of background check of Serpahina Moore, Candice Marcus and Luke Bryan.
He confirmed Asmodeus’ statement. They had not joined any societies on campus.
The three second years were all intermediate rank 1 warriors.
They were also connected to Asmodeus Vincent. They all belonged to elite backgrounds in Harland City.
Aiden did this background check because he wanted to know about his teammates before carelessness came to bite him in the ass.
A lot of things could happen in pocket worlds. And one would not know who would turn out to be your enemy.
Just because he had a good impression of Asmodeus, and he had considered a possibility of even becoming friends with the guy didn’t mean he would blindly take the guy’s words at face value.
After all, he was yet to know Asmodeus better. He could not just trust him yet. He was not being cynical or insecure. He was just prioritising his survival and safety.
This was why he had done his own research on the second year students.
"He was right. That’s fine. I should purchase some invisibility bracelets and poisons tomorrow before we head out for the mission," Aiden thought.
For now, he had to get some rest. Sleep was not something warriors really required. But Aiden thought it was a necessity. The brain needed it.
*****
Derulo City University.
Hourglass’ Villa.
Hourglass was standing on her balcony in a bathrobe, sipping some juice.
Suddenly, her phone rang.
She checked the message.
"He returned alive, huh," she thought. "So he killed them. This Aiden Vhorn, I underestimated him. He’s powerful. Now, I need to eliminate him because he will definitely hold a grudge. If he’s allowed to become stronger, it won’t look good for the Hourglass Society. But, I don’t think he will accept a death duel with me. He’s not like others who care about pride that much. So I can’t use that against him. I will have to personally follow him and eliminate him the next time he leaves the university to the danger zones for a mission."
"You coming or what?" a naughty male voice resounded from inside the villa.
It was obvious she would have a long night.
"Yeah, heading in," she replied and entered the villa.
****
Treehill’s villa.
Someone knocked on Treehill’s door.
Treehill opened the door narrowly, clad in only shorts.
It was obvious he was not in the bedroom alone.
"What?" he said angrily.
The fellow replied, "He returned alive."
Treehill was quite surprised. He closed the door behind him and came down the stairs into the hall with the society high ranked member who came to report the matter to him.
"It seems we underestimated him," TreeHill said. "Not even Hourglass’ people could deal with him. I’ll personally deal with him when he’s out of campus on a mission. Don’t send anyone after him anymore. He will kill them. This Aiden Vhorn is gonna hold a grudge. He will come after us if he’s allowed to grow stronger. We should get rid of him before he comes to bite us in the ass."
The society member nodded.
"Alright."
After that, the person left.
Treehill climbed up the stairs, and closed the bedroom door behind him.
