Chapter 44: Fearless.
The reception hall of the guild building was eerily silent as the main door slowly closed with a thud, jolting Felix who was the center of attention with his new look that was handsome yet comical at the moment.
He had no idea why the guild members were standing in a circle around the reception desk with such intensity. But nevertheless, he had to break the silence as he called out to them.
"H-Hey there, my name is Felix.....remember me? The guy who killed those three people from the enemy guild."
His words seemed to have made them realize he was the new capable member of their guild and not just a salesman knocking on their doors with all those bags. It was not their fault as the change in his looks had made them forget who he was.
They didn't say anything and instead turned back to stare at the receptionist with intensity while taking deep breaths to make sure what they had heard was right.
Elsa who was sitting in her seat turned her gaze away from Felix who had just interrupted them and repeated what she said in a solemn voice.
"Four guilds will be participating in the war against us...."
Silence prevailed in the hall as the guild members looked around at each other with a peculiar look in their eyes.
Suddenly, someone let out a chuckle, and then as if with a snowball effect everybody started to laugh crazily with bloodlust spreading out from them.
"Hahahah, to think we would be able to make four guilds scared of us."
"You're right, they got so scared that they are trying to join hands with each other. Hehahaha"
"Finally, there'll be a big war for all of us to fight. These missions in secret were starting to get boring as of late."
"Guys, this time you can't stop me from getting into fights unlike in the missions, alright?"
Felix stood petrified and dropped his bags when he heard they were going to war against four enemy guilds, but hearing these guys laugh and cheer without a worry made him speechless.
'Are these guys also stupid like Steve or am I hearing something wrong?.....'
He couldn't make heads or tails of the situation while questioning whether these guys didn't have any fear or they were just suicidal.
The crowd dissipated as everyone just shrugged at the announcement and went to their things leaving the receptionist frowning as she rubbed her forehead.
Hurrying in front of the desk, Felix widened his eyes with a spirit of inquiry as he banged on the table.
"Miss Elsa!! Did I hear it right when you said we're to war against four enemy guilds?"
Elsa raised her head at him and nodded calmly.
"Ah that, well yes we'll be going against four guilds in the war."
He was surprised at her calm voice and asked again.
"Just that? Are you not worried about it? We are only one guild while there will be four guilds."
Hearing the anxiousness in his voice, Elsa smiled wryly and answered.
"You don't have to worry about those guys. They are not someone who fear death and we have already prepared a surprise for this situation for our enemy guilds."
She sounded confident while revealing a slight killing intent but she hid it and smiled assuredly at him.
"Umm.....sigh. I'll believe you if you say so."
Felix scratched his head and sighed as he needed to grow stronger quickly if he wanted to participate in the war too and not become cannon fodder against four enemy guilds.
"Also, how much time do we have left until the war?"
Putting a finger on her chin, she pondered for a while and answered calculating the days left.
"There should be around 18 days left until the start of the war."
'It's not more nor less, but I should hurry and try reaching the first rank.'
Nodding at the information, he clenched his fists and walked back to the main door.
Taking the bags back into his hands, he started walking toward the stairs and turned back to tell her.
"Miss Elsa, can you tell Steve that I was looking for him when he returns back?"
She raised her brow at his request wondering why he would need that troublemaker but nodded regardless.
"Okay, I'll tell him that."
"Thank you Miss Elsa, I'll be going back to training now.", his voice was unyielding as his red eyes gleamed with determination.
Carrying the many bags, Felix went upstairs to the second floor and entered his room.
He kept the bags in the closet and refreshed himself in the bathroom before coming out clean.
'I'll need more skill points to create skills that could help me in the war, so I must do some missions related to killing monsters outside the city. But before that, I'll have to meditate and learn the sword arts for my safety.'
Sitting on the floor where the afternoon sunlight was at its peak with his eyes closed, he concentrated and went into meditation turning all the nutrients into energy.
After some time, he stopped meditating and sat on the chair taking out the Black Horizon Sword Arts manual from inside his closet.
It was written in the same language as that of the aura manual so he started reading it with focus, understanding the basic ways of the sword and techniques that were necessary for him.
Feeling his stomach growl after 3 hours of meditating and reading, he realized it was time for lunch and kept back the book inside the closet before coming out of his room.
He went to the dining hall and filled his stomach while also searching for Steve who was still not there.
Missing his training partner, he walked back to his room and took out the sword arts manual again.
As he had already read the manual a few times, he didn't try reading it again and instead took out his short sword to practice the moves drawn in the book.
Slowly moving the sword, he moved it in a certain flow and stepped around the room.
With the air as his target, he slashed, sliced, cut, and stabbed the sword in various directions. He did those moves more than a hundred times.
Finally, when he got exhausted from doing all that for around four hours, the door knocked as a voice interrupted him.
"Felix! Are you there? I heard Miss Elsa say you called for me.."
When Felix heard the voice, he kept his book back in the closet before opening the door with a smile.
"Hey Steve, where did you go?"
Steve looked at the sweating boy and realized he was training alone inside his room. With a nod of admiration, he replied.
"There was a small mission I had to do with my teammates, so I couldn't accompany you for training today."
Felix waved his hands as if he didn't mind that.
"It's no problem, you were busy."
Still standing at the door, he took a breath and requested Steve for his help.
"I'll start doing official missions from tomorrow, so I need your help with training today."
Steve was surprised and a frown took place on his face.
"Are you sure about that? You can start doing missions after you advance to rank 1 because even though you can fight properly, it'll be a lot more dangerous with only novice strength."
Felix didn't want to start doing missions related to killing monsters after he advanced because that would mean he would no longer gain skill points from rank 1 monsters, and defeating higher than that was not something he could do right now.
"I'm sure of it. Although I'm still not that powerful, I have trust in my ability to escape if I'm in danger."
Steve thought about it and realized he was not his mom so he could not deny him from doing what he wanted. He just shrugged at the end.
"If you say you can do it, then I'll believe it...But only after you survive today's training will you be able to go."
Felix grinned at the challenge and nodded while going back inside his room.
"Wait a minute, I'll change into training clothes."
It seemed there was a nice training outfit in the bag of clothes that the manager gifted him. Wearing the tight and stretchable dark blue training outfit in less than a minute, he walked out carrying his sword.
"Let's go, I'll show you how much I've improved."
Steve and Felix walked upstairs to the third floor and moved into a training room.
After doing a few exercises, they took out their weapons and stood in their stance against each other preparing for a clash.
"I won't be holding myself back, okay?", Steve taunted while swinging his sword.
"Come at me.", replied Felix while taking a deep breath to adjust his thoughts.
Hearing the confident voice of the boy, Steve grinned with an excited gleam in his eyes before dashing forward and showing him the difference between the both of them.
The fight started as the silver-haired boy displayed the result of his training and honed his skills under the crazy attacks of the chatterbox.