The Author's POV

'This place hasn't changed since the last time that I've been here.'

It was shit as usual.

Jin moved in the direction of an old and dilapidated warehouse that was off in the distance. It was a building that he was acquainted with as he had been there in the past. Ren's mercenary group headquarters.

He didn't have the fondest of memories of the place as it reminded him of the incident that happened a while back. When he was kidnapped against his will by Kevin and Ren.

'Those bastards.'

Even now, as he reflected on the occurrences that took place a long time ago, he felt an unsettling rage rising up from the depths of his being. It took a few deep breaths before he became calm again.

'Let's calm down for now. Ren isn't even here at the moment. There is no point in getting angry about something that happened in the past.'

Despite what he said, he never relaxed his clenched teeth as he moved closer and closer to the warehouse's entrance. He was clearly still upset about what had happened in the past.

In any case, this wasn't the reason why he was at the warehouse at the moment; he was there for a completely different reason.

'Another planet, huh?'

Ren extended his invitation to travel to another planet yet again. This time, he did not resort to another kidnapping...or at least, he did not attempt the same thing again, and even if he did, Jin did not intend to fall for the same trick again.

Regardless, after hearing Ren's offer, Jin was about to deny his request once more. However, just as he was about to refuse, he realized something.

'Isn't this the best opportunity to skip out on all the dates that grandfather is planning on having me attend?'

If he left for another planet...

Wouldn't he be able to skip the dates that were planned for him?

It was at that moment that he stopped hesitating and readily accepted the offer. To him, anything was better than attending those blind dates.

'Yes, please.'

He arrived at the entrance of the warehouse and rang the doorbell.

Clank!

"You're here."

It wasn't long before the door opened and Jin came face to face with Kevin.

"Mhm."

Jin greeted Kevin with a simple nod and entered the warehouse.

'What a sharp contrast.'

The stark contrast between the outside and inside of the warehouse never ceased to amaze Jin. Almost as soon as he walked through the door, he had the impression that he had been transported to an entirely new location.

From the furnishings and fittings, as well to the rooms themselves, everything seemed to be made with the most up-to-date and high-priced technologies and materials. The equipment in the training room was even better than the best spots at his guild, which was saying something.

To tell you the truth, Jin was currently experiencing feelings of jealousy.

'Just where in the world did Ren get all of this money from?'

If he had to make an estimate, all of this would cost at least several billion of U to make.

'Since when has Ren been so rich?'

Jin wondered to himself as he kept looking around with amazement. It wasn't long before they stopped in front of a small metallic door. Coming to a halt, Kevin turned around and seriously said.

"What you're about to see, make sure to keep it a secret, alright?"

"...Okay."

Jin nodded his head upon seeing how serious Kevin looked.

Kevin's face softened when he saw Jin nod. After that, he grabbed the door handle and opened the door with a little bit of force.

"Alright, let's go in."

"Uh?"

Jin let out a strange sound at the exact moment Kevin opened the door, and he was able to get a good look at what was behind the door.

Dwarves.

What met his sight upon opening the door were dwarves.

It wasn't just one of them, but there were more than a dozen of them, and they were all currently moving around a room that was the same size as a tennis pitch, connecting some strange wires to what appeared to be a large portal.

The room was painted entirely in white, and it was crawling with dwarves who were busy moving around and connecting various devices located all over the space.

Jin rigidly turned his head to look at Kevin.

"...Are they setting up a portal?"

"They are."

Kevin nodded his head.

"You see, even though my skill enables me to set up a portal, it still has a cool down that I have to respect. It may have decreased over the years as my strength has grown, but I simply can't teleport that many people with me at once, so I found that setting up a portal was the best option. Plus, with the dwarves here, teleporting across planets shouldn't be a problem."

"Okay..."

Jin nodded his head while he stared at the dwarves, who were hard at work. He then asked something else.

"Will they also be coming with us?"

"Us?"

Kevin looked at him with a strange look.

He then shook his head.

"I don't know if you've been made aware of this, but I won't be coming with you guys. I still have a lot of things to do at the Union."

"Right."

Jin nodded his head in understanding.

His excuse made sense. Unlike him, who worked for an independent guild run by his family, Kevin worked for the Union and was directly responsible for stopping the Monolith.

Given the current situation, it made sense for him to not have time to come with them.

"What about them?"

"The dwarves?"

"Yeah, the dwarves. Why exactly are they coming with us?"

Jin crossed his arms together while his eyes swept over the dwarves that were hard at work. His eyes carefully scanned the dwarves before him.

He then looked at Kevin with a confused look.

"Is Ren going to a planet that used to belong to the dwarves?"

"I don't know."

Kevin shrugged his shoulders with a smile.

"All I know is that Ren invited them personally and that they agreed to his request. If you want to know more, you have to ask Ren yourself when you meet him. At the moment, they're setting up the portal that you and the others will use. "

"I see..."

Jin quietly mumbled.

It wasn't long before he spotted a couple of familiar figures standing at the far end of the room.

'Melissa, Amanda, and Emma?'

He instantly recognized them and was surprised to see them there.

"Are they also coming?"

"Yes."

Kevin nodded his head slightly. At the same time, Emma's face turned to face him, and their eyes met. Neither one of them spoke before Emma cast her angry gaze away from him.

'It looks like they're having a fight.'

Jin easily picked this up but chose to remain silent. It was none of his business, and it wasn't exactly the first time that this happened. The fact that Melissa didn't seem to think anything of it was also proof of this.

'Now that I think about it, why is Melissa also here?'

Never did he expect her to come here. She wasn't the type of person to come to this type of stuff.

Seemingly able to read Jin's thoughts, Kevin spoke.

"Melissa is trying to create something new, but she's missing a few ingredients that she can't find in the human domain. She wants to try her luck on Immorra, the planet you'll be visiting."

"Oh."

Jin finally came to an understanding.

'If it's like that, then it makes sense.'

"What about you? Why are you going to Immorra?"

Kevin suddenly asked him a question just as he was about to greet the two of them.

Jin's face hardened, and his body froze completely.

"...I want to train."

It was fortunate that he was quick to react, as he quickly devised a plausible excuse.

At this point, the words, 'I want to train' had become synonymous with him.

"Oh, that makes sense."

Kevin didn't think too much of his excuse and headed toward a couple of dwarfs in the distance. With nothing else to do, Jin followed him from behind.

"Hey, humans!"

A loud burly voice suddenly echoed throughout the entire room.

When Jin turned to see who was speaking, his gaze was drawn to a particular dwarf in the distance.

'He's strong.'

Jin could tell he was extremely powerful just by looking at him. Not only that, but he seemed to exude a commanding presence that made everyone around him easily obey his commands.

Even Jin felt extremely pressured by his presence.

"Is there anything, Randur?"

The only one that seemed completely unaffected was Kevin as he kept his smile and asked.

"...Or is everything already sorted?"

"Yes, we're all sorted."

Randur moved to the side of the portal and pressed a button on one of the keyboards that were attached to the panels that were connected to it.

As soon as he pressed on the key, the mana that was already present in the atmosphere began to stir, and the portal began to function.

"The portal is all set up. Get ready, we're about to leave."