"Cecil is a sick person," Isaac said as they all returned to their club.

"Why are you still holding my hand?" Isolde glared at Godfrey while looking at their entwined fingers.

Godfrey let go with an awkward smile.

"Humph!" Isolde harrumphed, went to the window, brought out her earbuds, and put them into her ears while looking away through the window.

"Street fighting isn't safe. It could get you into worse problems than what you're trying to use it to solve," Godfrey glared at Isaac.

"But my mother—!"

"We'll take her to my mom. Lately, her summon's healing water is able to handle illnesses, not just cuts or regenerating lost limbs," Godfrey interjected, and Isaac nodded.

"Now that's settled. Why didn't anyone inform me about Lucy?!"

"She has denied us from helping, and truthfully, there's nothing we can do to stop the treatment she's receiving from her family. What's worse, her father has called her home. She'll be going in three days with her brother," Percival said.

"And the tournament is just two weeks away," Isaac added.

Seeing the direction the conversation was taking, Lucy quickly spoke. "You need to prepare for this tournament, Godfrey. Nexus Club knows the reason for your strength is because you're a Tri Summoner, but since this tournament is majorly about summons, they're preparing for vengeance."

Percival nodded. "They're training in their summoner skills and perfecting their Innate and Adaptive skills. Gregory has set up a training plan for them, and all of them have been in dungeons."

"What about you? Are you not in the same class?" Isaac asked.

"My teacher isn't happy that I stood by while Jon was beaten. Not that we've been on a good note before," Percival stated coolly.

When all of them looked at Godfrey like he was being left behind by people who lost to him a month ago, Godfrey simply tilted his head, and behind him, three mana constructs appeared, each made of translucent golden aura. It was Tempest, Ballista, and Mountain, with their arms crossed. Their huge bodies made the room suddenly look smaller.

"You've learned projection!" Lucy couldn't believe her eyes.

"Awesome!" Isaac's eyes glowed, only for him to shrink his neck as Godfrey and Percival glared at him. They knew it was his lust for strength that led to his street fighting.

Dispersing the projection, Godfrey faced Lucy. "I did not just sleep throughout my suspension. Now, we're going to see if your summon can evolve."

"It can." Isolde's reply came suddenly, and everyone turned toward her.

"Can it?" Lucy asked in disbelief.

Isolde gave a soft nod. "The Iron-Clawed Crab can evolve into a high tier with potential close to, or even reaching, a lord tier. But… there's only been two people who have done it in history."

"Only two people? It doesn't sound feasible for us to achieve such a feat in just three days." Lucy had gone too deep telling herself that she had reached her peak, that everything Isolde said sounded too high to be within her reach, like some abstract dream.

"There's a green gate dungeon that will suit our requirements. According to the fluctuations, it's an 8.0 dungeon," Isolde said. Her eyes locked on Godfrey. This would be her first time going into a dungeon together with him, and it made her excited.

Just then, Edwin walked into the club with Cecil. "Isolde, a word."

Isolde followed him out, and they went straight to the headmaster's office. Upon seeing Isolde, Sebastian sighed heavily.

"Isolde, I'm afraid you might have to visit your family."

"She insulted me, laying our vulnerabilities in public. I was right in every accord to make her know she was wrong," Isolde retorted firmly.

"But your parents—!"

"Said I shouldn't engage in a fight. They didn't say I shouldn't defend myself. Last time, I wasn't the one attacked, but this time I was," Isolde interjected solemnly.

Sebastian dropped the telephone. "You may leave."

Cecil's eyes widened. "B-but… isn't she…"

Isolde elegantly rose to her feet, flipped her hair, and left the office.

***

As the sun began to set, five teenagers alighted from a taxi, all wearing casual attire. Isolde tied her hair into a ponytail and wore a face cap. She stared at the abandoned farmlands, her eyes gleaming as she could barely feel the fluctuations beyond the short wooden fence.

"There's a house there," Isaac pointed at a house in the distance, inside the farmland. Not far from it was a barn.

"Prepare yourselves," Godfrey said as he walked into the farm with the others. In the next instant, they found themselves in the middle of a brook. It reached their waists!

Around them was a foggy forest.

"Is this a joke? Of all places, we had to appear right in the middle of a water body," Isaac grumbled aloud.

Godfrey pressed his fingers against his lips. "Something's coming." Everyone kept silent, and they began to hear twigs being crushed under the feet of something.

A bear, a little bigger than a normal bear. It had much longer claws and reddish-brown man patterns around the head, neck, and chest, making it look like a reddish-brown mane.

Its forelegs were longer than its hind legs and possessed absurdly long claws. About four short, stubby horns grew out of the head of this bear.

They all recognized it as one of the beasts Edwin taught about, the Dire Bear!

It rose to its hind legs, roaring the moment it saw them.

A diagram appeared, and a white wyvern slammed the head of the Dire Bear into the soil before freezing it.

Godfrey came out of the water with Isolde and Percival, and to their surprise, Percival made the water in their clothes come out like bubbles until their clothes were literally dried.

Just then, the trees began to shake. Roars echoed.

"Dire Bears are dreaded because of their numbers. They can have packs twice as many as wolves. I think that's what we're about to face," Lucy said.

Two golden portals appeared beside Godfrey. Mountain and Ballista came out. Isaac brought out his Mammoth Spider, all of which stood beside the white wyvern.

A blue portal appeared beside Percival, and an eight-foot-tall humanoid whose wavy blue hair fell backward like the waves of the sea emerged. Fine scales covered every part of the humanoid's body. The scales at its chest were golden. The Sea King held a golden trident as water floated around it in an imperfect circle.

It wore blue shell pauldrons, vambraces, and shin guards with blue fins like sails.

The Sea King's face had no scale. Its appearance caught the eyes of everyone, but no one could talk as two dozen Dire Bears emerged from the fog, lunging at them with unrestrained bloodlust.

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