Alaric opened the window and turned to look at the police officer standing outside. They both stared at each other for a while before the police shook his head.

" Tsk... Young people. Can you do it inside your house," the officer broke the silence.

Jezebel got off him, her face red, and sat back in the driver's seat.

" I apologize, officer, but we weren't doing anything wrong. Am I not allowed to kiss my girlfriend?" Alaric asked with a pleasant smile on his face.

" Haaa.. just go home, will you?"

Alaric nodded.

" I'm going home," he said to Jezebel before leaning forward and kissing her on the cheeks. Jezebel blushed again.

" I'll call you about the stones when I ask grandpa, I'll send you your share after I calculate the total," she said to him seriously

Alaric knew she was referring to the spiritual stones.

" Okay, but I don't need a lot. You need to keep enough so that you can support me I'm pretty expensive."

" I will don't worry. I'm not going to lose anything."

Alaric nodded and left the car. The police officer was still standing there looking at them as they discussed the future.

"Travel safely," he said to Jezebel before she drove off.

"She's cute, isn't she?" he said to the officer, and then walked to the café. He wasn't expecting an answer from him.

...

Jezebel arrived at the association still flustered. She parked her car and walked to her grandpa's booth, her feet bouncing in the air.

" You look happy? A little too happy," was the first thing her grandpa said the moment he saw her.

" I'm super happy, how did you know?"

" I'm your grandfather I can read you like a book."

" You're right. Do you know what your favorite grandchild brought for you?"

" What is it?" He asked leaning forward curiously. She smiled at him mysteriously before extending a closed fist through the small opening and opening it.

" Surprised right?"

He looked at his granddaughter in surprise. Spiritual stones were really expensive, but it depended on luck to find them. Not every dungeon has them, it's most a hit and miss for manufacturers like him. One out of twenty dungeons might have them but not a lot.

" Did you get them at the dungeon you went to?" He asked eagerly. He could already see the faces of his son and daughter-in-law brighten up.

" Yes, a few tons."

" You're really my favorite. Oh, what about the young man you went with the suicidal one?"

Jezebel had to pause a little to understand what he was saying.

"Oh, him, we separated, but he also helped me in mining. His share will be distributed after we clean it up."

" You didn't get scammed did you? What about the dungeon rewards?"

Jezebel chuckled nervously.

" He cleared the dungeon by himself. I spent most of the time mining."

A little white lie won't hurt, Jezebel thought. She really didn't contribute that much and she had forgotten all about it.

" Okay. At least you came out with something."

....

Alaric arrived at the brothel two hours later. He'd spent most of his time in the cafe drinking coffee and staring into nothing . This was a way for him to rewind and get rid of the still-pumping adrenaline.

" How are you doing?" He asked Darius who had been standing by the main door.

" I'm doing fine, you might want to prepare yourself," Darius started slowly.

" Why?"

" You've got visitors."

" Good or bad?"

" A mixture of both. It's the guilds."

Alaric nodded and patted him on the shoulder before heading inside. There was only one reason guilds would come to him.

Recruitment.

He reached the lobby to find more than ten people standing there, looking at each other. Alaric could feel the tension in the air.

They all turned to him the moment he appeared.

" You must be Alaric, nice to meet..." The awakener was cut off.

" Alaric? Right? Would you like to join our..."

" Hello.."

Alaric looked at the scrambling awakened. Each competing for the right to talk.

Alaric walked towards them and came to a stop in front of them.

" Please calm down and let's talk somewhere else, you're distracting my customers. "

They all went quiet before nodding.

Alaric led them out to the courtyard to the furthest sitting area. Since it was midday, the courtyard was empty, and most of the customers were indoors.

The group was too large to take them to the private room and Alaric didn't have enough time to waste on talking to them one by one.

" Are you guys here for guild recruitment? If you are, I apologize, but I will not be joining any guild ."

Everyone looked at him in surprise.

" Shit, this had been a fucking waste of my time. Why would the guild master even want to have a prostitute in the team?"

Five of them stood up and left after glaring at Alaric. Alaric gave them a polite smile in return.

" Winners guild and poisonous claw guild, you should be careful of these two, they hold a grudge," one of the remaining members, a tall, well-built blonde man, said with an amused smile on his face.

Alaric chuckled.

" They can join the line, it's quite long."

The man burst into laughter.

" You're funny," Alaric wasn't trying to be," my name is Sacrat Kristoff, since you don't plan on joining any guild, making an alliance will not be rejected, will it?"

Alaric smiled. At least someone thought outside the box.

" Sure. Alaric Theron, it's a pleasure to make an acquaintance with you," Alaric said, extending his arm to the man.

The man shook his hand a smile painting his face.

Alaric turned to look at the others waiting for an introduction.

" Don't mind them, they're with me," Sacrat said.

Alaric nodded.

" What did you say your guild name was again?" Alaric asked.

" I didn't say. Sorry for the late introduction. I'm the deputy guild master of the Flame Guild. A little birdie told me about you and how you rejected her offer. You hurt our star's heart. "

Alaric recalled where he had met the flame guild. It was the guild that had been going to the D-class dungeon, and he had joined them. He had practically carried the whole team through the dungeon, given how uncoordinated they were.

" Aah, I remember now. Did you train your guild members this time?"

" You're really amusing. Yes, that was negligence on our part."

Alaric nodded. They were amongst the top, he had expected the best even from E and D class awakened.

" Would you like a drink?" Alaric asked,to get rid of the awkward silence that followed.

" I would love to but we will be leaving in a few minutes. Our guild secured an A-class dungeon, and we'll be going in the day after tomorrow. Do you want to join us?"

Aah, so they wanted to see his skills. But throwing a supposed C-class into an A-class dungeon was unfathomable.

" You want a C-class awakened to go to an A-class dungeon?" Alaric asked with his eyes scrutinizing the deputy guild master.

The man smiled and leaned forward.

" Are you planning on playing dumb Mr Theron. I know you are a B-class awakened. You entered that B-class dungeon as a C class, but you came out as a B class."

Alaric smiled his eyes turning cold by the second.

" Have you been following me?"

Sacrat shook his head.

" I won't say following. It was more like keeping tabs on your progress nothing malicious."

Alaric had to admit they were really good. Being followed didn't make him angry or uncomfortable; what bugged him was the fact that he never noticed it.

He would mainly notice someone who has malicious intent towards him, but the person following him never had any, so he never suspected anything.

He didn't have to worry about a sneak attack with all the passive defense skills and items stacked on him.

Sacrat clearly mentioned the dungeon first to get his interest before revealing they had been stalking him. If it had come out before, he would have dumped them right there and not listened to anything.

He had grown enough not to cry over spilled milk. Since they had already offered him something he couldn't resist and was even desperate for, he could sweep it under the rug.

Right now, he could solo a C-class dungeon and probably a B-class with injuries to show his struggle.

Since he had basically gotten a free ride to an A-class dungeon with extra support. It would be easier. He could observe the dungeons and explore more.

The royal goblin and what happened in the B-class dungeon had really made him curious and cautious. Maybe the species in the dungeons were self-sustaining, or maybe there were different worlds out there.

He wanted to grow stronger and that meant higher dungeons, but he couldn't enter an A-class dungeon whenever he wanted.

A class and S class dungeons were regulated by the federation.

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