In the royal castle of the Valerian Kingdom, in a lush garden filled with greenery and a water fountain, a beautiful veiled woman was sprinkling seeds on the soil.
Beside her was Cassie, who watched the ongoing spectacle with fascination shining in her eyes, even though it wasn’t the first time she was seeing it.
Whenever Sophie’s seedling hit the ground, a beautiful flower blossomed from the spot.
The garden had once been a simple open space without a single flower in sight.
As a little girl, Sophie had made it her life goal to slowly fill the space with flowers, bringing it to its current vibrant appearance.
It was safe to say every single flower here was planted by her.
"Princess," Cassie called.
But there was no reply.
Sophie was humming a light, melodious tune, engrossed in planting the seeds in the garden.
A small frown appeared on Cassie’s face, and she called out again, her tone more forceful. "Princess."
"Oh, hey, Cassie, you arrived already. Sorry, didn’t notice." Sophie turned around with a warm smile. "How did it go?"
"I did as you requested," Cassie said. "He’s currently staying at a hotel, and yes, he doesn’t have any family members."
"I see."
"But..." Cassie suddenly spoke, drawing a curious look.
She hesitated, then said, "Recently, he traveled out of the city, but when he returned, he came with some elven children and a woman."
"A woman?" Sophie’s heart seemed to skip a beat when she heard this. Was he in some relationship with that woman?
She began to pace around, her heart beating fast and thoughts racing. ’Cassie clearly said he didn’t have any family, which meant this person is not a close relative of his.’
She paused and turned to Cassie with an unfriendly gaze. "I need you to find out everything about this person and what relationship they have with him."
Cassie nodded. "I can do that." She then fidgeted with her fingers before summoning enough courage to look up. "Princess, I know you have already made your intention to pursue him known, but do you think the king and Princess Evelyn will approve of you going after someone without a background?"
When she heard this, Sophie’s expression faltered slightly. "Father and big sister don’t have to know about him."
Cassie was slightly shocked. After all, this was the first time the princess would go against her father and big sister, whom she was very close to.
"I understand." She lowered her head.
While they were discussing among themselves, they suddenly sensed two presences heading toward them.
Both of them turned around.
Approaching them, accompanied by a knight, was none other than Lily of the Adventurers Guild.
Sophie’s eyes narrowed slightly, wondering what could be Lily’s reason for visiting unannounced.
"It’s been a while, Princess, Cassie. How have you both been?" she greeted with a polite smile.
"Fine," Sophie replied. "How is Scarlett?"
"She’s the reason I’m here," Lily said. "The vice leader has sent me to officially invite you two to become temporary members of the Adventurers Guild to participate in the upcoming inter-guild competition."
---
On their way to the capital, Anna glanced at Gabriel curiously and asked the question that had been on her mind throughout.
"Why didn’t you just tell them your reason back there?"
"It’s not yet time. Besides... they need something to chase," he replied simply.
Anna smiled faintly, understanding his hidden motive, and didn’t ask any more questions.
The following night wasn’t eventful, and first thing in the morning, he went to continue the Devil Mirage training technique.
Upon arriving at the training room, he discovered Scarlett was already there.
"You came late," Edgar said with some displeasure on his face.
"Had something to attend to. I apologize," Gabriel said.
"Well, it’s fine." Edgar casually waved it off.
Some time later, Gabriel was seated beside Scarlett, who seemed to be in a meditative position.
It was either she didn’t notice him or pretended not to, but as soon as he sat close, one of her eyes flickered open.
She simply stared at him and returned to what she was doing.
’Really not the talkative type, huh.’ Gabriel thought.
Since she didn’t make an effort to start a conversation, he didn’t either.
"All right." Edgar clapped his hands loudly, drawing their attention. "The next technique is the final one, which is much more significantly difficult than the previous ones. It’s called the Devil Strike Combo!"
"I admit both of you far surpassed my expectations and mastered the two steps quicker than I thought." He folded his arms. "But this next technique is what forms the Devil Mirage Fighting Technique. Without this, you’ve only learned half-baked techniques."
Gabriel felt he was right. But even with these half-baked techniques, a non-Awakened individual could be a menace on any battlefield.
’It would be especially useful during that event.’ A small smirk appeared on his face.
In the early part of the game, a certain event would occur. It was then that the true beauty of this technique would be revealed.
Meanwhile, Edgar explained, "You’ll be using your afterimage footwork and your breathing control, but now you’ll chain three consecutive attacks in a single burst."
He raised a finger. "At least one of those hits must land. The other two? Fake. Fast enough to leave afterimages but sharp enough to fool your target."
He waved his hand, and mechanical training dummies with moving arms appeared before them.
"Let’s see if you can pull this off." Edgar grinned. "Show me how well you can mix reality with illusion."
For the next couple of hours, both Scarlett and Gabriel practiced the Devil Strike Combo.
---
In the real world, IceQueen and ChaosCleric had already formed their guild, the Chaos Knights, and were now actively scouting professional players.
However, they were not the only ones who had thought about this. Several other organizations had also decided to set up guilds in time.
Most of these guilds had a single objective—to befriend the NPC Broken Heaven to receive hidden quests and treasures.
But a few... had already made a different choice.
IceQueen and ChaosCleric were part of that minority.
They didn’t want to curry favor.
They wanted to destroy Broken Heaven.
"Being the daughter of the developer sure has its perks." IceQueen smirked, her gaze sweeping past the dozens of pro gamers who had decided to sign up for her guild.
They were just what she needed to complete her quest. After all, she knew a secret none of them did.
***