Shesmu woke up to a slight headache. The only thing he remembered was fighting his shadow within resonance. After that, everything was blank. He looked up only to be greeted by the rays of light passing through the leaves of a tree.

“The princess of Voldorwing has finally awakened.”

By this point, Shesmu would be able to recognize Leonard’s laughter between a million. He turned towards the direction of the voice only to see Leonard standing next to a tall white man. His everlasting smile was like the spring breeze. His blue eyes were as clear as the sky.

Shesmu stood up from under the shade of the tree. “I may be the princess of Voldorwing, but at least I'm not the old man of Summerrise.”

Leonard was surprised at first before he burst out laughing. “Hahaha, so you outworlders also know about the old man of Summerrise. Good, good, that was a good one.”

Shesmu stood silent, just smiling in response to Leonard’s laughter, before hinting at Shin with his eyes.

Understanding the nonverbal communication, Leonard coughed and said, “Yeah, some introductions are due. This creep here is named Shin. Don’t let his smile fool you, this guy is scarier than any vile you would ever encounter in the wild.”

Shin just shrugged in response to Leonard’s introduction, a smile of defeat plastered on his face.

“Don’t listen to this old man’s rambling. I’m just a normal assassin instructor who is living in peace in this camp,” he said while offering his hand to shake.

Shesmu swiftly obliged while also introducing himself. “Nice to meet you, I’m Shesmu. Just a normal outworlder.”

Shin looked Shesmu in the eyes for a few seconds before responding, “Well, nothing you have done until now could be described normal.”

Shesmu just scratched his head awkwardly before looking away, trying to find a way to change the subject. His eyes fell on a person laying on a nearby tree. It was a teenage kid. His hair was red, and his skin fair.

Shin followed Shesmu’s line of sight, before his eyes landed on Ryan. Understanding Shesmu confusion, he started the introductions.

“That’s Ryan. He is my student,” Shin said, smiling.

Shesmu scanned Ryan once again with his eyes before thinking, Huh, his small frame definitely helps as an assassin.

“And he is as much of a monster as if not even more!”

Leonard’s obnoxiously loud voice garnered Shesmu’s attention immediately. He turned around only to be welcomed by Leonard’s bear hug.

“You cheeky little brat. You didn’t tell me that you knew about Resonance already!”

While Leonard’s pats to the back shook Shesmu to the core, his loud, hearty laughter made Shesmu not have the heart to stop him. He just wryly smiled and waited for Leonard’s excitement to die down.

“Ehm, hm.”

The new voice made everyone turn in the direction of Ryan. Still sitting under the shade of the tree, he scratched his eyes and looked around. When his eyes finally landed on the group, he stood up with one hop before giving the biggest smile a teen could show.

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“Hi!”

“So the two monsters are finally awake.”

Hearing Leonard’s comment, Shesmu was confused. It’s normal for Leonard to think that he is a monster, he already showed it by being able to use Resonance, but what about Ryan?

“Ohh! I remember you! You were that cool dude with the sword who was doing all those fancy moves before. How did you do them?”

“Ehh…” Ryan’s barrage of questions left Shesmu speechless for a bit. “A lot of training, I guess?”

“Ah, you’re right,” Ryan nodded in response. “With enough hard work and training anything is possible!”

“Haha, you talk as if you haven’t done exactly the same thing,” Leonard couldn’t help but burst out, laughing.

Ryan’s smiling face turned confused after Leonard spoke. “Did I? Agh!” The moment Ryan asked his question, he let out a scream while clenching his head. Cold sweat dripped from his forehead and his hand shook.

The trio stood concerned in front of Ryan.

“Hey, are you okay?” Shesmu asked.

Ryan caught his breath before stopping Shesmu with his hand. “Yeah, I’m okay. Sorry for your concern.” He took a few breaths in and out before finally standing upright. “It’s just that I don’t remember what happened. The last thing I recall is Shin touching my forehead and this bolt of electricity running through my body.”

Shin scratched his chin for a second, deep in his thoughts before saying, “I haven’t heard of any case of memory loss due to Resonance, but it shouldn’t be too problematic since it was just temporary.” He then gave Ryan a serious look. “Either way, you should definitely not attempt it again in a short period of time. It is already mentally taxing as it is.”

Ryan nodded at Shin absentmindedly. His eyes weren’t focused on him, or anyone in particular. They kept darting around until finally.

“Ehhh!”

A look of shock was plastered all over his face.

“I need to go sorry. My friend is waiting for me!”

Ryan bolted out of the training ground and off to the distance. However, just as he was making his way out, Shin’s question stopped him dead in his tracks.

“Do you even know where your friend is?”

After decelerating to a halt, Ryan looked back at Shin and scratched his head awkwardly. “Ehm, sorry, can you tell me which way is the main gate?”

“Haha,” Leonard laughed. “No need for that, let’s all go together. That’s our final destination afterall.”

Shin smiled and added, “That’s right. There were a few techniques that I wanted to show you before you go, but Resonance took all of our time.”

Remembering the subject of time, Shesmu immediately asked, “Since we brought up the subject of time, for how long have we been unconscious?”

“About half an hour or so,” Shin replied.

“The other outworlders, or players as you call yourself, already formed their team and entered the Forest of Beginning. We might want to cut down on the talk and get to the main gate so that you form your team and be on your way.”

Shesmu looked at Ryan for a few seconds, scanning his future teammate. While he didn’t really care for the quality of his teammates, as he could easily carry with his future knowledge, Shesmu did like to have an understanding of those he will be playing with.

“Hey, Ryan. Mind going for a spar, just for five minutes.”

Ryan got startled by that suggestion, not expecting it to come out of nowhere. “Eh, now? I mean, my friend is already waiting for me. And it’s been so long already, I promised-”

“Just tell him to come here,” Shesmu cut in. “It’s not like we can go anywhere without forming our team first. And I will not team up with someone I don’t know the fighting level of.” Shesmu’s look turned serious as he said those last words.

“Ohh, I like this! Some competitive spirit is in the air! Young’uns like you should definitely let loose and battle up!”

While Leonard was cheering for the two to battle and worked as a hype man, Shin just shook his head while sighing.

“Teens and their hotheadedness,” He muttered under his breath.

“Humu, okay, we can do it. Just wait for me to send a message to Leo and I’m with you.”

Hearing the name Leo, Shesmu’s eyes widened. No, wait, this could be a different Leo. Don’t get too excited, Shesmu. He then took a deep breath and focused on Ryan. The two unsheathed their weapons and readied for a clash.