The first person to arrive at the archway was Arthur, followed by Gar and Raziel, who arrived together.

"Look at who we have here: the big boss Gar has come with the not-so-little-anymore Raziel," Arthur said, smiling while rubbing his beard.

After hearing these words, the two cultivators from Guburg Village soon approached the mage to greet him.

"Greetings, Headmaster Arthur." Raziel bowed slightly to politely greet Arthur.

While Raziel stood still after greeting Arthur, Gar continued walking until he could touch the man, and quickly he wrapped his arm around Arthur's neck and began to laugh.

"How have you been, old man? It's been a long time since we met to drink together." Gar complained to his friend.

"I know. It is pretty sad that once you get the power to do whatever you want, you also get responsibilities that limit your time. " Arthur replied while trying to release himself from Gar's grip.

"Yes, it is pretty sad indeed. When we finish this mission, we should have a great party between the three villages so we can have fun like when we were young. " Gar suggested

"Count with me then." Another person spoke up.

When the two men looked at the side to see who had talked, they realized that Edwin had arrived, and with him was also Cyrus.

"Of course, it was the cheerful Edwin. Who else would decide to participate in a party before even knowing anything about it? "Arthur said while laughing.

"Greetings to everyone," Cyrus said from the side of Edwin.

"Well, only Denise is missing. When she arrives, we should prepare a little battle plan, or at least, talk about our different skills so we know what we can expect from each other. " Raziel suggested.

"Sounds like a good plan," said Arthur, who finally managed to release his head from Gar's arms.

After that, the five of them continued casually talking for a while until Denise finally arrived.

"Greetings everyone. Sorry for the delay. I had a few matters to attend to at the academy before coming. " Denise apologized for her delay.

"We know that being late is only one of your various negative qualities. Don't you worry about that," Arthur said with a cold smile.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Well, I may have some negative qualities, but it has been demonstrated in various tournaments that my academy is much superior to yours. So if someone like me, with various negative qualities as you said, has managed to make her academy better than yours, what does that say about your qualities? " Denise said to Arthur while arching an eyebrow.

"That was because your pupils were all equipped with different items to help them use their energy more efficiently. In a one-on-one battle without any external aid, my students will sweep the floor with yours." Arthur said while his face began to redden a bit.

While Denise and Arthur were arguing, Gar approached Raziel and started talking with her.

"Are you ready for this mission?" he asked.

"I think I am, but we can never be sure until the portal opens and we see what lies behind." She replied.

After that, both of them stayed quiet for a few seconds while Denise and Arthur continued arguing about who was better at their own thing.

Gar whispered in his daughter's ear, "If you feel in danger at any time during this mission, I would not be mad even if you used that in front of them," he said.

"Are you sure? It is our trump card, but I don't think that using it in this mission would be a smart move. " She replied doubtfully.

"This is going to be a mission that Heaven's Will has given to the best fighters of humanity. If we egoistically didn't use all our strength and the mission failed, I wouldn't be able to return to the village with my head held high. After all, a trump card means nothing if you don't play it, "Gar said.

"Ok, I will keep it on my mind," Raziel replied.

At the same time, while those two were talking, Cyrus and Edwin were talking to each other too.

"What do you think we can expect to find when we cross the portal?" Edwin asked his friend.

Cyrus replied seriously, "I don't know, but what I know is that it is going to be difficult to deal with."

"Why are you so sure about that?" Edwin asked surprised.

"Think about it. We are going to participate in a mission sent from Heaven to us. If Heaven has reached us for help, it probably means that it alone can solve the problem, and if Heaven doesn't have enough power to easily fix the solution, for us who are mortals, it's going to be really dangerous. I would feel lucky if every single one of us managed to return. " Cyrus explained.

After hearing his friend's words, Edwin's eyes opened wide, as he didn't expect such a pessimistic answer. After a few seconds, Edwin decided to try to reassure his friend.

"I don't feel the same. I mean, the voice of heaven has always shown great care for humanity and guided us so we could grow stronger. I'm sure that it may be difficult, but when we return, we will be stronger than now and will have found the next step in our journey," Edwin said while smiling.

"I hope you are right then," Cyrus replied with a little smile on his face.

Just as they finished talking, a craking noise was heard from the archway, which made the six of them instinctively turn towards it.

In a few seconds, the archway began to shine with great intensity. As time passed, its shine only grew in power, and even the air around it began to have the same reaction. Suddenly, a crack appeared in the air itself, which little by little widened until it covered all the inner surface of the archway, creating a tunnel.

"I guess we have to go through that. Who goes first? " Arthur asked.

"Make way, I'm going first." Edwin laughed as he jumped into the portal without a second thought.