(Flora's POV):
It was just after lunch break. I had received a message from my cousin which is Marcus and he says that he's ready to return to the group... I moved around the palace for a bit and checked on the ninth floor. After going one round through the floor, I noticed that there is one last empty room. All of my friends are given treatment to use the rooms within this floor. If I ask Denzel, he'll probably give me the ok sign.
I looked around the palace after leaving the ninth floor, but it seems Denzel is not around. When I checked... Lilith, who is Denzel's girlfriend, isn't here either. They're probably together somewhere and I don't know...
While walking around, I found one of Denzel's close friends which is Ashley.
"Uhh, Ashley? Where is Denzel?"
"Oh, Flora! He's currently in the sky floor napping with Lilith. Don't go disturbing him okay?" - Ashley
"Alright..."
Denzel and Lilith are sleeping together once again. I start to wonder whenever Denzel gets a chance to be alone with Lilith.
"How much romance are those two gonna involve themselves in?"
I went out of the crystal palace for the time being and went towards the eastern area. There is a biome that has a powerful concentration of mana within its atmosphere. It was called the Arcane biome. Me and Marcus had already discussed the exact location to pick him up. I went there alone since I can ride the staff that I often use like a witch's broom to travel through the skies.
After some time of flying full speed ahead, I had arrived to the arcane biome. I opened a map and went towards south east towards a neutral town in the area. This biome has been taken up by a few factions and are currently in disputes to see who will be the one to take over this certain biome. It was great when their clashes and skirmishes are pretty equal which makes it a little long for them to become a powerful faction that has dibs on such a nice biome.
The biome had deep blue colored trees and grass that seems to be mostly made out of arcane mana. Overloading you mana is a common occurrence in this biome that I had to keep casting a powerful version of invisibility just to move around stealthily while expending enough mana to not cause overload.
By just a few minutes I have arrived to the designated town Marcus mentioned.
"I wonder... Where did he want to meet up again?"
I raised the communications panel and checked on Marcus's message. North East corner of the wall huh?
I walked my way towards the mentioned wall and started keeping an eye out for movement.
I noticed a few people following after me which made me put up my guard. I had dispelled the invisibility and just made the mana turn into some beautiful effects just for aesthetic. When I arrived to the area, I noticed a guy with short black hair and black eyes. That person is Marcus, my cousin.
"Hello!"
"Oh, you finally arrived!" - Marcus
When Marcus jumps down from the rock he waved his hand lightly. We're around equal height but Marcus was a little shorter by a few centimeters...
"Let's head to the palace, there's still a room for you."
"For real? I would like to accept that then!" - Marcus
"Yeah, but first..."
The stalkers start revealing themselves without even showing any signs of stepping back...
"Yeah, let's clear up these guys first..." - Marcus
"How should we do this against these many?"
"Let's drag them out to the open field first..." - Marcus
Marcus grabbed my shoulder and created a portal right under us. We passed through the portal and landed outside the town with quite a bit of distance. I then channeled a huge amount of mana to generate a pinnacle ability.
Marcus formed a prepared stance right in front of me. The groups of hooded people started coming closer which made me take out a powerful ability right off the bat...
"Nature Pinnacle Skill! Nature's Frenzy!"
Large roots and branches spread out in a large area with me as the center eight impalers grew upwards from eight certain points in the circle and started shooting out some large thorns towards the group of hooded men.
"Alright! My turn!" - Marcus
As Marcus gets himself pumped up in excitement, he instantly blinked towards the group of enemies and threw out a huge number of glowing daggers. Each dagger spread out within and area while dealing damaged through the surrounding areas. This is honestly an absurd fighting style but it exists, and it doesn't end there.
He then took out his grappling hook and threw it to the side, he then pulls himself which made me look at the twenty daggers following him. Each dagger then struck a few enemies on the way back to Marcus dealing further damage to them. Marcus recovered all daggers safely without issue and started walking back to me without looking back.
There isn't any more need to fight them because they would end up being killed off by the thorns.
"I guess we're done here?" - Marcus
"Nah, we got a stray one attacking..."
I channeled some mana to create a transparent orb. I then absorbed the stray magic attack and returned it towards the sender.
"Now we're really done... Let's head to the place, it's probably noisy sometimes but it's a calming place."
"Yeah..." - Marcus
The two of us walked together back to the snow biome. Before we arrived to the palace, we bumped into a beautiful place.
"Whoaaa! What is this nice place?!" - Marcus
"This are... Ice? Ice flowers?"
We looked around the area and noticed that the area has been filled with frozen flowers. I suddenly remembered what this place was when I saw the remains of the igloo.
"This is this place... Where Denzel was betrayed..."
"It has some story huh? Wanna tell me later?" - Marcus
"I think William would do a better job at that."
There are pathways that will allow us to walk through the flowerbed without causing much incident. When I noticed, Denzel was there lying down alone on top of some snow patch.
"Ooh Flora! Why the hell are you wearing panties when you're a dude?" - Denzel
"Stop, I get it..."
Just because I am a guy in the female avatar I can just not wear boxers or briefs... I have to act feminine with my stuff! You know what, I'm gonna wear short shorts so that I won't be attacked like this easily!
Denzel then noticed Marcus who was slightly behind me.
"Is that the new guy you invited?" - Denzel
"Ah yes! He is Marcus, my cousin..."
"Pleased to meet you psychopath..." - Marcus
"Hmm... Calling my by that title is a little iffy, just call me Denz like most people do." - Denzel
Denzel shows a somewhat dissatisfied face while still laying down and using his hands as a pillow.
"I wonder though, what's your class?" - Denzel
"Warper Assassin..." - Marcus
"Combat style?" - Denzel
"Evasive and trickery..." - Marcus
"Weapon?" - Denzel
"Knives connected to some wire and a grappling hook." - Marcus
Denzel stops his barrage of questions and starts thinking while closing his eyes. He lets out a groan or two and opened his eyes once again.
"Alright, you might need to try out against someone in the palace of my choosing. Don't worry I'll give you a fair matchup..." - Denzel
"Which room will he stay on?"
"There's still one empty room on the ninth floor right? You can move there instead." - Marcus
"Thanks!" - Marcus
Marcus bows down as he expresses his gratitude. Denzel kipped up and checked on both of us.
"Well for starters, let's bring you guys to the palace..." - Denzel
We followed Denzel all the way to the palace, he then immediately called down Terrence and had him take a bout against Marcus. He always wants a marksman and an assassin to go against each other which is somewhat an advantage to the assassin. But it wasn't the case today.
"Oooh, Marcus lost?" - William
"Damn, this means Terrence had wildly improved his abilities. Good work! Both of you!" - Denzel
Denzel explained the match to all male members including me since I'm technically a guy. There were people absent which are Malech, and Lester. They're probably enjoying themselves for the day.
According to Denzel's explanation, he had personally trained Terrence some grappling and close range shooting tech to fend off assassins clearly. Isaac didn't say much since he also has great melee technique which somehow surpasses Terrence. After some time explaining the matchup, we went off on our ways and I started helping Marcus organize the things.
"It's quite unfortunate that I actually lost there... It was the first time I got defeated by a ranged main class." - Marcus
"It can't be helped, Denzel's teaching was pretty great that we will use those for reference. Besides, it was like a first to you right? Facing against an actual powerful person."
"Yeah, it was the first time where coming close was a bad idea oof..." - Marcus
Marcus pushes the bed to the corner as I place the lamp right next to the bed on a small table. I then went to the window and placed a curtain.
"It was unexpected that there's a person who can grapple as a ranger aside from Isaac. That's basically a sign for me to train more to be able to deal with those kinds of counters." - Marcus
"Good one, with the room finished... Welcome to the palace Marcus! Our new resident!"
"Yeah, thanks..." - Marcus
I then left the room with a completely satisfied expression, I then returned to my room to mark the end of the day.