Aaron turned to the side to look at Isabella. The woman made a serious face, then nodded slowly. She also agreed with the suggestion of the man named Robert. After all, they could certainly get temporary shelter until the day the Dark Pillar Raid reopened.
"Your name is Robert, right? Well, we're interested in joining your group," Aaron said.
He helped the two women to stand. Isabella stepped closer to them, reaching out her hand to summon a simple healing magic.
[Magic Activated]
[Low Magic: First Wound Recovery]
[MP -50]
A blue magic circle appeared before Isabella's two palms, releasing tiny particles that touched the wound on the woman's arm. The skin regeneration process went well, completely covering the wound.
The woman before Isabella smiled; her wound fully healed thanks to Isabella's help. They could have cast that low-level magic, but they found it difficult due to fatigue.
"Thank you," said the woman, Isabella cleared her throat with a smile.
Isabella finished treating them and stepped closer to Aaron. Aaron nodded and asked Robert to take them to the base of the Star Pillar group. Robert will gladly take them away.
Aaron reached out, waiting for Robert to give them the teleportation slip. But, Robert ignored him for a specific reason. That certainly surprised Aaron.
"Where is he going? Is the place close?" asked Aaron, confused.
"Maybe, we should follow them," Isabella replied, Aaron cleared his throat in favor.
The young man walked with Isabella seemingly following close behind. Thirty minutes they walked behind Robert, there was no sign from him that they would soon reach the base.
Feeling that they had walked far enough and Robert was not using a teleportation slip, Aaron stepped forward and asked Robert.
"Hey. Don't you have a teleportation slip?" Aaron asked, making Robert's steps halt for a moment.
"Ah, about that. Small groups like us don't have them; we don't have group branches in big cities," Robert replied.
"He's right. Teleportation slips can be purchased in the big city at the Dark Pillar Tower. The nearest city is 10th Floor City," Isabella continued, Aaron didn't know about that at all.
"Don't worry. We've already cleared this path. It is confirmed that there will be no more monsters threatening us."
Hearing that was quite a relief for Aaron. They continued walking until they found a large plain with a cluster of small houses.
The strange thing was that there weren't many high-level monsters roaming around. If any, it was only low-level monsters.
"That's the captain. He has returned," explained a man, standing on the watchtower.
"Open the gate. We have new guests," Robert replied.
They did as Robert told them. The wooden gate opened for Aaron and Isabella to enter. There were ten small houses, all made of wood and solid.
"Before you stay in our house, there is one thing I need to make sure of," Robert explained.
Isabella sighed. The woman fully understood Robert's meaning because she had lived there for a long time and knew the culture.
"Show him your CP," Isabella whispered to Aaron. Aaron understood.
Both showed their status abilities, bearing the numbers of their status and CP. Robert widened his eyes, not expecting that both of them had CP above 40000.
Not only Robert but also the others had the same expression. They never expected the new person on the second floor to have the highest CP count in the group. Robert himself only had a CP count of 38000.
'Did they stay too long on the first floor to get this high CP?" asked Robert.
"How?" asked Isabella, full of confidence.
"Ah, of course, you are accepted to be part of us. Welcome to the Star Pillar Group."
Isabella and Aaron turned off their abilities' status panels. Robert told one of his members to escort them to an empty house.
The woman explained that the house was originally occupied by another member, but he died inside the Dark Pillar, so it was empty.
"One house has four rooms in it. Please understand that if your room space is small, we will try to make it as efficient as possible," the member replied, realizing the shortcomings in their group.
Aaron didn't mind. It was more than enough as long as they had a safe shelter from monsters and the cold.
The door to the house was open; there were indeed four room doors inside. However, it was certain that the living room and kitchen areas were quite spacious. Aaron thought the house was enough for them to live in.
"Just let me know if you need anything. Do you mind adding me as your friend?" asked the female member, Isabella smiled and shook her head.
Isabella pressed the friend's menu and brought up the system panel before her, as did the woman ahead of her.
[Friends Menu]
[Search: ]
[Add Friend: ]
[Remove Friend: ]
[Message]
Isabella pressed the search menu and searched for the profile by name and the nearest signal detection.
The detection signal range was 50 meters from Isabella's position, so it was unlikely that the same name was within the range.
[Name found]
[Clara Ramirez]
[Level 26]
[Add Friend]
[Message]
Isabella added a friend to Clara Ramirez. Clara confirmed Isabella's friend request, clearly seeing that the woman's level was already at level 33.
[You have become friends with Clara Ramirez (Lv.26)]
She saw that Clara's profile had a green dot, indicating that the woman was still alive. If the dot turned black, it meant that the person was dead.
"Alright. I've gotten your profile. I'll let you know if I need anything," Isabella explained.
Clara cleared her throat. She would gladly help Isabella with anything. Not wanting to linger, Clara said goodbye as she had something to do.
Aaron closed the door and sat on one of the living room couches, sitting back while taking a deep breath to relieve the fatigue in his body.
"Don't they know we're former members of the Night Liberators group?" asked Aaron. Isabella shook her head.
"Apparently not."
[One incoming message]
[Two incoming messages]
[Three incoming messages]
[You have three unread messages]
A pop-up panel appeared in front of Isabella, surprising the woman, but she already completely understood who the message was from. Aaron turned his head, looking at the small incoming message panel on Isabella's system.
"Message?"
"It must be from David."
Half-heartedly, Isabella opened and read the message. Aaron became curious and read the message's contents on the woman's system.
[Sender: David]
[Where are you?]
[Did you go to the second floor? Did you go with that damn kid? I thought you really loved me, but it turns out you're just using me]
[Hurry up and go back to the base, you fucking bitch! If not, I'll send a message to my friend on the second floor to hunt you down and kill that boy]
"He's completely crazy about you," Aaron said, crossing his arms.
"Don't worry. They won't be able to track us. There are many groups of adventurers here. Robert won't tell them our identities either."
"Of course. He needs us to conquer the Dark Pillar on behalf of their group," Aaron replied.
"We'd better talk to Robert and make a deal with him."