40 Entering Bryarmont Town(1)

As Anissa heard Aaron's statement, she first stared at his face for a few moments, wondering whether he was jesting.

She had had a lot of experiences where boys and men tended to show off their aims in front of her, hoping to somehow impress her.

Yet, she had always been able to see through them all, as it was quite apparent that they were only saying stuff without being really serious, at all.

After all, reaching the top of the Path to the Stars and going to the Sacred Headquarters of the World Government, which was the place where all of Earth's mightiest defenders lived, was the dream of almost each and every Ascender who had newly set foot on the Path.

Yet, a single Tera battle was usually enough to let them know just how hard that was, and just how absurd it would be if they kept saying that without having the ability to back it up.

Hell, even seasoned and talented Ascenders would often only focus on the next Hamlet, Town or City, instead of aiming for the top, which always seemed so far away.

With Aaron…it was clearly different. He wasn't naive, neither was he overconfident. He had stated it as if it was something so set in stone that one would be foolish to even question it.

She had to admit that at this moment…she was definitely just a little bit more interested in this guy, who looked like he had been through a lot, judging from his perfect reactions before, when they had arrived.

Knowing that it was imperative for them to leave here first, she decided to find out more later and just smiled before nodding and saying, "Good to meet you, Aaron. We can talk later. For now, follow me. Let's see if you can keep up."

Anissa had always been a playful child. So, she had decided to use this as another test.

He must only have brute strength, right? Surely, he can't compare with me in speed? After all, I trained specially to run fast as a Tera Master is often in danger of being targeted by enemies when the Tera is too strong!

With these thoughts, she set off at a dash, easily reaching her top speed of 35 km/hr, which she could maintain for a prolonged time.

The Town's gate was over a kilometer away from where they were, and she expected to beat him there by at least a few seconds, so that she could victoriously put both of her hands on her waist and get revenge for the loss before.

Her father had always said that her fierce competitive spirit, which made her treat almost everything like a competition that had to be won, would cause her problems, but as nothing like that had happened yet, she had seen no reason to change. After all, this had enabled her to beat almost all those at her age and become the strongest Ascender in her peer group.

Dreaming of the scene that she would relish soon, Anissa just focused on the path in front of her, as that was what she had been taught by her instructor. Apparently, the human mind could be trained to achieve incredible things, and one form of that was to just focus on something singularly while wanting to cross it as quickly as possible, which would enable one to go forward at their fastest speed without getting tired.

It was basically a kind of self-hypnosis, and it had always helped her to be calm in all situations.

A few seconds later, they exited the forest and reached the large open area in front of the Town, which let Anissa accelerate even further.

In front of her, just a few hundred meters away, she could see the finish line. As the area was open, she could see that that guy was nowhere near.

Yes! I'm going to win.

Just as a triumphant smile appeared on her face, she heard a voice enter her ear from a spot right beside her, which even made her wonder whether it was the AA, and not someone near her talking.

Yet, when she understood its contents, she almost skidded to a halt.

"Er…that's where we're going, right? I'll go ahead then, Woof says it smells something from inside."

Whoosh!

The next second, a human and a Tera zoomed past her, running at at least a speed of 50 km/hr. More than that, the thing to be marveled at was that no energy was wasted, at all. Each and every step was elegant, with no wasted movements, and this was something that Anissa hadn't seen even in her trainer, who held the record for the fastest sprinter in all Elite level Body Practitioners.

The man had always been proud of his form, saying that it took him years of practice to perfect, but here, she was witnessing someone random who was capable of something that her trainer only dreamed of.

This guy…definitely wasn't normal.

If she had known that this was something perfected during the many near-death experiences that Aaron and Woof had been through, she probably wouldn't have been as surprised.

Recovering from the shock and unwilling to admit defeat, Anissa tried to speed up, but it was to no avail. She reached a few seconds after Aaron, with all of her dreams dashed.

Yet, this didn't stay in her mind much, as she saw the human and the Tera behaving in a very weird way.

Both of them were on their knees, with their noses held aloft, and their eyes were closed while drool dripped down their cheeks.

Even the gate guards, who were present on two raised podiums on two sides of the giant metallic gate that stood 7 meters tall, were scratching their heads as they saw these two.

They had witnessed it all: their precious little miss had been bested in a contest of speed, and as they were guards who had held this post for a long time, they still expected her to throw a tantrum like how she used to when she was younger.

Anissa couldn't figure it out, so she just made a hand signal to the guards to open the gates.

A stunning vista presented itself as soon as the two large gates swung open, and although she had seen it hundreds of times, she still loved to take it in and smile proudly, knowing that this was all possible because of her family.

A massive road that was at least 15 meters wide began in front of them, leading straight to the Mayor's Mansion on which a statue of the family Tera of the Bryars, a Giant Electric Eagle, was perched.

This road branched had many beaches which contained the rest of the Town, but the authority of the Mayor was clear by this design.

Until now, she had never seen anyone who had been able to view this sight without being awed, unless they were from an even higher tier of settlement.

So, she turned to the side, expecting to see Aaron slack-jawed.

She smiled as she saw that his jaw had dropped…but something was wrong.

Wait..why was he staring in that direction instead of looking at the Mayor's Mansion? And…why had the volume of drool increased?!

"Woof!"

She got her answer the next second, when she saw the Tera bound forward in that same direction and approach…the candy stall that was present in the first side lane of the Town, which was meant for tourists.

Aaron followed on all fours just like his Tera, and when he reached, he did something so strange that Anissa couldn't help but wonder which was the human, and which was the Tera.

Candy of all colors, shapes, and flavors were on display in bowls in front of the shop, and as soon as he reached, Aaron took down the bowl that she had thought to be a weird hat until now, and scooped them all up before dunking his head in and swallowing as many as he could.

The husky then head-butted Aaron, making him flinch and move to the side as it used the opportunity to take his head's place in the bowl to gobble up as much candy as possible.

After Aaron recovered, a fight ensued, with the human and the Tera taking turns to finish all the candy in the bowl before ravenously staring at the store owner, who was standing there, bewildered.

In desperation, he looked at Anissa and asked, "Miss! Help!"

In response…Anissa promptly put her hands behind her back and said "I don't know them," before marching away in the direction of the mansion.