Valiant Ventures

Drai and Auri turned toward the voice. It was a handsome blonde man accompanied by a fierce lad with long black hair.

"Christo! Jian!" Drai blurted.

"I thought you would be roaming alone, Drai. Who would've thought such a fair lady would be with you?" Christo teased, grinning.

"Ah, this is my friend, Auri. Auri, these are my roommates, Christo and Jian," Drai hurriedly introduced both parties.

"Hello! My name is Auri Velles. Nice to meet you," Auri greeted.

Christo looked at Auri with a hint of intrigue before replying, "My name is Christo Maglan. It's a pleasure to meet you, Auri."

Jian was currently holding a prideful posture with both hands held behind. With a slight nod, he said, "Greetings. I'm known as Jian."

Auri looked at Christo and Jian in amusement. Based on their greetings, Auri noticed that their personalities seemed to be polar opposites.

'Although Drai is pretty sweet once we got closer, he's the type that doesn't really mingle with strangers but isn't overtly arrogant too. Hehehe, these trio couldn't be more diverse personality-wise,' Auri thought to herself while chuckling inwardly.

"So, have you guys joined a group?" Drai asked both fellows.

"Not yet. We wanted to find you first before joining," Christo replied.

"Why?" asked Drai.

"Well, Jian couldn't decide which group to join, since he couldn't find anything resembling something he called 'sword sect'. So, Jian was thinking of joining the same group as me.

"Coincidentally, I already have a group in mind, but I wanted to look for you first in case you also want to join together with us. So, how about it, Drai? Have you already joined a group?" Christo inquired.

"I haven't. I don't mind joining with you guys, since so far, there hasn't been a group that's particularly interesting to me," Drai replied.

Hearing Drai's reply, Auri suddenly laughed, which made Drai scratch his head in embarrassment.

Christo and Jian became confused upon seeing this scene. They didn't think there was anything funny about Drai's words. But seeing that Drai was looking slightly embarrassed, they realized something must have happened prior to their meeting.

Holding back her laughter, Auri hurriedly apologized for interrupting the conversation. "I'm sorry guys. I was just reminded of something hilarious."

"No worries. Drai must've done something absurd again," Christo assumed. Jian also nodded agreeingly.

Drai hurriedly steered the conversation away. "Anyway, what's the group we're going to join? Do you think it'll suit me?"

"I think it will suit you just fine, especially with Jian and me there, "Christo said. "And if it doesn't work out, it won't be too late to switch to another group later. Oh, the group is called Valiant Ventures."

"Valiant Ventures? Does it have something to do with adventures?" Drai asked as the name reminded him of Christo's greatest interest.

"It does, but it's not limited to adventuring. It's basically a group where people engage in risky endeavors, such as adventuring, trading, and material procurement. But there are also members who act as supporters for these ventures, whose roles mainly involve information or provision gathering. These supporters are mostly students whose classes aren't combat-based, so they usually belong to my faculty, the Faculty of Generality," Christo explained.

"Isn't Valiant Ventures a group that's infamous for having a track record of numerous incidents involving injuries and even fatalities? Are you seriously considering joining them?" Auri asked in shock.

"I guess you're not a dean's niece for nothing, Auri," Christo calmly responded, slightly surprising Auri. "To answer your question, yes, its activities pose more significant risks compared to other groups'. But how can one partake in a venture without any danger? Isn't it clear from the group name that these are a collection of people who are willing to brave such risks? I'm an adventurer at heart, so I have no qualms about joining."

Christo's words made Auri silent. On one hand, she didn't like how Christo brought up her familial matters. On the other hand, Christo probably didn't know that Auri preferred to avoid that topic and what he said also made sense; if all the group did was dealing with low-risk ventures, then the group would be something akin to a common business group instead.

"You didn't tell me the group is that awesome!" Jian interjected, looking enthusiastic.

Thinking about the injuries and fatalities that Auri brought up, Jian was reminded of the dangerous ventures in the mysterious ruins and realms of the cultivation worlds.

During those ventures, sect members perishing was a common occurrence. Members of antagonist sects sometimes even got wiped out. But no sane cultivator shied away from them, since the potential rewards were too enticing. Didn't those MCs often get their overpowered stuff from such ventures?

Meanwhile, Drai was also totally unfazed by Auri's words. This wasn't because he dreamed of such perilous undertakings like Jian or was passionate for adventures like Christo, but because of his skill, Titan's Fortitude.

Being fearless didn't mean that Drai couldn't assess danger anymore. Titan's Fortitude merely removed the natural response of humans when facing such dangers.

Although this removal might slightly delay Drai in the event that he chose to run away in perilous situations, it provided the advantage of being able to calmly assess danger and perhaps giving a chance to overcome it.

And in this particular circumstance where danger was merely a possible variable, the skill prevented irrational thoughts from interfering with Drai's decision, disregarding the fact that Drai wasn't an excellent decision maker in the first place.

"Based on your description, I think the group's pretty interesting. Count me in," Drai said.

"Great! I knew you've got some guts, Drai!" Christo exclaimed with a grin.

"With the three of us, there's nothing to fear! We have the brain, the brawn, and the… the… the blade! Isn't that cool? Triple B, hahaha!" Jian proclaimed in elation, not realizing that the last "B" was sort of redundant.

Despite this, Jian's excitement was contagious, as the three of them burst into laughter, picturing their trio traversing an exotic wilderness in search for some treasure.

Looking at the merry trio, Auri was contemplating. Looking at their gleaming faces, she couldn't help but envy them. She thought that regardless of the dangers, they had each other to rely on and perhaps that was the reason they looked so happy and carefree.

Auri then thought about her relationship with her roommates. Comparing it to the friendship these three had, her roommates might as well be strangers.

'If I weren't aunt Irina's niece, would I also be laughing happily with my roommates now? Would they be like sisters and care for me instead of being wary whenever I'm around?' Auri painfully thought.

Suddenly, Drai turned to Auri and asked, "Do you want to join too, Auri?"

Auri was stunned. Despite being rather bright, she had actually thought that she would have nothing to do with these guys' excitement. It seemed that her questioning the group's dangers made her unconsciously positioned herself as an opposing side.

Seeing that Auri was just standing there in silence while staring at him, Drai sheepishly scratched his head, saying, "Well, it's okay if you don't want to. I know that you've looked into the groups and had several groups in mind already. I guess this is where we part ways, since we need to go to our own groups' booths to register. I'm not sure if they'll let us go after we register."

"No! I'll join with you!" Auri blurted as she recovered from her shock.

"Really?" Drai asked in disbelief. "What about the groups you're interested in?"

"It's fine. They're not that important anyway," Auri shruggingly said.

"Uh, okay. But what about the group's track record of inju—"

"I don't care, okay!? Forget what I said!" Auri suddenly shouted as she cut Drai off, stunning him.

Realizing that she had lost control of herself, Auri coughed and turned slightly red. Behind Drai, Christo and Jian were watching this scene with knowing smiles.

After taking a deep breath to calm herself, Auri looked at Drai as she softly spoke, "Truthfully, seeing your jolly faces made me envious. I just want to be happy too, Drai…"

Hearing Auri's unexpected words, Drai didn't know what to say. After a moment of silence, he carefully asked, "Are you not happy, Auri? I'm sorry I didn't realize, since you looked so cheerful."

Looking at Drai's worried face and kind eyes, Auri felt grateful that she had asked Drai to become friends. She knew Drai wasn't pretending to be kind due to her connections.

After his initial remark that being a dean's niece would deter weird people, Drai never brought up her aunt again. Auri felt that Drai had been treating her just like how he would've treated any other friend of his. She even occasionally felt pitiful glances from him, presumably regretting that she didn't have bulging muscles.

Thinking about this, Auri smiled sweetly as she stepped closer and slightly pulled Drai's hands, holding them tight.

"Don't apologize, Drai. It's not your fault. Just... don't leave me alone, okay?"

Seeing that Auri didn't seem upset anymore, Drai felt relieved. Noticing Auri's seemingly pleading eyes and tight grip, he sincerely replied, "Okay, Auri. I won't leave you alone."

Standing behind silently in fear of disturbing the moment, the two men had different reactions toward this scene. Christo was grinning widely while Jian was staring with his mouth agape and hands on his cheeks.

'I didn't realize Drai's simplicity could be quite charming. With such pure thoughts and straightforwardness, he's prone to get into troublesome situations. Looks like I've got to keep an eye on him,' Christo thought with prudence.

Jian, on the other hand, was having an entirely different thought.

'What a chick magnet! I thought a dense person like Drai would hardly attract any girl, but he turned out to be such a smooth talker! Should I also start building a harem with overpowered girls? Ah, but those harem girls are overpowered because their MC is overpowered and always 'carries' them using secret pills, techniques and whatnot. Meanwhile, the girls usually don't contribute much and often get into trouble instead, requiring the MC to save their asses. After thinking about it, why does a harem seem so troublesome? Maybe building a harem isn't a good idea after all…'

Meanwhile, the person in question abruptly froze because he was feeling something special, not because of the sudden skin ship but due to a slight change occurring to his body. Drai felt as if he was experiencing the transformation once again but at a much lesser scale.

"Are you okay?" Auri asked upon seeing the suddenly motionless Drai whose hands were still held by her.

Hearing this, Christo and Jian immediately paid closer attention to their friend. Looking at Drai's unmoving body, they began to wonder if Drai wasn't as dense as they had thought and had been stunned silly by Auri's daring approach.

Suddenly, Drai's whole body shivered slightly before he regained control of it. He retracted his hands from Auri's grip and proceeded to repeatedly clench his fists. Then, he tried to feel the changes to his body, squeezing and tensing certain muscles before he was finally satisfied.

When Drai finally returned to his surroundings and realized that his friends were currently staring at him with a mixture of curiosity and concern, he could only smile helplessly.

"Uhm... I'm sorry, guys. I think I just leveled up."