Erhm! 

Emily Rogers took a deep breath. Standing there, she reflected upon her actions.

By the looks of it, this was going to be more difficult than she'd anticipated. But no matter, she's not going to give up that easily!

Nodding at herself, Emily Rogers decided to take a slower approach at this.

During her thought, a BMW X6 rolled up the hill.

Seeing this, Pitcher got up from the stairs.

Arsonist constrained himself a little. This dude's attitude became more serious.

Parking by the entrance, rolling down a window, some classic rock music could be heard now.

On the driver seat was a dude in his late 30s. A military buzz-cut hairstyle. Got the physique of a warrior. Wearing a warm smile, this guy gave off a friendly and patient vibe. Looked like a family-man type of person. He seemed to be in a great mood.

"Goood morning, ladies and gentlemen." This dude's voice was a little loud.

Getting out of the car, he walked over to the group.

"Ah. Master Collins. Thank you so much for helping out our guild."

A firm handshake.

"No problem." Jake returned a polite smile. Got to admit though, the offer was not bad at all. Low danger. Low effort. High reward. Quick Trip. Why not.

"You can call me Airhorn."

"It's getting bright already. Let's set off, shall we."

Airhorn returned to the driver seat.

Arsonist got the front passenger seat. The dude smiled as if it's a great victory or something.

Jake got the back middle seat. Apparently, according to Emily Rogers, they could protect him better in case of an accident.

After all, Jake was just a fragile artisan right?

"Welcome aboard ladies and gentle." Airhorn started the engine.

"If nobody minds, I will be your captain for this trip."

"I disagree!" Arsonist protested. "When do I get to be the team lead for once?"

Pitcher: "Not happening."

Emily: "Not a chance."

"Yeah? Alright." Arsonist turned his body to the backseats. "Let's figure this out."

And so, a heated discussion began.

Wearing a blank expression, Jake detected the energy signatures of these guys here again.

Threat by instinct: Negligible.

Jake raised a brow. Just yesterday, before his body level up, the threat levels of these guys was very low.

Squinting in thought, Jake tried to figure out the threat standards.

Half a second later, Jake lightly shook his head.

Low. Very Low. Negligible. Not much of a difference. No threat. All can be casually defeated with one shot.

'I should place my focus on threat-levels above moderate...'

Looking out the window, looking at the empty highway, Jake's mind wondered off.

Sure, these guys were strangers to him. However, by the looks of it, this trip was going to be much more pleasant than his last one.

"So Jake. What are you thinking about?"

Jake blinked a few times. "Sorry. I zoned out. What did you say?"

"What are you thinking about?" Emily asked with a fluffy voice.

Jake blinked a few times again. What kind of question was that?

"Nothing in particular." Jake tried to recall his thoughts.

Nothing huh... Literally, as in nothing, blank, his thoughts went on sleep mode.

"Do you want to guess what I was thinking about?"

Jake gave this girl an affirmative nod. "I'm listening."

"I'm thinking about you."

Airhorn coughed like he's caught off guard or something.

Wearing headphones, looking at his tablet, Pitcher's brow flicked a few times.

Arsonist turned his gaze to the backseats again. This dude nodded in amusement. His lighter flicking frequency quickened.

Jake raised his brows. He still couldn't be certainly if Emily was just messing with him or not.

Either way, Jake was not interested in entering a relationship with an unranked tier explorer.

What? Become her boyfriend. Then settle down and marry her? Then what? Leave her behind and try to get to the other side? Or totally give up on his dream?

At least at the moment, before seeing the results himself, Jake was not going to consider entering a relationship.

Regarding the future, who knows... Jake left this one to fate.

'How troublesome...'

Jake didn't know what to say.

So Jake just replied with a nod.

"Sorry Jake... Looks like I've done something wrong." Emily Rogers apologetically looked down. Carefully taking a glance at Jake, she looked like she was truly sorry.

Jake: ???

"Sorry. But I started liking you without your permission. You'll forgive me right?"

Jake: ...

There is no end to this girl!

Jake sighed. "I..."

"Either way, you have to be responsible now."

Jake: ?!

"After meeting you, I became near-sighted. I can only see you know."

Airhorn started coughing again.

Sensing that the atmosphere in this car was weird, Airhorn jumped into the conversation.

"Erhm. Say master Collins, I see that you are still a little tense."

"Don't worry. We'll certainly keep you safe."

"All four of us are at the peak stage of unranked tier already. Everyone have the strength to become a squad leader at our guild."

"If we left the guild, everyone of us could easily become a guildmaster."

Hearing this, Jake chuckled in his mind.

Nevertheless, Jake still politely nodded. "Thanks in advance."

However... By the looks of it, considering that it's the 24th already, these guys could easily handle the battles.

In this case, Jake did not mind just standing by and watch either. Less effort. Cleaner clothing. Same reward. Why not?

It's not like the Iron Sparrow Guild was paying him to be a combatant anyways.

Though... Jake's first impression of these guys was not bad.

If these actually do meet trouble, Jake did not mind lending these guys a hand either.

In a moment, they drove off the highway, entering city streets.

Stopping and turning from time to time, they'd finally reached a parking lot behind a mall.

At the middle of this parking ground, a pillar of yellow light shot into the sky.