EGM

Emery made his way toward Klea's residence. As the door opened, what greeted him was the thin clothes of Klea that showed a lot of her bronze, flawless skin. Her arms, thighs and chest was a feast for the eyes. When they got inside, only then did he notice that he was the first to arrive.

"Emery! Aren't you early?" said Klea with a surprise before giving him a charming smile. She pulled the door, letting him inside, and fashioned her black and smooth hair, revealing her small ears.

Emery's heart was starting to speed up. He went inside and the fragrant aroma of hers as he walked past her wafted into his senses. For some odd reason, he found this moment to be more intense than when facing the hundreds of dumas.

Klea had probably noticed Emery's expression for she smiled even wider. "So, what do you think of the dress, Emery? You know, I'm loving this attendant cube more and more everyday. It has hundreds of clothing choices and all can fit perfectly to my body.it is quite frustrating that I can only wear my uniform outside."

She continued on chattering while fixing the bossom section of her dress. Emery feigned distraction as he tried not to look. He knew she was teasing him again, but still, being alone with this beauty in her residence that was covered by her sweet scent, he could hear his heart thumping against his chest.

He fake coughed and walked directly to the living room. To get things back on track and to avoid more embarrassing moments, Emery said in a more serious tone, "Klea, I'm sorry but it's not time to joke around. I'm assuming that everyone hasn't arrived yet, right? If so, then will you tell me why you haven't shared with us the elite class?"

Klea frowned and pouted. She said in a slight annoyed voice, "You're no fun anymore, Emery. It seems you have become more mature after a year," sighing, she added, "well, to tell you the truth, I've never really cared about the elite class, the ranking nor the game. I just want to have fun, and I like being among you boys. As for the elite class… I'll tell you all about it once the others are here, okay?"

Emery nodded but to his surprise, Klea suddenly moved in front of him and pushed him unto one of the long fluffy seats. She lay right on top of him, their faces only inches away. Her intoxicating scent was once again trying to subdue his mind and the pinkish glow on her cheeks were awakening something inside of him.

Almost nose to nose, Klea's brown eyes stared directly at him and said, "What about you, Emery? What secrets are you keeping from us. Don't think of me as a fool, I noticed it. I wonder what has happened to you? You've become very different… you seem distant."

"I…" muttered Emery, feeling her steamy breath on his face. Her beautiful glistening eyes, alluring smell, soft chest pressing against him. He wanted to speak but his words were stuck on his throat. Somehow, it felt like this girl, sitting on top of him, was a man's greatest weakness. Her charm, her intellect, she seemed able to see through him.

Still unable to say a word, Klea seemed to have put him under her spell for he simply stared in a trance as her face moved closer to him. Her cherry lips were only almost touching and a burning desire on his groin had flared up wanting to break free. Maybe he really should just let go and let this enchantress do her work, shouldn't he?

Knock! Knock! The two were startled as both turned their necks toward the door at the same time. The knocking continued. Klea pushed herself up using his chest and stood. Before heading toward the door, she placed a finger on lips and said almost in a hush, "We'll continue this later, Emery…"

Emery's pounding heart reached his ear as he watched her give him a charming smile and walked with her hips moving sideways, teasing him even further. He got up as well and made way toward the dining room. Right now, he could feel his face was burning and in fact it was as he just saw his reflection on an object that showed his whole likeness. It wouldn't be a good idea for his friends to see him, he wouldn't want them to have the wrong idea, so after he did several deep breaths, he went back to the living room and greeted all his other three male friends.

After they greeted him, Emery was a bit shocked in his heart seeing Klea interacting with them normally. He couldn't see any signs of Klea being as tense as him from earlier.

Once they were all seated, as a good host, Klea once again ordered her personal attendant cube to prepare food and drinks. As they moved toward the dining room, they all quickly shared all information they had gathered.

Thrax reported that Master Tahoggum was once again asking for more of that titanium mineral. At first they rejected him, but the dwarf had once again upped the ante by offering 500 white spirit stones for each ton they would submit to him.

Thrax and Chumo had done some checking and they found out Master Tahoggum's claim that his offer was a little bit above the market value of the stone was indeed true. Hence, if they could do that and compared to the price of tier three weapons, each person needed to mine 40 ton worth of titanium.

It looked good but as they discussed more about it and recalled their experience, it took a whole day or two just to get one or two tons each. Therefore, in the end, they all agreed that mining for more titanium wouldn't be a good solution to prep themselves since they only had five days left(also they were pretty sure Klea would once again act like a queen by counting the titanium and they, her laborers. They didn't want any more of that).

Emery decided to report next, so he could get his mind off what just happened between him and Klea. He mentioned the information about the carcass plant and what its function was. Quite optimistic with the hole they had found, which had more of that flower, Emery stated that another long trip to the place would be beneficial. Well, at least until once they had found a way to kill the dumas.

The idea was actually pretty solid in everyone's opinion. But then Julian voiced his thought that as much as tier three equipment were important, Darius, the instructor in the Earth Institute had mentioned that having the right spell would go a long way better than an artifact. Darius had given Julian a hint that the most important factor while competing in the Magus Games was to reach acolyte rank 6 before it because he had indeed confirmed based on past games that the only acolytes that had found success were teams who were able to cast tier three spells.

Chumo once again said nothing, but since he was with Thrax, all that they had found was already mentioned.

The last, but not the least, person to share her finding was Klea. First, she decided to share information about the elite class as inquired by Emery earlier.

She mentioned that when she arrived in the Magus Academy, she was transported to a different place first. A magus approached her and asked her to leave her class 77 and join the elite class instead. Which she had refused.

Apparently, ever since the beginning, the acolytes were already separated into different castes. Class 31 to 100 were called the lucky class, class 11 to 30 were the elite class and class 1 to 10 were the privileged class.

Klea then explained the main reason why there were only 80 acolytes left were because after seeing their first year acolytes' progress, they were being sent to another class. "I am sure Emery's snake girlfriend is also there with the elite class" Klea said while winking at him.

It occurs to them that those from Kalios even with all their resources were still not considered as elite or privileged, everyone in the group couldn't imagine what kind of acolytes were in the privileged class.

Klea then said, "I didn't share this because I don't want to break your spirit. However, to tell you the truth, I don't think we have a chance in winning the games." It's hard for the group to hear such words from the best among them.

While everyone was in deep thought, they didn't realize that a sixth person had snuck into the room, sitting among them.

"So, you guys are going to give up?" said the person.