First Gate

"You sure?" Mal hadn't expected this turn of events at all.

He'd only been training two weeks and Aisha had told him she'd trained much longer.

"I'm positive!" Rose shook her head firmly.

"Don't tell me our only male member is scared?" She teased.

"Hm? Oh yea totally. I've seen what hordes of female goblins do to human males and I am terrified." Mal shook his head in disgust as he remembered the unspeakable nightmares.

Who knew a single night spent browsing too deep in the internet would be so damaging?

Rose giggled before patting his shoulder to ease his nerves. "Don't worry! You'll be going in with a party and you'll all be responsible for each other. Plus since you're new you won't be going to a gate above C rank so there won't be hordes of anything."

Truthfully Malachi was only joking about being nervous but Rose's attempt to help his nerves really touched his heart.

"Thanks Rose… I mean it."

The woman's smile grew even wider. "Is our bright and cheerful Malachi finally back? I was wondering when I'd hear you crack a joke again."

"You like my jokes?"

"Gods no they're worse than cancer but after a while you start to get used to them."

Unbeknownst to Rose, Malachi took a small arrow to his pride when he heard that.

He might have a lot of other things going on now but before he got blessed he always prided himself on being funny!

"Look I don't know what was wrong with you but.. you have friends here that you can talk to you know?"

Rose's voice spurred him from his spiral and he offered her a simple smile. "I know Teach, thanks."

Rose told him to go and get changed since he was done for the day and she would begin making preparations for his first gate.

Malachi went to go get changed with a lightness in his steps.

After this he was going to go and have some fun with the girls since they refused to leave his side today.

Even though he put up a resistance, he was actually quite touched.

'Where should we go after this?'

While Malachi was heading off to change out of his sweats, Sei and Aubrey were still semi frozen in shock from the spectacle they'd just seen.

"He… how did he even?"

"Was he always that strong?"

Aisha could understand the two girls reactions since she was a bit awestruck herself.

It seemed like her friend was getting more and more impressive everyday.

Sei was the most mesmerized by Malachi's strength.

'Such a person.. really wants to be with me?'

A warm feeling began to spread throughout her chest.

Even if she did not believe it would last, she was nonetheless incredibly grateful that Malachi had chosen her.

"Hello."

The girls were suddenly greeted by an approaching Luna and Bianca.

Sei immediately felt starstruck by the beauty of the two women.

She'd never seen such mesmerizing women in her whole life.

Aisha made introductions and the two groups exchanged pleasantries.

"So are you Malachi's girlfriend?" Bianca was straight to the point and did not waste any time.

Sei immediately felt her face get hot but she did not deny it.

With a simple shy nod she confirmed Bianca and Luna's suspicions.

"Aww come on sister-in-law don't be shy!" Aubrey teased.

"I-I'm not!" Sei's reddening face was not making her lie any more convincing.

Bianca looked Sei up and down before nodding, seemingly understanding something.

"I'll admit you're beautiful and you have a great figure."

"Ehhh???" Sei was unused to compliments, especially ones that came by surprise.

"But I won't give up on Mal so easily! I'm here today to declare myself your rival!"

"My.. what?"

Before Bianca could even restate her declaration, her mouth was covered by Luna and she received an elbow in the ribs from Aisha.

"This one's a bit slow, please don't pay her any mind." Luna offered a sincere apology.

She then said a farewell before she proceeded to drag Bianca away, the young blessed making muffled remarks the entire way out the door.

"Don't let her bother you Sei." Aubrey reassured.

"Ah, well if I'm honest I have already prepared myself for things like this."

She tried to force a smile but it was difficult.

It felt as if she'd been punched right in the chest and had the wind knocked out of her sails.

Was it time for Mal to walk away from her already?

'I… thought I'd have a bit more time.'

-

In a large corporate building, Alex Heller was currently seated behind a desk with a thoughtful expression on his face.

He was currently going over guild expenses while brewing silently over a certain lost resource.

Knock, knock!

"Come in."

The door suddenly opened to reveal a beautiful blonde haired woman wearing formal attire.

"What is it Selene?" Alex's secretary knew he didn't like to be disturbed so he was certain this had to be important.

The woman did not respond and instead handed him a tablet with the page pulled up to the latest news article.

There in big bold letters was a headline about Immortal Moon's rising star.

Apparently, it was finally time for his debut into the world and he'd been assigned his first C rank dungeon.

There appeared to be quite the buzz online with multiple news outlets posting the same story each with millions of views.

Apparently he was going to be apart of a simple three man team with one additional civilian going in with them to livestream his capabilities to the world.

"Gods this'll be great!" Alex tossed the tablet back to Selene and laughed hysterically.

Nothing could humiliate immortal moon more than setting up a public execution!

He'd make Malachi look like another cocky brat who'd gone into a gate with no real idea of the horrors inside.

And Luna and her guild would look like the most incompetent guild in the world when they couldn't utilize someone as talented as Malachi!

"Call Sierra and tell her I need a favor. She does this for me and we'll forgive her debt."

Selene nodded and promptly left the office to carry out what she was sure would be another tragedy.