Nova, by this point, was exasperated.

It had only been a day since he came back, and he already felt overwhelmed.

He had completely forgotten about the agreement he made with Erevan, the leader of the second group that lived in Quarath. Until the latter mentioned it.

What he wanted most at the moment was to settle down and start training, but it seemed others had different plans for him.

The sense of freedom he felt inside the portal was far greater than what he'd ever experienced on Earth, and that thought put a pensive expression on his face.

At least there, he could come and go as he pleased, without reporting to anyone and without responsibilities.

That didn't mean he tried to avoid responsibilities.

Nova enjoyed spending time with his friends.

He had spent an entire day happily talking with Cassidy, and he would have done the same with the others if he could.

That also wasn't the problem.

What troubled him was how much he had to catch up on. The many things he needed to learn to grow stronger. Since coming back, his strength seemed to have both advanced by leaps and bounds and regressed at the same time.

Finding out that his Generals had already embarked on a path he had yet to even see on the horizon filled him with a sense of urgency.

That urgency would, in turn, only fade once he felt he had caught up with the others, and by that point, maybe even surpassed them.

Only then would he allow himself a moment of respite.

"I remember. It's in a year, right?"

Nova said, hints of tiredness carefully hidden in his voice.

"Mhm, mhm," Erevan hummed in agreement from the other side, his head resting on the reclining chair. "We'll enter the Orange portal in a year, but you need to show up as soon as possible."

Nova frowned. He was already short on time, and now he had to show up even earlier?

During these times he wished he could hide inside a portal where time passed faster than on the outside and train as much as he could, before eventually coming out to take care of things.

But that was just a dream.

"Why?" he asked wearily.

Through the device, he heard Erevan take a drink before replying casually, "I need to assess your strength. What if you haven't improved at all, even after clearing a Purple portal?"

He said it jokingly. "I can't risk bringing you in if you're still your old, weak self. You might even die inside the portal."

Nova sighed. That was all he could do.

Seeing how Nemesis had improved without much trouble, he could infer that Erevan and his group had secretly offered their help rather than opposed it.

If they had done the latter, Nemesis would never have become what it was today.

Forget managing Quarath.

He didn't even know if they could keep the old headquarters while he was away.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"Fine," Nova said after taking a deep breath.

Erevan replied cheerfully, "Good. Also, you don't have to worry about your friend, he's already here. You're the only one missing."

"Jack is there?" Nova exclaimed in surprise.

He had already been planning to contact his childhood friend to enter the Orange portal with him. The agreement stated that only four people would enter.

Two from each side.

Erevan had Slade to pair up with, while Nova had yet to formally choose someone before leaving for the Purple portal.

Though, in his mind, he had already chosen to go with Jack. The only thing left was to tell him, something he had been planning on doing right after talking with Erevan.

But it seemed there was no need to even inform him. His friend was already at Erevan's place.

"Yeah, he comes here to train every now and then. I gotta say, his rate of improvement is surprisingly fast," Erevan laughed. "You should've seen Slade's face crack when he had to admit Jack was talented after they sparred."

Nova's lips twitched as he tried to picture the scene.

The cold, snobby Slade that looked down on everyone admitted someone was talented? It was hard to even imagine.

Then he quickly asked, "Where are you now?"

"Hmm, it's a bit hard to pinpoint." Erevan was in a spacious room, his gaze fixed ahead.

He lifted his sunglasses and said, "I'd say, follow the orange light in the sky and you'll find me."

Hum!

There, positioned a dozen meters in front of him, was the Orange portal.

The color was dull, swirling endlessly with no sign of stopping.

Yet the light it emitted shot upward through the man-made hole in the roof, as if carving its own space in the sky.

Nova instinctively lifted his head, momentarily forgetting he was in the basement.

When he realized, he chuckled to himself and said, "Alright, it won't be long before I come."

"It's best if you come as soon as you can. Apart from checking up on you, I also have a few things to say before we enter the portal," Erevan replied before taking a sip of his drink.

"I understand," Nova nodded, ending the call after a few more pleasantries.

On the other side of the device, a tall man with long brown hair entered the room and said, "Don't you ever get tired of staring at it? It's been years now."

Erevan tilted his head and saw Jack. Grinning, he said, "I can never get tired of staring at a winning lottery ticket."

He laughed lightly.

Jack couldn't help but shake his head. He walked toward the other door and was about to leave when Erevan spoke up.

"By the way, Nova's back. He should be here soon."

Jack stopped in his tracks. His lips slowly curved into a smile as he said, "I see. Even the dogs found him too hard to digest."

Despite his words, Jack couldn't hide the joy he felt upon hearing his best friend was back.

Click.

Erevan watched the door close and muttered, "They're weirder than Slade."

He put his sunglasses back on and stared at the Orange portal with a grin.

/////

Nova sat quietly for a few minutes, gathering his thoughts.

'For Erevan to say I need to show up as soon as I can… the information must be vital to our success in the portal. It's best if I don't wait too long. I can always come back after hearing it anyway.'

'I need to use this time as best as I can.'

With his thoughts sorted out, he muttered, "Leveling up my mastery with the spear will take at least a year or two and that's too long. The fastest way to increase my strength is to improve my crafting skills and make myself better gear. I might even unlock some new titles too in the process."

He checked the piles of materials in his Inventory one more time. His hands already itching.

"One week," he said to himself. "I'll give myself one week. After that, I'll head over to Erevan and see what he wants to say."

Nova took out the new device, fiddled with it for a few moments, then tucked it away before standing up.

He headed toward the forge in the basement.

Cassidy had told him that his villa was one of only two equipped with a forge, since it was still too niche for everyone else as most didn't plan on becoming blacksmiths.

He didn't know who owned the other one, and when he asked, Cassidy only smiled and said, "It's a surprise!"

At that, he could only shake his hand with a smile and stop asking.

Tang!

Tang!

Nova stepped into the forge, and minutes later, the sound of hammer striking hot iron echoed through the otherwise silent basement.

/////

Two days passed by in a flash.

For some, those two days held no more meaning than any other, but for others, they carried great importance.

For Hayden and Lavinia, it was the latter.

Numbers Five and Four respectively, they stood in a room with Troy, the only other person present.

They had been dispatched to find clues about the disappearance of their soldiers and were given only two days to come up with something.

For reasons beyond them, the task had turned out to be far more difficult than it should've been.

Three Grade 1s and a hundred soldiers had vanished and nobody could explain why.

Were they random cabbages by the roadside or what?

It felt absurd.

But after a great deal of effort, they had finally found something.

Troy looked at them sternly and said, "Tell me, what happened to our Grade 1s?"

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