Chapter 24

While there were still a few people pairing up in the lobby before, Heat noticed that no one went up to talk to her and she also didn't go talk to anyone else.

It would be reasonable to say that with the physical appearance she has, any man who sees her face would never leave her alone, yet no one wanted to team up with her?

With a smirk on her face, the girl began to walk toward Heat.

Sensing that something is odd about this situation, Heat subconsciously took a step back.

Quickly turning around, Heat began walking to the door so that he could leave. He could find another teammate somehow, anyone but her. Heat's instincts told him that she was nothing but trouble.

Before he could even take two steps, a sweet voice called out. "Wait."

Heat ignored her and increased his speed. Yet somehow, before he could even reach the door, a dark pink blur appeared in front of him.

"Don't you need a teammate for this test? I need one too. Let's team up!" The girl stood there in front of Heat with a wide mischievous smile.

"No, thank you. I already have a teammate." Heat replied as he stepped to the side so that he may continue past her.

Again, right as he walked past her, a dark pink blur appeared in front of him. The girl in front of Heat blocking his way again.

"Don't lie, I saw you alone the entire time looking around at others. We don't have a lot of time, if we don't appear at the city gate as a team then we might be disqualified~!" She chirped in a playful manner.

It was true though, if Heat doesn't accept her as a teammate it would be difficult for him to find someone else with the small amount of time left. Not to mention pretty much everyone else already has a teammate.

As much as Heat didn't want her as his teammate he had no choice but to accept her. This irritated him because her teasing attitude made Heat feel like he was being uncontrollably dragged into her tempo.

"Alright, I'll be your teammate! Let's go to the city gate then." Heat muttered through his breath as he once again walked past her.

"Hmmm~hmm" The girl hummed as she followed Heat in a cheerful manner.

As the had their stroll to the city gate, Heat was on high alert. This girl was simply too strange.

When there were still people in the Mercenary Guild lobby teaming up, she was cold and apathetic. Not talking to anyone and appeared unapproachable.

But now, she's acting like a teenager on a playdate.

Let's not forget about her uncanny speed and how she was able to easily block Heat's path before he could even react. There's also how no one approached her at all while everyone was forming teams, even with her exceptional beauty.

"Too dangerous." Heat thought to himself.

Ever since Heat was betrayed by Min Lest and ultimately had to kill him, there's been a tiny darkness growing inside Heat's mind.

It made him overly cautious and distrustful of other people's surface appearances. He'd rather be in control of the situation than let another Min Lest plot against him.

. . . .

When the arrived at the city gate, Heat saw that there appeared to be more people here than there were in the Mercenary Guild. Logically, there should be less since some people forfeited the test.

As if she read Heat's mind, the girl spoke, "It looks like there are more people here than there were at the Mercenary Guild, there must be a lot of cheaters this time~ My name is Hanna Jux, you can just call me Hanna. How should I address you~~teeam~mate!" Hanna said as she got closer to Heat with a grin.

Taking a step back to create some distance between himself and Hanna, Heat asked, "You can call me Quanye, and what do you mean by cheaters?"

"Well, if there are fewer people at the Mercenary Guild than there are here, it means that some people never went to the Mercenary Guild and were told to show up here at the city gate by their teammate, but how could they already have a teammate prior to the announcement? They must've obtained leaked information about this test before today! Ahaaha~" Hanna laughed casually.

"Now, if they knew about the fact that they would need to team up before today, don't you think people would go out and hire strong energized humans to take the test with them so that they could ensure their chances of passing? If that's not cheating, then what is?"

When Heat took a second to think about it, he understood that what Hanna said made sense.

Heat knew from Marquess Bryant Mels that the test would require the participants to team up. If the Marquess was able to obtain that information, perhaps the other nobles would too.

Thus, if other people already knew about it, then all they needed to do was send one person in their team to come listen to the instructor at the Mercenary Guild while the other person could use the time in the morning for their preparations.

"Quanye!" Cho Mun shouted from a distance away as he raced over to Heat.

"Quanye... let's... assist each other... during the test... This is my teammate... Reygan Yiln." Cho Mun was panting heavily with a face as red as a tomato.

Looking at how out of breath Cho Mun was from this light exercise Heat was really beginning to wonder if Cho Mun was even an energized human.

Although being an energized human only requires you to condense an energy core and has no requirements on physical ability; Cho Mun looked like he never ran a day in his life, even normal humans would have stronger physical abilities.

"Of course... Are you going to be okay?" Heat was actually worried that Cho Mun might collapse and die of a heart attack.

"Yea. Just. Give me a moment to catch my breath." Cho Mun took a seat on the ground and continued, "As I was saying, we should assist each other during the test! We're both only level 1 Mortal Warriors, but Reygan Yiln is a level 4 Mort-- Is this your teammate Quanye?!" Cho Mun's eyes seemed to pop out of his head when he finally took notice of Hanna who was too preoccupied with people watching to care about Cho Mun.