Let the conference begin

"I'm alright thank you." Yue said, hiding her surprise as fast as she could.

The receptionist squinted.

Himari looked at the receptionist for a moment before her eyes lit up.

"Are you?" She started asking, before she suddenly stopped, mouth still open, but unable to talk.

Someone walked towards the desk.

"Could I change my life insurance to your company?"

The receptionist went from lazing around to wearing glasses so fast that a blast of wind burst from her.

"Of course you can. Did you like the companies blast of wind effect to signify a switching customer?"

"It was very nice aesthetically,"

"Well that's good then. Come with me then."

As she left, a appeared in Yue and Himari's hands, with a note saying, "Here you go. And yes, I am the first pillar. What, can't I follow my great passion of being a receptionist?"

Yue and Himari blinked extremely hard. After both rubbing their eyes, they just turned around and walked to the lift.

Himari and Yue walked into the training to find everyone and Astrid sitting in a circle.

"Ah," They all said in unison "You have returned. We've been waiting for you. Come, come sit."

Yue and Himari started to chuckle before Gao, Roshi, Astrid, Neji, Haru and Vadik put their fingers to their mouths, calling for silence.

As they sat down, Neji proclaimed, "Let the first Crystal rock conference begin!"

"You mean the Endless conference." Roshi popped in.

"You must mean the Crystal rock, Endless,and Astrid conference."

"Let's just say the conference for now, we can deliberate on it later." Vadik stated calmly.

Roshi, Gao, Haru and Neji all gave a slight smirk.

"Ok, our first agenda is discussing our current combat skills. I believe that we should all at least have special gauntlets, considering that our martial arts training mainly centered around hand to hand combat. That is my proposition." Haru put forward.

"That's a good idea," Vadik said, "But we don't have enough points!"

"Ah Ah Ahhh," Roshi butted in, there's a loophole to every system. Follow me."

Roshi started to walk out the room with his hands behind his back. Everyone else followed suit, stifling any chuckles or smiles as much as possible.

They all entered the lift and got to the top floor.

The lift opened to a long corridor leading to two doors engraved with gold and orange markings, a flame golden and red on each of them. One door opened, and a woman wearing a black top hat walked out. When they encountered each other in the hallway, the woman said, "Well hello there. You're all of those disciples that Hirokoshi and Kurenai were talking about. Nice to meet ya."

"Oh?" Roshi exclaimed in the most incredibly posh voice he could muster.

"Indeed!"

"Well, who would have thought? We were just looking for them both. Where would they be?" Roshi continued.

"Just on floor -4. Before you go, would you like to witness a magic trick?" The woman said, making a deck of 52 cards immediately appearing in her hand.

Roshi opened his mouth to speak, but Haru and Himari cut him off, smiling from ear to ear, and shouted, "Definitely!"

The woman smiled warmly. The 52 cards that she was holding started to float out from her hand, and all started to circle her. Faster, and faster, and faster, soon becoming a blur barely visible. Wind started to circle the woman.

"Pick a card, any card, if you find yourself able to catch them. If not, then just tell me when to stop," the woman sang.

Gao started to reach out his hand, but the moment his hand reached a certain distance from the cards, blood started seeping out from his hand. He jumped backwards.

Yue's eyes glinted red. "Stop."

The cards suddenly stopped spinning. A blast of wind erupted throughout the corridor. A chuckle could be heard from the end of the corridor.

A singular card faced them, while all the others retreated behind her slowly, making a deck.

"Is that the card you plan to choose?" The woman stated.

All of them nodded.

"Alright then. All, of you, go grab it with each of your hands.

All 8 of them grabbed onto it.

The woman clicked her fingers. A pen appeared in Roshi's hand. "Write your names on the card."

After they did so, the woman whistled towards the card.

The card vanished in a vibrant blue smoke.

"My dear friend," The woman said, gesturing to Astrid, "Please, check under the sole of your shoe."

Astrid lifted her foot to find the card with all their names on it underfoot.

"Now, the real question is, what card did you pick in the beginning. If you don't mind, flip the card over."

Astrid flipped it over and squinted at it. "The 8 of hearts….."

"Representing the 8 wonderful hearts of my dear audience."

A large "Ohhhh!" Washed over all 8 of them, and they all began to clap.

"Thank you, Thank you very much. See you around the Guild building then! Goodbye!"

They all turned back and went towards the lift. Before the doors closed, Yue tilted her head backwards and whispered "Those cards weren't very normal were they?"

The woman's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "What's your name, young one?"

"Yue. And yours?"

"Avery."

The lift doors closed, and as they did, Avery let out a small giggle.

"Even their students are lively! Maybe I should get some of my own."