the storm guild

"The Storm Guild is a guild under the Evolaris family. They've been in the game for a long time, so I wouldn't make enemies out of these guys," Jude said, warning the group below.

"We're good," Riven said confidently. "Do it, Joey."

Joey then gave a young man named Riley the awakening potion. The young man was hesitant to drink the substance, but his associate kept pressuring him. After a while of being pushed, he finally downed the white substance, tilting his head back as he drank. He was scared he might've been poisoned, but then—he felt it. His body was getting lighter, and the undercurrent of his evolution was growing. All of his companions could tell by the small bright aura that started surrounding Riley's body. This was a clear sign to them all that the hooded figure wasn't lying—that the potion really did allow a person to awaken to the first level.

"How much are you selling these for?" the man in front asked eagerly. He knew if he could get this back to his guild and relay the information, he'd definitely be promoted to a higher echelon of the guild—and be seen as a top member for finding such an alchemist among alchemists.

Before Joey could answer the question with "100,000 units," he was stopped by a voice in his head. It was Jude.

"No, not 100,000—make it 200,000," Jude said with insistence in her voice.

"What? Why change it?" Joey questioned.

"I set 100,000 units because I knew small guilds could probably pay for the potions. But now that we know the Storm Guild is here? We can make a definite killing off this. We'll never have to come back to prison again. Never need money again. Or system points again. We'll be rich. With that card of yours, Wren, no one will be able to track the money back to us—or your family. What do you say?" Jude knew the account was connected to Wren. She asked not for Wren's sake, but for her own. She didn't want any of this leading back to her or her family.

Jude herself was also a Wallborn, but she knew more about the outside than most. Her family wanted Jude to get outside the wall and stay there, even without them. But she couldn't. She couldn't just leave her parents in the walls. So she vowed to get them out. One of the ways you could take someone outside the wall was by buying their way out. The cost differed depending on the wall, so she didn't know how much it would be. That's why she tasked herself with getting a bunch of money—no matter what.

"200,000 units," Joey said to the black-haired man in front.

"200,000? This person is either an idiot or there's a caveat to the potion and he's trying to scam us. This potion, at most, should go for 1 million units—not just 200,000. But looking at that newbie Riley… he awakened off just one potion alone. Now, maybe Riley was almost about to awaken on his own and the potion just boosted him. But he never gave me the energy of someone on the verge of awakening…" These were the thoughts racing through the man's head.

"Hold on," the man said aloud, pulling out what looked like a phone and starting to call someone.

"What is he doing?" Harkel questioned.

"He's probably talking to one of the higher-ups in the guild," Jude answered. "Most likely he didn't expect to find such a good potion, so he probably doesn't have enough units on hand to cover what we're asking."

"This is the Storm Guild. How can I help?" a woman's voice answered on the phone-like device.

"Code-1964891004713927462944," the man whispered. The line then shifted and began to ring again.

"This is the Headmaster Phineas. What is it, my guildmate?" the headmaster said with respect and care, showing that he truly valued his members.

"Sir, you're not gonna believe this," the man began, then started explaining everything that had happened in the past few minutes.

"And how much are they selling it for?" Phineas asked. After hearing the price, he hung up. A few minutes later, units started pouring into the man's account—1 million units appeared.

The man was shocked to see such a large number in his account. He never thought he'd see it in a million years. He went over to Joey, who was still sitting down, swiping his wrist. Joey then got the golden-haired boy's attention. When he saw the amount, he choked on air as well.

The group handed over the five awakening potions and was about to walk away—until the man heard his headmaster still on the phone.

"You idiot, don't walk away!" Phineas yelled.

"But we already bought all of his stock!" the man tried to argue.

"It's likely he can make more. Ask him how many he can make," Phineas ordered. He wanted to get this alchemist on his side. With this alchemist, he might be able to elevate his guild to the level of the big families.

The Storm Guild was part of a group of guilds that all had the potential to challenge the Four Families. But since they were under the banner of one of the families, that said family tried their hardest to keep the guild from rising to equal status. Either they didn't want to lose a good asset—or they didn't want an equal rival.

Phineas knew this alchemist could be their chance to rise.

"So, how much of this stuff can you make?" the man asked.

"It depends. How much do you need?" Joey replied.

Phineas heard Joey's response through the phone and knew all he needed to. The hooded figure could make more.

The man walked away and put the phone back to his ear.

"So what now, sir?" he asked.

"Get the name of the figure—just in case our own alchemist can't recreate what they made. And if they have any other potions, buy those too." After that, Phineas hung up, heading to prepare his alchemists.

"So what's this potion right here?" the man asked, looking at a cylinder container with red and blue swirling together.

"This is a potion that allows you to double your strength and speed for 10 minutes," Joey replied, his voice darkened by the effects of his cloak.

"How much is it?" the man asked.

"50,000 units." Joey answered. Jude wanted him to say more, but he didn't want to overprice the guild more than he already had.

"And one other thing—what is your name?" the man asked.

The group paused—they hadn't really made a name for themselves yet. They all started talking in their heads.

"The Alchemist of Tomorrow," Luka said dramatically.

"That sounds lame," Harkel replied.

"Then you come up with something!" Luka said, hurt by Harkel's bluntness.

"The Gamers," Harkel said with confidence—but everyone agreed it was actually worse than Luka's suggestion.

"Ohh—The Merchant," Kira suggested.

"Too basic," Jordan replied.

"The Glitched Society," Riven said slowly. "Tell him that, Joey." Riven didn't wait for anyone to agree or disagree—this was his evolution, and he felt like he didn't need to ask for approval.

"The Glitched Society," Joey said aloud to the man.

The man then wrote it down on a piece of paper and purchased the red-and-blue potion, walking away with his group.

"1 million units! 1 million units!" Harkel yelled, making everyone realize the magnitude of what they just earned.

"Dude, let's get out of here now! We don't need to sell these awakening potions—we can just go!" Leo said, trying to convince the group.

"Leo's right. We've got more than enough to get out of here and never come back—let's go," Jude agreed. Everyone started packing up their booths.

But before the group could head to the bottom of the bridge, they were stopped by someone wearing a black-and-gold uniform.

"Crap," Nico shouted in her mind.

"What's wrong?" Tessa asked.

"It's the Ascension Group," Nico replied. She knew the group by heart—even if posers tried to copy them, she could always tell. And the way this person moved? There was no doubt—they were definitely from the real Ascension Group.

"The Ascension Group? What the heck are those guys doing here?" Skye asked.

Then the woman spoke.

"We've been getting reports of a lot of murders and missing people lately. I need to see some credentials and a permit saying you're allowed to be up here and sell these items," the woman said, with two men standing behind her.

"Crap. What do we do?" Kira asked through the telepathic link.

"I've got a plan. Put the items in the system space and jump."

"What!!!" they all yelled in their heads after hearing Riven's crazy proposal.

"You heard me," Riven yelled back. "Jump!!!"

"Dude, are you insane? You'll get them killed!" Skye said back.

"No. Me and Harkel will be able to catch you guys—you just need to be quick," Riven replied. As he said this, he nodded at Harkel.

Back up top, after hearing that Riven and Harkel would catch them, Jordan acted fast. He used an ink canister, dropping it on the ground. The ink quickly wrapped around the three enforcers' bodies like chains. They then rolled up the weapons and potions and tossed them into the system storage space. Everyone started running, activating their True Awakening forms to boost their speed.

"What the heck? Those hoodies are covering their faces, yet I can still tell all of them have a True Awakening form. How is that possible? It should be rare to even have that," the woman in front thought as she struggled to break out of Jordan's ink chains. After a little bit of effort, all three of them managed to break free.

The group of six reached the edge and stopped right there.

"C'mon, guys—jump!" Riven yelled out in their minds. He and Harkel were waiting on a nearby roof.

Jordan was the first to jump—he trusted his brother. Wren followed behind, then Leo, Nico, and Jude. Luka and Kira were the last two to jump. As they fell, they saw Riven and Harkel with their cloaks still on, hiding their faces, but their auras were clearly visible.

Riven activated his Lawless Space, suspending the group midair. While they floated, Harkel grabbed them two at a time and flew them down to the ground. He kept going back and forth until everyone was safe. When Riven was the last one left, he canceled his Lawless Space, and Harkel caught him too. This didn't go unnoticed by the group Joey had sold the potions to.

As soon as everyone touched the ground, they took off running across rooftops, heading toward the forest where Riven could set up the teleporter.

"Riven, why don't you just teleport us into the woods?" Jordan asked.

"The Lawless Space still takes a lot out of me, so I can probably teleport myself, but not everyone," Riven responded.

"That's not the only problem we've got," Wren added. Everyone looked at her, and she continued, "What happens when we jump through the portal? Won't the one we set up out here still be active? They could just jump in after us."

Her words made everyone realize this was going to be harder than they thought.

"Then one of us needs to stay back. I'll do it," Riven said.

"No! I'm not leaving you here. We all should stay back," Jordan argued.

"No, we can't. If twelve students just disappear—especially twelve of the top students—questions will be asked," Nico replied.

"Fine!" Riven yelled.

Once they reached a certain distance into the forest, Riven took the portal out of the system space.

"We'll split up unevenly this time. Some will stay here in the Grand Capital until we find a place to relocate the portal. The others go back to the academy and try to cover for us until we return. I'll be staying here. The other four—make your choice," Riven said quickly