"Students of the Academy, as well as mercenaries at C rank or under, will take part, and since you have finally become an A rank, you will be leading them...

"

"Me?

" I pointed at myself, illusionary question marks hovering above my head.

"Yes, you! Of course, there will be a few others who will be helping out there, but you will be one of them.

" Rose smiled warmly at me

"So June is coming, isn't she?

" I asked with a sigh causing Rose's expression to stiffen.

"Maybe?

" She blurted out without thinking

*sigh*

"it's fine. I barely care anymore. At least we aren't at the same time

" I sighed once again, this time out of relief rather than annoyance.

"Oh? Yeah, that...

"

"We are on the same team aren't we

" I looked at her pleadingly

"Maybe?

" She blurted out again without thinking.

*Sigh*

"You said you wanted to tell me three things. So far you just told me about dimensional cracks and beast tides. What else is there that you can tell me that will plummet my mood even further

" I smiled at her, and while this smile might have been seen a normal and gentle smile from one guildmember to a guildmaster, to people who knew me well, this was the devil's smile.

"Y-Yes...

" She stuttered but she quickly gained back her temperament

"In a month or two, we got a huge escorting mission that I want you and Olivia to take

" Rose winked at me, causing my mouth and eyes to twitch in annoyance.

"I thought we don't take escort missions

"

"We don't, but this one is huge. It is from a really big family that donates a ton of money to our guild. Without them, I would have not been able to set up the guild at a young age, and at the same time, they keep us safe from any interferences from larger guilds

"

"If they are so powerful, then why do they have us to escort them? Can't they just ask one of their combat maids or something

" I snorted

"Well, the escort is less for safety and more of a prestige. We just stand around and make sure the leader of their family does not have to raise a single finger.

" Rose shrugged.

For the next 30 minutes, we talked about a variety of things from the best kind of soap to use, to betting on people's lives. After that, however, I made sure to quickly leave her office so she could resume working the same way she had been doing for hours before I had arrived at her office.

Going back home, I flickered into the living room and shut the windows before going to one of the blue mats of the floor and sitting on it in a cross-legged lotus position.

I swiftly began the procedures needed for me to use 'breath of eternity', taking one breath in and three out within the span of 10 seconds.

Immediately, I felt like every elemental energy and speck of ambient mana had begun to shoot towards me, making something close to a mini vortex around me, one too small to be compared to the one I had created during my awakening.

Countless colors began to circulate around me before being inhaled into me and diffused into my body as a whole, not only strengthening my divine mana and increasing my cultivation but also strengthening my entire body simultaneously.

'I should breakthrough within the next month or so.' I nodded and carried on cultivating without any rest for the rest of the day. At night, I went out again but only for a few hours since I still has a ton of impure soul energy that I had not cultivated yet.

I spent the next three days going through the same routine where I would spend a quarter of the day cultivating soul energy and the other quarter cultivating my mana, before training with Rose, Yuri, and Olivia and going back to finding the bounties.

After 4 days had passed, I finally opened my eyes to the sound of ringing. After answering, I had gotten information from Rose that I June had come back from one of the missions she was one, meaning she was finally ready to go on our beast tide mission.

***

"Are you two ready?

" Rose looked at both me and June in her office, getting ready to depart on our adventure where we would be committing mass killing on random beasts that happen to be unlucky enough to be around while we are there.

"Yeah. Can we go now?

" I groaned.

"You should probably get some sleep before going there. From what I know, you haven't slept in the last week or so, right?

" Rose's eyes landed on me with genuine concern, but I simply shrugged it off.

If she only knew that you had been awake for 6 months now hahahahahah

'Shut up, please'

Grumpy are we? Is this sleep deficiency finally taking its toll on you?

"Well, I'll need you both to go to the teleportation hub my foot today evening anyway. You can sleep when you get there since the beast tide only gets to the city after 2 days of your arrival

" Rose chose to give up on persuading me to sleep, and instead just nodded at her own words.

"Sure. Let's go

" I gestured to June to follow me, which she of course did like an obedient dog.

"Are you not going to take Olivia?

" June asked me after walking for a bit

"I would, but for now, no. She is simply too weak right now

" I shrugged

"Yes, but we have students who haven't even gotten to the supreme rank fighting... The least we can do is allow her to fight with them

" June pleaded

"Too dangerous

" I shook my head.

"Hmm? I guess I'll have to tell her that you think she is weaker than those students in the second year.

" She gave me a smug smile while speeding up her walk.

"W-What! Come back here

" I shouted towards her.

"I'm telling her!

"

"Wait! Okay! I'll ask Yuri and Rose if she can come along.

"

As we walked, one would be able to see my annoyed expression alongside the smug expression of June as she walked to my side. Even though I was wearing a mask, my pouting was evident to anyone who looked at me.

'This b*tch* I inwardly grunted