"I’m honestly surprised you’re coming," Faust said, watching the last goblins being slaughtered.

Nirvana turned to Faust with a confused look. "Why wouldn’t we?"

The intermission was near. The fighters and frontline dropped on their backsides where the fight had finally ended. Blood and sweat dripped from their armors. People trooped from the walls with bottles of water and sandwiches.

With a sandwich in hand Faust didn’t feel the need to talk as much. But he turned to Nirvana’s friends sitting around them. Lazy Zen was sending him hateful looks. Spider kept her eyes on the gate. Her tattered clothes repaired slowly. Thalia and Greg argued about how Void eaters flew.

"I thought Zen would be too busy with his job taking naps," Faust shrugged.

Zen glared harder. "You say that like it’s a bad thing."

Nirvana kicked Zen hard with a sneer then turned back to Faust with sultry smiles. Everyone around them rolled their eyes. Faust wondered if she thought she was doing a good job hiding her feelings.

I mean I’ve missed clearer signs than this.

A girl had once asked him to sleep over, but his house was just across the street from hers. He told her he had a bed at home.

His cringe fumbles aside, Faust was decently sure he had Nirvana’s mark.

"I’m always ready for a fight," Nirvana boasted.

Spider raised an eyebrow. "You tried to run the first time we saw a Bronze Jackal."

Nirvan turned her slowly. Whatever looks she sent at Spider made the other girl jump behind Zen. They started talking. There was nothing else to do right now. All he was doing now was waiting for the intermission to start.

A horn sounded and they all perked up, getting up quickly. Faust had put his axe back into his Spatial bag, relying on his dagger and cutlass for this infiltration.

The three teams met and watched each other with measuring looks. These were the best of the best after all. Allies today, but possibly enemies tomorrow.

Faust was with Nirvana, Spider, Greg, Thalia and Zen. They were also assigned four more members. One Frost magic user, a curse breaker, one spatial user and another fighter.

The second group had Juliette, the mind magic girl, and many players in the top 20. They were stoic and serious. Older and more mature men and women, who didn’t like James and Gamebreaker.

The third group was the Jason, James, and people hand picked by Gamebreaker. They were rougher, but hardened men. No women. They were all armed decently.

Faust met Gamebreaker’s eye and the boy chuckled.

"Want to wager who’ll finish this faster?" Jason said with an innocent smile.

Juliette rolled her eyes. "Can we take this seriously?"

"A wager would make us work harder," Faust said, drawing closer to Gamebreaker. "How about Essence. We’ll get a good amount from doing this. How about I get 30% of your essence rewards when I win."

Jason chuckled at him and turned back to his lackeys, who joined him sycophantically.

"WHEN you lose," Jason corrected, "how will I know I’m getting the actual 30% percent from you?"

"I’ll confirm," Juliette cut in, suddenly not finding the wager childish. "I can’t be lied to. And I’ll give you my Spatial bag to count my essence in case you think I will lie. I never do, but whatever helps."

Jason scrunched up his nose, but didn’t voice his thoughts. "Glad you’re joining us. Well then good luck to you all. I’ll win obviously, but nevertheless."

They crossed the distance between the wall and the giant rainbow-colored gate casually. Some goblins still walked out of the gate, but they were shredded before they even got close by the spellcasters.

If Faust and his group all wanted to be taken to the same world, they needed to be touching. So everyone held hands. Faust at the front, Nirvana glared at Thalia when she tried to be second in the chain. She intertwined her hands with Faust’s softly. He nodded. She offered a shaky smile back.

All three teams jumped in at once. Each sent to a different world with their teams. Faust had tested the gate many times with his golems after his first entry. He was sure that only three worlds were connected to the gate.

A multitude of lights washed over Faust’s skin. It was sort of like broken ice, slightly cold and prickly sharp. The pressure of space within the gate built against his skin until he was thrown out the other side.

Faust landed in the long tunnel with his dagger raised. The chill in the air and the smell of the dog told him this was the Kobold world. Perfect. He wanted revenge. His eyes peered through the darkness with Observe. Nothing was here.

He let go of Nirvana and stalked forward to secure the perimeter. Greg followed with his shield raised. The rectangular shield glowed white, illuminating the tunnel a little.

The spatial user, Klein, set a simple anchor to the front of the gate and then went around placing a hand on everyone’s shoulder. A silver mark blazed on their clothes. These would allow them to teleport back here for a quick escape.

Faust silently marvelled at the variety of powers that existed in the Origin trials. Any fight was a mystery box in terms of what abilities the other person had.

"We’ll take them quickly," Zen reiterated, voice cold and calm. "Faust goes down the other tunnel to set the Gap Generator."

Rohan, the extra fighter added to the team, grumbled to himself. "I guess he gets the main role to please him."

Zen sighed tiredly. "Do you have the Stealth Skill? Can you jump through shadows? Can you deal with a mind attack?"

Rohan turned slightly red and faced forward with clenched teeth. Faust and Zen exchanged a look.

"Don’t worry, I still hate you for all this," Zen reassured, letting his joking side slip past his colder demeanour briefly.

Faust waved it off with a smile. "I never doubted that."

They ran through the long tunnels. It was cold and damp here; despite the unsure footing they moved quickly. The intermission wouldn’t be long. Footsteps echoed down the hall, but there was nothing they could do.

Slowing down once they reached the main hall wasn’t an option. Faust flitted into the hall with Dash and cast Fireball immediately. To the Shamans credit, they reacted quickly. A shield flashed around the Kobolds instantly.

No casting time. The temple is inlaid with magical power. How many spells can they cast that quickly?

His team set up while the flames scattered. Spider killed anything on the other side of the hall, near the entrance. Thalia set traps there. Nirvana began summoning new skeletons.

Soon the right side of the hall was theirs.

On the left side, Kobolds made their move. Purple light hummed from the stones as the mind magic spell activated.