CHAPTER 333: TRANSPORTATION

"Did you hear?"

"The guild master has some terrifying monsters stored for this batch of examinees."

".. What do you mean?"

"The guild master captured the monsters himself because the examinees this week showed promising results on the first stage!"

Coco could hear the whispers of the other hunters as she walked towards the door that leads out of the back of the building.

Coco raised an eyebrow, shooting a glance on the hunters, but never slowing down.

The guild master caught the monsters himself..? She wondered, hand reaching out towards the door and walking out of the threshold.

Once Coco stepped out of the guild building, she found herself facing a typical training ground that could have been taken straight from an anime due to its equipment placements.

The surroundings were filled with a wide variety of features— from targets to dummies to various obstacles and training equipment, all scattered in the area.

The place was obviously designed for combat training, the equipment appearing used, but well maintained.

As Coco looked around, she caught sight of a sizable crowd gathering in the training grounds, their voices carrying over the distance.

Then, a woman’s voice pierced the air, her words clear and commanding. "Gather around and for the next group, please step into the transportation station! Make sure to not push and hurt yourselves!"

The instruction was clear, her words bringing no argument.

Coco glanced towards the far end of the training grounds, her gaze falling on where the location of the said transportation station was.

Coco approached the crowd, her eyes fixed on the pillars of the transportation station peaking through the crowd.

It was a rather unusual sight since the four stone pillars were placed at the four cardinal directions with three large magical stones embedded in each of them.

The station itself looked much better than the transportation station back in the village.

She remembered the station back there looking like an abandoned station due to the pillars having molds and turned grey, but who is she to complain? She just got here, right?

Coco stopped right behind a dispersing crowd, the number going down in three fourths because a few aspiring hunters had stepped into the transportation station.

As she stood near the transportation station, she could sense the heavy mana within them, the stones radiating a soft glow of energy and pulsing— for some unknown reason, she could feel them beckoning for her to step closer.

Coco swallowed, her eyebrows furrowing in worry.

The magical freezer she bought for the butcher shop had three magic stones in them and those three stones were greedy.

They once sucked the life out of her when she touched them innocently, thinking that they wouldn’t do any harm.

Turns out, they were harmful.

These magic stones wouldn’t do that, right? Coco thought, despite feeling empty and longing for her family’s embrace, she still couldn’t stop herself from worrying about the stones’ ability to suck out energies.

Coco’s attention went back to the transportation station when it suddenly emitted a bright light, the air growing thicker with magical energy.

One by one, the figures of the people inside the pillars began to disappear from sight, their bodies becoming transparent and eventually vanishing entirely, only leaving a trail of twinkling dust on their spots.

Coco continued staring numbly at the transportation station as the woman’s voice from earlier echoed through the training grounds once more.

"Next group! Step inside the station, please!" Her voice broke through Coco’s trance, the command clear.

Coco shook herself, her focus returning, and around her, others were moving towards the station, lining up to step through the transportation pillars.

The number of people in the crowd began to decrease rapidly, the transportation process continuing at a steady pace and Coco watched as the line of people slowly began to thin out, half of the initial group having already stepped through the transportation portal.

While waiting for the next group to get teleported away, Coco’s hand rested on her hip where her unbreakable hoe was hooked, the familiar weight of the weapon a comfort in a place where she is not familiar with.

As she stood there, lost in thought, she suddenly felt a tap on her shoulder, her attention immediately shifting.

Coco turned her, her gaze falling on the unexpected presence behind her— her emerald irises clashing with ruby colored ones.

Sinclair raised a hand, his fingers curved in a tentative wave.

On the other hand, he clutched a glass filled with the red liquid he had been carrying earlier when he walked into the room with his husband.

His expression was somewhat subdued, a slight hint of exhaustion etched on his features. "It’s nice to see you looking comfortable in the clothes I bought for you.. I thought you wouldn’t wear them."

Coco acknowledged his presence with a nod, her gaze taking in the glass in his hand before shifting back to the transportation station. "It would be a waste if I didn’t."

Sinclair’s lips twitched upwards, loving the fact that even if his master was feeling under the weather, she still would go out of her way to express how much she appreciates the people around her.

"It’s yours so you can do whatever with it." Sinclair said, stepping beside her, "I wasn’t planning to run after you, but you looked like you needed a drink."

Coco didn’t show a reaction, but her hand on her hip tightened slightly. "I don’t drink."

"This is just raspberries with.." Sinclair slowly trailed off, his eyebrows furrowing, "What do you call it..? It’s a new fruit that was put on the market’s sales just recently."

"A new fruit?"

"Yes, it was a fruit with drahorn or something on its name." Sinclair said, assuring her, "So, you don’t have to worry—"

"Last group!" The woman’s voice rang out once more.

Coco’s gaze shifted to the few remaining people who had yet to step through the transportation station.

She just realized that she was one of them.