Chapter 466: Camaraderie

"Thank you for the warm welcome. I've always been fond of the warm reception I've received from the Adventurers Guild, no matter how small or remote the branch."

It took all my social power to maintain a professional visage during this speech. Naturally, I was relying on some borrowed overpowered elf traits, since they were naturally charismatic, but I wished I had the old power of [Acting] right about now. With everything I had gained from [Split Personality], I had unfortunately lost the skill I used as a crutch in social situations.

It was a little painful that I could wield vast, almost cosmic, magical power, yet giving a speech in front of even a welcoming audience gave me the jitters. I had to wonder if my past lives also had this issue, or was this a consequence of my young death, or just something I inherited from my current slimy origin.

"I'm probably not as well known as some of the current diamond-rankers, but thankfully I had Lord Keldenar to vouch for me."

"Hey, no need for titles around me," Keldenar interrupted, earning a chuckle from some of the audience.

I smiled back and continued. "Anyway, I know some might be apprehensive about an elf joining the illustrious diamond-rank, but I hope that I can be a bridge between the guild and the elves through Lady Sylthaeryn, who is currently under the protection of the Kingdom of Keld."

This was bait that Keldenar and I had agreed to set. It was also laying the groundwork for me being the body double of my own persona, as my justifiable excuse for my sudden disappearance, which hopefully my friends would forgive me for going silent.

"I also plan to work together with Keldenar to try to improve on the current transportation system, as it's currently quite lacking. Keld will be our testbed, but I hope that in the future there will be a dimensional transportation network that can help everyone."

"I think it will open a whole new door of adventure for everyone," Keldenar added, looking quite excited, and he certainly wasn't the only one.

Unfortunately, my social meter was running dry, and I fumbled for what else to say, but thankfully Luther took the reins and kept talking while I just smiled and waved. Keldenar occasionally joined in as well, throwing out wild ideas like having an emergency teleportation network so any monster tides could be resolved at minimal losses. He even flirted with the idea of cooperating with the Merchants Guild to help foot the bill, as they would no doubt love an improved trade network.

Overall, everything said was going extremely well with the adventurers, and I was welcomed into the ranks without anyone voicing their concern. Of course, if another diamond rank were present, that might have changed, and it might genuinely be that none of the gold ranks dared to speak ill of us in front of everyone.

With that, the festivities continued, and I excused myself from the stage to find a quieter spot to recuperate. Vee quickly came to my aid, and with her presence I felt myself recovering, and I'd need it as I saw a group of familiar faces approaching.

"Syl, it's really you!" Whitney shouted before practically jumping at me.

I chuckled to hide my nervousness while mentally begging for [Acting] to return. Unfortunately, I couldn't buy the lower-rank skill since I already had the superior version, and using [Skill Deconstruct] on it to try to decipher its original form wasn't an option, since that risked genuinely "killing" my personas.

"It's me, sorry for disappearing for so long…" I replied.

"We heard about some of it from Thern," Evan explained. "He mentioned assassins, then during the kobold invasion you suddenly went missing. If not for your guild tag still saying you were alive, we might have thought the worst."

"Again, I'm sorry. It's a bit of a messy story," I sighed.

"Well, before any of that, why don't you introduce us?" Whitney asked, pointing down at Vee. "Who's this little missy?"

Vee pouted from her sore spot being touched, but I rested my hand on her shoulder. "This is Vee; she's my apprentice. Then these are my old adventuring friends: Whitney, Evan, and Dewi."

"Nice to meet you three," Vee replied.

"Aren't you a cutie?" Dewi finally said. "I hope Syl has taught you the wonders of fire?"

"No fire affinity for me, I'm afraid," Vee answered.

Dewi's face dropped as if it was the worst thing he'd ever heard.

"Well, she might get it offered sooner or later, so there's a chance," I said.

"I think the world can do without any more Pyromancers," Evan admitted.

"I'm genuinely surprised Keaburg hasn't burnt down," I joked.

"The Mages Guild is pretty strict about that, so I've had to keep some of my activities on the outskirts," Dewi admitted. "Speaking of which, I can imagine they will be wanting to get their hands all over you. I already mentioned you to them previously, but that was before you suddenly came back as a legendary dimension mage! How many affinities do you even have now?"

"A lot… Too many probably," I answered somewhat honestly.

"That will probably make the Mages Guild want you more," Evan pointed out. "Although, with you registered as a diamond rank adventurer, I don't think even their current leader can throw his weight around. So there's probably nothing to worry about."

"Not to mention your connection with Lord Keldendar, how the heck did that happen?" Whitney asked.

"It's complicated… But I can try my best to explain it, maybe over a private meal?"

"Syl spoke about you guys, but isn't there supposed to be more of you?" Vee asked. "Just suggesting you group up so the story doesn't need to be repeated."

"There's also Roderick, Kurt, and Tabitha, but those three are in Kaerlin," Whitney explained.

"Oh. Why don't you ask Syl to fetch them?" Vee suggested.

The present trio looked at me as if asking the question, and I nodded.

"It should be very simple. Does anyone want to come with me to fetch them?"

All three raised their hands, which made for a bit of an awkward situation.

"Why don't we all go to Kaerlin and have a meal there? Then we can all come back here, if the others wish," I suggested.

"That sounds good to me!" Whitney agreed.

"Teleportation, how exciting!" Dewi said, practically vibrating with excitement.

Evan also nodded, so it seemed we were going to take a quick trip to Kaerlin and back. I let Keldenar know our plan before suddenly disappearing, and I even offered him a spot; however, he turned us down, saying he would hold the fort here. With that, we went to a secluded spot, and I began crunching the coordinates to just outside Kaerlin.

Since this was a group teleportation, I joined forces with Nu again to link up our apertures and make a rudimentary portal to our destination. Plus, for those unfamiliar with teleportation, it would be a much more pleasant experience than suddenly appearing at a new destination. With a dramatic flourish, I tore open the hole, and on the other side were the walls of Kaerlin, to the gawking shock of my three friends.

"This is exciting; I'm getting to see another human city," Vee said excitedly before jumping through the portal.

When they saw Vee on the other side, Dewi couldn't resist and jumped straight through with zero hesitation. "Whitney! Evan! This is amazing!"

The pair chuckled and walked through as well, and I followed, making sure to stay close behind to avoid any mishaps. In one step we'd all crossed a vast distance, and the three humans were still struggling to comprehend it and were overtly excited.

"You know, if we didn't need to pick up those three, I would have suggested we go to Stantondale and eat at Trevor's place," Dewi suddenly said.

"It's called Southbrook now," Whitney corrected.

Dewi looked surprised but nodded. "Oh, that's a much better name."

"Is Trevor where you got me that delicious food from?" Vee asked, practically licking her lips.

I nodded. "It's no trouble to go there too. Besides, if I can't abuse my magical abilities to show off to my friends, what was even the point of learning all this?"

Whitney and Dewi both excitedly agreed, while Evan, always the more sensible one, looked at me almost apologetically. He didn't say it, but I could almost hear him warning me not to spoil them too much.

"You know I'm suddenly understanding why you flew through gold and straight into diamond if you can teleport around like this," Whitney said as we headed to the city.

"Could you just teleport straight to the end of the dungeons and labyrinths?" Dewi asked, adding to Whitney's thoughts.

"Not exactly. I need coordinates; otherwise, I can't make it happen. I'll give a brief explanation, just so you know it's not as easy as it looks," I said and began giving a bit of a crash course in basic dimension magic.

Dewi and Evan, as the two spellcasters of their group, could vaguely understand what I was talking about, but poor Whitney was left clueless and decided to have a side conversation with Vee while we walked and talked. Of course, if I combined all my recent abilities, I probably could teleport straight to the end, but I didn't mention it to keep a bit of my current abilities under wraps. Besides, I didn't want them thinking I had it easy going through those three labyrinths!

The Kaerlin guards were shocked by the sudden appearance of four gold rankers and a diamond, so they approved us hastily without even needing a security check. The guards were practically sweating as they gave us a five-star VIP treatment. Once inside Kaerlin, I intentionally lowered my and Vee's presence, just to keep some of the commotion down as we made it to the guild.

We practically snuck into the guild, and that's when I noticed Whitney helping us along. I wasn't entirely sure what her current class was, but it seemed to have some sort of group stealth ability as we rushed to Lisa's office.

Our group entered quietly, as if we'd all made an unspoken agreement to cause a bit of mischief, and we saw Lisa fuming at her desk over a mountain of paperwork. We silently counted down and dropped our disguises all at once, causing an almost instantaneous reaction from Lisa.

She practically jumped out of her seat, unsheathing her lightning-crackling blade as she took a ready stance. "Who goes there!?"

Our group awkwardly stood there while Lisa finally realized who we were. Her ready stance dropped as her eyes widened in shock and surprise. "Where did you all come from!? And Syl? Aren't you getting promoted in the Capital?"

I smiled. "Nice to see you again, Lisa. We were just there, but we came here to fetch you for a bit of a reunion meal."

"To fetch—Wait! What the heck is your class?" Lisa asked, looking flabbergasted.

It seemed she had heard word of my promotion as a fellow [Guild Master], but not the details of my class. It seemed Luther had kept things extremely hushed, either for the big reveal or to try to avoid any disasters. Of course, now that I had revealed it on stage, it was probably going to spread like wildfire.

We quickly told Lisa our intentions, and her momentary shock turned into a happy surprise. Of course she wanted some answers too, but the simple explanation of "it's a long story, wait till we are all here" helped to temporarily settle her curiosity. Lisa quickly sent word for the other three to come to her office, and while we waited, I properly introduced her to Vee.

What was quite interesting was that even though Lisa had used the teleportation platforms before, multiple times, even according to her own words, she wasn't any less eager to experience it than the others. It really felt like I was becoming a mini celebrity among this group, and that was ignoring my fresh new rank.

When Tabitha, Roderick, and Kurt arrived, they were understandably confused about what the emergency was, and Lisa had us hide out of sight as they entered. Once the door closed, we made our grand reveal, which made poor Tabitha nearly jump out of her skin. As for the other two, Roderick managed to keep his calm while Kurt acted like a goblin warlock had just descended, unsheathing his two blades and ready to pounce.

"Dewi, Evan, Whitney—and is that Syl?" Roderick asked, shock plastered all over his face.

"Did you say Syl?" Tabitha replied, recovering from her shock.

"Holy crap, the whole gang is here!" Kurt exclaimed, sheathing his blades.

"But how? Aren't you supposed to be stationed in Keaburg?" Tabitha asked, then shook her head and stared directly at me. "No, wait, ignore that. Where have you been?"

"It's a long story," I said, with Dewi and Whitney both repeating it along with me. I smiled at the pair while Whitney teasingly stuck out her tongue.

"Anyway, how about we all talk about it at Trevor's?" I asked.

"Trevor is a bit far, don't you think? How about Moonsong instead?" Roderick offered.

I shook my head, then, with a swing of my arm, revealed what I'd been preparing in secret while we waited. I had the coordinates ready, and both Nu and [Coordicore] had set the stage as I tore open a door right to the entrance of Southbrook.

"When I'm around, almost nothing is too far away."