Lizzy was happy that she was going to Iron Solace with her best friends, a Beast Tamer and a Necromancer.
The problem is, Gabriela was there too.
They used to be closer when younger, although she was a bit spoiled, having been raised by stravagant parents while Lizzy herself was raised in a more humble lifestyle even though her parents had just as much money as Gabriela's.
But things took a turn once her cousin Awakened before her.
She was a Spear Saint, basically a master of spear usage and capable of great feats if well trained.
But here lies the main problem with this equation.
One needs to practice for a period of time to be great, so practice plus time is equal to results.
But she only used time, and only for unimportant things, like shopping sprees, never for learning, and her parents indulged her to believe she didn't need to.
She believed that time alone was enough to bring results.
Now she only knew how to wield her weapon because her skill allowed her, but she had no experience.
Lizzy, on the other hand, had started to learn whatever she could once she Awakened, as her class' main advantage was the learning speed and comprehension ability.
That's why she became more well known than her cousin, but that wasn't important for Gabriela.
To her, Lizzy was just someone stealing her spotlight.
How ignorant she was…
"Hey Lizzy, look"
Her friend Hellen, a girl with tan skin, short dark green hair and green eyes, caught her attention while looking to the side.
Following the girl's gaze, she saw Gabriela close to a group of boys.
She had her upright stance, the one she used to collect things she wanted, probably demanding them to be part of her team.
"Should we interfere?"
The one who asked was her other friend, Bella, a short gloomy looking girl with long messy pale purple hair and black eyes that clinging to Lizzy's arm.
Lizzy narrowed her eyes at the scene.
"We should" She said while marching in their direction.
Looking at the way Gabriela was getting agitated, it would be better to interfere before Gabriela made a bigger scene than she was already making.
"Already causing trouble, dear cousin?"
Two of the boys gave her surprised looks, the third one she couldn't tell, his eyes covered by his messy grey hair.
"Can you stop meddling with my business?
Gabriela glared at her, head high with a pride she did not earn.
Lizzy gave her cousin a bored look.
"Aren't you tired of this stupidity?" She asked "They don't want to be in your team, end of the story, go pester someone else before you get more attention"
That seemed to make Gabriela notice how many eyes were now turned to them.
She greeted her teeth, glared at Lizzy one more time and took off somewhere.
With that finished, she turned to the boys.
"I'm sorry for her" She said "It'll definitely happen again, but I'll do what I can to stop her"
She had promised her grandpa that she would make sure to keep an eye on Gabriela after she discovered they both were going to Iron Solace.
A burdensome task, but necessary.
One of the boys, the grey haired one, just waved his hand.
"Don't worry" He said "Can't say for the others, but I've seen worse, at least she gave up easily, usually they fight harder when confronted"
She couldn't help but nod.
Gabriela would usually give up easily because she knew Lizzy would snitch on her to grandpa, and he had threatened to cut her off financially if she messed up.
She depended too much on money to cause trouble, so she behaved.
Well, more of less.
One of the boys, the blue haired one, cheerfully approached her.
"Hi! I'm Elijah, a Hunter, and you?"
The scandalized look the boy with glasses gave to Elijah Jackson and the way the gray haired boy's head turned so fast she thought it would fall nearly made her laugh, but she held back.
"Elise" She said "A Sage"
Her friends also took the chance to introduce themselves.
"I'm Helen! I'm a Necromancer!"
"B-Bella… a Beast Tamer…"
The two boys with exposed eyes stared at her two friends with surprise.
People used to think that the ominous Helen, with her wild personality, would have been a Huntress, but she ended up as a Necromancer as Elise always said she would, and the gloomy Bella, the secretive animal lover who simply love every creature in her own way, became the Beast Tamer she always dreamed instead of the Necromancer or Shaman every one drilled in her she would be.
But at least the surprise didn't take long to wash away, intead, the boy with glasses turned to the gray haired boy.
"Do you have Beasts and undead creatures in your Book of Stories?" He asked.
"I do?" The boy asked a bit suspicious "They are quite frequent on the Book of Stories actually"
"And learnable skills?"
The gray haired boy tilted his head to the side a bit, but nodded slowly.
The one with glasses nodded, then turned to Elise and her friends with a serious look.
"My name is Akilah and I'm a Masked Fighter" He said "You already know Elijah and this guy here is Amadeus and he's a Summoner of Art"
She never heard of that type of class, which must be really rare since she had searched for registered classes to see if she could learn their skills.
She was wondering if she could learn his skills when Akilah spoke once again.
"Would you consider joining us? With Amadeus skill we might actually make a really strong group"
Said Amadeus just kind of froze as their eyes turned to him.
"I-I can summon things that are on my Book of Stories" Explained Amadeus nervously "Or things I created myself, so I could summon undead creatures for a Necromancer to use, or Beats for a Beast Tamer to make a contract, or-"
"Skills for a Sage to learn" She finished
That was actually good, perfect even.
She could pay him for custom made Skills with her own specifications and custom made familiars for her friends.
It was a perfect match.
So she didn't even think that much.
"Please take care of me for now own"
***
Elise Harper was on his team.
Elise Harper was on his team!
He was so taken aback that he became numb, just following the group through the portal and doing things on autopilot.
It didn't take long for them to register their team and be guided to their new residence (a goddamn villa).
It was Leonard who woke him up when he set down on his new bed.
"You good?"
He didn't answer at first, finally registering the earlier events.
"Holy shit!"
"Language!"
After apologising for swearing, he managed to explain the situation.
Elise Harper was beyond famous around his generation, she was the type of person that a hero would recruit to their party, or the person destined to a hero themself.
"And I'm on her team!" He said, a smile creeping in "It's like when Galileo decided to join forces with you two to defeat Oblivion!"
Galileo was a character of Forgotten Glory, he's a Producer, capable of making the best items in the world of the novel, but he was greedy and always remained neutral.
When the main villain proved to be a real threat to the world (and his money) Galileo joined forces with Leonard and Matthew to produce the Star's Tears, a potion that could give a monstrous permanent boost in all attributes and just as monstrous temporary boost used to defeat Oblivion.
Basically, he was an essential existence, just like Elise Harper was.
Call it a writer's instinct, but he knew she was important!
Easy to say it took a good while for him to calm down.