Four months ago, the two of them were separated right after they showed their affection toward each other. So it was actually not a surprise that Klea wanted to hold Emery close for quite a while, though the hug continued to the point where Chumo started to yawn.
Emery did not say a word, but he looked at his Asian friend with a sharp, murderous glare for tricking him before. However, noticing the glare thrown in his direction, Chumo only gave a cheeky smile and even gave the two lovebirds a thumbs up.
'This guy!'
A moment later, the three felt a figure approaching them from a distance. It was only when they saw it was Magus Carla who arrived that Klea was finally willing to let go of Emery, albeit very reluctantly.
The girl quickly greeted the water element instructor and expressed her gratitude for allowing her to use the facility. Magus Carla only gave a subtle nod in response as she went ahead and checked on the result of the electric eel upon Klea, before leaving them three.
Making sure Magus Carla had really left, Klea then turned to look at the two boys.
"Let's gather up the team."
Following the girl's words, the group of them swiftly made their way out of the institute and accessed the portal, this time towards the Combat Institute.
Together, they walked across the busy streets, before arriving at the Combat Institute's arena. As the three got closer to the arena, they could hear loud chants from the direction in front of them, gradually getting louder the more they approached.
"Thrax! Thrax! Thrax!"
In the huge arena of the Combat Institute, the trio saw their Thracian friend was currently the center of attention, as he fought against three other combat acolytes within the sand of the arena.
Spears crushed, shields bent and bones broke, causing the crowd to cheer even more frenziedly. In the end, one individual stood as the sole winner within the sands. His name was sung once again, followed by another loud cheer by the crowd.
"Thrax, the immortal gladiator!"
Emery was amazed by how wild the spectators were cheering after his friend.
On the other hand, Thrax was seen loudly shouting to the crowd upon hearing his victory announced, attracting the love and admiration of everyone witnessing.
Thrax was amazing in terms of strength, but that was not all that attracted the crowd. The way he fought fiercely and knew how to get the spectators fired up were the main reasons for his popularity.
When the fight was finally over, Chumo invited Emery and Klea to follow him. He then led them to a place. However, instead of leading them to the backstage of the arena, he brought them past towards a place a little bit further.
It was a small hill situated by the lake at the corner of the Combat Institute, one of the nice places you could find around the institution.
"Chumo, why are we here?" Emery quickly asked, confused and a little curious. After all, even though the place was undoubtedly beautiful and soothing to the eye, he did not remember having anything to do in a place like this.
In response to his question, Chumo just gave another cheeky smile and headed straight for one of the most beautiful villas in the place. Upon arriving in front of the villa he was looking for, the man casually rang the bell at the front door.
Following right behind him with a pondering look on their faces, Emery and Klea still could not quite figure out what was going on. Even so, the two continued to follow without saying anything.
A while later they saw several half-naked beauties opening the door and gesturing for them to enter the villa.
As they reached the spacious living room, their sight was immediately greeted by more beautiful ladies lying half-naked next to a long wide table full of sumptuous dishes.
At the end of the table was one half-naked man, who was none other than their gladiator friend, Thrax being served by these ladies. To say the least, both Emery and Klea were flabbergasted by the sight.
As soon as Thrax saw them enter, he immediately stood up.
"Emery you're finally back!" The Thracian enthusiastically shouted.
At the same time, Thrax quickly made a gesture with his hand to send all the half-naked ladies surrounding him away. In just a few moments, the Thracian became a good host and welcomed them to the feast.
Looking at the exotic dishes on the table, Emery instantly knew this was a luxurious feast.
It was only after the ladies went out of the room that Klea finally snapped out of her daze.
"Thrax, are you really rich now?!" The girl immediately asked with her own cheeky smile.
Hearing this, Thrax stood back up and answered with his voice full of pride,
"You are looking at Thrax, the immortal gladiator, with some many fights I won and millions of fans, yes, of course, I am rich! But don't worry, my friend, Everything that's mine is yours!"
He then heartily laughed before clapping his hands. Just a moment later, a few servants quickly came in to bring more food and wine to the table.
It seemed in the last 5 months, Thrax had been spending his time fighting an endless battle at the Combat Institute arena. Then, he quickly became a new favorite, fighting full of vigor with an undefeatable record. For that, he was being provided with the villa, servants and quite a hefty sum of money.
Upon hearing this, Emery reflexively shook his head. Even though he admitted that Thrax was strong, how could he be unbeatable? After all, Emery could clearly see that he was still only a peak rank 8 acolyte.
While they were idly chatting like that, a man suddenly came into the room, attracting their attention.
"It appears I am the last one to arrive," Theman said in a laid-back tone.
The man was no other than Julian, the person Emery had been waiting for. As soon as all eyes landed on the man, he quickly commented on Thrax's previous remarks.
"There is actually nothing to be confused about. Although it's true that our friend here is undefeated, let's just say it's only the lightweight title, everyone under rank 9." The man said with a casual smile.
This question quickly irritated Thrax.
"Huh! At least I'm doing honest work and earning my own money, unlike a certain Roman leech!" He retorted.
Just like that, the two bantered as always. Watching the two argue, he just realized something different about Julian's attire, which pleasantly surprised him.
The Roman friend was wearing a different acolyte uniform, it was grey and white just like his, a privileged acolyte class uniform.
"How did that happen?"