Arriving back in Vericia once more, s.h.i.+ro was quite shocked at how many people were in the city.

'There are still two weeks and it seems like quite a few people have already gathered. I wonder what it would be like at the actual event… h.e.l.l, can they even fit everyone?' s.h.i.+ro mused to herself as the party of three made their way into the city/

The first thing they did was go to a restaurant to get some food first.

"So what's the plan? You have two weeks to spare." Keiko asked curiously.

"If it's ok with you, I was just planning on observing for two weeks and learning about how the event is held. I also want to see how the party is functioning without my presence. Showing up without disguise would ruin this." s.h.i.+ro smiled.

"But since Yin is linked to you, wouldn't they find out?" Keiko tilted her head.

"Hmm… that is true…" s.h.i.+ro muttered since Yin would definitely feel a faint connection to her.

Narrowing her eyes, s.h.i.+ro flexed her finger and sent a barely noticeable drone to seek out Yin and bribe her to keep quiet with the promise of money and food.

"Well I have something planned for that so we're fine. But for now, why don't we go rent a room for two weeks?" s.h.i.+ro suggested.

"Sure."

After eating their fill of food, the trio left the restaurant and started to look around for an inn.

So far, due to the sudden influx of people, most of the inn's were fully booked out. Even those that wanted to expand their establishment discovered that it was quite overwhelming to have so many adventurers so they had to give up the thought of making some big money through quant.i.ty.

Instead, they opted to auction out rooms where people would bid for them at their own pace.

Since the people that arrived had some capability as they're competing to get orange grade equipment, money wasn't too much of an issue for them.

Bidding for a single large room, Keiko flicked over a large silver coin since that was more than enough.

Gesturing for the innkeeper to keep the change, the three of them started to unpack a little in the room.

"You might want to hold back on giving large silver willingly like that. We might attract unwanted attention." s.h.i.+ro chuckled.

"Hmm, I suppose." Keiko shrugged since one large silver wasn't much to her. As the leader of one of the top 5 guilds in the world, she counted money in terms of large gold and platinum coins.

"Anyways, first things first. I need to learn a bit more about the event." s.h.i.+ro smiled and pulled out a laptop. Tapping away at the keyboard, she soon found a forum board a.s.sociated with this event.

Reading through the page, she memorised it all down so that it would be easier to access when they're halfway through the fight later.

The first event was the mounted air battle.

Each contestant will be given a special type of mount and they have to race towards the goal. How one gets to the goal doesn't matter since it will be a giant battle royal at the start. The first 100 contestants to reach the finish line will be given a ticket automatically and be teleported to where the main stadium would be.

The rest of the information available was a little outdated since they're based on what happened in the previous events. Only the beginning was consistent so that was all she could rely on.

"By the way  Keiko, are you going to join us?" s.h.i.+ro asked curiously.

"Unfortunately, no. I'm too high level to actually join. I mean… if I joined, it would be quite unfair on the other contestants wouldn't it?" Keiko smiled.

"True. There are two sections for this first area. A C ranked selection and a B ranked selection. Me, Lisandra and the rest of our party will be going to the C ranked selection so there's a good chance for us to meet." s.h.i.+ro nodded her head.

"What's your plan if you meet?"

"Same as usual, tough love I suppose." s.h.i.+ro grinned.

Meanwhile, the party had just finished up with one of the dungeons and returned back to the guild.

When s.h.i.+ro left for Kyoto, the party spent everyday training in the dungeons and made sure that their level should be up to par when she returns. After all, s.h.i.+ro already had quite the advantage in terms of power against those her level never mind those lower level than her.

After the two months of rigorous training, Lyrica was proud to say that everyone had managed to reach level 100. Since the dungeon level around this place was a little low, they had also spent the time expanding outwards and finding higher level dungeons out in the world.

With the way they threw themselves in the dungeon relentlessly, anyone that saw them would think they're all suicidal but the pressure had paid off since it was just today that they've levelled up one more time to reach the limit of C cla.s.s.

"Right then, everyone should have gotten your cla.s.s up choices. Don't worry too much about which one you should pick and choose the one that most suits you. Remember, you only have one life so you need to enjoy it." Lyrica called out with a smile.

Her aura had changed to be more outgoing in the two months since she was essentially the acting party leader.

"Sure sure but we all know that we'll be picking ones that best suit the party synergy." Madison grinned and patted Lyrica's shoulder.

"Speaking of which, Yin, how does your cla.s.s up work? You're a phoenix aren't you?" She asked curiously.

"Oh me? Hmm… I'll need to break down my body once more and revert to an egg. Once I'm in that state, I'll need to fulfil certain conditions and only then would my body be reconstructed and I cla.s.s up." Yin replied.

"Heh~ I wonder if you'll grow up like how s.h.i.+ro did." Lyrica wondered since s.h.i.+ro had experienced changes to her growth and body whenever she cla.s.sed up. As Yin was still in the body that resembled a child s.h.i.+ro, she should be closer to a teen s.h.i.+ro after this cla.s.s up.

"Something like that." Yin shrugged.

Just as she replied, she felt a sudden connection fluctuate and knew that s.h.i.+ro must have returned to the city.

"I think mum's back." Yin said as everyone in the party looked over in interest."

"How can you tell?" Lyrica asked.

As many would say, absence makes the heart grow fonder. During this time, she had missed s.h.i.+ro dearly and while she is able to control her display of affection much better than before, that was only on the outside.

"Hmm… it's kinda like this. Since mum hatched me and we formed a contract of sorts, I can always feel a faint connection regardless of distance. Should she be closer to me, the stronger the connection becomes." Yin explained.

However, before she could continue, she felt a tiny object land near her ear.

"Yin darling, don't tell them I'm back yet. I'm going to disguise myself in the event and see how much they've grown. If you do good, I'll reward you with money and the biggest storage ring available full of food my cousin brought back from Tokyo." s.h.i.+ro's voice rang out.

Since it was through the nan.o.bot, only Yin could hear what s.h.i.+ro was saying and after hearing the mention of a storage ring full of food, her mouth couldn't help but water as her stomach rumbled a little.

"You sure that connection ain't just you getting hungry again?" Madison raised her eyebrows.

"*Cough* I think it might be the case." Yin replied with a slight blush. Some shame is a small price to pay for a pantry of food.

"Ah I knew it. Though I wonder when s.h.i.+ro will come back. There's only a short amount of time left till the event isn't there?" Madison shrugged since Yin had pulled this stunt a few times in order to get more food out of the party.

At this point, they were used to her shenanigans.

However, Lyrica could detect the rare trace of seriousness on Yin's face when she said that.

'Seems like s.h.i.+ro's back and she wants to observe for a bit.' Lyrica thought with a soft smile.

{Indeed. I suppose it's a perfect time to show off your mastered sword arts that you've inherited from me.} Yuan Tian chuckled.

'Indeed but I don't plan on showing it too easily. This is a huge stage, after all, doing so would just be exposing our trump cards.' Lyrica shook her head.

Since s.h.i.+ro was already back, she was going to make sure she performs well in the event while also keeping her trump cards in order to surprise s.h.i.+ro. Only then would she demonstrate how much she's improved.