GUARDIAN OF THE END

"You guys are quick…" Jason said with a surprised expression.

He was back with his friends again and looking at the place, he couldn't believe how quickly they had transformed everything.

Amber had created four beds of Earth and with help from Mila, the two girls had created a bit soft beds.

Zeke had also used his ice to create a boundary of sorts. Only Wade looked like the person who hadn't done anything.

"I thought you were going to stay with the monkeys." Amber commented while glancing at Jason's appearance. Seeing that nothing was wrong, she focused her attention back on the beds.

"I thought that too. Fortunately, stuff got over quickly and now, we won't have to worry about any beasts attacking us," Jason replied.

He explained how he had helped the monkey key with one of his problems and earned his protection in return.

Jason omitted the rest of the details since he didn't want anyone else to know about the things that had happened inside the monkey king's house.

"So your guardian allows you to talk to animals," Amber said with a surprised expression. "I wonder what mine can give me…"

"Heat resistance?" Jason guessed only to realize that Amber already had heat resistance covered due to her magma element.

"Nah, my A grade fire affinity allows me to survive the heat," Amber casually replied "I have to ask Flamey to confirm things."

"Who's Flamey?" Mila asked curiously.

"Its the nickname I gave to my guardian. His full name is a mouthful." Amber sighed.

'So Flamey didn't tell her his real name.' Jason silently guessed. If the guardian of Magmaland also had a real true name, he clearly hadn't told it to Amber.

But even if he had told her his real name, the red-head wouldn't tell it to a bunch of people she had met recently.

"Then does your guardian have a nickname as well?" Mila's eyes settled on Jason.

'Uh, should I call you Feta only?' Jason asked Hestia. Since that was the name he had been using for a long time, he didn't see the harm in calling Hestia Feta.

[ I see no problem in doing that. ] Hestia calmly replied.

"Yeah, her name is Feta." Jason responded in the real world.

Mila nodded in acknowledgment. Jason could tell that the blond-haired girl wanted to ask more questions but held back.

After all, they had known each other only for a short time and asking Jason so many questions didn't feel right to Mila.

'Maybe if we become good friends, we will share some things,' Mila thought silently.

She had never really befriended anyone in her home. Anyone who had seen her had either made fun of her or had steered out of the way.

If possible, Mila didn't want a repeat telecast of that…

"Wade, can I ask you a question?" Jason suddenly asked and looked at the brown-haired boy.

"Sure, go ahead and ask whatever you want to ask."

"Tell me what affinities you have." Jason stated.

"I have a B grade fire affinity and an A grade life affinity," Wade replied calmly. "Anything else you wanna ask?"

"No, just that. I was curious about your powers." Jason shook his head.

However, he was confused internally. He and the system had assumed that Wade had a S grade affinity with the dark element yet they turned out to be wrong.

His affinities instead lied with the life element. Even if he had the knowledge about true light and dark magic, he wouldn't have been able to use dark magic with the life element.

'We gotta investigate further to figure out how he released that aura.'

[ Agreed. ] The system was curious about Wade's powers as well.

It wanted to know how the brown-haired boy had created that aura which had defeated the students during the arena battles.

'His affinities are too low to be in the special class anyways. There must be something special about him that landed him in the Z class.' Jason pointed out.

Though Wade certainly had above average talent, it would've only landed him in the A class. To enter the Z class, he must have showcased something unique and powerful.

[ Well, you guys are going to spend quite some time together. Maybe you can figure things out that way. ]

'Maybe, maybe not.'

The group of five decided to light a campfire. Since they had nothing else to do, it served as a good distraction for them and also kept them warm.

Wade had found some firewood and Amber had simply ignited it by pointing her index finger at the wood and shooting a spark of flame.

"Its quite handy to have a fire mage during such survival things." Zeke commented even though he was sitting the farthest away.

Fire and ice didn't go well and for Zeke, the flames were his biggest weakness.

"I mean any of us can do that if we tried a bit," Jason pointed out. "All of us can use the basic elements for tier zero spells."

"Well, I can't use fire element due to my ice affinity." Zeke stated.

"And I can't use water element." Amber murmured so that only Jason could hear her. After all, he was the one sitting closest to her.

"Hmm, have you guys ever thought about the limitations of magic? Like what is the point after which we won't be able to create or experiment with magic?" Wade suddenly asked.

"Honestly, I have no idea," Jason sighed. "The only limit for me is imagination, physical restraint and mental restraint."

Since Jason had thought of the same thing himself, he already had the answer imprinted inside his mind.

The others fell deep in thought but none of them were able to come up with a precise answer. They all agreed that Jason's answer was the most suitable answer.

"Maybe we should eat food pills now." Zeke suggested.

All eyes turned towards Amber who took out five pills had passed them around. She also took shifted the remaining food pills to Jason.

Once that was done, the children swallowed the pill.

'Huh?' Jason suddenly felt the taste of his grandma's homecooked food entering his mouth.

He chewed on the pill and the taste exploded inside his mouth. Looking at the others, Jason realized that they were experiencing the same confusion.

"I never knew food pills tasted like the thing you love eating the most," Wade muttered with a surprised expression.

The others shared the same expression as they swallowed the food. Suddenly, they felt as though their stomachs were full and a wave of drowsiness hit their body.

The food pill had an unknown side effect which made its eater's body relax. Due to this, all the stuff that the children had done took over their body.

"I think I am going to sleep…" Zeke was the first to yawn.

He summoned a bed made from ice and soon retired for the day. Mila soon followed him and settled on one of the bed. Wade followed her a few seconds later before leaving behind only Amber and Jason.

The two felt tired as well but due to their guardians, they could endure more things than the others.

"Jason, what do you want to do once you grow up?" Amber randomly asked. "Will you become an adventurer and roam the world?"

"I don't know. Adventurer seems fun until you realize how messed up their lives can be." Jason replied with a sigh.

"That's true as well. My grandpa died protecting a city from a high level dungeon outbreak…" Amber muttered.

A silence settled over the two of them. The only sound present was the flickering of flames and the low sound of the wind blowing.

"Jason, you upheld our promise." Amber suddenly said, her lips curling up into a smile.

Jason blinked in surprised before remembering the promise they had made while leaving the capital. The silver-haired boy smiled back before rubbing his eyes.

"Maybe we should sleep now," he suggested.

"Good idea. Though I don't get to see this starry sky from home so its fun to sleep here," Amber said while looking up at the sky.

The stars indeed looked beautiful from their area in the forest. However, Jason could get an even clearer view from Duphia.

"But I guess its better to sleep now." Amber replied before dimming the flames such that they provided the same warmth yet decreased the amount of light.

She went to sleep on the bed and moments after lying down, she was fast asleep.

Jason followed her example and sat on his head. He slowly lowered his body on the earthen bed, his eyes wide awake.

'System, can you make sure that no beast or anything else comes close to us?'

[ Sure, its my job. ]

'I see.' Jason replied and closed his eyes to rest.

Unknown to him, the purple pen present inside his dream world was faintly glowing. For the first time, its holder had upheld a promise…