75 75 - Surprise

Noah knew very well what he was talking about. "Yes, we were definitely not lucky. But believe in your potential Jasper! I suppose our group is already much better than the average groups made up of Blessed Rank D. You even told me that before I joined the group you just hadn't gone up to Rank D because you felt something was missing, and that with me in the group that 'something' was finally complete. I think we really have a good chance."

Thinking about what Noah said, Jasper blew out a breath and had to agree. "That's true. At least going to explore the unknown turns me on a lot! I feel like a new Blessed once again, going to a Fortress for the first time."

The two had built up a good friendship in the past several weeks. It wasn't to the point that they went out to have fun together after the Fortresses yet, but they weren't that far from that point.

What they were talking about now was about the Fortress they were going to invade. Even though this was the first time they were going to invade a Rank D Fortress, they were still unlucky enough to be selected to invade an unknown Fortress. So they had no way to prepare: neither when it came to clothes since they did not know the climate of that place, nor when it came to special things like chemical heating bags to keep from freezing in a Fortress where the temperature might be very low.

They basically didn't know where they were going; they just had to depend on their luck. The number of unknown Fortresses that Noah had already invaded was not high, since in Rank F there were not many of this type because of the large number of Blessed in this ranking. But this was not something that made him scared to death either; he was confident that at least he would be able to survive with his own Blessing, even if he was unable to kill all the monsters in the Fortress and complete the mission.

The rest of the team was also a little apprehensive, but nothing more. They trusted each other and were sure that no matter how bad it was, it wouldn't be a calamity that could kill everyone inside, not when they had such high synergy.

Noah and Jasper were talking the entire way until they reached the portal. Unlike Rank E portals, portals starting from Rank D had some particles in different colors that spread beyond the purple plasma normally seen in lower rank portals.

The group had a short briefing on what their strategy would be inside the Fortress, until Noah waited for Marcel to finish speaking before making a suggestion. "Excuse me, guys. I believe that continuing as I did in the other Fortresses while we are going to invade an unknown Rank D Fortress is not the best choice."

Marcel looked at Noah and before Noah started to explain what he was going to say, he looked at Jasper and saw the look that Jasper was giving him and had a bad feeling. Exactly for the reason that Marel was worrying, Noah explained to the group that were still confused, "I believe it will not be productive if I remain the main magician."

This surprised the group quite a lot. The lightning magician of the group was the first to question Noah, since from the first Fortress they invaded together he came to see Noah as a true example of what a magician should be like, who, despite being very young, did not show the negative characteristics that a young man might have that often prevented a magician from showing the greatest potential in the task. "What do you mean by that? I think it's already pretty obvious to the group that none of the magicians are better than you in that position. I disagree with your decision."

Noah imagined this would happen, and he explained it straight away. "Actually, being a magician is my secondary occupation. I am a better assassin than a magician."

Hearing Noah say that, everyone turned to Jasper and saw the winning smile he had on his face, as if saying to everyone who looked at him, 'I told you so.'

Marcel did not want to admit defeat to Jasper after seeing the smug expression on his face and questioned Noah. "You are already an extremely powerful wizard. What makes you a better assassin than a wizard?"

Noah was going to demonstrate to them by teleporting away instantly, but before he could even do that, Jasper grabbed Noah's shoulder and prevented him from doing so before saying, "Now, all of you didn't believe me, did you? Please Noah, don't demonstrate it for them until we're inside the Fortress. I want to see the looks of astonishment they will have when they see what you can do."

Hearing what Jasper said, Marcel said in a stern tone. "Jasper, we are breaking into an unknown Rank D Fortress. We are already taking more risks than we should. Are you sure that your request for him will not put us all in more danger still?"

If it was a common Fortress, Marcel wouldn't have minded Jasper's antics, but since it was a Rank D Fortress that they had no prior information about, he was concerned about the safety of the group. Jasper realized this, but remembering how powerful Noah's Blessing was, he thought it wasn't such a big risk; he just needed to ask Noah to be the first to attack the monsters when the group entered. "Don't worry Marcel. I trust Noah and you can be sure that I wouldn't ask him to do this if it was going to put the lives of my friends and colleagues at risk."

Noticing Jasper's confidence, Marcel understood and trusted what he was saying. They had known each other long enough to understand each other's personalities; if Jasper said that much, it was because it really was true. "Okay, then I can't wait to be surprised," Marcel said with a smile as he alternated his gaze between Noah and Jasper and thought, 'What are these two up to now?'

The rest of the group had been a little unhappy about not discovering what secret Jasper was trying to hide, but they controlled themselves, leaving behind only their great curiosity of knowing what Noah could do to make Jasper so excited and mysterious. Jasper was well known in the group as not being able to keep secrets, so seeing him doing so made the curiosity of the rest of the people start to overflow, trying to guess what Noah could do.

Noah was a little lost. He didn't believe Jasper would ask for that. He just wanted to show how he teleported for the group to understand what he could do and make a strategy based on it. But when he remembered that they still didn't even know what the monsters inside the Fortress were like, they could leave that part of deciding what the strategy would be until after they saw what the monsters could do and how they were. After all, putting together a strategy on how to deal with land monsters for a Fortress that might have aerial monsters is not the smartest idea anyone could have.

But seeing how excited Jasper was, Noah decided to wait and join in the game together with his friend. If Jasper was going to have fun with this, there was no reason why Noah wouldn't participate.

Thus, the group crossed the portal of a Rank D Fortress for the first time with apprehension, caution, and anticipation to know what kind of challenges would await them on the other side of that portal, along with wondering what that surprise was that Jasper was trying to show.

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