Gunther and Tia accepted William's offer to meet at Wild Clover in an hour. Following their conversation, William proceeded to approach the others.
When Yuming heard William's voice, he was both startled and touched. He never expected William to think of him as a friend, since the only time they had spent together was while Will was helping at the Alchemy Hall Competition.
Truth be told, William felt closer to Yuming than he did many of the others. While he hadn't known Yuming for very long, they spent many hours together for an entire week. Those moments didn't count for nothing, and the two had learned quite a bit about each other.
Will was sad that Charlotte wasn't in the Sect, but he returned to the Wild Clover at the planned time regardless. The others were already waiting, with Carl, Tia, and Gunther in one part of the line and Yuming in another.
Yuming knew William, but he didn't know the rest of the group. Other than hearing about their feats during missions outside the Sect, Yuming knew nothing of these Outer Core Disciples, especially Filipe who he didn't even recognize.
William walked up to the group, but none of them recognized him. His oval-shaped face was very different from the previous look, and even his hair had slightly changed from black to a light brown. His unique facial features made William look very plain, like any random Disciple you'd pass on the street.
"It's me." William said in his natural voice, temporarily surprising the group although they mostly expected this.
Yuming laughed upon seeing William's new appearance, "Man you're ugly! What happened to you?"
William's face contorted, "This isn't the real me, shut up!"
The group chatted for a while about non-serious matters for a while until they were finally seated at the restaurant. The area was packed with people today, most of whom felt the same thing William did when he first ate there.
Not only was the food tasty, but many of the Players that discovered Wild Clover found that it provided many powerful stat boosts that could help them during their next missions. While the effects were temporary, their speed of clearing missions increased greatly.
Because of the sudden influx of people, Wild Clover ended up increasing the prices of its Spirit Food, while also requesting that others make a reservation before coming into the restaurant.
William and the others were presently in the line of people who had made a reservation, which attested to how many Cultivators were inside. He was thankful that the others knew about the situation in Wild Clover and had made a reservation in his place before-hand.
***
"So, you're saying you want us to come with you?" Yuming asked from the other side of the table while chewing on a mouthful of Forest Pig meat.
William nodded, "I hope you will accept. I have a feeling that something bad is about to happen, and the Sect won't protect you. Do you know why I disappeared for multiple days after the contest against Yu Ren?"
"Yu Ren?" Tia whispered to Gunther.
"The girl that William fought against who's from the Yu Royal Family. She's super powerful and has tons of treasures. I swear Ti, you're so bad with names..." Gunther replied.
"Oh..." Tia looked at William, "Why?"
"Because..." William leaned in close to the others at the table and controlled his voice very precisely with the Sound Element, "the Sect Master turned me into a slave."
The entire table's eyes widened with shock. Filipe had heard rumors of people becoming enslaved in the Sect, but he thought they were just that. Hearing it directly from William, however, was a different story.
William pulled back the neckline of his robe to reveal his bare shoulder, where an imprint of the Enslavement Array was still present. This wound had already healed long ago, but William recreated it on his skin to show the group what it looked like.
"If this means what I think it means, then we might be in trouble after all." Yuming said.
"Why's that?" William asked. He felt that Yuming knew something he didnt.
"When a Sect is associated with Forbidden Arrays or outlawed Magic Spells, the Pillars of Justice usually come in and "clean up" the Sect. In this case, we might be caught in the crossfire."
William nodded his head in understanding, "Does that mean you'll come with me?"