Aiden raised an eyebrow, holding up his ring. "We could just ask," he pointed out, as if the whole intense fight had made them momentarily forget the communication tool. He smirked, "And Freya's still out there."
Rey looked down, noticing his ring glowing, a series of persistent pulses flashing from numerous missed messages. "Right... Freya," he muttered, seeing a backlog of notifications. As he scrolled through, he chuckled. "Speak of the devil. She's been spamming us nonstop."
The messages were a mix of frantic inquiries and exclamations:
-Freya- "Are you okay?"
-Freya- "Is everything under control?"
-Freya- "Why isn't anyone answering?"
-Freya- "Did someone get hurt?!"
-Freya- "What's going on over there??"
-Freya- "Are you ignoring me?"
-Freya- "Please say something."
Rey pressed the ring, finally replying.
-Rey- "Hey Freya, how's it going?"
There was a pause, and then her voice came through, sharp with annoyance.
-Freya- "You're replying now? You just left me here, Rey!"
Rey winced, sensing her irritation even through the ring.
-Rey- "Come on, I couldn't afford to put you in any more danger."
-Freya- "Oh, that's not fair!" she shot back, clearly frustrated. "You're treating me like some baby."
A few feet away, Finn elbowed Aiden, laughing quietly. "If they've got time for chitchat, I'd say things must be looking good on her end too."
Aiden chuckled, "Yeah right, just go over there and collapse already."
Finn gave a sly grin. "Care to make a little wager?"
Rey, meanwhile, tried his best to soothe Freya's frustration.
-Rey-"Just bear with it a little longer. How are things on your end?"
There was a pause, then Freya's voice sounded with an unexpected note of relief.
-Freya- "Actually, we're doing great. They just... retreated. Out of nowhere. No idea why, though."
[[1:17]]
Just then, another notification popped up.
[[Congratulations, you have picked A]]
[[A. Stay here. You will receive a special technique.]]
[[Reward Loading...]]
"Oh, I get the reward immediately? Cool." Jett chuckled to himself. 'Please, don't be some boring text I have to memorize,' he thought, crossing his fingers.
[[Reward: Twin Cultivation Technique. Train two sources of power simultaneously.]]
His eyes widened with excitement. "For real? I could use that to quickly level up my Mana and Aura. Better still, I could train Lumix alongside any of the others... Hehe..." He couldn't contain his grin as the possibilities unfolded in his mind.
The system then prompted him.
[[Pick two.]]
[[A. Aura]]
[[B. Lumix]]
[[C. Mana]]
"I'll just choose Lumix first," he muttered, pressing it eagerly. But his excitement was cut short when an error message popped up.
[[Error...]]
[[Not an option.]]
Jett's face twisted in frustration. "Then why put it there?!" He glared at the notification, half-expecting an answer.
A new notification blinked on the screen.
[乁 ̆ o ̆ ㄏ]
Jett's jaw dropped, feeling completely thrown off. 'Did it just... shrug at me?'
*
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Wild