<h4>Chapter 131 Just One Candy... </h4>


    The day of the raid, 8:45 AM.


    Rio left his room 15 minutes before the scheduled time. He closed the door of his room and nced at the nearby room''s door.


    The door of the room opened, and Lia walked out of the room, dragging the sleepy Riya with her.


    "Uuuuunnnngg~ let me sleep five more minutes~" (Riya)


    "No, we will bete if you don''t get up now… ah, you are also here, Rio, let''s go together then!" (Lia)


    As Lia scolded Riya with a concerned look on her cute face, she noticed Rio standing nearby and asked him to join them too.


    *Bang*


    The door of Link''s Room burst open with a loud sound. (He identally put so much strength into opening the door that it broke off the frame and fell on the floor…)


    "Ugh, why are these doors so fragile!? Even the academy dorms have better doors than this!" (Link)


    ''Herees the headache…'' (Rio)


    Rio shook his head at Link shouting in such a loud voice. Obviously, Link didn''t learn a thing from yesterday''s p either.


    Suddenly, Link nced at the trio, and a wide smile appeared on his handsome face.


    "Oh, good morning, all of you!" (Link)


    Link walked towards the trio, and just when he was close enough, he directly punched Rio in the face.


    Rio had already anticipated this to happen, so he immediately dodged the attack by simply tilting his head slightly. The power from that punch caused the air pressure to increase, and a small shockwave spread around the corridor.


    The ss windows at the end of the corridor had their sses broken from that shockwave.


    Riya and Lia both were startled by this sudden turn of events. Lia covered Riya behind her to protect her from the shockwave.


    "W-what!? What are you doing Link!?" (Riya)


    Hearing Riya''s startled voice, Link retracted his hand back and smiled with a satisfied smile on his face.


    "Oh, nothing, it''s just our way of greeting each other! Haha… but man! I thought I wouldnd the punch this time! I guess not! Hahaha" (Link)


    Rio just shook his head at Link''s remarks. This is not the first time Link has done such bizarre things, but Link couldn''tnd a single attack on Rio, so he didn''t care.


    ''It''s not like he would stop his bizarre ways of greeting others, even if I ask him to stop anyway, sigh~'' (Rio)


    ''How did I end up in this mess… sigh~'' (Rio)


    Rio nced at Lia, who was looking at Link with anger on her cute face, and said:


    "Ignore him, he''s just doing it for attention… Hey candy girl, don''t talk to Link today for his rudeness…. Here, I will give a candy in return…" (Rio)


    Hearing Rio, Riya nced at Link and then at the candy. In the end, she epted the candy with a reluctant look on her face. A determined expression appeared on her face, and she nodded her head at Rio.


    "Okay! Deal!" (Riya)


    Link looked at this with a bewildered look on his face.


    "W-what!? How can you do that to me!!!?" (Link)


    Riya pouted her cheeks and looked away from Link. She had taken themission, so she couldn''t go against it now. Riya unwrapped the candy and tossed it in her mouth while avoiding the bewildered look on Link''s face.


    Seeing that Riya was really ignoring him, Link red at Rio with bloodshot eyes.


    "Y-you!" (Link)


    Rio''s ultimate technique to make Link jealous and angry worked extremely well. With just a single candy, he made Link feel guilty for his actions.


    (Rio is Link''s friend; that''s why Riya epted that candy from him without any caution. If it was someone else offering her candy, she would not agree.)


    (Her sister has taught her not to take candies from strangers. So you guys should also follow her example and not take candies from strangers, even if it''s a beautiful girl who is giving it to you, okay!?)


    While Link red at Rio, Rio just shrugged his shoulders like nothing happened at all. Ignoring Link''s intense gaze, Rio brought out another candy and gave it to Lia.


    "Hmph, why not give it to Riya too!" (Lia)


    Lia also red at Rio with fierce eyes. She pouted her cheeks and refused to take the candy from Rio''s hand.


    "Well, okay then…" (Rio)


    Rio shrugged his shoulders. Seeing that Rio really was going to give the other candy to Riya too, Lia hurriedly snatched the candy from his hand. She unwrapped it and stuffed it in her mouth.


    "It''s mine!" (Lia)


    Lia red at Rio after stuffing the candy in her mouth. A slight smile appeared on Rio''s expressionless face; he stretched out his hand and patted Lia on the head in satisfaction.


    "Yeah, yeah, it''s yours~…." (Rio)


    Lia''s face turned bright red from Rio''s teasing voice, but she didn''t stop him from petting her.


    "T-this!!" (Link)


    Meanwhile, Link looked at all this with bloodshot eyes; he felt like he was being treated like a third wheel. Link''s face twisted in anger, and several veins appeared on his forehead.


    Rio nced at Link, whose anger was crossing the limit, and a smug look appeared on his face.


    Looking at that smug look, Link''s face twisted in anger further.


    ''Ugh, I want to punch a hole through this guy''s face! Ugh, but then again, he would just dodge it too!!!'' (Link)


    Just when Link was in a great dilemma, a cold voice resounded throughout the corridor.


    "Don''t waste time on ideal chit-chat… hurry up!" (Raji)


    Hearing that voice, all four of them became serious and stopped ying around. Although Raji was not present here and only her voice was heard, they didn''t dare waste any more time and walked towards the dungeon gate in a hurry.


    ...


    Hotel Devalya, Car Parking area, abandoned basement.


    The group of four passed through a long and dark corridor and arrived at the basement area. Arge hall appeared in their view.


    "Ah, you are here, everyone, wee!" (Hotel owner)


    The hotel owner and several staff members were already standing nearby in therge hall. The staff members greeted Rio''s group with a smile on their faces and weed them warmly.


    Rio and others nced at the huge dungeon gate in the middle of the hall, and sure enough, Raji was standing near the gate with a cold look on her face.


    The four nodded at the staff and approached Raji. Raji nodded her head as a simple greeting to them, then she nced at the staff members and said with a frown on her face.


    "You guys leave this ce; the mana density around an A-rank gate is very high. If you stay here more than ten minutes, you all will end up fainting or, worse, you will fall into aa…" (Raji)


    The staff members felt relieved after hearing Raji.


    It wasmon knowledge that ordinary people couldn''t withstand high mana density areas, but they had to get permission to leave from Raji; they didn''t dare leave without her permission.


    The hotel owner nodded his head at Raji and left with the other staff members hurriedly. If not for the fact that he had to show enough courtesy and show Raji to the basement in person, he wouldn''t have even dared toe here in the first ce.


    Although he knew that Raji could find the gate easily, he still had to make sure not to neglect his duty. He dared not offend an SS-ranker who had a short-tempered personality.


    After the staff members left, Raji nced at the four of them and said:


    "Hmm, it seems the others are going to take some time to arrive…" (Raji)


    Raji nced at the gate and said in a reassuring tone:


    "Although this might be the first time you guys are going to raid an A-rank gate, don''t put too much pressure on yourselves…" (Raji)


    "With your talent, you just have to be a little bit careful, and you can definitely pass this test easily…" (Raji)


    "Keep in mind that you have to defeat the boss monster of the dungeon in 7 days of time… don''t get entangled in meaningless fights and try to maintain a steady pace…" (Raji)


    Raji nced at Riya, who was nibbling on candies, and shook:


    "Also, don''t worry about any external threats; I will be keeping an eye out for you guys. Andstly, make sure to keep the healer safe; a healer is the most important asset for a party…" (Raji)


    "Understood!" (The four replied in unison.)


    Seeing their enthusiasm, Raji just shook her head and stopped worrying about it.


    ''They have grown up now; they have the strength to hold their ce in this cruel world now…'' (Raji)


    ...


    ...


    Author''s Notes.


    Yo! It''s your beloved author here! I have opened my Discord server, guys, for any possible suggestion you have for the author; you can tell me there. The link is in the novel description.


    Question of the day.


    Do you guys also have a shrewd friend like Rio?


    1. Yes


    2. No


    3. Others (Tell me in thements.)


    By the way, don''t forget to use those power stones and also leave a review if you like the story. Comment your opinion about the chapter. Your support is my motivation.