Chapter 78 - Recruits

There's a total of 9 newly contracted Awakened by the Association including Cyril. The number is quite low but after hearing that it is only from the four surrounding cities, Cyril thought that it sounded reasonable.

Anyway, the Awakened Association isn't really a good option right now since many large guilds would have better offers. So it's still normal that there aren't many new Awakened joining them yet.

Cyril found an empty seat on the rounded table and took it.

Aside from the nine new Awakened and Valerie, three more extraordinary men are emitting a powerful aura within the room.

'I can't recognize any of them…' Cyril furrowed his brows after realizing that none of these people seems familiar to him at all.

In the previous timeline, he only managed to join the association after the Vampire Outbreak a few years from now… It means that these people had either died on the outbreak or were killed during their exploration.

"Valerie, are we complete?" One of the middle-aged men asks in a calm tone.

He has an impressive curly mustache and a black hat which is something really recognizable. If Cyril met this person in the other timeline, there was no way he would forget about him.

"Sir Freymann, I was told that Miss Vanessa would join us today after learning that we only managed to invite nine people. Since the Arcane World that we'll use can accommodate 20 people, she decided to join and observe our exploration today." Valerie answered with a smile.

Then, Cyril noticed that the eight other Awakened were surprised hinting that they have only heard about this today.

"Vanessa? Is she one of the Strauss Family?" One of the young men wearing an expensive suit asked. It wasn't a polite or curious question as it sounded like she's interrogating Valerie.

He has fair skin and blond hair that was combed neatly. Aside from that, he has luggage placed beside his chair and it seems to be quite heavy.

If Cyril would guess, this luggage contains the man's armor and weapons for his exploration later.

"There's only one Vanessa who could join us anyway… Isn't that obvious that she's from Strauss?"

A young lady answered before Valerie could even speak. This young lady has an arrogant look as she glanced at the young man who just asked. She also has blonde hair and green eyes like the man and looking at it closely, they might actually be a sibling or even a twin!

From the nine new Awakened, seven of them are males and there are only two females.

"Eron, Evalia… both of you are right. She's indeed Vanessa Strauss… Be mindful of your manners once she entered. She's just dealing with something and will visit us here in five or so minutes." Valerie said with a faint smile. It seems that she was also not bothered by Eron's tone of voice.

'It seems that these siblings weren't simple as well.' Cyril mused as he guessed that they are from an influential family that is hard to offend or they are just a higher-ranked Awakened.

Cyril was curious about their decision of joining them here since he noticed that their accessories from head to toe are all branded. Their wristwatch, jewelry, dress, coat, and even their shoes would probably exceed a few million Ains.

If that was the case, it seems that it would be quite difficult for the Association to lure them into joining their organization. Well, unless their parents or elders in the family are actually part of the Awakened Association.

Clap!

"Very well… Since it's just her we're missing. It should be alright to start… I'm Axel Holst, you can say that I'll be the leader in this Arcane Exploration."

The man beside the strict-looking Freymann spoke getting everyone's attention. Axel is another middle-aged man and wears a sunglass though it doesn't seem to be too bright within the room.

'It must be an Artifact or something…' Cyril made a guess.

Everyone remained silent and allowed him to continue.

"This is Freymann Jensen, a C-Rank like me, and this other guy is Allan Mork our B-Rank Awakened… The three of us would be there in the Arcane World and we will do our best to save you in case your life is in danger. However, since there are only three of us here, you have to do your best to hold on until we reached you."

Thud!

As soon as Axel finished speaking, Allan Mork, who seemed to be an amiable-looking man with his casual clothes, brought out a stash containing a few crystals.

Cyril nodded seeing the familiar item. This is one of the perks of being in the Awakened Association. They have a super wide range of magic items that can be used.

"These pink crystals would be your marker and your communication crystal as well… If you pour your aura and spoke with your voice, it will be transmitted to our red crystals… Again, you are not allowed to use these crystals if it's not an emergency. Understand?"

Axel then looked at the nine.

"Yes!"

"Yes… But, can we purchase these crystals here as well? I've never seen this item being sold in the Marketplace online…"

"That's right… I've also been to many auctions, I didn't know that we have some kind of radio that can be used in an Arcane World."

A couple of them asked. Of course, it wasn't Cyril who asked.

For this question, Axel actually looked at Valerie behind, who was currently recording the minutes of the meeting.

"Well… This communication crystal is developed by the experts working in the Research Department. We only have a few of them at the moment so selling them outside is a bit too soon. However, once we managed to have enough supplies and miners, we will be considering these tools to be sold in various guilds as well." Valerie answered with a smile.

Then, they continued discussing the things they have to do inside the Arcane World.

Apparently, the Arcane World they'll be exploring was filled with Metal Wolves, Spriggans, and Hobgoblins… Their mission is to find the treasures hidden in various places and take them to their base.

What's even more interesting about this is that the treasures that they'll find would be owned by them!

It would not be split apart and the Association wouldn't ask something from them as well!

Too generous!