A woman with long flowing blond hair, fair skin, and piercing blue eyes approaches our table. The status readings I'm getting from the woman say without a shadow of a doubt, it's the same person I met in the arena.

The Advanced Ice Magic, Red Hydra's Buff, and unforgettable blue eyes seal the deal.

However, the altered facial features, slight body type changes, and item on her hand that shows up with my Appraisal skill, but isn't present on her status labeled [Ring of Total Alteration] seems to be just like the ring of concealment I use to wear a suit. However, hers changes her facial features.

The moment she comes over to the table she waves at every one of us and smiles wide. The way she carries herself shifts from stiff and serious to overly bubbly. I open up my telepathic link with her, and she immediately answers.

"Play along. I need a believable excuse to have actually met you in case I was tailed."

The corner of my lip curls up as I realize it's all an act.

She speaks out loud to all of us, but fixes her drunken gaze on me.

"Fellow Legacy fighters, care if I take a seat to celebrate our Victory?"

Max's eyes widen as Maria slides into the red booth right next to me without waiting for an answer.

He lets out a laugh, looking at me, then back to her.

"The Ice Empress? It's you?"

He chomps down on his bite and washes it down with another gulp of his drink.

"What are the odds?"

Sia interjects in a low tone.

"It must be, Elen wouldn't have let anyone else near our table. Her or Monk, and I doubt this is what that brute looks like out of the ring."

Ace smirks at Sia's joke and is the only one who replies to Maria's question.

"Sure, join us. We're almost done here anyway, but a fellow strong fighter is always welcome."

He leans in over the table to grab another bottle.

I shrug and turn to Maria.

"Fine by me-"

Before I can finish my sentence, I get a tight hug from Maria and a loud voice echoes through our link.

"Good to see you're doing well. I knew you'd make it out of there alive."

I squeeze her back and she speaks outloud to please those watching.

"The Flame Emperor, your performance was amazing! I've been looking all over for you!"

I let out a chuckle but reply inwardly through our link.

"Happy to see you safe and sound too."

Then, give a response outloud.

"Nice to meet you too... Your fight was impressive."

We stay embraced for a bit longer than strangers should, but the drunken act that Maria plays off is impeccable.

She continues letting out a bubbly laugh, and details a backstory of how she saw The Flame Emperor on her wristband while visiting town from Solara and how she needed a last-minute name to see if that 7th stage was as hard as the rumors made it. These tales are followed by another few rounds of shots, and it's more tha enough to dissuade the other legacy Fighters from digging too deep into the situation.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Apparently new strong fighters come through town pretty often. In their intoxicated state, Maria's story seems like a plausible scenario.

Before another hour passes, the midnight tax dings in all our ears, deducting 1 gold credit from our wallets.

The rate of drinks earlier has made the 3 legacy fighters much drowsier than when we first came in here, and less than 30 more minutes after midnight pass before talks of hitting the hay to rest up for tomorrow's fights come up.

Each of them leaves to their respective rooms, one by one, Ace being the last to go with a final shot and a salute before both Maria and I let out long sighs and I pull up my wristwatch window to find the premium feature called [Ping the Host].

I press it and speak out loud to Maria.

"Now that we're alone, let's get a room for the night."

She nods, and before she can even reply, the outline of the restaurant owner approaches our table from the darkness.

I turn to her and ask for the most secure silent room she has available.

"I remember you told me you could make it seem like we're not even here."

Elen nods and taps her wristband with a thin smile, a few moments later a ding pops up on mine, asking for 5 additional gold. Next to it is labeled [Secure Room + Excess Mana Usage].

I roll my eyes, silently cursing my new perk's ability to drain thousands of MP while concealing it with shielding; but accept. We both follow the woman from our table up to the rooms where I stayed last night.

She brings us upstairs, and Maria puts on quite the act with wobbly steps and giggles all the way to the end of the hall upstairs before two sets of mana-shielding imbued doors open up to show a premium suite.

There's a living area with fancy furniture, then a master bedroom with a single massive bed connected to the main area without any door.

There isn't a single window in sight, but there are holograms projecting a city view onto the walls to make it feel real.

She turns away and speaks while leaving.

"Enjoy your stay."

Maria and I walk in and the mana-imbued doors close behind us.

I activate my Hush skill to make a precautionary layer of security, then scan the room to double-check for recording devices or extra pockets of energy and find it's completely empty, I deactivate all my skills except the hush bubble and fall right onto the comfortable couch in the center of the living room.

My real face is revealed and the monstrous aura from my intimidation skill is let out.

Maria does a similar thing, sitting back on the couch beside me and taking off her ring.

I let out a sigh and look up to finally see her real face, she looks even older and more mature. It's a similar change to the one time she took that upgrade crystal. I blurt out my thoughts.

"You've changed... a lot."

She chuckles, curiously looking at my face. Her eyes track all around my body before replying in a bubbly drunken fashion.

"You've changed quite a bit too."

Her smile is a bit too wide, and her gaze seems to be going right through me, then I realize her drunken state might not actually be an act anymore.

I sit up straight and look her in the eyes, concentrating on one of my buffs I haven't gotten the chance to test out yet.

The moment I think of [Rising Emperor's Domain] a blue text box appears above Maria's head only available in my mind's eye. Asking [YES] or [NO] if I'd like to activate my buff.

I can sense the range has grown quite a bit since I last thought of this buff, it's almost 20 meters in diameter. It encompasses most of the restaurant. Enough for close-range combat, or in this case, using it on someone in the same room or general vicinity.

I choose yes, and a list of all of my skills appear.

I choose [Self Regeneration][Special Grade] and the moment I do Maria's eyes widen.

Excitement fills me for a moment too, as this is a sign it's working. I speak up.

"Accept it if you want to have a much clearer head. We have a lot more to talk about than just how good each of us looks."

The moment she accepts it, I can see the gloss clear from her eyes and her posture straightens more, but her cheerful attitude stays exactly the same. The passive poison resistance nullifies her drinks for the night.

"W-What kind of skill is that...?"

"It's my ranked-up buff. I haven't been able to use it much yet because we've all been separated. It lets me share my skills with anyone that trusts me and acknowledges they're on my team. Looks like it worked on you without having to ask."

Maria opens up her status and turns it to me.

"It's there! A new skill, I didn't even know that was possible, it's really there! How many more could I add? Is it unlimited? Is it only temporary? Are there other conditions?"

I let out a laugh, also excited to see the [Self Regeneration][Special Grade] skill show up on her status.

"I haven't tested it much yet. It is temporary though. We'll need to try some things out once we get the chance. However... there are some more urgent details I'd like to ask you..."

There's a pause and silence in the room.

I continue.

"Like how we got here in the first place...? From the Battle in Solara to here and now, I need a full explanation."