Insufficient balance

  Early in the morning, I packed my bags and came to Mr. Wen's house to bid him farewell. Mr. Wen handed me a letter and said: "This is for that old guy Lauren, be careful on your way, whether you complete the task or not, come back early, don't have to come here again. You've been out for so long, your family must miss you too, remember to pay attention to safety."

  My eyes grew hot as I thought of the various things that had happened in recent days, and I couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness. I grasped Teacher Wen's hand and said, "Teacher Wen, I'll definitely come visit you again in the future. Take care of your health, I'm leaving." Teacher Wen gave me a mysterious smile, but didn't say anything else.

  I didn't see them on winter days, forget it, I won't wait for them anymore. I put everything into the dimensional bag and left this place that I had been reluctant to part with for almost a year, wearing the same outfit as when I arrived.

  As I walked, memories of my friends here flooded my mind, and I couldn't help but feel a pang of melancholy. I shook my head, telling myself not to think about it, everyone has their own path, and gatherings are followed by separations, we'll meet again in the future. Hmm, what's that familiar sign up ahead? As I drew closer, I saw it was the Mercenary Guild, and I couldn't help but chuckle wryly at the memory of my first mission, which I wasn't sure was a success or failure. Ah, right, I've been here for so long, but I haven't looked for Long Meng because I've been too busy, and I completely forgot about him - how rude of me! Let's go in and try our luck, if we meet, it's fate.

  As I walked into the Mercenary Guild, I noticed that it was much larger than the one I visited last time. It seems that the size of a city also affects many industries. I looked around and couldn't believe my luck - in the midst of the bustling crowd, I spotted that tall, familiar figure at once.

  I shouted loudly: "Long Meng."

  That tall figure shook slightly, turned around, saw me, and exclaimed in surprise: "Chang Gong, it's you! You've finally arrived. Where have you been for so long? I thought those bandits had gotten to you!" As he spoke, he rushed over and tightly grasped my arms.

  I let out a soft sigh, pretending to be very regretful, and said: "It's not that I didn't want to come, it's just that I've been busy all along, so I'm only coming now. Sorry about that."

  Long Meng smiled warmly and said, "It's nothing, as long as you're here, that's all that matters. I've completed a lot of tasks these days and have already become a D-level mercenary. What do you want to do now? Let's find a place to grab a drink."

  "No, I came mainly to say hello to you. I have a task assigned by the teacher that I need to complete. If I don't go now, it'll be too late. Maybe next time."

  Long Meng was getting anxious, and said loudly: "No way, we've finally met, how can you leave so soon? I want to go with you. You're the person I admire most in my life, from now on I don't want to leave your side again." Isn't that right? Am I not a big girl, do I have such great appeal?

  I thought for a moment, then pulled him to the corner aside, his voice was too loud, I didn't want to be the target of public criticism. I whispered to him: "Long Meng, you should also know that there is a gap in strength between us now, if I take you this time, it won't help and may even put you in great danger."

  "I'm not afraid of danger, take me with you. Please, I'll do whatever you say." What a sentimental person, what can be done about this? Alright, there's a way, I smiled slyly and said to him: "How about this, I'll introduce you to a famous master, you can learn martial skills from him, once you've achieved something, we can go out and gain experience together."

  Long Meng was somewhat perplexed, "A renowned teacher? That's okay, I've always wanted to find a master, but the ones with poor skills are not worthy of my admiration, and the skilled masters don't think highly of me. Are there really any good teachers out there?"

  I didn't answer him, borrowed a pen and paper from the counter, wrote a letter, handed it to him, and said: "You take this, go to the Knights College to find Dean Rico Wen, give him the letter, he will arrange for you. If the gatekeeper doesn't let you in, just mention my name."

  Long Meng took the letter and muttered to himself, "The Knights Academy, that's my dream martial arts paradise, is it really possible? Thank you so much Long Gong, when will you come find me."

  This has got me stumped, I don't even know when I'll be back here again. I hesitated for a moment and said: "I'll come find you in three years, you must study hard." Anyway, it's not bad to come see Teacher Wen then, haha. Who knew that three years later, I returned here but had gone through countless hardships.

  Yi Yi bid farewell to Long Meng, and I walked towards the city gate.

  I was walking with my head down, when suddenly I felt a strong aura blocking my way. I retreated several steps back cautiously and looked up, which left me in great astonishment.

  A row of familiar figures stood in front of me, not one missing - Shu, Dongri, Xingao and Gaode. It seemed they had come to see me off. "You've all come, I thought you weren't going to see me off," I said. Having someone to see me off made my mood much better, but what they said next left me stunned.

  Xiu Shi said: "How can it be so slow, we've been waiting for half a day, let's set off, you lead the way, captain." After that, he gave me a sly smile.

  "What? What, we're leaving now? You guys aren't...?"

  They looked at each other and burst out laughing, saying: "Right, we'll go with you, haha."

  Hearing their unanimous words, I obviously hadn't reacted yet and mechanically said: "What about Teacher Wen, did he agree?"

  "Of course, I agree. Otherwise, how could we have come out? Let's go, Captain... Ah, no, we all unanimously decided to change the name of Guangyao Battle Team to Guangyao Mercenary Group. It sounds better when traveling outside and even if we're broke, we can still make some money. You'll be the leader, and Xiū Sī will be the vice-leader."

  It wasn't until then that I recalled the mysterious smile of our teacher before we set off, and now everything made sense. It seemed he wanted his disciples to go through training together. Not bad, with so many people together, safety would be greatly increased, especially since they all had impressive abilities.

  I sighed and said, "Well, I have no choice. Let's go then, big brothers." They all cheered together, originally thinking that I wouldn't bring them along, now they're all satisfied.

  And so, we embarked on our true journey of trials and tribulations with joy.