Risen World

Chapter 536: Winding down from a Hectic Day

It had taken a while for the crowd to calm down and everyone to leave the arena, but while that was all happening Joshua made his way to the entrance instead of being teleported home right away. He wanted to go home with his family and maybe go out and have a meal unlike most other days. He was sure the hub city was going to have a lot of celebrating going on with how hyped up a lot of the people seemed to be that were leaving the stadium.

Joshua didn't have to wait long before Amy showed up and could be seen high fiving people passing by that recognized that she was in the final portion of the tournament. Joshua had made sure to go sit at a nearby coffee shop while he waited with a hoody on to hide his face. If Amy was getting so much attention there was no way Joshua wouldn't get mobbed after having won the tournament. When Amy looked at Joshua direction he lifted his hood for a second and waved her over before hiding his face once more. She just rolled her eyes before entering the coffee shop and joining Joshua at the table while they both waited for their parents.

"That tournament was so fun. It's got me pumped up to do another one." Amy said as she excitedly picked up the menu and started searching for something to order to drink while they waited. "Maybe we'll even get to fight against people from other hub cities next time."

"Only you could be so excited after a day long tournament with tough fight after fight. Never change little sis, never change." Joshua said while shaking his head. Amy quickly made an order of what was something that had more chocolate in it than actual coffee before turning her attention back to Joshua.

"Are we meeting up with the rest of the alliance members to celebrate the results of the tournament? We pretty much dominated it with how many of us actually made it into the final day. Hell, you even won the whole thing." Amy said a little loudly gaining some attention from other people in the shop. It was clear that some of the people in the quiet little coffee shop had just finished watching the tournament as well since some of them were pointing in Amy's direction after recognizing her. They even seemed to be observing Joshua do to his large size that made it hard for him to avoid at least looking like someone who participated in the tournament.

"Not tonight. We decided to hold off on a celebration and let everyone rest up. We'll have a party tomorrow. Laura's already making reservations at a nice club to book the place for the night." Joshua said before taking a sip of his coffee.

"Cool. I'll hold off on training to get accustomed to my new levels beforehand. I can't believe levels was the reward in all this. Plus all of that new currency should help us get something interesting." Amy said with a happy smile as the waiter brought out her drink.

Joshua smirked before saying something that he knew would get under his sister skin. "You know now that I've gained all these levels after winning the tournament I've passed you and everyone else in the guild up even if just by a little in some cases."

Amy paused in her excited drinking of what was basically hot chocolate and glared at Joshua. "Damn it! Don't you dare hold that over my head. I swear I'll pass you up in no time."

"I doubt that. With how long it takes us to gain levels at this point it's going to take a while for you to catch up, but I'm going have to spend the majority of this little break we have getting accustomed to the new strength I've gained from all the level ups." Joshua said with a grin. After gaining seven levels as a reward for the tournament Joshua had gone from level eighty four all the way to ninety one. The fact that he crossed the level ninety barrier made it even more worthwhile since it always got harder to level up after crossing those barriers. Seven levels was a lot of stats and Joshua was going to have to get accustomed to his new strength before going out on an expedition.

"Keep laughing it up. Your pace of leveling will slow down and we'll all catch up eventually." Amy said with a frown before she started drinking her hot beverage once more. Before Joshua could respond to her words someone sitting at a table nearby walked over with a hat in his hands while approaching Amy. They both turned to look at what amount to a teenager that might have just been on the verge of entering high school if things were still normal. The kid was fidgeting a bit and Joshua could tell that his friends had put him up to coming over with how all of the other teenagers that were gathered at the table that he had come from were staring in their direction with anticipation.

"Um excuse me." The kid said with a hint of nervousness in his voice. "Your Amelia right? The martial artist that made it into the second round right?" He said so quietly that Joshua had to strain to hear his voice over all of the noise going on around the caf.

"Yeah that's right." Amy said with a bright smile after putting down her drink. "What's up kid?"

The boy glanced over to Joshua for a moment before turning back to look at Amy. Joshua's large size seemed to intimidate him a bit so he kept glancing over to him while keeping his head down. Joshua was a bit surprised by this since the kid seemed to be in decent shape and clearly had been training to be an explorer in the future just based on his decent muscle mass for his age and the way he stood as if he was ready to respond to a surprise attack at any moment. Looking at all the other kids from the table he had come from it seemed like they all fell into a similar group with a mixture of girls and boys that all seemed to have some sort of training.

"I was hoping that you would sign this hat and my shirt for me." The boy said with a small smile.

"Sure." Amy said before taking the hat and getting a marker of sorts out of her inventory. "What name do you want me to sign it to?"

"Jason." The kid said excitedly. "I really wanted to get your signature after watching your matches. I was planning on becoming an explorer in the future and I know for sure that I'm going to be a martial artist just like you."

"That's great. If you need any tips you can always come by my family's dojo and I could show you a thing or two." She responded with a surprisingly calm smile that showed just how much she had matured over the last few years.

"Thanks I'd love to. Um by the way I was wondering if you and the champion learned from the same place." The kid said with a thoughtful expression. "When you two fought each other you seemed to fight in similar ways to a degree. Your combat style might be different due to the size difference and special abilities you two used, but your fundamentals seemed almost the same."

"You've got a good eye for martial arts Jason. The champion Joshua is actually my older brother." Amy said while deliberately looking towards Joshua who still had the hoodie covering the top portion of his face. Jason understood the gesture and looked towards Joshua shocked with bright eyes filled with excitement.

Joshua smiled in response and lifted the hoodie up briefly for a moment so that Jason could see his face without the entire caf being able to. Joshua held finger in front of his lips making a silence gesture before taking the hat after Amy had finished signing and putting a signature of his own on it. The kid seemed so excited as he walked over and let Joshua sign his shirt as well.

"If you stop by our family dojo our father will most assuredly be there for instructions. Since he was the one who taught the two of us I'm sure you can learn a lot from him." Joshua said getting a nod from Jason who was too excited to speak. He nodded his head appreciatively before running back over to his table with the other teenagers.

"That was nice of you. I thought you were trying to avoid gaining any attention at this point." Amy asked as she went back to drinking her hot chocolate.

"Meh. Let's just say it's an investment in the next generation of talented explorers." Joshua said with a big grin. "I'm more surprised that you acted so calmly, I was expecting a more over the top showy response from you when it came to fan interaction. It looks like my little sister's growing up."

"You better stop teasing me Joshua. I'm warning you." Amy said with an annoyed look. Joshua just chuckled in response before poking fun at her a bit more. They finished their drinks waiting for a response from their parents. Joshua knew with how crowded the arena was it was going to take a while for them to make their way out, but he was trying his best to avoid getting noticed since that would just turn things into even more of a hassle. Looking through the window towards the entrance of the battle arena further down the street Joshua could see several contestants from the tournament surrounded by fans asking for autographs. It was a hectic atmosphere that several of the contestants had avoided by teleporting straight home. Even Amy took a while to make it through the throngs of fans and she wasn't even one of the more popular contestants that made it close to the end of the tournament.

At the moment Joshua could see people like Lily, Madalyn, Laura, Charles, and the Stranger's Guild leader all out their signing autographs, Outside of Lily these were all guild leaders that needed to keep up their prestige for the benefits of their guilds. Even the Raider's Guild leader had stuck around for a while before making his exit. Joshua wasn't surprised by the fact that Dmitry didn't stick around since he didn't seem to be the type.

Joshua suddenly got a message from his mother letting him know that they had made it out of the arena and were heading to a restaurant that wasn't near all of the current mayhem. "Well looks like it's time to go sis. They're already headed for the restaurant. Guess they had the same idea as us to avoid all the craziness." Joshua said getting up after using the system to transfer the money necessary to pay for their drinks along with a tip to the restaurant.

"Alright let's go." Amy said with a big grin as she caught up to Joshua who was about to head out the door, but just as he opened it Amy grinned as she reached up and pulled his hoodie back while he had one hand busy with holding the door open. The attention Joshua suddenly got not only from those in the caf but several people outside that were leaving the arena was instant. Joshua sighed and looked towards Amy with an annoyed look. "I told you I'd get you back.."

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