"Attention. Passengers boarding the T-69420 high-speed rail, please prepare to check in and board the maglev."

"Oh, that's us," Yu An Yan said, putting her phone away after hearing the loud announcement via the PA system of the high-speed rail station we were currently in.

"What time is it?" I asked.

Feng Mian stood up and checked her phone. "11:30. Half an hour before the ETA of the maglev."

I nodded. "I see. Makes sense, then. Looks like the maglev's going to be here on time. Let's get going, check-in is that way."

I pointed to our left. According to what the signs hanging from the ceiling were showing, my sense of direction was correct. The ten of us began heading for check-in. Many people were already there, so we just picked the shortest line and waited patiently. Once it was finally our turn, I stepped up first.

"Good mor- er, perhaps I should say afternoon now, haha," the lady handling this line said with a chuckle. "You are boarding the T-69420 line heading for Shanghai, correct?"

I nodded. "Yes."

"Very well, may I see your ticket?"

"Sure. Is it possible to do all ten of us together?"

"All ten...oh, you mean those fine young ladies behind you are together with you?" the lady asked, slightly surprised.

"Yeah. So if it's possible...just to save time, y'know?"

"Of course! Can I get all ten of your tickets, then? I just need to verify if they are valid. And can I get your Mage IDs as well? Just to verify your identities and make sure they match with the tickets."

We each took out our IDs and tickets that Yu An Yan had purchased earlier, and the girls all handed theirs to me. I, in turn, handed them all to the receptionist lady, who then scanned each of the tickets on a special machine. As an aside, Obsidia and Flaria didn't have Mage IDs, so they just said they didn't have any yet - you only received a Mage ID at the Intermediate Mage level, after all. Hiding their strength wasn't too difficult of a task, since this receptionist knew nothing about them.

After eight beeping noises, the job was done, and she handed us back our tickets along with our Mage IDs.

"All good. The tickets have been verified, thank you. Just to confirm, could you please remove your mask for a second, sir?"

"Sure," I replied, before promptly taking off my facemask for a second. The receptionist nodded, signaling that I could put it back on now. I complied, and after that, gave the girls back their Mage IDs respectively.

"Alright, now, as for your luggage...oh, it doesn't seem like you have any...?"

"Don't worry about that, I have everything stored," I replied cryptically, purposely not giving too much info.

"I...see..." the lady said, slightly confused. But luckily, she didn't pry any further, and let us pass through the gates.

"Line T-69420 will be arriving at Platform 9 very soon. After you pass this gate, just follow the signs," she said.

"Alright, thank you," I replied, before passing through the gates with ease. The girls followed after me, and we descended down the stairs.

Signs hung from the ceiling, telling us how to reach each platform. In our case, Platform 9 was the furthest one, so we had to walk to longest distance.

"By the way, Xuan Kai, what was the reward the Hunters' Guild in Huizhou gave you for dealing the final blow on the Hydra?" Yu An Yan asked as we walked. "They requested for you to go alone, so we don't know."

"Oh, that," I muttered. "It was just another Hydra Fang. The guild said it was going to be some 'huge' reward, but eh...I mean, we already got the one fang we needed for the antidote to the 1 Year Curse, so it isn't too big of a reward to us, honestly. I would've rather had some Basilisk Dust."

"Any other man would kill to get his hands on a Hydra Fang, y'know," Xiang Peng mused.

"Yeah, well, it's useless to me, so I really don't care," I replied.

"You can always sell it for money. It's worth quite a lot," Qing Yue suggested.

"Yeah, sure...I'll do that once we get to the capital. What's the time right now?" I asked, speeding up my pace slightly. The girls also adjusted their speed to keep up.

Feng Mian, once again, pulled out her phone and checked the time really quickly. "11:50."

"So 10 more minutes," I muttered. I looked up at the next sign. We were supposed to turn left here.

Alright, take a left...and here we are.

The ceiling above us disappeared, and once we ascended the stairs, we were out in the open, looking at the clear blue sky. I looked over at the pillar nearby, and saw the text:

Platform 9.

Well, looks like we're in the right place.

Plenty of other people were waiting with us, and more continued to pile onto the platform. After a good ten minutes, the maglev we had been waiting for finally arrived. Everyone boarded the train one after another, in a pretty organized fashion, more or less. No one tried to be the first or anything - it's not like everyone here was a 1st grader.

Once we were on the maglev, we looked at our tickets and found our seats. Yu An Yan tried her best to get us seats right next to each other, but obviously, with all ten of us, the chance of that actually happening was pretty slim. In the end, we were split up into three groups - Mei Gui and I in one group, the Yu sisters, Feng Mian, Lan Xiao Su, and Qing Yue in another, and the final group, Obsidia, Xiang Peng, and Flaria.

The dragon and phoenix sitting right beside each other was pretty questionable, but like I said, Yu An Yan did the best she could. The only thing I was worried about was the second group. Obsidia and Xiang Peng were both strong enough to protect themselves from perverts, but the Yu sisters, Feng Mian, Lan Xiao Su, and Qing Yue weren't really used to being hit on by random strangers, and wouldn't know how to deal with the situation. If anyone tried something on this maglev...

The seating arrangement of the maglev was pretty simple - six seats on each side of an open aisle down the middle for walking and such. It was a fairly wide maglev, so it could fit plenty of people. The only problem with this? Well...group 2, which consisted of five girls, ended up being split up further by an empty seat - where some random guy sat down. They were right across the aisle from where Mei Gui and I were, so we had a good view of what was going on....and, well, let's just say I don't like the look on the guy's face.

The five girls seemed to notice it too, and swallowed nervously. Since this was a good opportunity, I decided to try out a spell for the first time.

Level Two Psychic Magic - Telepathy.

Normally, I only used mind communication with Mei Gui, but that didn't require this spell, and was different. I decided to try using this with one of the other girls this time around. I chose the Level Two variant of the spell, since it was more powerful and could act as a better training than the Level One version.

After a while, the telepathy finally got through. I was testing my limits by simultaneously contacting all 5 of them at the same time, using my ability to multi-cast. Of course, this meant I could only send the exact same messages to all 5 of them, but in this case, that didn't really matter - it rather instead saved me the trouble of having to repeat the same message to all five of them, so that's a good thing.

Can you hear me?

Feng Mian was the first to respond. [X-Xuan Kai? Is that you?]

The other girls soon followed, and I replied to all of them at once - Yes. Don't look in my direction. Stay natural.

The girls obliged, and I continued.

I am talking to all five of you at once, so I won't be able to respond to each of you individually. So just listen carefully. Without a doubt, that guy in between you guys is going to try something on this trip. I'm sure you've all noticed it as well, but he definitely doesn't look like a gentleman.

...If he tries touching you or anything, just scream.

[W-What?] the girls replied at once.

...I'm not kidding. Just scream. If you do that, the guy will be forced to stop, and you'll gather the attention of everyone nearby. That way, I have a good excuse to step in and stop him. If you don't scream, he can just deny everything I accuse him of.

[Er...okay,] the girls replied.

This is only if he tries anything, of course. Obviously, it's best if he doesn't do anything, but I'm 99% sure he will. You can tell these kind of things just based on someone's appearance alone. I know, don't judge a book by its cover, but...the cover is the reason most people choose to take a look at the book in the first place.

Alright, that's all. Remember what I told you, and stay safe.

[Mkay, got it.] the girls replied at once.

I cut off the telepathy, and sighed. I would usually be pretty uncomfortable to be sitting on the outer edge of the seats, right beside the open aisle where people brush past you, but in this case, I didn't mind since that meant I was closer to the girls, making it easier for me to reach them if the guy did anything.

I sighed, as the gentle voice of the maglev's announcer spoke.

"Good afternoon, all passengers of the T-69420 high-speed maglev. This maglev will run from Huizhou to Shanghai, and we will be leaving in approximately five minutes. The estimated time of arrival at final destination is 11:41 PM."

11:41...that's 11 hours and 41 minutes of travel time. Honestly, we could probably get there quicker if we just rode Obsidia, but she needed rest too, and I didn't want to risk getting caught.

"You ready, Mei Gui?" I asked quietly.

She nodded from beside me, and leaned in, resting her head on my shoulder. "Yes, Master."