Walking out onto the steps that made noise as if they would break with any more weight. Lifting her head, she waved at the empty roof that sat opposite of the door.

“You know it isn’t natural to use your teacher as bait. Though I will admit, it was a good way to make him drop his guard when he made it in thinking he was fine. So what were you going to do if he didn’t enter?” Lifting off her hood, Cassie could be seen from underneath. Her face had aged a bit, showing a bit more mature features.

“Wouldn’t matter. Isn’t that why you came along, to make sure that nothing went wrong? Since that is the case, you always say to use everything you can in order to ensure your survival. That, in this case, would include you.” Jessica couldn’t help but speak a bit more fluid.

Since accepting Cassie’s offer to teach her. Three years had passed. A very short, but also a very long time. As a graded being, her features looked the same as they were before. Cassie on the other hand, looking at her face, it was hard to tell if one didn’t look closely.

Seeing her stare so much, “I am beautiful, aren’t I?”

“I wonder about that.” Jessica had to say, the lengths Cassie went to hide her identity was immersive. She guessed, her features were likely the same, albeit younger. She shared a lot of similarities to Helga to be a fake face altogether.

However, if Jessica had barely aged, then someone at the peak of Grade B was someone that wouldn’t show a single day of aging.

“Oh, did you take this one’s resources and teachings and now that you got everything you are planning to rebel and stab me in the back?” Making a scared face as if she was truly terrified of the prospect.

“I wouldn’t dare.” Jessica had been able to increase her mana absorption rate to reach the peak of the beginning of Grade D in those three years. In those three short years, her days were spent monotonous. It was like the day and the life of a prodigy.

Cassie hadn’t taken a step outside of Mercury City. After a year, Cassie decided it was time to push her to Grade D, therefore she was abducted to the central district.

There, she experienced hell. Given three hours on day one, and six on day two, to sleep. Day one consisted of her meditating and taking medicine to temporarily increase her mana absorption.

Then on day two, she was required to attend class to learn things Cassie decided were important. This consisted of random topics that made her head spin. Anything from controlling facial expressions to how one should act. Followed by combat courses in which she was brought up to speed on her training method.

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In this way, day one involved complete concentration on meditation, without any distractions. When that became difficult, she was bombarded with information before being pushed to her physical limit. Exhausted she would sleep six hours before being given a third day of freedom.

This only meant that she was free to decide if she wanted to run lighter exercises, go over specifics she had learned the day before, or meditate. This was her entire life for three days that extended two years. It was the sneak peek at how Cassie became a Grade B at such a young age.

Jessica finally understood that Cassie’s specialty was not that she had insane mana talent. Which was rare, what was the scariest aspect was her mentality.

Having traveled around a lot, she had seen many people. Cassie wasn’t just born into a powerful family. Her mother was a single mom, knowing better, Jessica didn’t ask more. Being the only child, given everything she could ever want. She didn’t waste any of it.

As Helga grew older, things became more complicated. Being an elder was a large amount of work. Cassie originally pushed so hard to take some of the work off her shoulders. Something, at which, Helga disregarded.

Like the perfect family, Helga wanted Cassie to enjoy the things she couldn’t have as an orphan. Cassie just wanted to help her mother. In the end, Cassie grew incredibly powerful while being sheltered.

In a twisted sense of fate, Cassie was taught how to protect herself. That was the minimal Helga required of her. A hidden edge was stronger than an exposed one. In the end, Mercury City ended up with a beautiful non-graded, monster in human skin.

“Do we just leave the body?” Jessica had hunted down a Red Name for her graduation exam.

Glancing at the condemned building, “Yeah, this is a perfect hunt. He basically put himself into the perfect disposable location. If the body was left in the open, it would require immediate action. However, nobody goes there. Someone will be sent to identify, dispose, and report back.”

As someone that was now part of Mercury City. Jessica didn’t need to follow the same rules. Technically, she was part of Azeban’s group. In exchange for not needing to pay dues. She needed to do such things as hunt down Red Names or take on specific Mercury City requests.

In a sense, the choice was an advantage. Though if something went wrong, it would affect her, as she couldn’t just leave as an adventurer.

After passing her graduation exam, she was now in a position she didn’t understand. Cassie was too unique of a person. As Helga had given her position to Azeban, technically she shouldn’t hold too much power.

Yet, elders weren’t normal people. Cassie hadn’t explained, as it wasn’t time to know. But, Jessica now had a strange feeling about Evers.

Before, she felt that there was a problem with how strong they seemed to be. Without understanding higher grades, she could only make blind guesses. Now, she was getting indirect contact with that world through Cassie.

It appeared that Grade A was extremely complicated and difficult to break into. That was all she knew for certain. Though it was something she could imply through Joana. She was looking for outside help from individuals that seemed to be connected to those at that level.

Cassie had reached the peak of Grade B after a year of teaching. Even with her mana talent she had yet to reach Grade A. Which to Jessica implied that at that level, there was something else going on.

Whatever the case may be. Jessica would now have to answer to Azeban, though more likely. Helga or Cassie would be the one to give her a task. It was something she already expected having been told as such, before she was taught anything.