The next few days went by fast. With Jessica’s silence, the group of four seemed to fracture a bit.

Saleh was still injured, and the two were left alone. Claire and Jack left the two to heal. For Marvin, their deal was over. While he wasn’t happy with the process, in the end, there was nothing he could do.

For him, he would usually try to get closer to both Jessica and Saleh. Now he was conflicted. He wouldn’t have been doing his due diligence if he didn’t do a background check on Saleh. From that he could easily figure out who Jessica was.

There were no red flags, in fact, Saleh was the one that had red flags. However, these flags were cautionary. He had strong backing in Mercury City. Nothing, outright, spoke of it. There was absolutely no solid evidence.

His experience as a merchant told him there were profits to be had by associating with him. Only now, his instincts told him to distance himself. Unlike Joana, he didn’t receive much information. His status was enough to become a merchant associated with the Gray Wolf Tribe, at most he received a few special products.

Joana, who was a Grade B had far more information than him. She knew about the Grade C who was found strung up. Seeing Marvin distance himself, seemed to improve her impression of him. As for Jessica’s silence.

There was nothing she could do. Neither her nor the Gray Wolf Tribe were willing to get involved any further. She was the person who had the most information outside Saleh. She knew he was a Blue Wolf by the changes he had displayed, combined with the scout reactions.

Saleh was also connected to at least one Elder. Further escalating his status was that Jessica was accompanied by Azeban as they entered. This wasn’t expensive information, as too many people had seen it. She didn’t follow Saleh in, she was with him. This continued to hold true with their relationship during the journey.

There was something beyond just the talent of the two. After Grade B was Grade A. This was the pinnacle that could be reached. And even just getting to Grade A was by no means easy. Being alone made it possible with the right talent and luck to reach Grade B.

To reach Grade A one needed to socialize with the right people. The resources and path to Grade A were far too treacherous to reach alone, unless they were the child of lady luck themselves. At least for her, that was impossible. Marvin wasn’t the only one that needed to fear trying to climb too high, too quickly.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

As wind blew, the flaps of the makeshift tent were being blown up and down. Inside, Saleh watched this silently. From time to time he would look at Jessica, who had her eyes closed. Her breathing was measured, only to be broken every so often.

Mana could be felt flowing through her body. Still, her mind was a mess. As she would let out pent-up breath as stale air was expelled. Finally, giving up. She currently lacked the ability to concentrate. She laid with her back against the bed, looking up at the soft glowing wick burning inside a lantern.

“Does it not bother you?” Her voice was but a whisper.

“Does what?”

“The fact that a Grade B and C came with pretense to rob the caravan just to kill or worse abduct me. In essence, you were injured because of me.” Her tone was rough.

With a bit of a pause, he couldn’t help but reply, “You forget it was teacher that said there were people after you? Or did you forget that pretense that got me injured was being attacked for a majority of the journey?”

Not waiting for a reply, he continued, “Your father might have attracted attention that neither of us could handle. But, did you forget who my teacher is? Am I supposed to be scared? How often do you get to fight someone two grades above you and escape alive?”

Turning over, she saw the green eyes staring back were shaded with tones of gray and blue, as the root of his hair had changed colors very slightly.

“I guess for someone as talented as you, it is to be expected. You’re a little bit insane, you know that?”

Only with this tidbit of information was he able to realize his heart was beating quickly, smiling a bit helplessly. “I am not as talented as you think I am. I didn’t injure him at all…”

She wasn’t the first to mistake his final attack as something that caused the man’s arm to be left behind at the scene. It had been made obvious by everyone, including the woman named Joana, was under this impression.

Turning to look with a bit of confusion, “What you mean?”

“The last thing I remember was being sent flying. Everything hurt and I was slowly starting to black out. However, you were still fighting. I didn’t think you could hold him off, so while Joana was there… It is impossible to think if she fought with that Grade B she would have time to worry about us. In fact, just the fact he didn’t instantly kill us was already reason enough to vent his anger on us.”

His voice continued to get lower as he spoke, “There was no reason for her to go too far out of her way to protect us. So I couldn’t allow myself to lose consciousness, so I had to use a forbidden technique. This effect is something only those adopted by animal tribes can do. And it is something that we are told to never use unless we have no choice.”

Sighing, “While in return for a large increase in strength, the repercussions are not worth the measly benefits. Yet, as the power was draining from me, I felt someone grab the back of my neck. It was cold, and I was so scared, my consciousness woke up instantly. The forbidden technique I used was instantly dismantled as if it had never been cast.”

Having stopped talking, Jessica couldn’t help but ask, “And?”

“And… I heard a man’s voice, telling me I was not bad. I passed out immediately as the voice spoke. By that time, my spell had already been cast, and I know for a fact that it didn’t touch my opponent.”