Only once the three moved closer to the city was Jessica finally able to put her finger on the issue. There was no wall or even guards. There was however a list of names posted in red on paper around the entrances.

From dirt road into stone. A morph from wilderness to urban living in a matter of a second. An invisible line that became overly arbitrary. Along this line of thinking, Jessica failed to understand the difference. While other cities had grand and grotesque walls and gates.

Some arbitrary line drawn in sand to define who wants and who gets. Between defending yourself, and having someone defend you. Who would want to put themselves at risk.

“Hehe, what do you think?” As playful and cheery as it was originally. “Strange, isn’t it? The first time I stepped foot here, I thought the same thing. How is it, a city in such a dangerous location having no defenses. At first, I thought it was weird.”

To her side was Saleh nodding his head, “I thought the same thing. Only once I stayed here did I start to understand why. When I finally understood, it filled me with a chill. To think I thought this place was a city…”

The foreshadowing in his voice didn’t sit well with her. Leo, to her side, was the same way. While curious about the city. She would likely be here for a while, time would unravel what she wanted. What she wanted to know, right now, was the depth of Azeban.

Anything above Grade B was hush hush. All she knew was that grades went from Grade F up to Grade A in alphabetic order. Now, she knew that Ever was truly as described in rumors. A being above all others. However, she didn’t know the extent of it.

She could feel a power inside her, it was very weak and wouldn’t react to anything she did. When the old man told her about his last name, he always stayed elusive. Now, she understood Ever was not a simple title and was a name with power of its own. She could only reach this conclusion as Leo had thought the same.

With the help of Everblood they were able to realize this without any doubt. His power was as deep as could be. If the sky was something that could fall, she had no doubts, if he couldn’t hold it up he could simply leave and go somewhere else. A bottomless abyss that knew no bounds.

She couldn’t figure out how that was the same type of power inside Leo and her. Her power was like a star in the sky. While it might be bright enough to burn out her eyes, from where she stood, it was but a tiny twinkle in a darkness that threatened to swallow it at any moment.

Leo, his power, was different. Unlike Everblood, neither of the two could feel the other’s power. He described it as the moon. Bright and seemingly peerless, just untouchable. Something forever out of reach.

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Though to understand that, he later explained that if his theory was correct. Ever was a name that held power, however it was just a catalyst. Neither of the two had any real power. Therefore, they couldn’t grasp any of that power.

Thus came the question, how strong was Azeban, ranked seventh out of twelve. Without anyone there to stop him, he sort of kept on going.

Walking through the strange city, it was no surprise that everyone that saw him seemed to show no reaction. Having nothing to do with being new to the city, every time someone saw Everblood they gave them a wide berth.

They kept their eyes down. The cloak and mask was a suppression that held even the most arrogant in place. Having gotten a bit used to it, this included those at Grade B. And she meant this loosely, some were weak, while others were just complete monsters. If she was right, there was at least one that was above Grade B.

Having no idea before this was a thing, when someone at Grade B and above didn’t hide their mana. They gave off a different feeling than anything she had ever felt before. It was scary, though this also meant it was possible to hide this. Azeban who was an elder was by no means someone easy to deal with.

Jessica would swear he wasn’t even a graded being, if not for the things that happened when they met.

“So, the city is separated by rank. Without someone else, you’re not allowed outside the northeast side of the city. If you don’t have permission, you wouldn’t be allowed to cut through the city like this. Once you break through to Grade D you will be able to go to the northwest. There is where Grade C and D housing is.”

“What happens if you go somewhere without permission?” Jessica couldn’t help but ask. After opening her mouth, she saw a dark expression on Saleh’s face.

A smile could be heard from his giddy tone. Because of the material in the mask, she couldn’t even see his eyes, “Depends. Mainly depends on who you meet. While you’re restricted in where you can go. Everything else is completely open. Meaning, once you reach higher grades, the more you can do and places you can go.”

Seeing her expression, he continued to laugh, “Yes, this is a city built to cater to the strong. Here, if you can survive, power will always be there to grasp. That is to say, this place will offer you any opportunity imaginable, so long as you can survive…”

As he kept talking about nonsense, she noticed something strange. Well, when she thought of this, she couldn’t help but remember who was leading her. A dwarf with a tired expression on his face saw Azeban and couldn’t help but lift his head and smile lightly.

“Ah, Joe, exactly who I wanted to see. You remember Saleh, and I wanted to introduce another little one to you, this is Jessica.”

Nodding his head, he smiled weakly as he greeted them, “Saleh, it is good to see you made it back in one piece. It is a pleasure to meet you, Jessica, my name is Joe.”

Noticing the difference in the way Saleh responded respectfully, and the way Jessica was being respectful. Azeban couldn’t help but laugh, this drew attention. When people first saw him, they didn’t really do anything but stay out of his way. Only when he let out this devious sounding laugh did everyone stop what they were doing and hold onto a part of their body.

Seeing their reactions, he seemed to get annoyed and yelled at the people closets to him, “Oh fuck off! I am not allowed to steal in the city. If I see your asses outside, you better watch out!”

Coming back to himself, he seemed to realize he had just lost face, with a sullen tone, “Joe is an exception.”