“Hello Miles. It is good to see you again.” The tanned teen said to Miles when he arrived at the high-end coffee shop. This time, unlike last time, he was dressed properly. After all, last time he ran into Mae, so he could only walk in as he was, but this time he was invited.
“Hello, Hassan. It is my pleasure.” Miles sat and sat across Hassan Mus and two other teens. He was invited by Hassan a while back, but because he was in the Portal World, he wasn’t able to receive the message. When he returned to Earth, he had to deal with other things, so he scheduled a meeting with Hassan at a later date. Now that he had time, he decided it was time to meet with the last winner of the Grader competition.
“These two are my friends. That is Suchiru Kai, he was the second runner in the last Graders Competition, he is now Form-Rank, so he will not be competing against us.” Hassan introduced the slant-eyed handsome teen. The teen looked at Miles and bowed slightly.
“It is my honor to meet Mr. Kai. I was lucky enough to see your performance in the stadium a few months ago. As a bow user myself, I enviously admire your mastery.” Miles greeted back. He was really astonished by this man’s mastery. He could play with the two strongest fighters of his generation as if it was nothing.
After hearing Miles's words, the lazy attitude of Suchiru vanished and he assessed Miles with trained eyes, but it only took a second then vanished as if it never happened. “It is my honor to meet a bow master as well. You are not any worse than me.” Suchiru praised back. He was able to tell that Miles wasn’t simple as he put it, he was a great archer.
“Oh, I didn’t know you were also a bow user. As expected of a Cross.” Hassan also praised and introduced the last teen. “This is Sina Azari. Our families work together, so we are very close.” Miles looked at the person. His eyes were black, and his skin was a little bit brown. He felt like a hidden dagger on Miles's neck. Miles could feel that the person was a spectacular assassin.
“Assassin?” Miles asked, surprised. Not many took the path of silent killing nowadays. There were many ways to discover a person with ever-developing technology and abilities. And hiding away from these senses was getting harder and harder. Monsters were also much keener than humans, so assassin occupation was one of the least favorite.
“Hassan’s praises weren’t unworthy. Mr. Cross is surely a deserving warrior.” Sina spoke with a chuckle. With it, the hidden dagger vanished and the quiet room got clamorous once again. “It is very nice to meet you.”
“It is my honor. It is hard to find a master of forsaken art.” Miles was also praised.
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“Forsaken for a reason. Truth to be told, even I question my choices from time to time. It is too hard nowadays.” Sina was an easy-going fella despite his occupation.
“The reason why I wanted to meet you, Mr. Cross, was to present an offer.” After exchanging pleasantries, Hassan picked up the conversion.
“Oh? What kind of offer Mr. Mus has in mind?” Miles asked, surprised. He didn’t know why Hassan Mus invited him and was a little bit wary that Starve Cleric’s Leader’s daughter was Hassan Mus’s girlfriend. So when he called him, he asked the place of the meeting. After making sure the place was safe, he decided to meet with him.
“Please, call me Hassan,” The dark skinned teen said.
“You can call me Miles.” He also offered.
“Alright then, Miles. This year is going to be my last grader competition in G-Circle. I was holding back my advance because I don’t want to fight against those in Form-Rank since they will be at the peak of it.
With Suchiru and Ivana advancing, I believe no one in the Grace-Rank can win against me.” Hassan started to explain. “My two friends on the other hand, despite just advancing to Form-Rank, want to join the competition.”
“It is good to test yourself against stronger opponents. Since competitions are mostly safe, it shouldn’t be a problem for them to join despite being weaker than the rest of the participants.” Miles praised their courage. Hassan hasn’t talked about the offer yet, so Miles was waiting on that one.
“Since they are already in Form-Rank, both of them used Strengthening Serum, and are now getting pretty close to the peak of first serum in bodily strength, and want to test their strength. I remember Mae mentioning you using a Strengthening Serum, and by now you should have used the second one, right?” Hassan finally brought the subject.
‘So that is how it is.’ Miles though.
“I indeed did. I am at the peak of the second tier.” Miles answered humbly. He had used the third serum, but since his strength deteriorated and barely passed his previous peak, it wasn’t false to say he was at the peak of the second tier.
“Perfect. Just as I expected.” Hassan exclaimed happily. Suchiru’s and Sina’s eyes, on the other hand, looked surprised. When Hassan first mentioned Miles, they could hardly believe it. A person without any superpower used a Strengthening Serum?
Who could believe just a notion? But now they heard that Miles was approving, they could only believe it.
“Suchiru and Sina used the first serum and at the peak of it, so they want to train with you. Of course, they will pay for your efforts.”
“Since you are putting it that way, of course, it would be my honor to practice with both masters,” Miles answered. He truly wanted to fight against two, since both had rare masteries. Suchiru Kai was a bow master and could use energy even when he was at the peak of Grace-Rank.
Sina on the other hand was an assassin. Miles would like to fight against him to develop his senses, so in the future, he would be able to cope with these hidden lethal blades better.
“Alright then, let’s have a contract.” Hassan happily said and stretched out his wristwatch. Miles copied his action and the contract appeared on his wristwatch.
“Hmm, 100k UD for an hour, and I am not allowed to reveal their abilities in public.” Seems fair. Miles mused on the contract but allowed Coin to look into for any trick. He still remembered how the landlord duped him into signing a fake contract. After making sure there wasn’t anything wrong, he signed the contract with Hassan Mus.