One day had passed after another for Asita and Tanya, who lazed around the training grounds when they were not teaching the young gangsterlings. The two were currently sunbathing on top of the teacher's building, talking with a few other teachers on break.

“Hey, big sister, it seems your little cute blank is rising through the ranks. It seems today she reached rank 30 in D-Rank, she even earned a boy toy and a few underlings. Aren't you proud of her?” After she said that, she did a rail of angel tears with a rolled-up $100 banknote.

Asita rolled her eyes, “Oh, stop trying to talk her up, Sugar is the real superstar this year for our gang, with Loka coming in second. Besides those two, most of the blanks are showing talent and are better than expected. If she reaches B-Rank I might consider her somewhat talented. For now, she’s just at the level of a boy toy. Enough of such a boring topic Tanya; Francisco, set up another line of Iron-Snake Dust, I wanna get lit.”

The ripped Bazilian bowed his head politely, “It’ll be prepared right away, madam.”

As the man got to work, a voice rang out, “Oh? So is Iron Fist not going to bet on her own child? How pitiful of that one.” The two Black Card Members looked up, to see a teacher wearing a green bandana was poking fun at the relaxing Asita.

Before she decided to reply, she heard Francisco’s voice, “It is done, madam.”

“Good.”

Taking the one hundred dollar bill from Tanya, Asita did a thick red line that was ten inches in one take. Rubbing her nose, she turned to the green headband teacher, her expression was calm but condescending.

“Ah… if it isn’t Rittea from the Morderca Gang. Now, who said I wouldn’t bet on her? Even if she’s weak as shit, I wouldn’t ‘abandon’ her. You know that isn’t the code of the Black Card Gang, unlike yours.”

Rittea’s eyes twitched full of anger, but she kept her voice pleasant. After all she didn’t have a nickname, unlike Asita, which made her inferior.

“Oh? If that is so, you wouldn’t mind a little bet that your child won’t make it to C-Rank this month. Afterall, you girls in the Black Card gang love to bet, don't you?”

In response, Asita held out one finger and turned to Francisco, “Another line, I need to get sober for this.”

“Right away, madam.”

And so, Rittea waited, frustrated, while Asita sat with a smile. But her mind was working overtime.

How much can I milk out of her? I can’t believe someone took the bait! Gotta make a killing off of this, wonder if I can draw in some extra fools to make bank. Need to earn some pocket money, after all.

With the plan having been formulated, Asita flashed Tanya a shallow signal to play along.

And by that time, Francisco had finished forming the line. She took another hit, causing most of the women watching to shake their heads in praise. After all, most of them could only do lines half that size.

As expected of a named.

The group thought, as Asita closed her eyes and felt the rush going through her body.

“Oh yes~! That hit’s the spot, finally fucking sober. So, how much do you wanna bet, Rittea? If it’s too low for my tastes, get the fuck out. We only take high stakes here in the Black Card.”

“One kilo of high-grade angel dust, two pounds of Iron-Snake dust, ten bottles of Lovatone, and three ounces of mermaid scales, and three grams of Pixie wings, just for good measure.”

The teachers nearby whistled at such a high bet, that was worth a large chunk of money. The total is around one hundred thousand US Dollars, but to Asita, she snorted at the price and turned her nose up.

“That’s pretty low, double it and you got yourself a deal.”

With such a nonchalant reply, Rittea stiffened up, before forcing a smile. It’s most of my money... but with how well we prepared, I have no worries. This is easy money, and I get to drag these bitches face through the mud.

“I expect nothing less from someone of your stature… Fine, you’re on!”

Holding back from smiling, Asita turned her head over in a certain direction.

“Head headmaster, is the betting pool up yet?”

A girl with wild silver hair and gold stars for pupils appeared. She wore a nice white dress that was quite fluffy.

Lazily, Izar floated along the water in her white bathing suit. Opening her eyes slightly, her golden pupils shined a moment, before closing.

“I guess it’s around that time... Automatons, open the betting pool.” With a snap of her fingers, countless screens opened across the campus, and a robotic announcement filled the air.

“Attention all faculty and students! Examination betting has commenced. May you make good business choices.”

Soon after, roars and cheers shouted out across campus.

***

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Alex, all bandaged up, was doing the fire arts motions, sweating up a storm as she went through the basics of the fire style.

Next to her was Sial, running her through the paces, while Moca was lazily watching from her couch, eating potatoes.

One motion after another, she kept going until she couldn’t anymore, managing to reach the tenth step of sixteen. Exhausted, she fell to the floor, gasping for breath. As for Sial he didn’t stop until he finished his rotation, then got a bottle of water for Alex.

Saying thank you to Sial, she was about to take a drink when Moca warned, “Remember, just a quick drink. In thirty minutes we will be sparing.”

Taking a drink, Alex felt depressed, “My bruises have bruises. Can’t we just skip today’s fighting, I don’t wanna spend more drugs to heal.”

“Too bad, gringo. You have an examination to win, and you’re my ticket to make some sweet pocket money. Since we've got a few more days until you need to rest for the big day, we’re going to go hard. You don’t wanna eat shit food anymore, right?”

Just the mention of the food made Alex's eyes shine with a bright light, as mana trails started to come off her body unconsciously. Even the tattoo on her back started to itch, as if wanting to go all out.

Raising off from the ground, Alex had a serious expression on her face, “I’m sorry, teacher, I don’t know what got into me. Let’s get to fighting right now.”

She’s giving off magic trails now? Oh, my hard work is paying off now. This is going to be fun training this underdog. Kekeke... all the pocket money I’m going to make!

Feeling the fire lit within her, Moca got off the couch, “Ok, girl, but don’t expect me to pull my punches just because you're tir—”

“Attention all faculty and students! Examination betting has commenced. May you make good business choices.”

As the atmosphere was getting heated, a sudden announcement cut through the air.

The fire for fighting died down in Moca and, in turn, the spirit of gambling reared its ugly head.

With a whirly grin, Moca put her fists down, “Sorry, my cute little student. Bets are open and I gotta place my money. We’ll go in a few hours..”

And without so much as another word, Moca snapped her fingers and slid through a sand portal.

Alex, on the other hand, was flabbergasted, then felt a sudden rage, and then fell down on the ground, sighing.

“Are you fucking kidding me? Welp, guess that’s it for now.”

She then turned head to the awaiting Sial, “Hey Sial, would you kindly run me a cold ice bath?”

In response, he nodded his head and proceeded to run the water in the bathroom, while Alex stared at the ceiling to go over the information she had gathered.

So this is how far I can go in this short of a time…

Only a week away until the examination comes, I’ve already done my preparations externally. I can only really prepare myself mentally. With my current strength I only somewhat fear the top five in D-Rank.

Rank 5 - Ling Ling Magical Girl Power - Plant Leafs

Affiliation - Bamboo Gang Nationality - China.

With current information, 45% percent win rate one on one.

Rank 4 - Kuro Magical Girl Power - Wolf Summoning

Affiliation - Slingers Gang Nationality - Iceland

With current information 38.93% percent to win rate one on one.

Rank 3 - Mally Magical Girl Power - Shadow Step

Affiliation - Morderca Gang Nationality - Poland

With current information 27.12% percent to win rate one on one.

Rank 2 - Yoo-Nah Magical Girl Power - Tiger Eyes

Affiliation - Foot Foot Clan Nationality - South Korea

With current information 21.14% percent to win rate one on one.

Rank 1 - Moxi Magical Girl Power - Strengthening

Affiliation - Muscle Crew Nationality - Germany

With current information 10.04% percent to win rate one on one.

Even with giving it my all to the training, I’m still far behind the top five. Anyone sixth to tenth is around mid-fifty percent, and the rest I have a good advantage. If I get ganged up by more than others, then it’s game over for me, unless they suck at chasing.

Gonna have to play it ruthless and quick in the beginning if I wanna take it easy in the later stages. Since I’m allowed to bring a gun, but not ammo, I’m going to need to salvage a supply drop fast for bullets and resources.

As long as I hit them in the chest they will be considered dead, but the noise will draw others in. I’ll have to be fast, fast, and fast if I want to get away. If they catch me, then I’ll have to use my secret weapons as a last resort, I hope I use it on one of the top five if that happens. In my trial and error, I only made five and with the rest of the week, I should be able to make ten.

Ten shots to change fate against five hundred? What shit odds... but it’s the best I can do. I’ve bribed a few under my banner, and with Sugar and Loka's threat of beating them, they should listen. I don’t have to worry about one hundred of them betraying me, as they are either Black Card or close allies to my gang.

If I can sway some more under my banner, then I’ll have a much easier time against Molly’s coalition with Slingers and the Bamboo gang under her banner. If the Foot Foot Clan and Muscle Crew didn’t stay neutral we’d've been screwed.

Still… it's one hundred vs. one hundred fifty + others trying to claim my bounty. All of that, plus the three of the top five hunting me? What is this difficulty? Demon?

Rubbing her sudden growing headache, she took a moment, and then kept thinking.

Alright, alright, so the broad is fucked, but I can fuck them before they can fuck me.

Ling Ling, I take my chances in close combat.

Same with Kuro and Molly, if I get a chance. As for Yoo-Nah and Moxi, I’ll only have one chance to snipe them. And that’s if I get the bullets. If I don’t, my chances go close to zero unless I use my secret weapon.

I’ll have to think more about this, but so far, this is the best gameplan.

Finished with her analyses, Alex sighed and, as she did so, Sial came around the corner holding his notepad out.

“Bath is ready.”

Getting up from the floor, Alex thanked Sial, and headed to take her nice cold bath.

God, besides food, this is probably the best thing ever. With a sliver of excitement, Alex half walked, half and ran to the bath.