Alissa felt eyes drilling into her back and turned to the jealous hero, pulling Rin under her arm Alissa spoke, “It’s easier at A rank but I think you can pull it off Rin with some work. You just have to let the mana communicate what it senses to your soul, different types of mana see and sense things differently. Wind and space are good for sound. Water and space for images, earth for location. Each one is different, but as long as you can learn to communicate with the mana you’ll find something out.”

Rin was completely lost, “You can communicate with mana?”

Alissa’s hand waffled in the air before answering, “Kind of, it’s hard to explain and everyone has a different way of doing it once they start to reach the barrier in S rank, I’ve just been focusing on it for a lot longer.”

Rin realized once again what kind of monster her friend was as she allowed herself to be dragged away by an excited Alissa.

After finishing dinner at the bustling bar, the group convened in Adrest’s room for some peace and quiet. Rin helping set up a convoluted board game Alissa found.

Rin asked something that stumped her as she saw more of Alissa’s potential, “I know you said you can get top 10 in the tournament you’re training for easily Alissa, but are there really dragons your age that you can’t beat? I can’t think of a single student or recent graduate that could last more than a few minutes with you, let alone have an advantage.”

Alissa graciously took the compliment, “You just haven’t seen enough Rin. Every child of a clan head is amazing, I’m just a little better than most of them. But, there’s still a few that are as talented as me. The second youngest of the Soul dragon's Head is just as good with magic as I am, and she can control the soul in ways I can’t. The darkness dragon’s most recent prince is said to be a demon born for battle, he’s been raised in war since he came out the egg, fighting thousands to one. There’s at least a dozen more like that, I know I can trounce some of them, but others are a complete toss up right now.”

“That’s amazing, I’d love to see two dragons fight.”

Alissa gave a toothy grin, “Maybe someday I can make that dream come true, I’d love to have my little family cheer me on.”

Rin grew bright red at the sudden intimacy, ”F-Family?”

“You already called me Big sis, you don’t get to take it back now!”

Defeated, Rin gave in to the dragon’s whims. Adrest put an arm on her shoulder, “Welcome to the family lil Rin.”

Adrest learned Rin didn’t like being called little, as shown by the bright red mark on his side he was rubbing gently.

Alissa was cackling the entire time, “See, you’re already taking after your older sister.”

Adrest was sure steam would shoot from the poor girl’s ears, but she fought through it and finished assembling the game, knowing it would be the best distraction for Alissa.

“Big sis Ali, are there any prizes for winning?” Belle who’d been silent as she was watching the older party members squabble asked.

“Lots and lots! I can’t talk about many specifics right now, but I can tell you just for the top twenty you’d get hundreds of A rank cores of your choosing, at least five S rank cores, specialized training by the clan head or elder of your choice, and an opportunity that is almost impossible to find on the continent these days.”

Being so cryptic of course the three others had to badger her until the mischievous princess mouthed the words “Other worlds” silently. Refusing to budge another inch after.

It was the middle of the night, Adrest under her lightly snoring with an arm wrapped tight around her waist.

Alissa wanted desperately to snuggle back into his chest and return to sleep, but she couldn’t. She'd had been woken by the traces of mana she’d left for the Warring States caravan. She heard the same man’s voice as earlier that day, and an older voice.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“You mentioned someone was looking for a certain demi-human, right? An albino rabbitkin girl?”

“Ugh, don’t mention that again. The last group managed to piss off a little “hero” and got themselves killed. It wouldn’t be too bad if that were it, but now the Guild is breathing down our necks waiting for an excuse to storm the place. Why bring that up now?”

I happened to run into a rabbitkin that matched the description, I was just wondering if you thought the buyer would be interested in her instead.”

Alissa tuned out the rest of the conversation and she didn’t know to laugh or be enraged. The idiots failed at stealing Belle, and now they want to steal the same girl as a consolation prize?

She carefully got out of Adrest’s arms, making sure not to wake him. Standing in the quiet and pitch-black room, Alissa took another look at her little Belle’s and Ady’s sleeping faces. And with a muted purple light, she was dressed in cheap black pants and matching shirt.

As Alissa made her way through the dead Hotel, every step was completely silent as if she were a ghost patrolling the halls. She casually walked past a dozing night watch who didn’t stir as she walked right out the door, as if she was never there.

The quiet streets were different from what Alissa had come to know during her stay in Everflow City. From bustling and loud, filled with happy people running to their destinations, it was now dead silent except for a light breeze shifting debris. The few mage lights still on cast long shadows that crept in towards her, the alleys pitch black and foreboding.

It was a bit of a walk to her destination, passing multiple guards who didn’t even glance at her as she strolled by with a neutral expression. She found herself in a poorer area of the merchant district, the wood buildings old and weathered, streets not cleaned and swept regularly. Turning down a particularly dark alley, she was soon face to face with a building painted in a faded black and purple. The only thing denoting what kind of store she was looking at was a small wooden sign above the door, an artful rendition of a crawling purple lily.

Inside an old man was half asleep at the cheap wooden counter. Nearly dropping his pipe at the unexpected guest, he was shocked to see who it was. It was one of the owners of that slave girl. He was about to activate a magic circuit under the desk that would alert the entire shop when Alissa spoke.

“No need for that. I just want a meeting with whoever is in charge here.” As Alissa spoke the circuit crumbled to dust and stray mana leaving the old man feeling helpless.

He slowly nodded, “And how can I address you when summoning them?”

Alissa held out and opened palm facing the air. In it, she coalesced the symbol all clans used when traveling, a ferocious golden dragon’s head, roaring in defiance at the heavens. The old man blanched and immediately used the highest-level distress token he had to reach her.

In just under ten seconds a teleportation circle lit up in a back room, Alissa didn’t seem concerned and stood impatiently tapping one foot. A woman in a tight black button up and black dress pants strode in, heels clicking on the wood floors, her face strict and set wrinkles only made her expression more severe.

She gave Alissa a bow saying, “It’s an honor to meet you Miss, would you like to follow me to a more comfortable room to discuss what brings you here?”

Alissa waved the woman off impatiently; the leader of this shop was only A rank and she already saw through all the tricks in the house.

“No need, I won’t be here long. First, I know you accepted a request to kidnap a little rabbitkin slave, no need to deny it. You will destroy any evidence of her you have, recordings, images, descriptions, and you’ll forget she ever existed. Next, you’ll make sure every one of your little worker drones knows that if they touch a rabbitkin, anyone looking like her, or anyone related to me, I will personally tear up every inch of land from here to the heart of your little playground you call a homeland searching for you. Lastly, you’ll tell me exactly who hired you and give me every bit of information you have on them, and we’ll call this settled.”

Alissa let the murderous aura she was always suppressing loose in the small shop, the two in front of her having to withstand the full force. They were no longer in the shop. It was dark, they were stranded in a marsh of dead blackened trees soaking in thick blood up to their chest. They saw all sorts of creatures decorating the blackened and dead trees and ravens pecked at decaying bodies scattered through the hell. The black sky overhead sent down a blizzard of ash and sulfur, choking them. Burning their lungs and throat with each breath as they forgot they were in the A and B rank, not needing to breathe for hours. Before this force they were mortals, ants.

In the center of the swamp was a dragon sitting majestically on a mountain of her defeated foes, the regal purple scales glittering red as they reflected their surroundings. The dragon noticed them as it slowly turned its fearsome maw their way. Inhaling a mighty breath, the dragon let loose a roar that shook their very soul, drowned their minds, and reverberated through their bodies.

The old man collapsed, but the A rank woman was better off, just kneeling on the wood floor, blood leaking from her nose and ears. She didn’t dare to fight back, especially as she noticed every single formation on her and the building had been destroyed just now, like the mana had been ripped right from under her grasp.

Not daring to oppose the woman in front of her, and even less willing to offend those behind her, the woman weakly handed over a file and spoke, “I solemnly swear on my very soul that by tomorrow everything will be destroyed and you’ll never see us again. The man who hired us is Theon Zurk, the leader of a family in the Randier Merchant Group. Happy hunting my lady.”

She deeply bowed to Alissa and dragged the old man away to recover, it would be a long night.