A Strange Feeling

Hours swiftly breezed by, and the evening quickly fell over Pearlcrest City.

Once again, as if it was now their routine, Asher and Elsa showed up at their same rendezvous alleyway all the way in the Southern area of the General District.

As per usual, Asher and Elsa were dressed in their sleek black clothing and spouted their trademark plain black mask.

Asher and Elsa arrived practically at the same time, both highly eager to start their night.

When spotting Elsa, Asher nodded at her and asked, "All fired up and ready to go?"

There was even a small leakage of Asher's budding anticipation while he spoke. After this night, it would finally be time to take on the mission, which will dramatically change his, Elsa, and his friends' lives.

And to make sure tomorrow goes as smooth as possible, Asher knows he'll need to get even more violent tonight.

"Asher….actually, one thing before we go in."

Instead of immediately responding to Asher's readiness, Elsa suddenly grasps Asher's hand, stopping him from moving.

"Hm?" From behind his mask Asher only curiously raised his eyebrow.

He didn't sense any chaotic emotions or aura coming from Elsa, so Asher was sure she wasn't about to tell him some colossal issue. But he was patient, remaining silent as to prompt Elsa to continue speaking.

Seeing that Asher is always patient with her, Elsa lightly smirked. It's always nice to have someone always willing to listen to you no matter the situation they're in.

Focusing her mind, Elsa began telling Asher, "Because of how fast everything went by yesterday, I never got a proper chance to explain it. But for tomorrow, you should have a clear understanding of my true combat prowess. The reason I can so easily defeat anyone at my stage is….well, I'm not at the Early Stage at all. I've reached the Mid Stage Origin Tier not too long ago."

"Huh….oh….oh?!"

Asher's reaction was a little delayed before he went rigid in utter surprise.

Elsa is actually a Mid-Stage Origin Tier!

Immediately, Asher began to vividly recall every fight Elsa participated in yesterday, and everything started to line up so clearly.

While it is plainly evident that Elsa has a talented combat prowess, Asher did find it highly curious how easily she could dominate her opponents. The gap Elsa continually shows in battle was so big that she might as well have Mid Stage prowess.

And now it turns out that it's all true.

Even though Asher already had a high dependence on Elsa, he felt his assurance in her skyrocket after this news. Still, there was one question that promptly bogged Asher's mind over this shocking news.

"Elsa….this is just….fantastic! The mission had just gotten a hell of a lot easier to deal with. But, I'm just wondering….why are you suppressing your cultivation then? Is it family-related stuff? And are you hiding your cultivation by some unknown magical device?" Asher inquired.

Elsa immediately nodded, crossing her arms under her bust while explaining, "I can perfectly suppress my cultivation because of specifically crafted items used for suppression. And as you're guessing, my Family, specifically my Father, wants me to suppress my cultivation. Believe it or not, despite how extravagant they show off, my Father doesn't want more attention on me. He says what I show now is good enough."

"Good enough? Does this all have to relate with your relations with the Melton Family?"

A bit of spite leaked into Asher's voice when mentioning the Melton Family, but he stayed relatively calm.

"Partially. If I reveal that I'm essentially number one in the Academy, toppling over First Ranked Blake, far more High-Class families will level their attention on us. Many more would want to covet my potential, and my Father only wants the Melton Family. He has….particular deep relations with them."

Elsa continued to explain all in an even tone. If it was before her relationship with Asher, just merely thinking about these topics would heavily damper her mood.

But now….Elsa felt incomparably calm.

No matter how demanding her life sounds, Elsa has an unbreakable hope that she can get through it with Asher.

Asher, on the other hand, went into deep contemplation over what Elsa said. Her words made him think over the actual outcomes of showing off as a genius.

The more he thought about it, Asher realized that nearly if not all Ranking Students come from some sort of established background.

Whether they were a Clan or Family, these genius students will have a decently powerful background to shelter them. So even when taking away Balreth Academy protection, they could still rely on their background to always project their lives.

But for himself, Asher knows he has no background to rely on in this City.

And Asher can't deny the possibilities of one day somebody potentially snuffing him out over his massive talent potential.

At the same time, Asher also realizes if he can pull some sort of powerful background to protect him, not only would this greatly benefit him. But also, Reese, Kylee, and Elsa can go on the same boat with him.

All Asher needed to think about was what he can do to pull a powerful background behind him.

Asher knows he'll need to have something more than just incredible combat potential to have a powerful organization back him up.

'Maybe….no….there are plenty more I don't know about Ghost Powers. I know you're listening Yuki, we could go over this later. For now….' Asher refocuses his attention on Elsa, who patiently waited beside him as he fell into thought.

Gaining a powerful background will come later; Asher knows he needs to focus on his personal prowess first. No matter what other useful ability he can develop, he would only get taken advantage of without proper personal strength.

"Let's put these matters on hold until we get this mission done. I have several ideas to discuss with you about this stuff. But, for now….it's Match time."

The swirl of anticipation returned for Asher as he planned out the night in his mind. He could practically taste the massive amount of money he and Elsa would make after everything is said and done.

"Right. Let's get going." Elsa sounded nearly calm, but she, too, couldn't suppress a budding excitement for their rewards.

Promptly then, the duo continued walking towards the Burning Night Pit Organization.

….

Immediately when arriving inside the Burning Night Pit Organization, Asher and Elsa made a direct beeline towards the Matches area. For tonight, the number of people had slightly increased.

Asher and Elsa even notice there was a more sizable amount of people heading towards the Matches area.

While the duo smoothly strolled through the crowds, everything appeared normal.

However, Asher and Elsa felt strange from simply walking. When they glanced all around them, neither Asher nor Elsa saw not one single person take any particular notice at them.

Everybody seemingly ignored them, just like their last two days.

And yet, Asher and Elsa couldn't help but feel there were brief glances locked on them.

Asher and Elsa didn't detect any hostile gaze or really anything from their Aura Senses. But the odd feeling as if there was a specific set of people hiddenly watching them wouldn't leave the pits of Asher and Elsa's stomachs.

Of course, this didn't make Asher and Elsa stop walking, but they were furrowing their brows in deep thought.

If someone was watching them, just who could it possibly be?

Even though they wore the same outfit for the last two days coming here, nearly everyone else also donned the same clothes.

No matter what, it would be impossible to tell them apart just from pure looks alone. Moreover, they weren't releasing any noteworthy Magical Aura, so they shouldn't be able to get identity from that.

Asher and Elsa tried to come up with any possibilities on why they had the feeling of being watched. But they honestly couldn't come up with anything that makes sense.

When Asher and Elsa recalled every step they made, neither of them recalled making any significant mistakes. They went about doing things as any other match participant would do.

As Asher and Elsa finally arrived at the Matches area, the duo just had to push down that feeling for now.

Unless they wanted to make more of a scene than they should, the duo knew it was best to temporarily remain ignorant.

Still, Asher and Elsa had raised their guards even more than it already is.

Without having to trade any words, Asher and Elsa glanced at each other and nodded their heads as if they could understand each other's thoughts.

Right then, Asher and Elsa were about to stroll up to the Matches vendor. But, they abruptly stopped when a white glow flashed from Asher's pockets. At the same time, Asher and Elsa also sensed energy flowed out from Asher's pockets.

'Why is it….huh?' When Asher reached into his pockets to pull out his Night badge, he and Elsa got mildly surprised.

Right in front of their faces, Asher and Elsa bared witness to a holographic projection exuding out of the Night Badge!

Almost immediately, Asher and Elsa shuffled to a secluded corner so they wouldn't get disturbed while reading.

"Ah….I know we heard that these things could do it yesterday. But, it's still highly impressive seeing it in person." Elsa couldn't contain her thoughts.

Despite wielding a colossal amount of power and living in a lavish mansion, she never laid her eyes to holographic projection. This was probably the most advanced technology she ever saw, if it even was still standard technology.

"It sure is impressive….but, I'm more shocked by the fact that someone actually wants to challenge me," Asher said, feeling legitimately surprised by the content of the holographic projection.

Against all odds, there was actually an Early Stage Spirit Tier warrior willing to challenge him on their own.