Taking out the three greater horned wolf carcasses, the vulture carcass, and the mutated black horned bison carcass, Malia began her inspection carefully.

Her mother told Malia that she had to be strict and careful because she wasn't sure if Jason wouldn't cheat.

Purchasing a five-star wild beast carcass wasn't difficult and the first thing Mali noticed upon starting the inspection was that four out of five carcasses were killed with a single strike.

Only the vulture had a few more cuts and a larger wound at its wing.

After seeing that, she thought for a moment before she decided to scan Jason's mana core rank which left her baffled for a second as she regaining her senses.

Looking at Jason she asked with a serious face but slightly hesitant.

"You are only at the 4th Novice rank and you want me to believe that you defeated five five-star wild beasts?? According to the wounds, most wild beasts were killed with a single dagger thrust...I believe you don't have any evidence that you killed them, right?"

Greg´s eyes widened and he pulled himself from the bottom, he was still lying on.

Standing up within a moment, he looked at Jason carefully

"WOAH you're already at the 4th Novice rank… That's pretty fast" Greg said while smiling at him.

Malia looked at Greg as if he was the dumbest person she had ever seen and she about to throw a fist at him when Greg continued…

"Didn't you break into the 2nd Novice rank on the exam day? You're pretty fast...haha"

She was way too confused to understand anything.

How could an almost 14-year-old youth, only be at the 2nd Novice rank on the exam day?

That meant Jason´s mana control and sensitivity should be awful as he should only be able to sense mana for a short time.

However, considering the fact that he improved his level by two in such a short time told her that Jason was stuck at the first or second Novice rank due to a different reason.

Jason noticed her perplexed gaze and her eyes turned almost into question marks as he answered her unspoken question.

" I can sense mana since a long time ago but I couldn't improve my mana core rank due to personal reasons. Only approximately a week before the exams started I was able to improve my mana core which results in my weak rank."

Clearing his throat, Jason added "And you asked If I have some evidence...unfortunately not. The only thing I have is a small injury on my back from the vulture.. While I fought head-on with the vulture, the other four beasts were all ambushed by me with a grade-1 Jade Iron dagger."

Finishing his explanation he took out his dagger that was still a little bit stained with blood from his morning hunt.

Malia was deep in thoughts pondering what to do as she decided to let her thoughts out loud without holding back

"To be honest I´m not sure if you're really able to defeat a five-star wild beast, but the more confusing for me is the question, why exactly my parents try to help you to enter the affiliated school of the Vanguard school in Cyro city.

They own you a favor but that could have been solved with Credits or through other ways… My mother said something about your eyes and I understand her slightly as I feel something weird about them but considering your rank and your soulbond´s strength, it would be almost impossible for you to survive in any of the affiliated Vanguard schools.

Furthermore, our reputation will be stained once other nobles find out that we let someone as weak as you into one of Astrix most prosperous schools."

Malia said, feeling somehow unsettled.

She didn´t think Jason was lying but assassinating a five-star wild beast shouldn´t be that easy for Jason and killing it with a single dagger thrust even less.

Except his combat prowess was much higher than his rank...

Considering what Jason´s background told her, he was extremely poor, without anyone that could teach him about martial arts and Malia didn´t know what to do.

"I´ll report everything to my mother and let her decide the matter, ok?"

She ended her speech and tried to show her cold face but Jason and Greg noticed her being uncertain.

Greg had always been uncomfortable with anyone except his own family since elementary school as many parents told their children to befriend him because of their parents' business and wealth.

In the beginning, everything was fine until one day when a boy clashed with Greg that the whole show was blown off.

The boy who clashed with Greg told him that everyone was after his parent's wealth and not a single friend of his was real.

The young Greg didn't believe it at first, but looking at the other children's innocent faces that didn´t even try to deny it was devastating to the young Greg.

Some of them even acknowledged this cruel fact without hesitation which changed his mind.

Getting to know, that he was only befriended because of their own parents told them to, shocked him, causing his mental health to suffer.

Greg faced with the cruel facts, couldn´t help but feel left alone since then.

It took him a long time to even talk to his family as he blamed them for being rich.

But what could his parents do about it? 

They moved into a different city where Greg entered middle school but he didn't make a single friend.

He became a loner that ignored everyone's approach, seeing them as frauds before even getting to know them.

After some time Greg noticed a blind youth sitting next to him in class, silently listening to the lectures, focusing solely on school.

He didn´t mind envious classmates bullying him or treating him like trash because of his perfect grades.

Somehow, Greg grew comfortable around Jason with time passing and he took care of the bullies while asking Jason for advice about certain subjects once in a while.

Jason answered them diligently but he didn't care about Greg´s existence more than necessary.

This made Greg somewhat happy and he began to secretly see the blind youth as a friend while Jason himself wasn't aware of that.

Jason thought that it was a coincidence that his classmates stopped bullying him as Greg sat next to him in school.

He answered Greg's question because of gratitude towards him, but that was it.

Malia thought about Greg´s situation, which was the reason for her wavering eyes as she was happy that her brother finally found a friend.

Even if she wasn't happy when Jason told Greg to pick a different soulbond, in the end it was fortunately that Greg listened to Jason, which was all that mattered.

Their parents were also concerned about Greg and she hoped that they were as expectant about Jason as she was.

It was the second time that Greg noticed something different about his sister and both times were about Jason so he drew his own conclusion.

"WOAH sis!! Why are your eyes wavering...do you want Jason to follow us to school?? DO YOU L-LLo-v....."

Before he could end his sentence a small ball of water blew Greg away a few meters.

"You are embarrassing! It's not like that, Idiot"

⊙.⊙ Jason thought they were playing again so he didn't mind their words.

But upon noticing the strength of the small water ball, he was astonished and extremely terrified.

This unstable-looking waterball had the strength to blow away a 3rd Adept rank with a physical first soulbond that was probably already at the low evolved stage, without much difficulty.

"Malia, if your mother doesn´t believe me about my capabilities, can you ask her if I can hunt another five-star wild beast while recording it?"

Jason smiled gently, trying to cover his insecurity.

Greg's sister looked feeble and beautiful but behind this facade was a ferocious monster and Jason was a little bit timid about her wrathful outbursts.

Malia seemed to be at least at the Expert rank if not higher but he couldn't really read her mana core rank as he had never seen something comparable.

She seemed to have a higher mana core than the teachers he had seen so far but her parents and the old man were still a lot stronger.

Jason still asked Malia for the small favor if her mother didn't believe him.

He wished to enter a high school in an A-Grade city as the mana density there should be multiple times higher, while instructors could help Jason with his martial arts.

Many resources would be provided against school merit-points that wouldn´t be sold to commoners without any achievements or a vast amount of credits.

Other than that, many other benefits could be gained through schools.

Greg´s family was his only way, but there wasn't anything he could do once his mother rejected him.

Even so, Jason was already grateful for the opportunity he received as well as  the permission to the Heaven´s Hell technique they gave him.

If he was honest, Jason didn't think he deserved this chance as he only told Greg to pick a different beast as the first soulbond out of his gut-feeling.

He could see the radiating color of the bull but why should he care about someone he wasn't even close with?

Or were they close?

Jason wasn´t sure about that… social interactions were still new to him and he didn´t know when exactly one could call someone else acquaintance, friend, or even close friend.

Jason stored the carcasses away after Malia finished her inspection.

After that, she wrote a detailed report to her mother.

Thinking that he should go home, Jason wanted to stand up, when Greg stopped him.

Greg wanted to talk to him a little bit more about Cyro city, the vanguard school, and so on, so he stopped in his tracks.

Hours passed and Jason left the Fler´s mansion after the three of them finished their talk.

Getting to know more about the affiliated schools of the Vanguard school, Jason was at first excited and then he grew more and more serious until he once understood something.

He was pitifully weak…