Hearing this, both Jennifer and Malia felt immediately hurt and dejected.

While Jennifer had never been rejected, Malia predicted such an answer, but hearing Jason saying it without hesitation still hurt her deeply, more than expected.

Previously she wasn't aware of that, but it somehow hurt, even though she told herself to stop thinking about Jason.

´Idiot!` She complained inwardly, as she noticed Jennifer´s dumbfounded expression.

Jason looked at Jennifer nonchalantly as if he talked about something normal and not a rejection.

Suddenly Theo next to Jennifer began to laugh out loud, slapping her on the shoulder while teasing her, as Jason turned to Malia, who looked slightly depressed.

He wasn't sure what was going on, but he naively began to talk to her, as if nothing happened, after reassuring himself about her well-being

"Malia, are you okay?"

Seeing her nod, he began to talk about the reason why he came to the Vanguard main school, as he didn't want to waste any time.

"I heard you still have to do your expedition... Are you venturing into the four-star rift? If you do, can you take me with your team?" He said with a radiant smile and hearing Jason talking about the expedition, Malia, Jennifer and Theo were immediately attentive.

Clearing her throat, Malia said seriously

"Well...I haven't talked about the expedition with my team, but Jennifer and Theo are also members of our team… I would want to enter the expedition because of the high possibility to find expensive treasures which I need to help Greg.

Nevertheless, I haven't talked about this with my team, so I can´t tell you for sure...about joining our team...I don´t think your combat prowess is on par with us and protecting you would be a huge hindrance.

I doubt that you don´t know that."

Theo nodded his head, as he sensed that Jason´s mana core was barely at the 3rd Adept rank.

'Why should they increase the difficulty of their expedition by taking in a burden?' Was what both Jennifer and Theo thought.

Even though Jennifer was still frustrated about being rejected in such a straight and somewhat disrespectful manner, she was still able to think carefully.

Jason was only a first-year and at the 3rd Adept rank, while the combat prowess within the four-star rift was around the unblemished rank.

Even the beast below average would be able to kill Jason easily… 

They didn't plan to play babysitter while their life was on the line.

Ensuring everyone´s safety throughout the expedition was the most important aspect of their mission while accomplishing the other parts, which included their task would be the second-highest priority.

While the three of them were still thinking about Jason´s incapability, the other 8 youths, looked at the black-haired youth weirdly, as they noticed his calmness.

It seemed as if he predicted such an answer and he was even smiling, while his golden eyes flickered brightly as if he was expectant.

Averting his gaze to look at Malia, he asked, still smiling "Don´t you want to ensure your safety, while finding high-quality treasures? Have you forgotten about my eyes, Malia?" 

Jason tried to pick this path, as it was the easiest approach to attract everyone's curiosity.

Being able to ensure or even increase the survivability of their team, would change his chances completely and he had to advertise his capabilities perfectly in order to be accepted by them.

While Jennifer and Theo were confused and curious at the same time, it seemed as if Malia was suddenly enlightened, when Jason finished speaking.

"Oh!!!! True… you can see the mana flow, even in a distance… I completely forgot about that.. With this, we could avoid high mana density territories and search for high-quality ingredients without entering the most dangerous areas…. " Malia began to blur out, causing Jason´s smile to stiffen for a second until he regained his composure because he wanted to keep his mana eyes a secret weapon to convince the others completely.

But looking at Jennifer and Theo, Jason wasn't sure if that was even needed, as they stared at him with interest, without any prejudice about his combat prowess and incapability left.

Malia was still talking to herself until she noticed that she said her thoughts out loud, and remembering that she blurred out Jason´s secret, caused her to look shocked at him.

Laughing lightly, Jason reassured her that everything was fine, as he began his hopefully convincing speech towards Jennifer and Theo.

"Please let me join your expedition team! I´ll be a good Tracker because of my special trait!" he said, as he pointed at his golden eyes.

"I have special mana eyes and as every mana eyes can do, they´re able to perceive the mana flow others can only sense. 

With this, I can not only see high mana-density areas which are more likely to Inhabitat magical ranked beasts but I can even detect mana fluctuations from beasts and other living beings.

You guys can imagine how beneficial this can be.

My eyesight is extraordinary and I can easily see mana fluctuations more than 500 meters away, at most 1 kilometer, if I supply them with some mana.

With this advantage, we could easily hide from large unblemished beast groups or take a safer path within a cave, forest, or wherever. 

My combat prowess might be too weak in order to enter the four-star rift alone, but I can ensure everyone's safety as long as you guys trust my statements.

I'm confident that we can survive and collect lots of expensive treasures, as long as our preparations are well thought out."

After remembering Jason´s special trait, Malia immediately accepted Jason joining their team without hesitation, while Jennifer and Theo looked at each other with a complicated expression.

To them, Jason was a stranger, they saw for the first time in their lives.

Even if his statement was correct, could they really trust their one and only life on him, just like that? 

The only thing causing them to not immediately decline his request was Malia.

They were only exchange students that came to Astrix when the new year started, but Malia was reliable and trustworthy, not like many sly and tricky students they got to know during the short period they were here.

Furthermore, Jason seemed extremely confident in his special trait, while it was unlikely that he wanted to die with Malia next to him, as they seemed to be close friends.

Their gut feeling told them that the youth in front of them was trustworthy, but what worth had their gut-feeling once they were in a dangerous situation where they had to rely on Jason?

Figuring out that there seemed to be a trust issue, Jason wanted to reveal more about his eyes, but it could also backfire, which caused him to stop.

Pondering what to say, Jason felt distressed, as he wanted to enter the rift with them, almost desperately which Jennifer noticed.

As such, she asked straightforwardly, not holding anything back.

"If you tell me exactly why you want to join our team, I might accept your request!" 

Theo was still unsure what to do, as he heard his sister asking the exact same question he had in mind.

Thinking for a second, what exactly he should tell, Jason stuck with the truth, as he summoned Scorpio who´s exoskeleton was dark green with a blue shining mixture.

"To put it simply, I need credits… My second soulbond accidentally evolved after absorbing a huge amount of mana, but unfortunately enough, the required materials to complete the evolution were not present. Because of that, I need to gather the required materials to finish his evolution. 

In the end, I´m not really patient, and hunting beasts, in order to accumulate hundreds of star-notes, would take way too long. 

I don´t know if the incomplete evolution will cause Scorpio pain or if it could even lead to permanent injuries, which would be terrifying!!

As such I need credits and the appearance of the four-star rift is the perfect solution, don´t you think so?" 

Jason said honestly while hiding the most important facts, which was that he could beg his masters for funds in order to finish Scorpio's evolution and that he wanted to enter the rift also because he was curious and expectant to see the wide world.

Nodding her head, she could understand Jason´s concern, and her worry about him slacking off during their expedition slowly dissipated.

"I accept your request!" She said smiling before she added "But I don't accept your rejection!!" smiling boldly.

Theo shook his head due to his sister´s behavior, as he said

"I also accept your request… It's good to know that your soulbond is so important to you" 

Smiling, Theo decided to accept Jason because he thought someone who takes care of his soulbond while risking one's life couldn't be a bad and unreliable person.

Another reason for him to accept Jason was that it was interesting to see a 14-year-old youth controlling two soulbonds even though not even half a year passed since the last soul-awakening period.

Artemis was outside the soul world since the beginning, which led him to think that she might have evolved too, as it was weird for a normal contracted beast to take up too much soul energy in order to be forced to remain outside the soul world while remaining loyal and obedient.

This led him to conclude that Jason´s background couldn´t be normal as it was extremely difficult to find Beast-Creators which were almost impossible to disregard for an advantageous evolution, like Jason's soulbonds seemed to have underwent.