Planos looked at the pale girl before him with pity. She’d unwittingly killed someone she shouldn’t have, and then fell into a trap without knowing any better. But it couldn’t be helped. Such was her fate.

“Why do you want to kill me?” She asked, trembling slightly. Planos felt a slight pang somewhere in the general vicinity of his heart, but ignored it.

“You killed Gradas Meir.” Planos’ uncle, Tanor, stated.

Aurelie frowned. “One, I didn’t kill him. Two, what does that… guy have to do with anything?” She asked, deciding that it would probably be a bad idea to call Gradas Meir the very bad name she wanted to call him in front of a second stage Elemental Apprentice that liked the recently deceased man.

“If you didn’t do it, then who did?” Tanor asked, choosing to ignore point two (which was the more important point, in Aurelie’s opinion).

“How am I supposed to know? I was out cold at the time. And don’t ignore my question.” Aurelie told him, frowning.

“Well, if you got lucky once, you may get lucky again.” Tanor said, once again ignoring the last part of what Aurelie said. Aurelie would have been mad, but her ‘JUMP!’ sensors were firing and she was listening to them.

At practically the same moment she jumped, Tanor punched the air in front of him. A huge wave of air rushed towards her. Aurelie gaped. The wind wasn’t the product of him being an Air Elemental, but a shock wave created by his strength alone. It would appear that the rumor that the difference in strength between the stages beyond the Grandmaster level was astronomical was true. She could take several of Gradas’ punches, but if she had taken this one on head-on, she likely would have died immediately.

As it was, she hadn’t jumped far enough up to fully avoid the wind punch. The comparatively weak winds that hit her were enough to send her flying towards a rock wall ten yards away. Gritting her teeth, she created a Spirit Power barrier around herself to lessen the impact. At the same time she created the barrier, she subtly slipped her hand into a self-made pocket in her nightdress and gripped two small stone pendants so hard they broke. She also congratulated herself for deciding to wear shorts under her large shirt.

And then she slammed into the rock wall.

Her barrier took about seventy five percent of the impact, but she was still unable to move for a little while afterwards. She gasped for air, all the air in her lungs had all escaped her on impact. Around her, small rocks rained down, having been broken off by the hit.

‘So this is a second stage Elemental Apprentice…’ She thought to herself.

Out loud, though, she gasped out, “If… you’re… going to… kill… me… at least... tell me… why.”

Tanor flashed to her side. “You really are tenacious, surviving that. Nice instincts too, jumping when you did. If I wasn’t sent to kill you, I’d try to recruit you for our master. Too bad he wants you dead.”

It was like talking to a rock. “WHY?” Aurelie asked, enunciating each syllable as though the man were mentally challenged.

“Master is the enchanter who sold Gradas his Enchantment Scrolls. He’s a grade two enchanter. Our clan works as his bodyguards because he saved grandpa’s life.” Planos told her. Tanor turned and glared at him.

Enchanters were divided into ten grades, with grade one as the lowest and grade ten as the highest. Interestingly, unlike with cultivation, the grade was absolute. Unless some sort of miracle happened, the grade you had was the grade you stayed at. She didn’t know how exactly the grade was decided, but she did know it likely had something to do with every enchanter’s unique feature: their ability to compress their spirit energy into thin threads outside of their bodies, and then weave those threads into a sigil, which was then imprinted onto a scroll.

While it was true that Enchanters were rare, and a grade two enchanter was considered good, it was likely that he didn’t have many followers. The reason was simple: if you’re strong, then why not try to curry favor with a higher grade Enchanter? It was likely that Tanor was his strongest follower. After all, if she could kill a first stage Elemental Apprentice, then, no matter how small of a possibility, there was a chance she could kill a second stage Elemental Apprentice. If he had someone stronger than Tanor, then she would likely be facing that person now.

Aurelie quickly understood what was happening. By killing Gradas, who possessed Enchantment Scrolls he had made, she indirectly said that his Enchantments were unable to take care of a third stage Master, which, obviously, undermined his reputation. By killing her, he would be able to hush the matter up, as well as vent his frustration.

“Why did you tell her?” Tanor growled at his nephew.

Planos shrugged. “She wanted to know. Besides, it’s not like she can do anything to us now.”

Tanor sighed. “I know, but it’s best to not let your enemy know anything, no matter how much weaker than you they are.”

Planos opened his mouth to respond, but before he could, a low laugh sounded out. They both turned to Aurelie, the source of the laugh. She was sitting up, with a victorious expression on her face.

“You should listen to your uncle. Letting your opponent know all the cards in your hand is a bad idea. And who said I couldn’t do anything? Remember, I’m a very cautious person. I prefer for all my alliances to be secrets.” Aurelie smiled, and for some reason, it chilled the two of them two the bone.

And, at that moment, a man landed between Aurelie and Tanor, simultaneously revealing his aura. He was a third stage Elemental Apprentice!