Maya being the analytical type could understand Eric's reasoning. "Very well, information for other information is a fair deal."
She thought of anything she knew that could be of use to Eric or info that had value. "The influential Frostena family and the powerful Thorne family are trying to arrange a marriage between them for political gains."
"Interesting information, is this rumor or a fact?" Eric inquired.
"I heard it from the mouth of Maria Frostena herself, so it should be real and not just hearsay." Maya answered with a straight tone.
"I see, I find it hard to believe she would tell you directly. Can you explain?" Eric interlaced his fingers as he leaned forward.
Maya thought about it for a second before answering him, "my ability allows me to hear exceptionally well, so Maria is unaware I even heard her."
"I accept your information, and a deal is a deal. My full name is Eric Blackwell."
Maya could have sworn she had heard that name somewhere before, but she couldn't place exactly where. She decided to research it at a later time.
"Thank you for upholding your end of the trade." Maya responded to Eric.
Aria on the side was confused by what was currently being talked about. Frostena who? She could have sworn she was in a business dealing between two companies just now. In this case the companies were Eric and Maya as they were working out a trade deal.
Before long their lunch time had come to an end, and each of them headed their own seperate ways for the afternoon classes.
Aria went to the arena where her physical fitness and weapons training classes were up next. Time to spar with Victor I guess.
Once changed into her combat uniform, Aria entered the large open arena where dozens of students were already waiting. Victor who saw her, gave a friendly wave before the instructor Diana Everett spoke up.
"Listen up, yesterday was a tiresome day with everything that happened during the field trip. Today we are going to do something a little more fun instead. Let's play a game!"
Aria for once dreaded this class, ugh I suck at sports. Little did she know, this 'game' wasn't any ordinary sport.
"We are going to play a modified version of dodge ball. It has all the same rules as normal dodge ball, if you get hit anywhere below the head than you are out of the game. Everyone will be spilt into teams and due to the number of students, there will be a couple of games going on around the arena."
The instructor continued to explain the rules. "The major modification is that you can use your abilities on the ball to your advantage. Nothing fatal please. The other modification is that if someone throws the ball at you and you catch it, you have the chance to tackle the person who threw it. If you successfully tackle or knock them down, then they are now out of the game. Should you fail to knock them down, then you are out instead. If you decide to not tackle after catching the ball then it's a null throw and you then take possession of the ball."
Finishing her breakdown of the game rules, Diana began to split the students into groups. Aria ended up on the same team as Victor somehow.
"I kinda wanted to play against you in this Aria, but oh well. Being on your team could still be fun." Victor said as the two walked to their teams field.
Aria nervously chuckled, worried that Victor seems to think a little to highly of her skills.
"Let's just do our best," Aria said to him as she looked at the already defeated looks on the other teams faces. Victor being their opponent meant defeat, one way or the other. I'll just pretend to get hit right away so I don't have to play this silly game.
Each team had around ten students, and Aria's game was about to start. There was only one ball per field and the person who started with it was randomly chosen by the instructor for each game. Aria didn't believe it was random due to being the one who got it first. Random my ass, this is rigged.
Aria gripped the ball in her hand as the game had begun. Victor gave her a thumbs up, but Aria didn't feel confident. How hard do I throw? I don't want it to be suspicious but it also can't be wimpy either.
Aria chose a girl standing on the opposite side with short dark green hair. Getting ready to throw, Aria used about 25% of her strength thinking it was enough for the frail looking girl. With an overhand throw, the ball flew towards the girl with a decent amount of speed but nothing abnormal. In a shocking turn of events, the girl grew larger as her muscles bulged. Activating her ability, her skin turned a greenish shade and two tusks came out of her bottom lip. Using the newly gained muscles, the girl caught the throw with relative ease.
[ Target Scanned Successfully]
- Name: Suzy Orgena
- Bloodline: Folklore, (Ogre)
- Rank: D-rank
Dammit, what the heck is that! I guess it's my fault for not scanning her beforehand. Aria cursed herself for her carelessness. The girl decided she wanted to tackle Aria in return. Aria chose to just let herself be tackled, she could care less about this game. Aria braced for impact as the greenish girl came barreling towards her.
The girl collided with Aria, but she didn't fall over. With her recent density increase, Aria was sturdier than ever. The green girl was a D-rank with an Ogre bloodline but still she should have been able to push over an F-rank. "What are you, a brick wall?" The girl groaned while she struggled to push Aria.
Soon the call was made and Suzy had failed to knock over Aria, meaning she was out instead. Aria had been given possession of the ball again and this time she decided to put some effort in. Especially after a certain notification had appeared from her system.
[ New Quest Received - By trying to intentionally fail and lose at the game, you still won? Keep the win streak going and defeat the opposing team! Reward: 50 Exp, and 1 free stat point. ]
Aria couldn't turn down a good quest.