The next day, Sun turned on the video chat in his room. The other party opened the call and the connection said 'stable'.
On the other side of the chat stood a woman with midnight black hair and a pair of arched eyebrows.
"So? What do you need from me?", Minerva asked him and crossed her arms.
"Um, I need some insider information...", Sun said and tried to act calmly.
"Ho? And for what reason?", she was not very comfortable with Sun asking for information. It did not feel right. She thought Sun might've encountered some problems at school or something.
"I need to find a person.", Sun said desperately.
"A person? What name?"
"Shira Yao."
"...", Minerva remained silent.
"What's the matter?", Sun asked.
"Well, how should I explain? ... Better give you a warning: Don't mess with the Yao's. Even the Spring Gang dares not to interfere with that family. They specialize in spirit beast producing. Their Warbeasts are one of the militaries standards pawns. Additionally, there will be elections coming soon and Honzo Yao is very likely to become the next president."
"Election? New president?", Sun was surprised.
"Yes, right. You couldn't know this since this matter was only discussed in the inner circle of the noble families. The current president is getting old now and will probably retire in the next three years."
"And the next most suitable one is that Honzo Yao guy?"
"Yes. His leadership abilities are top-notch. He owns the family company which raises and sells those spirit beasts. His influence and connections are to be feared and nearly nobody I can think of could afford to offend him or anyone in his family. They are one of the five great families in Esperia."
"If her family is like that then why was she bullied by those two guys at school?", Sun found this matter rather strange.
"She's a member of that family. Won't that Honzo guy protect her?", Sun struggled with this problem and could not connect the dots together yet.
"Is something on your mind?", Minerva noticed the stern look on Sun's face.
"Well, you know ..."
Sun started to talk about their encounter at school, their little trip and how it ended. He told her every detail he noticed back then and half an hour have passed before he knew it.
"...and that's about it."
"I guess you came to me to find information about her, but this is sure strange... You know, Shira Yao is actually the daughter of Honzo Yao.", she said.
"What?! That even one more reason to not hurt her!", Sun was confused and couldn't connect everything together. The parts don't seem to fit well together.
Minerva thought about this matter for a while:
"Sun, Shira Yao was really her name and she was really assaulted by two students?", she asked for a confirmation.
"Yes."
"Okay, you can have the information about her, but keep it secret because students shouldn't receive information on this level!", she said.
"Thank you, Minerva!", Sun was hoping to hear her say that.
"Sent. You will receive it in one hour since it is encrypted in order to protect the data."
...
"Ahh...", Minerva sat down and took out a cigarette out of her pocket.
"Is something wrong?", Sun asked. Minerva looked stressed these days and she needed the cigarette to calm her down.
"Just affairs of the inner circle and the next NFT( Noble Family Tournament) with be held in two months. I'm currently in lack of talented youngsters.", she said and sighed.
"The kids these days don't take the training serious enough and many of them are slaking.", she added.
"Teacher, you sure have it hard.", Sun tried to console her a bit and tried to switch the topic.
"By the way, Minerva, I'm a Demon Hunter now. What do you think?", Sun said proudly.
"What's with that smug face? Well, it's not bad. Hunting Demons will provide you with early battle experiences and somethings life-death moments. It will surely benefit you in the future.", she said.
"Well, I'm honored. Thank you, Minerva."
The cigarette she smoked earlier is already at its end and Minerva extinguished it with her hand.
After opening her hand, there was nothing more than a pile of dust.
"So strong, with one hand.", Sun thought and secretly admired her.
Minerva thought for a bit and gazed upon the city of Aseid from the window behind her seat.
"Sun, would you like to represent the Spring Gang in the NFT this year?", she asked.
"Teacher, I'm not capable of such a feat. My strength cannot be compared to the geniuses of other families. Besides, I'm not even a descendant of a noble family, wouldn't my presence in the NFT tarnish the reputation of the Gang?", Sun thought of the calmy and replied to her.
"That won't do. You are my disciple, therefore a member of the Eisenberg family. There is no such thing as tarnishing my reputation."
"Besides, I have my own problems to solve. The second orientation week is going to end soon. After that, my schedule will be full..."
"Ho? Can you tell me why I get the feeling that you deliberately don't want to enter this tournament?", Minerva trained Sun for quite a bit of time and is aware of his behaviors. Even the slightest change in his tone would lead her to suspicion.
"I-"
"You are going to enter it, no excuses. It will be a good experience for you to fight strong opponents.", she said.
"So she already made up her mind. Her asking was just a polite way of forcing me to enter.", Sun thought.
"Yeah, whatever. Since you already asked me, I'll just enter it. But don't expect much of me.", Sun answered her.
He knew, in fact, much about the NFT. This tournament is held two months after the start of the semester. Many noble families and geniuses of the clans and tribes are going to compare their strength. It is a tournament where the youngsters of the next generation can make some contacts and receive great prizes. This is only the superficial side of this NFT.
The greater families, who are holding this tournament, are going to send their best pupils in order to show their cultivation progress to the others. It is also basically a show of power of the families as well.
"So since I'm going to enter, could you tell me what I could gain when I hit one of the first places?", Sun asked.
He knew that the prizes are very valuable items like a purple grade weapon or "excellent-class" cultivation potions, which will enhance the person's strength manifold.
"Well, this year's first prize will be a beast soul. From what I've heard is, that this beast soul is quite extraordinary. It's said to be a lightning-type."
"What?! Is this for real?", Sun thought. This may just be the lightning beast soul needed to craft the Dextra.
But he had a little doubt on the beast Soul. He could not think of why the first prize would be a beast soul. Other people would not know the use of the beast soul rendering them to be useless. Unless there is a Soul Former Master in their family who can connect the Soul of the Beast with the Soul Origin of the person. Soul Former Masters are quite rare in the era, so only a handful of them are in Esperia.