"Oh shii.." Rai uttered in his thoughts realizing the tough situation he had put himself in just by saving the girl.
"Please I'm pleading with you! Train me!" She requested.
"What!?" Rai astonished exclaimed, he never expected her to request for such a thing. Train a woman? That had to be the most dangerous mission mankind had ever embarked on.
"Train you!?" He asked to confirm if he heard her right.
"Yes, judging by the way you drove that man and his accomplices away with just a single stare I could tell you've attained a level of strength that can rival that of a noble" She responded, her head still bowed before Rai.
"Rival!?" He thought, she had no idea how dead wrong she was. In terms of skills yes, one could say he had attained a level of skill that no noble could reach. However when it came to the use of essence he wasn't sure if he'd be able to take on the girl in front of him.
However this particular situation presented him with an opportunity, even if she wasn't good enough to take the exams yet. She most definitely is a good enough source of information linking the fact that she was of this world.
"Fine then, however it does not come free. There's a price to pay in exchange for my knowledge and skills." He uttered bluntly.
"Why..." The young girl spoke in her mind, already coming to the conclusion that she knew what he was after.
"Why does every man I approach for help always tries to take advantage of me just because I'm helpless." Growing up she wasn't exactly a favoured individual, being an abnormally beautiful 5 foot tall woman with recommendable chest, hips and ass.
She was always the target of assualts and rapes, none has been successful but that scarring experience had left a terrible image about mankind in her head.
"Information." Rai added as he rotated his left pinky in his ear.
"Wait..what?" The young girl raised her head up and stared at Rai as she wasn't expecting such a response.
"Information... you're going to tell me everything you know about Essence and this so called EssenKnights." He responded.
"Um... okay I guess." She rose her body up as they came to an agreement.
"Perfect, let's get out of here." Rai spoke as he turned around and began walking away but was quickly stopped by the voice of the girl.
"Wait! We could umm, discuss back at my place." She felt awkward inviting Rai to her apartment.
"Huh, what are you a dunce?" Rai replied rudely as he resumed walking to find a place he could rent for the day or possibly till the exams were over.
"Those nobles are obviously going to track and mess you up, after all you were the reason they were humiliated like that. Given their pride, they won't let this go." He spoke from his experience as an assassin, looking out for the interest of the girl even if he laid it out in a displeasing way.
"Oh..k" The girl responded following Rai from behind. Hours passed and Rai managed to find an apartment for rent at only 40 pieces of silver per month which was perfect given the money he had at hand.
"Now then, tell me everything you know about essence umm..." Rai went straight to business not even offering his guest any refreshments. "What do you know about essence? And I'm not talking about the basic stuff like it's a contamination that humans survived or anything like that. What can it really do? What sort of abilities does it grant an individual?" Rai inquired, gaining answers to this questions could potentially grant him understanding to his own essence.
"He's way to blunt, not attractive for a guy as cute as him." She uttered in her thoughts.
"It's Selena....well if you really want an answer that accurate, essence is divided into four categories and the category gained varies according to the individual. There's the Natural Essence, the Royal essence, Alchemist Essence and lastly the Hunters essence." She took a moment to catch her breath before she resumed.
"Those individuals belonging to the Natural essence type utilize the elements of nature, water, earth, fire and air. Individuals belonging to the Royal essence utilize Light and Shadow abilities which is considered one of the strongest essence in the kingdom. However they belong to Royal blood, Alchemist essence utilizers possess the ability to manipulate the laws of physics and reasoning and finally Hunters essence utilizers are basically beast slayers, those possess abilities which grants them power to slay even the strongest of all beasts." She spoke summarizing the categories of essence.
"I see, given my essence abilities that means I fall under the Natural essence huh." Rai spoke lost in his thoughts.
"What essence type do you belong to? That way I'll be able to determine the best possible way to hone your abilities." Rai spoke completely sure he didn't know how he was going to train someone on how to use essence even when he himself had no idea how to use it.
However it was a concept that came easy to him, he wasn't bothered about not knowing how to use it now after all he possessed the necessary skill and knowledge that would help him utilize it more efficiently.
"I belong to the Alchemist Essence type..." Elena replied.
"Good lord." Rai proclaimed.
"Huh?" Elena uttered a bit confused.
"Oh it's nothing, now that I know your essence type it'll be more easier to design training methods to teach you. I hope." He responded realizing he really had gotten himself in some dip shit.
"How the hell am I supposed to train someone who can manipulate and bend the law of physics and reasoning? I mean if it was any of the other attributes sure I could manage, but this!?" He exclaimed in his thoughts as he stared at Elena who smiled knowing she was about to realize her dreams.
"Alright then, challenge accepted." Rai smiled getting to his feet.
"I don't understand." Selena responded in confusion.
"Let's get to it, let's turn you into a noble ass whooping Essenmage." He replied her weaving a smirk on his face.