Carefully Gordon began to consider which diamond ranked wild beasts to approach. He had to admit to himself that while approaching a wild beast was the most risky choice it appealed to him. Knowing it was wishful thinking Gordon believed that the risk was worth it because if he could establish a relationship based on mutual exchange with a diamond ranked beast he aspired to what he thought would be an extremely safe and beneficial trust.
'Calm down.'
Gordon said to himself.
A wild diamond ranked beast would probably eat him before even starting a conversation. He couldn't just walk up to a potential beast and say hi. It would be important to carefully consider which beasts he could approach and how best to approach them.
Pulling out his talisman communicator he noticed that Jessica had sent him a text two hours before.
{Hey, how are you doing?}
Immediately the text distracted him from his train of thought about diamond ranked beasts. The vulnerability of her text struck him. Gordon knew from two life times of experience that she was opening herself up to him.
He could reply and dump all his confusion and fear from having a G ranked ability, the upgrade system, and an attempted assassination onto her. She had given him the perfect opportunity to do so. And at the same time there was no way he was going to emotionally dump all that onto her. They were close enough friends that she would know if he didn't give her at least some window into his emotions, so he couldn't tell her everything was fine when it definitely wasn't. So he needed to give a little without going into all the drama.
There needed to be a happy medium. But the problem was that she would probably be dealing with disappointment over having a G ranked beast taming ability. He could tell her that he was disappointed, that much at least was true. Could he tell her about the system, though?
Suddenly Gordon's heart broke a little. To Gordon it was surprising how much it hurt to think about cutting his ties with Jessica. Because of school, various clubs, and activities he and Jessica had had so many opportunities to interact and support each other. She never liked to stand out and never wore the fancy clothes and high heels that several guys had begged her to wear. Jessica had not fit in with her peers from military families, the nobles, or the second generation rich kids.
Instead she had quietly done her own thing and being ranked consistently in the top ten for their grade in school she had been able to do anything she wanted without any criticism. The fact that she had decided to befriend someone from the pits had been Gordon's saving grace. When he was around her he could relax and not worry about all the things. He didn't have to worry about scraping and lowering himself to serve the elites. She made it all okay.
But he had known that it would have to come to an end one day. The only thing that could have made it possible to even be in her vicinity socially would have been if he could have awakened a D class taming ability or above. Since he hadn't the path society had made for E class and below was to indenture themselves in a trade in the pit and then work there the rest of his life.
On the other hand Jessica would go to college. There almost all her time would be taken focusing on studying, training, and strengthening her new beast. On weekends and holidays she would have to spend time adventuring or taking stints with the army. As a military brat she would be expected to join her family in defending the empire. Plain and simple, there was just no time for a pit kid.
It was better for her if she found new friends that could share her trials and opportunities.
And while Gordon knew that the system gave him an opportunity to get out of the pit, his life expectancy was looking really short. Especially after that goblin assassination attempt by the apocalypse system. He knew that his upgrade system told him that everything would be fine, that he didn't have to worry, but he did worry. He really didn't want to bring anyone in on his adventures. It was true that the heroes and heroines from the books and comics he used to read always survived no matter what, but this was real life now and he wasn't sure if he would make it through in the end. Plus, even in those books the side characters sometimes died too.
It was risky. Choosing to find a diamond level wild beast to make a deal with, that was even riskier!
The problem was that his heart was telling him that he loved her.
"Fuck!"
Gordon stood up from his seat and paced the room. In his old life he had always pushed the girls away fearing that he would hurt them. Which was great and altruistic, but it meant that when he eventually found a girl that fit his life they had lived separate lives. Loving each other, but neither of them felt it was right to involved the other in their most difficult problems. The result of which was that they had lived a pretty low risk life. And maybe his wife had always wanted more and that was why she eventually turned to others instead of him for support.
In this life he had promised himself that he would not cut ties with a woman that he loved in order to protect her. It was too arrogant of him to assume that Jessica wouldn't be able to understand or handle his problems. On the other hand if she wanted out, he would get out and make it a clean cut.
His hand trembling for some reason Gordon took a deep breath and then texted Jessica back.
{Doing alright. I am sad, but I can't complain. I am how I am and I can work hard to grow little by little. Maybe I can make it to GGG rank.}
Sending the text Gordon wondered if she would reply back right away or if he wouldn't see anything for a few hours.
{Great! I can't believe it, you texted just in time. I am headed to Mount Fenier right now. I can swing by and pick you up. Do you want to go?}
Stunned Gordon saw that Jessica texted back immediately and she even wanted him to come with her to Mount Fenier.
Fenier Mountain was the largest mountain in the Grayback Mountain range. A mountain range that her family basically owned. Jessica had often talked about how every year all the new Philos beastmasters and their relations would take a pilgrimage to Fenier right after awakening their ability. It was a tradition.
Gordon had never thought that she would invite him, he had never even dreamed that she could invite him. His immediate thought was that she shouldn't do this. As someone from the Pit he didn't know all the traditions and simple etiquette that surrounded these types of events. He was sure to make a mistake, probably many mistakes that would humiliate her.
He knew he should say, no.
Instead he found himself sending off an entirely different message.
{I will be in your care!}
{Good, I am glad you choose to come! I will be at the statue in half an hour. Be there}
Jessica approved of his reply and then told him where to meet her.
The Epicurean statue was the place that they most often met. It was just outside their high school and located within a large park. The statue itself was of a naked man sitting on a high stool and reading a book. Neither of them necessarily liked the statue that much, but it was an easy place to meet away from the pit and away from the military base she called home.
Quickly Gordon stuffed a pack with some clothes, but mostly he filled it with all the adventuring gear that he had collected over the years. None of it was armor or weapons. Those had to be bought after awakening. It was illegal to own armor and weapons before awakening especially for a Pit denizen.
"Mom, I am going to Mount Fenier with Jessica! I won't be home for a few days, maybe a week. I don't know."
Calling out to his Mom, Gordon heard a rustle from her office and then she emerged with arms open wide asking for a hug.
"Honey, I heard about your awakening. I am so..."
"Don't say it, Mom. There is nothing to regret. I am who I am. I won't feel bad for being me."
Quickly Gordon cut her off when he thought she was going to say something sappy.
"Alright, you have always been a little too wise for your years."
Mom pulled back from her hug and gave him a little smile, letting him know that she was proud of him.
"Don't worry, Jessica will make sure that I am safe!"
Moving away Gordon headed to the door. As a G ranked ability user Gordon had no illusions, he wouldn't be protecting anyone. Instead others would have to protect him.
"Can't you stay just for a few minutes to talk?"
His mother called out even while he already had the door open.
"I love you Mom, I received her text late! If I don't go now, I will miss her."
"Alright, I love you, too. Good bye!"
She replied as Gordon hurried out the door.
______
Unknown to Gordon a tear rolled down her cheek.
"Your father is going to miss you, too."
But her son was already off and long gone. Turning she went back to her office and tried to get back to work.
______
Running through the close confines of the pit, Gordon made his way to the lifts. He had to stand in line for his turn and by the time he set foot on the floating platform he was already late. It was another seven minutes from the level he was at to the top of the pit and then five minutes from there to the park.
Fortunately once he came out of the lift the way opened up with broad roads and hardly any traffic at night. Around the park it was safe, most places outside of the pit was safe, so Gordon could run and dodge between parked cars and then trees once he was in the park.
When he finally arrived at the statue he was breathing hard.
Jessica stood with her arms folded and occasionally checking the time or calling up to the hover car that was maintaining attitude above her head. Two of her guards flanked either side of the statue vigilantly checking the darkness for threats.
"Phew! Finally, you are here. Come on, we are cutting it tight!"
She said, but she wasn't angry or upset, instead she excitedly waving him to come forward faster.
"Let's go!"
Jessica swung her leg over a hover bike and pointed for Gordon to climb on behind her.
"Hold on tight! Here we go."