Rana appeared the next moment like she was there all along. She glanced around and her eyes fixed over Jim who felt much nervousness from her gazes. "What are you doing here smart boy?"
Inwardly he heaved a sigh of relief. It seemed Rana in the morning classes differed a little with Rana in the night.
"They want to join the ace league," the master said and instantly Rana returned to her old self as she laughed in mocking way while pointing at Jim and asked: "Don't tell me this little midget here got hot and decided to aim for the ace league instead of playing in the inner disciple team."
Jim was too worried about his team as anyone might speak a word here and there to comment on such a rude way of her and end up getting severely punished.
However he never expected the reaction that others had.
"Damn me! It's her!" Kro suddenly shouted before moving forward along with Roo and a couple others, "It's you… the legendary Bulltor Berserker Rana! It's really you!!"
"I hate that name," Rana simply sneered as she totally ignored these kids before turning to the master, "Old man, you didn't summon me in the middle of the night to let some astray kids come and pay their tribute for the lost glory I once had."
"They want you to train them," the master didn't hesitate to speak up directly, "they wanted you to be their coach."
"What?" Rana turned around and glared at Jim, totally ignoring the rest as she knew he was their master, "are you out of your f*cking mind?" she shouted at him and Jim got a taste of her fierce aura at this moment.
"Why is that?" as he was aiming to hire her then he had to get used to her explosive temper and find a middle ground to deal with her. After all he would be the captain of the team and she was the coach.
"Because…" his question startled her before she hurriedly added, "didn't you hear about what happened to my career?"
"I only knew about you being so famous back in the days," Jim said while his answer didn't satisfy her. "I was badly beaten and lost myself for entire months before I woke up again. For that my entire career ended miserably and many called me nicknames that would bring bad luck over anyone dealing with me."
Despite the fact that she was speaking in a strong tone, Jim felt a hidden bitterness. 'She still couldn't get over that accident,' he surprisingly thought before feeling some sympathy with her.
"I don't care about that," Jim said in a calm tone while those surrounding their idol gave him an expected glance, "after all we aren't the best team out there and we are totally formed of grade one disciples. The question is do you accept to train such a team and bet your name on us?"
His words made her eyes widened for brief moments before she regained her calm. "You've got some courage boy… not overly smart ass without any muscles and spirit… nice," she turned to the master before adding, "My fees are one hundred academy coins per month, and I won't accept a single coin less."
"I understand," the master nodded while his face showed some excitement there unexplained to Jim or others, "what about their gears?"
"They can buy the cheapest set from the store," she sighed, "despite this would affect their chances in passing the preliminary matches but this what they can afford."
Jim hurriedly closed his eyes and checked the small fortune he had inside his ring. "I can pay for more," he suddenly said, stopping her before vanishing.
"You what?" she asked as if she didn't get his meaning.
"I can pay up to two thousand academy coins now," he said, "and if the master can help in supporting us and make me pay on stages then I can even double… not triple this number."
she turned to face him before putting her muscular arms over her waist as she said in a mocking tone, "And I can go and play in the best team in the league right now. Words are easy kid, but following them with proof is what really matters."
"I can pay these now," Jim said as if he wasn't fazed by her strong aura.
"And my fees? The fees to participate and rent the playground?"
"I can pay all that now."
"Damn kid… aren't you a human or what?" she couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "how much wealth do you really have?"
"A little," Jim smiled before adding in confidence, "about enough to make my team have a better chance in these matches."
She exchanged glances with the master who shrugged as he couldn't voice his support for Jim. He didn't know him and just met him a couple of minutes ago.
"Alright, come with me then," she changed her path while heading directly towards the gigantic building of the stadium, "C'mon old man, or do you want me to stand there waiting for you?"
"Coming now," the master moved while giving Jim a silent smile as the latter moved after the two. "Wait for me here," Jim said before vanishing inside the building after the two masters.
As for his friends, many were now stupefied of what just happened. "Damn! Will we really get that legend to train us?" Kro turned to face others while Rick laughed. "Our young master is really dependable."
"But the money he got must go thin by now," Deno said in a warning tone.
"No problem," Roo said in a very excited tone, "if he even asked us to go out each night and fight any group out there to gain money then I won't hesitate to follow through."
"Me too," Kro voiced his agreement and soon all did the same, even those who didn't know anything about the game or the significance of having such an ex-player as a coach.