"Mnn….Grand Teacher is extraordinary." Kassidy serenely nodded her head, having no problems with answering Darcel's question.
She even gave Darcel a small cutesy smile before continuing on to tell him, "I don't think there is anybody in my Sect that doesn't think Grand Teacher has an undeniable truth in her words. For me….I want to be just like her, so full of wisdom and knowledge. I want to achieve what she achieved to take control of my whole life."
Kassidy's voice was pleasantly sweet, having a tone filled with warmth and affection while talking to Darcel.
By now, she was essentially drowned in Yin Pleasure, the greenshade Divine Property, and Darcel's own presence.
"Grand Teach huh….and she's the one that sent you down here. But what for?" Darcel asked next. Even with all the stories he already heard about Masami's Grandmother, his intrigue continued to rise with another person's perspective.
"Grand Teacher, or as you know her as Masami's Grandmother, she wants Masami home now. I'm not too entirely sure about the specific details as she let me out of the loop. But, I can safely say, she has vital plans for her."
When Kassidy finished explaining, she suddenly directed her eyes right into the eyes of Darcel's mask. In a genuine tone, she asked him,
"Master….are you a miracle worker? No….you just have to be one."
'Chi!"
A Darkness glow burst from the center of Kassidy's soul's core form body!
Darcel was taken by surprise for a bit, seeing as Kassidy already called him Master without her Darkness Soul link forming. Though he quickly saw why considering this apparent submissive personality she has.
Kassidy, however, honestly didn't put much or really any thought into accepting Darcel. She didn't complicate things by clinging to her brain in a vain attempt to push out Darcel's Darkness Essence.
Kassidy relied on her pure instinctive sensations.
It was in a similar manner of how she would cultivate. She would let her comprehension smoothly flow into her brain without forcing herself or over practicing for a lengthy amount of time.
And Kassidy actually managed to gain several enlightenment insights this way.
Now with Darcel, there was also a critical insight she almost instantly learned. That is, Darcel genuinely will be the one to lead her whole Ice Nine Tail Sect to the top of the entire Nine Provinces!
She didn't try to overthink it or apply any logic to it.
Kassidy just had the utmost trust in her instinctive feelings, which was telling her that Darcel, her Master, holds unfathomable power never once seen by the whole Nine Provinces.
In only a couple of seconds, Kassidy's Darkness Soul link formed and quickly solidified.
Her Darkness glow vanished, revealing the pleasantly smiling Kassidy. She had her eyes closed, basking in the soothing warmth Darcel's presence had on her.
"If you want an official answer on if I'm a miracle worker. Then, yes, you can say that I am. With me, you can gain all the wisdom on this entire continent and much, much more."
Darcel's words may be boasting, but he spoke with an unbreakable assurance, making it difficult to not believe him.
Not that Kassidy needed the assurance. She slowly opened her eyes, having no touch of doubt anywhere. "Of course, Master. And we should leave now, Master. I'm sure that Masami will have questions for me."
Darcel readily agreed and poked a single finger on Kassidy's forehead.
….
Back in the real world, Darcel and Kassidy started to blink awake at the same time. Darcel's eyes open to see Kassidy's sky blue hypnotic eyes.
Kassidy was giving Darcel her now usual small sweet smile while staring up at him.
'I wonder….is this her true personality? Or she never acted differently?' Darcel mused to himself as he indeed didn't have any prior interactions or experiences with Kasai.
And out of all Masami talks about from Sect, 'Kasai' rarely came out of her mouth.
While Darcel briefly pondered about it, Aniela and Masami came up right behind him. Aniela held an analytical gaze at Kassidy's proper appearance, already liking what she saw.
Just from how serene Kassidy appeared as Aniela can tell she's one of the silent thinker types.
Her appraisal of Kassidy went up a slight notch when she had turned her gaze over towards her and Masami, giving them the same sweet smile and a nod of respect.
"Mnn, Darcy. The calms ones really are the most manageable." Aniela thought out loud, nodding approvingly to Kassidy.
Masami, on the other hand, had a more pointed gaze at Kassidy. Before anyone could start, Masami needed this cleared up for her.
This thought was actually burning away in her mind. "Alright, just what the hell is this? What's your explanation on being a guy for what would be like….twenty years of your life?" She asked while pointing a finger right in front of Kassidy's face.
Kassidy calmly reacted to Masami's accusing question and tone. She stood up along with Darcel and explained to them with great respect filling her eyes.
"It was all because of your grandmother, surprisingly or not surprisingly enough."
"Eh? Grandma really went that out of her way for you? Just what did she do for you?" There was a particular slight envious pitch lacing Masami's tone.
She always thought her grandmother does overly special things for her and only her!
Kassidy, still remaining calm, told her, "Ah, it's actually not special for what she did for me. At least from my memories, Grand Teacher gave me an exotic illusion charm for people to perceive me as a boy. The reason being is….well…."
For the first time since talking, Kassidy's expression shifted. She briefly gained a slight melancholic one for a lightning split second.
Darcel, Aniela, and Masami did manage to catch on to it, but a moment slower, they would've missed it.
However, after that split second, Kassidy's expression returned to normal.
Before she could speak again, Masami interrupted her, telling the other fox girl, "Well, whatever, I'm not too interested in that. More importantly, just how did grandma know that I'm specifically here? And why does she want me to suddenly come home?"
Darcel already knew half of her answer but kept his mouth shut. He waited anyways for the girls to listen to the whole story so there would be no confusion. And Aniela was listening in very closely.
"Ah, that's right, Master. It slipped my mind when we were in my soul. I forgot to tell you that not only I know about Masami's disappearance. But I was able to find out your parents know as well. Though Grand Teacher never explicitly told me this."
Darcel and Aniela looked over to Masami, gauging her reaction. They both know she has quite a complicated relationship with her parents.
But, instead of an aggressive reaction, Masami curiously tilted her head. "Disappearance? Wouldn't Grandma simply tell them that I ran away from home or at least cover for me? I mean, that's why you're here, to get the runaway child."
Kassidy didn't deny Masami's words, nodding towards her, but she had explained next,
"Indeed. That's what I think Grand Teacher was doing for quite some time. But, I was lucky enough to be told by Grand Teacher that a special crystal that was tied to your life aura suddenly broke. They lost all trace of you since that day, and they still can't sense you. To this day, not even Grand Teacher is sure on why your life aura crystal broke."
Darcel, Aniela and Masami paused for a moment. They didn't need to think long and hard at all as their eyes almost instantly flashed in realization.
"Something unexplainable happened that shouldn't have happened at all? Of course, it has to be that day!" Aniela wonders out loud, pinning everything on the day they fought that Scientist.
Darcel and Masami believed it as well since it made the most sense.
When they got teleported to take those hellish trials, the trio could tell they weren't anywhere near the Icy Cloud Province.
Furthermore, they had also lost all of their cultivation at one point in those hellish trials. They could understand why they would think Masami had 'disappeared.'
Masami got a little aggressive when speaking next, saying, "Tch, either way, I couldn't give the faintest of damn if my parents think I disappeared. But...."
Her tone quickly grew softer thinking about her grandmother. "Grandma….did she….ah! I know what she did; she actually used her mysterious powers!"
"Yes, with Grand Teacher foreseeing abilities, she had foreseen something tremendous going down in New Branch City and must've amused you as the cause. She had given me the Fox amulet, which allowed me to trace your specific bloodline variant." Kassidy stated.
"Did she now….hm." Masami turned her gaze over towards Darcel. "Now I see why you wanted her. She may be the only other youth beside me that has clear, deep connections to grandma."
Darcel saw her point, but it wasn't entirely true. He explained to her, "A bit of that reason. At first, I mostly just assumed she had some faint connection because she tracked us down. Mainly though, she left a far better first impression than those other kids. Now that she is under us…."
Darcel turned his attention over to Zhaun and Cui's knocked-out bodies. He could spot a faint white Light glow shrouding around their heads. "How long will they be knocked out for Aniela?"
"Mnnn….for a week or so. I can also manually wake them up if you want me to. Basically, we won't have to bother ourselves with their snooping eyes and noises." Aniela explained.
Kassidy had looked over to Zhaun and Cui's fallen bodies as well, not caring in the slightest about their well beings.
But she did quickly catch on to why Darcel would want them knocked out for a while. To quell any leftover concerns in him, Kassidy began to say,
"Ah, Master. You won't need to worry about them seeing something they shouldn't have. Grand Teacher has a way to take care of that."
Darcel put his gaze on Kassidy, nodding towards her, and told her, "Alright then. Also, Kassidy, you will still participate in the Mercenary Exchange Event." He had then turned his sights over to silent Raven Sako.
"And Sako, you do have a contact ring, right?"
"Yes, Master."
When Darcel had pointed her out, Aniela, Masami, and Kassidy suddenly realized that she was actually still with them. They nearly forgot about her presence because she was so quiet and deathly still.
Aniela and Masami could even safely say that Zara wasn't this silent.
Under the girl's mild surprised eyes, Raven Sako briskly strolled up to Darcel and handed him her Mage Contact ring.
Taking her Contact ring, Darcel quickly thought over some things. Compared to how he did it with the Snow Angels group, getting the Raven Mage Order leaders to come out of their hole would be a challenging task.
All of them hold far different values than cultivators and even have rarer items than cultivators. Moreover, even with Aniela and Masami, Darcel couldn't say he was one hundred percent assured on taking Spirit Mages that are most likely equivalent to tenth level Heavenly Kings.
Just from today's battle, it showed that Mages have numerous surprises until their very end.
Darcel only had it easy because he and the girls significantly overpower them. Being arrogant is a sin that Darcel proves himself time and time again that it leads to eventual ruins.
But, though Darcel wasn't assured of having a legion of woman Mages under his grasp now, he still had other plans for Raven Sako.