Chapter 195: The Admiral Being Replaced?

They had long felt Aisha was not the same as other Guides. She was fearless and quick on her feet, and she had already proven to them that she could take on a Sentinel without losing.

Kane knew how hard it was for Guides to learn how to fight. It wasn’t that Guides didn’t want to learn or hadn’t tried; their bodies simply weren’t suited for it. They tired easily, and physical exhaustion affected both the quality and amount of Guiding power and purification they could provide. Hence, they were only required to learn basic self-defense to protect themselves in case of an emergency or if their partnered Sentinel became incapacitated.

In a Sentinel’s case, their bodies were what made them formidable, along with the supernatural powers they obtained upon awakening. When they overused their own powers, their mental landscape and sea could fracture, pushing them into a Rampage state and filling their minds with mental pollution that made them susceptible to miasma energy.

But for a Guide, their strength depended on the wideness of their mental sea and how much they could draw from it without overexerting themselves. As for purification, it was another process, and they drew on the quality of pure energy within their mental sea.

The longer they used their Guiding power and purification ability, the more their mental sea would shrink, and the potency of their purification would weaken. This would eventually leave them physically and mentally vulnerable to miasmic energy and harmful forces coming from Sentinels.

Kane was curious about how wide Aisha’s mental sea was for her to remain bursting with energy despite facing an A-rank Sentinel like Vesper.

His own mental sea was the size of a large pond. As a C-rank Guide, this size gave him an advantage against other C-rank Guides like him. But his purification value was lower, so he was just an average C-rank Guide.

"Aisha... she’s really a D-rank, right?" Sabel muttered, having also noticed the strangeness of Aisha’s rank.

Kane fell silent and pondered for a moment. "Does that look like a D-rank to you?"

Sabel looked at the two as they continued training intensely in front of them. Aisha was vigorously defending against each of Vesper’s attacks and countering whenever she saw a chance. Even from their vantage point, it looked like Aisha was already gaining the upper hand against him.

Their previous training was different from this. Even when she lost control and attacked Aisha with her Sentinel power, Sabel didn’t think Aisha could have improved so much in such a short time.

Compared to when they trained, Aisha looked more in tune with her body. It was as if her mind and body had become one!

"There must have been a mistake during her ranking evaluation..." As Sabel spoke, she pointed at herself, Kane, and Vesper. Amazement flickered across her eyes as she continued. "Because there’s no way I don’t feel like she could defeat all three of us even if we ganged up on her."

Kane’s eyes widened, and he silently agreed with her.

The only explanation behind Aisha’s strange strength and power as a Guide was that she had been mistakenly evaluated as a D-rank.

"Then... what do you think her rank will be if she gets reevaluated?"

Sabel was stunned before shaking her head. "The evaluating equipment can only tell us what rank she is."

"I think she’s an S-rank." Kane wiped his sweaty face with his sleeves as Sabel stared at him in shock.

"You mean—"

"Forget it, we can worry about that later." Kane smiled helplessly. He felt bad for revealing his thoughts far too soon. He knew that Aisha being an S-rank was just his speculation, and it would still depend on the main evaluation center to decide her rank.

"Let’s focus on training today."

After they trained for five hours, they finally decided to stop and rest.

Since they couldn’t completely tire themselves out before the day of the duel, they went to lounge in the living room while Sabel ordered a couple of snacks for them to munch on.

While waiting for their food, Aisha turned on the Telescreen. The screen instantly showed the latest state news. Most of the news covered the Association’s current predicament. The public questioned its power now that the strongest person in the Association couldn’t currently perform his duty.

There were some outcries from the Sentinels and Guides, asking how the Association would protect them if the Admiral was gone. He was practically the only Sentinel who would jump into any high-risk contaminated zone. They questioned who would replace him if he died!

The room fell silent as they watched the reports, unable to believe what they were seeing.

The screen showed some people who were being interviewed.

"The Association must act quickly. Either find a replacement for the Admiral who can do his duty or drag him out! My son is still trapped inside a contaminated zone and needs help!"

"That’s right! My wife hasn’t come out of a zone for three days already. When will the Association do something?! Now that the Admiral can’t even come and save her, who else can go?"

"I’m going inside a contaminated zone tomorrow. Now, after seeing the news of the Admiral being unable to do anything but lie unconscious, I’ve become more afraid to go in!"

More and more people came out to voice their complaints about the situation, wanting the Association to take responsibility.

Seeing these people angrily air their grievances, Vesper scoffed. "He isn’t even dead yet, and they’re already thinking about who can replace him. These people are talking a load of nonsense."

Aisha glanced at him. "Can he be replaced?"

Kane nodded and explained, "In the Association, if an Admiral can’t do his duty any longer or commits some heinous crime, he will be stripped of his title and imprisoned. If he fails to complete his responsibilities for an entire week, they will be forced to find another Sentinel to replace him."

It was an existing rule of the Association that was known by almost every Sentinel and Guide on the planet. They’d witnessed a few Admirals being replaced because they were unable to fulfill their duties as expected.