Stanley ate some dumplings with delicious fillings inside to take away his fatigue from the training he had done earlier.

Gray had prepared quite the training facility for him by dragging a large bunch of Tungsten and Adamantine nuggets to the bottom of the facility. They were the heaviest things he could find and was thus using them for training.

Not only that, he also had been made a rather restrictive set of clothings that hampered his movements unless exerted a lot of force, which caused him to train harder.

Once he was done for the day with that sort of training he was finally free to eat what he wanted to.

He enjoyed his dumplings, even making Sheila nervous, who was sitting in front of him with a different meal.

"Maybe I should have ordered some dumplings too," she said.

"You should have. It is so tasty," Stanley said. "Why don’t you order some now?"

Sheila looked at her own meal again and shook her head. "No, that’s alright," she said. "I don’t want to over eat. I don’t have a high metabolism like yours."

Stanley looked at her with a confused look, prompting Sheila to explain to him what Metabolism meant.

"I don’t think I have a particularly great one. Its probably because I train so much," he said.

"That might be the case as well," Sheila said.

It had been a week or so since Stanley returned from his mission, and so had Sheila. She had a little mission in Pandene from what she told Stanley, which she completed in no time at all.

Now, she was waiting for her next mission just like Stanley.

"Do you want to go to the city after this?" Sheila asked. "I have a lot of free time today."

"Sorry, I can’t," Stanley said. "I’ve been told to go nowhere without the director’s permission. I’m not allowed to leave the compound."

"What?" Sheila’s face switched to one of anger. "Why would you not be allowed to go anywhere? You’re not a servant or a slave."

"No, no," Stanley quickly spoke up. "It’s not like that. It’s for some upcoming mission."

"What mission?" Sheila asked in frustration.

"I’m not sure," Stanley said. "But they said that I can’t be seen anywhere near Starhall. If I am seen somewhere, it has to be somewhere outside of Starhall."

Sheila frowned hearing that. "So if you want to just go hang around a city, youll have to go to an entirely different country?" she asked.

"Barson," Stanley said. "I’m only allowed around Barson for now from what I’ve heard. I was even told that I could go live in the Barson branch, but I didn’t feel like it."

"Did you not ask what mission it was?" Sheila asked.

Stanley paused for a bit. "Are we allowed to ask?" he inquired.

"No," Sheila said, shaking her head. "Sorry, I thought they were treating you poorly because you were a Nova and got a little mad."

"No need to say sorry," Stanley said. "And thank you for getting mad on my behalf."

Sheila nodded. "Alright, eat your dumplings quicker or it will go cold," she said and finished her meal.

Stanley devoured his own meal in just a few more minutes and went back to his room to learn more things that a man of his age should have known by this age.

It wasn’t just the language, history, or general affairs that he needed to know to go by his daily life. He also needed to know things like science and math and finances to go about his daily life.

He also trained his powers when he had the time. He tried to see how long he could slow time and if it would remain active even when he fainted. He trained to differentiate the present and the future in his future sight visions.

He also tried his best to learn how to manipulate the other person’s perception without being caught.

All of this were just him trying to not fall victim to his own powers. It was an unlikely scenario, but a possible scenario nonetheless.

Stanley also hadn’t learned any new powers, letting him believe that this was all that was for him.

His 5 powers were all that he could gain with the souls that he absorbed. By now, every soul in his body had most likely already disappeared, and he could gain no more in large amounts at all.

Stanley spent the next few days following the same routine as well. After that, he was finally given another mission again.

Based on the description of the mission, it was a simple, but time consuming one. In the northern regions of Barson, there was a gang known as the Hunters, who had grown incredibly large around this time.

They were so large that they were problematic for the police force as well. As a result, they had asked for help from the government, who in turn sought the AAAs help.

After confirming the requirement from the Barson government, the AAA had realized that they had taken up a bit too much work this time around. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

The Hunters were a large gang, who had networks through multiple cities. As a result, this was going to be a mission that required multiple people to take part.

Over the next few days, the number of people in the Headquarters increased by a lot as multiple people came in, preparing for their work at Barson.

Stanley hadn’t yet been briefed on which city exactly he was going to as there were two more days left, so he chose to spent the time training.

He was in the training area, with a tight black cloth that was extremely elastic and yet hard to stretch at the same time.

His wrists, arms, back, thighs and ankles were all strapped with multiple lumps of the heavy metals which he needed to train. He also had his sword with him, which he swung around.

He was practicing on his own when the elevator door opened and Gray walked in.

"Stanley!" he shouted, catching Stanley’s attention.

"Good morning, Gray," Stanley said. "Why are you here? Are we training again?"

"No, I want you to meet someone," Gray said as another figure walked out of the elevator. A woman in her early 20s arrived in front of Stanley and sized him up from head to toe.

"Hello," Stanley said, greeting as politely as he could.

The girl had surprisingly bright blue hair and had eyelashes so long that it seemed unnatural. She was also quite pretty, but not as pretty as Amy.

She also wore a tight fitting black dress, which Stanley took a moment to realize was a fighter’s uniform.

"This is the new Nova?" the girl asked, surprised. "He’s just a child."

"So were you when you joined," Gray said. "Stop acting old. You’re not even as old as me, and I’m young."

"Hmph!" the girl snorted and looked toward Stanley. "Nice to meet you. My name is Mona."

"Nice to meet you too. I am Stanley," Stanley said, a little confused by the name he heard. He had heard of it before.

’Mona, Mona, Mona...’

"Ah!" he finally remembered. "You’re part of The 5."

"She is," Gray said. "I’m surprised you remembered. You haven’t met any of them as far as I am aware."

"No, this is my first time meeting one, but I have heard of their names," Stanley said. "It’s a pleasure to meet you, miss Mona."

"Oh, he’s quite polite," Mona said. "Are you sure you taught him? I don’t see anything about you in him at all."

"Are you calling me rude?" Gray asked.

"Why? I’m not allowed to tell the truth anymore?" the girl asked.

Seeing the two bicker like that, Stanley realized that they were quite close. He waited for them to finish speaking again, before he spoke.

Mona realized that they hadn’t been speaking and turned toward Stanley. "I was told a rather hurtful news about you, little brother," she said.

"About me?" Stanley asked curiously. "May I ask what sort of news it was?"

"Well, this man right here told me that you could win against me with barely any effort at all. He insinuated that you were stronger than 3 amongst The 5," she said.

Stanley looked at Gray with a concerned look before turning back towards the girl. "I’m sure he was just exaggerating, miss Mona," he said. "There is no way I could beat one of the five strongest fighters in the AAA."

"Maybe," she said. "But now I’m curious and want to see just what it is that makes you so special. Especially given the fact that you are a Nova, I’m even more intrigued."

She moved to the center of the open space and got ready for her fight.

Stanley looked at Gray, begging him to tell him what he should do at this place.

Gray instead simply shrugged. "She wants a fight, so I suggest you give her a fight," he said. "Just... don’t hit her too hard."

Stanley frowned after hearing Gray’s words, but in the end he sighed and nodded. "Fine, I’ll do it," he said, turning around to go toward the center of the room as well.

He looked at the girl who stood casually and started wondering just what her powers could be. The information they had on her and the other members of The 5 never had any such information.

"Get ready," the girl said. "I’m starting now."

Stanley got into a stance and nodded.

Seeing that, Mona smiled. And then... she clapped.