章節 3: Adventurer
The pretty receptionist guided me through a well-lit corridor, which I assumed led outside to a testing arena, judging by the faint sounds of combat I could hear from the other side. I was a tad bit taller than her, and ever since I reincarnated from Earth and to the Cardinal World, the sensation of being taller than others left me—even when I regained human form. Of course, there were exceptions like children and Gobta, but I remember feeling so small when I stood next to my inner circle.
This feels nice, I thought. And I noticed she took a glance at me with a tint of red in her face.
Does she feel unwell? My question was left with no one to answer, so I just paid it no mind. Perhaps she was just nervous, though why she would be was beyond me. After all, she wasn't the one who had to put up with whatever this assessment entailed.
As soon as we exited the corridor, a blast of smoldering flame made its way to us. Calmly but quickly, I grabbed the receptionist woman's collar and pulled her closer to me. The very thin veil of magicules covering my skin neutralized the fire, and we were both unharmed. The receptionist stumbled slightly but was otherwise unharmed, her wide eyes darting between me and the direction of the attack.
I turned my gaze to the source. A boy, perhaps no older than ten—twelve at most—stood at the edge of the arena. His hands were still outstretched, wisps of residual flame curling around his fingers. He was trembling, his face red, not from exertion but from raw anger. His pointed ears marked him as a half-elf, though they were shorter than usual.
"What's his problem?" I asked the receptionist woman.
The receptionist, still recovering from the scare, hesitated before answering. "Th-that's Lucas Wykes. He's here for his own assessment, but I don't—"
Her words were cut off by another blast of flame directed at a cloaked woman who I assumed to be the proctor.
"Looks like he's upset about something," I muttered.
<<Correct.>>
Raphael's affirmation hummed in my mind. I'm a genius.
<<…>>
"Lucas Wykes!" The proctor barked, clearly pissed and irritated at the boy's reckless and uncalled behavior. She locked her narrowed eyes on the boy, daring him to try anything else. "B-Class," she added, not turning her back in case the boy tried another underhanded assault.
The boy, Lucas Wykes, clicked his tongue with veins bulging on his forehead. Damn. At this rate, he'll be full of wrinkles before he even hits twenty.
I was about to walk forward when I felt it—a faint presence behind me, masked with precision but not enough to escape my heightened senses. Whoever it was, they were skilled, but there was no fooling me. The receptionist next to me noticed the newcomer only when he was already beside her. Her demeanor shifted instantly.
"Guild Leader!"
I took a look at this guild leader. He was handsome, that much I'm sure of. He was a tall and slender young man with long black hair that is slicked back, and greyish blue eyes with glasses. He wore business suits and combat gloves.
I was a little shorter than him but he eyed me nonetheless.
"Are you here to take a test?" He asked me with a polite smile, along with intruding eyes that wanted to unravel me.
"Yes," I replied simply, not taking my eyes off of him.
"I see. You should go first then. The examinee Note, who's supposed to be next, will be personally tested by me. I want him to be the last examinee of the day."
"Personally tested, huh?" I repeated with a curios tone. "Well, whatever. I'll test close combats so have the male proctor fight me."
"Oh, so you're an augmenter. Fascinating. Alright then, I'll be watching," he replied, but it seemed he was silently pressuring me. Well, you'll be in for quite a show.
I stepped forward and entered the arena. My proctor—the male augmenter carrying a sword—was already standing at the opposite end of the combat space. I entered at a leisurely pace, confidence practically seeping out of me.
My proctor eyed me for a moment and turned his gaze to the sheet of paper in his hand. "Rimuru Tempest. Fifteen years old…" he paused, looking at me in disbelief as if unsure of what he just read. "White core? Dual specialization in earth and fire, as well as gravity and lightning deviants?"
A ripple of murmurs swept through the crowd, growing louder with each passing second. I could feel their stares, heavy with shock and curiosity. I suppressed a sigh. I had no idea what I was doing when I filled out that form, but I only did as Raphael suggested, but now I wondered if I'd overdone it.
<<No. This is precisely the best course of action.>>
Right. There's no need to be prudent. No second-guessing.
"And what stage are you in, mister?" I asked the proctor.
He looked at me with strange, unsure eyes. "Initial silver."
"Ah, so you're weak, then," I replied with a matter-of-fact tone.
"…Your comment aside," he muttered, clearly annoyed as he unsheathed his sword. "Let us begin."
Then, he suddenly rushed at me. His speed was impressive and I could see with my eyes the mana coursing through his veins with extraordinary efficiency. This guy is optimized for close-combat and I can see why.
But none of that mattered.
As he closed in, I raised my hand, calculating the timing down to the millisecond. The moment he was within arm's reach, I delivered a slap so fast it broke the sound barrier, the resulting shockwave reverberating across the arena. The force sent him hurtling across the arena like a ragdoll, slamming into the far wall with a resounding thud. To his credit, he survived, though his dignity didn't fare quite as well.
An oppressive silence descended upon the entire room. I could hear all their suppressed questions, their bewildered shocks, their curious and probing eyes. It must've happened so fast for them, after all. I turned to look at the guild leader, and he too, looked absolutely mortified.
I turned to the Guild Leader, meeting his mortified gaze with a calm smile. "Did that satisfy you?"
The Guild Leader was frozen for a moment. He adjusted his glasses again, but it did little to mask the tightness in his jaw.
"Quite the display," he finally said. "Your control is... impressive."
I shrugged. "Control wasn't really the point."
The murmurs in the crowd were growing louder now, and the Guild Leader seemed to sense the shifting tension in the room. He raised a hand, and the noise subsided almost instantly. He announced my results as the proctor was obviously in no shape to do so.
"Rimuru Tempest," he said, his tone now formal, "your assessment is complete. S-Class."
I thought for sure the credibility of the form I gave was still going to be further tested. Like, how are they sure I can even utilize dual elements? Shrugging it off, I simply nodded, stepping back from the center of the arena. The male proctor, who had managed to pull himself to his feet with the help of several staff, was glaring at me. His face was both of humiliation and respect, though the former seemed to outweigh the latter—heavily.
As I exited the testing area, I felt the weight of countless eyes following me. Some were filled with awe, others with suspicion or jealousy. None of it mattered. I was used to being watched, judged, and underestimated all at once.
The Guild Leader's voice rang out again, commanding attention. "Note, please step forward."
Ah, so it was the "personally tested" guy's turn. I decided to stay close enough to watch. Something about the Guild Leader's earlier declaration had piqued my curiosity, and I wanted to see what made this Note person so special.
A young man stepped forward—and by young, I meant very young. He looked younger than that Lucas boy, and he wore a white mask with a bluish mark on one side. The Guild Leader descended into the arena, removing his suit jacket and rolling up his sleeves.
"You're sure about this?" Note asked, his voice calm but laced with arrogance.
"Absolutely," the Guild Leader replied. "Show me what you've got."
The two squared off, and I leaned casually against a nearby pillar, arms crossed. This should be interesting.
The fight began without ceremony, the Guild Leader lunging forward with an attack that blurred the air around him. Note dodged, barely, his movements were smooth but clearly strained against the sheer speed of the assault.
He's weird, I thought as soon as I noticed. It's like Note's not used to his own body. He has the technical precision but his body cannot seem to keep up.
I watched the exchange closely, my interest growing. The Guild Leader's technique was flawless, his attacks precise and unrelenting. Note, on the other hand, relied on clever footwork and opportunistic counterattacks complimented by his unusually impressive reflexes and intuition, a style that seemed built around evasion rather than confrontation.
But something felt... off. The boy was hiding many things, and I could see it. Gradually, the match became more even and more serious, going beyond mere testing as I could see.
<<They're both nearly equally matched.>>
Of course, they are. That much was obvious. But why?
As the fight continued, it became clear that this wasn't a simple test. It was a performance, carefully orchestrated to gauge something more than just skill. When the Guild Leader finally ended the bout with his words, the crowd erupted into a mix of cheers and gasps.
"Not bad, but I believe we went far enough," the Guild Leader said, offering Note a hand as he wiped off his sweat. I saw him whispering something to Note. I could've eavesdropped but I decided otherwise.
"Note. B-Class."
Only B? That performance can warrant A, though.
◇◇◇
Rimuru received his adventurer card from the receptionist; the woman behind the counter eyeing him curiously while the others from a bit far away gossiped amongst each one another. He took a look at the contents written on it, donning a satisfied smirk at the shining gold font of "S-Class" in it.
He put the card in his pocket and made his way over to the vast quest board filled with missions and quests of varying natures and intensities. Some were as simple as gathering herbs and escorting a noble, while some warranted the explorations of various dungeons, or even the gathering of specific monster parts deep into something called the Beast Glades.
Beast Glades… that's interesting, he mused to himself.
He snatched a mission from the board, one that caught his attention. It was befitting of his rank of S, even though he was still a newbie, and it said:
Quest Type: Subjugation and Retrieval
Rank: S
Client: Mage Guild
Description: The Alchemy Guild seeks rare and potent materials to create elixirs for high-tier adventurers. These materials can only be obtained from the most dangerous creatures dwelling deep within the Beast Glades. The designated targets are:
Crimson Fang Basilisk – Extract its venomous fang, an ingredient for refining antidotes of unparalleled potency.Ironhide Dire Bear – Harvest the heart crystal, an alchemical catalyst with immense mana-conducting properties.Spectral Wraithwolf – Collect its shadowed pelt, a material used in crafting invisibility enchantments.
Rewards: 80,000 gold coins. Recognition certificate from the Mage Guild. Sponsorship.
Rimuru was satisfied with the quest he had selected. Folding the quest form and putting it in his pocket, Rimuru noticed the adventurer beside him was eyeing him like he was a madman.
"Yo. You look funny so please don't die."
With that, he turned around to inform the receptionists of his desired quest.
"Your quest is being processed, sir," the beautiful receptionist said, eyeing Rimuru's face a little too long than necessary. "It won't take long."
While his quest was being processed in his name, he contemplated for a while. Rimuru was still lacking in common sense in this world, and he knew that, so he believed the best thing to do at the moment was to hit up the library before setting off in his mission.
Raphael~~ let's go read some stuff.
<<Received. Accessing auto-mapped image of the "Floating City Xyrus," library detected. Directions specified.>>
His reliable partner's voice brought him excitement as a three-dimensional GPS-like instruction of directions appeared in his mind like a visualization.
"Here you go, S-Rank Rimuru Tempest," the receptionist returned, handing him his quest form but with an official stamp this time. Rimuru received it and as he did, the receptionist woman caressed his hand and gave him a wink.
He paid it no mind.
He turned around to leave the guild, not bothering to notice the countless eyes boring down on him. On his way, he came across a group of three. The atmosphere wasn't exactly welcoming or one of camaraderie, no, it seemed loathing.
He recognized two of them.
Lucas Wykes.
And Note.
Along with another boy with black hair and glasses.
I'm pretty sure they're all B-class, so are they having some sort of stand-off? Well, who am I to intrude, he thought. Except, that's exactly what he was about to do. Rimuru leaked a bit of his Lord's Ambition, and the three instantly turned their attention to him, their stances tight and stiff.
"You B-classes are on the way," he said with a smile that didn't reach his eerie blood-red eyes. "Move."
Lucas Wykes, though tense, suddenly felt assured as the guards of the Wykes family stood by his side. He thought that, S-class or not, a single boy that was a few years older than him would pose no serious threat. He also still doubted the legibility of Rimuru's S-class status.
"Ah, look who it is," Lucas said with sarcasm. "Our new S-rank. And what made you think someone like you have the rights to boss me around?"
"I knew it," Rimuru replied, heaving a sigh.
"Hah?"
"I knew I couldn't take sore losers seriously."
"You—!" Lucas's expression twisted with anger, though to Rimuru, it only made him seem more pathetic. "Mock me again and I will have my father—"
"It's not mockery," Rimuru interrupted, his tone turning ice-cold. "It's an observation. You're just that unremarkable." His gaze shifted briefly to the guards before returning to Lucas. "And hiding behind hired muscle while spouting idle threats? Classic sore loser behavior."
Rimuru didn't wait for a retort. He stepped forward, brushing past Note and the bespectacled boy—Elijah Knight, if he recalled correctly—without sparing them a glance. As the guild doors swung open behind him, Rimuru's smirk returned. Damn, it feels good to put brats in their place.
每周推薦票狀態
-- 推薦票
榜單 
-- 推薦票