The two of us arrived in front of a large bustling building. The two of us wore disguises, hiding our faces since I didn't want to be recognized outside of the Royal Academy. It could only cause problems later on.
"Welcome to the Mercenary Center! How can we help you?"
Amelia smiled brightly and immediately pointed in my direction. "We're here to have him register as a Mercenary."
However, even with the disguises, it seemed Amelia hadn't quite understood my point. She was simply way too naive.
"Do you have any records that might be helpful in ranking you?"
I tilted my head, unsure what she meant by that, as Amelia stepped in once more.
"We're from the R-"
I put my hand on her mouth just as she was about to say that. I didn't want people to know where we came from. Otherwise, my hidden records would be here inside of the Mercenary Database. I shook my head, realizing that I should have warned her before.
Still, I made the decision that I should be the one speaking from now on.
"No, I have no records."
The woman seemed to find it strange but didn't comment on it, since I had just acted so rashly in stopping Amelia from speaking.
"I see, then we will have to evaluate you by having a fight against one of our veteran mercenaries." She pointed to a small resting area where dozens of other people were already waiting, patiently waiting for their turn. "You can sit here and we will call you up when it's your turn."
She gave us a small piece of paper with the number 67 on it as she greeted someone else.
The moment we sat down, Amelia seemed confused as to why I hadn't let her tell the lady that we were from the Royal Academy. It was bound to make the registering process a lot easier.
"I don't want people to know about it. I want to be treated like everyone else. That's all." I smiled at her and said, "Please let me do the talking from now on."
Amelia found it strange at first, but seeing how I was so persistent with it, she finally accepted my wishes.
Surprisingly, the time passed by quite quickly as I couldn't help but listen to the people leaving the testing room. Some were disappointed, while others seemed extremely happy. However, what I found interesting was that no one had ranked above C-Rank, which meant that this test was probably quite hard.
"Number 67, please head to the testing room!" A loud voice echoed throughout the room as I immediately stood up, with Amelia cheering me on before leaving.
I smiled at her and entered the room where a single person could be found inside. He was sitting down, seemingly meditating. He didn't even look at me, his eyes completely shut. However, even in this very position, I could feel every strand of my body screaming at me to be careful.
'He's strong.'
"So, you're the next one," he finally said, still not opening his eyes. Then, without wasting another moment, he added, "Try to make me stand up."
I was confused for a moment before realizing what he truly meant. He wanted me to attack him and scare him to the point where he would need to stand up to defend against my attacks.
'Is he that confident?'
I had observed the other participants, and they weren't exactly strong. But they should still be able to make him stand up.
"You can begin."
With a short nod, I dashed forward, hiding my presence completely as I pulled out the Lix Training Dagger and tried to cut off his neck. However, just as the dagger was about to cut his neck, he rose his right arm and blocked it perfectly, not wasting any movement.
'How did he block it?' I frowned.
He had only moved his arm. He didn't even have his eyes open...
"Let's make this easier on you. Try to make me open my eyes."
'What kind of mercenary is this? Why is he trying to tease me?'
"Am I allowed to attack with the intent to kill?" I coldly asked as I tightened the hold of my dagger.
The man didn't have any reaction to my words as he quietly nodded, confident that I wouldn't be able to kill him.
"What happens if I kill you?"
He burst out laughing. "You're not strong enough."
"How do you know? I've only attacked you once."
"If you were strong enough, you'd have killed me with your first strike."
'Is that so...' I thought to myself.
[Shadow Manipulation]
I teleported to the other side of his body and swung the dagger at his right arm. However, once again, just as it was about to hit, he dodged.
I did it again and again.
But every time, it wouldn't work.
It was as if he could read my mind.
"Is that it?" he asked when I finally stopped attacking him relentlessly.
I didn't say anything and decided to try something new. I wanted to attack him from different directions.
[Wind Burst]
A wave of wind was immediately released from my hand.
[Shadow Manipulation]
I appeared on the other side and did the same thing again. I continued to use [Shadow Manipulation] and [Wind Burst] over and over again, attacking him from all angles as I began to notice small cuts appearing over his body.
It was working. He wasn't able to resist my attacks.
Normally, such a method would have never worked, as most people would have run out of mana after a few seconds of attacking. However, with my limitless amount of mana, that restriction was not a problem at all. I could continue all day if I wanted.
It had reached the point where the veteran mercenary began frowning.
"Dual Affinity and a ridiculously large mana pool..." he muttered under his breath. "I now understand why you were so confident. However, I think you forgot something. I'm sitting down with my eyes closed."
Without saying another word, he opened his eyes as a burst of energy exploded within the test room, pushing me against one of the walls.
"You're the first person in quite a long time who made me open my eyes. Not bad, kiddo." The veteran smirked. "Let's see if you can make me stand up."
In the span of a second, I felt like I no longer had any chances at winning. My whole body felt pressured, my legs already giving out.
'Why is someone so powerful here?'