The city lord was shaking with anger, but was trying to hide it to avoid annoying the emissary. He had gripped the handles of the chair, until it began cracking.
"I believe this is Victor's win, as that boy broke rules in the previous battle. Emissary, please fix this injustice."
Raikou was amazed by his shamelessness. "Why didn't you mention it before I fought him? You wanted to see him win and let it continue, until you realise he is too weak to get first place. Also! I didn't hear anything about interfering in battles, even if it was implied it wasn't stated. That battle was already over and your shitty son continued beating the opponent. If anything, he should be disqualified and Moses should be given second place."
Both Raikou and the city lord looked at the emissary to see what his verdict on the situation would be.
"I will allow the win to count, but that other boy will have to remain in third place. You did well boy. Even if it was in this small city, coming first against older opponents with better resources is something you can be proud of." The emissary smiled at Raikou, displaying his intentions to support him in this matter.
The city lord wasn't able to respond to this matter, as he didn't think offending the emissary was worth the trouble. He gave Victor another pill and sat back in his seat.
His eyes never left Raikou, as his gaze was filled with killing intent.
"Mister, can you not look at me like that. I've told your son and now I am telling you, I do not swing that way. It must be some hereditary thing for homosexuals to be born within your family." Raikou laughed as he walked back to his seat.
Raikou was revelling in the fact that the city lord couldn't retort in the emissary's presence. He could tell that the city lord wouldn't hesitate to act later.
"Right then, the quest reward. Let's claim it." Raikou had asked the system to implement a feature allowing to accept quest rewards manually to avoid any mishaps. Imagine him breaking through from accepting the xp reward just by standing there, it would be very hard to explain.
He got into the lotus position, waited five minutes and then accepted the reward.
Quest Completed: Get first place
Bonus objective completed: Drop Victor's trousers.
Reward: +5000xp
Level Up!
Raikou had broken through to the 7th level!
The emissary looked at him in shock. "Boy, are you telling me that you're not already at the 9th level?"
"No emissary, I am currently at the 8th level. I fought Victor at the 7th level." He added an extra level to make it less eye catching.
The emissary laughed. "I have found a good seedling in this small city, I will be rewarded greatly by the sect if your potential is also high. I'm hoping for atleast C class potential from you."
Raikou furrowed his eyebrows.
"C class is way too low, it seems the students of a low ranking kingdom's academy are quite trashy. Their best students would have at most either B or A class potential. With my system, I am definitely of SSS rank. I think I have to show less of my talents in the potential test if possible to avoid too much negative attention coming my way." He thought.
The system gave it's input. "Master, that can be done. I can alter the results of the potential stone to show a lower class of potential for you."
"Great, make my potential be C class. I want to be lower than some of the upper levels of the academy, so they underestimate me and get a good spanking if needed."
"..."
The staff announed the next step, breaking Raikou out of his thoughts.
Only the top 25 were allowed to move to the next step and enter the academy. The rest had failed and lost the opportunity to become a 'dragon', as they say.
Victor had healed up and returned to the stage. He was extremely annoyed when he heard the emissary's words about Raikou's potential, so he decided to show his superiority over him. He didn't believe that Raikou could have high potential and must only be strong in the apprentice level.
Victor placed his hand on the stone and 3 lines popped up. This showed a D class potential. He smirked and looked at Raikou, believing it will be higher than that of anyone else here.
"Oh my god, he's actually proud of such shitty talent..." Raikou remarked.
Victor was furious "Let's see if you can do any better! In this city, I am the overlord!"
"Yeah yeah, maybe in this city. Once we're in the academy, then we can have some real fun." He winked at Victor and stepped up to the potential stone.
Potential stone detected! Would you like to display your SSS class talent or alter it?
Raikou altered it to C class and 4 lines popped up on the stone.
He looked back at Victor who was gobsmacked. "Seems the stone is broken, as there's no way my talent could be higher than yours. Am I right?"
The emissary laughed. "Boy, you will be a great talent in the academy. You may even become a core student!"
"..." Raikou was continously being underestimated.
After a while, nearly everyone was done with the testing. Two more people with D class talent had appeared, while everyone else was lower.
Only Moses was left, he was last due to still recuperating from the fight.
He stepped up to the stone, placed his hand on it and waited for it to decide his fate. 5 lines popped up on the stone. B class talent!
Moses was ecstatic with the result.
The emissary approached him and placed his hand on his shoulder. "Your name is Moses right? You're under my protection from now on, you will be given a multitude of resources in the academy. Make sure to remember my name when you ascend the ranks."
It seems Raikou was forgotten by the emissary already.
"Benefit chasing fries. His name is terrible anyways, french fries..." Raikou thought to himself.
At this point, Victor had given up on being haughty. Both people he belittled had superior talent to him. He couldn't get his father to deal with them, as they're all going directly to the academy after the selection.
"Right everyone, you have 15 minutes to gather everything and meet me back here. If you're late, you will lose entry into the academy."
Raikou remained where he was. He didn't have anything to gather and Ghost was already by his side, everything was prepared.
The next step of his journey is only just beginning.