The person that just turned around was dressed in a fine black suit. He had blond hair with hints of grey and his face was marked with a few light scars.
The menacing aura that he gave off was exceptionally strong.
On the blond man's lap was a small, sleeping saber-tooth cat. It's pure white fur looked completely unblemished.
The aura around this small cat was very cold.
'Eh?!'
Erin raised his eyebrows and let out a tiny gasp as he took a quick glance at the small cat.
On top of the small saber-tooth cat was a slightly translucent white screen.
[Name: ???] [Level: ????]
[Species: Snow Fang] [Grade: Divine]
[Affinity: 01/100 | Recent Changes: 1]
[Primary Skill: Unknown]
[Secondary Skill: Unknown]
'Another beast that's stronger than me.' Erin frowned on the inside.
Erin's earlier glance didn't go unnoticed. When the blond man saw this, he let out a small smirk.
As if responding to the blond man's thoughts, the small cat suddenly opened its eyes and jumped in Erin's direction.
In the mere second that it was still in the air, the small cat transformed into a huge saber-tooth tiger.
The incidents from the giant creatures earlier flashed in his mind and Erin subconsciously decided to stay calm and stand still.
Besides, although Erin wanted to back up, he quickly realized that he was still in front of the room's doors and actually couldn't.
Right before the tiger was about to crash into Erin, it abruptly stopped just centimeters away from his face. The large fangs were so close to his face that Erin could see the saliva dripping off of them.
The giant tiger sniffed Erin slowly.
The tiger's stomach grumbled as it finished sniffing Erin.
Beads of sweat formed on the sides of Erin's face as he heard these grumbles.
'Does every large creature I meet see me as actual meat?'
Erin sighed at his misfortune in his mind.
"Back." The blond man spoke a single word and the tiger quickly shifted back into its small cat form.
With a single jump, the cat crossed the entire room and landed back on the blond man's lap before lying down and going to sleep.
"Your confidence is extraordinary." The blond man looked very pleased.
"Even though you tried to hide it, I could still feel the hint of lighting aura emanating from you." He spoke like he was admitted to a small secret.
'Lighting Aura?' Erin had no idea where the blond man was going with this.
"I don't see your beast with you though. Did you leave it on the outskirts of this city?"
"..Or perhaps it's a dimensional beast?" That last phrase was said so slow and seriously that Erin's blood started pumping a little harder.
"I'm not quite sure what you are talking about." Erin replied honestly. He really had no clue.
Squinting his eyes, the blond man smiled widely.
"It's fine if you don't want to admit it. You don't trust me, and I don't trust you. This is fair."
The blond man continued like this was a completely ordinary topic.
"Fortunately for you, it seems both Bobo and my little Snow both like you. I trust my beasts. So I'm willing to give you a chance." The man smiled.
'Wanting to eat me is considered liking me!? I'd rather not be liked!'
Erin complained on the inside.
"Do you have any proof of identity?" The blond man's smile looked a lot less genuine.
With no idea where this young man came from, he wasn't just going to let him waltz around his city without knowing who he was.
'Proof?' Erin thought for a moment before reaching out for his small metallic orb.
With a small flick upwards, the orb floated in front of Erin before projecting a small holographic display.
[Erin Dawn] [Age: 18]
[Level: 310] [Family: ????]
[Profession: Student] [Status: ????]
[Officiator: Intergalactic Imperial Academy]
[Additional Notes: ????]
"..Oh?" The blond man was stunned. He knew that if this item was what he thought it was, then the young man must not be offended.
As for Erin, he looked at the holographic display and was confused.
'Is my orb broken? Why are my stats hidden from myself?'
Previously when he was on the Imperial Academy starship, the status section should have had "Academy Examinee" in its place.
As for family, he wasn't from any renown clan so it should have been blank rather than hidden.
Erin didn't have the authority or technology needed to trouble-shoot the orb. So he could only stare blankly as the man before him looked at his orb's display.
"I see. So your name is Erin Dawn."
The man said before he took out a crest of his own. However, the crest didn't float.
In fact, Erin also had a similar crest in his bag.
Unfortunately, it was far older-looking and internally broken. So when he passed the academy's preliminary exams and they gave him an orb of superior quality, he didn't hesitate to start using that instead.
"I hope you don't mind if I also introduce myself."
He held the well-maintained crest straight in front of him before it also started projecting a small holographic display.
[Darwin Redstone] [Age: ????]
[Level: ????] [Family: Redstone Clan]
[Profession: ????] [Status: ????]
[Officiator: Redstone High Council]
[Additional Notes: ????]
"Darwin Redstone is it? A pleasure to make your acquaintance." Erin followed the usual formalities.
"Likewise." Darwin said as his eyes flashed with hints of anticipation.
In an interstellar age where authentication was considered formal, this scenario could be considered a formal introduction.
Normally, after formal introductions are finished, the senior member closes his display first.
Erin was waiting for Darwin to turn off his holographic display first before he put away his orb. This was basic courtesy.
However, over ten seconds passed and Darwin didn't look like he was going to put away his crest anytime soon.
'???' Erin was perplexed.
[Scan finished. Identification Symbol Detected. Override?]
A sudden notification appeared in Erin's mind.
'..Override?'
Erin thought this was very unusual.
[Acknowledged]
'Eh? Wait, I didn't mea-'
With a flash of light, Erin's orbs sent a signal over to the crest in Darwin's hand.
The moment Darwin's crest received that signal, the holographic display that it was portraying updated itself without asking for Darwin's approval.
[Darwin Redstone] [Age: 53]
[Level: 1,650] [Family: Redstone Clan]
[Profession: Grand Beastmaster] [Status: Family High Council Elder]
[Officiator: Redstone High Council]
[Additional Notes: (Retired) Disabled Division Commander.]
Erin looked at the updated screen with bewilderment.
In Darwin's eyes, Erin looked like he was embarrassed.
'Looks like he was restraining his orb from automatically scanning my crest on purpose. I guess he got confused by my actions and let it go by accident. What a good lad.'
Darwin completely misunderstood Erin.
In present day, it was common knowledge that higher-tier identification objects automatically scanned lower-tier identification objects. This would normally happen unless the user of the higher-tier object interfered.
Darwin thought Erin was just trying to be polite since he was a guest.
Furthermore, it was not possible for lower-tier identification objects to do the opposite and scan high-tier objects.
When Darwin activated his crest and he still couldn't see the hidden stats on Erin's display, he already assumed Erin came from a fairly high background. This was accentuated by the fact that Erin's officiator was the famous Intergalactic Imperial Academy.
In actuality, Erin was mostly bewildered because of the level he saw on Darwin's display.
'1,650?!' Erin was speechless. For humans, every 400 levels was considered an exponential barrier. Breaking 1,600 meant that Darwin had broken the fourth barrier. It was different for monsters.
Erin was level 310 at the age of 18. He hadn't even broken the first barrier.
Still, in his former empire, this was considered elite amongst billions of people. Even so, with his aptitude, he wasn't even confident of being anywhere close to the second barrier by the time he was Darwin's age.
That just shows how immensely talented Darwin was!
Darwin also had a lot of stats that Erin couldn't recognize.
'Beastmaster? Redstone Clan?' None of these things sounded familiar to Erin.
The sight of the additional notes surprised Erin a lot though.
'..Disabled..' "...Division ..Commander?"
Erin was a polite person by nature. So when he saw disabled, he didn't say it out loud. However, he accidentally muttered the last two words.
Light as his voice was, Darwin could still easily hear him from across the room.
"Oh? Are you a fan of the Intergalactic Armada?" Darwin raised his eyebrows. There was a small glint in his eyes. He assumed that the first thing that Erin focused on was his previous rank.
It wasn't uncommon for students to dream about entering the ranks of the Armada.
There were a lot of benefits to be gained and fame to be had if you were successful. Plus, while growing up, countless children throughout the galaxies hear about many heroes in the Armada.
'Intergalactic Armada?' Erin did not recognize the name either.
How could he be a fan of something he doesn't know anything about!
The part that he recognized was Division Commander.
That title was usually given to commanders of a few active-duty starships. These starships were normally used to patrol galaxies on behalf of their respective empire's military.
"Sorry, I'm not. I was just surprised by your level." Erin said.
"Ah, I see." The small glint in Darwin's eyes quickly faded. At his level and experience, it was easy to tell if Erin was being honest or not.
"Even though my level is extremely low for a Division Commander, I was selected because of my wits, not my strength." Darwin sounded very proud of his intellect. Once more, he misunderstood Erin's bewilderment.
'Low?!' Erin checked his own level and suddenly felt very, very sad.
"It's unfortunate that I suffered an irreparable injury on the battlefield." He sighed.
"You're injured?" Erin said as he looked at Darwin's facial battle-scars.
"Haha. Not up here." Darwin said as he suddenly stood up. After placing the sleeping Snow Fang beast, Snow, gently on the desk, he went around the desk and walked towards Erin.
"Down here."
With a single motion, Darwin ripped off his entire pants.
'?!' Erin openly twitched his eyes, backed away, and hit the back of his head on the door.