Hugh ignored all the commotion happening due to his actions. He heard all their bets against him and he ignored it. He didn't need to prove himself to them or anyone else. His strength and his fists will prove it for him.
He walked towards a door to the right, the door that the two fighting men went through. He saw a line of people at a desk inside, waiting for the teller to arrange their fights or to measure their Desire intensity. He walked forward and waited for his turn.
After a minute it was almost his turn. There was one more person before he could register for the measurement. This man wore plain steel armor and a sword at his waist. His chin was high up in the air as he spoke to the teller.
"Test my Desire intensity, I'll show you all how talented I am!"
He shouted at the teller and to everyone waiting in line. They ignored him as there were a lot of people who overestimate themselves like the guy that just spoke. He slammed his fist on the table and demanded the teller to work faster.
"Move faster! I can't wait to show my strength and then all of you will bow before me!"
The female teller ignored all the words that the man spoke. For all the times she had this job, there were always boisterous people who reprimanded her just because she was a teller. She didn't feel flustered as she continued to record the stats of the man.
"Measuring your Desire intensity will cost 1,000CM."
Without looking at the man, the teller spoke as she configured the touchscreen on her desk. She only heard the sound of a bell when she received the payment from the man. After she had scheduled the man's measurement, the man immediately went on his way but he didn't forget to belittle the teller.
"Hmph...Took you long enough."
She didn't even hear the words of the man as she continued doing her work. After a few touches on the screen, she signaled for Hugh to come forward.
"Name?"
"Huge."
"What do you want? Do you want to fight or do you want to measure your Desire intensity?"
"Desire intensity."
She didn't speak anymore as she focused all her attention on the flatscreen display on her desk. After about a minute she asked for the payment for the registration.
"1,000CM for registering your Desire intensity."
Hugh paid the fees without any problem. He was glad that he completed the mission first and got 1,000CM as a reward. If he fails here and didn't place into the top 10, he would be back to square one and he wouldn't be able to complete his daily mission on time. Of course, he didn't think about that because that possibility never came to his mind. He was confident in his prowess and the strength of his Desire.
"So you'll be registering for the unadvanced power rankings and it will take 30 minutes before you could do it."
Hugh was inwardly surprised. The teller never asked for any more information from him like his stage of advancement so how could she have known that he was an unadvanced? He had to reassess his opinion of the teller who had mysterious powers.
The teller finally looked up from her desk and looked directly at Hugh. She was surprised that someone had figured out that she was beyond an ordinary teller. She also had to reassess her opinion of Hugh. She smiled like she knew what Hugh was thinking and spoke.
"That's a secret!"
She looked Hugh in the eye and winked at him. The men at the back of the line went wide-eyed as they saw a smile from the teller. They had been coming to this place for a while and the teller had never taken her eyes off the screen, imagine their surprise when they saw her wink at the white-haired man.
They started to discuss amongst themselves about the reason why the teller would wink at the man.
"Hey did you see that? She just smiled at him!"
"Maybe you saw wrong?"
"No, I didn't and the man she just winked at was the man who wanted to be in the top 10!"
"What really? Then the rumor must be true that he was a rich kid who wanted to be low-key!"
Hugh ignored the chatter as he waited for his turn. After 20 minutes, it was the turn of the boisterous man who belittled the teller. He waved at the crowd and made them shout his name. Some screamed pleasantries at him, meaning they were his entourage. He closed his eyes and savored every waking moment in the spotlight. This was the reason he even wanted to be in the top 10, to hear the praise the people had for him.
There were a lot of ways a person could test their Desire intensity. If the person was a fighter and like to use their fists, a punching bag would be brought out that was specially engineered to measure the Desire intensity. If it was a caster, then a shooting target would be used. If it was a support type like a healer, then a human dummy would be used.
In the man's case, he used a sword so a scarecrow would be used. The scarecrow was brought out, which looked unassuming and normal consisting of hay and string. The man raised his sword and held it there, building tension for everybody watching his measurement. He made sure to wait enough seconds for them to completely focus on him.
After inhaling and exhaling for a few cycles, he shouted with all his breath and brought down his sword. The blade shined with a blue light and it left behind a light ray tracing the sword's trajectory. The edge hit the scarecrow but it didn't cleave through it. There was not even a cut from the scarecrow as it looked the same as before yet the crowd went wild.
It was normal that the testing equipment would not take any damage from the Desire and it would be abnormal to damage it. The man bowed to the roaring crowds and waited for his results.
From a screen right next to ranking leaderboards, a display showed the result of the man's Desire intensity.
Calculated Desire Intensity: 190
The crowd went wild as a once in a lifetime event just occurred right in front of their eyes. Max was actually able to reach the top 10! They watched as Max's name climbed the ranks of the power ranking as it stopped at the tenth place. This meant that Max was now in the leaderboards with a Desire intensity of 190.
Max bowed again into the crowds and they went wild. Some of them bet big on the man reaching the top 10 so they won big this time. Most of the spectators bet that Max would have a Desire intensity of 170 or higher so many won the bet.
The crowd was still in chaos about what had happened but it was Hugh's turn to test his Desire intensity. Hugh passed by Max, who just reached the top 10, spoke to him.
"HAHA, don't even bother coming out there. You'll just get overwhelmed."
Max sneered at him but Hugh ignored the provocation. He didn't have the time to deal with a narcissistic shrimp who had mediocre strength. When he saw the strength of Max, he knew he would surely get into the top 10. The weak display of strength by Max was actually in the top 10. Hugh just laughed that off as he walked into the testing area.
Most of the spectators were still in disarray from seeing a top 10 born right in front of their eyes so they didn't notice Hugh enter the testing area. Some noticed him immediately, yelling out to others of Hugh's entrance.
"Hey! It's that guy! He's the one who wanted to be in the top 10!"
"Hahahaha, he wishes. Does he think he can really be in the top 10 after that guy? Ridiculous."
"No, don't discourage him! I bet 1,000CM on him getting less than 160 Desire intensity. I need the money and this is basically easy money!"
Hugh ignored the chatter that didn't believe in his prowess. He focused on the punching bag that was brought out into the testing area. He walked forward without worry and rush. Everyone anticipated the poor performance of Hugh and talked to themselves but Hugh suddenly moved into the punching bag. He balled up his fist and punched the testing object.