'Disorder...?'
Although his head was tilting to a side ever so slightly, he could more or less understand why he ended up with that assessment. Of how it stemmed from the time since his early life when he lived a disorderly lifestyle to perhaps that recent experience he dreamt of.
"Of course," Kayne continued, "that's not an easy thing to accomplish. The [Disposition] has the lowest chance of changing after all. Meaning, a person doesn't easily change."
Kayne winked to suddenly queue something as a sound was heard.
*Claack, claack.*
Accompanied by loud footsteps indicating that someone was coming, the main door to the auditorium violently flung open. A clearly-incensed woman, a young man hesitantly following behind her, and a dozen others were seen entering. They were the group that fled before but none of the ones who survived their fight against the demonic spider were missing them now. Belath could even be seen scowling at them to ridicule their cowardice.
"Did we arrive just on time?"
A strange but conspicuous light flickered beneath Kayne's blindfold.
"What's the matter? Are we not allowed here?"
"No. I shall acknowledge it."
Kayne simply smiled even when the woman spat out coldly. In the end, the group belated arrivals also had to go through their own assessment of their [Level of Cognition]. As soon as that was completed, Kayne ordered everyone to line up in a row in front of the portal. The first one on the line was the woman who led the group that contributed to nothing.
Belath spat on the ground before he started mocking the woman, "Bah, what a b*tch! Look at her standing at the front as if she did something to help."
She glared at Belath and judged him with venomous eyes. A deep grudge could be seen on her face as she yelled, "You dare!? If it wasn't for you, Shin wouldn't have died!"
"Shin?"
"Yes, Shin! She was the one who asked for your help, remember? If it wasn't for you-"
The Night Elf, the man who tried the most to have saved her, placed an arm on her shoulder and shook his head with a deep look on his face. As if telling her that it was no one's fault and that there was nothing that they could do but move forward.
"I... I..."
It was then that Kayne broke the awkward situation and spoke, "Now then, for those who are not present here before us, those who have fled and minimally contributed to today's trial. They will remain the rank of Initiate but they will receive silver coins as consolation. Depending on their performance, of course."
"Wait, what!?"
Several frustrating voices can be heard from the contracted while many from the invited nodded as they agreed with his statement. Why would another be rewarded without working? There is no concept of a person being born with a silver spoon in one's mouth. Such people would be deemed incompetent and useless as they became baggage in times of crisis.
"Let's see here... ah! Miss Minn, you will receive 35 silver coins. You haven't contributed too much during the trial except for barricading the doors and helping to prevent another person's death. So out of the possible 100, you get 35. That is all."
"Where am I supposed to use these silver coins, then?"
"You'll find out once you go through another orientation through the other side of the portal."
The woman, Minn, glared at Kayne for a long, long time. She then wordlessly stepped through the portal and disappeared from view. The next person was the middle-aged man who had comforted Minn earlier.
"You have 60 silver coins. As the figure to have appealed to everyone's morality and gave it their all to save another, you are awarded 60 out of the possible 100."
The middle-aged nodded and entered the portal without a word. Sadness can be seen if one stared closely at his face.
The next person was the young man who had followed Minn when the group that fled entered the auditorium.
"You have 0 coins."
Kayne's evaluation was short.
The young man was clearly embarrassed as he stepped through the portal.
And so, the entry procedure carried on.
Loramus received 317 coins. Belath, 214. Kor'vas, 216. Allari, 302. As for Belath's lackeys, they each received 44 and 46 as they mainly acted as support to Belath. They each skipped the rank of an initiate and were granted the rank of a trainee. As each of them stepped through the portal and disappeared one by one, Zevrad's turn eventually arrived.
Kayne began groaning out as soon as he saw Zevrad's face.
"Really now... I thought I was going to die while trying to calculate your coins earned. As to how you performed and conducted yourself was truly problematic for me. Let's not forget how you're invited too with a very unique demon."
"?"
"Not only were you not satisfied with breaking the all-time clear record, you then proceeded to vanquish the demon by prematurely using demonic magic. Such an event is unprecedented."
The tone of his voice was quite combative, but Kayne was beaming rather brilliantly.
"In any case, here is your coins tally. Before the trial, 5000 coins were added as was given to you by your worth. 100 coins were added for showing courage by remaining calm as soon as the demon appeared. You made a correct move by analyzing your surroundings and using what was available to your advantage and successfully rallied your fellow demon hunters. This was considered a hidden feat and it was worth double the coins so you received so you'll be rewarded 600 coins."
"..."
"Another 50 bonus coins for acting as a vanguard and 500 coins for performing demonic magic. An extra 6000 coins for successfully killing the demonic spider. When calculating all your coins together earned by your feats, 7250 silver coins."
Kayne had spoken non-stop up to here and just when Zevrad thought he finished, he continued, "and finally, possessing the invited status, which adds a 10 times multiplier, so your total silver coins tally to 72,500."
Kayne had folded the paper away and stared at Zevrad with an envious expression.
"You must be very happy. Your earnings are the highest in history. With this feat, you are hereby granted the rank of Novice, skipping two ranks altogether. And with your rewards, you might even be able to use them in the VIP store."
"The VIP store?"
"There is such a thing. You'll see once you get there… oh, I almost forgot."
Kayne suddenly displayed an extremely friendly attitude and leaned in closer to whisper something to Zevrad's ear. Zevrad began frowning somewhat after hearing Kayne's words while, unbeknownst to him, he slipped something inside his golden bag.
"I do have it in my possession. But, why…"
"I was only reminding you since you seem to have forgotten all about it. After all, you were lucky enough to draw an item of that quality in the first place."
Zevrad was about to ask something, but then, the blue-haired NIght Elf began pushing him from behind.
"H-hey! Wait a minute!"
"My role ends here, Zevrad."
The last thing Zevrad got to see as he was being pushed into the portal was…
"I wish you the best of luck at the Black Temple."
...Kayne politely bowed his head, his hands placed on his chest. Similar to how a performer would say farewell to the audience, as his character's role had finally reached its end. When the audience would stand and applaud for the marvelous performance they conducted.
A standing ovation.
***
As soon as Zevrad entered the portal, he arrived inside a small room. The several people who entered before him were waiting there.
The blue-haired maid was still pushing Zevrad forward while panting quite heavily. Once they were in, she let out a big sigh of relief and walked past everyone. She opened the exit door and pointed towards the passage beyond it, before walking first in light, airy steps.
The passageway was made up of marble. It was long and dark like a tunnel. The group simply followed the maid while remaining completely clueless as to where they were headed off to. But, when they spotted light from a distance, a certain sense of excitement began filling them up.
The maid arrived at the exit of the passage first and her steps came to a halt. She then softly opened her mouth.
– Demonic Spider, Area 1, cleared.
An unexpectedly clean and beautiful voice came out of her mouth.
'She could actually speak?'
As Zevrad stood there stewing in mental shock, several other clean and nice voices rang out from somewhere and entered his ears.
– Fel Hound, Area 2, failed.
– Imps, Area 3, cleared.
– Furbolg, Area 4, failed.
– Void Walker, Area 5, failed.
– Felhunter, Area 6, cleared.
– Vilefiend, Area 7, failed.
"That's a bit weird, isn't it?"
Loramus muttered almost inaudibly.
"What is?"
"Four out of seven areas failed, right? Were the trials really that difficult? Hey man, what do you think?"
Zevrad shook his head.
"Ah, she's moving again. Are we supposed to enter first?"
Loramus' guess proved to be correct. Beyond the exit of the passage was a large and empty area, shaped like a high-end theatre. While walking on the red carpet, Zevrad took a look around him.
Towards the darkened front, he could sort of see a stage. Although the lights were off, there were some strange things on the walls that glistened and managed to illuminate the darkness a little bit. The ceiling was so high, he couldn't even see it properly.
The maid leading in front took the group towards a row of chairs located just before the stage. The number of chairs was exactly eight. After confirming that everyone had taken a seat, the blonde maid climbed up to the stage and disappeared behind the curtains.
That was the signal; Zevrad could hear many more footsteps coming from behind him.
"I guess they are from Area 3. Was it Imps?"
Loramus spoke as he turned his head around to look. Over thirty people were following a maid to their seats.
The place this maid led them to was a location a bit behind Zevrad's group. There was a total of 32 chairs. The unfamiliar maid also disappeared behind the curtains as soon as she was done leading them to their seats.
'So, that many people survived their trials against the imps.'
As Zevrad wordlessly checked them out, one of them also began looking at him. It was a woman sitting in the middle of the front row. No, perhaps it would be more correct to call her a girl, instead?
She possessed curly light brown hair and a pair of eyes bright enough to softly shimmer within this darkness. The rest of her face revealed with the aid of a white hairband holding her hair back was very memorable as well. Her horns were jagged and long as they made a curved pattern that spiraled on the sides of her head.
Zevrad ended up inadvertently focusing on her neck that reminded him of a beautiful orchid flower until he saw her waving her hand slightly in greeting. So, he inadvertently ended up greeting back with a slight nod as well.
Meanwhile, people continued to stream inside. Soon enough, Zevrad got to learn that the number of survivors differed greatly from the surviving area. Perhaps Loramus thought of the same thing as he was constantly muttering to himself.
"We have 26 people. Area 2, 32. Area 6 has... ?"
The queue of people steadily entering this large area briefly broke up. A short while afterward, five men, all wearing the same type of black attire, appeared from the passage. And there were three people following behind them as well – all women, and for some reason, their heads lowered.
"Huh. A group of five decked out in identical suits…. Oh, there are three more. So, a total of eight people from Area 6, I guess?"
That was the end of the queue and no one else entered afterward, no matter how long they waited.
"Does that mean that all the people died in the announced 'failed' areas?"
"That goes to show how terrifying the demons are..."
Loramus added his opinion while agreeing with Zevrad's guesses.
'So, that means….'
The surroundings became quiet. Sitting inside this lengthy silence, Zevrad inexplicably began recalling Kayne's words from earlier on.
"You possess 'that' item with you, yes? How about taking a closer look at it and seeing what's written on them? Ah, I suggest that do that when you're alone, if possible."
Zevrad got 'that' item while drawing his [Special Bonus]. There were three of them, even. But, why did the Guide go out of his way to mention it?
Unable to calm his curiosity, Zevrad pulled his bag closer to open it. However, just as he was about to reach in….
The curtains hiding the stage were silently pulled to the side.
*Paat!!!*
Suddenly, blinding lights bathed the stage.
Not just Zevrad, but every survivor from the three Areas dazedly stared at the brightly-lit stage.