Ryan stepped out of the car and looked around with a calm expression. Rebecca asked in a teasing tone "Big brother, are you nervous?"
"Not really, but this place is interesting. They have numerous magic circles protecting the building. They must have spent a lot of money on the resources to keep these spells active." Ryan saw a total of 15 protection spells and 45 offensive spells.
"Yes, they went all out because those machines that measure our strength are one of a kind. They were found in a one time Labyrinth." Rebecca said as he put her hands in her pocket.
One time Labyrinths had no specific ranks and the danger inside them depended on the person trying to clear it. They were similar to filler episodes of an anime series. Only purpose they had was delaying and giving more time to people behind the scenes.
Ryan and Rebecca entered the building and felt multiple formations passing through them. It was for the supposed safety of the place.
Rebecca went to the receptionist's desk to talk with a woman responsible for taking them to the examiner.
Whilst Rebecca was handling the paperwork, Ryan was listening to the people who were present there.
"Hey look, Rebecca Miller is with a guy?" A man in his 20s whispered to his friends.
"That must be her brother." The man's friend said while looking at Ryan who was pretending to use his phone.
"Why do you say so?" The first man asked in confusion.
"Dude, if you think that a man who's not related to her can hold her hand then you must have forgotten about Guardian John." The man's friend said while gulping his saliva.
"Remember, the last time someone tried to take her out on a date was never found. He disappeared." He continued.
"And this guy has that brotherly vibe around him. You know what that means?" The guy said in a slightly scared face.
"He's crazy just like his father. Don't believe me? Look at his eyes. Do you really think Guardian John will not train his son?" The man started sweating.
"He seems like a hot guy to me." A woman who was with these two men and was here to sell beast cores from a C rank labyrinth.
"Now that you mention it, this guy is being stared at by almost everyone...animals included." He said as he saw a cat tapping Ryan's toes with her paw.
It was a tabby orange cat, she looked at Ryan innocently and made a low meow sound. Ryan might be a killer but he is also a sucker for animals. He carefully picked the cat and caressed her belly. The cat let out a happy purr.
"What's your name?" Ryan asked the cat like it was the most normal thing to do. People around him felt that it was a bit weird but women found it cute.
"Meow-ow" The cat said while tapping her paws in Ryan's chest.
"Gingerbread? That's a unique name." Ryan said with a smile.
A guy who was sitting on a bench couldn't hold it and started laughing. To him, a human talking to a cat was the most funny thing. He thought that Ryan was trying to attract women or he's just insane. Afterall going insane in this kind of world was not uncommon.
He expected more people to laugh but the entire place was silent. Men prayed for his well being while women were swearing to pull his vocal cords out. The man gulped in horror and left the place, he was running for his life.
Ryan didn't bother with the man laughing because it was not worth it. Miss. Gingerbread also agreed with him. Ryan then asked the cat who was her caretaker, to which Gingerbread simply pointed towards a teenage girl talking with her friends. Coincidentally the girl was looking at him way before he actually noticed.
"Excuse me, is this cat yours?" He said in a polite tone.
"I am sorry, Gingerbread must have bothered you." She said in an apologetic tone but inside her mind she was thanking her cat.
'I feed you a wagyu steak tonight.' She made a conviction to properly compensate the cat.
"No, not really. She's really adorable." Ryan gave an honest smile.
The teenage girl came near to pick up Gingerbread who gave her a denying glance.
"Two wagyu steaks for you tonight." The teenage girl said with a thumbs up.
Gingerbread gave a sly smirk to her and raised her paw.
"She wants three of them." Ryan chuckled lightly.
"How do you know that?" The girl didn't expect Ryan to understand her cat.
"Let's just say I have a special bond with animals." Ryan scratched his cheek.
The real reason for the cat's surprising behaviour was because of the dragon god's bloodline. Creatures naturally find him more soothing and approachable.
It's quite amusing that the most feared bloodline among the powerful entities of this galaxy were like a calming figure to animals.
After hearing Ryan's answer the girls saw a green flag appearing around Ryan.
Their thoughts were "Super attractive, extremely polite and also loved by animals."
Miss. Gingerbread reluctantly went back to her owner before giving Ryan a goodbye meow.
"Ryan!" Rebecca called out in a bit annoyed tone.
"Goodbye Gingerbread." Ryan left after waving at the cat.
After Ryan left the scene, a woman said in a half-conscious tone "I wouldn't mind if he beats me black and blue if he takes me with him.
"Me too." A woman with huge mounts said while holding her body in a sensual manner which made the men around her gulp.
Other Woman around her nodded in approval.
"World is really unfair." A man sighed in dejection and this time it was the men who nodded in approval.
On the other hand Ryan entered a room with Becca and a woman with a bun hairstyle who was escorting them to the examination room.
Ryan noticed that Becca looked a little irritated so he asked "Something happened?"
"Not really." Her expression turned a little cold.
"You know, your stalker girlfriend would've killed those women right?" She said something out of the blue.
"I know." Ryan already knew about it but never mentioned it to anyone.
The woman walking before them squinted her eyes in horror because she was thinking the same thing as those guardian women.
"That's surprising." Rebecca didn't say anything until they reached the examination room.
"We would like to record your examination for giving you an appropriate rank and other statistical purposes." The woman said with a polite bow.
"No, Just give him his Id and don't you dare record anything." Rebecca said in a chilling voice.
Ryan was a bit surprised by this behaviour because Rebecca was never this cold to anyone.
'I guess that day changed many things.' He thought
"It's good for her." Umbra said while yawning.
'I know.' Ryan transmitted through their kind link.
"Rebecca, let them record." Ryan said while patting her head.
"But-" She wanted to refuse but Ryan stopped her.
"What are they going to do with that video? Force me to join some guild or offer me a weird contract?" Ryan said with an innocent smile which didn't look innocent to the woman.
"I understand." Rebecca reluctantly agreed. She didn't want them to record his performance for various reasons. One of them was of course the forced contract but now that she thought about it, it was not a problem for them because John would definitely kill them if they tried to do something like that.
After the short one sided argument the duo entered the examination room which was an all white arena with a door at one end of the huge room. The ceiling was approximately 80 metres high and the left side of the room had a few people in suits judging the examinees.
"Sir, please pour some of your mana in this orb." The woman who brought them here said in a friendly tone.
Ryan looked at the three orbs kept near each other. His eyes glowed for a second and he nonchalantly put in his over the black orb.
He gently poured his mana in the orb which started glowing bright golden after coming in contact with him. The woman standing beside them was sweating from the heat released by the Orb and said while squinting her eyes "Sir this is enough."
Ryan removed his hand from the orb but the golden light was still being emitted from the orb. This caught everyone's attention because a golden light was not something that had been witnessed.
The representatives of several guilds were standing up from their seats, their eyes wide in surprise. They immediately started calling their guild masters who were doing various tasks but would that really matter when someone unusual and different was happening in this association building.
"Is it over?" Ryan asked with a yawn. He felt a little disappointed by the artefact, which was supposed to measure his strength but now he found out that this little thing was just trying to find a guy to clear the Ex labyrinth.
'I was going to do that anyway.' Ryan thought with a sigh.
"Sir, there are two more orbs and a physical test." The woman said in a respectful tone.
Ryan walked off towards the blue orb and put his hand on it and it immediately felt that it was an age measuring orb. He quickly manipulated the orb so that his age would not be revealed.
The women came near and saw a number 22 displayed on the orb. She quickly marked it with a pen on a document.
Ryan proceeded to move toward the third and final orb which was a clear crystal. He lazily put his hand on it and poured his mana again.
The orb started glowing in various different colours, each depicting a different element. Lightning crackled around the orb as vines started covering the orb. A pronounced green light also appeared and started to permeate through the entire room. Rebecca and the woman felt their bodies getting refreshed like they drank a healing potion. Suddenly, cracks started appearing in the room only to be fixed by the protective formations a moment later.
"Was this enough?" Ryan wasn't surprised because the orb was supposed to reveal his elemental affinities and also any kind of magic he was suitable for.
He might not have been surprised but the representatives were already running towards the room like their life or you can say promotion depended on it.
"Anything else?" Ryan asked with a smile.
"Yes you need to kill a beast so that we can analyse your techniques." The woman opened the arena door and Ryan went inside.
Ryan took a regular spear and waited for the man in the arena to finish killing the beast.
The man had a deep frown on his face. He recently increased his rank to the glorious S and was taking his rank renewal exam. He was supposed to be the main attraction, the man of the day but suddenly an unknown guy with a cute girl beside him hogged all the attention that was supposed to be pointed at him.
The man had purple hair and blue eyes. He was really good looking and was an established actor before the cataclysm.
He looked at Ryan and spouted a few curse words and started attacking the beast which released the power of an S rank.
He muttered a few words and a magic circle with complex runes appeared and attacked the bear-like beast. The bear didn't wait for the man's attack to hit him and released an almighty roar. The magic swords released by the man trembled and missed their target.
This caused the man to burst in rage and release a huge fire blast. The bear felt immense danger and his fur hardened with a layer of earth.
The man whose name was Elliott unsheathed his sword and ran towards the beast which stood there arrogantly even after it suffered second degree burns from the previous attack from Elliott.
Elliot was fuming in anger and directly aimed at the bear's eyes which seemed to mock him.
Elliot noticed that the bear was heavily injured from his savage attack. He immediately covered his sword with a layer of fire and slashed.
Blood gushed out from the bear's head and it slipped off from the body.
THUD.
To be continued.....
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Thanks for reading.
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