The next day he found himself standing in front of a massive skyscraper with a giant red lotus symbol at the very top. After a bit of negotiation, Flaming lotus managed to convince him to go to their guild for proper testing if they increased the price to 7 million. The last thing he wanted to do is get involved with guild drama for only 3 million. And they seemed desperate anyway, might as well get a little bit more out of it.
"It sucks to be poor, they can get me to do anything with just a little bit of money."
As he looked up at the building he started getting nervous. "Maybe I can just not show up? No, I'm too poor to turn down a practically free 7 million. In and out, show my findings and leave that's it. No need to be nervous." He steeled his nerves and walked towards the entrance.
A pretty woman stood at the front desk and he made his way through a crowd of excited, young awakened to get to her.
"Hello sir, how may I help you." She was a bit startled by the slightly creepy mask but many awakened choose not to show their faces and such masks were somewhat commonplace.
"Good day to you ma'am. I am Adam and am here to meet a Flaming Lotus. I would like to ask for directions to your advanced mana research department, I was told to meet them there." He had a polite tone as he spoke to the receptionist.
She looked at him with confusion written all over her face as she seemed to check something on her pc.
"I'm sorry sir but there is no such research department at our guild, and the only Flaming lotus that I know of is the guild leader. Are you claiming to be here for the guild leader herself?" She looked at him with suspension in his eyes and at this point, everyone on the floor was looking at him.
"Well I'm sorry ma'am, I am only going off of what I was told. Are you sure that you are not mistaken? I have proof here with…" He was pulling out a black and gold card with a red lotus printed on the side, which this 'flaming lotus' sent to him the day before as proof of his identity, but was cut off before he could even explain himself.
"No need, I know your kind. Awakened scum that come here and claim to have some relation with our guild to try to extort money out of us. Just because we are a newer guild, doesn't mean that we will just bend to you and your disgusting kind. I'm telling you know that it's not going to happen, I see you people come here every year and every time you get nothing, why do you keep coming back!?"
He was a bit confused by the sudden shouting and accusations but still tried to prove his innocence. "Look, I don't know what you are saying but I have a card with me that should clear all of this up." Some of the people in the room were now throwing insults his way, calling him things like scammer and leech as they heard the receptionist fling her claims at him. If there was one thing that people liked to do, it was to be able to attack someone else with no repercussions.
"You're more persistent than the rest. I'll give you that." She said to him while reading the card. "But this fake bullshit isn't going to work on me, I've never seen a card like this before."
She ripped the card to pieces, which would have impressed him as the card was metal if she wasn't insulting him so much.
He spent half an hour trying to prove his innocence as the agreed upon time was coming up fast, but with his only form of evidence currently ripped up on the floor in front of him, he wasn't getting far.
He tried to keep his cool, but was getting angrier and angrier by the second. With the mixture of the constant berating by the receptionists, to the vile insults from the crowd, all while he was trying to explain himself, it was all getting to him.
"Fine, I don't want to deal with this bullshit anyway." He turned around and started to mumble to himself.
As he was about to leave the building, treating this as a lesson to not just believe strangers on the internet, the crowd suddenly stopped talking all together. His gaze was drawn to the steps in the center of the room by the sound of footsteps when he saw a site he was likely not to forget.
She was a truly beautiful woman with a striking aura. A white face with no blemishes, ruby red lips with crimson hair and curves in all the right places. Her beauty was unspeakable, but if anything truly grasped his attention, then it was her eyes. They were blood red and her pupils were snake- like, like that of a predator. She was dressed in what looked like leather armor and despite the dangerous feeling her eyes gave off, she was unarmed.
He had seen his fair share of beautiful women in the past, but she was truly different. It was like the whole world froze at the exact moment she walked in and all were helpless but to just stare in her direction. And this beauty was walking in his direction.
'Fuck, is that the guild leader. I need to leave before she thinks I'm here to scam her guild.' He quickly broke out of his trance and turned away to leave, so he couldn't see the pure shock on her face as he turned around.
"Adam I presume." Much like her face, her voice was perfect. He was temporarily stunned before slowly turning around.
"Flaming Lotus I assume." He spoke with a cool and calm, yet assertive voice, but he was trying his best to do so. He was lucky he was wearing a mask otherwise she would have seen that his entire face was red. With him being only a teenager and her a full grown adult, she was taller than him. Not by much but it made her already intimidating aura even more so.
"Good then, I was concerned as the scheduled time of our appointment had passed, but when I heard the commotion going on down stairs I thought something was up." She said with a smile, at this point he was barely holding on.
"Well sorry to inconvenience you, but as I have learned there is no such advanced mana research department at your guild and seemed to have been tricked by you. I provided the card you gave me and it was torn in my face. I don't know if this is how you gain entertainment, but I must say. Well done!" He got angry as he remembered that not only was he tricked to come here and embarrass himself for the sick pleasure of some woman, he had to waste his time coming here. And it was showing in his tone.
As a newly awakened F rank he had a lot of planning to do to ensure that any random monster doesn't kill him instantly and he had to research his new found method as he still had many unanswered questions.
"What did you just say?" His back was already turned so he couldn't see her face but it seemed as if she was getting angry. He quickly remembered his position, he was an F rank and as a guild leader she was an S rank at the minimum. Even if she didn't know his rank, she was no doubt powerful.
He turned back around and bowed to her. "I am sorry for my tone ma'am, I hope that I have not offended you and that you spare this pitiful life." It may seem like he was insulting himself, but in reality he was trying to preserve his life. As an F rank he would die if she looked at him the wrong way and as a S rank no one would ask her any questions.
"No, I'm asking you what you said about the card." He slowly got up and nervously pointed at the receptionist and then at the ground where the pieces of metal lay on the floor.
"I provided her with the card and she said she had never seen such a card before and tore it up. She accused me of trying to scam money out of your guild."
He was looking at her straight in the face now so he could see the anger on her face. It was truly a scary sight but he still couldn't bring himself to look away.
"Good, I don't hand out those cards lightly and in the guild they hold as much authority as me myself. Seems like some of my employee's think that they are above me. Gordon, fire her and everyone else on this floor. If she thinks herself as important as I, then she can start her own guild."
She started to walk away before she turned back to look at the crowd. "And please remove all the new sheep from my building. My guild is a guild of dragons and phoenixes and I am not a shepherd."
A tall man covered from head to toe in a black cloth appeared next to her, and similarly wasn't armed. He nodded at her and disappeared in the next moment.
She smiled at him and said. "I am sorry for the inconvenience that my employees have shown you, The deal is still one if you are still interested."
She started walking back up the stairs and he nervously followed her, all while hearing the pleading cries of the newly fired employees as they begged to keep their jobs.