Seeing how he easily beat up a group of Genesis Core experts, the rest of the newcomers quickly gave him a wide berth, not wanting to earn his ire less they would join the groaning pile. In fact, they better pretend to never see the cyan-haired beauty or they might get hunted down by the young man.
As the crowd began to whisper, a voice shocked them out of their thought, "What is going on here?!" the loud voice seemingly spread across the entire room, even causing some of the weaker adventurer to fall on their knees.
A look at the source of the voice reveals one of the Genesis Source experts of the Mariz Barony, accompanied by one of the Genesis Source experts who used to be the Vice-Leader of the Esel Barony Adventure Guild.
The former vice-leader looked at the pile of adventurers, paling slightly at the sight of some of his more promising adventurers. Only when their chest began to rise up and down did he let out a sigh of relief.
Still, it begs the question of who was the one who even dared to mess with his men. "Who did this?" he asked, the force of his question caused some of the weaker adventurers to faint.
The vice leader of the Mariz City branch frowned at his counterpart, who clearly didn't care for the other adventurers. Before he could voice his discontent, one of the adventurers pointed towards Ryker, saying, "It was him,"
Looking at the young man, the former vice-leader snarled before unleashing a palm strike at him. Ryker countered it with his own, his body moving slightly to block Lisha from the force of the clash.
Some of the adventurers scoffed at the sight of someone actually daring to fight against a Genesis Source expert.
"Courting death,"
"Did he think he would look amazing being brave enough to face off against a Genesis Source expert?"
"Bah, he would come out of this with a broken arm, if he was lucky,"
The vice-leader of the Mariz City branch wanted to stop the attack but stopped himself when he saw the person his counterpart targeting. 'Looks like you bite more than you could chew,' he thought to himself, as the two attacks clashed.
-x-
When the two attacks clashed, most assumed that the Genesis Source expert would come out on top, crushing his opponent quickly. To their shock, the other attack was able to hold its own against the Genesis Source expert strike.
"Impossible!"
"How can he block it?!"
"Maybe the vice-leader is holding back?"
"Yes, he must not want to lose face by using all his force against a Genesis Core expert,"
As the spectators began to make excuses for the former vice-leader, only the man himself knew he didn't hold back much when he unleashed his attack. The fact one of his stronger attacks remained in a deadlock against an attack from a Genesis Core expert hurt his pride.
Before he could fuel his assault, his attack wavered first, sending him backward from the force. As for Ryker, he was able to hold into his position, not even a single foot moved from the shockwave.
As for the spectators, they were protected by the vice-leader of the Mariz City Branch, who merely shook his head at the two people fighting. He wondered if he should stop them when the men began to prepare for his strike again.
Realizing what his opponent was about to do, Ryker gathered his qi, ready to retaliate if he unleashed the attack. When the two were about to continue their fight, the vice-leader decided enough was enough.
"Stop the fight, or both of you will be under prohibition!" hearing the threats, both Ryker and his opponents stopped their attack.
Still, the former vice-leader took the chance to complain, "Vice-leader, this young man had beaten up a group of adventurers and must be punished!" he put the charges on Ryker, who gave him a glare before throwing a recording crystal into the air.
A recording of the event, starting from when Lisha was harrassed to Ryker sending one of the men flying, which was soon followed by the beatdown, was shown to the two Genesis Source experts.
The vice-leader of Mariz City branch glared at his counterpart before giving his verdict, "The sanctity of our staff, even though they are not particularly powerful, should not be violated. For the people who dared to harass the member of the staff, they would receive a month of probation.
As for the one that stopped them, he merely threw them away before engaging them in a fight, only after they decided to attack him. He would not be rewarded nor punished but his action would still be recognized,"
The former vice-leader almost vomits blood from the punishment, or in Ryker's case, leniency. "This is not fa-" whatever he was about to say was stopped by the glare of his counterpart.
"This is not your Esel Barony Branch, so your men and the rest of the adventurers would follow the rules we created. If you don't want to abide by such a rule, then get out of this city," the vice-leader hissed at the former vice-leader.
The former vice-leader's face turned bright red before he left the room, an ugly expression remained on his face. Watching the man exit the room, the vice-leader let out a sigh of relief.
After all, he didn't know who would come out on top, as Ryker could contend with someone at the 6th Stage Genesis Source. This meant that Ryker could likely beat the former vice-lord who only reached the 4th Stage.
In the end, while the cultivation realm played a vital part in determining the winner, factors such as techniques and mastery of Paths could shift the tide, one of the reasons why he was not sure who would be the victor between the two of them.
He then greets the young man, "Young master Ryker, would you like to raise the rank of your badge, after all, it seemed you forgot to raise your rank," Ryker took out his badge, a sheepish smile on his face as he thought about the fact he forgot to raise his adventure rank.
"Don't worry, it will be finished quickly. In the meantime, would you like to spend some time talking with me?" the invitation caused the one who remained to let out a loud gasp. Not every Genesis Core expert would be given the chance to talk to the Vice-leader of an Adventure Guild Branch yet he was able to receive such privilege.
However, Ryker's answer shocks them even more,
"Apologize, I have some other matters to attend to after this,"