"...but, before the both of y'all move on to the next stage, I must test your shinsu capabilities."
Judging by the way the dude was eyeing me, I knew for a fact that he would use this opportunity to "get rid of the useless leech for her."
I mean, I didn't really care that much for it though. I had adapted to the shinsu concentration in that aquarium far faster than even I had expected, so I knew that I could pass any and all things he could throw at me during this "individual test."
"And, since the princess has already shown her capabilities with shinsu during the last test, I will only be testing you..."
'Motherfucker...'
"The name's Shiyoon." I said, before my lips curled up in a slight smirk as I bowed.
I might have unnerved him with my creepiness a little bit because he grew flustered and rushed to start the test...
...without even explaining to me what the rules were.
Whoosh
Without warning, a column of shinsu appeared above me and slammed down into me, hell bent on driving me to my knees.
Yet, I remained unaffected, as I waved my arms and smiled from within the column of shinsu that kept getting more and more concentrated.
As the seconds turned into minutes, the tester still didn't let up and continued through sheer persistence.
I mean, he was definitely restricted by the tower, and probably by some rules the testers had to abide by, but I was pretty sure he was breaking some of those supposed rules by now.
And, it turned out I was right, as after 5 minutes had passed, another man appeared within the room and placed his hands on the tester's shoulder, causing him to shudder and snap out of his frustrated reverie.
"Blake, that's enough."
Thus, as suddenly as it had come, the column of shinsu above me dissipated, and all that was left was a still fine me, a intrigued princess of Zahard, a mad administrator, and a frightened tester.
The administrator nodded at me once before whisking both him and the tester away.
~~~
The man standing in front of me was... interesting to say the least.
I had gone into that first test with the intention of securing a solo team for myself, yet he had somehow escaped my grasp.
Everybody on that field had been revealed before my eyes, yet he had somehow escaped my shinsu detection.
Furthermore, he hadn't even reacted when I was revealed to be a Princess of Zahard, never mind the fact that I had killed 630 regulars with only a few swings of my sword.
Then, there was this "test" that I had just witnessed.
Sure, I was a little bit relieved that that bootlicking brickheaded tester was now gone, the thing that had triumphed over any other of my emotions was the fact that this "Shiyoon" figure had been able to withstand Shinsu concentrations past the 20th floor without even batting an eye.
And here I was, only knowing this fact due to the prior training that I had received on the 20th floor.
'Those eyes too... why are they always closed?'
His crescent shaped closed eyes unnerved me, along with the smirk that seemed to be branded on his face.
Now that I thought about it, the only expressions I had seen from him were smirk, slightly higher smirk, and high smirk.
He really had no other expressions that I had seen so far.
Sure, I had kept a poker face on throughout my entire life, but it was the fact that these expressions, without fail, creeped me out and left an uncomfortable feeling in my chest that really alerted me to the fact that something was wrong with him.
In the end though, it didn't matter to me.
I would climb this tower without fail.
And any and all obstacles in my path would be removed no matter the cost.
~~~
I was currently debating on whether to extract compensation from the obnoxious tester.
After all, he had acted outside of his scope of duties.
'But what would I ask of him?'
Previously, I had been worried about gambling at the chance to learn how to make a baang when making that bet with Headon, but that was only because I hadn't known that he could just transmit that information directly to my brain.
That action in it of itself had brought to my attention a whole host of other worries, but those thoughts could be put aside for now.
What I was really struggling with was debating whether that "implanting information into someone's head" was a trademarked skill of the guardians or not.
If the tester didn't have such a skill, then any techniques I asked for for compensation would just waste my time as he spent his time manually teaching me that shit.
Thus, there was only one mode of compensation that could help me in both the short and long run.
The tester and administrator returned shortly thereafter, and before they could speak and try to divert any of my attention or straight up teleport me to the next test, I pounced.
"Mymymy, don't you think I deserve a little compensation dear administrator?"
I could see a vein popping out of the tester's forehead, but he remained silent.
Now composed and colder than I had seen him before, the administrator replied,
"Yes, I do believe that a gift is in order, I could give you..."
"Please, let me be humble. I'd only like to receive some of... Blake's spare change."
Everyone here knew what I was implying, but my thick ass face as a narrowed eyed character wouldn't let any of their deadpanned reactions affect me.
"How about it, do we have a deal, Mr. Admin?"
Sighing the administrator just nodded before waving a hand and teleporting us away.
'Hopefully, he's fair with the compensation.' I thought, as I chuckled to myself before suddenly stopping.
'Huh, am I already adopting "his" character?'
That was my lost thought before everything blacked out.
---
A/N: I forgot to clarify this, but by a chapter each day, I meant every weekday, cause those are the only days I have classes. Sorry about the confusion.
I'll cy'all tomorrow!