Andro found he felt nothing but respect for the man who he now assumed was the examiner Lionel. Not because he saved Andro from the confrontation, but how there was no hesitation on putting a special noble brat in his place. Despite their harder edges, Andro had always enjoyed working with people who had similar attitudes to Lionel. Those who were no nonsense types, willing to get their hands dirty and speak their minds no matter who it was to. In fact, Lionel reminded him a lot of Rollins and many of the reasons why the man had become his second in command.

  “I'll find you all, I promise" he whispered, getting a confused look from Chen.

  “You say something?” He asked as they all moved to form a half circle around Lionel to which Andro shook his head so Chen just shrugged.

  Lionel clapped his huge hands together and spoke. “Now that that's out of the way, I will be your examiner today. You may call me sir, Lionel, sir Lionel, or the Beast if you like” he Shrugged “Just pick one and stick with it. Per the rules of joining the league there are three parts to this exam and I will be conducting two of them for you today, the written exam and the practical exam. The final part, the trial run, will be conducted tomorrow by one of our lower ranked, yet prominent teams."

  Someone's hand slowly raised into the air to which Lionel immediately locked on to it and barked out "Speak.”

  The young woman who had raised her hand jumped but kept her confidence and said, "Why is someone else conducting the trial run? I thought the same person or team conducted the entire exam?”

  Lionel sighed at the question and shook his head before answering "Two reasons, and yes you're right. It is normally the same person or team, however” he explained, rolling his eyes and stretching out the last word "I have been informed by the higher-ups I have a tendency to make the trial runs unreasonably difficult and dangerous" he said the last part with air quotes, "Also the team conducting it volunteered to do it for the entire month and the higher-ups saw no reason to turn down such an offer." he added with a shrug.

  "Now, let's get to the exams. Here's how this is going to work, I don't feel like sitting in a room while you all scratch away on paper. So instead I am going to ask a bunch of questions and point at who I want to answer them. Got it?" he explained only to let out a long drawn out sigh when the same young woman raised her hand once more.

  "What?” he drew out, causing her to flinch back.

  “Won't that method only make others feel alienated and not as intelligent if they can't answer the question you point out to them but can answer the ones you don't ask them?" she asked, looking completely serious and Andro could swear he saw actual concern on her face.

  "Oh for the love of the Creator" Lionel moaned out while rubbing his face. "If they can't answer some of the questions, then perhaps you should all be working together to make sure you all know what you are doing" he explained with a level of exaggeration Andro couldn't help but be impressed.

  Lionel focused back on her but some of his sarcasm faded away to make way for the presence of a high ranking mettle league member as he spoke back up “Being one with the League is not a competition you have to win. You don’t lose your opportunity to advance in either your rank or evolution just because someone else has more book smarts. In the league we all work together, help each other to cover weaknesses and yes I don’t care how smart you are, you have weaknesses that all could be worked on.”

  The young woman looked thoughtful for a moment as she, and everyone else processed Lionel’s words. After a moment she nodded and took a small step back to indicate she was done.

  “Anything else someone would like to ask?” Lionel questioned, pointedly looking at the young woman first before his gaze shifted across the rest of the group. “No? Good. Let's get started.”

  The following period of time was filled with the large bare chested Lionel spewing out question after question concerning just about everything involved with adventuring. Lionel asked them so many questions Andro could swear he felt his head spin, even with his more advanced knowledge from years of actual experience. Lionel may have given off the impression of being nothing more than a musclebound meathead, but the man was smart and knew more about the adventuring life and aspects of being in the league than Andro could have guessed.

  The questions ranged from basic survival methods in a variety of different environments, to going over the anatomy of just about every creature that currently walked the world. He seemed to have a keen eye and could gather a rather decent idea of who could answer what questions, then purposely asked them to other people. Before long the entire group had converged into a sort of study group as whispers spread amongst them with every question asked.

  The process lasted for well over a glass as question after question passed from Lionel's lips, and answers passed from the groups. Andro could see that not only was he expertly spreading the questions in a way that forced the group to work together, he still also managed to provide an even spread. Not one person was singled out with more questions as Lionel kept the spread about as evenly as anyone could get. Andro was honestly impressed with Lionel’s methods as the man expertly turned what should have been a stressful period of silence and stress and transformed it into an interactive team effort that demonstrated the benefits of working together.

  After another half glass of this, the large man proudly declared everyone had successfully passed the written exam. However he still addressed everyone individually and informed them what they could use more work on. According to him, Andro supposedly needed to expand his knowledge on the more basic creatures and beasts of the world and not focus on the monsters spawned by the corruptors. Chen had a decent grasp for one-on-one combat but needed to look into group tactics more as well as some more in depth mathematics. To Andro’s amusement, the D’lavick kid came the closest to outright failing and was told by Lionel with brutal honesty that the man had no faith in his survival skills.

  “Good job to most of you” he clapped, giving them all a savage grin, “Now we can move on to the exam that is much more fun, the practical exam.”

  Andro and Chen gave each other a worried look as they seemed to share the same bad feeling.

  “To the pits!” Lional barked out with a burst of excited laughter as he strode right on past everyone towards said pit. He marched right on down into the largest one, stopping when he reached the center before turning to face them all.

  “Here is how this is going to work,” he grunted, stretching out his arms and legs as his spoke, “One at a time, you will all come at me with everything you have,” He explained, this time bending backwards while holding his arms outstretched, his fingers interlocked. He kept going until the top of his head brushed the sand he stood on, groaning in satisfaction as many loud pops could be heard.

  “Before you ask, yes I mean everything,” He stated, coming back up to stand straight, “I am a ten start Adept rank and was already hard to kill as a novice, so you pipsqueaks won’t be able to do much.” His gaze landed right on the same young woman from before, who slowly lowered the hand she had begun to raise.

  “This should be fun.” Chen whispered over, his robes already pulled back down and tied around his waist. Andro couldn’t help but agree with his friend.

  He hasn’t been able to go all out since his sessions with Terry, and even then they focused more on form and skill over anything else. Not only that, but it's been nearly a month and he was confident in saying he was much more familiar with his skills now. He was looking forward to this exam.

  “Once you have all had a turn taking a crack at me,” Lionel continued, cracking his neck as a grin fit for a predator spread across his face, “You will come at me as one, and this time I will be fighting back.”

  “He wants to get a feel for our personal power as well as see how well we can all adapt to working as a team.” Andro mussed out loud while nodding in approval. He only spoke loud enough for Chen to hear him, who gave him an excited smile. Seeing this as an opportune time, he began to stretch as well. He also spotted the confident smirk smeared across the D’lavick noble's face, something Lional seemed to spot as well.

  “Foot warmer, you're up first.” He barked out, waving the young noble down.

  Andro could only gape in sheer awe as he struggled to understand if it was confidence, or sheer arrogance that allowed the young D’lavick to saunter down into the pit as if he already won.

  “Begin.” Lionel ordered a wicked grin on his face, his eyes gleaming with a dangerous light as he shifted his balance into a more defensive posture.

  To the young noble's credit, there was no hesitation in his actions as the ground around him visibly began to heat up, the sand bubbling like molten stone. With a cry, he thrust his hands forward and numerous molten blobs of melted sand shot towards Lionel. The initial burst turned into a rapid fire stream of the molten blobs, all colliding with the examiner who simply scoffed. The blobs of molten sand that had stuck to him were easily flicked off with a dismissive gesture, and Lionel looked at the young D’lavick with a raised eyebrow, clearly asking him if that was all?

  In response, the young man snarled and dropped low, slamming his palms onto the sand, then pulled them back up. A wave of glowing molten sand followed his motions, crashing forward and into the grinning form of Lionel who let the wave break across his body. The molten material coated his form in a thick layer and once he was covered, the young D’lavick held up his hand before clenching his fist with a strained grunt. Rapidly, all the molten sand coating Lionel cooled down, the heat visibly traveling towards D’lavick and coalescing into a ball of fire that hovered just above his other open hand.

  Lionel looked down at his body which was now encased inside a warped glass prison before looking back up at the young man giving him a small nod. With no other warning, Lionel seemingly flexed his entire body causing cracks to instantly appear throughout the entire glass structure before shattering into pieces. Young D’lavick stared with wide eyes at the display of raw strength, and in a panic he hurled the newly created fireball which Lionel simply slapped down into the ground.

  With his same unchanging grin, Lionel strode towards the young man, ignoring as more melted sand globs were flung at him as the young man panicked. Each one struck with enough force a regular person would have at least been forced back a step, yet Lionel kept going as if it were nothing more than a stray breeze attempting to hinder him. The final few steps the large man crossed with a blur of movement until he appeared before D’lavick and flicked him in the head just strong enough the young man was knocked onto his back, a dazed look on his face.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Lionel looked down at him for a moment, sighed, then walked back over to the center of the sand pit while calling for the next person. One by one, the large man went through each of them, some with more ease than others. Chen was a surprising example of the opposite of that when he hit the man with his opening combo, only to follow it up with a barrage of kicks, punches and strikes from just about every part of his body. Lionel took them all with an excited look on his face.

  To no one's surprise, young D’lavick would make little snide remarks after each demonstration, usually something about someone's lack of power or their “lesser blood” as he put it. It was something that was getting on everybody’s nerves, especially Andro’s. By the time it was his turn to go down into the pit, he was tempted to ask if the young D’lavick could be his target instead. Part of him also wished he was his old self again just so he could show the young man how entitled brats were treated in the eighth company.

  As his name was called, Andro gripped his spear and strode down into the pit, giving a few practice spins of the weapon. It may not be the exact same kind of spear he was used to wielding, but it was still a spear and it felt right in his hands. The shorter length even made it easier as well as faster to move it around his body. A final surge of irritation flared up when he heard D’lavick mutter something about a peasant’s weapon, but he ignored him as best as he could, instead turning his full attention into this exam.

  He mentally gave an apology to Lionel as he stopped at the starting point, and lowered himself into a fighting stance. With but a moment of concentration he began to layer on his skills for maximum effectiveness. The first one to appear wrapped his entire spear in thin, writhing black flames that seemed eager to cut into whatever they could grasp. The second to make itself known did so as intense green and purple streaks of color twisting their way through the flames, focused mostly along the blade.

  The others weren’t visible to the others, but felt only by him as he poured his mana into [Acceleration]. Power flooded into his body as every aspect of it sped up, [Temporal Perception] matching it in intensity so that his mind could keep up with his body. A large chunk of his mana disappeared as everything was activated, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to show off long like this.

  With everything ready, Andro focused entirely on the man standing before him, mentally altering his view to see Lional as a threat he needed to subdue. His arms and legs moved as one, his body launching forward with enough speed it hurt. The air whistled and screamed as his spear’s blade sliced through it and straight into the chest of Lionel, and for the first time blood sprayed. Caught up in the mental image Andro had conjured, he was already withdrawing the blade before his body had even come to a stop and that final instant of momentum had his body twisting as he brought the spear around to slice where he stabbed.

  What little energy he stole from Lionel was also shoved into this next attack, his instincts screaming he needed to put down this threat. The man in question looked down at the puncture hole in his chest that had been singed with black flame, his grin only growing wider. However he also saw Andro held no intention of stopping and was already raising an arm to block the next strike. Something Andro adjusted for in barely the blink of an eye as he shocked up on his grip so that the blade would strike the arm instead of the shaft.

  That seemed to shock the trainer even more as a thin cut made its presence known on his arm. The next strike Lionel actively dodged, recognizing that while he was in no real danger, he also wasn’t expecting to actually get hurt during this. For the next long moment Lionel twisted and dodged the agile strikes from Andro, yet he still struck a few more glancing blows.

  Nearly lost in his imagination, Andro was pulled back to reality when his arms jerked to a stop and he blinked a few times to see his spear blade clutched in the tight grip of Lionel.

  “Well done.” Lionel laughed, his grin a full on proud smile at this point all while ignoring the blood on his chest and arm. After another moment, he released his hold on Andro’s weapon, allowing him to pull it back to himself.

  “Some of you have surprised me today,” The man said, placing his hands on his hips while looking up at them all.

  “Others, not so much. But that is the glory of training and being a low rank. It gives you the space you need to grow and become a better version of yourself.” HIs gaze traveled across the group of examinees as he nodded. “Now, who's ready to face me all at once?” he asked, his proud smile morphing back into a wicked grin.

  This time the entire group shared nervous glances, except for Chen and Andro who were among the first ones to surge forward. More were quick to follow, but there were still a few who took their time in participating. From there, they all learned a valuable lesson and that was their teamwork sucked. All cohesion vanished within only a few moments resulting in many only accomplishing in getting in the way.

  By the end of their frankly rather embarrassing performance, most of the group were lying on the ground and groaning in pain. One silver lining to this outcome was Andro and a few others able to demonstrate their healing skills. When everyone was recovered and back on their feet, Lionel had them all lined up where he could scrutinize them all one by one.

  “I believe it goes without saying, but you all need to work on your teamwork. Some of you did all right, displaying some familiarity with teamwork, but the others…” he trailed off with a shake of his head before continuing. “The good news, you all pass the practical exam and can all move on to the trial run, however” he paused for a moment, holding up a hand upon seeing the group getting excited. “You must all know that the trial run is the true decider on if you are allowed to become one of us in the League. These first two tests were designed to gauge whether you were capable to even attempt the trial run. The good news with that is even if you fail the trial run and survive, you can reattempt it without taking the first two tests again.”

  He looked around at them all, ensuring he had all of their undivided attention and taking his words to heart. “I will conclude today's exam with some sincere advice, do not treat this trial run lightly.” His tone had shifted to a more serious one that instantly sobered the mood of everyone present.

  “Treat this as if you are undertaking a true mission for the League and there is no room for failure. Treat this as if a single misstep, a single minor failure can and will result in either yours, or your comrades' deaths. Do that, and your chances of passing will be almost guaranteed. And for the love of all that is sane, listen to whoever is in charge.”

  Andro was pretty sure Lionel stared straight at D’lavick when he said this. Based on the small snicker he heard from beside him, Chen had noticed it as well and found it amusing.

  “The team that will be present to conduct your trial run was chosen for a reason, not only to be your evaluator but to also keep you alive. With that said, return here in two days' time where your evaluator will be ready to escort you all. Good luck and get out of my sight.”

  With that said, the man strode back towards the back of the building as he gave them all a casual wave. Andro and Chen moved to follow suit so they could head home yet only succeeded in taking a few steps before D’lavick moved in their path, a scowl already plastered in his face.

  “I demand you tell me who you are.” he ordered with crossed arms giving off an air of assumed authority. “It is obvious that the examiner recognized you and clearly gave you preferred treatment that is highly doubtful you deserve. So, I again demand you tell me who you are.”

  Andro glanced over at Chen who gave a shrug in response, obviously just as confused as he was. He was rather familiar with his sort of people and therefore knew it would have just been better to just ignore him. Those like him tended to have an inflated sense of superiority who believed there were no others who held more importance. However, Andro still felt rather annoyed with the young brats conduct today, so he only hesitated for the barest moment before reaching up to his helm and not bothering to hide his mood from his features.

  “I am Androlis Maxon of House Maxon, but you may refer to me as Lord Maxon.” he answered curtly yet still giving a polite nod. “Now that you know my name, have a good day.”

  With no further words, he stepped around the young brat, who in turn had the gall to grab his arm.

  “I never said you were dismissed, lesser noble.” D’lavick snarled, the last two words stressed as if they were an insult.

  Anger flooded the inside of Andro’s chest, and it took more willpower than expected to resist the urge to break his hand. He met the young nobles snarl with his own calm glare, yet before any of them could do anything more, laughter erupted from beside the two of them. The two looked over to see Chen practically bend over double in laughter as he pointed at D’lavick

  “I never thought I would get to meet someone with this sheer level of stupidity” Chen got out between heaves of laughter, only for said laughter to increase in intensity.

  D’lavick's face had transformed from a snarling sneer, into confused astonishment. By now everyone else had turned to watch the spectacle, some showing expressions of surprise, some amusement and even a few who glared at Chen. For D’lavick, his confusion soon shifted into pure rage, his face turning red with anger as veins bulged on his neck.

  “How dare you insult nobility.” he growled out, taking a step towards Chen as the ground around him glowed with heat.

  Chen’s response was to hold up a hand in a gesture to wait a moment as he got his laughter brought down to an amused chuckle.

  “You just don’t get it do you?” he asked D’lavick as he wiped away a tear, the young noble pausing his advance.

  “Out with it, commoner. What don’t I get?” D’lavick snapped to which Chen held up two fingers with a grin.

  “Twice today, you have both insulted and threatened people who could severely damage if not outright ruin your families.” Chen happily explained before lowering one of his fingers, “The first one was our wonderful examiner Sir Lionel.” Chen gestured towards the back of the building where Lionel had disappeared, then lowered his second finger. “The second being my good friend Andro here, and subsequently his entire family the Maxon's. You may recognize them as the family the city council personally seeks out to assist in keeping the city safe and prosperous.”

  Chen shook his head in mock disappointment as if he was a parent chastising a child before saying, “I mean who does that? Who goes out of their way to insult and threaten whose entire path in life is divining the future, to keep the people away from potential danger or even something as simple as a bad business deal. Not only that, but the same family who have countless times been the sole reason the great city of Venilar was prepared to face and stop complete destruction.”

  Chen kept going on with example after example of all the good the Maxon family has done for the city. With each one, his tone grew less humorous as his body language gradually shifted to give the impression, he was ready to pounce. The young D’lavick noble visibly shrunk back as Chen spoke, the heat even fading from the ground.

  “But do you know what the best part is?” Chen asked, all traces of humor and amusement gone. “Out of everyone here, you decided to try and intimidate the only person here who not only could leave a scratch on a platinum ranked League member but even made him bleed.”

  Murmurs and whispers spread amongst the gathered group, the general consensus seeming to be everyone agreeing with Chen. D’lavick looked around at them all, turning back to Chen as well as Andro and noticed how he had shifted to a more balanced stance as if he was ready to fight at a moment's notice. All signs of the confidence D’lavick once displayed were no longer present in his face.

  “Now, if you will excuse us, we shall be taking our leave.” Chen stated, a polite smile returning to his face, and with no further words he and Andro walked around the stunned young D’lavick and through the Mettle League base.

  “Thank you.” Andro eventually said when the pair were a handful of streets away.

  “For what?” Chen asked, genuine confusion on his face as he casually strolled beside him, hands laced behind his head.

  “Never had a friend stick up for me like that.” he answered looking over, only to chuckle at seeing his friend was already bare chested once more.

  “I would be a lousy friend if I let pricks like him talk like that to you.” Chen shrugged.

  The rest of the trip back to the Maxon estate was done in a companionable silence. Once they arrived, the entire family was eager to hear the results of the exams, and a small celebration was thrown at the reveal of them passing. All that remained before they were official members of the Mettle League was the trial run in two days' time.