Devastating Confidence

Ray entered the huge building, walking steadily towards the lobby counter regardless of the stares that followed him as he did so.

He got to the counter, not surprised to see the receptionist glancing from him to the guards at the door, almost like she was sending them a hidden signal: "There's a stray here,"

"I'm here to take the hero guide exam," Ray announced as quickly as he could, not wanting to be booted out before he did what he came for.

"ARE. YOU. SURE?" She asked with slight concern on her face, even though Ray couldn't tell who it was directed to.

"Yes. I'm pretty sure,"

"Okay," The receptionist dressed in a black and white top and skirt replied, pulling a small card from the left side of the counter, before sliding it over to Ray.

"Go to the second floor and show them the card. You need to take the stairs over there," she said pointing to the extreme corner of the lobby where they were in.

"Only members of Guide Z and visitors with a purpose can take the elevators," She informed him, before glancing away and going back to staring at the screen directly in front of her on the counter.

"Yeah right. Just tell me I don't look good enough to take the elevator," Ray grumbled under his breath, turning away to walk in the direction of the steps.

Even with the fact that he needed to climb the stairs to the second floor, his mood wasn't in any way dampened.

 If he passes the exam, not only would he have money to survive he would also be able to get revenge covertly on Horati, the Hero whose flames had directly killed his mother.

As weak and slim as Ray was, it didn't take long for him to climb the stairs to the second floor, entering from a small door at the side, labeled "second floor".

The moment he got to the second floor, he easily noticed that there was more than one section there. Without wasting time, he began looking for the part he needed to go that dealt with the Recruitment of members into the guide.

Even before he got to the center, the huge sign on the double doors was enough for him to figure out where he needed to go.

"RECRUITMENT,"

"Here we go," Ray mumbled to himself, as he checked to make sure that there was nothing wrong with his outfit that he could see, before pushing the door open to get in.

The moment he got in, he saw two people sitting on two different sides of the huge foyer he just entered, one on each side, lifting their head to look at him.

A baffled look could be seen on their face the second they laid eyes on him.

"I'm here for the recruitment exam," Ray quickly explained even before they could ask him the question he knew they were about to ask.

"Hah…"

"Ha-ahh, you? Did you hear him Quive? He's here for the recruitment test. This is the funniest thing I've heard all week," The one on the right with short slicked back hair slowly began chuckling outright, not at all caring that Ray was there.

"Are you sure you didn't miss your way? This is Hero guide Z (S class)," described the other as he tried to maintain a deathly serious expression on his face, only to fail terribly the more he heard his partner on the right burst into laughter for the second time.

"Ha…ha, look at him Quive, he looks like a single push is enough to make him break his back. What exactly can you do? Summon the sun?" 

"Walse, quieten down. At this rate, everyone would wonder what's going on here," Quive, The man with the slightly more serious face replied looking at Walse, who still had a huge smile on his face.

"I expected the so-called Hero guide Z… let's not forget (S class) to be a little more professional than this," Ray suddenly said in a loud enough voice that drew both the attention of the two formally dressed people that were in the foyer with him. 

"Laughing at a potential member like this…some of your past and dead might roll in their graves at the bad way you're representing the guide," Ray continued glad to see the slight eruption of anger he saw in the eyes of Walse, the laughing one, the moment he opened his mouth to speak.

Ray had only just straightened his back a little, feeling proud of his comeback when he watched Walse jump to his feet with a devilish smile on his face.

"I apologize," his words drenched in anything but honey.

"You are here for the recruitment exam. I'll go to prepare it now. I'll be back in about five minutes. You can have your seat in the meantime," Walse said a jolly smile on his face, pointing at the seat in front of his desk out for Ray to seat in.

With a simple nod, Ray didn't hesitate. He moved to the chair Walse pointed out to him, glad that they were finally treating him better, even if it wasn't from his heart.

Quive on the other hand had also gotten up from his chair, staring at Walse with a suspicious look in his eyes. It was obvious to him that Walse wasn't going to take the huge disrespect without doing anything in return.

"Walse…" Quive called out to him as he watched Walse head towards the main entrance door to the Recruitment section instead of heading inside where everything they needed to perform the recruitment exam was already in place.

"I'll be back in a second. We'll start the exam in no time," Walse responded before stepping out the door, gently closing it behind him.

"I can measure how powerful someone is, and at this moment he barely has any Abji( ability energy)in his body regardless of what his ability is, yet he dares to mock my guide," Walse muttered under his breath the fury on his face was crystal clear for anyone to spot from miles away as he made his way to the elevator to go to the top floors.

Back in the recruitment foyer, Ray sat there patiently feeling just a tad bit anxious since it was almost time for him to show what he could do.

"Maybe I should have tested them before heading here but where could I possibly have done that, in the bathroom?" Ray thought in his head, calming himself down since there was nothing he could do to fix it at that moment.

Right beside him stood Argo and he didn't need to read his master's mind to be able to understand what was going through it, especially when he noticed the slight fidgeting of his hand against the arm of the car he sat on.

"I'm sorry for the delay. My partner should be back soon," Quive said from where he stood waiting for Walse, trying to wrap his head around what he could possibly be up to.

"It's fine, I can wait for…" Ray was still responding for ok on where he sat when the door to the entrance of the Recruitment section swung open.

The old man that stepped in wasn't Walse, but an old man with an aura of superiority and authority around him. His white hair was silvery and long enough to pass his neckline.

The moment he stepped in, his gaze instantly landed on Ray, making him swallow whatever words he was about to say next.

Ray had lived in the city of Levigne long enough to know the faces of the Superpowers even if he didn't know their names.

The instant his eyes landed on Lord Edet, his entire body froze up and all he could manage was a simple nod in his direction.

"Lord Edet, he's the young boy I told you about. I don't know how powerful he is but from the confidence, he came in with, I believe it won't be a waste of time for you to watch him in person," Walse said politely, from behind Lord Edet with a professionally fixed expression on his face.

"Hmm. He looks…ehm, quite unique," Lord Edet commented, finally turning his gaze away from Ray, strolling to the inner doors in front of him.

Quive was already there, opening the door for him, lowering his head a little for the vice head of the guide, before tossing a "What have you done look" at Walse the second Lord Edet strolled past him.

"Let's get on with it," Lord Edet called out in a loud and clear voice as he strolled in, one that made Ray instantly get to his feet, walking past Quive who looked at him with a worrisome expression on his face.

"I agree, I should get this over with," Ray thought, doing his best not to think of the high-ranking member of the guide in front of him. Instead, he focused on showing him what he could do.

The minute Ray entered in through the inner doors, he noticed how different and more elite the huge room he entered was.

The ground and the walls were painted a very dull grey but the quality of the materials used to make it was grand. But above all, it was the giant ball hanging on the ceiling of the room that drew most of Ray's attention.

It was a huge black ball and no matter how much he stared at it, he couldn't see through it.

"Please stand under the ball," Lord Edet said, speaking directly to Ray, who had been lost gazing at the room he was in.

Noting the Lord's attention on him, Ray quickly did as he was told, completely ignoring the evil smirk he could see on Walse's face as he moved closer to Lord Edet.

"Can I get permission to switch on the recording equipment? We wouldn't want to miss anything just in case," Walse asked, not paying attention to Quive's head as he shook it at him.

"Sure go ahead," Lord Edet responded, his full attention on Ray as he watched him stand under the ball, expecting to see the entire information about his powers shown to him, like it was supposed to. The main reason why he hadn't asked the boy to tell him his abilities.

Seconds ticked by, and nothing came up as the three people in the room stood there in silence, with the only sound that could be heard being the slight whirling of the recording high-grade cameras and recording equipment.

"He wouldn't dare come to the guide without having awakened his ability. Maybe he's one of those genius' which even our equipment is powerless to read the great extent of their powers,"

"Maybe I should have taken him into the High-grade testing hall. Walse wouldn't have called me for nothing. Moreover, his pride and confidence is astounding," Lord edet thought, recalling how the body had only nodded at him when he entered the room, when even the generals would bow.

"Okay…you may now display your powers," Lord Edet instructed Ray from where he stood close to the door, preparing to activate the defensive mechanism of the Hall, to protect Quive and Walse just in case.