9 Chapter 8

-Time skip for 2 Years-

Third person's POV:

The Xyrus's Adventure Guild Hall, a marble structure with attractive artistic architecture and exterior designs. You could tell that whoever built it had spent a great fortune on the specific materials that made up the building just by a glimpse of it. If not for the giant Adventure Guild's symbol labeled in front of it, many would have mistaken it with a luxury mansion of some rich noble.

Nevertheless, Vigor didn't come all his way here just to admire the building's visual.

Inside the hall was a regular scenery of people scattering all around or gathering in small groups to have a variety of topics to speak about. Some were bragging about their successful dungeon dives. Others were recruiting new members to strengthen their teams or even collaborating with other teams.

All of sudden, the wooden entrance doors were opened wide by an individual which caught some adventurers' attention. The figure stood at about 1.7 meters, fully clad in ebony dark steel armor from head to feet. The impending thorny texture of the armor gave the spectators an odd feeling of uncanny, much like they are looking at something dreadful which is not from this world rather than a man in armor.

The helm covered his face entirely from hair to chin, leaving only two eye holes for him to have vision. Hence, it was unknown to everyone about his identity and his race. Assessing his height, they guessed that it was either a below average height human/elf or a really tall dwarf.

Each step of him created a clacking metallic sound due to his plates colliding with each other whenever he moved. Moreover, unlike his right hand protected by a steel gauntlet which marched with the overall armor, his left hand wore a leather glove along with two dimensional rings on index and middle finger.

The adventurers gave him a passing glance. Some had a big curiousity towards him , wondering who this man might be. Some were in envy as they had never seen any adventurer with such high tier gears like him before. Ignoring the crowd, he approached the reception table.

"Welcome! How may I help you?" Mary the female receptionist greeted him with a smile gleaming a pearly white while hiding her inner worry at his appearance.

"I would want to meet this Guild's leader, Kaspian Bladeheart-" , Vigor replied as he slid her a letter with the emblem of his house on its red wax seal. He sounded like a middle-age man due to the fact that he used sound magic to alter his voice deeper. Thus covering his identity perfectly.

Mary recognized the carve of an iron anvil with a hammer inside of a circle with knot pattern.

"This emblem! You're from the...!" Immediately, Mary's voice had been blocked by a small sound barrier surrounding her table along with Vigor in it, before people could hear her saying the name.

Vigor made a hand gesture, with his right index finger placed on his mout-, welp, the section of his helm that covers his mouth, signaling her to be quiet.

"Ah! I'm greatly sorry sir!"

"Don't let this slip out and lead me to him." Vigor replied and released the barrier.

"O-of course, please come this way." the receptionist answered, nodding her head fervently and led the armored boy to her boss' office.

Whispers could be heard coming out from the witnesses who just got to see Vigor's brief power display.

"Holy craps, a sound deviant!"

"I know, crazy right? And that guy is going for a rank examination!"

"Wait, but he doesn't have a sponsor though. How in the world?"

The office was minimally decorated with two leather couches positioned to face each other. On the far end of the room was a dark, wooden desk facing the door; a slender man was seated behind the pile of neatly-stacked papers, jotting down something with a quilted pen.

Roused by the sound of his office door being opened, the man looked up to reveal a sharp and angular face.

The head of black hair parted down the center and reached just past his thin neck. Behind his rimless and thick glasses were a pair of sharp eyes that regarded Vigor intently.

"Sir, this gentleman claims to be the Kinsteel's representative."

Mary informed Kaspian as she gave the letter to him.

Taking a quick gaze at the letter's emblem seal for identification, Kaspian eyed Vigor again before unsealing the letter and read it.

"Thank you Mary, you may be back to work now. And close the door for us please." Kaspian ordered with a smile.

Mary nodded closed the door, making a soft thud before taking her leave without questions.

"I can't say I'm not surprised to be asked by Lord Kinsteel to do him a favor. It's truly an honor.

But just because our houses are firmly close allies in terms of businesses, it doesn't mean that I can willingly risk breaking the safe codes of Adventurer Guild and let the precious heir find his ways in dangerous states. Am I right?", Kaspian locked his eyes at Vigor, walking to him while he did so.

"I'm as well-aware as how I believe in my abilities to…not die." Vigor returned condescendingly in his "original baby voice" , but not in the manner of disrespectful.

"Oh, much confidence coming from the "Blessed" huh? Then allow me to get this straight, young lad: this job is life threatening by any level, for all mages regardless of their ranks and powers let alone a..... um, excuse me, how old are you again?" Kaspian gave the warning with an aim to force Vigor to give up.

"Eight."

"My goodness! How did you even convince your parents to let you become an adventurer?!", Kaspian was shocked.

"It's a long story, you only need to know that they agreed in the end and I am standing here with their permission. How I will face the dangers in dungeons, how I will can be on my own and many more, all have been prepared carefully and met my parents' satisfaction. And right now you can see: my identity is fully hidden thanks to my father's craft."

Vigor replied as he implied about his armor covered from his face to his feet. And it was also quite a flexing from him as well, given how much he liked the armor.

Not only the armor gave him protection against even the savagest mana beasts, but also made him feel comfortable(hiding his face) so he didn't have to worry about being acknowledged by anyone. Thus reducing his social awkwardness when speaking to others.

"Perhaps you forgot about something else really important too?", Kaspian raised his eyebrow, referring to his childish voice.

Vigor snapped a soundproof barrier once again, covering the office as he altered his voice frequency via sound deviant, which sounded considerably older:

"All done."

Kaspian jolted in utmost surprised, he connected the patterns in his head:

"I-Impossible, sound deviant…But my niece, Claire told me that you only had…Fire and Earth…then y-you are–"

"Tri-Elemental. Please keep this secret.", Vigor finished for him.

"Back to the point, all I need now is the sponsor for the examination, which is you, suggested by my father." Vigor continued as Kaspian slowly recovered upon hearing the bomb Vigor just dropped.

Kaspian is no fool. Despite how much of a prodigy Vigor is, there is no assurance that a naive and inexperienced child can return alive everytime he enters those dungeons. There are simply way too many possibilities, unforeseen risks that even the adult mages are afraid of. And if Vigor died? The Kinsteel's rage would tear the long term relationship between them and Bladeheart apart as their allegations on him for not being able to protect their child. Thus leading to a severe conflict which potentially ends up with a war between two houses.

"I understand that you have concerns towards my safety. My death will affect both our families for sure. But with all respects, I can take care of myself, and whatever happens to me, you won't be accused by my parents. The moment my parents agreed for me to become an adventurer, they already accepted what kind of struggles I will have to face too."

Seeing Kaspian hesitated, Vigor stated confidently as if he was reading Kaspian's mind.

"Furthermore, based on your earlier behavior of observing me like an owl, I believe you saw how powerful I am to not be underestimated as just a brat with big ego, didn't you?" Vigor added.

'This kid..... Tri-Elemental, solid yellow core with cracks, sound magic and now even his incredibly sharp senses.', Kaspian muttered mentally.

"That is my promise, I'm not speaking to you as a beggar nor a bargainer. I'm speaking to you as a Kinsteel to a Bladeheart. Trust me, like the way your family have trusted the blades forged by my family. "

Amazed by not only Vigor's strength but also his maturity and reasoning that made a contrary to his age. It felt like he was having a conversation with a man in his same age rather than a pampered aristocratic kid who born with a silver spoon.

"Very well then, if you insist with your family's confirmed approval. " Kaspian sighed in acceptance.

Vigor dispelled the barrier as the conversation returned to "normal".

"I believe we haven't properly introduced ourselves to each other yet. My name is Kaspian Bladeheart, and I am in charge of this branch. It's a pleasure to be in business with you as your official sponsor." He extended his right hand for the wannabe adventurer kid in armor.

"My pleasure as well. You know who I am, but I will go by Drinkard." Vigor shooked Kaspian's hand.

"Excuse me?" Kaspian's brow raised in visible confusion.

"Yes, any problems?"

"No .....apart from the reason for you choose it as your alias?." Kaspian scratched his head.

"You will find out soon enough.", Vigor answered back playfully.

"And here I wonder how long will you keep making me filled with surprises, young Kinsteel."

"The longer I stay in the examination hall, the more you will know."

"Hahahaha, can't wait for that. Looking at this… "impressive attire" of yours, I guess it's safe to say that you're an augmenter?" Vigor's reply gave Kaspian a small laugh.

"Welp, for the most of the time. But yes, you can assign an augmenter to test me."

"As you wish then."

Vigor walked with the glassed Guild Leader to a brightly lit area which was an indoor, dirt-floored arena with standard theater seats that appeared more like exaggerated stairs. The way this place were built and set up reminded Vigor of a sport stadium, but this one has a much more smaller scale.

Kaspian instructed Vigor to take a seat and wait until the examiner calls his name. As Vigor lounged nonchalantly on a row of stone seats, he peeled his eyes away from his sponsor who was talking to an assistant writing down details and focused on the recent match of two individuals in the the arena's center.

Quickly, the fights began to bore him as there was nothing to excite him even just briefly. Overall, the examinees' results ranged from E to C ranked along with an exception of one luck enough person managed to achieve B rank. Their magic skills were either amateur or too methodical and basic, mostly for the fact that all of them never engaged in real life battles before.

The scarred augmenters' examiner George caught the list mid air tossed by the female conjurers' examiner in grey conjurer's robe with a witch hat covered most of her face. After all of those fights to rank the examinees, both of them seemed to have no signs of drained out, indicating their level far surpassed every single adventurer wannabe here.

"Hey Chloe, wanna join me in the lunch break after this?" George asked the female examiner with a wink.

"Only if it's your treat this time." Chloe smirked back teasingly.

"You sly witch, fine." George scoffed and immediately got his head bonked by Chloe's magic staff.

"Alright, next examinee, .... Drinkard! It's your turn!" George hesitated a little bit at Vigor's anonym but he eventually ignored right away as he really wanted to end this quickly for the lunch.

"Here." Vigor answered as he walked down cavalierly and took a glare at George to probe him.

'Dark yellow, long sword. Possibly with additional affinity, haven't seen him display any yet but, only one way to find out.' Vigor thought to himself.

Vigor halted his feet at the dirt arena, facing George.

"Quite a fancy armor you got over there. It seems you're here to be tested under special conditions, seeing as there isn't any additional information here written about you. Alright! Let's see what you're made of." George shot Vigor a curious stare, trying to look through his helm's eye slits to see his face.

"Yes, show me what you're capable of, Vigor Kinsteel." Kaspian commented quietly, watching from the seats.

"Some flesh, some bones, and a ball of mana stuck in my chest." Vigor half-lied as he waved his left hand and summoned a weapon that seemed to be a board sword with a cross guard section connected to its long handle which was almost as long as a spear's. From the blade to the handle's end coated by a grim black color matched his armor set and mixed with dark bronze.

"Let us begin–", The examiner smoothly unsheathed his sword.

"Wait!" Vigor interrupted George as he stabbed his swordspear into the ground.

"Come on, I don't have all day here "Mr Knight in not so shining armor" , what's the matt–

Before George could finish his sentence, Vigor took a wine flask and a metal straw out of his dimensional ring.

Silence engulfed the entire arena since the audience were speechless at the image of an examinee just casually drank wine by plugging the metal straw in the flask and threading it through the crevice of his helm.

What a way to enjoy your drink, without revealing your identity.

On the other hand, Kaspian's eyes widened in unbelievable shock to an extent that he took off his glasses to wipe it carefully and put it on again to make sure what he was watching.

"Are you....."

Vigor gestured his non-holding flask hand at George, signalling him to wait for just a second.

"Donezo." Vigor announced in satisfaction and stored the flask back to his ring. Unplugging the swordspear held it firmly in defensive stance.

*Sigh* "Begin!" George fidgetly announced while lunging at Vigor with his sword slashing horizontally.

Vigor followed suit and propelled his figure at George after he had willed mana to his entire body. Swinging vertically, Vigor's weapon clashed again George's sword, creating a big metallic impact sound, deafening the audience. Couldn't withstand against Vigor's superior enhanced physical strength, George was instantly sent flying back 50 feet after the collision. Having been trained, the examiner quickly reverse gripped his sword during the fall and stabbed down to the dirt surface, scratching into a long track as the impact was too tremendous. Nevertheless, he gained back his ground and balance.

'What in the actual hell? That was pure augmented brute strength, and it's not even all of his mana manifested into that one single blow.' George filled in panic, his hands, shaking in pain as he felt his forearms' bones aching. Never had he face such a examine-, no, an opponent as powerful as this one.

Not giving up, George sprinted his way to the armored target with all of his mana reinforcement, not holding back like when he tested others. Then there went the series of fast but precise attacks from George, thrusts and slashes at every directions he could at Vigor.

Little did George know, Vigor's visionary augmentation increased his eyes' reaction to movements which are influenced by mana. To an extent that any strikes coming from George, Vigor could easily tackle them down like a child game as he was dodging all the time without getting hit.

Seeing normal sword offensive techniques weren't adequate to deliver a real harm to the armored foe , George casted fire spell onto his armament, sending red arc slashes of flame toward Vigor.

For what had been about more than a minute, Vigor's sight beamed on George's long sword. Aside from waves of movements with a sole purpose to cut him down, Vigor noticed something else, a crack on the middle edge of its light white blade, small but visible.

Whilst the exchange continued with Vigor mainly evaded and only blocked the attacks for few times, more and more cracks was showing up on the examiner's blade.

George raised his sword higher than his head and slashed vertically. The long sword's edge fell down over Vigor's head in helplessness as Vigor simply turned his body to the left and stepped back to dodge it effortlessly. However, for a mere second, Vigor felt something was wrong, this time George didn't planted as much mana in this particular cut as the previous ones.

As George's sword stopped mid air, he stepped up with his left leg and immediately rotated his entire body. The earlier attack was his bait with an attempt to lure Vigor dodge at right where he wanted him to go. The process was on going ,his red fiery sword bursted angrily into bright yellow fire running along the blade like a giant torch being lit and all of his augmented muscle in his arms, hip put up together for this spinning sword slash aimed right at Vigor's back head.

*CLEEENKKK!*

Numerous sharp broken pieces of blade fell to the ground , leaving the observers in astonishment.

The match ended with a clear victor.

For a mere second before George's attack and Vigor's collided , the 8 year-old kid in armor raised his swordspear behind his backhead just in time to protect it with a swift motion. Having a clear confidence in the durability of his weapon, Vigor didn't bother to enhance it with any additional elemental attributes but only pure mana instead. As a result, George's noticeably damaged sword got shattered when it came to impact.

George fell down to his knees fainting heavily in exhaustion, the fire spell on his broken sword faded away into thin air as well as most of his mana and also his winning chance.

In contrast, Vigor remained calm as if he just walked in a park, showing no signs of fatigue nor strugglings.

"So…that means I passed right?", Vigor asked.

"George, go have your break now, I'll be the one to test this gentleman."

The bespectacled guild leader walked toward, followed by Chloe who had a worrying look on her face.

"S-Sir? You will be personally examining this participant?"

"The match's outcome was apparent, this examinee's caliber certainly exceeded yours by a great distance. So following the guild's rules, yes, an AA class like me must be responsible to put a trial with him for accurate analysis in order to place him a proper rank." Kaspian exclaimed whilst pulling his thin rapier from the leather scabbard on his left waist.

"Sir, I'm still more than enough to carry on this test. I just need an new sword , some rest and--"

"And you will end up severely injured if I don't interrupt the battle in time ,George. I appreciate your devotion, but that's an order." Kaspian, without a need to release his pressure, sent a cold shiver to George, making him comply and leave with Chloe.

"Now, shall we begin?"

Vigor pulled a black rod which had its head section containing a magic gem dimmed a vague orange light, signifying as his weapon for conjuring.

In order to fight against an opponent like Kaspian, Vigor decided to reveal more of his cards, as he dual-wielded the swordspear and the magic staff, prepared for what's coming.