Chapter - 13 - Potential [2]

<[A/N: It is a bit late but for people who are confused by my usage of [*] and /-----/;

[*] = it is happening at a different time

/-----/ = at the same time but in another places/space]>

[*]

"Isn't that Lucas? Hey, I thought you left us with that kid when you disappeared like that!"

Turning his head from the bulletin board to the source of the voice, Lucas could see a girl with long dark brown hair and emerald eyes waving his way. With curvy body and tight clothes, most people who looked curiously at the sudden shout -regardless of men or women- couldn't take their eyes off her easily.

Even so, nobody dared to make a move on her both because of the golden emblem on her chest and the walking muscle that was far longer than 3 meters behind her.

"Ah, Marly! Troy is also here!"

"Ya-ho~!"

With a cute voice, the girl he called 'Marly' greeted him as 'Troy', the walking muscle nodded his head.

"Oh, did you and that kid split up?"

"That kid? Ah.. yeah, we split up but calling him 'that kid' is a bit rude, don't you think? He has a na... huh?"

"Hm? Is something wrong?"

While talking, Lucas' mind blanked out for a second.

Ever since he left that weird kid's side and entered the second district, he felt like he was missing something. At first, he thought it was due to him being alone rather than with the other members of the travelling group. So, he decided to wait for them in the [Adventurer Consortium] until they arrived after having a meal.

But now that he heard what Marly said, he finally remembered what he totally forgot about.

'Oh sh- I didn't even ask his name! He could've heard my name from others but I have no idea about his!'

Shaking Lucas' frozen body, Marly asked a question to bring him back to reality.

"Well, I have no idea why you blanked out all of a sudden but considering that you were looking at the board... are you planning on taking a quest?"

"Ah.. I am still considering it."

Lucas avoided eye contact with Marly and turned his face another way. Obviously, there was no way Marly wouldn't notice how awkward he looked. She understood the situation immediately.

"You can't find any teammates?"

"Yes..."

"Why don't you look at the posts in the forum, then? I heard most people used that way to find people and items."

"That-"

Lucas gazed at his empty wrist sorrowfully. Because he planned to save his money until he entered the military, he refused to buy a watch that was only useful in the consortium. Other than the forum, shops and a few functions to send support to adventurers who were in dire need, the watch wouldn't be of any use in daily lives. Considering the fact that Lucas was planning on becoming a <liberator> after graduating the military, it was definitely of no use.

He thought that as long as he wasn't in a hazardous situation, there wouldn't be any need for such thing since he could just come to the building anyways but it appeared that wasn't exactly right.

Seeing Lucas' reaction, Marly opened up her mouth but it was Troy who spoke first.

"You. join. we... Nolan. we. expedition. three."

Every word Troy said sounded like a cacophony with his teeth gritting against each other. This caused most of the people around to cover their ears and back away. It was only when he stopped talking did everybody relax and shot a hateful glare at Troy's direction.

Lucas had a hard time understanding what Troy said but thankfully, Marly was there to help him out.

"He said you should join us. Nolan said we were going to an expedition three days later, its rank is still a bit high for you but..."

Marly continued her words as she winked at Lucas.

"This big sister will protect you so don't worry~."

Lucas, being the person he is, turned emotional when they invited him to join them even though they knew each other for a week. With a grateful look and ignoring Marly's weird tone of speech, he faced Troy directly. Though it looked like a rabbit facing an wolf because of the height difference, he thanked him with a bow.

"Thank you, brother Troy! I'll definitely make sure I don't get in your way!"

Troy nodded his head at Lucas' words satisfiedly. He was a man who believed that the spirit was the most important aspect when it come to facing dangers. He had already took a liking to Lucas but this increased his favorability points by lots.

Marly, who felt like an outsider when facing this situation that looked like a student making an oath to his cultivation master, sighed ruefully.

'No, it's too early to give up!'

With a new determination she got from Lucas' solemn face, she squeezed her hands for a second.

For the outsiders who noticed the commotion, they looked like they were putting on a ridiculous show though.

/-----/

"𝘉𝘻𝘻-- Now, please put your hand on the orb in front of you."

The person who was following words that came from the speaker obediently was Joshua.

In the middle of a white room filled with machines that were completely unfamiliar to him, he was standing in a glass tank with a translucent orb hanging in the air in front of him. The glass tank was shaped like a specimen container from a science fiction movie.

Before entering the room, he was forced to change his clothes to some white dress with a white bracelet. The bracelet had some shapes on it that looked like embossed brailles.

Even if he didn't feel like it, Joshua was forced out of his thoughts by this situation. He felt like an alien about to be experimented on. If it wasn't for Mikael blocking the only door, he definitely would have taken the chance to run as far away as his weak legs could take him.

The moment he placed his hands on the orb, some visible blue static electricity started to appear in it.

"Alright. Input some of your mana in it."

𝘎𝘶𝘭𝘱--

With a soundable gulp, Joshua focused on the mana inside of him as he closed his eyes. Just like the first time he did it, he could feel a lump of mana that wrapped up his heart awhole. He directed that gas-like substance to his fingers. Like a loyal follower, the mana obeyed his words immediately.

Joshua felt like a part of his body was also flowing with the mana as it moved. He could tell every movement of it in his arm as it finally reached the orb. The second his mana entered the orb, he opened his eyes as he kept sending his mana.

The electricity in the orb slowly turned into a gas as it got denser. The blue colour also changed and took a bluish violet colour instead.

While Joshua was immersed in that scene, the same voice interrupted him.

"That's enough. The results will be over in a few minutes."

When Joshua turned his face to the side, he could see the same man who took Midnight's heart and Mikael standing a bit in the back. Once the test was over, Mikael stopped leaning on the door and walked a bit closer. When he looked closely, Joshua could see that he was still reading the documents about the heart.

Seeing their uninterested faces, Joshua's face darkened. Even though he knew he shouldn't hope for much, he felt stupid now that he hoped for something miraculous to happen.

You know, like those in the novels where the MC suddenly learns that they no longer have a limit thanks to the system's interference.

But looking at the indifferent two, he felt a part of his heart aching as he took his hand of the orb and left the tank. He tried his best to look calm as he masked his inner thoughts.

Mikael came over and patted him on the shoulder before looking back at the other person.

"Ruth, how long will it take?"

"5 min. Leave if you have nothing else to ask for, the rotten smell of elderly is hurting my nose."

Without the need to listen to the person's voice from the speakers, Joshua figured that it was a woman unlike what he thought. She had really short blond hair and orange eyes that were hidden behind her glasses. For some reason, looking at her reminded him of his second brother Ivan, even though both of them were nothing alike. Was it because he was the only other person he knew with wavy hair?

"At least pretend to be respectful in front of others, you are damaging my reputation..."

"What reputation?"

Watching the two quarrel from the side, Joshua couldn't help but giggle. The two looked like a granddaughter and a grandfather duo.

But he regretted his actions as the two looked at him at the same time. For a second, Joshua forgot how to breath under the heavy pressure with his back filling with sweat. Thankfully, the moment didn't last for long as the two figured his situation. After exchanging a glance with Ruth, Mikael dragged Joshua out of the room.

Only once did Mikael help him sit on a sectional in another room did the shock spread through his body. With his legs giving out, his body sunk deeper in the sofa. His shaky hands grabbed the glass of water Mikael offered.

"Sorry about that one, kiddo."

Looking at Joshua, Mikael felt bad about what he did as he looked at him regretfully.

"No problem, I know you didn't mean to..."

With his words trailing off, Joshua fixed his posture and put the glass back on the table in front of him.

"More importantly, what about the other things I wanted?"

"On your left."

It was only then did Joshua notice the black box right beside him. He was just about to open it before stopping and looking at Mikael.

"You can open it."

When he was granted permission, he took the box in his embrace and opened it. In it stood two brown books which looked like the manuals he requested, a paper and a blue card right next to it. Without wasting any time, he took the card and the paper in his hand and placed the box back on the sofa. Without him even asking, Mikael already started to explain.

"It is a <F> ranked dungeon that we discovered lately but you can still give up on it, you know. Your body only looks around <H> grade..."

Joshua shook his head from side to side almost instantaneously.

"I know it sounds reckless but you already know that the first two grades; H and G are the terms used to differentiate between normal people. Once I awaken, even if I can't become an <F> ranked like most people, I can still become a <G> ranked at the very least."

Seeing that Mikael still haven't given up after his words, Joshua continued as he placed the paper and card to the table before taking out the two books.

"And you also know it, don't you? It's not only the rank that matters. As long as I make considerable progress with my fighting style, I will be fine."

"Haa..."

Mikael rubbed his temples for a second. He had no choice but to give up persuading the child after seeing how stubborn he was.

Contrary to his thoughts, Joshua was panicking inwardly. Even though he was the one that said it, he knew how hard it would be for him to make progress. After all, unlike how system helped him with controlling magic, he needed to take the reins in his hands now. Adding to the fact that he still had no idea if he was compatible with them, it was going to be a rough path.

'I hope there is something in system that could help me with it...'

Right now, he was gambling his chances on his [Prodigy] trait.

At first, when he bought the dagger arts and the twin shortswords, he thought of using them only when necessary and giving it to someone he planned on inviting to his 'team'. Well, if that person were to not follow him, he could still just sell it.

But unlike what he initially planned, he now wanted to learn how to use them as efficiently as he could. He didn't know if it was because of the relaxing feeling that small piece of cold metal gave him or because he really believed they would come in handy when he was cornered in short distance. Either way, even if it turned out that he wasn't compatible with it, he planned on learning the sword arts with it to the basic level at the very least.

At that second, Ruth entered the room with a piece of paper in his hands, disrupting his train of thoughts. She was waving the paper about his results without much thought.

Ruth's behaviour caused Joshua's body to tense unconsciously. He had already given up on the chance he had a high rank but this caused his remaining small strand of hope to cut off completely.

With a dejected look, he waited for her to sit down. Once she took her seat, Ruth passed her fingers through her short blonde hair before speaking up.

"You are Cain, right?"

"-Ah yes."

Joshua forgot about his fake name completely for a second before replying. Other than Mikael and whoever he sent to investigate him, nobody else should know about his name, or so he thought.

Ruth looked at Joshua up and down before continuing her words solemnly. Her actions were enough to even pique Mikael's interest.

"So your potential is..."

[*]

Joshua looked at the paper again. It was full of information regarding <F> ranked [The Submerged Laboratory] dungeon Mikael handed over to him.

"So detailed..."

This was the second time he was moved by the intel humans had. Remembering that, he focused back on the information.

"Underwater, huh? That's going to be the a first dungeon..."

Murmuring quietly in the crowd, he rubbed the bracelet on his left hand. Thankfully, Mikael provided him with a few more items after the awakening stone.

Right now, he was about to enter the [Second District], the place where most of the population lived and once he did so, he would be able to find a place for him to deal with both his mother and the stone.

Normally, Mikael offered him help about the awakening process as it would be a pain in the ass for someone to deal with alone but he refused to. The reason was because of his mother. Even now, she was withering away in that space. Just that thought alone made Joshua let go of the ring and squeeze the necklace under his cloak tightly.

Ah, he obviously changed back to normal clothes after the test was over.

"𝘉𝘻𝘻- Number 779!"

Hearing the number written on the paper he was holding getting called out by the woman holding the megaphone, Joshua walked out to them.

Once he stopped in front of a staff member that was waiting for somebody, the woman spoke without even looking at him.

"Your ID."

Joshua handed his fake ID. By every passing second the woman kept on inspecting the card, his heart kept on racing even faster.

The woman kept on alternating between the card and Joshua before handing it back.

"Here you go. Follow the yellow line on the floor and you will reach to the measuring test."

"Yes... uh, thank you."

Joshua replied awkwardly before hurrying to find his way.

"𝘉𝘻𝘻- Number 780 and Number 781!"

He heard the woman call out to two other people behind his back as he followed the yellow lines like he was told. When he made sure there was an appropriate distance between him and the crowd. He let out a sigh of relief inwardly as his face relaxed. Thankfully, just like the first 'blood test' he and Lucas took, there wasn't anything special about it as it was just a check.

Well, the only reason they checked the ID cards was for them to differentiate between residents, criminals and public figures but Joshua didn't know that.

Criminals had a red tick on their card depending on the level and the number of crimes they commited, causing them to be called <Marked> while the public figures had a golden or a green tick depending on their status and influence.

On the other hand, other people like Joshua's fake ID, Cain Slora, had nothing particular about their cards.

When he reached a group of people standing aligned, Joshua knew he was at the right place. It was now time for him to take the measuring test.

In normal terms, considering Joshua's <H> rank body, there was no way for him to enter the city as they only accepted people with <D-> rank or higher but thankfully, it turned out that he had a potential higher than <D> rank, allowing him to enter as long as he gave them a lufty sum. In the case it wouldn't work out, he asked Mikael to provide him a backing paper which he did without any objection.

After waiting for around an hour and half, just as Joshua's legs were to give out, his number was called again. Instead of the megaphone from last time, the voice was coming from a person. When he looked, Joshua could notice that the person was a young man this time.

Gulping nervously, Joshua headed to the room behind the man. Rather than being rejected, he was more scared of the test that was waiting for him. It was nothing much different than the one Ruth did but there was just this tiny, eenie meenie problem.

Gathering his courage, he entered the room.

[A/N: Merchants, Adventurers, Liberators and Heroes are all different. I'm going to explain it all later on.]