Chapter 4

The suit that Lewis wore, was a simple white button up, black suit jacket, black trousers and black Oxfords.

"A t-shirt and jeans would have been better. This feels stiff." Lewis sighed as he stepped out of the hospital. True to Joshua's word, a black Mercedes sedan was waiting outside for him. A man in a similar suit stood beside the car waiting for Lewis as well.

"Mr. Padova I presume?" The man asked.

"It's just Lewis, but yes." Lewis replied. The man nodded as if he had just confirmed something and opened the back door of the sedan. Lewis walked up to the now opened door and got in, the door shutting behind him.

***

The ride to the Hephaestus's Forge Guild was roughly a thirty minute long one, when Lewis had arrived at the building, his first thought was about how extra it was. The hammer and anvil with a volcano in the background was built into the stone pillars in gold in front. The building itself reminded Lewis of a corporation style building from his last life. The high rise windows that reflected the outside scenery, the many floors and business appeal, and the name of the guild written extravagantly and attractively on the side in big bold caps.

"How quaint, I suppose." Lewis mumbled as took the stairs up to the entrance. Inside was decorated more luxuriously with white marble and granite grays to give it a greek aesthetic. The brass and gold overlays helped accentuate the look. The moment Lewis walked in, a secretary at one of the three welcoming desks motioned him over. She looked a little young to be working as a secretary with her long black hair and honey gold eyes.

"How can I assist you today young man?" The girl asked with a sweet tone and smile.

"Joshua had me brought here from the hospital. Something about signing a contract of sorts." Lewis replied as he approached the desk.

"Oh, Mr. Padova? Right this way!" The young lady stood up and began escorting Lewis.

"It's Lewis, but whatever." Lewis sighed, having to again correct someone about his name. He followed the lady down a corridor and into an elevator. The girl was hardly three inches taller than he was, which made him question her age even more.

"It's interesting to see someone around my age being scouted by such a prominent guild. What did you do to gain the interest of our A Team Raid Leader?" The girl asked, now confirming Lewis's suspicions on her age.

"Potential?" Lewis avoided the question with a bland response.

"Well, that may be a part of the reason I suppose. I'm asking what exactly did you do?" The girl's question became a little sharper in tone.

"Fought some dungeon creatures. Guess he thought I had a promising future." Lewis answered vaguely.

"You are not one for conversation are you?" The girls sighed, mostly out of irritation.

"My head hurts, and your voice is agitating." Lewis replied with equal irritation. Silence followed the statement, but the glares Lewis received spoke volumes. The elevator dinged, causing a minor flinch from Lewis, as they arrived at their floor. The girl walked out briskly while Lewis followed in a calm comfortable manner. Soon, the duo arrived at an office, unmarked with any names or decorations.

"This is where you'll be waiting for the evaluator. They'll be taking over from here. Goodbye." The girl gave a forced smile and walked away in a huff. Lewis watched her leave with an amused look on his face before he turned and entered the room. The inside was pretty much as bland as the outside. An office desk with two chairs furnished the room.

"Reminds me of an interrogation room." Lewis mused. He sat in a chair and leaned back slightly, his eyes closed and he fell asleep.

***

"Mr. Padova? Are you ready?" A woman shook Lewis awake and asked. Lewis blinked a few times and then looked at the woman. She had short blue hair and similarly blue eyes that stared coldly down at him. She was fairly tall and fair skinned, but her fashion made him question her sanity. A black sports bra and black shorts that clung to her body like leggings.

"Yeah." Lewis responded as he stood up and stretched. As he did, a bag hit him in the face, interrupting his good feeling. His eyes now held hostility and agitation.

"Put those on and then follow me." The woman stated before leaving and slamming the door shut behind her.

"Is everyone here just a bitch?" Lewis grumbled as he opened the bag. Inside was a digital watch, a skin-tight long sleeve black shirt and black sweats. Lewis leisurely donned the outfit on and stepped out of the room.

"Fucking middle schoolers, think the world runs on your time huh?" The blue bitch scoffed before beginning to walk away back towards the elevators. Lewis breathed out and calmed himself. The sounds of her walking reverberated in his head and he took the two pills he needed from his pocket, downing them and moved on.

***

This time, they went down instead of up, and the area they arrived in was an underground training area. When Lewis stepped out, he was greeted, coldly, by several people in similarly dressed attire to Lewis and the blue bitch.

"Welcome to pre-eval, Mr. Padova. This is where we decide if you're worth the resources to raise you into one of our teams. We will begin with combat training. You may choose whether or not to use a blessing. These will be monitored for closer evaluation later. You'll be in room B Two Zero Three." The blue bitch pointed at a room near the end of the hall they stood in.

"It's not like I have a choice on whether or not I want to use a blessing, since one of them decided they just don't want to deactivate." Lewis replied as he began to walk towards the specified room. This statement widened the eyes of all who were present.

"What do you mean, 'One of them'?" The blue bitch asked.

"Exactly as I said. If you're that slow, quit talking down to me." Lewis answered as he entered the room. It was a plain room of basically all white with rows of lights and an observation room above. A door at the other end opened and a dog-like beast rushed in. Its fur was like fire with its hues of orange and red.

[Junior Hellhound

Age: 77

Rating: 36.6

STR: 23 CHA: 27

DEX: 48 MAG: 50

INT: 30 CON: 42]

"I'd hate to see a mature Hellhound. Isn't this a higher rating than the Cave Imps?" Lewis readied himself, the hellhound hadn't seen him yet as it was too busy sniffing around.

[You've Encountered a beast that can be turned into a Soul Companion to use as a Blessing. Please Defeat the Junior Hellhound.

Hidden Challenge- Defeat a monster that has the capabilities to become a Companion.

Rewards for Completion: Junior Hellhound will be acquired at a third Tier level. The User will receive 10 Free SP and 1000 CP.

Penalty for Failure: The User will lose Sea Serpent and all stats will decrease by 10%]

"More and more things just keep coming at me with this system. This world must really want to see me become the strongest." Lewis smiled. The hellhound finally noticed Lewis and began its charge. Each step the wolf took as it dashed towards Lewis, could be felt in vibration and enabled Lewis to dodge perfectly at the last second. The incognito mode vanished and was replaced by Symbiosis Form the moment he was attacked. To those who were watching, they saw Lewis's skin become scaled in a black and red pattern, his eyes changed from steel blue to venom green with prominent slitted pupils and his hair gained streaks of black and red.

"Looks like a Symbiosis Type Blessing. Looks reptilian in appearance." One of the observers commented to the rest of the group. Lewis continued his dance with the hellhound, learning its patterns and abilities. Lewis could feel the difference in his reflexes through the Blessing, he was faster by mere milliseconds. Each pass made by the Hellhound was closer and closer each time, until Lewis could move almost flawlessly in his dodging. The hellhound's patterns were learned, and with that knowledge, Lewis struck with a swift uppercut, cracking the beast's jaw and sending it back a few feet.

"That's not all!" Lewis grinned as he activated the Black Ant blessing.

[STR: 35->350]

Immediately, Lewis's body felt like it was about to burst from the sudden surge of power, like a glass bottle being overfilled with nowhere to release the pressure. The hellhound snarled at Lewis, blood dripping from its busted jaw. The blood sizzled as it hit the floor, and from its maw a red flame flickered, before it opened and released a jet of flames at Lewis. Lewis barely had time to dodge, with the pain he was feeling. Two blessings that didn't mesh well together caused severe conflict in Lewis's mind and body. But in order to finish the task quickly, he needed to struggle through it. So he dashed in close to the beast and pulled his arm back and swung a mean right straight, connecting squarely with the hellhound and sending it directly into a wall, splattering the beast's innards, painting the wall, and shaking the room with the force of the impact. Lewis deactivated the Black Ant blessing and stood there breathing laboriously.

[Hidden Challenge Completed!

Rewards:

Hellhound (Uncommon Tier)- A slightly more matured form from a Junior Hellhound. Adds x5 to MAG stat.

Gained Skill: Hellfire (Rank B)- Can freely use this without activating Hellhound Blessing. Shoots Hellfire in any form the user wishes, manipulatable.

10 free SP

1000 CP

Leveled Up x2]

The new skill caught Lewis's attention right away. Gaining a new skill on top of a practically free blessing was a pleasant surprise.

"That was not consistent with known Reptilian Blessings. Was that perhaps a different blessing, used on top of another? That's fascinating certainly, but his body is not capable of handling the repercussions. It's almost as if he just awoke his blessings yesterday. His potential growth, with just those two blessings shown, gives him at least a high D-Rank. I don't see any real reason to provide the resources you requested, Joshua." The same observer from earlier stated.

"Send out something stronger. I promise you, he'll surprise you more. His worth isn't as measly as high D-Rank." Joshua disagreed with the observer. One of the other members turned to a console with numerous screens and began looking through the mid D-Rank options. Joshua walked up and clicked on a different screen, releasing a high D-Rank monster. Lewis was admiring his new found abilities when the door at the other end opened again, and a giant humanoid creature exploded out and roared. It was at least twelve feet tall with light green skin and tusks growing from its lower jaw. It had practically no hair on its body and was dressed in hide and carried an uprooted tree trunk in its meaty fist.

"Are you fucking mad? Thats a fucking forest troll! We use those for actual combat practice for our current members! This is absolutely overkill, even for your prospective recruit! Send in the Adventurers outside, we need to save that kid!" The observer yelled at Joshua and spoke into a microphone. Joshua walked up and spoke into the mic himself.

"This is the A Team Raid Leader Joshua, disregard those last orders. Standby until I give you the order to move." Joshua commanded.

"Roger that A Team Leader, standing by until given further instructions." The blue haired woman's voice came through in response.

"You're a mad man." The observer fell to his knees, as pale as a ghost.

[Juvenile Forest Troll

Age: 106

Rating: 94.1

STR: 175 CHA: 5

DEX: 66 MAG: 63

INT: 20 CON: 236]

"I see, so you're a big boy aren't ya? I think I may be out matched here in terms of ability, but it looks like I'm faster than you are." Lewis stated, in truth, he was nervous. This didn't look like a plausible opponent he could win against, but the Blessing he was using wasn't deactivating and it didn't mesh well with the other blessing he could use to win.

"Hey system? Any suggestions?" Lewis whispered.

[Learn the Hidden traits of the current blessing you are using.]

"Oh, yes, thank you. Because you totally explained the hidden trait functions of my blessings! This fucking world, what other surprises do you have to throw my way?" Lewis scorned the system and the new world. The troll started stomping towards Lewis and swung its weapon as soon as it got close enough.

"Where did they capture this thing? How did they capture it? Why would they keep it?" Lewis asked as he dodged and rolled away from the swings of the massive tree. The troll would swing, slam and thrust the trunk as its main attack moves.

"Well, I suppose that's why your intelligence is so low, you're simplistic." Lewis noted aloud. The troll simply grunted or roared in response to everything Lewis did.

"No language or means to communicate, shitty dress ethic, and as slow as a box of rocks. Man, ladies must flock to you." Lewis taunted. Again, nothing but a roar followed as a response.

"Hidden traits? How do I find those? They're hidden even from me! All this moving and banging is giving me a damn migraine!" Lewis complained to no one in irritation. The troll seemed to catch on to Lewis's slowed movements as his pain became distracting. The next swing finally caught Lewis and sent him flying into a wall with a resonating crash. The breath in his lungs expelled with the force of the impact. As soon as Lewis fell, the troll was right there to grab him and then slam him into the ground. Lewis was now dizzy and blood seeped from a wound on his head. After being slammed into the ground, Lewis was then thrown across the room. His landing was pathetic as he just hit the ground, bounced and rolled to a stop. Lewis stared at the spinning ceiling above him, irritation and pain filling his thoughts.

"Okay you big buffoon, lets see how you like fire!" Lewis huffed as he rolled over and stood up shakily. The troll began to meander over to Lewis with what looked to be an amused look on its face.

"Yeah, act as smug as you want prick, you forced my hand. I wonder if I can even control it though." Lewis muttered to himself in the last sentence. Lewis thought about the Hellfire that the Hellhound used and tried to activate it himself, but nothing appeared in his hands like he had hoped, nothing but a warm feeling in his stomach happened.

"Oh, lovely, I can't even use it because I don't know how to!" Lewis yelled angrily. It wasn't the same as the blessings since it was a skill, and he assumed skills required knowledge of its use. The warm feeling in his stomach had increased in area and was now in his throat. It was odd, but he assumed that it was because of internal bleeding he wasn't aware of. The troll continued its slow and smug stroll towards him, the heat intensified in Lewis's body to the point where it was now suspicious, there was even pressure building up from his core and within moments after he felt that, it exploded upwards, forcing Lewis to open his mouth, releasing a furious jet of flames directly at the Troll, who was now entirely caught off guard and on fire.

[Hidden Trait Discovered: Faux Dragon- Any fire skill used while using the blessing will imitate the ferocious breath of a dragon, also has to do with the Users mental image when using a fire skill.]

Lewis stared at the message, not in awe or happiness, but in pure irritation.

"Doesn't that mean it was just created? It wasn't hidden at all! You could have just told me to experiment with different skills! Even though I only have one." Lewis yelled at the system but mumbled the last sentence. The troll roared loudly in anger and pain, the fire on its body wasn't going out and it ran about blindly whilst swinging its burning weapon.

"Still, it looks useful." Lewis mused. The Troll was easy to avoid now that it was just moving blindly about in fury and pain. After roughly five or so minutes, the monster stopped running and simply fell, still on fire and its weapon nothing but embers.

[You have slain a Forest Troll 3 times stronger than you. You have leveled up x4.]

The observation room was silent, at first they thought the boy was doomed, but then a jet of flames burst from the boy in a torrent of fury, engulfing his target in a wrathful storm of fire. They all turned to Joshua, who looked every bit as surprised as they were. As soon as he noticed this he shook himself and stood proudly.

"So tell me, what do you think he's worth now?" Joshua grinned.