Chapter 20: Test and signs of trouble

Looking outside through the window he could see the knights patrol, supposedly keeping the city safe, the Princess will leave eventually and the city will return to the state it usually is and the very knights will turn back into the scum that they usually are.

While he was watching the city, Reniris read over the rules.

"Don't kill other adventurers unless they attacked first"

Reniris figured it was quite obvious. The wording was very blunt but she appreciated it, however she worried there was nothing explaining what would happen if one managed to kill an adventurer, not to mention its not specific enough after all anyone can perceive anything as an attack.

It also reminded her that a few minutes ago, she attacked someone and thus that someone would not be blamed for retaliating against her.

She let out a sigh and inwardly chastised herself and continued to read the rules, it was a very short list of rules, and some were quite intuitive, like rule 3 which stated to always report to the guild about anything related to monsters.

"ehem!"

Sam's attention was called back to the two people in the room with him.

"Yes, what is It?"

"We're done. Can you direct us to where the combat test will be?"

Reniris asked. After having finished reading the rules, she could not help but be suspicious of this place.

The rules were written In a weird way, like they were written to simply get the point across as quickly as possible without much thinking on the reader's end but she supposed that was fine, there's no need to make things needlessly complicated.

"Oh right, please follow me then"

Sam stated and led the way out of his office, Eon quickly stood up and tossed the Paper aside as He and Reniris followed the guild master.

Exiting the room they descended down the stairs,however as they did so, they saw that the man that Reniris had knocked out earlier was no longer where they had left him and the guild was eerily empty.

Sam looked at the two and pitied them. They most likely won't survive the day, but he chose not to say anything.

After they fully descended the stairs, Sam turned and went under them. The stairs were built on the side of the wall, and right beneath them was a door that led to the basement, which was where the combat test would be held.

….

The basement was quite wide with a variety of training dummies, targets, and training weapons, it looked more like a small underground gym, except there were no weights to lift.

Its size was probably equivalent to that of a six room house, so it was actually quite spacious.

"Wait, you're the one who's going to test us?"

Eon asked as he watched Samuel doing some stretching and preparing himself.

"For the most part yes but I only will be testing you and your friend will have to wait for the magic crystal to measure her magic plus I'm not a mage so I can't test a mage"

He informed Eon while walking towards the weapons rack and taking a wooden sword.

"I won't need a weapon. How did you know she was a mage?"

"It's easy to guess based on your demeanor, plus years of experience as an adventurer make me a good judge on such things"

Eon shrugged and accepted the answer.

"So for me to get an accurate feel of your abilities, don't hold back."

"Actually I'd advise against that"

Reniris cautioned.

"No need to worry, I am a professional, neither of us will get hurt"

"Eon don't listen to him, hold back appropriately, please"

"What? The man wants me not to hold back, I can only oblige him, after all, I'm certain he's a guild master because he can handle being roughed up at bit"

The young man said with a confident smirk on his face. Of course, he planned on holding back, he didn't come here to kill someone after all.

"Look I know you think you're strong because of some incident in your past, but I'm a guild master for a reason, I'm certain I can handle whatever you throw at me."

Sam informed, this was not an uncommon sight for him. There were plenty of young upstarts adventurers who thought themselves strong only to be shown the reality of things, this was no different.

Of course, there were those who were talented, but even the talented had to realise their talent meant nothing in front of experience.

Still seeing the doubt in her eyes, Sam decided to sweeten the deal.

"Tell you what, if he manages to actually land more than one hit on me, I'll give both of you adventurer cards of the same rank. How's that?"

"Sold! you got it, Sam. I'll show you everything I've got"

Eon spoke as he cracked his knuckles and Reniris could only sigh, Eon was vicious when it came to sparring, she knew from personal experience, plus even when he is holding back it can be detrimental to his opponent, Jericho was a good example.

"Alright then, come at me"

Sam challenged as he took a fighting stance. He didn't form a fists but his hands were open, and his arms were settled near his waist, and his body lowered.

It was an odd stance, as it showed that he didn't plan on offensively attacking, and It was obvious at first glance that he plans on grappling more than throwing punches.

"By the way, what's your name?"

"Eon Steel"

Eon informed as he prepared to launch himself at his opponent.

Samuel was quite confident that the young man was untrained, just by the feel of his aura, Eon's magic aura was rough and unpolished, he had yet to fully master control over it and this fact told Sam all he needed.

In a burst of impeccable speed, the young man flew towards his opponent. The attack was straightforward and easy to read, a simple punch backed by speed.

Eon swung his fist aiming for Sam's face however Sam moved his head to the side to dodge the attack before grabbing Eon's arm and grapped him by his clothes and lifting him off the ground before slamming the young man's back on the floor.

*BAM!!*

Eon's beck slammed flat onto the floor unexpectedly, and his opponent quickly jumped back, allowing him time to get back up.

"See? Just because you're strong doesn't mean you're stronger than other people, you came in here confident in your strength and even proclaimed yourself the strongest man, but it seems your confidence was misplaced, wasn't it"

Sam judged as he looked at Eon standing up and dusting himself off. The young man didn't look all too pleased by the lecture but he didn't disagree with it.

"You're right, Sam. however my confidence was not misplaced"

"Really, I just layed you flat on your back, and besides, with your unrefined aura, I highly doubt you could pull off a FLASH"

"Huh? What's that?"

"HA! you have no business calling yourself strong if you don't know what that is"

He chuckled, any warrior or martial artist that thinks of themselves as strong needs to have experienced the FLASH at least once, it is the benchmark to reach in order to be considered strong.

"It doesn't matter, old man, I will reiterate. my confidence is not misplaced"

Eon affirmed, it seemed that he may need to use more power, he was thinking he would be facing someone of similar skill to Jericho and thus held back but it looks like he needs to not do that.

'More speed, more power'

Eon once again charged in, this time with greater speed, he appeared before Sam and threw another punch, going for the man's face, however Sam parried his attack to the side and grapped his shirt.

Unfortunately for Sam, Eon expected that and used his other hand to swing for the man's jaw, aiming to knock him out.

Sam quickly ducked down, letting the punch fly over his head before tackling Eon and tripping his legs and once again forcing Eon on his back.

"Ah-"

The moment Eon's back hit the floor, Sam tried to say something however Eon did not let him, The young man used his legs and kicked Sam off himself, sending the guild master staggering back a couple of metres.

Eon then flipped himself upright and stood on his feet and gave chase, arriving before the slightly off guard guild master, Eon landed a punch to the man's gut.

*WHAM!!*

"Nngh"

Sam groaned as the force of the punch collided with his left ribs, however he withstood it and grabbed the young man's arm before grabbing Eon's shirt, lifting him up and slamming him on the floor again, this time with greater force causing Eon to grimace in slight pain.

Sam quickly jumped back as he held his left ribs. the punch from Eon was quite painful. He was unsure if he had something broken or not.

Eon once again flipped himself back up and stood on his feet. He turned to face his opponent with a smile on his face and ready for more.

"by Hes'ia! you pack a mean punch, kid"

Sam stated while rubbing his side with one hand and using the other to tell Eon to hold up a bit however the young wasn't too pleased with this.

"Quitting already? I've barely begun to enjoy myself"

"This is a test kid, not a Fight"

Samuel chastised, it seemed that Eon would be one of those types.

"Anyway I'll admit you're strong, and the fact you haven't experienced the FLASH yet means you have talent."

The guild master informed while rubbing the side rib cage, the pain hadn't subsided yet, meaning he probably suffered some damage.

"What is this flash you keep talking about? Is it a technique or something?"

"In a sense, yes, but not at the same time. It's better to experience it than have it explained. Anyway, the test is over. Let's go make your adventurer cards"

Sam stated and began walking towards the exit, and the two followed behind

.....

A/N: Don't worry, the guild rules will be revealed, I didn't reveal them here because since the Rix city was basically lawless, none of of the adventurers cared but when Reniris and and Eon get to another city the rules will be revealed and that's like 23-24 chapters away.