Chapter 10: The Beauty And The Exam's End.

"Honestly, to change what objective beauty is, unknowingly, too. Just how careless is that Nivia?" A female voice suddenly said. It was Aelia, the Angel. With her was Vyria, the Demoness. They were observing their friends' adventure from the giant palace to have some entertainment after Avalog went off.

"It's Elara now." Vyria corrected Aelia, which made her roll her eyes.

"Yeah, whatever her name is now, she still unknowingly changed objective beauty to Alex's liking." Aelia said, at which Vyria shrugged.

"So? Not like it effects you or me." Vyria said calmly before snapping her fingers to create a cup of tea for Aelia, who ignored it completely.

"It doesn't, but to unknowingly change that, do you know how careless or straight up stupid you have to be?" Aelia asked in annoyance at Vyria's indifference.

"As you said, she did it unknowingly, so it's not like she has control over it." Vyria said.

"Why didn't she at least turn off her control over the concept before going? It wouldn't result in objective beauty being redefined." Aelia said, finally noticing the tea Vyria snapped into existence and taking a sip.

"Well, now it's too late to ask, so let's just roll with it." Vyria said after shrugging again.

"Another thing!" Aelia suddenly yelled.

"With how she was behaving earlier, I thought that she switched places with Lysaia, the Primordial Spirit of Lust." Aelia said, which made Vyria think for a moment.

"I guess you could say that, with the whole being his goddess thing." Vyria said, yet again shrugging as she felt that it wasn't her problem.

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"Can you help me out a little, please…?" Alex asked Elara and she just shrugged.

"Nope. I did it by myself, so have fun!" Elara said as she shot Alex a bright smile.

"Now you smile?!" Alex yelled out telepathically before his eyes widened as he saw a human-like creature charging at him. The creature's body was almost completely human, except for the wolf ears on top of their head and a tail. It was-

"Baelor?!" Alex yelled as he jumped out of the way at the last moment. Baelor, having barely missed Alex, jumped forward at the wall of the arena, closing the 250 meters distance between himself and the wall before Alex could even blink. Then, he jumped back towards Alex, moving even faster than before. Alex forced his perception of time to speed up, allowing him to see Baelor flying towards him. He readied his sword and swung at what he thought was the correct time.

In the middle of the arena lied Alex with Baelor lying on top of him. Alex's sword was on the ground some distance away, the blade almost entirely covered in blood. Alex's eyes were closed, but he slowly opened one eye. What he saw was Baelor, who a moment later split into two. Alex has cut Baelor cleanly down the middle, and now was soaked in his blood. Alex paled at the sight and stood up, looking in the direction of the entrance where he last saw Baelor. He noticed him there and looked confused, looking between the Baelor near the entrance and the cleanly cut Baelor on the ground.

"Ha! Impressive! To kill that clone of me sure takes some strength." Baelor said calmly, and the dead clone Alex killed disappeared.

"C-clone…?" Alex said and placed his hand on his chest, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Thank god, I thought I killed the instructor." Alex said and Elara teleported him to herself.

"Kid, don't think that you'd be able to kill me that easily. And besides, that doesn't count to your test." Baelor said and Alex looked up at him, confused.

"W-what do you mean?" Alex asked as he stood up.

"This whole thing was just a little scare. That clone was technically A- in rank, but you just swung that sword of yours blindly and even closed your eyes. That's why, you'll fight actual monsters." Baelor explained and looked at Elara.

"Teleport him back to the middle." Baelor said and Elara nodded, teleporting Alex back to the middle. Alex picked up his sword, which was now infused with Xen to raise its durability and sharpness, and also decrease the weight.

"R-ready…" Alex shakily said. Baelor immediately created a new Monster Summoning Circle. After a moment, a colorful bird appeared. It looked like a mix between a parrot and a seagull. Alex realized that it was the same species as the acidic bird he saw earlier. He immediately covered his ears. In his mind he thought to himself how to even attempt to kill this monster. Swinging the sword, maybe? But what if he missed and had acid poured onto his eyes. Magic? But how, he never asked Elara how to do it.

"I'll provide the computational power, you have to manipulate Xen and do attacks with it." Elara said, clearly not enthusiastic to help her friend.

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" Alex said, relieved. He stopped covering his ears and threw away his sword, knowing that it would be useless against this monster when it starts flying. A moment later, he tried to manipulate Xen around him, but it barely moved. The next instant he felt as if a burden was lifted off of him. It was Elara, or more so her computational power which she provided. Suddenly, Alex was able to manipulate Xen with ease, as if it was natural for him.

The monster almost immediately after being summoned jumped forward, flying towards Alex. Alex was able to manipulate Xen perfectly, the only thing left was finding a way to kill this monster. He decided to burn it before it even got close to him. Alex stood right in the middle of the arena, composed and confident. He manipulated Xen around himself and transformed it into thermal energy, sending a small ball of fire hotter than the surface of the sun towards the monster, which evaporated the bird completely.

"Good job, that was a C+ rank monster. Next one." Baelor said, creating another Monster Summoning Circle and summoning a monster. It was a Fire Spirit, the same monster that Elara fought. Alex immediately coated his body in Xen with heat-resistant properties. The Fire Spirit transformed its body the same way it did when Elara fought it. Alex coated the blade of his sword in a layer of Xen with water-based properties, confident as ever. As the Fire Spirit came rushing at Alex, he forced his perception of time to speed up, which allowed him to see the Spirit's movement clearly. When the Spirit was within range, Alex swung his sword at the Spirit really fast, to make sure it couldn't dodge in time. He was successful, the Spirit couldn't dodge and the arena was once again coated in Xen after the Spirit exploded.

"That one felt stronger than the one Elara fought…" Alex said quietly under his breath. When Elara fought the Spirit, Alex was able to sense about how much strength she was putting in, and this Spirit made Alex feel as if he was putting in more effort than Elara to achieve the same result.

"Good job, kid!" Baelor yelled to Alex. Alex looked towards them and Elara teleported him, not wanting to wait for him.

"Well, now you're both A rank, give me a moment and I'll have the necessary things ready for official documents." Baelor said, going back to the log and sitting down. He picked up two small sheets of wood, engraving Elara's name on one sheet, and Alex's name on the other using Xen. He also pressed his index finger on the wood, engraving a small symbol with his identification.

"Here you two go. One for Elara." Baelor said and handed Elara the small sheet of wood with her name engraved on it, and Elara took it from his hand.

"And the other for you." Baelor said, handing Alex his own sheet of wood. This one, however, instead of the name 'Alex', had the name 'Eward' engraved on it.

"Now, go to the guy at the front desk and give them to him. He'll register you two as official adventurers." Baelor said, sending the two away.

Alex and Elara turned around and went back to the reception, seeing that now there was a new receptionist. This one seemed more friendly and welcoming than the last one, with a bright smile on her face. The duo came up to the receptionist and placed their registrations on the desk.

"Congrats." The receptionist said as she took both registrations and placed them on top of a metallic plate behind her. As soon as the registrations were in place, they disappeared.

"Any other service that you need?" The receptionist asked. Alex and Elara looked at each other and both shook their heads before looking back at the receptionist.

"Not really, no." Elara answered, at which the receptionist nodded.

"Have a good day, then." The receptionist said. Alex and Elara turned around and walked out of the guild building, waving goodbye as they opened the door and left.

"Wonder what happened to the guy." Alex said, thinking that maybe the receptionist from before finished his work hours and went drinking. But, Alex has not seen the receptionist at the bar, so maybe he was being scolded by the Guildmaster in the back instead.

"You didn't see him? He was near the corner among the demihumans, drinking and arm wrestling with them. And he was holding his own a bit, too." Elara answered.