Examination

Under the huge holographic flag whose flickers made it seem as if it was constantly billowing, a large hall the size of a basketball court opened in front of Max. The far end wall formed a half-circle, with The Revolutionaries' slogan engraved in big letters—power, equality, and freedom. Each word represented one stripe on the flag.

The left and right sides of the hall branched out into two hallways each—northwest, southwest, northeast, and southeast. There were people seen going in and out of them. They were all wearing different clothes, but there was one thing they all had in common.

A bracelet that seemed to be made of fluorescent materials embedded with a nail-sized yellow mana stone adorned the wrist of every one of these people. Max had seen this sort of bracelets before—they looked like ordinary bracelets until one imbued mana into the light mana conductor. The bracelet would then glow, its color depending on the fluorescence's dye.

So far, Max noticed most of the people wore red and blue bracelets, while a few wore black. He was about to ask Dylan…pretty much anything about this place, when the person in question beat him to it.

"Welcome to The Revolutionaries' Main Headquarter! You're lucky you live in Engelburg, as the capital city is where the main operation base of our organization is located. Not to mention, Awakened mages from all over Central District flock into this underground facility. Meaning, if you were to be Awakened in our neighbor city, Westmire, you'd have to bear with the constant struggle of mana overflow for half a day more before reaching Engelburg."

Max quickly digested what Dylan had just revealed; it sounded like The Revolutionaries had a base in every District, and The Republic had five of those. Engelburg, being the capital city of the country, naturally was selected to host the main headquarters.

Dylan suddenly narrowed his hazel eyes toward Max. "Although, now that I think about it, you don't seem to be struggling with mana overflow. It's as if you were already forming your first ring. No, scratch that." He leaned closer, inspecting Max from head to toe. "You have indeed formed the foundation of the ring. How did you know how to do that?"

Max blinked a few times. How did Dylan know about it? In fact, how did he and the other guy, plus the annoying drone, find out that he was an up-and-coming mage? He mentally called out to Nami and expressed this question.

'My fault,' Nami replied. 'Didn't think this world had mages, because you didn't know. Didn't conceal you.'

It seemed the fairy was becoming more fluent in this telepathic communication. And it appeared that mages had to be able to conceal themselves—whatever that meant—so that others wouldn't be able to peer into their cultivation.

In Max's case, it turned out that his Awakening had somehow been noticed by people from The Revolutionaries. Their members were everywhere, after all. It could be that he had been spotted during his walk to the convenience store.

That also explained why Nami hadn't immediately figured out that his pursuers were mages, since they somehow had a way to conceal their cultivation.

Max then realized Dylan had been waiting for his answer. He scratched the back of his head, trying to appear clueless. [I honestly didn't know what I was doing. My heart just suddenly started pounding as if it was going to jump out of my chest. My body was heating up and I panicked. I felt like I was gonna die, and I was slowly coming to terms with it, actually.

But as my panic receded and I felt at peace, I suddenly gained clarity. I could feel the wild mana around my heart, and as if led by instinct, I started organizing it. And the easiest way to do it was to put it around my heart. I didn't even know it was the foundation of a ring until you mentioned it. I thought it was just, like a circle or something.]

Hearing his answer, Dylan nodded as if in understanding. But it was clear his intuition told him that something didn't add up, though he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He was about to speak again before he heard a woman's voice coming from the northwest hallway.

"Dylan, Travis, you're back!"

Max read the transcription of the words directed at Dylan before landing his eyes on a woman who was making her way to them. She had a light blue pixie haircut, wearing a sleeveless T-shirt and tight jeans with ripped knees. Her entire right arm was wrapped in all kinds of tattoos, and with every step, her leather boots rippled the sound strings around her feet in an assertive manner.

And Max finally figured out the name of the bulky man.

Dylan finally dropped the issue regarding Max's Awakening before turning to the woman. "Ryu, the leader's here today, right?"

The woman, apparently called Ryu, nodded. She stopped in front of Dylan and finally acknowledged Max's presence. She looked him up and down, blatantly judging him. She crossed her arms before saying, "Huh. He's already got the foundation going on."

"Right?" Dylan supported her intrigue. But he quickly said, "We still need to examine him, though."

Max shot him a questioning look.

Dylan waved his hand as a response. "Don't worry, all new recruits must go through the examination process. It's not a big deal, really. It'll only take like, five minutes."

Recruits? Weren't they just going to have a chat? Max wanted to tell him that he would be fine on his own. He had Nami to guide his cultivation, after all.

But then he realized if he said that, he would sound even more suspicious. Newly Awakened mages, not to mention a lone and homeless one like him, were supposed to at least look enthused when being offered a place to belong.

So Max decided to just go with the flow for now.

Ryu's light blue Iris suddenly switched on. She seemed to be reading a message for a few seconds before her brows were raised in surprise. A look of curiosity colored her face before she turned and gestured for Max to follow. "Come on, I'll take you to the examination room. Normally, we have our own examiners to do the job, but today seems to be your lucky day. Revolution Queen herself has taken an interest in you, and would like to do the examination on her own."

Dylan, who was walking next to Max, immediately halted his steps. However, he soon resumed his walk as he exclaimed, "The leader is going to examine him?! What's going on?"

Ryu didn't turn around to respond, but her shoulders were seen shrugging.

Max finally noticed that the drone was no longer around as he was led into the northwest hallway where Ryu had come from. There were several turns ahead, but Ryu stopped at a door with no label right before the first turn. She opened it, revealing two women and one man with black bracelets sitting around a table while watching funny cat videos on a holographic screen. They were seen laughing before they noticed Ryu's arrival. Their laughter vanished quickly, replaced by a serious expression. Or at least they tried to look serious.

Ryu rolled her eyes and said, "Out, now. There's a new recruit, but the leader is going to do the examination by herself."

The three looked at each other for a moment before shrugging and sauntering outside. One of them stole a glance at Max as she passed him by.

Ryu then gestured for Max to enter the room, and so he did.

The room was actually pretty bare, with only a rectangular table at the center and a few chairs strewn around it. There was a projector ball placed on a platform on one side. That was the electric mana-powered device the three people had used to watch the cat videos.

"Take a seat over there," Ryu ordered Max, pointing at the other side of the table. "The leader will be here in a few minutes," she informed before exiting the room.

Max dragged a metal chair behind the table and sat on it. 'What do you think this examination is all about?' he asked Nami.

The fairy flew out of his pocket and landed on the table. Her head flitted left and right, observing the room. 'I don't know. I worry.'

Max sighed and put his head on the table, sideways. His temple felt the cold metal surface of the table while his eyes were now on the same level as the fairy. 'I hope it won't be anything weird.'

Nami walked up to his face and booped his nose with one finger. He didn't feel a thing. That was how light she was. 'Greasy,' she conveyed, referring to his skin. She observed the finger she used to boop him and rubbed it with her thumb.

Max rolled his eyes. 'I haven't showered for three days, so yeah.'

Suddenly, the door opened. Max immediately sat up straight while Nami quickly flew back into his pocket.

However, Max also felt the mental connection between her and himself being cut, which instantly alarmed him. But then he felt Nami making deliberate movements in his pocket, as if signaling that she was still there.

Max didn't know this, but Nami had also stopped condensing mana around her body, canceling her invisibility cloak. Thankfully, she had his pocket as a shelter to hide in.

From the door, a woman walked in. She had long blazing red hair that was tied into a braid. Her pale skin clearly showcased the many freckles on her face, while her pale blue eyes instantly homed in on Max. She was wearing a black shirt underneath a long red leather coat, paired with a pair of tight black leather pants. Her heeled boots stomped the floor before she casually plopped on a chair across from Max.

The woman crossed her legs and leaned back on the chair, her long fingers clasped on her lap. That was when Max noticed she was wearing a golden bracelet on her right wrist.

She never once took her eyes off Max. Her expression was almost unreadable, but her overall body language practically exuded confidence and seriousness masked behind a veil of nonchalance—an aura typical of an assured leader. Her chin was slightly raised as she kept staring at Max for an uncomfortably long minute.

Unable to bear the tension anymore, Max finally typed something on his Iris and let the robotic voice speak it out.

[Hi, I'm Max. So, you are the leader of The Revolutionaries, yeah?]

The woman only nodded slightly in response.

Max scratched his head, feeling super awkward.

[May I know your name, ma'am?]

She looked to be in her mid to late twenties, so he figured it was appropriate to call her 'ma'am'.

The woman immediately answered, looking carefree as if introducing herself was only a passing afterthought. "Leonida. But people call me Leo."

Another awkward silence ensued.

[So, am I not going to be examined?]

"I'm in the middle of it," Leo instantly replied.

This confused the heck out of Max. Was this what new recruits normally went through? Oh wait, they weren't normally examined by the literal leader of the entire organization, were they?

Max resisted the urge to sigh. How long was this going to last?

Finally, Leo uncrossed her legs, looking ready to get up. "I've decided. I'm going to give you an assignment as part of your examination. Now come with me."

Assignment? Hadn't Dylan told him that the examination was only going to take five minutes?

[May I ask what the assignment is?]

Leo rose from the chair as she answered with another question. "You're a thief, are you not?"

At this point, Max wasn't surprised anymore. These people had likely dug up information about his identity. Maybe even as far as his real identity.

He hesitated to answer. But Leo immediately continued before he could decide on what to say. "I wasn't expecting you to answer. I know for a fact that you're a thief. So I'm going to give you an assignment that will play into your strength."

[And what might that be?}

She opened the door and replied without looking back at him. "A heist."