Trials (5/5)

Situated in a room adjacent to the Trials, an elderly gentleman in his mid to late forties sat at a table, a blunt clenched between his teeth as he slowly rifled through the reports in front of him. Hard brown eyes flicked through sheet after sheet with a look of general disinterest, a crooked nose pointing down at a stained white shirt and ruffled grey pants. The only noise around the man was the movement of paper and the exhale of the grey haired individual as he let out an abnormally large cloud of smoke every so often. The longer the man sat scanning the newbie reports, the more impatient he seemed to get, his finger tapping the wooden table in annoyance.

The intense tapping was interrupted by a loud, bell-like sound which reverberated throughout the area, a noise that shattered the previously quiet atmosphere. However, rather than be annoyed by the sudden eruption of harmonic bells, the man seemed relieved as he quickly reached into his pocket.

The gentleman inhaled a quick puff from his blunt before tossing a small, thumb sized, crystal ball onto the table before him, of which continued to ring and vibrate on the oak surface. The man listened to the clear crystal ring a few more times, a curious look on his face as he breathed out a large grey cloud of smoke.

"Answer," the man finally said after about a minute.

Almost immediately, the small object ceased its ringing, falling completely silent and returning the room to its former state. Then, a light shot upwards from it, extending about two feet into the air before expanding, a screen taking the shape of a blue rectangle. On that rectangular screen, a young elven woman with long black hair and dark green eyes appeared, one with an all business sort of look. In the background, the man could see a group of newbies crowded around, standing as far back as possible from a squad of Goblin Guards.

"Ah, Akie. What a pleasant surprise," the man said, a small smile spreading across his long face. "To what do I owe the honor? Here to ask me out on a date? I'd be willing to listen to and entertain your proposal."

"Please refrain from making such remarks at work, Ceon Mapel," Akino replied without missing a beat, snipping her works as she readjusted her clipboard beneath her shoulder. "This is business so try to at least act professional. This is in regards to examinee #31 of group 16, known as Jak Yanda."

Ceon Mapel clicked his tongue in annoyance, no longer interested in anything the woman had to say. As someone who believed that females were well below that of males, he didn't enjoy the feeling of being told off by the black haired receptionist. The only reason he had taken the job as a third trial examiner in the first place was majorly due to the abnormally high payout. If not for that particular reason, and the presence of some hot female receptionists, he wouldn't have even walked into the WGC that morning, especially when he had to put up with the attitudes on the dumb broads within the WGC.

Akino, of course, quickly took notice of Ceon's sudden disinterest, but she blatantly ignored it, a fact that annoyed the elderly man even more as she went on to state what she intended to say from the start.

"The examinee known as Jak Yanda has passed the second trial and will be moving on to the third and final exam." Akino pushed up her glasses as she stared at Ceon, frustration barely hidden behind a mask of professionalism. "Please take the necessary precautions when confronting him. The young man has taken numerous hits from the Goblin Guards and has remained standing. In addition, he has knocked them around repeatedly over the course of a five minute period and even left two on their backsides for an unspecified amount of time."

"What, did y'all dumb broads give him a weapon?" Ceon muttered, no longer bothering to keep up a civil act. "That's a violation of WGC regulations if I'm not wrong. I wonder what upper management would think when they find out about such clear cut favoritism."

The Elven woman immediately opened her mouth to rebuttal what Ceon had said, but she was quickly pushed aside before being replaced by a head of blonde hair and soft brown eyes.

"My apologies Ceon. I don't mean to interrupt that interesting stuff you were saying, but I have a question for you." Flora offered a sweet innocent smile as she kept a hand over Akino's mouth. "What's your limiter currently set at?"

Ceon frowned as he looked down at his left wrist where a thick, black bracelet was attached. Giving it a quick tap, a large letter I appeared on the top of it, letting the retired Rift Hunter know that he had been drastically weakened. "I'm sitting at the letter I. Is that satisfactory ya blonde bimbo?"

"That's perfect," Flora said, nodding politely. "This crop of newbies weren't very strong so the strength of an newbie adventurer will be more than enough. You can also be rest assured that we will take full responsibility for handing that weapon to an examinee. We're deeply sorry Mr. Ceon and hope you have a great day. We'll be taking our leave."

Without another word, the call ended, the light quickly receding back into the small clear orb and leaving the area just as silent as it had been before. The tiny sphere rolled towards Ceon, of whom looked quite pleased as he snatched the object off the tabletop. "Finally, a bitch who knows her place," Ceon said, satisfaction evident in his tone as he rose up from his seat. "I might have to try turning that woman into my little plaything. She's quite the looker!!"

Stretching his limbs, the elderly man gave the timepiece on his right wrist a quick look, a thin, silver bracelet that showed the numbers 4:25.

Ceon found it oddly weird that the youth in question had managed to finish the trials so quickly, but he reasoned that it was just the dumb broads playing favorites. He himself had no intention of doing the same thing of course especially after knowing that the newest group were nothing but weaklings, amateurs who had no real chance of becoming future Rift Hunters. In fact, after getting told that they were nothing special, Ceon had already decided that he would break the new recruit in as much as possible before letting him know the pain of failure. Letting everyone pass but him would show the dumb broads who was really in charge and, at the same time, put them in their place.

"Um, excuse me. Is this the place where the third trial is being held?"

Ceon nearly jumped out of his skin as he whirled around, instinctively raising his guard, preparing for an attack. His senses had been dulled to drastically due to the limiter he was wearing so he hadn't been able to sense anyone come in nor had he heard anyone approach. When he twirled around on his heels, he half expected to be confronted with a WGC representative or a former Rift Hunter who could mask his own presence, them being the only ones he hadn't normally been able to sense. Of course, what Ceon recieved instead was a short kid with a head of bright red hair and crimson eyes, eyes filled with a polite innocence.

"This IS the right room right?" Jak Yanda asked, the youth looking around. "I'd hate to be a bother. I was sent here by the examiner through a long hallway. I should be in the right place."

The white haired man quickly readjusted himself, lowering his guard as he scanned his surroundings, ignoring the adolescent's question. There didn't appear to be anyone else besides the boy and Ceon highly doubted a former Rift Hunter would bother to hide. However, knowing that it was just a simple youth left him more confused then before as he highly doubted a small child no older then ten could make him feel the brief pressure he had sensed earlier. However, the elderly gentleman quickly wrote this off as the limiter making the boy seem stronger then he really was, regaining his composure and confidence as the seconds ticked by.

"You, what's your name?" Ceon questioned despite already knowing the answer. He didn't really care but he had to put on a good show, his aim being to make the youth lower his guard during the actual fight.

"Oh, sorry. I forgot." Jak smiled and gave a small bow. "I'm Jak Yanda. I'm here to participate in the third trial. I'll be in your care sir."

"Jak Yanda huh?" Ceon repeated as he walked into the center of the room, of which was just a large sparring arena about half the size of a football field. He held no interest in what the boys dreams were, having already deciding to crush the child and his dreams right then and there. "Very well. If you're ready to begin than let's just get this over with. Grab a weapon of your choice and come stand in front of me."

Jak nodded excitedly as he hurried to the center of the room after grabbing a solid bamboo katana from the rack of weapons located near the room door. Without missing a beat, he stepped before the elderly gentleman and took a stance, weapon held at the ready paired with an unwavering look of determination.

"The rules are simple. All you have to do is show me what you got." Ceon tediously recited what he had been assigned to say by the WGC, something he had said countless times over the course of the day. "You may use any fighting style you wish and if you know any magic, you will be allowed to utilize it. Obviously things such as biting, spitting, nut shots, etcetera, are prohibited and will cost you to lose points. Other then that, anything goes. Do you agree with these conditions?"

"Yes," Jak said simply as he leaned forward, eagerly awaiting the go ahead.

(("That's adorable. Its gonna be fun putting this kid into the dirt.")) Ceon held up his fingers, silently counting down from five. (("Maybe I'll give him a fighting chance and just toy with him for a while."))

Ceon took a serious stance as his fingers ran out, signaling the start of the battle. He was prepared to deal with anything the kid had to offer, figuring that it wouldn't take much to tire the kid out.

However, the moment the match started, he received a rude awakening as the kid rocketed forward like a magically enhanced arrow, a near blur as the boys wooden sword slammed into Ceon's stomach. He didn't even have time to be surprised as the first blow was quickly followed up by yet another smack with the sword, this time in the back of his head. Three more attacks quickly followed, slamming the examiner into the dirt.

//If you want 3 chaps a day then donate to Pátreon and I'll never stop updating. You can also read ahead of what posted (For the future though as I have none stocked up yet)

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