The clerk gives some documents to the current adventurer and shoos them away, "Alright sir, next!"

As the clerk fixes her papers, Karin appears at the counter.

"What is it miss?"

"Ah, well, I wanna register this guy."

The clerk looked at the hooded figure. He was as tall as Karin, who was already as tall as 5'6", "Can we check if he has a criminal record?"

Karin replies with a faint smile, "Sure. Go ahead."

The man extends his thin looking arm into the orb presented. The orb hadn't shone, making the clerk nod, "Alright, please write down your name and we can head to the back."

As the man writes down his information, the man pauses at the name section for a brief moment before continuing to write.

The clerk becomes suspicious as she saw the name he wrote, "Alright mister... Silver? Are you sure about this name?"

The man nods.

With brief hesitation, the clerk gives in and took the papers, "Alright, please head to the back and speak to the person you meet at the other end of the corridor. Next!"

Upon going to the corridor at the back, Karin whispers to him, "Really? Silver? You could not have picked a name more sinister or suspicious than that!"

"... Sorry, my naming sense sucks ass."

"Haa... Even the Clerk got weirded out by you... Are you really sure you won't get caught?"

"Oh that? Meh, I gave up partway."

"What? Wait wait wait, aren't I gonna get scolded?"

"For putting a person that's directly unnafiliated with the academy? Yeah sure, you're gonna get in trouble."

"So that's why you had to change even your height and face..."

"Yep. Now then, my name is 'Silver' now. Remember that. Also, my nickname is 'Syl'."

"Alright."

Finally reaching the outside of the corridor, they are met with an arena with a lot of spectators cheering for the contestants.

As Karin admires the scene before them, Silver shakily holds on to her, "Oy oy oy..."

"Hmm? What is it K- Syl?"

"THIS ISN'T WHAT I HAD IN MIND!"

Karin bashes Kuro's head from behind to quiet him down, "Idiot! Don't be too noisy! Geez, what's gotten into you?"

"NonononoIcantfightheretherestoomuchpeoplewhatwillIdoifIpissmyselforsomething-"

Karin looks at him with disappointed eyes, "Ah, a pussy in front of others... How hopeless..."

As confident as Kuro was, there were too many times wherein Kuro almost pisses himself due to the amount of crowd and gives control to his Guide. Why can't he give control to his guide again? That's because...

'Sir, I will not take control of you.'

(What?! Why not?!)

'Because I detect that this decision will help you in your growth.'

(GROWTH MY ASS!)

'I apologize sir, but I will not obey your order.'

(Haa... I'm fucked...)

As Karin and Kuro speaks to the person they were referred to, Kuro was sent to the staircase going down while Karin was sent to the spectator's seats where they gambled on what rank the examinee will take.

'Looks like a B-tier to me.'

'Nah, I'd say he's C at best.'

'You kidding? With arms like that, I won't be surprised if he can beat that bastard. B-tier!'

Karin sighs, "Haa... What ruffians..."

Kuro watches the examiner and the examinee prepare for their fight.

The examiner, Leen, flexes his hands and brandishes his sword, "Alright Heracles, you're using a sword and shield, right?"

The person called Heracles, with his buffed and tall body, brandishes both of his weapons, "Yes sir."

"Please go all out."

"Please go easy on me."

In an instant, Heracles dashes onto Leen with surprising speed. Leen manages to dodge Heracles' downward strike, however...

* Sword impact *

Leen with his eyes still locked onto him, becomes amazed, (It's a sword skill!)

The sword blows up the ground, limiting Leen's vision.

As Leen is distracted, Heracles immediately goes behind and strikes at Leen with a wide horizontal slash. Upon hitting Leen, he heard the sound of metal clanging.

Heracles upon hearing it, braces himself, (Shit!)

* Comet strike *

A fist flies at Heracles' torso, however, he successfully blocks it with his shield but because of Leen's strength, he was knocked back quite a distance. The crowd goes wild with anticipation as Leen clears away the smoke with a his sword, as if they were in a gladiator collosseum.

"Haa... Haa..."

"You good Heracles?"

The exhausted Heracles struggles to utter a word through the pain, but out of respect to Leen, manages to do so, "Yes!"

As they fought, Kuro was assessing both of them, (Heracles already has a nearly broken arm. Just how powerful is that guy?)

Again, Heracles dashes into Leen's range, but as Leen slashes down to him, Heracles uses his sword to block it and his shield arm to punch Leen's torso to settle the score.

However, Leen catches his arm and holds it with an iron strength, "You're quite strong aren't you?"

Heracles replies, "I appreciate your compliment."

(Why can't I pull my arm out?!)

Slowly, crunching bones were heard and Heracles screams on the top of his lungs as the pain slowly intensifies, "RRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!"

The crowd goes wilder and wilder as Heracles is being lowered down by Leen's brute strength. Heracles slowly stands up from the ground, recovering from the shock, breathes heavily and roars, "AWAKEN!"

Leen's amazement skyrockets upon hearing Heracles' words, (An Awakener!)

Leen lets go and kicks Heracles away from him, but it was blocked with his sword.

Heracles' hair extends, covering half of his torso. His body grows bigger, abandoning his sword, but not his shield, "YOU'VE HUMILIATED ME TOO MUCH!"

Heracles dashes to Leen with speed much faster than usual, blowing up the ground he was standing onto earlier. With huge fists, Heracles rushes down at Leen, who was slowly being pushed back by the explosive growth in power caused by Heracles' Awakening ability.

The sound of Leen's sword as it blocks Heracles' fists emitted loud bangs instead of the usual clangs, the wind behind Leen were felt with every hit of Heracles' fist, it was truly a Lion filled with rage.

"Haha! Amusing!"

As Leen was enjoying the fight, his back was unexpectedly met with the wall behind him. With Heracles seeing his cornered foe, he winds his right fist for a big hit. Sadly, that was his biggest mistake in the fight.

"Let's stop here."

With movements unlike before, Leen moved fluidly and strikes Heracles' limbs and nape with his fist, knocking him out of his Awakened form.

Heracles was clueless as to what happened, "What... Happened..."

Leen becomes even more disappointed, "So you didn't see my movements... Alright, I've decided, C-tier!"

"What?! Why?!"

"Your power and fighting style's suited for solo battles, you'll indiscriminately hit your own teammates."

"I-I don't need a team!"

"Sadly, you do. One can't fight everything alone, and you'd need a partner or partners depending on your team. This decision is final, C-tier!"

Upon announcement, lots of boos were heard from those disappointed with how fast and disappointing the battle was, though, most of them were complaining about how he was placed at C-tier and not B-tier.

A medic walks up to Heracles, along with other people who knows healing magic, "Sir Heracles, come, let's treat you up."

Heracles, still furious about the results, decided to just lower his head and accept defeat, "... Okay."

Kuro caresses his chin upon seeing his action, (Unlike a real lion, he knows when to lower his head when he should... He'll become a good leader someday.)

As Leen was drinking potions to recover his strength, he was given the papers for the next examinee, he was reading normally until he saw what was written on the name part, "... Silver."

"Yes, I don't know why that's his chosen name, but we don't know why someone like him is here."

"... I see."

Leen then gives the clerk his sword, "Please bring me my gauntlets."

"What?!"

"I need to know why someone like that is here, whether to cause trouble or to stay quiet. Either way, if we let someone like him loose, we could die from the Silver King sir Rai has warned everyone about."

With Rai spreading the news of the Silver King being on the loose, everyone had been vigilant. However, the clerk who gave him the papers, also being curious as to why someone like him is there, was kind and thought that someone like him couldn't do such a thing, especially since he was referred to by an ex-A-ranker, Karin.

Leen holds her by her shoulder, reassuring her, "Don't worry, it's not your fault. It's more convenient this way."

With Silver going to the weapons rack, Leen went to him with his gauntlets equipped. Leen looks at Silver's hands shaking when he extends his arm to pick a weapon.

"What's wrong?"

"Ah... Just nervous. There's a lot of people. I'm not used to it."

"Ah, well, you'll have to live with it if you want to be a famous adventurer."

"I don't plan on being famous. Just earn enough money and live with a roof over my head and 3 meals a day."

Leen became curious at such statement but pays no heed to it, "... Alright. Just tell me when you're ready."

As Leen went back to his position, the spectators started betting again.

'Oy oy, look at how limp his arm is! Looks like an E-tier to me.'

'Geesh, how thin is he? His own garb looks like it's hanging. F-tier, I bet he won't even last a few seconds.'

More and more insulting words were hurled at him, but...

A bag of money was suddenly thrown at the table, "Hey, I'll bet for B-tier."

'''-?!'''

The gamblers became surprised at Karin suddenly betting for the highest tier possible, 'You... Are you crazy?'

"Maybe. You tell me."

Silver, who overhears her, looks at her as she looks at him, filled with trust, (... Damn bitch, now I can't lose huh?)

Instead of picking a sword, Kuro backs out from the weapon rack and prepares himself at his side of the area.

"You're going barehand?"

Silver nods, then takes his position.

The battle starts with... None of them moving.

(What's he doing? Is he letting me take the first move?)

With Leen's curiousity, he takes the first move, dashing at Silver.

* Comet Strike *

With his fist already coming close to Silver, it looked as if the attack would connect, however, instead of dodging such a dangerous attack, Silver instead directs his right hand to Leen's fist, redirecting the punch's flow and completely missing his attack.

'Eh?'

As Leen got close to Silver's face, all he could see from the lower visible part of his face was a solid silver mask. As he was distracted, both by Silver's anonymous appearance and him deflecting his attack, Silver's free hand was readied. With speed like a bullet, the fist thrusts itself into Leen's torso.

"-Gh!"

Leen was pushed back, but because of his reflexes, he immediately jumped in order to not absorb the full impact of the punch.

(Wait... Smoke?)

With Leen smelling a hint of smoke, the spectators were going wild with excitement.

'FINALLY! SOMEONE INTERESTING!'

'DID YOU SEE THAT?! HE WAS PUSHED AWAY THAT FAR!'

'I thought he was weak, but WHAT WAS THAT TECHNIQUE?!'

As the spectators were screaming in joy and excitement, Leen stands up as he had recovered, (So he's a fire magic user... A monk maybe? No, I can't get distracted, one wrong move and I'm the one who will get beaten up.)

Silver taunts Leen with a hand gesture, (Come at me huh... Alright!)

Again, Leen dashes and strikes him downward, this time, Silver also dashes towards Leen, realizing he won't be able to easily dodge Leen's incoming barrage. Silver twists his body to Leen's right and blasts an explosion towards Leen's torso.

(-Gh! I was right! He's a Magic user!)

Without any time to recuperate, Leen was attacked with fire arrows that explode upon contact while Silver gets closer to him.

(Shit!)

* Blink strike *

In an instant, a fast strike was directed to Silver's face. As it went into contact however, Silver wasn't knocked back, rather, it was Leen, who saw a green barrier the moment he was knocked back.

'A Barrier?! That tough?!'

Silver directs his hand towards Leen's face. Unfortunately for Leen, he was still being attacked by the fire arrows Silver kept barraging him with. Though it didn't deal much damage, it was however, enough to keep him distracted with his vision being obstructed at random times. With his face grabbed, Silver dragged it down along the ground to the wall.

The spectators were going wilder than ever, with the surprise of a dark horse that no one had ever expected. Amidst in the excitement, Karin had an expression of shock and fear.

(What the... Kuro's that strong now?)

She could vividly remember him getting beaten up by Zane, but now that she sees him now, she's afraid of 2 things... First, it was clear that he had hid his powers, seeing that he easily broke the barrier at the time. And second, his combat skills and power had spiked after the brutal trainings he'd endured... But if Kuro were to be The Silver King who was terrorizing them... Well... Neither her nor anyone would be able to defeat him, not without taking heavy casualties that is.

Back in the battle, Leen tries to punch Silver in the gut, but was blocked by Silver's barrier. Silver, knowing this, throws Leen to the opposite end of the arena and casts multiple fireballs at him.

Leen was nowhere to be seen due to the smoke. However...

"Awaken."

The smoke was instantly blown away the moment Leen awakened himself.

(Awaken: One against all... I never thought I'd use this now... The more powerful the enemy group is, the more powerful I get. It's a strong ability, but it's not without flaws. It's because it depends on the enemy's strength in numbers. There was a time when I failed to protect my friends, even when I used this because even then, my opponent was still stronger even when it was alone... I ran like a coward. I wanted to get away from all of that and retired. Now, they need me to examine adventurers... The least I can do, is prevent others from experiencing that!)

Leen disappears for a moment, as Silver prepares his own head.

* Blink strike *

That was when Leen reappears again and target's Silver's torso. Silver also tries to attack by headbutting him with a barrier-clad head, however, Leen was faster, breaking Silver's seemingly indestructible barrier and reaching his torso.

"GAH!"

Blood drips down from Silver's chin. With his hood being removed, his silver hair was now shown to everyone. Silver looks up and confirms Leen's suspicion. His face was covered with a blank full face silver mask without any holes.

Unexpectedly, Silver stands up as if he were fine. He removes his upper clothes, exposing his torso and transforms his limbs into its dragonform, "The clothes are getting in the way of my fighting. Never knew that until now."

Karin was confused upon seeing his scales' color, (Red?)

Leen became excited upon seeing his transformation, (A Dragonkin!)

Silver brandishes his fists in front of his face, "Let's fight for real, shall we?"

Chapter 33 -END-