Rev followed the princess as she escorted him to the trial grounds.
The testing area was not very crowded, as most of the new players, aka Adventurers, were busy doing the first quest and gaining gold coins.
On that note, the currency in the world of Aincrad was Gold. Only –Gold. And of course, 1 gold coin is equal to $1 (USD).
"Rev-Dono, you may go inside." Rayneshia pointed to the entrance of the trial grounds as she spoke to Rev with grace in her voice.
"Oh, alright! I will go then. Will you be accompanying me, Miss?" Rev asked back.
"Yes, I will. But I will not be entering the trial grounds with you and will be going to the observatory area to check on your performance with the judges.
But don't worry, we have the safety measures in place, so nothing life threatening will happen to you."
"I understand!" Rev nodded as he moved on and entered the trial grounds.
Meanwhile, Rayneshia went to meet with her knights, who were secretly watching both Rev and her. They were also the so called judges of the trials.
"Hime-Sama! Please…"
Rayneshia's escort took her to the observatory room, where several other knights were also sitting and looking at the live forecast of the trial hall.
As they looked at Rayneshia, they all stood up and saluted her.
"At ease, everyone!" Rayneshia said with the same grace that she spoke with Rev.
"Commander-Dono! What do you think of the Adventurers coming from the other worlds as?" She then asked, looking at the commander, aka the Adventurer Hall Overseer.
"Hime-Sama, I think it is too early to comment on any of that. But with the Great Prophecy made five years ago and everything going almost as the prophecy predicted, I think that they are both a boon and a curse."
Hmm!
Rayneshia hummed, agreeing with him.
"So what do you think? Did I do right with the Adventurers that arrived today?"
"Indeed! Hime-Sama, your performance was great. You must continue to work hard like this, as a good relationship with Adventurers is very important if we want to fight the Central Alliance."
"What a pain?" Rayneshia muttered slowly in an extremely low voice, taking out her frustrations. She wanted nothing more than to sleep right now and rest.
'Plus, the Adventurers are scary.' She thought, but then again, Rev's image formed in her mind, which caused her to redden a little.
"Well, not all Adventurers." She muttered again, deep in her thoughts.
"Huh! I didn't hear that correctly. Can you please repeat it again, Hime-Sama?"
"Oh, it's nothing! I was just thinking about how we should differentiate between good Adventurers and bad adventurers."
"Well, do not worry about that, Hime-Sama.
We have 3 months of buffer period, and within these 3 months, anything that the Adventurers do won't harm our people much due to the blessing of the Aincrad.
So we can use this time to judge the best ones and get them on our side. Or else, when the Zonal barriers ends, it will also be the end of the Westalis Zone." The Hall Overseer spoke with a heavy voice.
"I understand!" Rayneshia replied.
{Ding!}
{Basic Trial Commencing!}
It was at this moment that the AI spoke, attracting everyone in the room towards the monitor.
Meanwhile, at the trial grounds, after Rev entered the room, he had to go through several check-ups, like the complete body check for analysing his physical fitness, his mana, and his soul.
Of course, with the help of All-Seer, he was able to fake his attributes to a certain extent.
{Ding!}
{Your trial will soon commence.}
{Please be ready!}
'It has been a while since I last fought, hasn't it?' He suddenly thought.
The last few years were quite peaceful for Rev, as he was simply training at home for most of the time.
{Please pick your weapon of choice.}
A window to choose a weapon also appeared in front of him.
"A sword!"
Without waiting for even a second, he spoke loudly.
A sword appeared in front of him and took the exact shape that he thought of. The colour of the sword was pitch black with not much design; rather, it looked blunt and rusty.
'Good!' Rev thought in his mind as he increased the weight of the sword so as to fit his requirements.
Finally, he was done with the specifications.
Now it was time to fight!
"Commence the trial."
{Commencing trial in... 3...
2… 1…}
{NOW!}
With the announcement, a hoard of wolves suddenly manifested in front of Rev.
Crack!
Rev cracked his neck with his left hand as he held the sword with his right hand and said, "Oh well, I'm gonna flex this as much as possible."
And…
Click!
Vanished from his position!
Zuup!
Sling! Slice!
Shriek!
Within a flash, he appeared about a hundred metres behind the hoard of wolves.
Click!
He appeared to be sheathing his bloodless, dull blade, looking as if he had just finished another one of his bouts that he had in his extreme training days.
But…
He left behind a trail of blood and the dead corpses of the wolves, which told an entirely different story.
The story of a cold-blooded butcher!
'How do I look right now? All-Seer?'
[The great protagonist, aka the big flexing machine, motherfucker!]
'Well, I kind of fucked her, you know, so you can't bitch me with that here, alright?
Also, since you are sulking like you lost your virginity without your permission, that means that I look good, doesn't it?'
And indeed!
Just before Rev started to breeze through the hoard of wolves.
In the Observatory room, the princess, the knights, and the judges were all looking at Rev as he chose a sword.
"Hmm… The design of the sword is simple and rusty. The weight is heavily increased, and the way he is holding it.
It looks like he has prior knowledge of swordsmanship, and that too at a pretty high level of mastery." The Hall Observer analysed.
"Rev-Dono is indeed..." The princess looked at the screen and tried to say something, but stopped in the middle of her sentence as her jaw dropped wide at what she saw on the screen.
Thud!
Not only her, but everyone in the room was the same.
Rev had finished killing the hoard, and right now he was simply flexing his pose as he was sheathing his sword.
"What the...?"
The Hall Observer couldn't help but get flustered.
Meanwhile, the princess suddenly felt her face heating up.
'So cool'
That was what Rayneshia thought as she looked at Rev killing the wolves like he was passing through a breeze.
"Show me the feed in extremely slow motion."
The Hall Observer demanded that the entire battle—no, slaughter—be played on screen in extremely slow motion, showing the precise movements of Rev and how he cut down each of them right at their necks, severing them into two.
"Marvellous! Just Marvellous!" The other judges couldn't help but discuss Rev's performance among themselves.
"I wonder if all the Adventurers are that powerful and efficient." The Hall Observer wondered.
"I wonder…" Rayneshia muttered in her musings while the Hall Observer noticed this and asked her.
"Hime-Sama, you must have a good relationship with this gentleman. He can be a great asset if properly trained. Even if you can't turn him into an ally, do not make an enemy out of him. He is a dangerous foe to have."
"I understand." Rayneshia replied with a serious voice.
Meanwhile, back at the trial grounds.
{Ding!}
…..
