When the dust finally cleared, Mika stood in the arena with her sword pressed against Orien’s solar plexus while the edge of the Guildmaster’s sword rested on Mika’s neck. While they finally landed a hit on each other, neither of them was happy about the outcome. 

The whole crowd went silent in shock and awe as they stared at this scene with wide eyes. While this was the expected outcome, they couldn’t believe that a little girl nearly fought the Mercenary guild’s Guildmaster to a draw! No, she might’ve even won if she was just a bit bigger!

Aurelia, Katherine, and Bernard also stood there rooted to the ground, with their mouths open. If they were a bit skeptical of Mika’s abilities as a swordsman before, now they were sure she was the real deal.

Mika frowned in disappointment that she was unable to land a killing blow. Although jabbing her sword into his solar plexus would leave him severely injured, it wasn’t a guaranteed kill.

‘No,’ Mika inwardly shook her head. She glanced at her arm, which was already fully extended, and her frown deepened in frustration, ‘With my short child arms, I wouldn’t be able to penetrate the skin deep enough to deal any significant damage.’

Mika cursed at the fact that she still had a child's body, and her resolve to improve her Body Cultivation increased. 

‘I’ve encountered too much nonsense ever since I returned to human society! I think it’s about time I get back to increasing my strength!’ Only now that she was fighting against a strong human did she understand how much she was disadvantaged by simply having a small body.

It wasn’t quite as noticeable when she fought against beasts because she outreached most Black Core Realm beasts with her arm span plus the length of her sword. However, in this fight, the Guildmaster’s arm span was probably around 75% longer than hers. If they had the same reach, Mika felt like she could’ve won this spar!

On the hand, Guildmaster Orien was disappointed for an entirely different reason.

‘Dammit! I actually allowed the child to hit me again! Not long ago, I said I wouldn’t let her hit me again, yet I failed to keep my word!’ While he knew he had won the battle, it certainly didn’t feel like he had.

Not to mention he had sparred against a child! How could he, a grown man, feel good about beating a child, no matter how talented she was?!

‘Ugh! Why did I agree to this?’ Orien groaned inwardly, feeling like he might’ve been a bit too impulsive earlier. He glanced around and saw several mercenaries with their phones out, recording everything, and groaned once again. He could already imagine what people might say about him online and felt a vein pop in his forehead. 

‘Whatever! Let them say whatever they want to say! It has nothing to do with me!’ 

Suddenly, he was shaken out of his thoughts as Mika pulled her sword away from his body and gave the large man in front of her a slight bow out of respect, “Well fought, Mr. Orien. I lost!”

Mika might be disappointed in her loss and annoyed at the physical limitations of her body, but a loss was a loss. 

Orien raised his eyebrows in surprise as even though he could see that Mika felt bitter about her loss, she still accepted it. His evaluation of Mika’s character went up a few points, and his respect for the little genius increased.

Nodding his head, he moved his sword away from her neck and pounded his chest with the fist of his off-hand before he smiled, “It was a great spar, Mika! I’m glad I got the opportunity to duel with a genius such as yourself.”

Mika tilted her head upwards to make eye contact with the man and grinned, “You’re quite talented yourself, old man. I didn’t expect that there was anyone in this Kingdom that could use Sword Intent like me!”

Orien smiled bitterly at her statement, but a hint of pride still shone within his eyes, “While it’s uncommon for someone to comprehend Sword Intent, it’s not as rare as you might think. Many older people who have reached the limit of their talent have stopped cultivating and moved on to hone their weapon skills. Hell, I know of people who have gone one step above Sword Intent and reached the Sword Will realm!” 

He paused for a second before adding, “Though, finding someone among the younger generation, or even as young as me, who has comprehended Sword Intent is much more difficult.”

“Hmm?” Mika’s eyes widened at that. “Are you serious?!” Mika didn’t expect that not only was Sword Intent more common than she thought, but there were even people in this world who had comprehended Sword Will!

Sword Will was the prerequisite to reaching the 3rd Realm in her Body Cultivation!

‘I thought it was something unique to only me and the System!’ 

Mika just now realized how arrogant her thought process was.

How far back did this world’s history go? Thousands of years? Tens of thousands of years? Hundreds of thousands of years? 

Maybe even more than that?!

Did she really think that throughout all of human history, she was the only one who knew about Sword Will if humans had already discovered its predecessor, Sword Intent? 

How conceited!

“Dead serious!” Orien nodded, “How many people use the sword just in the Barlton Kingdom alone? Just at the bare minimum, I’d say a few million. However, the true number is probably more than that. If I were the only person out of that many people to have reached the Sword Intent realm, there would be something seriously wrong.”

Mika subconsciously nodded her head. Even though she was still a bit skeptical, his logic made perfect sense. 

Wanting to move on from this topic and leave this arena, Orien took a step forward and stuck out his hand, “I don’t think I ever properly introduced myself. My name is Orien Blackwood, and I’m the Guildmaster at the Mercenary Guild’s headquarters in the Barlton Kingdom.” 

The way he said that last part made it seem like the Mercenary Guild was more extensive than she imagined, but Mika pushed that thought to the back of her head and grasped onto his massive bear hand with a smile.

“My name is Mika Zoller. I look forward to our future cooperation!” Mika introduced herself while hinting at something.

Orien understood what she was trying to say and released a boisterous laugh! 

“Hahaha! Very well! Let’s return to the main building and register you as a mercenary!”

He gave Mika a few rough pats on the shoulder before dragging her off of the arena and back toward his office. 

Katherine, Aurelia, and Bernard hurriedly left the stands to catch up with them. 

As Mika and Orien walked out of the arena, the audience heard Mika’s name and began talking about her.

“Huh? Mika Zoller? Have any of you heard that name before?”

“Nope. I’ve never heard of the name Zoller, but it doesn’t sound native to the Barlton Kingdom.”

“Then, do you think she’s a talented genius from another country?”

“Are you fucking stupid? What else is she, if not a genius from another country?”

“Ahem! Anyways, should we upload the video of their fight? I have a feeling the guild master will beat us half to death if he finds out we publicized a public fight.”

“.......”

“What if we blur their faces?”

“Ah! You’re a genius! Master Orien can’t punish us if nobody knows he’s the one in the video! That way, he can stay anonymous, and we can make that sweet ad revenue!”

***

A few minutes later, Mika, Aurelia, Katherine, and Bernard were back in Orien’s office. 

Before coming up, Katherine thoroughly checked Mika’s body for any injuries, making sure she was okay, before sighing in relief as she saw that Mika was alright. However, she couldn’t be more wrong. Sure, Mika didn’t have any external injuries, but those few seconds she used her Sword Intent caused numerous internal injuries. 

They weren’t life-threatening, but she certainly wasn’t in perfect condition. However, it wasn’t bad enough that she’d need to take a Healing Serum. At most, it’d just take a bunch of food and a few days of rest before she was back to peak condition.

The Guildmaster walked behind his desk, pulled out a hexagonal, bronze-colored badge with the letter [E] on it, and tossed it to Mika. 

“Here’s a temporary E-Rank Mercenary Badge,” Orien said, “While your strength and battle sense is certainly high enough to become an E-Rank, there are still a few more things you need to do before you can become a full-fledged mercenary.”

Mika caught the badge and looked at it without any change in her expression, but inwardly she was confused. 

‘Shouldn’t it be F-Rank, instead of E-Rank?’ 

From what she understood from the System, anything that was F-Rank was equivalent to the 1st Realm of Cultivation. However, now she was suddenly deemed E-Rank by the Mercenary Guild? That didn’t make sense.

[The System has higher standards.] The System suddenly said.

Mika inwardly shook her head and turned her attention back to Orien. 

Continuing where he left off, he said, “To become a Mercenary, you’ll need to complete a real mission successfully. You’ll also need something to prove your identity and a bank account so you can get paid for your jobs.” 

Orien gave Mika a meaningful look after saying that, something she didn’t miss. 

Mika sighed and could only shrug her shoulders. She didn’t have anything to prove her identity, nor did she have a bank account. However, Orien seemed to know this and still wanted Mika to become a mercenary, which meant he had some way to circumvent this problem.

However, before she could speak, Katherine put a hand on her head and answered for her, “I will handle her identity and bank account. ” 

Orien glanced at Katherine, secretly smirked, and clapped his hands, “Ah! Wonderful! Then, I guess all she has to do now is complete a mission, and she can officially join the Mercenary Guild!”

Katherine just shook her head at his antics and looked at Mika with a complicated look in her eyes. 

‘I really don’t think a little girl like you should be joining the Mercenary Guild at such a young age, but I have a feeling you’ll join it regardless of my opinion. So, the only thing I can do now is to try and support you the best I can.’ She thought, feeling conflicted. 

Her motherly side wanted to shelter and protect the young girl, but on the other hand, she understood Mika’s character and strength. If she really did try and prevent Mika from doing what she wanted to do, she’d only earn the girl’s ire. 

Mika was a fairly straightforward person. She dealt with her problems directly, expressed her likes and dislikes openly, and wasn’t afraid to tell you off if you said something stupid, no matter your status. 

Through the countless business meetings she’s attended with her husband and all the people she’s met, Katherine has understood that everyone needs such a friend in their life to keep them in line.

‘The same goes for Aurelia. Due to her status and busy schedule, she’s unable to make friends. And the few friends she’s able to make only want to curry favor with her because of that status. However, with a friend like Mika, I won’t have to worry about her personality becoming nasty.’

Katherine understood that while Aurelia certainly listened to their remarks, sometimes the advice from a friend is worth much more.

Truthfully, that was the main reason Katherine wanted Mika to become Aurelia’s personal trainer. It was rare to find such an honest and straightforward person in this world filled with lies and deceit. 

Unfortunately, it’s usually these people that die first in this world. 

When Katherine’s thoughts reached that point, her gentle eyes narrowed, and a dangerous glint shone from within them. She stared at Mika deeply, her thoughts known only to herself.

After a moment, she shook her head, her eyes returning to normal and a gentle smile forming on her face. She turned her attention back to Orien and said, “We are still in the middle of giving Mika a tour of the city. She’ll return later after all her documents are ready, and she can dedicate a few days to a mission.”

Orien nodded with a smile, “I understand. I wasn’t expecting Mika to do a mission today anyways. Not after such a strenuous spar.”

Katherine nodded and grabbed both Aurelia's and Mika’s hands.

“Well, if there’s nothing else, we’ll be on our way.”  She turned around, ready to leave, but Orien’s voice caused her to pause.

“Mika,” His deep voice reverberated throughout the room. A heavy aura came after, followed by a tense silence. When Orien felt that he had reached the level of suspense he was hoping for, he spoke, “Teach Aurelia well.”

Mika turned around, a large grin forming on her face as she stared Orien in the eyes. She gave the man a firm nod as her smile widened, “Of course!”

Bernard, Katherine, and Orien all smiled at her answer. However, there was one person whose face looked pale and unsightly. She stared at the people around her in horror, feeling betrayed.

‘No! I’ll literally die if I go through that demon’s training routine!’ 

She screamed internally, but nobody paid any attention to her as the four of them turned around and left Orien’s office.