Kaizen stepped toward the mana evaluation stone. The faint hum coming from it filled the room. Isabella leaned against the wall with her arms crossed, watching him closely.
He placed his palm on the stone.
"Release everything you've got," the man said, his tone calm but with that same blank expression Kaizen was controlling.
Kaizen exhaled slowly and let his mana flow. At first, the crystal stayed dull, giving off only a weak flicker. Isabella raised a brow, clearly unimpressed.
But then the stone lit up. The glow shot through it like a pulse, filling the whole room with a shadowy black mixed with silver streaks. The humming turned into a low vibrating sound, like a generator about to overload.
Isabella's arms dropped from her chest, her eyes widening. "That's… not possible."
The number above the stone began to climb. E-rank rank usually stops at fifty. D-rank is usually between fifty and a hundred.
The man at the desk stayed expressionless, but Kaizen could feel the thread connection in his head strain a little. Outside the room, faint murmurs started, hunters in the hall were noticing the glow leaking out from under the door.
When it finally stopped, the counter showed 1,146.
Isabella just stared at him. "You're… B-rank?"
Kaizen removed his hand like nothing happened. He had held back by a lot. Showing his real numbers now wasn't smart.
"Guess the thing's broken," he said casually.
Isabella looked like she wanted to argue but couldn't even form the words.
The man scribbled something on a form and pushed it forward. "Proceed to skill evaluation."
Kaizen headed to the next section. The thread connection was still intact, but he could feel it draining his mana the longer he held it. Controlling someone was easy, keeping them under control while doing something else wasn't.
The skill evaluation chamber was a square room with mana-absorbing walls, and at its center stood a hulking stone golem, easily three times Kaizen's height. It's body was layered with thick armor-like plates, and at its chest, faintly visible through a narrow gap, was the glowing mana core every hunter knew was its weakness.
Because the mana meter had read him as B-rank, the golem's plating shifted with a grinding roar, locking tighter into place as extra layers of defense slid over its limbs. Its eyes ignited with a deep crimson light, and the runes along its arms flared. It definitely wasn't something anyone should underestimate.
Back then when he'd taken the test, the golem was nothing one, and honestly... he'd just gotten lucky.
"Destroy the core," the examiner instructed from behind a barrier. "You may begin."
The golem's head snapped toward Kaizen and immediately lunged, each step rattling the floor. Its massive arm swung down like a falling tree, the runes along it glowing brighter, one clean hit could crush a hunter outright.
Kaizen didn't move his feet. He simply raised his right hand with his palm forward. He wasn't really interested in showing of any fancy techniques that'll draw attention.
A faint hum filled the chamber, the air around his arm crackling. Silver arcs began dancing between his fingers, growing brighter and sharper, until they condensed into a single spear of lightning that hummed with lethal energy.
Before the golem could even bring its defense plates into position, Kaizen released it.
The spear tore through the air with a deafening crack, vanishing and reappearing in less than a blink. It struck the golem dead center in the chest, straight through the narrow gap, piercing its mana core before the creature even finished raising its arm to block.
The explosion was immediate and violent. The golem staggered, red eyes flickering wildly before going dark. Cracks spiderwebbed across its armored frame, and with a final groan of grinding stone, the massive body collapsed in a heap of rubble.
From behind the barrier, the examiner just stared.
Isabella's lips parted slightly, her usual sharp look replaced with something closer to disbelief. "That wasn't water or ice. What was—"
"Lightning," Kaizen replied quickly, lowering his hand as the last traces of electricity faded from his fingers.
"Lightning doesn't exist in natural magic," she shot back, almost reflexively.
"Well, I heard that fire users can weild lightning" he replied with a faint smirk, stepping away from the rubble.
"And that's S-rank fire users, highest rank, you're not even A-rank." She replied, struggling to process the logic behind his ability.
Outside the chamber's observation windows, several hunters had gathered, murmuring to one another. Most had never seen the element before, let alone an attack so fast the golem's defenses never had a chance to engage.
Kaizen ignored the whispers. He'd chosen lightning for one reason, it was fast enough to destroy the golem before its defense protocol could trigger. Any slower element, and the thing would've locked down its core, forcing him to drag out the fight and he couldn't afford that since he had to maintain control on the examiner. A quick, clean strike meant less attention on how he fought, and more on the result.
The examiner finally blinked and made a quick note on the clipboard. "Skill evaluation complete. You pass."
The barrier dropped with a low hum. Kaizen stepped over the scattered rubble without another glance at the destroyed golem. Isabella fell into step beside him, still silent, but he could feel her eyes studying him like she was dissecting every move he'd made.
He tensed a bit, his control on the examiner was snapping. He just needed his badge now, he had to hold on just a bit longer. He headed straight for the examiner, and stretched out his hand. But just before the examiner could hand him the badge, the thread snapped.
The guy blinked slowly, his eyes clearing for a moment, Kaizen braced for him to jerk back, yell, maybe even swing.
Instead, the man kept standing there, calm. His tone stayed polite, his movements just as obedient as before, like Kaizen's control had never left.
Kaizen's brow furrowed. What the hell…?