CHAPTER 23: RE-EVALUATION

Silva was acting this way because he didn’t feel right around these people, their timing, their actions, everything felt all too perfect to be an accidental meeting.

Silva might not have been a powerful awakened up until now, but he was very smart. He needed to be as smart as he could, read between the lines, and figure out things when they were not looking right.

"Hey, don’t be like that, we only wanted to help someone in need," the man with the sword spoke. He kept his calm expression with the soft smile.

’That smile irks me, it’s too perfect, like it has been trained for years. No one smiles that perfectly,’ Silva thought.

"I’m grateful for your help and all, but I’ll be on my way now," Silva said and turned to walk away.

Seeing that Silva was about to leave, the man spoke, "Please, tell us your name at least," he said.

"Uhm, no, I’d rather you don’t know that," Silva said and walked off. They watched him until he left their sight.

"Tsk, who does that brat think he is?" the ranger said, a look of disdain forming on her face.

"Don’t be salty, Mia, we have a mission and that kid is at the center of it. Also, go take care of the man that ran away, he has outlived his usage," the leader said.

She nodded and in one leap got to a branch on a tree. From there she leaped forward, traveling faster than a normal person in the direction the man had left in.

[...]

Silva, on the other hand, kept walking deeper into the forest, looking for his next kill.

"This gate doesn’t give me enough EXP, maybe it’s time I actually went for a re-examination to get my rank up from F," Silva muttered.

With that idea in his mind, he decided to leave the gate. He headed back and left it. He got a cab and headed right for the main guild in the state, not the branches.

He had not been to the main building ever since he awakened, so this would be the first time in a very long time.

The guild was a massive skyscraper, its very presence called for respect. Silva walked out of the car and headed for the guild.

The glass doors were automated and slid open as soon as he walked in. His very first step and he was blasted with cold air from high-powered ACs.

He took a deep breath, and it felt like the inside of his throat was freezing. The first floor of the guild was the reception. Tiled floors stretched out to all ends, and at the center was a very controlled fountain. Not a single drop of water spilled to the ground from it.

His eyes locked on the counter, ignoring everything and everyone else. He got there, and there was a lady behind the counter, black hair, a corporate uniform of black and white, and deep brown eyes.

She gave him a soft smile, one that made him feel seen. "Hello, welcome to the guild," she greeted with a cheerful yet professional smile.

"Thank you, I’m trying to get another examination for my ranking as an awakened," he stated.

"Oh, what’s your name?" she asked.

He told her immediately, and she typed it into the computer that was there.

"Oh, you are F-ranked, and from your information, you don’t have any evolution leeway in your ability. That means it will remain the same rank," she stated, informing him.

"Yes, I know that. I don’t know if it’s possible, but I’ve been seeing visible changes in my ability and what it can do. Even my physical has increased a lot," he said.

She kept her smile, but she knew this was futile. Every once in a while, there would come those ambitious people who believed they could crack the system and get stronger.

But she knew the cruelty of the world and how very unfair it was, so she refused to crush the dreams of people like this and send them away without even the chance to see it for themselves.

"I’ll contact them and tell them you are coming. The second floor is where you can take the exam, just head on there and they’ll help you," she said.

"Thank you," Silva replied and headed for the elevator. He walked in with a group of people also going up.

When he arrived at the second floor, he walked out and down the hall. Right away, he spotted the large door with a sign above it:

Awakened Examinations.

So he walked in.

Inside was a massive room, one that took more than fifty percent of the entire floor. A ton of different devices were there for different reasons, strength, speed, mental tests, everything that one could need.

A man in the guild uniform walked up to Silva with a holographic note board. He was a bit short and skinny, his eyes looked as if they hadn’t seen sleep for days, his hair was a little bit messy, but other than that, his entire dressing was professional.

"Hello, you are Silva, right?" he asked.

"Yes," Silva replied.

"Alright, then come with me," he said and led Silva into the room.

"For your re-evaluation, we will start with physical. For you to gain the best results, we urge you not to hold anything back. Everything within the test is confidential. We’ll do our absolute best to ensure that no one knows what you show, not even members of the guild," he said.

’Will they really hide everything? I doubt that, but if I want to gain access to the higher gates, I’ll have to take the test with everything that I have, sigh,’ Silva thought. He weighed the risk of having to show his abilities that were new and not recorded, but he could handle that issue later.

For now, he just had to focus on getting a new ranking.