Chapter 174: Chapter 174

“Ollie started it. Because of your loud sparring, I couldn’t read the newly released volume of my favorite series.” Belowin retorted.

“Additionally, I had to read under a lot of sunlight today. Lastly, I’m here for nothing. I can’t feel any mana circulation in the body of the test applicants.” Belowin appeared to be unhappy to lose precious time reading a book he waited to read for some time.

“I’m sorry, brother. It’s my fault for sparring harder than usual today.” Ollie lowered his head and immediately apologized. He seemed the responsible type. If it were his fault, he would apologize. Thus came the swift end of the sibling bickering.

Vincent patted Lupa’s head and warmly encouraged, “You heard what they said. You did great. I’m proud of you.”

Ester saw Lupa’s lowered tail start to wag mildly when Vincent encouraged her. ‘Uff... why does my chest feel stuffy when I heard this.’ Ester thought as she held her chest. She was feeling envious and left out.

Ester wanted to take the test along with Vincent and Lupa, but her class didn’t permit it. Or at least, her spell power wasn’t strong enough for combat. Only with the Artifact grade sword Elsir could she compete with them. However, Ester felt it is borrowed power and not her own.

“So, did I pass? ” Lupa asked Gevan with hopeful eyes.

.....

“Even if you were taking a test for a D Rank, I would pass you with flying colors. ” Gevan announced the good news. Lupa passed, and Ester previously passed the test because of her special circumstances. Now, only Vincent remained to take the test.

“Yeah!” Lupa jumped with joy, and after quickly hugging Vincent, she went to hug Ester. She felt happy instead of competitive now. The moody wolf girl wanted Ester to praise and share her joy together.

Ester succumbed to Lupa’s cuteness and ended up brushing her hair with a smile. It was a pleasant sight to watch.

[It’s fun watching them make up. Watching our harem... ahem, your harem play nice.]

Vincent tried to ignore the slip of tongue Kazumi made. However, he started to doubt if the harem was his or hers now.

“Ollie, you are the only close combat member of the team. It would be best if you sparred with Vincent and decide what rank he should be.” Gevan decided what test Vincent needed to take in order to become an adventurer.

“Yes, sir. ” Ollie said. Then he went to grab a sword and shield from a weapons rack and continued, “You can use any weapons for the test.”

“No, need. No, need. I will use my ability to fight.” Vincent replied.

“Huh? But Guild Leader Gevan said to do a close combat spar. Aren’t you with a warrior or a bloodline warrior class?” Ollie looked confused. Even his four team members had a similar expression.

They thought Vincent might mean he is going to use brass knuckles, but it’s a bad matchup against a sword user and a strong one at that. If Vincent doesn’t have a thick gauntlet, he might lose a hand or two in a real fight.

“Ahem. Vincent is a special case. He has a bloodline class no one has ever had before. He was injured and infected by an unknown Demonic Beast and managed to survive after taking many remedies.” Gevan started to explain what he read in the interrogation report about Vincent’s identity.

Gevan looked back at Vincent and continued, “The blood in Vincent’s body changed. Years later, Vincent Awakened a class with the same name his body experienced. The class is called Mutation, similar to how Vincent’s body adapted with the infection and mutated to a new one. Not even the Inspection Gemstone we have in our guild could rank him. It ended up giving Vincent the lowest E Rank possible.”

[It’s as I have suspected. First, Gevan talked to us as if Ben told him about us, but now I’m sure it’s not the case. Gevan said things only heard in your interrogation room. Thus I sum up that Gevan has read the reports about the fake origin story we concocted.]

-No wonder I had the feeling that Gevan was mostly interested in my stats and class. Gevan managed to get his hands on our info in these past two days.-

[Yeah. We should be careful going forward if people of power can get our information legally or not.]

“This Heroine never has conducted a wrong judgment before. Vincent did truly have a wicked stench. Now this Heroine is pleased to hear that my presence at that time could help the suffering mortal from his evil infection. I, the Heroine Beatrix, request an apology from my honorably brother Ollie.” Beatrix placed her hands on her hips and stared at her brother.

“Master~a is so~a omnipotent *hiss* Master’s brother~a is such~a mortal. *Hiss, hiss, hiss*. ” The Vigor Snake Peepee added while hissing as if laughing.

Beatrix changed the mood of the hall after speaking. The puzzled Abigail and Bartholomew couldn’t help but smirk. Belowin felt a bit embarrassed while Ollie frowned. His sister wanted to have the last say that she was right.

*Clap*

“Okay. Now that’s enough for an introduction. Let’s stay out of the sparring area. ” Gevan loudly clapped to garner attention on him and then proceeded by leading Ester and Lupa out of the combat area.

There are two colors of wooden floor tiles in the testing hall, between a lighter and darker wood variant. There are four darker tiles, ten-meter by ten-meter squares.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

They looked like a decoration pattern at first, but now, Ollie stood on the edge of one of these darker square patterns while Gevan led Ester and Lupa outside the square.

“Vincent, please go and stand on the opposite side. Stay at the edge of the darker wood tiles so we can start. You don’t need to worry about damaging the tiles because they are coated with thick and dense paint. Furthermore, they also are then finished by impact-absorbing slime paint.” Gevan said.

“Okay. ” Vincent nodded and took his side. He looked to the side and winked at Ester and Lupa.

“My mate will win. ” Lupa crossed her arm and boasted.

“Vincent, good luck. ” Ester encouraged.

“My preparations are ready. I will wait for you to attack first. Don’t worry, my guard is great.” Ollie offered to be on defense rather than on the offense.

“Then I shall go first. ” Vincent then clenched his fists, lowered his form, and sprinted forward with all he had while shouting, “Overheat!”

.

[Overheat activated.]

[Mutation starting to alter the host...]

[Mutation process finished.]

[Race altered to mutated human for its duration.]

.

Vincent leaped, and with a tightly clenched fist, he delivered a mighty strike both with the force of momentum and his strength.

*Clang!*

The steel shield rang upon collision, but Ollie didn’t move an inch. Not only that, but Ollie didn’t seem too much fazed by the attack.

“Not bad. ” Vincent praised with his Overheat hoarse voice.

“He... he shapeshifted his arms! How can a human do that?” Abigail uttered in surprise.

“It’s unfortunate the system couldn’t rank Vincent. He is strong to make Ollie use most of his strength to guard against the attack.” Although Bartholomew has a magic class, he spars with Ollie to overcome the weakness of a magic class.

“Brother used most of his strength? Well, I might see an exciting test then. I wonder if I can write a short novel about an underdog with unknown powers winning against a strong villain.” Belowin suddenly seemed interested in the test. He wondered if his brother would receive a scratch so he could spend days teasing him.

“Honorable brother Belowin. Thou shan’t speak badly about our honorable brother Ollie. Nevertheless, the mortal fighting our honorable brother is starting to feel wicked. Evil energy surrounds him, yet it is not out of control. This Heroine is perplexed and needs to investigate the mortal Vincent further.” Beatrix appeared to feel a change in Vincent’s presence, but if she is exaggerating or not is unknown.

Ollie lowered his shield after noticed Vincent was waiting for him. He noticed the change in Vincent and said, “Hmm... your presence has become fiercer, like a veteran soldier... no like a wild beast. Your eyes feel like they are looking into my soul and your arms seem to be covered by a substance as hard as my shield.”

Ollie clanged his sword against his shield and continued, “Show me all your power. I need to see for myself your real rank.”

“I can only last for five minutes in this form. I hope you can assess my capability in this short time.” Vincent smirked. Like a boxer, Vincent clashed both his fists together and took the fighting stance Koss taught him.

“I thought of going easy on you because of the bandages, but now I changed my mind. I will mostly use D Ranker power and not use any Protector class skills.” Ollie deduced Vincent is stronger than when he entered the hall. As if Vincent is now a different person. Ollie felt reminded of Berserkers.

[Ollie is still going to give you a huge handicap... well, you know what to do. Beat his arrogant bum.]

Vincent smirked at Kazumi’s comment. However, Vincent thought Kazumi is wrong.

Ollie seemed to be insinuating that he wants to raise the difficulty accordingly and not injure the adventurer applicant Vincent. In a way, Ollie appears to be a great test examiner or teacher.

“It’s my turn now. ” Ollie stepped forward and swung his sword.

*Clang*

The sound rang across the testing hall. The audience, apart from Ester and Lupa, assertively watched Vincent and his movements.

Vincent threw a few strikes next, but Ollie blocked all of them with ease. Then Ollie followed with a few sword swings, but Vincent managed to block them while taking a step back from the impact.

[Do you want me to help you?]

Kazumi asked. She wanted to help, yet it would be cheating. Kazumi didn’t know if Vincent wanted help or he wants to become stronger by fighting alone.

-I want to pass with my own abilities. Thank you for worrying about me.-

Vincent decided he wanted to fight mano-a-mano.

Little by little, the fight stayed at a stalemate. Ollie didn’t want to use more strength than he promised to use, while Vincent didn’t have Kazumi guiding him and slow the time down.

After two minutes, Lupa started to become impatient. She raised her hands and encouraged, “You can do it! Beat the big human! You need to pass so we can celebrate! I want to do what you promised me today!”

“Huh?” Vincent lost all his focus after hearing Lupa’s words. Or, more specifically, the last sentence. He got distracted by her words.