Re: Monster - World's Reversal

Read Day 32 in the previous chapter if you haven't already, but other than that, enjoy!

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After talking at Rachael for a while, I stopped. I don't want to push it too far. She seemed to be at least slightly more accommodating now, acknowledging my existence rather than just pointedly telling me to shut up and ignoring me. We navigated our way through a bunch of tiny, winding paths not even big enough to be called streets and entered a building about four times as wide as the surrounding ones and thrice as tall. It also looked slightly better kept than the rest, but still not pristine.

The inside was… Disappointing. I wasn't expecting much, but it really was just a place to test magical capability. A line of people stand in a row shooting a few spells at one side of the building reinforced with some sort of metal, watch the magic fall apart on collision with said metal, and wait for the examiner to bark out a number and take them away.

For a brief moment after considering it's apparent magic resistance, I wondered whether I could come back at night and steal some of the metal, but I scrapped that idea for one simple reason. If it's a heavily regulated material, they aren't going to leave it unguarded, and if it isn't, I can just buy it elsewhere.

Anyway, the numbers appear to be significant because as we make our way down the queue - Yes, there's a queue as well, but that isn't important. - I hear a variety of numbers called out.

"2!"

She looked depressed.

"4!"

He looked resigned.

"7!"

Content, but probably hoping for higher. 5 is probably significant.

"5!"

Tears of joy. That pretty much confirms it.

...

"9!"

Well that's a pretty smug grin after quite a sizeable stream of spells, and there are quite a few startled voices as well. If the number determines your assignment, there are probably multiple cutoff points right? Ah well, it'll probably get explained to me pretty soon.

Eventually it's our turn, and I take the time to ask.

"So, what happens now and how does it affect me?"

Rolling her eyes and giving an exasperated sigh, I get my answer delivered with the kind of droning voice you could easily fall asleep to.

"Fine, show me your strongest attacks of every element you can manage, or if you only have one element, just three attacks should be fine, I'll grade you on cast efficiency, power and usability. A three gets you a recommendation for the adventurer's guild, a five gets you a D-rank, a seven puts you up to being a C-rank, giving you a sizable salary, a nine gets you a B-rank and a recommendation to the governors guard, and a ten gets you a straight A-rank, and at that point you get assessed by a delegate from the capital to see if you're right to enlist in the royal magus corp. Basically we deal with the guild's rankings for mages and send a few top talents on their way. Personally, I don't think that person a moment ago was a true 9, at best an eight, but we've never really had that many strong individuals, so we can't really tell. Besides, B-rank is a pretty loose term, some branches of the main guild might consider someone B-rank, and that same person could be C-rank in another part of the country… Now hurry up and take your shots, I want to get out of here without too many stares."

You're worried about the stares? Ah… That might be a problem then. Telling me you're a harsh mark is probably a bit counter-intuitive to be frank, because now I can hit as hard as I like without being too worried about a 10.

"ICICLE CRASH!"

As it turns out, the elements of earth and air are drawn from the environment, but fire and water have to be generated with mana. Thus, I form 10 thin spikes of ultra compressed ice, each about 1.5 meters long, and propel them forwards with high winds. The speed I'm currently capable of firing these off is 120 mph. For this test I've only driven them at 90, because I don't want to reveal everything. Being able to remove wind resistance is a big factor.

Eh? I've dented the metal a bit. Well now I don't want it anymore, if I'd gone at full power it would've plowed right through. It might be okay for research purposes, but I sure as hell don't want them for anything else anymore. For my next trick I'll cover AOE damage by blowing a massive firestorm towards the wall. Naturally I wouldn't be able to generate that much new fire because creating than using what's already there, but air magic seems to be incredibly useful in practically all areas.

"FIRE-!"

"9!!!"

"storm?"

"Okay okay now follow me, let's just get out of here."

"Right...?"

Her head down, Rachael leads me out. Granted, what I had to show was far stronger than anyone else, even that other '9', but like she said, that person probably wasn't a nine anyway. Basically the moment we get out she explodes in my face.

"What was that?!"

She looks confused and more than a bit frightened, But more than anything else she looks incredulous, like I worked a miracle. Really though, I have a better question.

"So, we just came out of there… But it was literally just an examination hall. Why is it not with the rest of the building? Better yet, IS there a 'rest of the building'?"

"When this place was just founded, the new recruits were tested outside because it was just a short walk. As the place grew, the distance got further and further until they couldn't take it anymore and built this. But don't sidetrack me! You cast large-scale magic without flinching!"

"Hmm, I just launched a couple of ice spears though."

"YOU. CREATED. TEN. Even people from noble families with 20+ inborn circuits would struggle with that!"

Circuits? I guess I really am out of the loop. But 20 is an odd number, and magic circuits reminds me of… Eh?

"But I'm not a human though."

She stops being hysterical and tenses up, seemingly ready to move at any moment.

"... What? I-I'm sorry did you just say you aren't human? If you did, that isn't a funny joke."

"No, it wasn't meant to be. I'm a Hesperide, daughter of the evening and second rank nymph. My village burnt down while I was two weeks old and I've been left basically to fend for myself."

She relaxes. If discrimination is a big thing here there may be a problem. I'm also not saying anything about how old I am right now. Thinking on it, there have to be at least some species they're at peace with, because some things, like for instance the gods which are practically guaranteed to exist, could ruin absolutely everything. I continue.

"Judging from your reaction, I take it there's at least a little discrimination between humans and demi-humans around here, but how bad is it? I mean, I've killed my fair share of orcs and kobolds, but I'm not sure if they would be so bold as to attack a large group of humans."

"That's the thing, they don't attack large groups, they attack groups on the road. Just yesterday a group was confirmed missing on their way from the star god's pavillion. We can't even get rid of them all because of the true dragon locked in the eternal prison."

Uh… Sorry about that? Also, thanks for being my source of information and treating me like I know nothing, because I really don't.

"How the heck does a dragon translate to not being able to get rid of them?"

Her shoulders visibly drop and she stumbles, it seems this was an obvious one.

"You weren't kidding about fending for yourself were you? True dragons are literally MADE of magic. To the point where it strengthens the nearby monster tribes. That on it's own would be bad enough, but it also appears to increase their birth rates. By the time we find one cave and destroy the monsters in it, a dozen more sprout up."

Ah. Probably why my village got burnt down... I'm more interested in the dragon.

"Well, if the dragon is so powerful, how come it's been locked up?"

"The true dragon Veldora" Hold up. "Went on a rampage 300 years ago throughout a city built not too far from here, destroying it so thoroughly that there aren't even traces anymore. At the height of this rampage, the hero arrived, imprisoning" HOLD UP. "The dragon in an unbreakable prison, dooming him to live his days in monotonous boredom."

Veldora… If it were ANY other name I could put up with it, but VELDORA?!

"Do the other true dragons happen to be called Velzada, Velgaia and Velsomethingorother?"

"Eh?! So you don't know what a true dragon is but you know their names? What kind of an education did you get?"

I'm so done.

"A pretty short one I guess."

All hail the god-slime.