"Why?" Keane asked, still maintaining his supposed village boy ignorance.
"Because I don't know what it's doing! That's why!" The man was simply frustrated as it was.
Keane looked at the crystal. "Maybe it's broken?"
The officer gave him a tired look. "It wasn't broken five minutes ago."
"Oh…"
The officer stared at him, while Keane kept his expression innocent like a dove.
The man sighed. "Fine. One final test."
He brought another smaller device from the side of the room.
"If this doesn't work, we're done."
The other man stammered as he pointed out that the fact that one is broken, or at least might be broken, is already enough trouble, since they have no idea who is going to be responsible for fixing it. This hasn't happened before… But alas, the pride of a man to see things through to the very end.
Keane placed his hand against the new device, and this time it was worse. The device reacted immediately, and a sharp crack sounded all through the room, causing them to cover their ears and duck.
A thin fracture appeared across the crystal, and once Keane pulled his hand back, the crack spread in an instant and then the crystal broke apart, fragments dropping onto the stone floor.
Silence filled the room again.
This was a big "I told you" moment, but no one said anything.
Keane stared at the broken pieces genuinely surprised. 'That was some reaction.'
The officer looked at him, but he gave him an apologetic smile.
"I didn't do anything."
The officer looked at the broken device.
Then at Keane.
Then back at the device.
"I know." His voice was low, something about his spirit being depleted.
Just then, a third staff member entered the room after hearing the noise, somewhat panicked.
"What happened??"
The officer pointed at Keane.
"His measurement failed."
The man looked at the broken crystal.
"Huh? How?"
After everything was explained to him, he too was just as confused as the rest.
The man rubbed his forehead.
"So no Mana Baptism, no training whatsoever before, just a guy from a small village who has fought some monsters before…"
The man looked unconvinced, there just was nothing about his story that made sense.
"Can you tell me what went wrong?" Keane asked, still playing ignorant.
The officer looked at him.
"Not like we know, you know?"
"Then how am I supposed to register?"
"Heh… We don't know."
"Oh." Keane said as he scratched his cheek. "Can I still become an adventurer?"
The officer hesitated at the question, but yet answered with an exhausted sigh. "Technically, but what rank are we going to assign you? Knowing your Realm is part of the assessment process, you know?"
"Can't you just give me one?" Keane asked.
To that question, the others also looked up, but then away.
"We can't." the officer asnwered.
"Just pick one."
"No."
Keane sighed.
The officer looked genuinely sympathetic now.
"You'll have to start at Iron, that's only reasonable."
'Iron? I'm not doing that!' Keane protested inwardly. "What kind of work can I do at the lowest rank?"
"The normal stuff. Basic safe escort work, gathering materials, hunting weak monsters, [est control, you know, things like that."
"And how much does that pay?"
"Not much, of course."
"How am I supposed to live on that?" He asked, genuinely.
"Many people manage."
Keane looked toward the broken crystal. 'Well, not me. I'm not many people.' Who transmigrates into another world with a cheat and settle for less? 'Not me.'
While he had money for now, thanks to Elara, if he accepted Iron rank, he'd spend months taking low-paying contracts just to build a reputation.
While he could do that, it would be such a waste of time and effort, not to mention inefficient.
"I don't think Iron is appropriate."
The officer sighed.
"Neither do I."
"Then give me a higher rank."
"I can't."
"Why?"
"Because you haven't demonstrated anything."
At that, Keane noticed the metal training dummy standing several meters away.
Without saying much more, he walked over to it.
The officer frowned, thinking about what he was about to do, "What are you doing?"
Keane stopped in front of the dummy.
"This is a combat test, right?"
"Yes."
"Then I'll demonstrate."
The officer looked uncertain.
"Don't sweat it, that's not ordinary metal." He said, but Keane only raised his hand, ready to strike.
"Hey, if you destroy another testing device—"
Bang!
Before he could finish his words, the dummy had been punched by Keane, and to his greatest surprise, the metal bent inward, spotting a clean dent that appeared where his fist had struck.
The room went silent after that. Well it was already silent, but this time it was different, since the other two were also watching.
"Is that enough?" Keane asked, but nobody answered.
The officer slowly walked toward the dummy, examined it, and his face immediately became downcast.
"That's reinforced steel, you know? Who's actually going to be responsible for all these repairs??"
The other two immediately looked at him with an "I told you so" glare, but none said a word. They could only wish that the guild wouldn't take the cut for the damages out of their poor colleague's salary.
The officer looked toward the door, one could say he looked visibly thinner now.
"Wait here." He said.
He walked out of the room, and when Keane asked the others where he might be going to, they too had no clue.
They tried talking him into starting at Iron Rank, as there was nothing much else that could be done, and no matter how he looked at it, his fate might have just been doomed.
While he was still pondering this in his thought, after all he hadn't expected this and had expected to somehow gain a high rating and start his career big, the officer walked back into the room, his expression more serious.
"You'll be taken to the Guildmaster." He said.
Keane stared at him, thinking it was just normal procedure… how his mind than been tainted by the wrong anime depictions. He could tell that much from how the other men looked when they heared the news. He hadn't even been the one to ask.
"The Guildmaster?"
"Yes."
"Why?" the second man asked.
"Of course, because this is no longer something we can process."
The officer gestured toward the door. "This way."
Keane followed him through the Guild hall, the noise slowly fading as they moved deeper into the building, climbing up.
Keane noticed the guards standing near the upper floor, and for the office of a guild master, neither of them looked particularly relaxed.
"So, the GuildMaster, what's her Realm?"
The officer stopped.
"Who?"
"The Guildmaster." He said again, thinking he might have over done the ignorant act and stuck a nerve.
The man's expression became complicated.
"Well, for starters, she isn't the actual Guildmaster, she's only acting Guildmaster for now to fill in for our Guildmaster."
"Ok?"
"She's from the capital too."
Keane raised an eyebrow, he wasn't sure why that was a big deal, but from the mere mention of it, he could tell it was something important.
"Why is someone from the capital running a Guild here?"
"That's what I'm telling you. She's not some nobody they sent to manage paperwork. She's only been here a week. Honestly, I don't know much about her either, I've only heard stories, so be careful in there."
He started walking again, "you asked what realm she's in, right? Well, I have no idea, but remember when I mentioned that a rumour had risen that someone achieved Orachalcum, but then it subsided?"
'Oh no way…' He thought to himself.
"She was the centre of that rumour."
They reached the door, and the officer knocked.
There was a pause, then a woman's voice came from the other side.
"Enter."