Calamity Upon This World

"So that's what happened," Aiden explained to Belle, hoping to prove his innocence.

Belle felt her headache from earlier, getting even more intense hearing about the situation.

First it was the upcoming threat of the trumpet of death, and now a kid is beating up two adventurers in broad daylight.

While she initially wanted to scold him for his reckless actions, she couldn't deny the palpable amount of power and mana emanating from him.

It felt incredibly warm and pure and, in a way, reminded her of the priests of the Church of Light.

'Could the boy have a connection to them?' she wondered.

Also, while it might just be her reaching, the events of today reminded her of the day Edge Lord showed up.

While his strength and talent were nowhere near those of Edgeord, at least in terms of mana,.

One had to keep in mind that the boy in front of her was less than half his age.

So it wasn't exactly a fair comparison in the first place.

But that raised a question about how exactly a kid like him got his hands on such power in the first place.

'How curious'

Momentarily, she found her curiosity growing, and a desire to learn more about the boy had grown inside her.

But just when she was lost in thought, a voice called out.

"Uhh miss?" Aiden called out, confused by Belle's seeming unresponsiveness.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Belle exclaimed, recognising her mistake.

It seems she let her curiosity get the better of her momentarily.

But she quickly composed herself, thanks to her years of experience, and returned to her formal work tone.

Letting the issue of an upcoming disaster sit near the back of her head.

After all, she couldn't let the adventurers know about the upcoming disaster about to hit their hometown.

At least until they reach a decision in tomorrow's meeting.

"So, from what I'm understanding, you want to become an adventurer?" Belle inquired carefully, ensuring that she wasn't misunderstanding what she had heard.

"Yes," Aiden replied.

"I understand. Follow me." Belle decided to not annoy the poor boy about his age anymore than the crude adventurers around them had already done.

While she did have a lot of questions and concerns about the kids age, it wasn't part of her job to worry about them.

Just like with Jasmine and William all those months ago.

Belle lead Aiden underground.

A bunch of adventurers also followed them underground, curious about the depths of the little kids power.

As all of them stepped inside, the underground was the same as it had been all those months ago.

A plain white room devoid of any distractions, with seats for spectators arranged in a corner.

As all the spectators took their respective seats.

Belle and Aiden stood in the middle, awaiting his choice.

"What level would you like to challenge?"

She had already explained all the different difficulty levels to him and what the maximum level was.

And for some weird reason, she felt like she already knew what he was going to choose, but still, following proper guild protocol, she waited for his answer.

"B rank" Aiden replied confidently.

Murmurs of shock filled the stance, with many people criticising the boy for his overconfidence.

But Aiden didn't seem to mind, and Belle also didn't seem surprised, as if already expecting his choice.

"I understand," Belle said as a tiny, palm-sized metal cube appeared in her hands.

She placed the metal cube on the ground, around 100 metres away from Aiden.

It expanded in size until it towered over both Aiden and Belle.

As the outer covering of the cube came undone.

A mud-coloured alligator about the size of a truck became visible.

It's body was still trapped behind bars, but through the bars, one could see its tail, which had a green snake head coming out of its tip.

Even with the monster still trapped, it gnarled aggressively as Drool fell into its cage.

It emanated a disgusting, nose-curling smell, which forced one to involuntarily crunch their nose.

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Aiden seemed to have a similar reaction, with his lips twitching and his nose wincing.

But he still remained calm, waiting for Belle to introduce it.

"The Mudstench Gator is a B-rank monster usually found near swamps in close proximity to neutral continents."

"It uses poison and earth element powers to hunt its prey," Belle introduced methodically, her face showing not even a tinge of emotion, as if not minding the disgusting stench of the creature.

"Are you sure about your choice? If you get hurt during the test, the guild won't be held responsible for the damage" she asked one last time.

"Yes, I am" Aiden replied, his lips slightly curling into a smirk with his back held straight and his body expressing pure confidence in his ability.

"I understand, and good luck, brave aspiring adventurer," Belle said with a small bow as she took her leave to join the spectator.

Once she had left the area, a bright golden dome erupted around the whole field, encasing both the monster and alligator in a dome meant for fighting without escape.

While Belle's expression showed no change inwardly, she was happy that the boy had chosen the B rank test as it would allow her to better satiate her curiosity and gain a better understanding of his powers.

Belle took her seat and moved her attention towards the incoming fight.

The cage trapping the gator till now finally came undone, allowing it to finally escape its clutches and hunt like it once did.

**

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Quest Name: Maximum Difficulty

Quest Details: Choose and clear the highest possible level in the Adventurers Test.

Quest Type: Sub

Quest limit: 10 minutes

Quest rewards: +20 stat points in all variable stats.

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Aiden smirked at seeing the small system pop up in front of him.

He already knew that this was going to happen, which is why he had chosen the highest possible difficulty.

And his guess seemed to have been correct.

As long as he could defeat the monster in front of him, he would be able to get stronger.

'This should be fun,' he thought, excited.

While there was a part of him that was a bit worried due to the gator looking pretty formidable, he was also excited, as it would give him a chance to go all out for the first time in months.

Seeing him not move, the gator used the opportunity and fired mud from its mouth.

The ball of mud flew through the air at a rapid pace towards Aiden, promising to break his bone if it made contact.

But just when it was mere metres away from his face, Aiden performed a perfectly timed side step to the left, easily dodging the attack.

As soon as he had dodged the attack, he activated his [fireball] skill and sent a hot, palm-sized ball of fire towards the monster.

But just when it was about to make contact and burn it, a sturdy wall of stone appeared in front of it.

Booom~

A small explosion occurred, the earth wall shattered, and a cloud of dust and smoke formed.

And when it dissipated, the wall formed by the gator was no more, but it had already done its job, as evident by the completely unharmed gator standing in the same spot it was at the start of the fight.

Like that, the first exchange of the fight  was over.

Both sides were unable to damage each other, but that was just because the fight was just starting, with barely a few seconds having passed since the battle started.

Not wanting to get close to the gator due to its terrible stench, Aiden resorted to another one of his long-ranged skills, this time opting for.

[Metel Spears]

Around five long spears made of metal manifested behind Aiden, and on his command, they charged forward at breakneck speed.

But this time he wasn't just going to use one skill, as he knew it would just be stopped by the earth wall from last time.

So he used a skill that had saved his life multiple times over the past few months [Impact Increase].

It was a relatively simple skill and allowed him to increase the power of his attack.

And yet, it was the simple nature of the skill that made it so reliable for him.

With the power of his spears amplified, he was certain they'd be able to easily penetrate the annoying earth wall from earlier and even damage the gator.

As if knowing that its earth wall was going to be useless, the monster didn't try to use it, instead resorting to going underground.

In less than an eye blink, the gator was underground, hidden from sight.

The amplified metal spears made contact with the place the monster had once been and managed to completely wreck the place.

Boom~

Despite the attack having hit its mark, it was unable to do as much damage to the gator as Aiden had hoped.

In fact, it had made the situation worse. With the gator now underground, there was no way to know where it would attack from.

Causing a tense silence to fall in the basement as everyone anticipated the crafty beasts next attack.

Agh