- Stamp
The wet sound of ink came from behind the glass barrier, from beneath which a stack of fresh documents was pushed out by the admission officer.
His weary eyes briefly settled on the boy in front of him before, with a low sigh, he turned slightly and pointed to the far-off door, repeating his practiced dialogue in a tired tone.
"You can proceed with the exam in the room down the hall. Good luck."
As these words fell on the boy, he snatched the stack of documents back, giving the officer a look of disdain that he was already used to. With a few shakes of his hands, the documents were sorted neatly into a more cubical shape that immediately broke when he turned around and put them under his arm.
Fuck off
He cursed inside his mind while brushing off the stray strands of hazel hair from his pale face.
The man at the counter, as tired as ever, simply ignored his sharp glare as he spoke to the next person in line.
It didn't take long before he stopped in front of the door, giving a short nod to the guard at the side who took the stack of papers and skimmed through them briefly.
"You're good to go."
He said after putting the papers on a stool beside him and pushing the door open-
"Wait."
The boy suddenly raised his hand, prompting the tall guard's brows to furrow.
He watched as the boy started to check his pants. The cheap set of clothes, which he bought a year or so ago, was coincidentally the most comfortable thing for him to move around in, even if it didn't look as good as his daily wardrobe; he always wore it to keep his performance at its best.
A few seconds of him tugging at the corners of his clothes started to turn into a dozen, maybe even a minute, if the guard actually cared to count how much someone waited to enter the room.
He started getting impatient, already opening his mouth to hurry him up.
"All done."
With a sigh of relief, or maybe nervousness, the boy shifted through the little opening of the door while pulling a small capsule from one of his pockets.
- Click
The door closed right behind him, making the effort he put into trying to look somewhat professional, gone. His dark hoodie and dark blue cargo pants were almost torn off his body due to the sudden burst of wild wind that hid inside the room.
A space made of pristine, white marble, which he was way too familiar with.
Calm down, it's not the time to let my guard down.
He reminded himself before opening his eyes and looking to his right, where a large black window was mounted inside a wall, probably the size of three cubic meters.
Soon, a short buzz overtook the silent room, accompanied by the hoarse voice of the instructor.
"Delver licensing exam for Vlad Mircea, four out of five attempts. The monsters you will face may pose a threat to your life, in which case we will immediately intervene and eliminate them. Do you wish to proceed?"
Just as he finished speaking, a small square materialised in front of Vlad's eyes, three boxes flickering in and out of existence like lightning trying to keep its shape.
One of them was a set of rules that a Delver had to accept before becoming one. Thankfully, Vlad had already become quite familiar with it since his second attempt.
Another two boxes presented two options: 'Accept' and 'Decline'.
He smirked, thinking that the people behind the glass were nothing but a bunch of old relics that forgot why he came here.
Then, without any hesitation, his finger passed through one of the boxes.
- Buzz
They disappeared into a flurry of blue sparks, followed by three figures starting to take shape at the other side of the room.
Vlad looked at his hand, the small capsule he pulled out from his pocket was crushed in an instant before a cloud of smoke exploded from within it.
His frustration, which he had been holding up for the past few weeks, had been focused solely on gripping the sword with so much strength that he could feel the handle cracking.
"Come at me."
...
A long time ago, the Earth started to gain tiny cracks all over the world. No one paid them any mind due to how small everything seemed, but cracks can accumulate.
The few tiny openings turned into a dozen, with some time into hundreds, followed by thousands. Everyone thought that the planet would explode, killing every human on its surface along with it.
But alas, to everyone's relief or maybe nightmare, the earth remained in its broken state that slowly transformed into something no one could have expected. The cracks that littered every corner of the world had started to shift themself into one place, creating an endless rift that started from somewhere in America and ended in the middle of Asia.
The event was called the Great Separation, which was soon followed by the unnatural properties that came from within the earth.
Even scientists themself couldn't figure out how it happened, all their devices were rendered useless after a strange element called Flux emerged from within the rift, seeping into each and every human.
It granted them strength, vigor, immunity to diseases, and it made them perfect human beings that were only found in the story books millenia ago.
But it wasn't without a price.
When exploring the depths of the rift, beasts emerged from within their depths like a plague, wiping out two-thirds of the entire human population. Mundane weapons never worked on the monsters, how could they when their carcasses were harder than diamonds themself.
However, a new era had sparked among humanity thanks to the power of the soul that Flux had brought with it, giving a fair chance to both sides, be it human or human-like.
At least the version everyone was familiar with.
...
- Clang
A muffled sound of metal came from behind the one-way window; the instructors who were in charge of overseeing the Delver exam sat behind the countless panels of switches and buttons that could summon any terrain or monster encountered in the Rift.
The door to the room burst open all of a sudden, making the heads of the staff snap towards the sudden noise before turning back to their tasks after seeing who the individual actually was.
He leisurely strolled over to the person overseeing Vlad's current progress, his hands, which were resting carefully on the control panel, immediately shot back to his sides as he readied himself to bow down.
The man, however, stopped him immediately before slowly asking the instructor with his professional tone.
"How is it?"
Instructor's eyes suddenly dropped down, immediately revealing the entire course of events which the tall man expected from the start. An unreadable expression formed on his face before the door closed immediately. The man was gone just like that, like the wind itself had carried him away from here.
The clanging of the sword that had been coming from the room was already over, while the blaring red light spilled through the black window.
The instructor quickly gathered himself up, still remembering the great feeling of oppression that crashed down on his very soul. He pressed one of the buttons on his control panel before leaning forward to the microphone mounted at his side.
"Delver licensing exam for Vlad Mircea, attempt fourth, failed."