Chapter 395 Overthinker
"What do you want from me?" Nial asked without a change of emotions. He was not angry at Elder Walin for trying to play around with him because she had shared many essential pieces of information with him.
However, the pieces of information were not enough for him to foolishly trust the Elder of the Thousand Body refinement Dojo.
Elder Walin smiled when she heard Nial's question. It had been quite a while since a weaker existence was brazen enough to openly question her about her schemings and plans.
Nial didn't even seem to realize that he was being rude and that his actions could end up in his painful death if he would be as reckless with other people as he was with Elder Walin.
'Looks like my first impression was correct. He is a native from Jundra and has zero social skills with other races, otherwise, he would be far more careful!' Elder Waling concluded as she realized a few things that interested her a lot.
'His physical strength is higher than his mana core rank, and he doesn't seem as frail as I first expected. Furthermore, he learned the universal language, tamed a mutated Gryphon, and all that while being blind…not bad!'
"How about I allow you to take the entrance test to become a student of the Thousand body refinements Dojo?" Elder Walin suggested to him all of a sudden.
Nial was pretty sure that this had nothing to do with his earlier question. Furthermore, the question came out of nowhere, which didn't make sense at all.
Elder Walin didn't even know him but had presented a tempting offer in the first five minutes of interacting with him. As long as he became a student of the Thousand Body Refinement Dojo, there shouldn't be too many things he would have to fear within Alliance City.
'Something is wrong with that offer…are they just a small dojo and on the verge of getting shut down?' He suddenly wondered, feeling extremely suspicious.
However, the confident smile on Elder Walin's face made him disregard this idea. The three giant-like students of Elder Walin were still fighting and Nial had been multitasking to observe their fight while speaking with the Elder.
That was why he could tell that the three giant-like students were pretty powerful. Their physical strength was much higher than their mana core's rank, they didn't use or possess many abilities and they used their mana to exert powerful martial art techniques.
Because he had perceived all of this in the short time in which he had observed the three students, Nial could tell that they were powerful and that the Thousand Body Refinement Dojo shouldn't have much of an issue getting more members, if they wanted to.
Nial didn't really feel that the offer of Elder Walin was genuine either. Something felt terribly wrong and the smile on the giant woman's face didn't really help him to feel better.
He squinted his eyes and thought about it for a moment before he put one and one together.
"And if I don't pass the entrance test, you'll probably demand something from me, right?" Nial asked, lifting his right eyebrow.
Elder Walin looked at Nial a bit astonished but she didn't refute his words.
"If you fail our entrance test, you would become the Dojo's servant for three months. Every member of the Dojo would have permission to order you around and you will have no choice but to obey them! After three months you regain freedom and you can either retake the entrance test or leave," She explained quite calmly, affirming Nial's doubts.
"Why would I accept your offer then?" Nial asked, feeling that it would be quite stupid to take a test with the possibility of being enslaved for three months straight.
It didn't really make sense but Elder Walin didn't see it that way.
"Most commoners of the Valxian race would kill for the opportunity I am giving you right now, and you're complaining about becoming a servant for three months upon failing? Even if we were to increase the punishment upon failure to 10 years, not many Valxians would reject taking the entrance test," Elder Walin laughed and said with an air of confidence while looking at Nial from the corner of her eyes.
She had multiple reasons to take interest in Nial, but the most important was her gut feeling. Elder Walin was certain that she was doing the right thing by offering Nial to take the entrance test to become a member of the Thousand Body refinement Dojo.
She felt that others would soon queue up to give Nial the chance to become a member of their martial group, dojo, or other organizations if she wouldn't grab the early bird offer.
This was a very weird feeling and it was a sign for her to do what had to be done.
'If their race is called Valxian, and most would start killing for the offer I've just received…isn't that more suspicious than actually trying to enslave me?? What is her plan? Did my dark energy leak, or did she sense something different? Maybe she can hear the heartbeat of my two hearts…or she can sense that my physical strength is extremely powerful…' Nial thought as he scanned his body, but did not find anything unusual that would spill his secrets in front of the unknown woman.
The only problem he didn't reconsider was that he was still wearing Tier-2 runic armaments, his self-made runic armaments.
However, it didn't feel like Elder Walin knew that he was a Runicier, let alone that he could create Tier-2 runic armaments at the age of 22.
Because Elder Walin should be oblivious about his talent as a Runicier, Nial felt even more suspicious about her offer.
He subconsciously took a step backward while Ryu stepped forward. The Gryphon started to chirp threateningly, which Elder Walin noticed with a frown.
"Just say no if you don't want this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," She said, shrugging her shoulders as if she was not interested in wasting her time with Nial.
"If you can tell me what the entrance test is, and why you're giving me this opportunity, I will reconsider your offer!" Nial declared all of a sudden.
He was still not sure what exactly Elder Walin was planning but Nial could clearly tell that the wide variety of martial art techniques the three Valxian students used was extremely powerful. If he could learn them as well, it would increase his combat prowess drastically.
Furthermore, by learning some martial art techniques, he might stop relying on his constant usage of dark energy and the Essence of Darkness while fighting.
After taking that into consideration, Nial knew that he should give the entrance test a try, whether Elder Walin was scheming something or not.
'If their dojo is really as impressive as Elder Walin says, joining them would be quite helpful…' Nial scratched the back of his head while waiting for Elder Walin to answer his questions.
"I am giving you the opportunity because you are not afraid to talk recklessly to someone, who is clearly stronger than you and of a race you've never heard before. Your attitude is quite compatible with most martial art techniques we have in our dojo," She answered, speaking half the truth and hiding the remaining reasons she had for inviting him to take the entrance test before she answered his other question as well.
"As for the entrance test, it's quite simple. You'll have to fight against the newest member of the dojo, and demonstrate your talent. If you can defeat our newest member, you will immediately be accepted. However, even if you lose, you will not be immediately deemed a slave. We will evaluate your talent, passion, and various other factors before deciding whether we will let you enroll in the dojo or not!" Elder Walin explained before she pointed at one of the three students, who had finished fighting the Hyenas by now.
"The tallest of them is our newest member, Khain. He is 14 years old, is roughly at your mana core rank, and his combat talent is extraordinary," She said, but Nial could only frown.
Khain, the tallest of the three Valxian students, was more than four meters tall…and he was only 14 years old.
Nial shook his head at this thought but there was something else that bothered him even more.
'Why is she helping me so much…?' He wondered, clearly realizing that he was overthinking everything once again.
At the end of the day, Nial shrugged his shoulders before he sighed deeply.
"Alright, I'll take the entrance test!" Nial declared when he reached a consensus with his mind. He knew that overthinking everything wouldn't help him. He was just troubling himself, which was far from helpful.
Rather, his attitude might cause more trouble the longer he hesitated to take action.
Nial felt that Elder Walin didn't reveal everything to him but that was only obvious. Why would she tell some stranger everything she knew? That would be stupid.
Thus, Nial accepted the entrance test without hesitating a lot. He could tell how strong Khain was, and that was more than enough for him to know that he could defeat him.
"I guess we're not allowed to use runic armaments to fight fairly, right?" Nial asked, pointing at his runic armaments.
Only then did Elder Walin realize that Nial was wearing several Tier-2 runic armaments.
"Our race trains their body to the peak, so we rarely use runic armaments, but you can use one runic armament if you want to," She observed all his armaments and answered with a shrug, dismissing the threat that could pose to Khain.
In her opinion, it wouldn't make much of a difference if Nial used one runic armament. Elder Walin was more interested in the sudden change of his personality, too.
The moment she showed him who her opponent for the entrance test would be, the tension within his body seemed to have dissipated.
He looked confident and relaxed right now, and that was what made her wonder if Nial was actually confident to defeat the Valxian or if he had something else in mind.
'Well, I will figure out the answer shortly, there is no need to trouble myself by thinking too much about it,' She shrugged her shoulders and turned over to the three Valxian students who approached their teacher.
Only now did they notice Nial and the wingless Gryphon, but didn't do anything because they could tell that their master seemed to be on friendly terms with the human and his mount.
"Khain, he will challenge you when we're back at the Dojo. If you lose, you will have to undergo the Dojo Master's Heavenly training once again!" Elder Walin spoke in the universal language as she looked at Khain.
It was obvious that she wanted Nial to hear and understand what she said, but he was more interested in Khain's reaction. The tall giant shuddered for a moment before he stared daggers at Nial.
"And if you win against him without breaking a sweat, I might consider allowing you to participate in Hell training!" She added, which caused all the Valxians to exclaim.
"Are you serious, teacher?!" Khain asked, passion burning fiercely in his eyes as he turned over to Nial.
"Don't blame me for what is going to happen!" He declared while Nial could only shake his head.
'Are they masochists or what?'