Scarlet

The test turns out to simply be pouring half of my mana into the orb, so it isn’t painful, stressful, or anything like that. It doesn’t even take longer than a couple of minutes before I hear the tone from the terminal stating that the test is over.

And once I get back to the terminal, I find that I have Tier B Capacity as well. Which is nice.

The two tests following that aren’t very hard to do either, and I end up with Tiers A and B for the next two in order.

In the end, Allen and I are left looking at a final list showing all of my capabilities in each stat, along with a little loading symbol on the bottom of the screen and the words ‘Sending results to officials’ above the loading symbol. But Allen doesn’t say a word until it’s finished. And the moment it is? He just sighs. Then a loud ringing sound echoes through the room followed by a large screen floating down in front of us.

Before I can ask what’s going on, the black screen changes to show Belle who is sitting down on a desk in what I’m guessing is a classroom. And she doesn’t look very happy either.

But that changes after she sees me, making a smile spread across her face again as she practically shouts, “Scarlet! You’re awake!”

I raise an eyebrow before chuckling.

“Good morning,” I tell her, only to frown for a second then correct myself, “Good afternoon.”

She laughs for a few seconds. But then she turns a scowl on her father, who is still staring at my results. “Dad, we need to talk.”

His head shoots up and a complicated expression replaces the dumbfounded stare he had. One that looks both confused and guilty at the same time. As if he felt guilty but didn’t know what he was guilty about.

I almost laugh at the look on his face, only to hold myself back as I hear Belle saying, “I want to go to Lion’s Heart.”

Uh, this conversation doesn’t sound like it’s gonna go in a direction I’d like to be here during.

Fortunately, Allen turns to me and says, “Your results should have been sent to the authorities, so go explore the base a bit for the rest of the day. We can deal with your application to the university after the results are processed.”

I nod my head in appreciation, glance at Belle to find her glaring at her father, then quickly make my exit as fast as my legs will carry me. But despite that, I still hear Allen stating, “No. Non-Guardians are not allowed on a Guardian University campus without a good reason, and you know this.”

Then the door shuts, and I can’t hear anything else.

I let out a sigh of relief.

Now then. To the gym.

“Didn’t you say yesterday that you were going to skip your workout today?” Tar comments with confusion evident in his voice.

That was before I got so much pent up stress I needed to work off.

Then I can take a shower after that. And I don’t care if you’re human or not, you’re either gonna disappear at that time or you’re staying in my room.

Tar just chuckles at that.

I let out a huff of air as I begin my walk towards the public gym.

A few hours later

I let out a sigh as I get out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around my neck, over my shirt to keep my wet hair from my clothes before my phone buzzes from my pants pocket, my jacket having been left on my bed during my shower. So I take the phone out before unlocking it and raising an eyebrow at the text I find there. One with a simple thumbs-up emoji at the end of it.

[I managed to get a tentative maybe on that ‘going to Lion’s Heart’ thing!]

She actually managed to convince him? Or… no, she said a tentative maybe.

[What did you do?]

After sending my response, I run the towel through my hair and then toss it while lying back on my bed and raising my phone in front of my face, just searching through the videos online about me. And it only takes me a few minutes to find a full blown news article as well, instead of just the simple videos posted on streaming services.

There isn’t much different about it from the videos I’ve already seen though, just that the articles are written by people who are actually with the news and not just some video streamer. Makes it look more official.

I flop my hand against the bed with a sigh before muttering, “This is going to be a pain.”

Tar appears in the air above me, only to float down to land on my chest. I almost unconsciously drop my phone and reach out to start petting him as I close my eyes.

If I remember correctly, the capital has the most Demonic Assaults out of all of the cities in the world. Generally about one every three or four days. But since the city is so massive, the various Fractures are spread out, and rarely ever strike the same building more than once in two months’ time.

I can’t remember how big the city is though. Not exactly at least. Just that it’s multiple times larger than any Tier 2 city, and at least a dozen times larger than Rothwell City was.

And Rothwell City was still about a few hundred square kilometers in area.

So the city is massive. And every Demonic Assault has at least a couple dozen Fractures spread across the city, focusing in areas with a lot of people – hence why it often happens in buildings. They also can’t appear where there is no flat ground, so the airways of the city are safe as well despite how many people are always flying through it on their air cars.

Which is still a strange sight to see.

Although a new Guardian contracting in a Fracture is rather rare. On average only one new Guardian every few dozen or so Fractures. And only around a quarter of those new Guardians even survive, mostly those contracting in Class I Fractures.

After all, becoming a Guardian only gives them some power and a chance to fight. It doesn't mean they are able to actually fight and survive till the end of the Fracture.

My thoughts are interrupted by my phone once again buzzing. So I remove my hand from the unbelievably soft tanuki to grab the phone, only to gawk at it after seeing her reply.

[Dad agreed to take me to a Fracture during the next Assault as long as I stay safely at the entrance. And if I do get offered a contract, then he will allow me to apply for Lion’s Heart.]