Our entire team has gathered in the room.
"Good morning, everyone. We are about to be transported to the test site.
And just as I finished speaking, we were transported to a spacious room. There was no one else there except us. Well, actually, someone just showed up. Well, it's time to say hello.
"Greetings, my team and I have come to take the test of adulthood. What is required of us?"
This masked demon turned his attention to me and spoke in a mesmerising voice. Cold and hoarse. Yes, the faint-hearted would immediately give up the test.
"You are required to submit your power to this sphere in order to measure it. There are too many candidates, or more precisely, too many subordinates with them, so the minimum power required to pass is that of an average demon.
"Just wonderful, let's go through.
We quickly passed through and teleported to a space many times larger. A crowd of creatures was already waiting for us there. After all, there were not only demons here, but creatures of all kinds. Angels, yokai, valkyries, and a bunch of other creatures I had never even heard of.
Then I spotted Sazeks in my field of vision. A plan formed in my head on how to get rid of prying eyes and make them underestimate us, and I would be able to ruin his reputation. Of course, it wouldn't last long, but still. After explaining the plan to the team, I began my act.
Tux, put on a happy face — I'm ready. Go!
"Mr. Sazek, how glad I am to see you. When you left me naked in that room, I thought you had abandoned me, but here we are again.
And all this was enhanced by magic so that everyone could hear. And my dear ice mage did his job perfectly. My face was covered with tears. He is a master after all. Everyone believed that I was crying. Now the main thing is not to mess it up. We run up to him, take him by the hand and look at him with fanatical eyes.
"Sazek-sama, you said I had to get rid of my rivals, but you didn't say which ones. I obey all your orders. I will carry out any order, just tell me, Sazek-sama.
"I...
He wanted to say something, but it was too late. The crowd was already stirred up, and whispers could be heard:
"How despicable.
"I never would have thought...
"And this one is just a nobody...
"He can't take a step without...
"He's not worth considering...
That's it, mission accomplished. Sazek understood and moved us to a private room.
"You.
He didn't have time to say anything before Citri's heiress burst into the room.
"Sazek, is it true? That's what they're saying. Do you like that?"
I imagined what they might have come up with. The sick fantasies of demons and other creatures. I started to laugh. When I shared my thoughts with the team, we all laughed together.
"What did they come up with?"
"They're saying that you...
She didn't have time to finish, because she noticed us. The witches and our imagination had finished the story for her, and now we were all laughing.
"Who are they?"
"That's the one who started the rumours. I'm right, Miguel? You just got bored, didn't you?"
"Spot on. I'm afraid to even imagine what they'll think of you.
"Well, it'll blow over quickly. But the rumour that your team is very weak won't. That was your goal, wasn't it?"
"As always, you see right to the heart of the matter. All right, take care, we still have instructions to listen to.
After our beloved MC left.
"What was that?"
"That was Miguel.
"If he needed protection, he should have asked for it.
"The point is, his team is as good as mine, if not better.
"Then why did he humiliate himself like that?"
"What will happen if the team is considered trash and servants of one of the ruling families?"
"Well, they won't touch them.
Here she began to understand.
"You don't mean to say...
"Yes, he took advantage of my position. And I made fun of him a little. It all turned out the way you heard.
"Ha ha ha, looks like this is the first time you've been used.
"Hmm.
"He's interesting, I should get to know him.
From the MC.
We left the portal and started listening to the instructions. The gist of it was that only a third of the teams would advance to the next stage. We had to find a medallion and live there for a hundred years. There, in a space created millions of years ago. No one knows who created it, but I doubt it. Most likely, they just don't tell us. After that, we were immediately teleported.
We found ourselves in a forest similar to the one where most witches live. Dark and winding. Impassable and very dangerous for travellers.
"Here we are, what shall we do?"
Everyone started suggesting options, but to be honest, none of them were very good. Well, some were quite good, but they would have been very boring.
"All your ideas are good, but let's ask our loyal friends who lived in this environment all their childhood.
Everyone turned their attention to the brothers.
"Well, finding these medallions won't be a problem. But protecting them is another matter. We know where we can hide the medallion, but first, what are we going to do?"
And now everyone is looking at me.
"Well, I think we should find a couple of these medallions first. However, the main goal is to have fun, because we'll only be here once in a lifetime.
After that, my loyal friends let out a long sigh.
"All right, then follow us.
A month later, we already had six medallions — that's the good news. And now the bad news — we searched the entire forest. Further on, there was a different area, and we also saw other teams.
"Let's thank our examiners for moving us to such a familiar place as these woods. And a special thank you to Miku and Dick for being there.
Everyone silently thanked them and waited for me. What should we do next?"
"Okay, I've figured out where we're going next. We'll conquer the dungeon in the centre of this location and get the reward.
"What if there's no reward?"
"Good question, Saulgran. In that case, we'll clean out the entire cave and take everything we can carry, and what we can't carry, we'll break and take.
"Now I'm calm.
I like him not only for his abilities, but also for his merchant's streak. I always feel calm when sending him and the guys on missions, because I know that with a man like him, we won't lose out.
We headed for this dungeon, although, to be precise, it was just a separate part of the forest with only one entrance, guarded by two cute little bears. They didn't look dangerous, but Jelani could see auras, and he saw an aura equal to that of a medium-level demon. And since we didn't know what or who they were guarding, we didn't dare attack until we had explored the entire area.
We approached within a hundred metres of the guards at the entrance when they suddenly began to speak. Their voices were rough and loud.
"Greetings, travellers. To proceed, you must defeat us.
"Wait a second.
"What do you want, mortal?"
"I wanted to clarify: is there treasure inside?"
"Yes, but you can only get it if you are strong enough.
"Well, let's begin.
We began our simple battle. But the fight was easy, as we were close to them in strength, so the magic worked quite powerfully, allowing us to first immobilise and then kill the guards. So, having dealt with the trophies, we set off for the rewards the goblins had mentioned.
Ten years later.
That's how long we've been wandering around this lovely little forest. However, the good news is that we've almost cleared it out and collected a ton of artefacts. We're approaching the boss's lair.
"Well, guys, are you ready for the most dangerous battle of our lives?"
The danger lies in the fact that this boss's guards are among the strongest of the strongest, so we had to deal with them. And the boss, by definition, cannot be weaker. So we are preparing for the lord's power and hoping that he will be weak.
"Alright, guys, let's go beat up the boss.
"Yes!
Everyone agreed unanimously. After all, everyone wanted to leave this forest.
The battle has been going on for an hour, and we're not winning. First, a cute fairy appeared before us, then with the words:
"You ***** ****, you came to my **** garden, so die here, you ****.
"Hmm, a kind fairy. However.She started pulling trees towards her and soon turned into a huge ent, who tore down the nearest not-so-small tree and turned towards us.
We were, of course, in shock, and that's putting it mildly.
And he or she, seeing our faces, made a very nasty grin and started trying to kill us with the tree.
But that's not the worst news — our magic didn't work on him. The physical damage was doing its job, of course, but it was useless because his armour grew back almost instantly.
We've been fighting him for an hour now, and if this continues, we'll lose.
"Jelani, can you determine where the fairy is?"
"Yes, but I need a few minutes.
"Mick, Dick, you heard him, his defence is on you. The rest of you, we need to buy some time.
By the end of this fight, I'll hate all fairies. But we managed to buy enough time. Although, it felt more like they were playing baseball with us during those minutes.
But then our shaman managed to determine where the damn thing was, and we concentrated all our strength into our blows and managed to kill her, breaking through all her defences. After that, everyone fell to the ground, exhausted.
So we won, and each of us got a little something. Then the portal opened, and we stepped into it.
We found ourselves on an island surrounded by the sea.
"Not bad, looks like it's time for us to rest, but don't let your guard down.
And we all rushed noisily to the recreation centre that was visible in the distance.
The resort itself was top notch. Swimming pools, beaches, super comfortable rooms, high-quality furniture and lots of other details. However, there was one downside: there were no servants, but we quickly remedied that and called in our own trained staff.
But we only occupied one floor of the resort, and there were five floors in total, which was alarming. We spent a carefree month there, and then I suddenly sensed the aura of Sazek, who was coming here with his team.
From Sazek himself.
Finally, we passed through the dungeon with the goblins.
We found ourselves on some kind of island. We walked around it for about three hours until we finally saw something that looked like houses in the distance. Heading there, we soon saw that it was most likely a recreation centre. Well, at least it looked very similar.
Upon entering the grounds, I saw a maid carrying drinks.
Since she was carrying them in the opposite direction from us, it meant that we weren't the first ones to arrive here. I decided to take some drinks, because I didn't know how long it had been since we last had anything to drink.
"I'd like a cold drink," I said to the maid, but her reaction stunned me. She turned to me and said:
"Where did you come from, scum? I'm taking these drinks to my master. You, peasant, get out of here and don't disturb my master's rest at this base. If you want a drink, there's a puddle over there — you can drink that.
Then she turned and left. I turned to my subordinates and saw the extreme shock on their faces.
Then we met several more maids and butlers who responded in the same manner. I became very curious about who the master of these servants was.
We followed the servant and went out to the pools, and there I saw... Although I could have guessed that it was him. There was Miguel and his whole gang.
"Greetings, Sazek, excellent holiday resort, isn't it?"
"Yes, hello, won't you show us around? We'll have time to talk later, but right now we're too exhausted.
"Of course, Yel, show them around.
"Yes, sir.
The maid began to show us everything there was to see. But when she brought us to the dormitory, she said:
"You're worse than trash, and I would have put you out in the open. However, these are the master's orders, and I must obey, so you will have this floor. Be grateful for the master's mercy.
My eye started to twitch, but I replied:
"I will be sure to thank him.
"Serf," she said and left.
We went to take a shower and go to bed.
From the MC's perspective.
You should have seen his face — it was hilarious. It seemed like no one had ever spoken to him like that before, and knowing my maids and their attitude towards other people, you can imagine how she spoke to him.
A month passed unnoticed, and three more teams joined us. One of them was my best friend's team. We had been friends since childhood, but when we turned fifty, I went travelling and he went to the academy. We hadn't been in touch since, but when we spoke, I realised that we were still best friends.
However, this morning was different from the others because I saw a note on my desk asking the whole team to gather in the central courtyard.
I did as instructed. When we got there, we saw the other teams. After greeting each other, we began to wait. A few minutes later, a man appeared. Well, he looked like a man.
"Greetings, strongest of the contenders. You have been given the opportunity to undergo trials for the strongest. I am very pleased that there are so many talented young people this year. During the last trial, there was only one contender, but this time there are five. I am very pleased.
"What do we have to do?"
"You need to find a way to defeat the dragon. Well, you have an hour to discuss it, after which you will be thrown into battle.
He just took off and disappeared.
"Well, what are we going to do?"
"Let's just crush him."Right, young sir, that's what we'll do.
The other four joined me in despair.
"Right now, it seems we can't work out a strategy, since we don't know where we'll be fighting or what kind of dragon we'll be facing. We'll have to improvise in battle.
These wise words were spoken by the young heiress of Citri.
After the allotted time, we were transported to a large clearing about a hundred kilometres away.
A dragon flew in to visit us, and it was fiery. Since there were at least two ice mages in our team, our chances increased.
Then Sazex spoke up.
"Serafall is our ice mage, so she will be in command. Does anyone object?"
Everyone agreed, and I was the last to speak. Everyone turned to look at me.
"Well, I'm not against it in general, but we need to test him first.
"Sure, I'll take care of that right away.
Serapholl said, and I smiled:
"Go for it, Alex, it's your time. You can warm up.
He smiled and began to remove the seals holding him back.
"I've been waiting for this for a long time, boss.
"Hey, Miguel, what are you up to?"
I stopped him and suggested we just watch. At the same time, Alex took out his sword and rushed at the dragon. Running up to it, he began to recite a spell, and a huge magic circle appeared in the sky, followed by another.
The first one covered him and turned into icy armour and weapons, which magically appeared on him. And from the second one, countless icy spears flew at the dragon.
Our hero rushed straight at the dragon, who did not remain in debt and breathed fire at him, but he simply ignored it, and a fight ensued.
The fight was awesome: they hit each other with different spells, and Alex was also hitting him in the face with his sword. And most importantly, he was having a blast.
Turning to the other teams, everyone was in shock, but I didn't like the look on the ice demoness's face. There was shock and, most importantly, interest. Looks like your wife found you, Alex. So he retreated.
"This beast is incredibly resilient. Its magic isn't very strong, but because it has a bottomless supply of magic, it becomes very dangerous.
After his report, we came up with a plan and rushed into battle.
The battle was going back and forth, but we managed to wound it. It went into berserker mode, attacking in all directions, but unfortunately, I let my guard down for a moment, and its tail came flying at me — I couldn't dodge it. But suddenly, my childhood friend, Sion, pushed me out of the way. I ran towards him, feeling panic rising inside me. At the same time, the others finished off the dragon.
Then a portal appears, and a man in a suit comes out and approaches me.
"Because of you, sir can no longer participate.
"What will happen to him?"
"Most likely, he won't be allowed to have his own opinion and will be made a servant.
It's all my fault, I'm too weak. Why him?"
"Wait, it's my fault.
But they've already left, I wanted to follow them, but Sazek put his hand on my shoulder.
"Miguel, he's from a family close to Lucifer. Even my family tries not to cross them.
"I understand.
How is that possible? I need to become stronger, I must become the one who decides destinies, not the one whose destiny is decided.
After that, we were congratulated and sent on to the next test.
TO THE BALL. DIFFERENT FAMILIES
"Mrs. Clevel, you have a wonderful daughter. Isn't it time for her to get married?"
"Oh, don't mention it, but she won't hear of it. She says she has sworn to marry only the one she loves.
"Yes, young people aren't what they used to be.
The ball continued for several hours, after which another woman approached Mrs. Clevel.
"Excuse me, may I speak with you?"
"Yes, I'm listening.
"I'm here about your daughter. Did she happen to mention that she's already fallen in love with someone under such an oath and will do the same this time?"
"Where are you from?"
"I just happened to overhear your conversation. My son said the same thing to me, and I wondered if perhaps they knew each other?"
"That's unlikely. My daughter hasn't left the castle.
"I'm not talking about this life. My son remembers his past.
"That's very interesting. Would you mind if we went to a restaurant to discuss this?"
"I don't mind.
So, three hours later, a surprise was prepared for a girl and a boy.
***
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