At first, my confidence that I can handle whatever is behind that door is at an all-time high.

The dark purple ring around my finger is a reminder that I've already witnessed beings far more deadly than any yellow core could possibly aspire to rise to.

However, with every step closer I take, the feeling of this being's unwavering confidence and desire to control and destroy everything that stands in its way washes through me.

The pressure of threads in the air isn't too intense, as if it were, applicants wouldn't be able to make it down this hall, but I can feel that I'm getting much closer to the source, and it is being heavily suppressed.

Small hints of its true power leak out in pockets of the aura that ripples through the mana-shielded walls with no resistance.

The threads are interwoven with golden Soul Energy, and every time I believe I have a solid gauge on the power output of the being producing these threads, another pocket of energy catches my attention, and the depth of its power grows more profound.

I make it to the end of the hall, standing right in front of the door, and pause for a few seconds.

There's a light clicking sound, and the rectangular cutout of the wall in front of me slides open to reveal the same dark room that I witnessed in the video moments ago.

Two golden eyes stare through me from behind the oval-shaped table at the back of the room, and the raw essence of the sun god can finally be seen without any boundaries in its way.

A far thicker series of waves of yellow and golden light flow through the air, but none of them are hostile or attack my senses in any way.

They're more curious, and most likely residual energy that leaks off this man that can't be held back.

His voice speaks up again, and I don't hear any difference in the monotone static sound identical to the one coming through the video before.

"Welcome, Ray Anderson of the Bedrock Region. It is a pleasure to meet you face to face. Congratulations on placing number one of the B-Class applicants this year. It is quite an honor. I believe this is the first year a Bedrock applicant has reached this height."

As I take a few more steps forward to stand at the other edge of the round table, the door closes behind me with another light click, and I'm left face to face with the man I came to these exams in the first place to find.

I respond, looking him straight into his golden eyes.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Freeman."

The energy that hits my barrier perfectly replicates the sensation and visual of it passing straight through my body to outside watchers. While this happens, I take in the sight before me with awe, struggling hard not to show any reaction to the mind-bending sight.

It's still hard to calculate his actual strength just by the energy signature he's giving off alone.

Some of the waves of light that come off of him feel as weak as a hunter that just ranked up for the first time, while others feel stronger than ten of the golden lizards combined that I faced up in the obsidian forests.

It makes me shiver, as even with my enhanced senses, I can't figure out his true power.

My inspect and appraisal skills activate soon after, and they bring back readings that make the gears in my mind turn even faster.

In bright blue text at front and center in my mind's eye, [Lv. 9017] burns into my consciousness as its the highest level rating by far I've ever scanned.

He speaks up again while this is the only thing on my mind.

"Let us start with the basics, please, Ray, do explain to me how you managed to get so strong in the years after your C-Class exams and the Catastrophe in the Bedrock Region a year ago. All of our records say that you were dead, yet you managed to pull yourself out of it and even best some of our best trained Apex Region Applicants."

His questions register, but my mind is more focused on scanning through all of the other details that my appraisal skill is signaling into my brain.

This man's equipped items are full to the brim with 12 one of a kind artifacts, all holding three or more enchantments each, special attributes, element stones, and none of the items equipped have below a 500% buff on any of their readings. Some unique pieces even have buffs that surpass 1000%.

This means they were all crafted by a Mythic Grade Craftsman, most likely the old Sector 2 leader. They are all powerful enough to be considered national treasures, and most likely couldn't even be sold on auction because no one in the 8 Great Regions has enough power to comprehend their value but the Director himself.

I don't want it to seem too suspicious that I'm thinking this long, so I finally respond to the Director's question with a reply that aligns with what the Lich King's answer to this question was too.

"After the catastrophe, I was shaken by the possibility that an event like that could happen at any time. I didn't have friends or family to come back to in the Bedrock Region, so I decided to get stronger on my own terms."

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

I smile inwardly while explaining my next part of the story.

"I hope you don't think differently of me for this, but I used many of the Bedrock and Vice Region's underground dungeon networks to train in private. After seeing some of the raw power of the mutants in the C-Class breaks, I knew there was more to being a strong hunter than just leveling up. I spent most of my time over the last year following what the Association thought of as my death to train my mana control in isolation. Every spare mana crystal and potion I could find went into honing my lightning ability in the abandoned mines of the Bedrock Regions and the isolated forests of the Vice Region. I may have been missing on record, but I was truly just trying to become strong."

The aura of Soul energy and Divine Threads that ripple through me feels amused and curious now.

The golden eyes before me glow a bit brighter as he asks his next questions.

"You really brought your strength to the level it is alone? You truly had no backers? And in only a year...?"

He pauses, but adds onto this right after.

"What are your plans for the future then? Do you wish to join the Apex Region and climb the pinnacle of strength further?"

As he's speaking, the words hit my consciousness, but my active mind is elsewhere scanning the rest of his status; taking in the skills and buff sections.

[Active Skills]

Combat Magic [Superior Light Summoning]

Appraisal [Legendary Grade]

Body Hardening [Legendary Grade]

Swordsmanship [Legendary Grade]

Soft Heal [Legendary Grade]

________

[Active Buffs]

Master of Illusion [Hidden Ability]

The Sun God's Curse Mark [82/100]

At first, the long list of skills looks daunting, but I quickly piece together in my mind that the bottom four skills on his status are most likely not permanent skills.

Just like the other Directors, they all have similar legendary skills like this, and I know exactly how it's done thanks to the old books I read from Bri's old workshop. If enough blood of a skill user is siphoned while using their ability, it can be merged with an item even without a mythic grade skill.

With the potential help of a mythic grade craftsman, and the number of subjects the Association has in their control to do testing on, the possibilities are endless.

This brings me to the conclusion that most likely, the superior light magic is the Director's actual original skill.

Before thinking too deeply into his buffs or the fact that he himself has a healing skill, I answer his next question not to leave the room in silence for too long.

"My plans for the future? I'm not quite sure... If you say there are really breaks in the Dark Continent that require more A-Class hunters to handle, then I want to get stronger by any means necessary to protect myself and others from an event like the catastrophe again from happening..."

The aura around the Director grows in intensity for a moment, and the pressure in the room starts to drastically increase.

I feel it reach and surpass levels of heat and gravity beyond the example shown in the other room when he first revealed himself.

To play the part, and not out myself on the spot, I drop to one knee and gasp for air, holding my head to show that I'm in agony to play along.

It grows to become almost five times as intense as before, likely bringing even some double-ranked-up hunters to their knees.

He speaks up, seeing that I still haven't fallen all the way to the floor yet.

"Fight it, activate that ranked-up buff of yours. I want to see how strong you truly are."

I grit my teeth, covering my body in lightning and using my conceal skill mixed with my divine energy and limiter to manipulate reality around me to show the exact images of what Trax's ranked-up buff could do back when I saw it up close.

Just from standing in front of this man now, my urges to get in an instant fight with him have nearly all subsided.

Not only is he fully equipped with gear that surpasses mine, but he's almost three times my level, and I can't even perceive his full power.

While I can make educated guesses, and predict that the extended training I went through inside the green aura of that divine serpent possibly brought my own yellow core up to a high level; a single line I heard from Celia at the top of the construct echoes in my mind.

She spoke of a young man with light magic that reached the yellow core height within her construct decades ago.

There's a very high chance that exact man is sitting before me right now.

With decades of fragment farming within this divine rift, and more time to consolidate and master his power than I've even been alive; there's no telling if he's actually showing me his full power or not.

The small pockets of energy he's letting out could all just be a test to see who can perceive his power or not, and the one foolish enough to challenge him will see the real monster he's holding back.

All of these suspicions hold me back from doing anything rash right now, but I still want to give a good impression and see how far I can take this persona of Ray Anderson.

I give off the showing of what a ranked-up buff would look like, and increase my mana control output to that of a 1200-1300 hunter, erupting with static electricity to fill the room.

The aura of amusement and now a hint of greed coming off of Mr. Freeman fills the room as the heat and pressure subsides.

"Very good. I like what I see... In our induction ceremony, once all of the Regional Directors arrive, I will be putting up a contract offer for you to become part of the next A-Class team within the Apex region. You do not have to decide now, but I believe telling you now is better than to surprise you in front of your peers."

The man coughs, and hunches over after his words, holding his chest.

For the first time, his golden eyes leave their straight line of sight, and three doors open up from the side of the room as three workers, all above level 990 with legendary [Soft Heal] skills on their status, rush over to the Director.

He raises his head while their white light covers his chest.

"My apologies, I hope you don't mind if we have some company while I finish up your interview."

I wipe sweat from my forehead and get up from my kneeling position to continue my act, but I can't unsee what I just saw.

For a split second, the elusive shadowy featureless figure of the Sun God sitting at the back of the oval table wavered.

My mind tracks back to his buffs list, and I recall seeing one called [Master of Illusion].

While the person before me is certainly not weak, and the energy readings I feel and see are not a lie, the images before my eyes are what are really not what they seem.

I haven't been tricked like this in a while...

Before me, the image of a sunken-in face of an old man, hooked up to dozens of wires and tubes flashes in my mind.

Some of the tubes are filled with mana, pumping magic-dense blood through the man from floating containment cases. Other wires are attached to his arms, legs, chest, and neck, transmitting vitals into a large blinking metallic device.

Portions of his skin are cracking and disintegrating away, yellow divine threads constantly eating away at his flesh and bones.

The combined effort of the machinery, the three nurses, and his own healing skill activating manages to reverse the effects, mending the deteriorating body back to pristine health. It looks as if the man's age reverses back in time 30 years in just a few seconds.