I walk back into the waiting room and flash Rodrigo a small smile.

His expression doesn't change, but I can tell he's both confused and relieved at the same time as he speaks up, and the door behind me closes.

"Now that all of your personal meetings are complete, please, do take time to rest while the regional directors make their way to the Apex Region."

A door on the opposite side of the room opens up, revealing a well-lit hallway.

It has numbered doors on the sides of the hall labeled 1-12, and at the end of the hallway, there is an open door leading to what looks like a wide lounge area with a bar, long couches, and tables.

"Take your time to relax in private or at the lounge. Congratulations, B-Class Hunters, welcome to your next chapter of life here at the Association. I will notify you all once the ceremony is soon to begin."

At his words, my mind is still elsewhere, thinking about the intense meeting I just had with the Apex Region's Director.

My only thoughts are on keeping my head low and getting out of here with my identity intact before the Director has a chance to try that again.

I send a wave of telepathy to the Lich King and command him to follow me to the room with the large number [1] on its door.

I don't bother talking with any of the other contestants. Some head straight for the bar at the back of the far room, while others, including Dane, Marcie, and Nat, all go to their private rooms to rest.

Once we both get inside, it seems like a similar replica of the resting room suites from earlier in the exam.

There's food, potions, a couch, a bed, a bathroom, and all the essentials for taking a load off after a long exam.

I ignore all of it and stare the manifestation of Emrie in the eyes and send him another wave of telepathy.

"How are we going to stop your limiter from decaying... I'm so close to the finish line. I just need to have you concealed for a little longer..."

There's a long pause before he responds.

"There is no way. I would need months to recoup the energy lost from my core. Using immortal divine energy isn't as simple as it looks."

We stand in silence, and many more ideas flash through my head.

The possibility of de-summoning him and substituting him for a body double crosses my mind, but that wouldn't solve anything. Their mana control is even higher, as it's just a one-for-one clone of myself.

Feeding the Lich King my remaining Qi pills to make a barrier wouldn't work either. We will surely be in the presence of the Director again.

His Soul Energy is his own, meaning he cultivated Qi and merged it with his mana to become the source of its power, unlike all of the other guards under his spell. He can see pure Qi, so it would be a useless disguise.

I begin to pace around the room, thinking of more and more possibilities, but nothing at all comes to mind.

It makes me conceptualize even further how valuable the purple ring on my finger really is.

One of the main weaknesses an enemy can have in battle is showing their opponent how strong they truly are.

It is always more beneficial to have your opponent underestimate you than to be fully prepared for everything you have.

This is one of the major drawbacks of possessing high levels of mana control, Soul Energy, or even a divine core. In this world, there is always someone stronger lurking around every corner. Your enemies can always see the power you hold, and will surely nip your growth at the bud by any means necessary if you grow too fast.

While I do feel grateful for this ability to deceive my enemies, the time still ticks down as an ally is going to be the thread that unravels all of my hard work.

On one of my laps around the room while I'm deep in thought, my shoulder brushes Emrie's as he stands motionless, waiting for another command at the side of the room.

Instead of just brushing by, I catch the sensation of thousands of invisible purple tendrils of energy reaching out from my barrier and trying to attach themselves to the Lich King.

The instant that I take another step away, the reaching threads retract, but it sparks an idea.

I turn around and place both my hands on Emrie's shoulders, and the same sensation of purple threads that make up my barrier start to cover Emrie as well.

In a matter of seconds, his body is completely covered, and it looks no different.

The only reason I can feel it is because I'm connected to the ring. If I wasn't, it wouldn't seem like anything has changed.

I release my grip and all of the purple threads retract in an instant, flooding back around my body.

I message him through the telepathy link.

"This could work... As long as we're making contact, the barrier seems to view you as an extension of myself."

It makes sense, as the Shadow Summon before me is created out of a manifestation of my own Dark Magic mixed with the skeletal remains of the Lich King.

Over the next ten minutes, I test out the barrier more and more.

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From the eyes of the surveillance system, on the screen of whoever is watching these tests take place, it just seems like we're standing in silence and Emrie is making odd hand gestures while I tap him on the shoulder over and over.

Once the natural barrier created by the Lich King fades away naturally, I've mastered the ability to keep a light barrier around him at all times.

Over the next few hours, I do even more tests.

While the barrier is made of pure energy, it does in fact have a half-conscious mind subconsciously controlling it.

Even after it's expelled power from protecting me from the Sun God's attack, I still feel faint emotions whenever the barrier wavers.

The more I manipulate it, the more it aligns with my thought process, and I'm able to move the purple threads just slightly by myself.

It may be slow, but after hundreds of trials, I'm capable of forming what looks to me like a small puddle of invisible divine energy on the floor, connecting my own feet to Emrie.

We're able to stand about a full meter apart for a few seconds at a time and the barrier stands.

I'm confident I could raise this distance further if I had more time, but a loud ding echoes through the room as a familiar face shows up on the ceiling's video display.

Rodrigo speaks and the doors open on all the resting rooms.

"I hope you all enjoyed your rest. The Regional Directors have all arrived, please enter the hall and follow the white arrows."

His video shuts off, and we both walk out the door and do as he says.

There are white arrows on the floor that lead in the opposite direction of the lounge area, leading us back the way we originally came.

All of the other applicants follow these orders, and we all walk back into the dark shadowy room with the oval table in the middle of it.

Now, all of the chairs are full.

All 8 of the Regional Directors sit before us as we line up to face them in a straight line parallel to the back of the room.

Their faces are simply lit by the golden rings around their fingers and the golden eyes of the director that sits in the middle of them all.

In a half-crescent behind all of the directors, about a dozen B-Class Elites stand on guard. In front of them, the three A-Class Hunters of the Association stand behind Mr. Freeman.

The golden-eyed man speaks up in his loud static monotone voice.

"Congratulations, new B-Class Hunters of the 8 Great Regions' Association Branch. You have all worked very hard to make it here today..."

The Apex Region's Director goes on, talking about strength and honor; growing from an E-Class Hunter, climbing the ranks, and putting our lives on the line fighting life-or-death battles. He then explains one's need for strength, problem-solving skills, and innate talent as well, showing that we have risen above all of our peers to make it here today.

The old man tells stories of old B-Class exams and points out excellent hunters in the room today, putting on a show that must be tradition for an event like this.

All of the present Regional Directors politely sit and listen.

Finally, he pulls out a stack of cards from beneath the table and calls out my persona's name.

"Ray Anderson, of the Bedrock Region, step forward."

I do so, taking one step while keeping the limiter attached to Emrie.

Golden light fills the man's hands and next a card comes floating my way, with a single tendril of energy flowing from behind it.

I sense no malice in the soul energy strand, so I catch it.

The moment it touches my fingers the energy fades away, and I see a new Hunter's ID with Ray Anderson's face, the Association logo, and a large [B] in the corner of the card.

"Congratulations, you're now officially a B-Class Hunter."

All of the Directors and hunters behind them clap slowly, then I take a step back.

"Natalie Sterling, of the Apex Region, step forward," are the next words out of the Director's mouth.

I see the white-haired healer a few people away from me in line step forward and get awarded her license in the same manner.

One by one, each hunter is given their ID cards and congratulated by the most powerful people in all of the 8 Great Nations.

Emrie receives his card as well. I'm straining to keep the limiter stable while he stands over a meter away from me for almost a full half minute, but I manage it; grabbing his shoulder and congratulating him visually to everyone the moment he steps back.

Everything has gone to plan, any minute now, I'll be able to leave this region and return to the Crimson City.

While this thought is on my mind, Mr. Freeman pulls small blue mana-filled crystals from the bottom of his desk.

They look similar to recording crystals, but when mana is channeled into them, they're each passed to the Directors in the room one by one.

Most of the Directors pull out papers and scribble down notes when they see the crystals for themselves, and my curiosity only grows the longer they keep passing the gems around.

After about 3 minutes pass, the gems are finally all passed back to the center of the table and the Apex Region's Director speaks up while using 12 light tendrils of soul energy to lift them into the air.

"As new B-Class hunters of the Association, you are all a far more valuable resource than you were just one month ago. Here are the contract offers you've been given by each of the Regional Directors."

The gems all fly toward the hunter they're meant for, and the Director speaks again.

"Four of you have been offered a path to become A-Class hunters, directly training under me."

Then, he looks at Nat.

"One of you won the 4th stage tournament and may create a contract offer back to any Region you desire."

His golden eyes then sweep across all of us.

"The rest of you may counter the offers given by the Regions that see interest in you, but if a Region has not sent you an offer, you're not authorized to send them a formal offer until one year of service to the Association is complete."

His words cut off at the same time that his Soul Energy does, and the blue crystals stay floating in front of everyone's faces, showing countless manifested screens with timed contracts, conditions, and payment details.

[Apex Region Offer][A-Class Fighter Recruitment][Expand More Details]

[Apex Region Offer][B-Class Elite Guard][Expand More Details]

[Vice Region Offer][3-Year Dungeon Exploration Contract][Expand More Details]

[Vice Region Offer][2-Year Dungeon Farming Contract][Expand More Details]

[Veridian Region Offer][2-Year Dungeon Farming Contract][Expand More Details]

[Veridian Region Offer][1-Year Director's Guard Duty Contract][Expand More Details]

[Bedrock Region Offer][4-Year Director's Guard Duty Contract][Expand More Details]

[Bedrock Region Offer][2-Year Dungeon Control Contract][Expand More Details]

[Bedrock Region Offer][1-Year Mining Contract][Expand More Details]

[Phantom Region Offer][2-Month Dungeon Exploration Contract][Expand More Details]

Ten offers flash in front of my face, and as I press expand on some of the options, I see the detailed conditions that need to be met for all of the offers before me.

Above the extended details, there are 3 more options: [Accept][Decline][Counter].

The payouts range from 100 gold coins total for a 2-month exploration through the Phantom Region to discover and mark their unknown dungeons in dangerous unexplored areas of land, to hefty 15 platinum per year salaries from the Vice Region to do basically the same thing.

Many of the guard duty offers include premium housing, free Region-wide transportation, and 5-10 platinum per year salaries.

Still, above all of them on the list, the Apex Region's Offer of [A-Class Recruitment] looks to be the most interesting of them all.

While the salary of 10 platinum per year, free housing, and transportation among all 8 of the Great Regions is just about on par with all of the other contracts, the mention of access to dungeons and labyrinths to increase the signer's level to above 1000 within the first month of signing catches my eye the most.

This means that there are means to train up hunters within the Apex Region to these heights, and the Director wants to train up 4 new A-Class fighters as fast as possible.

The thought of a potential training ground that is similar to my own back in the canyon of dungeons interests me. The fact that the Director doesn't seem worried at all about his strongest hunter's crushing defeat makes me think he's still hiding incredibly powerful secrets behind the Apex Region's closed doors.