The middle-aged man had a muscular body, his clothing was completely different from what an ordinary Branch Leader would use, instead of a formal one, he wore a white-colored gi with a black-colored belt, his clear and sculpted muscles were showing off in a practically shining light.

Looking at Feuer, the Branch Leader thought 'I can't see his strength at all... This can only mean two things: He's either stronger than me or he has special techniques to hide his cultivation base' he analyzed calmly as the former also stared at him

'This person isn't ordinary, his techniques must be good since despite his realm being only Low Martial Core, I can feel that the aura he exudes is from someone at High Martial Core, which means his fighting prowess is there, his talent isn't really high, otherwise, at this age, he wouldn't be at this realm...' Feuer thought, the Branch Leader aura was released, trying to intimidate him, however, the former only released an aura of equal strength as he analyzed calmly his opponent.

The Branch Leader's eyes narrowed slightly before he said ''Come with me, we can't fight in the middle of the building, right? The adventurers are already out of breath due to our little aura fight, hahaha...'' he laughed in a silly manner before apologizing to the Adventurers ''I'm sorry for that, my adventurers, I was excited to fight so I couldn't restrain myself!''

The adventurers accepted his apologize by staying silent as cold sweat dripped down their foreheads and their backs, the Branch Leader guided Feuer in a courtyard that was incredibly big as he started to talk ''I'm Leonard Lion, the Branch Leader of this Adventurers Guild, I come from an old family of Martial Artists, however, my talent isn't high so despite being at this age, I'm still at this realm, my family sent me to be the Branch Leader due to that...'' he sighed slightly.

''Hn... I just have one problem, all my coins are Platinum Coins so I can't pay it in silver and I'm lazy to change it, too troublesome, knowing my situation, let's make a bet, if I win the fight, I won't have to pay the tax...'' Feuer said as Leonard Lion's eyes narrowed slightly before he smiled widely.

''I accept it, however, if I win, you'll become the Branch Master, being a Branch Master is incredibly troublesome, having to analyze requests, troublesome adventurers, troublesome requests...'' Leonard Lion said as Feuer nodded in agreement, he knows that doing paperwork is incredibly troublesome, principally on a huge Kingdom like the Geist Kingdom.

Without saying anything, Leonard smile widened slightly as he shot forward, waves of air appeared as he broke the barrier of the sound, as if he teleported, he appeared besides Feuer as his body rotated, a kick was sent towards Feuer's face, by simply raising his left arm, he blocked the kick easily, his body stood at the same position.

Feuer body threatened to move as Leonard instincts were on its maximum effect, by instinct, his body retreated in the speed of the sound ''W-W-What...?'' Leonard said as he gasped, not expecting his body to retreat unconsciously, suddenly, he felt danger, Flames surround his legs as he used the friction to create Flames [Flaming Kick!] Leonard thought as he kicked, apparently, his fighting style is mainly through his legs, Feuer noticed this as he sent a Wave of Darkness to his opponent direction.

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The kick only managed to lessen the Wave of Darkness damage slightly as it hit Leonard, that couldn't dodge since his legs were swallowed by the Darkness before it also swallowed his body, corroding it 'Maybe I overdid it?' Feuer thought, hoping he didn't kill the Branch Leader, this would be incredibly troublesome.

As the Wave of Darkness disappeared, Leonard figure could be seen, his upper body completely revealed as Feuer noticed the many scars 'A battle-hardened warrior, indeed, I wonder how he did such stupid mistake of going to face an attack that would clearly overpower him, though?'

Just then, flames erupted from the ground, threatening to devour Feuer's entire being, his face was emotionless as he thought 'Using Flames against me? Now, now... this is a good joke, it indeed surprised me, though...'

As the flames covered Feuer body '...Is he okay? He clearly doesn't seem to be stupid enough to let the flames burn him, maybe his brain is damaged?' Leonard thought funnily but what came next shocked him as the flames that had covered his opponent body started to move as they condensed in a big fireball that slowly changed from a fiery orange to a gentle blue.

Leonard instincts were kicking in as the big blue-colored Fireball slowly divided into many small fiery, blue-colored needles [Flaming Needle Judgment] Feuer thought emotionlessly as he controlled the needles as they shot forward with great speed, Leonard dodged it in time but as he saw Feuer fingers slowly moving backward, he jumped to dodge it, alas, some of the needles still hit him on his legs.

'I'm completely on the defensive, no, I'm not even defending myself, I could barely dodge the needles... He defeated me...' Leonard thought as he felt a burning pain on his legs, his movements and fighting style were severely implicated, sighing, he said ''I admit defeat, I couldn't even touch you, the flames didn't even touch you, right? You used your Mana to create a small shield that covered your body and blocked it, sigh...'' he sighed again.

''As the bet said, you won't need to pay the registration tax, you'll only need to put there your information, name, age, realm and those things, here's the Ink... I'll go back to do my boring Branch Leader business...'' He said but mumbled the last part, Feuer heard him and nodded in agreement.

Feuer registered himself as he put his name, age and realm, he then gave it to Leonard, the latter looked at it and nodded before he said ''That's good, your rank is clearly above A-rank but only a higher ranking Branch Leader can give you S-rank, as you probably already know, the ranks are from the lowest to the highest: D, C, B, A, S, SS and SSS, only someone at the second realm of cultivation or mage can become a D-rank adventurer, the requirements are from Martial/Spiritual Manifestation till Tree Pillar/Spiritual Pillar...'' He paused slightly before continuing

''I'm not sure but your fighting prowess is of an S-rank adventurer, there's no rank higher than SSS because there's no one on Martial/Spiritual Rebirth, if there were, the rank would be 'Z' like it was thousands of years ago...''

''I see, thanks for informing me, actually, I didn't know, was too lazy to search about the ranks in a more detailed way...'' Feuer said as both of them went to a room where Leonard took an empty Adventurer License and signed it with his name and put a big 'A' on it before signaling for Feuer to sign it, the latter nodded and signed it.

''Now you're officially an A-rank adventurer, congratulations, now go away, I have paperwork to do...'' Leonard sighed as Feuer left the room and decided to make an Adventurer Team, Leonard conveniently informed him that an adventurer can only take on requests if he has a team.

'Well, I already have a member...' Feuer thought while including Layla to his team, he doesn't think she would refuse, mainly because she has no options.