The judges weren’t happy with Eik’s aggressive approach to testing. Travis told him in no uncertain terms that he would find someone else to conduct the testing if he couldn’t rein it in and do it properly.

But what were they really going to do? Eik was more or less responsible for Earth's participation. He'd simply let some of the Earth leaders have a say to keep the peace. No matter how you looked at it, the final decision regarding Earth's challengers was his, but since he now had the power to actually influence their society there was no way he was going be the promoter of even more skewed hierarchies based only on power.

“I apologize,” he drawled and offered an almost ninety degree bow. “It was my first time testing the class 2 potion against an actual opponent. I only just brewed the first successful vial yesterday, y’see. Pretty sweet, eh?”

“While your little concoction might very well have given you a little boost, you might want to consider giving your opponents a bit more of a fair fight. Don’t you think that would be more appropriate for an up and coming rookie here in Forest?” Boulder Fist Gary said, arms folded across his chest.

Eik sniffed a laugh but then paused. “Wait, you’re serious?”

“Dead serious,” the large man said, a disapproving frown on his face.

“You think I ought to give others a fair shake?” Eik asked with disbelief. “You?”

“That’s right. What’s your problem with that, boy?”

He rolled his eyes. “I guess my first problem is you calling me boy, but that’s really the least of it. Don’t you see how hypocritical you are for suggesting something like that to me?”

A deep frown began to take root on Gary’s brow as Eik spoke.

“You’ve ruled this place with an iron fist, literally, since its establishment. Anything you and your subordinates didn’t like, you quenched with your B-rank power image.”

“That’s a load of bullshit, you insolent cur!” he yelled, the characteristic tomato red face of the Fist family making an appearance. “I’ve only ever had the best wishes for Forest and it’s people.”

“Is that so?” Eik asked. “Did you ever tell your son about those so-called 'best wishes'? Because I don't think he heard you. Did he know about it when he threw a tantrum in my shop when he thought I was a little too rude? Or when he nearly killed my friend? And did you just happen to forget it as well when you helped to cover that up during that so called debrief you guys put me through?”

“That’s enough! This disrespect is simply unacceptable! And to speak of my late son like that…!”

“Yeah, okay, that was a low blow,” Eik admitted readily. “but you know as well as I do that it’s true. Claiming anything else is just dishonest, man.”

“Alright, I’ve had it with you. Out!” the bald man bellowed, turning a few heads, even through the buzzing of hundreds of gathered Awakened.

“I am already out. See, no ceiling,” he said with a finger pointed skyward. He’d like to blame Profound Toxin for his smart-mouthed jabs at the lowest of low-hanging fruits but that wouldn’t fly. Recently, he’d lost a healthy chunk of his fear of Forest’s leadership. He was growing more powerful and influential with even more powerful allies, and a man like Boulder Fist Gary simply didn’t seem as intimidating as he once had.

“Eik.” This time it was Travis. Eik couldn’t tell if he was amused or not, but knowing Travis, the man himself probably couldn’t tell either.

“Yep. I’ll make sure to give the others ample opportunity to demonstrate their skills,” he said as he walked back toward his three friends who had heard the whole exchange, one looking disapproving, one looking satisfied and hiding it unsuccessfully, while the third was grinning from ear to ear like a hyena.

Using his Potions of Mighty Strength to gain an edge, Eik made sure to conduct the remaining tests he was in charge of without a hint of the grudge that had driven him against Mushroom Head. As the person facing the fighters, it was difficult to tell who was more suited to advance.

Boosted by his creations, he was certainly stronger than them but any D-ranker in Forest would have been an Awakened for longer than Eik. He just wasn’t able to judge their abilities that accurately.

By the end of the fights, Eik had noticed that his Noxious Invigoration trait had kicked in, even though he’d only taken the clumps of poison against Mushroom Head. Knowing with certainty that overconsumption of Potion of Mighty Strength lead to a toxic response was useful information.

He was clearly fine, at least after the half a dozen or so doses he’d taken, and had even enjoyed a little extra boost on top of it all, but others wouldn’t be. Someone without the Resistance: Toxin ability could suffer serious consequences and as the manufacturer, it was an important duty to be up front about such possibility.

In the end, one of Eik’s test takers was chosen as the one to go to the Championships. The woman’s sword style was clean, quick, and powerful. It looked like the moves had been practiced for many years.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

She moved a lot like Sonja if she had never taken up the bow and instead focused on the blade alone.

For the C-rank fights it was decided that it would be best to move out onto the plains outside town. Until now, the high-rankers had been able to keep the audience and surroundings safe but at C-rank it was simply too dangerous to take that risk.

Travis and Olivia stepped up to fight the C-rank participants. Like most of the audience, Eik followed the throng to the plains to watch the testing of the highest rank that would fight today.

When Olivia took center stage, facing Cecilia the aggressive spear user, Eik was struck by the realization that he had never actually seen her fight for real. For the entirety of her active career he had been powerless to venture out to help her.

Sure, there had been plenty of moments in the past where she had protected their family from monster attacks but she had grown so powerful since then. There was a side to her that he didn’t know at all.

Cecilia smirked as she juggled her spear from hand to hand. With an echoing boom, she disappeared in an eruption of dust. Olivia didn’t even activate her ability before raising an arm to block the spear that appeared out of nowhere.

Before Cecilia could retreat, the B-ranker’s hand grasped the blade of her spear in a death grip that burst into white-hot flames which immediately began to soften the strong metal.

“No fair!” the fierce woman yelled as she yanked it back. “I need this weapon!”

Olivia just shrugged. “Plenty of people fight like this. If you don’t want me to melt your weapon, then maybe you shouldn’t have let me get it.”

“You… bitch!” Cecilia bellowed and charged in once more. For Eik, seeing her fight really put into perspective the meteoric improvement of his own strength. When he’d first Awoken, her movements had made her look more like a tempestuous storm than a person. Now he could more or less follow her movements with his eyes.

Without the effects of his potions there was no realistic chance of keeping up with her tempo, however.

To her credit, Cecilia’s spear wasn’t caught in Olivia’s clutches again, but whether that was because of the C-ranker’s caution or Olivia’s mercy was impossible to say. They exchanged dozens of blows in the span of seconds but Olivia never used her ability offensively even once.

Cecilia’s blade was coated in a faint, purple energy as she stabbed and slashed furiously at her opponent’s neck and body, the blinding speed of her strikes sometimes making the weapon move so quickly that it was as if it was being teleported. Yet Olivia batted the shaft away with a seemingly effortless ease.

“Don’t mock me, Olivia Valkiri!” Cecilia shouted feverishly. “Fight me seriously!”

With raised eyebrows, Olivia glanced over at Travis Lockwood sitting next to Jake at the table reserved for the judges. He simply offered a shrug in response.

For a few more seconds, Olivia seemed lost in thought as she continued to block and deflect every single lunged aimed at her, the spear user growing increasingly agitated with each futile attack.

“Okay,” Eik’s sister finally said as she slapped the shaft away with heretofore withheld force, the handle almost flung from Cecilia’s fingers.

“Final—” the C-ranker hollered but was cut off as Olivia’s entire body erupted into intense flames so bright that it became difficult to look directly at her. Immediately, Cecilia leapt back, an arm raised in front of her face to shield her skin from the sudden wave of blistering heat.

But Olivia didn’t let her retreat. At a speed that easily matched the spear user, she gave chase and appeared behind Cecilia’s back. She looked like a tiny sun as she moved.

Wait, she wasn’t going to be naked when her fire form wore off, was she? Eyes never leaving the fight for even a moment, Eik shimmied out of his coat and held it ready to rush in for the crucial mission that was covering his sister’s naked body before it could be seen by a crowd of more than a thousand people.

“Stop! I can’t even approach! I can’t attack!” Cecilia screamed as she desperately tried to put distance between herself and the woman clad in literal flames.

“Make up your mind,” was all a crackling, airy voice offered in response.

Olivia had told Eik about her ability before. It was called Corporeal Flame and it did exactly what it said on the label. Her body transformed into flames. It was incredibly powerful and she expected that only other B-rankers with an especially high resistance to heat could even endure being close enough to kick her, let alone exchange blows in an actual fight.

Realistically, the only viable strategy to fight her in that state would be to run away for the duration of the effect

The weakness that barely anybody in Forest knew about, however, was that that duration was rather short. Fifteen seconds at most, even at B-rank. That was plenty for any opponent she had fought until now, excluding the manticore which had taken her by surprise, but if and when she met an opponent who could withstand it, that shortcoming could be what decided her defeat.

Eik counted seven seconds when Cecilia finally fell to her knees, boils and blisters bubbling up on her cheeks, neck, and shoulders. He saw the flames splutter and cough as the source of the heat, Olivia’s body, stopped supplying energy. Eik started running, coat still clutched in his hand.

He should have asked her if her own ability burned off her clothes. But that was an awfully awkward question as well. Crap.

Crap, crap. Was he going to make it? Her head was already free of the flames again but her body was still obscured. He had snuck a potion a few seconds ago along with some good ol’ poison, just to be sure, but even then it was unclear if it was enough.

Resisting the urge to trigger Backflow, Eik leapt and created gliding wings of solid toxin to sail toward his sister, the coat leading his flight.

Olivia turned away from Cecilia only to see Eik coast through the air like a model plane and her eyes almost popped out of her skull as she shrieked in surprise.

He was almost there. No more than a couple of meters away at the most, when the remaining flames faded, revealing a pristinely intact outfit of clothes.

Wait, huh?

No, that wasn’t right. How did that make sense?

Eik flailed helplessly through the air as Olivia side stepped his collision course on pure reflex. The coat was flung off to the side somewhere, forgotten, as his face tore into the grass and his bottom teeth carved a perfect groove marking his path through the ground, filling his mouth with dirt.

“What the hell are you doing, you bumbling idiot?” she yelled.

He spit out enough soil to have filled one of the pots in his windowsill. “I-I— I thought you would be…” he trailed off.

Behind his sister stood Heath, Sonja, and Michael. They were speaking to a woman whose hair could have been stuffed into a deep metal pan and believably passed off as ice cream.

What the hell was Atla doing here?