In a room elsewhere, a group of individuals—about eight in number—were seated staring at a disy screen ahead of them. The disy screen showed the virtual world of a few select participants, enabling the people in the room to spectate their actions. These men were of different age groups, but none younger than 33.


    Despite appearing ordinary, their bearing was anything but that; their backgrounds were even more awe-inspiring.


    Every single individual in the room, whether woman or man, was someone of significant wealth, influence, and background. Whether they ranpanies in the vestige industry, the food industry, or even politics, they were all ounted for here.


    "The exceptional basis exam is held every six months, but this period''s talents are said to be the best in thest three years. How urate is that?" A middle-ageddy who looked to be at the prime of her beauty asked as she stared at the screen.


    Thedy was a second-generation heir to a conglomerate and was pretty popr in the upper circle of people in the Central Prefecture district.


    "It''s as urate as it could ever be, Giselle." A man with arge beard replied. With red hair and a red beard, he looked as if he descended from a direct line of ancestry belonging to intimidating Vikings.


    "The little kid from the Oder family and the Mertens'' special case are among the participants this year. It''s definitely going to be a show."


    "The results of the theoretical exams are out. Let''s look at them." Someone said.


    The disy screen split into two, with one side still showing some of the examinees. As for the other side, it broadcasts a list. The list contained the names of all the examinees as well as their scores from thest exam.


    "Unsurprisingly, first ce is the Oder kid." The man with the red beard said as he narrowed his eyes.


    The Oder family''s business was a directpetitor of hispany, and seeing a genius being raised in the family was an ufortable feeling.


    "Thank you for yourpliments. It''s just the theory and doesn''t matter much." A young man around 27-28 years of age smiled as he sipped from a ss of wine. The young man was Maximillus'' older brother and a high-ranking manager in the Oder family''s Prestige Star Ltd.pany.


    With one of their descendants participating in the exams, it was only natural for a representative of the family to be present at the scene.


    "At second ce is that yboy." The middle-ageddy, Giselle, faintly smiled.


    Her words might have seemed like nothing, but she was hinting that Vergil Mertens was closing in on Maximillus, and with the older of the Oder brothers iming the theoretical exam was nothing, her words further implied that the gap wasn''t much between them.


    Even though the individuals in the room were gathered together and appeared to be friendly, the truth was quite different. Being from wealthy factions that controlled various industries, it was unavoidable that they would have shed often on the business frontlines. The red-haired man''spany and the Oder family''s Prestige Star Ltd. were a good example.


    As for Giselle, while her family wasn''t directly into vestige-smithing, they sold and maintained hover vehicles and sares, a special kind of hover vehicle used by frencers and government agencies operating outside the city-state. For sares, a certain branch of vestige-smiths helped maintain them.


    The Oder family''s Prestige Star Ltd also had a branchpany that maintained hover vehicles and sares, so the two families werepetitors.


    Nothing would make her more happy today than seeing the acimed genius of the Oder family being brought down.


    "Hmm, who''s this kid?" A man with white hair nced at a name on the list.


    "Lucas Yohan Saunters, a human?"


    The man was dumbfounded as he saw the word in the species section.


    "What''s a human doing here?"


    The others asked with a strange expression.


    "Not just that. Look at his score." The white-haired man said.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Sixth ce?" Red beard eximed.


    For this year''s exceptional basis exam, there were sixty-four examinees, and a few of them were even repeats. For a human to take sixth ce was an amazing feat. Red Beard''s exmation was very much justified.


    "He''s probably a bookworm and sixth ce is all that will get him." Someone else in the room calmly said.


    "That''s harsh. Maybe he''s trying to prove us wrong with his talent." Giselle smirked, but her eyes made it obvious that even she didn''t think so.


    While harsh, there was nothing wrong with the statement. Humans had an innate weakness when it came to ster refinement, and due to this, they couldn''t be vestige-smiths.


    However, while the rest mocked Lucas, Red Beard had a different emotion in his eyes. He had a suspicion, but couldn''t confirm it as Lucas'' virtual world wasn''t one of the selected ones on disy


    . . .


    In the virtual world, Lucas was currently creating a vestige. Since the requirement was a Grade 1 vestige, he didn''t intend on going past that. There was no reason to show off, and making a Grade 1 vestige could easily be done with the Blood Energy Cirction with little side-effects.


    Since the virtual world could mimic his body''s conditions and various scenarios, Blood Energy cirction could be replicated. If it couldn''t, Lucas would have to resort to the Soul Dismantling Spell and consume a part of his soul, but he would rather fail the test than do so. Luckily, the Blood Energy Cirction worked without a hitch.


    For the exam, Lucas didn''t put much thought into the vestige. Instead, he decided to give himself a handicap and experiment a bit. The vestige he had in mind was a gun, and it was his very first time making such in all three lifetimes. Although Lucas was familiar with the mechanics, making one was entirely different from reading about it. However, the gun he would make was not just an ordinary one.


    Gun-type vestiges, although not asmon as cold weapons, were still popr in the frencer world. Lucas'' new vestige-smith philosophy was tobine the mechanics of both types of weapons to create an all new one. He had somewhat seeded in this with the gauntlets, which could shoot outsers and has special boosters attached to the sides to increase the user''s punch speed.


    However, that still wasn''t enough. The philosophy Lucas had in mind was one that could perfectlybine hot and cold weapons, and not just adding a few features.


    ''Let''s give it a shot.''