The man looked Noah up and down with an expression of contempt and looked back at Marcel. "My dear nephew Marcel, what is the meaning of this?"

  As this was Marcel's first time in this place since he had not yet recommended anyone personally to the family, he did not know who Fred's superior was. But if he had known, he would definitely have avoided this place and looked for another way to get Noah into the family.

  "My dear uncle Marcus, this is my friend Noah that I met in the city Eyrin. After invading several Fortresses with him, I decided that his talent was enough to be part of the inner circle of the family and I decided to use one of my vacancies for him," Marcel said naturally, although the first sentence came with a little contempt.

  "Well, I admire your goodwill very much, but as far as I know, he is not one of the young people who has aroused a Rank C or above Blessing in that small town. What makes you think he meets the requirements of the family? You do know that people with Blessings below Rank C cannot enter, much less be part of the inner circle?" The man asked without even looking at Noah a second time, keeping his gaze only on Marcel.

  "Well, I personally tested his strength and I can assure you that he is strong enough to enter the family. Are you by any chance implying that my assessment is not valid? Perhaps you are doubting the assessing power of the future master of the family?" Marcel replied in a firm voice without giving in to anything.

  Hearing this, the man was angry, especially after hearing Marcel's last sentence. As the way Marcel addressed him implied, Marcus was the brother of Marcel's father, which meant that the current patriarch of the family was also his father. But when Marcel's father was appointed as the next heir to the family, Marcus was extremely disappointed, especially after realizing that his son would not even have a chance to become a master someday. After that he lost some of the affection he had for his brother and nephew, always trying to stop the boy from advancing in front of him.

  But despite that, he still had to be rational in what he did. "That is not what I meant. You are putting words in my mouth that I never said! What I wanted to express was just my doubt, nothing more. Since the young master is saying this, I will agree with your assessment, but as a standard procedure we will perform a strength test on this young man. Now if he cannot pass, unfortunately what you have hinted at may not be quite so wrong."

  'Shit…… He's going to set something up……' Marcel thought as he watched the sly look that his uncle was giving him and Noah, until he remembered Noah's strength and calmed down a little. As difficult as this test was, Noah just needed to go through it. He just hoped Noah would be able to get through it.

  While Noah watched this, he couldn't help but laugh at the irony of fate as he looked at Marcel and his uncle. Even though Noah had only met Marcel less than a couple months ago, their lives were still not so different when it came to their own family. How ironic it was for Noah to see that his friend also had problems with an irrational uncle.

  "How is this test normally conducted?" Noah asked curiously.

  "It's not much unlike the test that GBC does with people who have just awakened a Blessing. First they will assess the rank of your Blessing, then they will assess the strength and usefulness of your Blessing through combat or a situation of simulated support, depending on the focus of your Blessing," Marcel said as he hid his frustration for his uncle. "As I suggested for you to enter the inner circle, you would probably have to fight a Blessed Rank D to show how strong you are, but seeing as it is my uncle Marcus who is organizing this, the chances of 'something happening' and him 'having to call a more powerful Blessed for you to fight' is pretty high. Probably he'll even get a peak Blessed Rank D for you to fight."

  Hearing this, Noah became less concerned. He might have been concerned if the test was something related to knowledge, as he didn't know much when it came to Rank C Fortresses and higher, but when it came to battle Noah had full confidence in himself that he would have enough strength to fight a peak Blessed Rank D.

  In just 15 minutes Marcus returned with a man beside him. Noah didn't notice anything strange about the man, but from Marcel's angry look, he was sure that something was definitely not right about that.

  "What does this mean, uncle?" Marcel asked in a clearly discontented tone.

  Seeing Marcel's angry expression, Marcus and the man beside him couldn't both help smiling a satisfied smile on their faces, as if that expression had made their / their entire day worthwhile.

  "Unfortunately there were some setbacks and we didn't find any blessed Rank D to take the test for your friend, Marcel, but don't worry, my son here, your cousin Mason, made himself available to take charge of your friend's test. Is this not wonderful news?!" Marcus pretended to be excited while aiming a smile toward his son.

  Hearing what Marcel's uncle said, Noah was able to deduce what had indeed happened. Most likely that man next to Marcus was not a Blessed Rank D, making Noah believe that his strength has already reached Rank C.

  And just as Noah guessed, Marcel confirmed it. "Mason reached Rank C last month! Since when does anyone have to face a Blessed Rank C to enter the inner circle!? Even more, a Blessed from the inner circle who must have already consumed some essences?!" Marcel asked, almost shouting.

  "Well, unfortunately, he was the only person available, Marcel. The choice is yours: take it or leave it," Marcus said with a proud smile on his face.

  As Mason was not on the Khan family heirs list, he was not required to stay 5 years in each Rank, so even though he was only 3 years older than Marcel, being only 27, he had already reached Rank C.

  "This is absurd! Let's get out of here Noah!" Marcel said angrily as he turned to Noah indicating for them to leave.

  But contrary to what Marcel expected, Noah did not move. Instead, Noah asked something. "Is there any punishment for not passing the test?"

  Hearing this, Marcel raised an eyebrow and replied, "If you fail, you will have to wait a week to a month to retake the test, and since it is my uncle who decides this, the chances of it being a month are very high."

  Hearing that, Noah was a little more unconcerned. He knew that Marcel did not want him to fight that young man because he had never seen Noah fighting against a Blessed Rank C. He just believed that Noah was on the threshold of the top of Rank D and the base of Rank C, meaning that Noah could hardly beat his cousin who must have already consumed some Rank C essences and wanted to save Noah from the humiliation of defeat.

  But Noah thought differently. The last time he had fought a Blessed Rank C had been in the underground tournament where he fought against Leon. At that time Noah was weaker than he was current. Probably Leon had already consumed essences too, so Noah wanted to find out how much progress he had himself made in that time. Even if he lost, so be it; it would be only a month that he would not be in the family, which could be used to invade Fortresses with random people defined by GBC.

  "So let's go do the test." Noah answered, making Marcel sigh.

  On the other hand, Marcus and Mason smirked as they looked at this 20-year-old boy who believed he had a chance against him.

  "Show him the difference between a child and a real adult," Marcus said quietly to Mason, which did not go unnoticed by Noah's trained ears——

  Please read the author's notes down here! he he he :3 ↓↓↓


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