"Ai," Ryker grabbed at his chest, "your words pierce the soul. Why must you be so cruel? Is this what they call a rose with thorns? Such a beauty, and yet such a vicious mouth."
"Who has a vicious mouth?!" Sofia demanded, raising her hands.
"You're right, you're right. Your lips are soft and your tongue is sweet, how could I say such a thing?"
"Right, right—."
Sofia suddenly frowned as she was accepting the wave of compliments.
Why did those words sound so dirty?
Looking up to see Ryker's playboy grin, Sofia suddenly wanted to punch him in the nose. How dare he take advantage of her?!
Beside herself, Rosemary burst into a fit of giggles. She hadn't laughed like this since her grandfather died and her reaction stunned even herself. But, there was nothing she could do to stop it.
"Rose, you're taking his side?! Where's the comradery?!"
These words only made Rosemary laugh harder and the two women entered a new spat.
The scene of Ryker chatting with the two beauties had already caught some attention, but with them suddenly laughing and joking so hard, it raised the ire to an all new level.
To many in the small city, Sofia was untouchable. After all, that was the woman Desmond Joseph wanted, they wouldn't dare to have designs on her.
However, Rosemary was a wild card. Not only was she beautiful, she was gentle and sweet, on top of having talent as a beast tamer. It was just unfortunate that she was almost always with Sofia, and no one wanted to give Desmond the wrong impression by approaching them.
The only one stupid enough to do such a thing was the "nightwalker" that Ryker had already killed, but he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed to begin with.
Seemingly unable to take it anymore, a young man walked forward. He, too, had a Spirit Beast Infant with him, a little grey puppy with sharp green eyes.
Unlike the two women, he let it walk to his side, the little one following his stride perfectly.
Ryker "saw" the approach and analyzed the puppy before they were even halfway there. His pure soul was powerful enough to feel such intentions from miles away, but the evolution of his silver mirror was doing things for his sensory abilities that nothing else could match.
That little green-eyed puppy was probably the strongest Spirit Beast Infant here. Or, more accurately, it had the greatest potential. It wasn't a bad starter for this place at all.
Ryker could already see intelligence in its eyes, unlike Rosemary's bunny and Sofia's duck who both seemed fresh and doe-eyed.
It didn't take much to guess at who this young man was. To Ryker, there were only two people worth paying attention to, at least by the standard of this world.
The first was a young man standing in a far corner. He didn't have a Spirit Beast Infant with him, but he did have a rusted greatsword by his side, leaning against the wall.
The second was the young man approaching now.
Ryker already knew that one of them had to be the young heir of the Buderwoerk family and likely the elder brother of the nightwalker whose name Ryker couldn't be bothered to remember.
Considering one was dressed poorly, while the other had a Spirit Beast Infant, the answer was too obvious.
This young man was Eli Buderwoerk, the most talented in this generation of his family.
"Young Miss Rosemary, Young Miss Sofia… And you are?"
Eli looked toward Ryker. Though he thought of ignoring his presence entirely, he wasn't a fool. Doing so would obviously invite hatred onto himself from the two women. He didn't care about the feelings of Ryker, but he definitely cared about theirs.
"Ryker."
Ryker responded with a smile, his usual demeanor not fading.
He could sense Eli's disdain from a mile away, but he had long since become accustomed to such things. He hadn't collapsed under the pressure of the Valorian family, how would he fall under the gaze of a man barely a year or two older than him?
"Ryker?" Eli's gaze suddenly narrowed.
He had heard his little brother mention this name before, complaining about how a country bumpkin was actually so close with the two flowers of their Smoking Tower City.
Eli never thought that he would run into him like this. A slight hint of pressure wafted off from Eli as he met Ryker's eyes. It looked as though he suspected something and wanted to see if Ryker would slip up.
But, to Eli's astonishment, he actually had to look up at Ryker.
Eli was quite a tall man, standing at over six feet tall. Yet, he felt like a dwarf in front of Ryker. He was definitely not expecting something like this.
As Eli was in a daze, a second young man walked over. "Oh? Such liveliness? How about I join in the fun a bit?"
"Scram, Waple."
"Little sister, why are you so cruel to me?"
"I already said that when I'm with Rosemary, you're not allowed within a hundred feet. Shoo, shoo!"
A hint of the liveliness returned, but Sofia seemed dead-set on shooing away her elder brother. And, seeing Rosemary suddenly become reserved, Ryker felt like he understood some of why that was.
Just as Waple was about to walk away in resignation, a crack of light flooded the waiting room.
"Quota Check hopefuls, please make your way forward now in an orderly fashion. The selection will begin now."
At that moment, a large ramp leading up to the center of the coliseum opened up and a silence fell over them all.
Tens of thousands of people focused their attention on the gates, waiting for the next generation to show their worth.