The X Guide

Devion and Khal fell into thought, but even after thinking about it, they could not really think of anything. Before Ayen met them, he had not been exposed to major events yet.

If that guide was telling the truth, this curse might have been discovered six months ago, and Ayen would still be in that yellow zone.

"We’ll find it out soon." Devion was the first to give up and offered this opinion. The two agreed with him.

There was no point in thinking too much when they did not even know where that city was. Whether that curse was somehow related to Ayen, they would find it out eventually.

The three did not linger in the ice palaces, although they did play with the bears first. After that, they returned to their place.

As usual, Devion and Ayen cooked for them as Khal contacted someone to immediately look for a yellow zone with suspicious activities, stating what they should look for.

Ayen was not worrying too much. While the dream made him unsettled, being with Devion and Khal helped ease every worry that sprouted in his heart.

Most of what the guides said was also processed for confirmation. Ayen fulfilled his promise, and the situation of the espers was slightly adjusted.

Just like that, their first few days in the underground city passed by. They had yet to come back to the surface because they had something to do here.

"Hello," the familiar S-class guide greeted Ayen, Mikhael. Ayen nodded slightly to him. "Can I call you Ayen?" he asked. His gaze landed on Ayen before it shifted to the two sitting on the couch not far from them.

They were inside Mikhael’s lab, inside the underground facility.

"It’s fine." Ayen had shed most of the indifference and gloom in his expression, but his intimidating gaze remained.

Mikhael stared at him for a moment before he snapped out of it and gave a small smile.

"I love your eyes," he remarked quite sincerely.

This time, it was Ayen who was taken aback. He had been complimented on a daily basis by his espers, and he felt that he was already immune to it. However, hearing it from others he did not know, he realized he was not used to it.

"Uh, thanks?"

Hearing his awkward answer, Mikhael’s lips curled into a gentle smile. Ayen looked intimidating, but he seemed endearing, too.

Their eyes met, and Mikhael finally stopped their introduction and cleared his throat. His eyes went to the two espers who were acting as though they were not guarding their guide and doing their thing, but Mikhael knew that their attention was on them the whole time.

Ayen knew about this, too. Still, since the two had decided not to stand beside him by this time, it was like giving him their support and trust for his decision.

"I’m Mikhael. And the leader already briefed me about this meeting." His eyes lingered on Ayen; there was also curiosity in them. "Uh, if it’s okay, can we conduct some simple tests for now to determine the extent of what we should do?"

This was a different subject even for him, and he had to be cautious. More than that, they had to be more careful because the person had a very delicate identity. If something went wrong... Mikhael stopped thinking about it.

They had given him enough authority, but Mikhael knew just how heavy it was. He had enough experience examining guides’ wavelengths, but a potential SS-class guide? That was something new.

He was both excited and nervous about this opportunity.

Ayen had expected this and simply agreed. As soon as he agreed, Mikhael called for his two assistants. One was a guide and the other was not awakened.

They first greeted Devion and Khal at the side before they returned to Ayen’s side to help with the procedure. Mikhael’s lab had complete apparatus, and there was a glass enclosure where more comprehensive devices were installed.

For this test, Ayen was only told that it would be simple. He remained where he was seated as Mikhael, and his assistants worked.

They first took his blood to run some tests. Mikhael then took a mana tester. It was small compared to what he had seen way back when his mana was measured.

"Please put your hand here and activate your wavelength, please." Mikhael put the device in front of Ayen and opened it.

Looking at it, Ayen realized that it had also become simple. He looked up at Mikhael, who gave an assuring smile.

"Don’t worry, it won’t hurt."

Ayen was not thinking about that, but he did not respond. Without delay, Ayen put his hand in the device and activated his mana.

At some point, the two espers were already watching the process too and stopped pretending that they were in their own world. To not disrupt the process, they remained sitting on the couch.

The device lit up, and figures appeared on the measuring screen. It was so fast, and the graph moved, but as expected, it still ended with what he already knew.

This time, none of them were moved.

Ayen looked at the final results.

E-class. And the graph was at the bottom red, meaning the device hardly sensed enough mana inside his body. Mikhael moved his brow and recorded it.

"Can we try it again?" Mikhael asked.

Ayen nodded. It was the same result, and Mikhael noted it again and moved his brow. "Your situation is indeed the same as the current SS-class espers. This device doesn’t recognize your wavelength. The energy and mana contained inside aren’t registered to it."

Although this device was the latest and most accurate measuring model to date, it had yet to actually measure an SS-class guide at all. Its limit was S-class.

And without any basis, it could not measure Ayen’s wavelength.

Ayen was not averse to the idea that he had lived in being falsely measured, which led him to be abandoned and live years of disdain.

Those were in the past. While it was unfortunate, Ayen did not have much regret now. He knew where he stood now.