Chapter 303: A Major Promotion
Alexander walked to the back of the establishment, where a TMC transmission console glowed with a faint blue light inside a private room. He pulled out the communications terminal, entered his captain credentials, and sent the encoded report detailing the Adventurers’ Guild’s offer.
Barely a few seconds passed before the screen flickered and emitted a sharp tone. The response from corporate headquarters was almost instantaneous.
"’Report received and verified,’" Alexander read aloud, watching the lines of green text scroll across the monitor. "’Captain Alexander will receive substantial rewards for the prompt notification of this discovery. His agent rank will be re-evaluated shortly following the acquisition of the item.’"
A second message popped up right below, signed by sector administration.
"’Congratulations, Captain,’" Alexander continued reading. "’Should you manage to achieve the rank of Zone Supervisor through this event, executive-level benefits will be granted to you. Great work.’"
Alexander shut down the console and turned toward Old 5, who was waiting by the doorway with the rest of the men.
"What exactly do they mean by Zone Supervisor?" Alexander asked, crossing his arms.
"A Zone Supervisor is practically a warlord inside TMC," Old 5 explained with a smirk of harmless envy. "They can request special resources directly from the association’s board of directors: experimental weaponry that works in this world, biological restoration tech, and supplies average agents don’t even know exist."
Old 5 paused and walked up to the table, leaning his hands on the polished wood.
"Everything you’ve seen from the corporation on Earth so far is just the tip of the iceberg, kid," Old 5 added in a whisper. "If you hit that rank, the chains tying you to middle management vanish. You’ll have massive political and industrial power."
"And the rewards will come to me," Alexander muttered under his breath, thinking about his family’s safety and the leverage this would give him.
"Damn right," Old 5 nodded. "Now that headquarters gave the green light, we’ve got no time to waste. Let’s head back to the Adventurers’ Guild before that clerk decides to offer the stone to someone else."
Alexander returned to the Adventurers’ Guild alone, leaving Old 5 and the rest to guard the inn. As he stepped through the wooden doors, the reception supervisor spotted him a pleased smile spreading across her lips.
"I’d love to join," Alexander said, stepping up to the counter with a stride.
"Excellent," the supervisor answered, leaning slightly forward. "Having someone like you around is going to be something we’ll thoroughly enjoy. Come, I’ll take you to the admission test."
Alexander followed her down a side hallway that led to a private, discreet area of the building, far from the bustling main hall. The woman opened a reinforced wooden door and gestured for him to enter a spacious evaluation room.
"Well, here we are," the supervisor said, shutting the door behind her and leaning back against it. "First, we need to evaluate your physical condition to see what you’re best suited for. Strip."
Alexander had fully expected something like this. In this world, finding a woman in a position of power who wouldn’t try to take advantage of her post for pleasure seemed harder than finding a needle in a haystack.
Without the slightest hesitation, Alexander stripped out of his clothes until he was naked. His imposing 21-centimeter cock stood erect under the woman’s gaze. Without a hint of shame or fear, he took a step forward and swung his dick provocatively in front of her, enjoying the instantaneous reaction on the supervisor’s face.
"Well?" Alexander said in a teasing tone. "What kind of test are you putting me through?"
The supervisor licked her lips shamelessly, her eyes trailing over every muscle of Alexander’s naked body before answering.
"Try lifting those test rocks over there," the supervisor said, pointing to a row of large stone blocks marked with graduated weights. "When you reach the block you can’t lift, that will be the measure of your physical strength."
Alexander walked over to the first stone with ease. He bent down, adjusted his grip, and lifted it above his shoulders with astonishing ease. He moved on to the next fifty-kilo stone, then the one-hundred, and then the one-hundred-and-fifty. As he moved between the blocks, the supervisor didn’t take her eyes off him for a second, repeatedly licking her lips and holding her breath at the strain of his glutes and thighs with every effort.
Finally, Alexander positioned himself in front of the largest block in the room. He set his stance exhaled slowly, and gripped the massive slab of granite. With a low growl and his muscles flexed to the absolute limit, he lifted the two-hundred-and-fifty-kilo block holding it steady over his head for a few seconds before letting it fall with a thud that rattled the room’s floor.
"Two hundred and fifty kilos...?" the supervisor muttered, her eyes wide open and her breathing ragged. "Not bad for a start... not bad at all."
"Well, your strength is more than proven," the supervisor said, pointing toward the back of the room. "Now we’ll test your reflexes and agility. Dodge these balls."
Without warning, she flipped a lever on the wall. Solid steel spheres began launching out of metal chutes at a breakneck speed.
Alexander reacted instantly, twisting his torso, bending his knees, and spinning on his heels. The air cut violently around him; every time a ball zipped past, he felt the icy gust of wind left in its wake. The spheres that slammed into the back wall echoed like cannon fire, leaving deep cracks in the reinforced masonry.
The supervisor cut the mechanism by pulling the lever down and stared at Alexander’s naked, sweaty body, adjusting her cleavage while trying to hide how impressed she was.
"Well, you have the agility of a rookie, but you possess excellent reflexes," the supervisor said, walking up to him with slow steps as she licked her lips, staring intently at Alex’s dick. "Now we must test your endurance..."