Chapter 18: So Small

The manager’s eyes narrowed, as he stared at the table in silence.

Then, with a slight tremor in his voice, he asked,

“Is this all?”

Adam looked up calmly.

“Yes.”

That single word deepened the manager’s confusion.

His gaze darted between the small pile of granulites scattered across the desk.

That’s impossible. His brows furrowed.

Why is it so small?

The crowd could see it too, the meager handful of granulites didn’t make sense.

For a run, there should’ve been at least a small heap of granulites, not… this.

Murmurs rippled through the gathered martial artists.

“Is that all he brought back?”

“Did he keep the rest somewhere else?”

“There’s barely enough to fill a pouch.”

One bolder voice rang out from the back, sharp with scorn.

“I knew he was a fake!”

That single accusation sparked the others.

Doubt spread quickly, disbelief giving way to mockery.

This was normal, people always found it easier to belittle someone than to accept that another person might be better than them.

Even Juli, standing beside the market archway, felt her certainty falter. Her tail twitched nervously as her golden eyes studied Adam.

Could he really have faked it?

But how?

Even the receptionist, who had run breathlessly to call the manager moments ago, felt uncertainty creep into her chest. Her fingers trembled slightly as she looked at the scattered crystals.

But then—

“How is this possible!?”

The manager’s deep voice cut through the noise like a blade, silencing the room.

He wasn’t accusing, he was truly stunned.

His hand trembled slightly as he held one of the granulites between his fingers, the faint light from it reflecting in his eyes.

The murmurs died instantly.

Every gaze turned toward him.

The manager couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

He knew Adam wasn’t lying, because everything so far pointed to that truth.

The Acolytes stationed at the rift had verified his entry that very morning and had seen his exit an hour ago.

​The overwhelming scent of blood on him, yet not a single wound in sight, was something only a hunter far above his prey could achieve.

​And lastly, there was that aura.

​If the first two reasons could be faked, that killing intent, honed through battle, wasn’t something that could be faked.

It was the kind only true prodigies carried.

Still, he needed to be certain. So he’d picked up a granulite to inspect it.

And now… he almost wished he hadn’t.

The manager’s face had gone pale. He looked like he’d just seen a ghost as he inspected the others.

The hall waited in tense silence, every eye on him, every breath held as he finished inspecting each granulite.

Then, finally, he spoke, his voice low but carrying across the entire hall:

“They’re all elites.”

For a heartbeat, no one moved.

Then,

“WHAT?!”

All the martial artists in the hall stared at Adam as if he were some kind of anomaly, something that shouldn’t exist, yet stood there right before their eyes.

Even those who had been whispering earlier, mocking him or calling him a fake, found their words choking in their throats.

Because based on what the manager had just said, if they still didn’t believe Adam had accomplished a perfect run, then, they were fools.

In fact, their whole family were fools. Their father was a fool, their mother was a fool, even their unborn children were fools.

Because the truth was undeniable.

The granulites Adam had brought back weren’t only from mob units, most were from Unranked Level 1 Elites.

And that alone shattered every ounce of doubt.

Every martial artist in that hall knew exactly what that meant.

To create an exit in a rift, one had to reduce the rift’s monster saturation by 0.5%. And there were only two ways to do it:

The easy route, slaughter a massive number of mob unit monsters to chip away at the saturation bit by bit.

Or the hard route, target and kill a small number of elite units, whose essence density far exceeded ordinary mob monsters.

And it was painfully obvious which route Adam had taken.

The manager’s eyes lingered on the young man for a long, silent moment.

He’d seen prodigies before, children born of powerful clans, nurtured in essence-rich environments but this one… this one came out of nowhere.

Calling him a prodigy would be an understatement. The manager’s heart was pounding.

Sector 516 has finally birthed a living genius.

Juli, the fox woman, stood frozen near the market archway, her sharp eyes flicking between the table and Adam’s calm face.

The faint shimmer of the granulites reflected in her wide, amber eyes.

Elite units? Her tail stiffened.

Where did such a person even come from?

It felt as if her entire worldview had cracked open in the span of a single hour.

After taking a moment to steady his breath, the manager turned back to the receptionist, who was still standing stiffly behind him.

“It’s time to verify the authenticity,” he said firmly.

The receptionist nodded quickly and disappeared into the backroom.

A few moments later, she returned, carrying a small metallic device resembling a miniature furnace, its top crowned with a transparent orb that pulsed faintly with light.

She placed it carefully on the counter before Adam.

The manager gestured toward it.

“Please, pour them in.”

Adam nodded and without hesitation began gathering the granulites into his palm.

The soft clinking of crystal against metal filled the hall as he dropped them all into the device.

The orb on top glowed faintly as the machine hummed to life.

The manager turned to Adam, his expression composed but his tone curious.

“Mr. Adam, do you have an idea what this device is?”

Adam’s gaze flicked toward the orb.

“Isn’t it an authenticator?”

The manager smiled slightly.

“Correct.”

He folded his hands behind his back as he began to explain.

“In the early days of the Mission Hall, our verification system was in shambles. Back then, it was chaos, martial artists would often steal monster corpses killed by others and claim the kills as their own. Without a proper means of verification, there was no way to prove authenticity. It caused endless disputes and bloodshed.”

Adam listened closely, his calm expression hiding a quiet interest.

The manager continued, his tone deepening slightly with pride.

“But when the Authenticator was created. A device capable of reading the residual malice in granulites and comparing it to the unique essence signature of the hunter who delivered them. It changed everything.”

****

{Authors Note}

Bonus Chapter if we get 10 reviews and thank you for reading.

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