Repeating every line, word for word, that his Attribute Notice put before his eyes, Aoni hid the nervous feelings he got by being so close physically to Maevis.
If there was one thing he’d learned from his mother and sisters, it was that WOMEN ARE FUCKING TERRIFYING! Find exclusive content at Freewebnovel
Stay on their good side, and you live; that was the motto infused into young Aoni’s mind by his father, and so far, if that lustful man was still in one piece, it had to work…right?
To be honest, although the Lad was able to mask it with relative ease, Aoni suffered pretty heavily from Gynophobia, be it because of getting knocked around by his sisters or watching his Mundane mother batter the hell out of his Traveler Father, either way, on top of being a woman, Maevis was way stronger than him, and thus, he’d been overly polite with her from the getgo.
"Any location I wish? Does that mean it can be teleported anywhere in the world so long as I designate where I want it to go?" Maevis, still reeling from the odd power that had linked itself to her EC, kept her composure enough to ask.
"I don’t actually have an answer for that, Madam, but if I am to believe the knowledge I have about my Attribute, it should work that way, considering the item itself is now metaphysically bound to you." Resisting the itch at the back of his neck that was impending doom, Aoni quickly continued spouting shit.
"Although I can’t speak for if it will directly transfer the item to Spatial devices or artifacts, due to my lack of evidence or, well…not having any to try with, I have watched my branded items move across my territory on several occasions with a thought. As for my own range for decomposition, I was able to observe the distance in detail, and with my limited range within my territory, there was no issue."
"Hm…this is not something we can test at this time; for now, please instruct me as to how I am supposed to set a targeted location." Flexing her fingers in the gloves, Maevis had to admit, although crafted by a total novice using basic materials, the gloves were quite skillfully designed.
From what she could surmise, there was no loss of comfort or structural integrity, and although extremely minor due to her strength being so high, she was still able to sense a slight increase in her overall power when wearing them.
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After a brief introduction to what his AN called "Waypoint setting," Maevis was able to confirm that she could easily send the item from across the room to the table. Finally, it came time to witness the deconstruction of the item.
Since Aoni felt little to no attachment to the crafted item, as it wasn’t something he’d personally use, it did hurt a bit to waste Progress points as they were technically his most valuable possession.
Even so, that was that, and tests were meant to be conducted, so without allowing the pain of loss overcome him, Aoni followed the onscreen prompts and, once given the go-ahead from Maevis, put on a bit of a show, wherein he closed his eyes, and snapped his fingers while exhibiting a hint of Ice Energia.
With that queue, the gloves magically shredded and became nothing but a pile of useless broken materials, drawing shocked gasps from everyone except Maevis, who was concentrating on the changes within her Energia Cell.
For several tense minutes, while the woman examined herself carefully, no one moved until finally, she opened her eyes and looked curiously at Aoni.
"Well?" Mark asked out of pure concern for Maevis’s well-being.
"Nothing, I felt nothing, and there is nothing wrong with my EC either; it was as if the Brand never existed in the first place, yet at the same time, I could feel its existence when it was present…strange, how about the gloves…oh." Saying a few words to calm Mark down, Maevis looked down at the table and found the remains of the gloves, only to realize they had basically become nothing more than compost.
In fact, even calling it that would be a lie because everything was completely unsalvageable to the point that Maevis could already imagine how devastating it would be to have this same thing happen with extremely expensive materials such as High-Grade Scales or metal.
"It’s a shame; they were nice gloves; well, I suppose that concludes the first half of your examination. You can receive your scores after settling the physical exam, but I can say you don’t have much to worry about Traveler Thurston."
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"Thank you, Madam, sirs." Giving a polite bow to each of the examiners, Aoni quickly fled the scene without looking back, like a scared rabbit, unaware that the moment he left the room, Mark, Tristian, and Maevis shared a look of understanding.
"Honestly, on a scale of viability for the Empire, I see very little use. While he completed each task with a decent time, they were FAR beyond what we would expect from a Genius with a targeted Crafting Attribute." The moment the door closed, Mark broke the silence.
"Lack of speed, singularity of profession, and more importantly, a mid-tier upper limit all paint Traveler Thurston as someone more suited as a teacher than anything given the proper instruction is administered. I don’t really see him as being a valued asset." Tristian added, earning a nod of approval from both Mark and Maevis.
"I concur; overall, his talent lies more in the transportation of his items and the destruction of them than the value behind the items themselves. At best, I could see him being someone who falls into the category of a strategic tool for The Emperor; if enough of his weapons or armor fall into the hands of an opposing nation, come wartime, Traveler Thurston has potential as a trap asset, other than that option, I give him an overall rating of 4/10."
"Agreed, he still passes but is not someone who needs to be monitored or added to any of the Empires listings."
If Aoni had been present to hear this information, he would have breathed a sigh of relief; however, instead, he was riding the elevator down to finish the last examination of the day.