Somewhere in the village.
An ordinary-looking building made from brick and wall was somewhat distant from other residences.
That building had nothing special, except, in the bedroom, there was a hole!
The hole seemed to be dug with great precision, and on the bottom of the hole was a basement-like base!
The walls and floor were made from the wood, while the hole's walls were made of dirt.
The basement wasn't designed by the people who built the village; instead, it was built by someone else!
And that person was currently sitting in front of a small wooden desk!
The person was a handsome youth with black so dark that it was almost darkness incarnation.
His outfit was quite simple, with a light blue t-shirt and black jeans.
There was a silver ring on his right hand, and on his wrist, a wristwatch was located.
The youth changed pages of the book he was reading and suddenly laughed, ''Kekeke…'' That laugh soon died down, and the book's text became visible.
[Book of Delicacy]
The book was in color black, while the text was in the shade of silver.
Around the basement were pictures of different youth.
Below the pictures were texts and numbers.
One of the pictures looked very familiar.
The picture showed a handsome youth with black hair, sharp eyebrows, and a dainty nose with a well-defined jawline. His body was very athletic, with extremely strong-looking arms that looked like one punch could destroy mountains and overthrow the heavens!
It was a picture of Ichiro!
Below the picture, texts were seen.
[Global Talent List Rank: 10]
[Talent-Level: God-Level]
Under every picture, exact numbers and words were seen.
Under Lord's picture, the number 4 and the words God-Level were seen.
Under Ares' picture, the number 5 and the words God-Level were seen.
Under Lone's picture, the number 6 and the words God-level were seen.
There were numbers from 4 all the way to 60, but for some reason, the numbers 1,2 and 3 were missing.
Before standing up, the youth closed the book and grabbed a notebook from the desk.
On the notebook's cover, the youth's name was written in a nice writing style.
[Darkel Soulfeat]
''Kekeke… Ahem…'' Once again, Darkel started laughing creepily but stopped his laughter with a cough.
''Ahem…'' He rubbed his neck and got rid of the itchy feeling in his throat.
He walked circles around the basement and kept writing notes of every youth.
But then, he came to a stop in front of Ichiro's picture.
''Hmm…'' He closed the notebook and looked at the black-haired youth closely.
The gray eyes that could be seen in the picture looked very mesmerizing, but Darkel felt wary when he noticed the sights.
''Kekekeke…'' A creepy laughter left his mouth; he grabbed his pencil from his pocket and started drawing something on Ichiro's picture. Do you want to read more chapters? Come to panda-novel,com
After ten seconds, he stopped scribbling, and another creepy laugh escaped his mouth, ''Kekekeke…''
Sunglasses appeared on Ichiro's face in the picture, which covered the previous gray eyes.
''Kekeke…'' He walked back to the desk with creepy laughter following him.
The black-colored book was waiting for him on top of the wooden desk.
Darkel stuffed the notebook back into his bag, which was located next to the wooden desk.
Once his hands touched the coarse texture of the book, his mouth twitched, and his muscles started bulging with blood dripping down from his nose, but Darkel kept smiling.
''Kekekeke…'' Soon, his muscles stopped bulging, and his handsome face became normal, but still, the same creepy smile was visible on his face, with his row of white teeth visible.
''Kukukuku…'' With a peal of laughter, he stored the book inside the bag.
*Zip*
With the help of the zipper, he closed the bag.
He started carrying the bag, and when he was about to reach the hole in the ceiling, he stopped to look at the pictures one more time.
''Kukuku…'' Darkel laughed creepily, but then, he spoke his first words, ''All of your talents… Shall be mine.'' He didn't stay in the basement anymore and climbed out of the basement.
Once he reached his bedroom, he moved the bed and covered the hole with it.
He stuffed the bag inside his worn-out wardrobe, and once he was done with that, he left his bedroom and entered the dark living room.
Outside the window, he managed to see disciples walking with despair on their faces.
''Kukuku… Is the test over?'' Darkel grinned while looking at the dark sky.
His face started having an even bigger grin as he noticed one disciple moving sluggishly with a despaired look.
*Creak*
Darkel left the building and followed after the disciple.
The disciple soon felt someone following behind him; he came to a stop and frowned as he turned around to look Darkel right in the eye.
Darkel looked somewhat gentlemanly, which made the initial fear disappear from the disciple's face.
''Hey, is the test over?'' Darkel asked with an innocent smile.
''Ah, yes.'' The disciple replied with a heavy look on his face. It was his chance to remove his Outer Disciple status and become part of one of the greatest geniuses the world has to offer, but only disappointment came.
''You weren't successful, eh?'' Darkel asked while his mouth was stretched from ear to ear after seeing the disciple's sad face.
''Yeah… I guess I wasn't destined for it.'' The disciple took a deep breath and was about to leave, but then he noticed a silver ring on Darkel's finger.
His eyes widened in shock, and a tinge of greed appeared.
Darkel smirked and showed the ring more clearly, ''Want this?''
''Eh?'' The disciple looked surprised.
''Go on… Take it.'' Darkel pushed the ring closer.
''R-Really?'' The disciple's hands trembled as he slowly started approaching the ring.
But then…
''Hahahaha!'' Darkel burst into laughter and pulled his hand back.
The disciple looked enraged after he was made fun of.
Darkel wiped the tears and forced himself to stop laughing, but he wasn't successful.
''Are you making fun of me?!'' The disciple clenched his fists until blood started dripping down.
''Kukukuku…'' Darkel quenched his laugh and mockingly looked at the disciple, ''Wanna die?''
''Eh?'' The disciple took a step backward after hearing the cold voice that made his body freeze.
''Do you… Wanna… Die?'' Darkel asked while leaning closer and closer.
''Eeeek!'' The disciple fell down on his butt but quickly stood up and ran away.
''Kukukuku…'' Only Darkel's laughter was heard in his ears as he continued running far away.
''Shame…'' Darkel clicked his tongue and went back to his building, ''His talent was quite shit.''
