Chapter 921 - Bureaucracy
The Force Crafting Guild was a place of abject luxury. Every tree, every blade of grass, every paved road, and every crystal clear window was immaculately sculpted. Not a single thing was out of place and the pompousness could almost be smelled through the air.
Although Leonel had never been to the Capital of Earth while war wasn't raging, he had always imagined that it was like this. However, even to his imagination, this place felt like… a bit too much of an exaggeration.
Every person he passed by seemed to want to make sure that their status was plastered for all to see. They wore their badges prominent to one chest and their affiliations just as proudly to the other. Their noses were practically so high in the air that they didn't even bother to look down on Leonel for dressing so casually. How could they? Their gazes were enraptured by the skies above.
It was a miracle that they weren't constantly bumping into one another on the road. Clearly they weren't looking where they were going to begin with.
It could be said that the only good thing about this place was that the air was exceptionally pure and clean. There was even a slight fragrance to it that reminded Leonel of a bakery, but it also wasn't overwhelming to the point it was taking up all of his senses. In fact, it was barely noticeable at all.
That, though, was where all the good stopped.
The moment he had stepped foot into this place, he had been under scrutiny.
First, at the gates, he was scanned from top to bottom. The check was even more invasive since he didn't have a Crafters Badge or an affiliation to name. The checked everything from his age to his Dimension level and at some point he was certain the formation they had active took a scan of his teeth as though they might need to identify him when he died.
After dealing with that ridiculousness, he needed to deal with filling out a questionnaire that would put any security detail at an airport to shame. Not only did he need to state his purpose, how long he would be here, etc, there was even questions asking him about how often he might need to use the bathroom.
When he asked the attendant why they were asking such ridiculous questions, he received an answer from a completely straight faced lady that said: 'We don't want needless waste from outsiders.'
It was like they thought Leonel taking a dump would shift their ecosystem for the worst. But, now that they were being so insistent, Leonel almost wanted to lay a deuce for the ages. All ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ full.com
He had never seen a place more pompous in his life. It made him feel the urge to piss from some tall walls. He had wondered why even his father's training program hardly mentioned the Force Crafting Guilds, and now he had a pretty good idea why.
Leonel still remembered clearly the killing intent in his father's eyes when he mentioned treating Little Tolly like a friend and companion, not a tool. That fury had to stem from somewhere, and if Leonel had to guess, it was most definitely from this place.
"Halt! This region is for Crafters alone. Common citizens are not allowed to step foot into this region!"
Tall guards wearing the most ridiculous golden armor stunted with diamond Leonel had ever seen stopped his forward progress.
Shaking his head, Leonel presented his documents. He had already gone through all that trouble of filling out those papers—something that had taken up almost 12 hours of his time—so he wouldn't run into trouble later. At least now, it was all prepared and ready. He just wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. After all, he was still in constant pain. Having your inner organs charred to near ash was not a good feeling. If he wasn't dulling the pain with Dream Sense, he might not even be standing right now.
"I've come to take my Force Crafter Exam." Leonel spoke.
The guards, each of whom was difficult to look at straight due to how blinding their armor was, looked Leonel up and down. As though seeing him for the first time, they scrutinized his clothing and demeanor. It became clear quite quickly that they weren't impressed with what they saw.
One of the guards was about to speak when another pressed a hand to his chest, stopping him. The two made eye contact and a look of realization dawned upon the latter as though he suddenly remembered something.
"The Force Crafter Exam won't be taking place today. Come again another time."
"What?"
Leonel was stunned. He wasn't paying very much attention to the actions of the guards because he thought it was all just a formality. But, when he heard these words, he was stunned.
Leonel had just gone through customs to enter this city. According to all the stuff he had filled out, that was his purpose in this place. With how strict the rules were, if he couldn't become an official Force Crafter, he wouldn't be allowed to stay. But, if he wasn't allowed to stay, that would mean he would have to come back and repeat this process all over again tomorrow.
Not only would that mean another day of this pain in his organs, it would also mean that he would have to use another 12 hours to go through all that bureaucracy once again. As though that wasn't bad enough, who's to say they would even allow him through this time? He had read through the entire sheet and there was a question about how often he had visited the Force Crafting Guild city in the past. Leonel had no doubt that the fact his answer was zero weighed in favor of him entering. What if there was a hidden cap on the number of times individuals could enter this place? Wouldn't he be screwed, then?
Leonel's gaze turned cold when he thought through all of this.
"Why?"