Talents

The lady behind the glass with the name tag "Elma" said in the coldest voice with an icy glare, "For the last time, we can't give you the badge. You already broke 5 laws and got 6 complaints on this one run. This is the last straw. Please wait for five months until you can get your card again."

"Bullsh*t! By then I would've dropped down to F5-rank! I would have to work my ass back up to C again!"

This time a man from behind the counter casually replied, "Yes, sir." He was a fairly tall man with straight black hair but he was nothing compared to the giant thug. He awkwardly walked over holding a pretty big box. He leaned it against the table and try to lift it up above the counter. "Hrrgh!" He grunted as he tried to push the box up and was clearly having trouble with the weight of the box but he eventually got it. "Hooo."

"Hey, Elma, this is the box for the Girl Scouts."

"Don't ignore me for some stupid girl scout cookies!! I'm still talking here, who the hell complained about me?! HUH!?"

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid that's classified information."

"Why is this yelling buffoon still here?"

"Noah, that's so rude." That's what Elma said but she was clearly trying to hold back a giggle.

The thug trying to read from anger and embarrassment. Another man beside him, slightly taller but thinner, smacked the glass and yelled, "Answer him, you cowards! If you got the balls to laugh at him then come out and fight us."

"Does he really think that kind of taunting would get us out? How dumb." Noah was clearly the braver and more carefree one of the bunch. Everyone else just glared at them.

Zeeth watched with curiosity. He noticed that the humans looked a little scared and it was clear with a single look that this guy was threatening them.

"Hey, can you back up if you're not doing anything? I need to get my card."

The gruff man peered at him over his shoulder and noticed how tall Zeeth was, but under all the slimes covering his muscles and the robe hiding his body, he looked rather scrawny to others. After sizing him up and down, he decided that Zeeth was weaker than he was and yelled, "HAHAHAAA! LOOK AT THIS MORON!" he looked over at his goons and they all chuckled with him.

He grabbed Zeeths robe and said, "You wanna say that again? To me, the great Igno? You can get your card after I get mine."

"Hey! Get your hands off, leave your fights outside the walls!" a security guard pointed a long, hollow pole at him and aimed it straight at his head.

"Alright, alright." he let Zeeth go, who was about to punch him in the face with the force of about 3 slimes and said to them, "I will ask one more time. Give me my money and badge."

"We've done these tons of times before, Igno. It's still no."

"Fine. But, you. Little kid." he looked straight at Zeeth. "I'll be seeing you again." he burst out the door with a loud kick and walked away.

Elma turned to him and asked, "so you're looking for a new card? Have you got one before?"

"No."

"Ok, I'll get you a form for a new one right now."

"Actually, I'm looking for someone named Julorus."

Elma looked up really fast, "Why?"

He handed her a piece of parchment just like Afir had told him to and she read it real quick. Her eyes widened and she hit a button on the wall attached to a speaker and said, "Julorus, there is a V.I.P. customer here to meet you."

A muffled and lagged voice replied, "come in."

"Right this way, sir." she opened the door to the back and led him through. This hallway was another long dark stretch, there had to be some kind of conference between these guys to make this. He reached a brightly lit room where a robot sat at a chair. The left hand was two fingers made to slide the paper off a heap of them and the right hand made to stamp things. Its right arm was filled with black ink and it finally stamped its last paper and looked up at him.

A cylindrical head turned up and smiled. "May I see the letter?" it took the letter with its left hand and said, "Zeeth, I see. Alright, I think I can get you a rank 3 card."

"What that? And how did you know all that? The letter just says to let me see you and a signature."

"Hahaha, Afir, and I had a lot of secret codes that we add into our letters. If he says that you're strong enough to be a rank three, then you're strong enough to be a rank three. May I see your stamp too? I see I see. Safe, secure. You can be my personal delivery boy. I pay really well, you know?"

"Sorry, not really interested."

"Alright, then. I'll still need to test you for the procedure. Here, step on this. Yes, make sure to keep your legs and arms close to your sides. Yup." he stepped onto a small circle and it sent him out of there, just like how he was teleported around at the Vasaleus. He was sent to a massive underground gym with reinforced walls and he was asked to show him his strongest move.

Zeeth knew this guy was trustworthy, but he didn't mention anything about slimes so he didn't want to show him his slimes. Julorus summoned a few stone golems that seemed to be made up of old golems he made before. Zeeth punched and kicked them, easily destroying them with his slime powered attacks.

Julorus kept summoning stronger, bigger, and more golems until Zeeth was tired out. He even had to resort to a few weak water shots but he maxed out at the fifth wave, just allowing him to be a rank three license holder.

"could you explain the ranking system?"

"of course. there are letter rankings, these are the general rankings. it goes from A to F, A being the rank of the strongest heroes and F being the weakest. each letter ranking is divided into 5 parts, from 1 to 5. F1 is a higher ranking than F5, although not by much. you are a rank C5. but more importantly, you have a water attribute and a strength skill? Do you know your talent?"

"...what? What's a talent?"

"Oh! The letter did say you didn't know much about the world, but I didn't know you were so clueless. Well, let me explain in a video. I have compiled the best videos to teach you the basics. An attribute is your aptitude for a certain element. The most basic ones are things like water, fire, dirt, and stuff like that. You seem to have a closeness to water, and your skill is a strength buff?"

"Yeah, a body and muscle enhancement."

"Talents are things that only a few people have. It can be awoken at any time in your life, from a newborn to being on the edge of your life. From studies, it seems that they can be stimulated with extreme emotions. When activating your talent, there may be a long wait time when your body goes through a moment of change.

You would be unable to move as your body adjusts to your new ability. The longer it takes for your body to adjust, the generally stronger the ability. Many talents might be a little affected by your body's attributes and skills, but it can be something totally different too. I assume you don't have your talent yet? Not everyone gets it, only about 30% of the population have talents to activate. Perhaps you won't even get one, but don't worry you'll be with 70% of the world."

"Oh, uh. Thanks?"

"No problem."

"What's your talent?"

"Silly goose. I'm a magic robot artifact controlled by someone. I don't have a talent. Although my limbs can be detached and new ones and be attached. I can also show you examples of impressive talents."