Sacrifice: Time of Mine

The next morning.

"So you're not going to come?" Naron asked as he was peeking his head into the door.

"I'll come, just open that door and I will be there later." Avion said. 

"Oh, alright, I guess you can stop time, we'll see you there." Naron then moved backward to give way.

"Okay"

Naron, Temon, and Fobo who were outside of their small house heard Avion's reply. After a moment, they looked at each other before Temon asked, "Is he gone?" he then peeked and just saw an empty room.

"Yep, he should be there now." Temon said. His voice was being covered by the cacophony of shouts created by the usual breakfast war.

The three looked at the fight and thought to themselves, 'Are we like that before?' as they went on their way. They couldn't imagine being like that just for breakfast.

"Hunger does make you crazy, huh..." Fobo said.

"Oh" the two looked at him and nodded in understanding, "So that's why..."

"Eh? Why am I getting hurt even though I don't understand it?!" Fobo gave a sour expression.

While they exit the slums, the men were looking at them with green faces. It hurts their little remaining pride every day to see that the ones they truly mocked before were now ahead of them.

Feeling like this, sweat and blood were getting sprinkled over the soil road. 

"Eh? That handsome boy is not coming again?" an old lady who was calm handing out the bread and soup said.

Hearing this, Tamya's expression saddened.

"This is the third day he didn't come to eat." the old lady continued.

"Come on, let him be. I heard that they have a job now." Tamya sighed, wanting to forget about it. She had been thinking about Avion for the past few days. However, she could only repress her thoughts.

"I'm sorry, you're right, you're right." the old lady just smiled in understanding...

"Mettany"

Guild Master Gon called inside his office. Soon, a youthful woman with silver short hair and glasses entered the room.

"Yes, Guild Master?" her face was stone cold.

"Look at this." the Guild Master was currently sitting behind his desk and several scrolls were in laid out beside each other on the desk. There were two kinds of scrolls there. There were either big or small. These were Appraisal Scrolls and Fine Appraisal Scrolls.

Mettany's brows furrowed as she was curious about what was happening. With hastened steps, she walked to the Guild Master's side. Even though Guild Master Gon was sitting, a little bit more and he's as taller than the standing Mettany.

"Here" he pointed at the first scroll.

Mettany didn't speak and just followed the Guild Master's finger. She was normally like this. Her words were rarer than gold.

Following where the Guild Master was pointing, it was the series of random numbers after the words [Rank Level] and on top of it was [Avion Teller]

All of the scrolls are like that. It seemed like they kept Avion's records of the appraisal.

"Now, looked at this." the Guild Master then casually pointed at the second appraisal, "See any difference?"

Mettany looked at the two different scrolls and shook her head.

"Look at the others as well and see if there's any difference."

Mettany took her time looking at each and every scroll on the desk. The further she looked and compared, the more expression she had on her face. At first, her brows were getting tighter and tighter. In the next moment, her jaw was lowering while having a face of disbelief. In the end, she had a completely shocked expression.

"I.... I see no difference." Mettany's jaw shuddered, at the same time, her face was becoming red.

"If these scrolls were broken by the appraisal, do you think such coincidence should occur?" even the Guild Master who noticed this from the very start couldn't hide his puzzled expression.

"No, that shouldn't be. There's no difference until the end. Even in the Fine Appraisal Scroll, the numbers were longer but... every number is the same!" Mettany couldn't help but exclaim.

"....." the Guild Master paused for a while before whispering, "Do you think the appraisal never failed?"

"...." Mettany looked at the Guild Master and was speechless, only after a while did she say, "If Avion's power had really reached this point, then shouldn't the normal Appraisal Scroll not work?"

The Guild Master pondered and replied, "But those are just rumors. I also heard even a Rank Es can use the normal Appraisal Scroll. We just don't use it because Rank Bih and above has more information and variables that the normal Appraisal Scroll doesn't recognize."

Mettany opened her mouth but couldn't say anything when they suddenly heard a knock on the door.

"Guild Master? It's me, Avion."

"Come in" the Guild Master signaled Mettany and she nodded. She then took all the scrolls while Avion comes in.

The door opened and entered Avion. 

"How long have you been there?" Guild Master Gon asked as he stood up.

Avion's eyebrows raised while he walked to one of the couch in front of the desk, "Why do you ask?"

The Guild Master just pointed at Mettany who was organizing the scrolls to one of the cabinets which Avion understood and replied, "Just a little while ago. I heard you two were talking so I waited first."

Guild Master Gon nodded. Due to these kinds of stances that he was eventually at ease towards Avion. When he learned that Avion's father may be the mysterious Lord Sorcerer, a heavy pressure fell upon him. But now, he no longer feels that way.

"Actually, what we were talking is about you."

"Oh?" Avion showed an expression of interest.

Meanwhile, after organizing the scrolls, Mettany tried not to look at Avion as she tried breathing deeply. The Guild Master wants Mettany to get used to being around Avion. She had done this before, although this time, the difficulty is unfathomable.

"Since the appraisal doesn't work, why don't we try looking at your raw power to estimate your Rank?"

Avion clasped his hand with a smile and said, "Oh, that's a great idea." he then lightly laughed. He had been wanting to know if he can be an Elementalist or not. However, because of the problem during the appraisal, he was stuck. Now that there's progress, he was relieved.

Hearing this, Mettany couldn't avoid rolling her eyes towards the smiling Avion.

After looking at Avion for a whole second which seemed like an hour to her, she failed to hold it in.

"Avion!" her face became perverted as she jumped towards him.

The Guild Master just sighed and easily pulled her away, 'There's still a long way to go.' he thought.