Villain Retirement

"...Wh…"

The examiner did not really know what to say anymore. The Thundering Tears of the 13th Dragon Mega Sect may not even be considered a fledgling compared to the established sects, just less than a year old. One could say they haven't even seen a thing, but they still rose to prominence in that short span of time, when it would usually take other sects hundreds of years to reach what they have achieved — this was solely because of their matriarch's mysterious domineering strength.

They were new, but they had already seen things that most new sects won't see in a hundred years… and this is probably one of those things.

The black iron slab is universally used to check how much energy one has; the bigger the damage to the slab, the higher one's energy and control was.

And now, an aspiring student of the sect had his entire arm through the thick slab; his hand, casually poking out from the other end.

"Hm…" Riley pulled out his arm from the slab, taking a step back as he looked at the examiner, "...Tell your matriarch you need to invest in higher quality items."

"...What?" The examiner wasn't even realizing the fact that his pen was already overflowing and messing up whatever it was he was trying to write in his book.

"Did I pass?" Riley asked, letting out a small hum as he remembered asking the same thing during the Mega Academy interview.

"Oh, ah… you did," the examiner blinked as he gestured to Riley, "You… you may join those who passed and wait for the next test."

The examiner handed Riley a piece of paper as he stepped off the stage; his steps, probably the only sound that was echoing throughout the large courtyard.

"Did… did you see that?"

"...Was that a prank? Is an Elder pranking us?"

"I want to go home."

"All of you go home."

"What!? I didn't mean that!"

"I don't care, go home. There seemed to be something wrong with the energy slab, go."

"Oh, so that's what it was."

"What? How could something be wrong with it when it's just a stone!?"

"What about our time!? We wasted our time waiting here!"

The examiner started shooing away the remaining people who were still waiting for their turn. Most of them rebuked and complained, but none of them could really do anything as they were forcefully teleported away.

As for those who had already passed the first exam, they were attempting to talk to Riley, but Riley did not really bother even returning their glance. They were all going to die soon in a few days anyway, after all; relatively, they were all dead and there was no use talking with them.

…It would be different if Riley was the one that was going to end them, of course. He would probably spend some time with them to get to know them better before proceeding to erase their lives in front of their loved ones.

"But then again, that's inefficient," Riley whispered to himself, causing those who previously tried to talk to him to slightly lean their heads closer, "I would probably just destroy their planets and get it over with."

"..." The people eavesdropping on him could not help but look at each other; their eyes slightly squinted and wondering if they heard his words right. Was he uttering some sort of secret meditation technique, was that it?

Would they also be able to push their arm through the testing slab if they repeated his mantra?

"Everyone!"

Before they could hear any more of Riley's conversation to himself, however, the large marble stage at the center of the courtyard started to lower into the ground. The examiner who was previously on the stage leaped out and landed in front of Riley and the others.

"It is unfortunate that there are so few of you," the examiner cleared his throat as he started addressing the examinees, "But it couldn't be helped since there was a fault in the 1st test."

"..." Once again, everyone turned to look at each other before subtly resting their eyes on Riley. Was it really a fault on the sect's side, or was this albino in front of them just that strong? Of course, the chance that it was the former was high, close to 99% — but the thing is, they haven't really heard of a single time that an energy slab malfunctioned, not in their civilization's 10,000-year history.

No, there was actually one in their recent history who did the very same thing, and she was the very reason they wanted to join this sect in the first place — The Thundering Tears of the 13th Dragon Mega Sect's matriarch. They have heard of her exploits when she first showed herself to the world.

"Isn't he similar to the matriarch…?"

"Yeah, I heard that when the Thundering Tears of the 13th Dragon Mega Sect's matriarch joined the Fetus Flower Florida Sect, she destroyed their energy slab. And when she finally joined the sect, her seniors started making trouble with her… and she destroyed the sect because of that."

"Really…?"

"Yup. And then she just decided to build her own sect with their remains. It was so hardcore, I still have the footage of the news recorded on my tablet."

"...Are you saying that guy is another—"

"No! Everyone stop talking!" The examiner clapped his hands, causing a ripple to blast across the examinees' faces, "There is no one like the matriarch! Any more talk like that and I will have all of you voluntarily quit the test! There was a fault in the previous test, and that is that!"

"..." Riley did not really mind that they were arguing because of him, he was more curious about the other examinees' conversation. He had actually already heard that story as soon as he entered this universe, and that is why he stayed… coupled with the fact that the sect's name was sort of familiar to him.

"Silence!" The examiner stomped his foot on the ground. And as soon as he did so, the marble stage once again emerged from the ground; this time, however, the black slab was nowhere to be seen, "We will now head on to our next test — Technique Exhibition! The test is as simple as its name, you just have to present any of the techniques you have learned on your own, or from your previous sect. The three of you go first."

"Hm…" Riley curiously watched as 3 of the examinees stepped onto the stage. And as soon as they were all settled, the three of them stood in a stance and started breathing heavily; heavy enough that Riley could hear it even from afar.

And soon, he could see some sort of translucent yellow light veiling their bodies.

"The Seven Seas of Fisting!"

"Roar of the Magnificent Seven-Headed Lion!"

"Fiery Breath of the Heavenly Dragon!"

And there, Riley watched as one of the examinees started summoning blasts of water with his fists… but the blast of water only violently shot out for a meter before just disappearing into thin air.

The other one just screamed, causing the dirt and dust around him to ripple away.

The last one also screamed, but flames burst forth from his mouth… before just turning into smoke after a single second.

Riley was correct — these people will die from the asteroids without even having the chance to fight back.

"What the fuck are you guys even doing!?" The examiner quickly got onto the stage and started slapping the 3 on the back of their heads, "What's with those grandiose names!? I was expecting you to blow up the stage with that kind of technique, but you guys might as well just be blowing fire from your noses! Out, get out!"

And just like that, the number of examinees started to dwindle, with almost half gone; a third of them passing.

"You three, go."

And finally, it was Riley's turn. He first turned to look at the two other examinees on the stage with him, waiting for them to present their technique as he was truly curious how they were doing this although they weren't infected with the supervirus.

"Rock Turtle Slam!"

"Eagle's Talon 2 Hours After Midni—!!!"

One of the examinees waved his hands; his fingers, almost like claws which whistled in the air. Before his fingers could continue to sing, however, Riley suddenly stood in front of him and started looking at his fingers.

"Where is that blast of air coming from?"

"What are you doing!? You're going to get sliced if—" The man's fingers were now only an inch away from Riley's face. Riley, however, just casually stepped away and returned to his position before anything could happen.

"Examinee! What are you doing!?" The examiner quickly pointed at Riley, "If you're just going to play around, then step down and let the others take the test!"

"It is okay, Examiner," Riley shook his head, before also pointing a finger at the examiner, "I will present my technique now…

…Pavoo—"

"Stop! Stop!"

And before Riley could decimate the entire country, a figure suddenly descended from the sky; her robes, almost like wings as they softly fluttered in the air. The figure's landing, however, was anything but soft as it cracked the entire stage.

"Ha! M… Matriarch!" The examiner quickly lowered his head and kneeled.

"...Matriarch?" The examinees, on the other hand, all raised their heads to try and get a glimpse of the matriarch… and her so-called beauty with equa—

"Riley! What are you trying to do!? I knew it was you when I started feeling goosebumps on the back of my head!" The matriarch, however, completely drowned all of their senses as she started screaming without pause.

As for Riley, he really only just waved his hand as the matriarch approached him, "I came to take you home…

…Gracy Gray."

"...Who?"