Galaxy's First Ruler

Aldrich slowly but steadily followed the hustling crowd.

At every turn, he saw either signposts or a Dreamer above Common Rank, guiding all candidates towards the Instruction Hall. From the way all kept going out of the building, he realized that this Instruction Hall wasn't truly a Hall.

He also noticed that not all the candidates were newbies. There were many Rare Ranked Dreamers, and even though he couldn't see, Aldrich could sense a few Barons among these candidates, too.

Not all the candidates had creatures with them. Among those who didn't have them, Aldrich had distinguished two groups. One who had their back straight, and the other who had a worrisome look on their faces.

'Hmm, it seems the first group also has those creatures but they have yet to take them out…'

Aldrich thought, putting the second group in the category who didn't have such creatures altogether. There were many things for which Aldrich couldn't guess anything. Like the triangle insignia, significance of dots, presence of creatures, among many. It was a disadvantage any survivalist faced when thrown into a random environment.

Aldrich knew things would be revealed soon, but he wanted them to reveal sooner than later. The stakes he had put by being here were high, higher than his life and death.

-OK! Form a line. All candidates are required to cancel their Summoning and put their Items, if any, in their Inventory-

Aldrich adjusted his eyes and saw a woman of average height standing at the end of the corridor. Her red hair was tied in a beautiful fluffy bun, and her black eyes were full of vigor. Unlike a few two dotted Dreamers standing around her, she didn't have dots within her triangle's insignia.

Aldrich saw three pupil-less eyes outside the triangle on its three edges. For the first time, Aldrich found something that he had seen before. And probably most of the Dreamers of the Galaxy, outside the Barren Earths, must have seen this insignia once or twice in their lives.

This insignia belonged to the most venerated organization of the fourth kingdom. An organization that had been standing almost shoulder to shoulder with the Royal Family in terms of respect and honor.

This organization's name was… N.I.K.E.

With this, Aldrich at least confirmed that he was in the Kingdom of Life-Authority. He also confirmed his theory that there was a woman behind the announcement that had taken place in that small room. Aldrich cared little about this lady's Rank, but seeing that she was just on the verge of Ranking up, he could guess she was the overseer of this event.

Aldrich followed the line, and one step at a time, he moved towards the arched door at the end of the corridor. Whenever a Dreamer passed through it, a wave of Mana passed through him/her, like a scan. Aldrich also saw the overseeing lady eying the watch in her left hand.

Just as this "scan" got completed, a holographic image of the candidate appeared over the watch. Besides the lady, Nellie was standing with some kind of rectangular metallic device in her hands. Just as this holographic image appeared, a card came out of this device. The lady nodded, seeing the card, and handed the card to the Dreamer.

'This…'

In one moment, Aldrich had found out many things from these actions.

'So this is the purpose of these Mana rich clothes…'

Indeed, it was as Aldrich had come up with. The closest word to describe this process was Mapping. First, the arched door was scanning the Dreamers and amplifying the result using the white uniform. Then the holographic image was mapped with the stored information in the rectangular device, generating an ID card.

Aldrich wasn't worried about this slight nuisance. He didn't know why, but he knew who had sent him here. It would be the joke of the century if he was to get apprehended without even knowing the purpose of all this.

It didn't take long for Aldrich's turn to come up. But within his mind, it may as well have come after decades. Every small step he took brought fresh torture, transcending the last pain which had yet to fade away.

Aldrich stood just a step away from the arched door and observed the sophisticated design. Even without knowing the instruments, Aldrich could make a primary list of principles on which this kind of scanning device worked. If given a chance to let his Perception run amok, Aldrich could even find things that even the maker hadn't thought of implementing within it.

But even though he wanted to spread out his Divine Sense, he couldn't do it here. First, all over the place, signposts were telling the Dreamers not to use Perception within this place. It was much like the time of the ceremony. Nobody liked that tingling feeling of some freak eying their inner garments, especially when it came to the matter of girls.

Second, and even graver, was the reason related to his Stats. Aldrich had learned how to bring all his Divine Sense within him, from Sha's memories of the Devil doing so. But he couldn't control it. And even if he could, with his half-dead state, Aldrich didn't know what would happen to him if he was to use the full extent of his Divine Sense.

"You! Are you deaf?!"

A shout brought Aldrich to his senses, and he found Nellie almost towering over him. Without answering, Aldrich slightly shook his head in response. Nellie harrumphed and continued.

"Humph! Then put this cane in Inventory."

Aldrich was about to speak when the lady took a step towards him. She crouched and touched the cane before narrowing her eyes at Aldrich. She returned to her position and called out.

"Leave it."

"But teacher…"

The teacher gave a harsh look to Nellie, cutting her off. But then her eyes became gentle, and she pointed out.

"Always look closely at things before acting on your thoughts, Nel. This cane isn't an Item. It's just an ordinary cane."

Nellie gave Aldrich a baffled look, finding no sense in having an ordinary thing on a Dreamer. Aldrich nodded at the teacher and walked under the door. Soon a waterfall of Mana fell on him, going through his every pore and sending the feedback.

As he saw his holographic image getting formed on the watch, and a card coming out of the device in Nellie's hands, Aldrich thought.

'Hmm! Let's see what they will be calling me for the coming future…'