Celestial Era: The Rise of the Full-Time Enhancer

An old man with a monocle on his left eye entered the waiting room and nodded at the two. He's the third person to pass the first test.

Anyway, it seems that Cedric wasn't good at handling a conversation with an old man as he kept silent and didn't even bother to introduce himself as he did to Vincent.

After several minutes, another old man with long silver hair and a slim body followed. He was actually so slim that Vincent was worried that he might just collapse while walking.

Soon, the four Appraisers of the Auction House entered.

"From the standard that we set for the first test, only the four of you have passed. However, we can only accept three..." Olivier said. Though he can bend the rules if he wanted to, he decided to just go according to their plans for now.

On the other hand, Dylan and Maurice looked nervously at the person they assisted to get the position.

They miscalculated the number of people who could actually pass the first test!

"Ehem… I think that Vincent has a very suspicious background. It may sound too harsh but we can't accept him at this rate." Dylan suddenly said which allowed Maurice to gain the courage to speak up.

"That's right! We can't accept Vincent! Ah—" Noticing that he was almost shouting, he immediately closed his mouth and took a deep breath before continuing.

"I mean, the three others here have good backgrounds and nothing suspicious at all. Cedric is from the Schuman Family, Old Gray is from Golden Sword Bank, and Sir Hammer is from a reputable Merchant Organization."

Therese just remained silent after hearing the two. If they will indeed consider the background of the applicants, those three seem to have clean ones and are very easy to validate.

As an Appraiser, there are cases where they might get tempted into providing fake appraisals to obtain the item themselves for a lesser price. There are even cases that Appraisers would replace the item completely if they were given chance.

This is why the background of the appraisers is extremely important for them. Especially for the Guardian's Auction House which has the best reputation in the field.

However… skills are still important!

"Hmmm…"

Olivier then looked at Therese to find out whether she has the same opinion.

After noticing his gaze, she provided her stand on this matter.

"We are not in a hurry… We still have plenty of time to decide so it's a bit too rash if we just send Vincent away. Why don't we continue the second test instead?"

Dylan and Maurice didn't like her suggestion at all as they immediately opposed it.

"The second test is about appraising Mana Arts Manual and grading them properly. I don't think that he deserves this."

"That's right… Why don't we just proceed with confirming his background instead?"

Maurice and Dylan seem to have made a secret agreement as they helped each other. Apparently, they aren't confident that the person they assisted could properly pass the second test since Olivier was the one who prepared this.

Aside from that, there might be a chance that the Mana Arts Manual Olivier brought is valuable, so showing their reluctance to provide it to a person whose identity is questionable should be understandable.

Unfortunately, Olivier didn't fall for it.

"Let's not focus on the young man's background for now." Olivier said as he brought out a stone tablet from his bag.

It is not that big with only the size of a normal plate. However, it is engraved with some writings and even the three Resident Appraisers found it interesting.

"Let's begin the second test." Olivier decisively ended the two's opposition by continuing the test.

"I will give each of you 5 minutes to appraise this Stone Tablet. As Maurice said, this is indeed a Mana Art and I want you all to understand what it is."

Seeing that no one has any questions, Olivier called Vincent to start.

"I'll appraise it then…" Vincent said as he touched the engravings on the stone tablet before he activated his appraisal skill.

Ding!

Vincent heard the familiar sound as he read the content of the message slowly. He couldn't help but get curious after reading it!

'This Mana Art is interesting… I wonder why he decided to reveal this thing.'

As Vincent reached this thought, he also recalled that this might not be as simple as it is. He's just lucky that his system is working wonders.

The others might have difficulty understanding the Stone Tablet which would not be surprising at all.

'Right, there are only about a hundred text engraved on it. Even if people can read it, understanding it is still another matter.'

After he appraised the item, he decided to try to understand it without the help of his system since he still has some time.

Vincent carefully looked at every corner of the stone tablet and read the mysterious riddles on it.

That's right, the Manual itself wasn't a step-by-step instruction on how to learn the skill but it was hidden in a riddle that Vincent couldn't understand himself.

It was like he was reading a poem or a mantra… If Olivier didn't mention that it's a Manual Art, he wouldn't think of it at all.

"I'm done appraising it…" Vincent said as he stepped back.

Soon, the three others also carefully checked the Stone Tablet.

After the four of them finished appraising the item, they were given a paper to write the result of their appraisal.

After several more minutes, the second test finally concluded.

Unfortunately, the two old men that were assisted by Dylan and Maurice didn't understand the tablet at all.

"Senior Olivier… Isn't this a bit too hard? I still remember my test before and it wasn't this hard." Maurice said seeing that Old Gray, the one he assisted, was unable to understand the stone tablet at all.

"T-that's right… I think that it's too much. This is quite a high level after all. As Junior Apprentice, they won't be appraising this level of items anyway." Dylan nodded.

Nevertheless, because of their constant excuses, Therese could no longer remain silent.

"Isn't this the best way to determine their skills? If all of them failed, we can consider doing another test. However, two of them managed to realize the real value of this stone tablet, isn't that more important?"

"Hahaha! That's right! I'm actually impressed. It's been a while since I saw some young and talented appraisers. Although Gray and Hammer have acceptable skills considering the first test, these two young men just outshined them thoroughly." Olivier laughed heartily after reading Cedric and Vincent's papers.

"I have decided… We'll accept the two as our New Appraisers…" Olivier said while looking at Vincent and Cedric.

He then proposed for the two old men to still work in the Auction House as Guest Appraisers.

Thanks to that, Maurice and Dylan could no longer oppose. Of course, they still raised their suspicions about Vincent's background.

"You two, follow me…" Olivier said to Vincent and Cedric as he brought them to the internal hall of the Auction House.