Chapter 5

When Andro placed his palm on the device, the people around couldn't help but watch him closely. The first flame symbol appeared instantly, followed by a second one.

When the third flame symbol appeared, someone exclaimed in shock, "Late-stage! A late-stage Body Temperer!"

The boy had actually broken through to late-stage after going out for a bit.

"Did he really break through just by stepping outside?" someone asked in exasperation.

"Nonsense! He must have been hiding his real strength!" someone else interjected.

Flora, standing next to Andro, stared at the device in disbelief, then turned to him. "Sir..."

"Wait!" Andro smiled and fully channeled his fire elemental power.

A fourth flame symbol appeared on the device.

The entire hall erupted in chaos. All the eyes were directed at Andro, filled with disbelief.

"Peak-stage Body Tempering before eighteen!"

"Who is he? An illegitimate son of the City Lord?"

Gasps and whispers filled the hall.

A man in formal attire approached and extended his hand toward Andro. "Hi, I'm Henry Schwartz, the director here."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Schwartz!" Andro shook his hand.

"May I have a word with you in private?" Henry was incredibly polite.

Given his status, he rarely appeared, let alone treating a stranger so politely, but Andro's appearance had sparked an unprecedented warmth from him.

Andro nodded.

"This way, please," Henry smiled, then turned to Flora. "You should come with us."

Flora had been attending to Andro this whole time, so it would be appropriate for her to keep doing so.

The three entered an empty VIP room. After sitting down, Henry said, "Flora, please make a cup of coffee for Mr. Cunningham."

Flora hurried to the side and got busy.

Andro smiled. "Mr. Schwartz, there's no need to be so formal!"

As a teenager, being addressed as "sir" and "Mr." by someone so much older than him felt a bit awkward, plus he could tell that Henry was a Martial Artist.

Henry chuckled, "In that case, I'll just call you Andro.

"I brought you here mainly because you're now eligible to receive a reward of $45,000 due to your recent verification. That's not a small amount, so I have to handle it personally.

"But don't worry, it'll only take a few minutes!"

Flora returned with a cup of coffee.

Upon hearing what Henry said, she cast a surprised glance at him.

The process of issuing rewards to Martial Artists followed a protocol. Once confirmed, it usually didn't require the director's involvement, even if the amount was $45,000.

Henry caught Flora's glance and gave her a meaningful look.

Of course he didn't need to handle it personally, but Andro was someone worth knowing, given his remarkable talent.

"Sounds great!" Andro nodded.

He was surprised with the amount. They must have stacked the rewards for late-stage and peak-stage together.

Henry smiled and typed something on his computer. Moments later, Andro's phone chimed with a deposit notification.

"By the way, Andro, you're a high school senior, right?" Henry suddenly asked.

"That's right, I go to Rovechester High!" Andro confirmed.

"Rovechester High? What a coincidence! I graduated from there too."

The two exchanged pleasantries.

Andro then asked, "Mr. Schwartz, if a dual-element cultivator verifies, do they receive additional rewards?"

Hearing this, Henry was stunned, while Flora flinched and turned to Andro in surprise.

She was starting to become familiar with Andro's behavioral patterns. If he asked such a question, there was a good chance he might actually be a dual-element cultivator.

"Actually, there's no extra reward for dual-elements in the protocol," Henry replied, shaking his head.

"Although dual-element cultivators are rare, it's too hard and too time-consuming to cultivate two elements at once, so the official stance is to discourage dual-element cultivation."

After all, dual-element cultivation required sensing two elements, which doubled the time needed and greatly slowed overall cultivation speed.

Thus, the official recommendation whenever a dual-element cultivator appeared was to focus on one element first and consider the other once the first one hit a bottleneck. This was why there was no specific reward for dual-element verification.

"Are you a dual-element cultivator, Andro?" Henry asked, suddenly realizing.

Andro merely took a sip of coffee without answering.

Given there were no extra rewards, he saw no need to reveal that detail about himself. Keeping it hidden could serve as an ace against the Zeller family in the future.

Since Andro remained silent, Henry could not figure out whether he was a dual-element cultivator or not, but he did not dwell on it and began looking for other common topics.

Half an hour later, Andro stood up and said, "Mr. Schwartz, please keep the details of my verification a secret for the time being."

Many in the hall had witnessed his verification, but since they didn't know him, word would not spread that far. He wasn't ready to bring attention to himself yet.

"No problem. However, your information has been uploaded to our computer system, so the Rovechester higher-ups will notice sooner or later."

The information of every verified individual would eventually be compiled, creating a personal record.

"That's fine!" Andro waved dismissively, then left the room.

Flora offered to walk him out, but he declined.

After Andro left, Flora couldn't help but remark, "Mr. Cunningham is the most talented person I've ever seen! Compared to him, Kendrick Zeller is nothing!"

Henry nodded. He thought so too. Peak-stage Body Tempering before turning eighteen—there were probably very few cases of that in all of Rovechester.

However, he cautioned, "You shouldn't say that publicly."

"I understand," Flora responded, "Mr. Cunningham wants us to keep his details confidential, so I wouldn't dare tell anyone. But I feel like Mr. Cunningham might have a grudge against Kendrick Zeller!"

"Why do you say that?" Henry asked, surprised.

He knew about the Zeller family. Even he wouldn't recklessly offend them.

He knew almost all the powerful and influential families in Rovechester, and the Cunningham family was not among them. He could also tell from Andro's clothes that Andro didn't belong to a wealthy household.

Henry found it puzzling as to why Andro would have an enemy in Kendrick Zeller.

"Earlier, Mr. Cunningham was about to leave after purchasing a Beast Crystal when the city announcement blared.

"When he heard Kendrick Zeller's name, he changed his mind and decided to get verified again. So, I think he revealed his true strength because he didn't want to lose to Kendrick Zeller!"

She could tell that Andro was a very low-key person. If it weren't for that announcement, he likely wouldn't have come back to get verified again, and everyone would just assume he was merely a middle-stage Body Temperer.

Actually, she was overthinking it. Andro's primary motive was money.

Henry thought her assumption made sense. A flicker of interest crossed his eyes. "So he has a grudge against the Zeller family…"

If that were the case, he mused, perhaps he could take a bit of a gamble.

"Flora, send someone to investigate the grudge between Andro and the Zeller family. Be as thorough as possible and make sure it's done discreetly!" Henry ordered.