NOVEL WEB Chapter 104: Guild Examination
This magic is dangerous… However, its mysterious nature makes me want to explore it more. It’s so… strong, so potent. It gives me a euphoria like no other. God truly blessed me on that day, and He continues doing so. To think such power was possible…
Kai sat at the table, looking down at the floor and playing with a pen he pulled out from his ring. The guild headquarters had mostly emptied, leaving a few sleeping people and adventurers who had yet to finish filling up some sort of paperwork. Anxiety rose inside him, and his nerves were on the edge as he waited for a reply. It’s not even that important, yet I’m sweating as if it was exam day…
However, his mood quickly changed as he heard the familiar set of footsteps approach him. Rising his head, he was greeted by the beautiful receptionist, her figure accentuated further now that Kai could see more than her face and upper body. He stood up, and so did Onyx, a nervous smile and a flushed face hiding behind his mask.
“Follow me,” the woman said without going into too much detail, however, her beautiful voice had turned an octave lower, and her tone stricter. Kai gulped and did as told, looking to the side while occasionally glancing at the receptionist.
She hurried her footsteps, rushing through the small crowd and finally arriving before a door, which she swung open. Holding it, she invited Kai inside with her gaze before closing it shut.
Looking around, he only saw darkness, before the room slowly lit up before his very eyes. Light crystals shone brightly one after the other, revealing a very simple environment. A storage cabinet stood to the right, holding several different types of crystals, protected by glass. In the center lay a desk littered with documents and folders, and on either side were two cushioned chairs. Behind the desk, a large canvas painting depicting a lotus flower in full bloom and a mystical green fire burning away at its very core. To the left of the painting was a grandfather clock, which ticked periodically, filling the eerie quiet. Then, farther left, a door leading to another dimly lit room.
The woman’s shoes hit the ground, clopping as she walked toward the cabinet. She picked out a few crystals - A yellow one and a red one, as well as a transparent one. Walking to the desk, the chair scratched the floor as she dragged it back and sat down, gesturing toward the seat opposite her. Kai understood and sat down, quietly waiting for any new orders.
“This exam is simple. We will test how fast you can output mana into each crystal based on the elements you filled out in the form. I see you chose Fire and Light. Are those your only two elements or your two best elements?”
“Uhm, my only elements,” Kai replied in a soft voice. His eyes couldn’t help but wander around the room, its simplistic design striking a contrast to what he had imagined it would be. Although his face wasn’t visible, his hesitant voice and body language gave out more than enough for the woman to discern something was wrong.
“Is something the matter?” She asked, clicking her tongue.
“Well, I expected… something else? Like, a huge crystal sphere where I put my mana in, and at the end, it gives a set of exact numbers that tell my exact ranking… or something.”
The woman looked at Kai with the expression of someone who heard an insane person recount how they killed a dragon. Her pupils widened, and, after letting out a nervous chuckle, said. “Please stop joking, I’ve never heard of such a thing. No, we, the receptionists also count as examiners, so we are the ones who, let’s say, determine those ‘numbers’ of yours. Let’s move on then.”
She let out a light sigh and searched through the stack of papers, finally pulling one out of a large pile. “Take these two crystals and infuse your man into them.” she barked out an order, picking up a pen. Kai stood dazed for a second, then followed her instructions. The crystals' warmth seeped into his skin, sending a warm shiver down his spine. He clutched them in his palms, and sent a bit of mana inside, making them glow.
“Continue, faster.” She ordered again, and he followed the orders as the woman’s gaze fixated on his hands. The crystals glowed even fiercer than before as Kai infused more and more mana into them. Kai’s fingers shook slightly as he gripped them tighter, and sent even more mana to be eaten by the crystals. The red one began burning with a fiery heat, and the yellow one shone as brightly as the ones hanging on the walls.
The receptionist nodded and handed Kai the transparent crystal. “That’s enough, thank you. Please put those aside and inject as much mana as you can, as fast as you can into this one.”
“Mhm.” He mumbled and put the two to the side, picking up the transparent crystal. It’s cold… Holding it in his palm, the contrasting temperature made him shiver, however it wasn’t unpleasant. It felt weirdly comforting. He clutched it as tight as he could, and, without being prompted, bombarded the crystal with all he had. Visible cracks began showing within moments before it broke apart into countless shards which rapidly disappeared into thin air.
Kai didn’t even have time to react as he found himself with an empty hand, the crystal nowhere to be seen. “Uh… I can pay for it… I hope...” He said quickly, turning to the receptionist, only to find her beautiful red lips parted in a gasp.
“Ah? No, it’s alright, that was supposed to happen.” Scribbling down a few notes and checking a box, she mumbled as she pursed her lips.“Fastest, weird…”
Behind the painting, a man rubbed his chin as he watched all this unfold, and smiled to himself as he walked over to his right, waiting for the next examination stage to start.
Inside the room, the woman took a moment to breathe and stood up, signaling for Kai to follow. The regard in her eye changed, however, as she looked at Kai with slightly more respect than before.
He jumped to his feet and followed, accompanied by Onyx. His shallow, timid footsteps hastened as he tried to keep up with the woman. The door welcomed him to yet another room, which quickly lit up just like before. His eyes widened, however, as the contrasting interior revealed itself.
Unlike the other, office-like room, this one felt more like a recreational field. Benches scattered against a smudged, broken wall, and dark fragments littered the ground. Burn marks accompanied them, as well as random holes, and yet have dried puddles. On the opposite corner of where he stood, a large amount of black, shiny puppets-like objects lay in an evenly spaced formation at different distances. Separating him and them was a simple wooden fence, accompanied by a sign onto which the corresponding distance was written.
The woman stopped at the center and waited for Kai to get closer before her lips parted. “This is where we test your actual magic aptitude. The one before was just to test how much mana you can output and at which rate.”
She pointed toward the puppets, a light smile decorating her face. “Now, there are a few qualities we are going to assess during this phase. First, your Magical Strength - That is to say, how strong your current spells are. We determine that by judging the damage done on the ‘Obsidium Puppet’ Afterwa-”
“Obsidium? Not Obsidian?” Kai interrupted, raising an eyebrow behind his mask.
“No, Obsidium is right. The names indeed sound similar but they are two very different materials that only share appearance. For example, obsidian can be used to make weapons, it’s sharp and resistant to several elements, however it is also brittle.
Obsidium, on the other hand, cannot be sculpted, or used for anything else but as a large, heavy shield. Its magic resistance is very high, so it is often used for such purposes. Today, it will be used to discern how strong your current spells are.”
She cleared her throat, breathing softly as she continued: “The examination will have no time limit, you can go until your mana is exhausted or until you think it’s enough. There are nine puppets, each at a different distance. We ask you to use one of your strongest spells on each puppet first, then they will be turned ninety degrees, and you will use another spell. Did you get that?”
“I- yeah, I did.” He said, glancing at the puppets, and he pulled out his wand donned in fire crystals. I don’t know any offensive light spells though…
Glancing at Onyx, who made himself comfortable on a bench, Kai sighed and walked to the first fence. By his eyes, the obsidian puppet, or rather, target, sat at a distance of roughly twenty meters. Not that far, but I guess just for testing it will do.
He turned toward the woman, who positioned herself close by, holding a notepad and a pen. “Ready when you are.”
Kai nodded, faced the target, took a deep breath, cringed at what he was about to do, and raised his wand. Strongest spell… strongest spell…
“O mighty flame God…
The woman raised an eyebrow, her expression changing upon hearing the chant, however before she even had time to react, a ball of fire appeared before Kai. It started at the size of a walnut, then grew to the size of a baby’s fist, and finally stopped when it reached the size of a soccer ball.
Grant me your powerful fire…
The man watching Kai from the shadows gasped, his expression mirroring the woman’s. However, a slight smirk creased his lips as he studied the fireball Kai manifested. Its fire burned with an atrocious hunger. Shimmering waves of hot air fed the fire, which flared and floured furiously toward the target as Kai finished chanting the spell.
Burn my foe, fireball!”
A thundering explosion rang out in the enclosed space as dark fragments shot out like bullets from its center. Dust rose briefly, however, it settled quickly, revealing the remains of the obsidian target. The woman gasped as she rushed over, appearing in front of it in less than an instant, her pupils constricting as the ends of her hair curled backward. “A Rank One Mage did this?” She mumbled under her breath.
Kai rushed over as fast as he could, however, his reaction heavily contrasted with the women's. I only did this much damage? I’m truly weak… He sulked as he waited for his examiner to recover.
The target now had a deep, scorched, spherical indentation. The signs of burning spread a few centimeters above, and some parts of the obsidian glowed with a fierce red light which quickly cooled down. After a few moments, he looked down at the woman, who didn’t seem to be done examining his spell. Clearing his throat, and bringing her back to reality, he asked. “So… did I do well?”
“Huh? Ah, y-yes!” She jumped to her feet and exclaimed, ticking off a box on the piece of paper. “Do you want to move on to the next spell then?”
Kai choked on his spit upon hearing that, and he beat his chest a few times to regain his breath. His face turned as bright as a tomato, which the woman luckily couldn’t see, and a timid voice escaped his body. “I… don’t know many other offensive spells, at least not stronger than this one.”
“Uh?” The woman let out an involuntary exclamation, which made her in turn choke as well. “Excuse me. But… What do you mean? Your best spell is… ‘fireball’?”
He didn’t reply to the question immediately, but instead took some time to think. Looking back my strongest spell was… that. Recalling the image of a large explosion appearing mere centimeters from him, a shiver ran down his spine. The aftermath of that spell had left the area devoid of any mana, at least according to his grandpa. Not using that anytime soon… I’m not even sure I can…
“Mmm… No, I- ‘Fireball’ is truly my strongest spell, that’s why I used it first.”
“Oh, I see…” She replied in an almost disappointed tone, however, her spirits lifted right back up a few moments later. “Right then, if this is all you can show me, please take a seat and I will come back with the results shortly.”
Why did she seem so sad? Damn it, she really thinks I’m a weakling, doesn’t she! Well… perhaps I am.
He nodded and walked out of the field, taking a seat beside Onyx, dejectedly patting his fur. “I don’t know if I’ll be accepted, boy, looks like my magic isn’t good enough.”
“Arf!” Onyx replied in a high-pitched tone and placed a paw over Kai’s head. He chuckled in response to his companion’s attempts to cheer him up and slapped his back a few times in retaliation.
“I’m the human- well I guess I’m the vampire here, you don’t get to pet me!”
“Awou? Grr, arf!” Onyx barked and placed both his paws over Kai’s head, practically climbing on top of him as if to say ‘Who’s the human now, huh?’
“Ah, get off of me, boy! You’re still heavy, the spell didn’t reduce your weight! Argh, get off me fatass!”
Hearing that, Onyx growled angrily and finally put all of his weight on Kai, making him fall to the ground, alongside his companion. “Ow, Onyx, down! Down I say! People can see us.” However, his pleas fell on deaf ears as the canine compatriot kept playfully digging at his chest and lightly biting his arm.
Suddenly, the two froze as a deep voice echoed in their ears, and both of them looked up at the same time to see the man that met them at the entrance earlier. “I was right, it seems like you two have a special bond. Isn’t that right, Ichor?”
Kai jumped to his feet and quickly patted the dust off his clothes, taking a step back at the same time. “Haha, yeah we do Mister… Raymond.”
The man’s lips curled into a soft smile as his eyes looked Kai up and down. The receptionist approached them, her sheepish footsteps halting right behind Raymond. “Here are the results of the short examination, sir.” She said, handing over the notepad to the man.
He nodded, his eyes sparkling as he scanned the surprisingly detailed writing. <
What? She was able to discern all of that just from me inserting some mana into crystals?! Kai’s pupils constricted, goosebumps spreading across his skin as he listened to the man read the detailed report out loud.
The boy rolled his eyes and shook the man’s hand, chuckling. “I guess your marketing strategy worked?”
“Oh yeah definitely, I think I’ve made a good investment.” Raymond laughed as he glanced at the damaged obsidian target. “Excuse me now, I have business elsewhere.” With that said, he took off and disappeared beside a corner, leaving Kai alone with the receptionist and examiner.
Her gaze lingered in the man’s direction, however she quickly snapped out of it and turned to Kai. “Well, the pre- I mean Raymond already welcomed you, so come back tomorrow and we’ll hand over your Guild Identity Card and anything else you may need to get started with.” After saying that, she hurried off into the distance, disappearing after the same corner as the man, her hurried footsteps filled with anxiety.
That was… bizarre. Kai thought to himself but he paid it no mind because he too had to hurry and find lodging.
…
“President… that spell he chanted-” The receptionist’s voice echoed, accompanied by her footsteps echoing in a dimly lit hallway.
“Speak none of it to anyone. That boy… he’s got secrets, and I’m going to find out what he’s hiding. A visible threat is better than an invisible one.” The man barked, his voice lingering as he marched forward.