The shock from the punch was so strong that the bolt of magic, which was travelling at a pathetically slow speed, immediately sped up.
"What?" The examiner was bored, felt the pressure in the air, and looked up with wide eyes.
This time, the bolt sped up and finally struck the ball of metal.
Boom!
No sooner had the dark bolt hit the ball of metal, it immediately exploded, bursting into several pieces that flew all over the testing ground.
"You… what did you do?" the examiner could only ask with a shocked expression.
The testing ball of metal shattering; that was not something that he had ever seen till this day in over 10 years of his experience. Even a Grand Magnus would have to use a strong spell to display what this young lad had shown.
Leon, however, had a cheeky grin on his face.
"Did I pass?"
----------------
Back in Gunther's office, the Guild Master stared at the abysmal test report, then at Leon, his face a mask of utter confusion.
"It seems that you passed your test. Though you hit the target on your last attempt, you passed the test."
"So, am I a member of the guild now?" Leon asked excitedly.
Keeping up his professional facade, Gunther pushed a simple bronze adventurer card across the desk. "Welcome to the Guild, F-Rank Adventurer Leon. Do not worry about other things, everyone has to start somewhere."
Leon took the card, gave a respectful nod, and walked out of the office. Ignoring the curious stares of the other adventurers, he walked directly towards the mission board, a look of determination on his face.
His journey as an adventurer had officially, and humbly, begun.
As Leon left, Gunther fell back onto his seat.
'Ming recommended... someone like this? What game is he playing?'
"Sire," Suddenly, he heard an attendant call out to him.
"What happened?" Gunther asked.
"We need your approval to procure another testing ball. Hall number 6 has no testing ball now."
"Huh? An adventurer just tested in that hall. The ball should still be there, right?"
"Errr.. that ball…shattered."
"What?!"
----------------
With the bronze F-Rank card in his hand—a testament to his spectacular "performance"—Leon walked out into the main hall of the Adventurer's Guild. The moment he stepped out of the Guild Master's office, the sharp-eyed receptionist was upon him, her face wreathed in an enthusiastic, professional smile.
"Sir! How did it go?" she asked, her voice loud enough for the nearby adventurers to hear. "With a recommendation like that, I imagine you tested straight into A-Rank, perhaps even S-Rank?"
The crowd leaned in, their curiosity piqued. They had all seen the special token and were eager to witness the debut of a legendary new adventurer.
Leon simply held up his new adventurer card. The simple bronze color and the large, unmistakable letter 'F' were visible to everyone.
The receptionist's smile froze, cracking like cheap pottery. Her eyes widened in stunned disbelief. A moment of dead silence hung in the air before the hall erupted in laughter.
"F-Rank?" a burly warrior roared. "He had a recommendation from a legend and only managed an F-Rank?"
"I've seen stray cats with more mana than that kid!" another adventurer cackled.
The mockery was loud and unrestrained. The receptionist's fawning respect vanished instantly, replaced by a familiar look of scorn. "Oh," she said, her tone dripping with disdain. "An F-Rank."
Leon remained unfazed. "What missions can I take?" he asked calmly.
The receptionist didn't even bother to look at him. She simply jerked her thumb towards the massive corkboard on the far wall. "The F-Rank requests are in the corner. Try not to get lost." She turned her back on him and walked away.
"Hmph! How rude!" Kira huffed in his mind. "First she's nice, then she's mean! Make up your mind, lady!"
Leon just shook his head, a small smile playing on his lips. Ignoring the continued laughter and jeers, he made his way through the crowd towards the mission board.
The board was a chaotic mess of parchment, organized roughly by rank. The higher-ranked quests—A and B—were written on fine vellum, their descriptions speaking of slaying griffons and clearing out lich-infested tombs for rewards in the dozens of gold coins. The lower ranks were scrawled on cheap paper. Leon's eyes scanned the F-Rank section.
Request: Exterminate the dire rats in the Golden Lantern tavern's cellar. Reward: 5 Silver Coins.
Request: Deliver a letter to the West Gate guard post. Reward: 3 Silver Coins.
Request: Gather 10 bundles of common Sun-Herbs. Reward: 4 Silver Coins.
"These are… pathetic," Leon thought, a vein throbbing in his temple. He needed to complete missions for the Alchemist's Guild, but this was a path of a thousand tedious steps.
"Leon, why would anyone do these?" Kira asked from within his mind, her voice laced with confusion. "The rewards are so small!"
"Everyone has to start somewhere, Kira," Leon replied mentally, though he shared her sentiment. This was a grim, slow path to his goal.
Just as he was about to resign himself to a month of rat-slaying, a loud voice cut through the din near the B-Rank section of the board.
"Come on, people! Is there really no one? We just need one more! We're even willing to take an F-Rank!"
The statement drew a few snickers from the crowd. Taking an F-Rank on a high-level mission was unheard of and considered suicidal. Intrigued by the desperation, Leon walked over.
A trio of adventurers stood by the board, looking frustrated. There was a tall, athletic woman with a determined look and a longbow slung over her shoulder; a mountain of a man in heavy plate armor, leaning on a giant axe; and a younger, scrawnier boy in mage robes who was wringing his hands nervously.
Looking for an F-Rank?" Leon asked, his voice calm.
The big warrior, Brom, looked down at him and grunted. "Look what we have here, Lyra. Another twig. He'd probably get blown away by the draft in a crypt."
The woman, Lyra, shot Brom a warning glance before turning to Leon. "You're an F-Rank? You just registered?" she asked, her voice professional but laced with weariness.
Leon held up his brand-new bronze card.
"We need a fourth member to take on a B-Rank quest," she explained, getting straight to the point. "Guild rules. For safety. Our fourth member backed out at the last minute, and we don't have the coin to hire a proper replacement."
"The quest is to clear the Murkwater Crypt!" the young mage, Finn, chimed in excitedly. "The Guild reward is twenty gold, which is decent, but the real treasure is what we can find inside! The crypt is from the Old Kingdom—it's full of forgotten relics and alchemical reagents. Master Thorne pays a fortune for the Gravebloom Moss that only grows in there! We could all be rich!"
"What Finn is trying to say," Lyra cut in, "is that we just need a warm body to fill the fourth slot on the roster. You don't have to fight. You don't have to contribute. Just follow us, stay out of the way, and don't get yourself killed. We do all the work."
"And for your trouble," Brom added gruffly, "you get one gold coin. Easy money for doing nothing."
One gold coin. Leon glanced back at the F-Rank board. All the requests on the board were only for a handful of silver.
The difference was astronomical. Plus, he might just find some items that would improve his standing with the Alchemical Emporium.
"I'm in," Leon said without hesitation.
Lyra let out a breath of relief. "Good. Thank the spirits." She looked him over. "I'm Lyra, this is Brom, and the loud one is Finn. We're meeting at the East Gate tomorrow at dawn. Don't be late."
"I won't," Leon replied, a slight smile on his face.