I wanted to win. I truly wanted to win. If I had won, then maybe it would have gotten a high rank, which means it would have been faster for me to get to Lunae Lumen. Am I this weak? I then thought back on the cult attacks, and how I lost to Stratford, how Issak died. Maybe if I was a bit stronger. The frustration came to me, as I slowly dragged myself back to the sitting area. Alberto seemed to notice my depression. He tapped his hand on my back as I sat down right next to him.

“ He’s stronger than anyone you have ever met,” He tried to console me, but I wasn’t exactly listening. Fayette was called up next, but I was so deep in thoughts that I wasn’t even paying attention. Ever since Issak died at the cult attack, I was obsessed with getting stronger. I wanted to get stronger so I could fight back against the cult and take revenge. I wanted to become stronger to save Chelsea and Vesper from the cult. I wanted to become stronger so that I could prevent another attack. My thoughts diverted to Chelsea. Is she even in Cevine? But if she was still on the island Goodwin should have been able to find her. I hoped I could find both of them at Cevine. Fayette flew back up to the arena, sweating from the exam. I walked over and sat next to Fayette as the examiner called Elen, the last examinee.

“How did you do?” I asked Fayette.

“Not very well, I am a mage but I don’t have any offensive spells, so most of the time I just enchanted myself to dodge his attacks.” She said, still catching her breath from the exam. The exam was extremely favorable to Warriors and offensive Mages, but not very much for Healers and Controllers.

“What did the arena change to for you?”

“Did you not see it or something? It was a waterfall and a river. I kept trying to fly around to avoid him knocking me over and drowning me in the waterfall.” She said, heavily breathing as she relieves the moment. “I hate this place!”

I expected that. She seemed to lose her patience too quickly, and she also seemed to be lacking fight experience. A scream ringed out from the arena as the examiner struck the blade away from the last examinee. The examiner then told her to get back to the sitting arena as he walks out the door to where the main hall was. She walked back up to the sitting area and slowly sat down. The receptionist came into the arena and walked up to the sitting area while clapping her hands without an expression on her face.

“The exam is over. Please follow me to the office where you will be given your results.”

Everyone then stood up. Even though my performance was disappointing, to say the least, I was still excited to see where I stand as an adventurer. Everyone was no less excited, even Alberto seemed to be anticipating this. He also had a nostalgic look on his face, like he has been through this before. Fayette was flying around with a smile on her face, and she eventually landed on my shoulder. The arena has connected a hallway with many different rooms. Communication room, quest verification room, meeting room… This place reminded me of the Quiver Mercenary’s hideout. We also had rooms similar to this, but our hideout was not as big as this fortress of a guild. The floor was filled with red carpet, highlighted by the lights of fancy candles on the wall. A fancy place for a guild. When Alberto first mentioned adventurers, I always thought of wooden dusty floors with fights happening all the time. The receptionist eventually led us into a room with a sign that says Examination Results. The examiner was in the room, waiting for us. The walls were largely decorated with painting portraits of famous adventurers, The Hero of The East, Taju Rebina, an elf with a longbow on his back. The King of Beasts Bartolo Girao, a lion beastman, Zusu Maon, The Deadly Fists, Leoy…My observation was disrupted when the examiner spoke up.

“Congratulations on completing the exam, you will now be given your badges. Each badge will have a color on it, which represents your power. The colors range from Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Ruby, Emerald, Diamond, and Adamantine. However, these are not the only ranks that are available to you. If you reached beyond human capabilities, you will be given a rank called Mythril, like the people on the paintings around you. I will give each of you a box with your name on it, if there isn’t a badge in it, that means you have failed the exam.” He explained to us in his large but deep voice. Hopefully, I made it to gold. He then handed each of us a box, with our names written in fancy letters in gold. Did they custom-make these boxes? No wonder why we had to wait such a long time for the exam. I thanked him as he gave me the box, and hastily opened it. The feeling of anticipation came over me, it was like the first time I got to wield a weapon. I opened the box, it was… Silver. Silver. If I were to say I was not disappointed, that would have been a lie. I looked over to Alberto, he got gold! How did he get gold and I did not? I was a little jealous of him, but when I looked at the tiny bronze medal that Fayette had, I felt a bit appreciated for what I got.

“HOW COULD THIS BE? THERE MUST HAVE BEEN A MISTAKE!” A voice yelled out

from behind me. It was Abros’s, as he threw his empty box into the ground. “THERE WAS NO WAY I DID NOT PASS THIS, I DEMAND AN EXPLANATION!”

The examiner walked to him with his hands folded in his chest. He looked down to Abros with dangerous eyes. “ You did not have the aptitude, come back when the 2 months cooldown is over.” He said in a warning tone. Abros couldn’t say anything back, so he just backed down. “As for the rest of you, you can now take quests of your rank or lower or one rank higher. However, if you do a higher-ranked quest, you will need a party with at least 1 person of that rank.”

He walked past us to the door as he prepared to walk out. “Also, one more thing, welcome to the Lumen’s Adventures guild.”