There were four of them in total, three of them wearing Vintess uniforms and one that wasn’t. Looking at them as they got closer, it was safe to assume they were three or four years older than me.

“Hey, kid, aren’t you a little too young to be here?” The one in the font called as he sat down next to me. His tone didn’t sound anywhere near like he was concerned for my well-being, but he was one of the ones wearing a Vintess uniform, so I responded, wanting to see where this conversion went.

Is this an attempt at bullying? Or maybe they want to recruit me into their little clique?

I heard Rye snicker, ‘Whatever it is, hopefully they can put a dent in that bossy attitude of yours.’

Ignoring Rye, I responded to the boy. “The receptionist asked the same thing, sir, but I believe I'm ready.” I tried to make my voice and way of talking submissive, as that always seemed to work on people like this.

He chuckled as he looked at his friends, who took seats around us. “How old are you, boy?”

“I’m nine.”

It was silent for a moment, but soon enough they busted out laughing.

“Jared, you commoners are a funny bunch, I can tell you that.” The boy managed in between laughs, turning to the only one in the group without a uniform on. “I mean, the boy gets one glimpse of mana and thinks he can become an adventurer, it's hilarious.”

Turning to Jared I could see he wasn’t laughing with the others, “Come on, Kent, lay off the brat, he’ll find out soon enough at the assessment.”

“Why would the examiner have to weave him out then, when he obviously doesn't belong here now?” Kent responded.

“Kents right, Jared,” The girl of the group said, “He said he’s only nine, so he probably awakened not too long ago, and most likely hasn’t had any training. It’s best for him just to leave now to save himself the embarrassment.”

“Even if that is true, he stilled paid the fee to get here, so just back off and let him try. Although, I doubt he has anything worth showing.” Jared said.

It almost seemed like he was defending me, but his lack of belief in my skills was obvious.

“She’s right on the embarrassment part, Jared,” The last boy spoke, nudging Jared, “I understand you commoners have to stick together and all, but I heard that the examiners for the assessments are getting more strict by the day, stronger too. They even had to hire some veteran adventures to become ones, and you know how rough around the edges those guys can be.”

“I heard about that too, and a pipsqueak like this kid has no chance of making it.’ Kent said, his arms now crossed. “So like jade said, just save yourself the embarrassment and leave.”

Just as I was about to respond to Kent, a loud clap resounded throughout the room. We all looked down to the stage, where the sound had come from.

Standing on the stage, with a voice-enhancing artifact in hand, was the lone woman I was observing earlier.

“It seems everyone is here now and I can start the introduction. My name is Aithne Cyrus, and I will be your examiner in your upcoming assessment.”

Gasps and mumbles rippled through the staged crowd at the sound of this woman's name.

“It looks like what you heard was spot on, Darrel.” Kent grumbled, “I’ve heard of her, she’s a Gold-rank adventurer and rough around the edges indeed.”

She let the people continue to mumble amongst themselves for a couple seconds, then finally spoke once more, “Yes, yes, you’ve probably heard my name before, but that doesn’t matter now. All that matters is I'm here to inform you of the rules and regulations after you become an adventurer, that is, if you any of you become one.”

Aithne paused and cleared her throat, “First will start with the rankings of adventurers and the system in which you are ranked. Most of you already know them, but I'm required to inform you anyway.

From weakest to strongest they go as follows, Iron-rank, Bronze-rank, Silver-rank, Double Silver-rank, Gold-rank, Double Gold-rank, Diamond-rank, and Platinium-rank. Each rank holds three tiers that correlate to your level in that rank. For example, say someone was was an Iron-rank Tier 3 adventurer. They are in the weakest tier of their rank and can only take jobs that they can handle. As opposed to an Iron-rank tier 1 adventurer who is in the strongest tier of their rank and can take slightly harder jobs that dish out more pay.”

She let her words settle with the crowd before she moved on to the next topic.

I myself had already known of the ranking system for adventures before hand, but the tier system she spoke of was new to me. Whether it was newly implemented, or had always been there, I didn’t know. The idea of it was simple enough to understand, though, so it didn’t take long for her to continue speaking.

“Now, I’ll get to the part that’ll be a pain in my ass. The assessment will be a one-on-one battle against me. I’ll be the one to asses your rank and status in the adventurers guild. Keep in mind, though, the highest I can rank newly admitted adventures is Silver-rank. If any of you do get ranked at tier 1 silver, which I doubt it, you'll be eligible to get a re-assessment after completing a couple contracts in Silver-rank.”

The crowd began speaking again, taking in the information. But she hadn’t mentioned one important thing.

Raising my hand, and speaking loud enough so that everyone could hear, I asked, “When will the assessment be held, and where?”

I heard more than saw Kent look over with a grimace.

Aithne on the other hand, gave a smirk at my question, “I almost forgot the most important part. It will be held two days from now, at the guild dueling arena. If you don't make it you’ll have to go through this whole process again, which includes paying, so be there.”

Aithne walked off the, signifying the introduction was over. Moments later the people in the stages began making their way out.

As I began to move with them, I felt someone grab me by my shirt collar.

“Didn’t we just tell you to give it up, Kid? And you're still asking questions.” Kent fumed, pulling me toward him.

I would be lying if I didn’t say I was confused. Kent’s way of bullying, or whatever you call this, was weird to me and I couldn’t understand it.

I looked at Kent, my glare icy, “I'm taking the assessment whether you like it or not,” I grabbed his wrist, my arm infused with a tinge of mana, and pulled his hand away from me. “Now if you would kindly move out of my way, it would be much appreciated.”

The others looked surprised at my response, but Kent was most of all. He rubbed his wrist, knowing what I had just done.

Infusing certain parts of the body with mana as one wished took a great degree of control, and he, by his expression, knew that.

“Tch, stupid kid.” He turned to walk away, “Come on, Jade, Darrel, we have class tomorrow. Jared, I’ll see you at the assessment.”

As they disappeared out of the door Jared stayed by me.

“I’m sorry about them, eh…” He said, waiting for a name I had never provided.

“It’s Falyn.” I said simply.

“Falyn. You just have to prove our skill to them, then they’ll leave you be.”

I raised a brow, “Is that what you did?”

“Yeah.” he said, shrugging.

“I see.”

“If you really are as confident in your skill as you seem, then you should be fine.” He gave me a wave, “That's all I had to say, kid. I’ll see you at the assessment.”

He too soon disappeared out the door and into the busy guild.

‘That was anti-climatic Rye stressed, ‘I wanted to see the Kent guy get humbled.’

‘Play nice now, Rye. They're just kids, confused about the ways of the world. It’s best to give them the benefit of the doubt, despite his attitude.’

‘Whatever. My ways more fun.’

I began making my way out of the door and into the guild where eyes were met with a myriad of people. ‘Enough of that. I need your help.’

‘With what?’

‘With what to do for the next two days.’