-Chapter Fifteen-

Qualification

The Sacred Continent spanned hundreds of thousands of kilometres long, of which the Kingdom of Farrien was but a small fraction of, hidden away in the southern tip of the great land. The Capital City Farrien lay isolated in dead centre of the nation in its own region, with the Northern region split into a total of three juritictions all operating under the Aerianne Archduchy at the North. To travel to Sepha, the Northermost city of Farrien, one would have to pass through several other major cities, each with their own, rich economy, thriving in day-to-day shenanigins.

Unlike when they traveled from Dawnbreak back to Farrien, Aelius can’t lead his companions to their destination through any more warp gates. As the City Lord’s son, it was a privildge in his own territory but now he was just another person. They had no choice but to travel via carriage or convoy, but the problem was, Aelius pockets were not infinitely deep. Frankly, he had no money left over whatsoever, but with his plans, he needs all the money he can get. It wasn’t the end of the world however, yet, because he had found himself in such a situation many-a-time in his past life. As he led Aria and Lia to the Northern gate of Farrien, he snuck a glance at the singular pouch of coins dangling on his waist. It was barely enough to last a night at an inn, for the three of them.

“Hah…” he sighed, and Aria noticed his frustration.

“You broke?” she asked with her head tilted to one side and he gave her a stink-eye.

“For now.”

“I’ve got some spare change,” she reached into the deep pockets of her sorceress robe and fished out a pouch of her own before passing it off to him. He quickly opened it up and peaked inside, before giving her a small nod. It doubled about what he already had, so they could make two nights now.

“I’ve got an idea, anyways.” He looked over his shoulder at Lia who was following them with her head down. “It’ll be good practice too.”

“Hmm, okay,” Aria suspiciously answered.

In the flourishing world of the Sacred Continent, mercenary work was heavily relied on, due to the lack of a functioning central government. As such, it had become commonplace for an Adventurer’s Guild to be set up at the entrances of each city, and this particular one in the North, Aelius was very familiar with. Farrien Capital was the central of commerce in all of the Kingdom, and with that came a prestige and pride that newcomers could not arbitraily take part in. The problem would only be worse for a small group of teenagers. It would’ve been different if it was some random, small village out in the middle of nowhere but in Farrien, that was where all the bigshots roamed. Of course, no matter how hard they tried, they could never reach even the heels of the Nobles and the students of the Magic Academy. They were simply two different worlds. Aelius arrived near the northern Gate, and immediately led the two girls in tow down the market street, until he finally spotted a store he was looking for; an apparel store.

“Let’s go,” he gestured to Lia and Aria, taking them into an alleyway between two large buildings where a small opening greeted them, leading into a humble store hidden away. As soon as Aelius entered and the bell at the door rang, he tossed Aria’s pouch onto the counter where the receptionist lazily sat.

“A cloak and mask for each of us,” he said, and the young man behind the counter eyed him with a narrowed gaze for a moment before he inspected the pouch, and then pushed himself to his feet, disappearing out of sight for a brief moment, and returning with a pile of cloaks estimated around their size.

“Do I need one? I already have my robe,” Aria groaned.

“Okay, fine, just one for us two then,” Aelius shrugged and pulled Lia up to the counter. “Let’s see,” he flipped through them and found a black one, dark as night, and a small smile cropped up on his face. “This one’ll be mine, and…” he found a hooded red cloak and raised it into the light. “This’ll do too.”

“What are these for?” Lia asked.

“Protection,” Aelius simply answered and pulled it over her shoulders, giving her a gentle pat. The receptionist quickly reappeared again, with several exotic masks, large enough to cover their entire faces.

“You definitely need one of these though,” he told Aria and she shrugged.

“This is what my spare change is getting spent on, huh,” she remarked off-handedly as she picked out a mask with a light-blue sparrow engraved on it. “I’ll just take this one.” Aelius picked out a classical fox mask for himself, and finallly turned to Lia.

“Pick one,” he offered, and she unsurely browsed through a few of them before settling on one with a crimson rose on it.

“Good. Throw those on, let’s not waste time,” he ordered at them as he put it on, hiding his face entirely, and smiling at them from beneath it. “Looks good,” he remarked as the two girls dressed in blue and red beside him.

The Adventurer’s Guild in Farrien was a place that saw conflict everyday. Though the guild itself is neutral, it was like a wolves’ den with alphas fighting for dominance everyday. And then one day, the strangest thing happened. Three short figures stepped in through the doors, clearly children, with their faces hidden beneath masks. One had disctinct, light blue hair, carrying a fancy high-grade sorceress wand, wearing a sorceress robe with light blue stripes. The other had midnight black hair, bare-handed, dressed in a crimson robe and between the two of them was a short, brown-haired boy wearing a white fox mask. As soon as they entered, the chaos, chatter and fighting in the lobby of the dozens of mercenary groups died away momentarily, all of their eyes landing on the small group of three. Silence rang out for but a few seconds until whispers filled the room.

“What are they doing here?”

“Who do they think they are?”

“Are they lost?”

“Is it another desperate group looking for greatness?”

No one made a move until finally, a large, bulky mercenary, chisteled and ripped, towering over each of them, rose to his feet and planted himself in their path, carrying a large buster-sword on his shoulders.

“Hey! Are you babies lost!?” he shouted at them at the top of his lungs, his spit splattering all over. “This ain’t a place for the likes of you!” The boy at the front leading them stopped and looked up at the provocative man. No one could see through his mask to his expression, and for a short moment, tension filled the room.

“It’s Buck the Butcher,” some of them whispered.

“Those kids are unlucky, Butcher doesn’t play around.”

“Is he gonna kick them out?”

Butcher puffed his chest out in front of them menacingly, glaring down at them with intimidation.

“This is a place where people’s lives are in danger everyday. Do you think you can handle it!?” he spluttered when in the blink of an eye, the young boy at the front kicked Butcher in the knee-cap. The man fell into a kneel, a look of surprise on his face, when a fist came hooking across his jaw. There was a crunch as his head shook, and then the man collapsed over, completely unable to react. The boy looked at his fallen body for but a moment before he stepped over it and approached the front desk.

The Butcher’s party members immediately sprung to their feet and knelt down beside him, checking for his pulse. While infighting was common, taking a life was the one line they couldn’t cross.

“He’s breathing,” one of them called out with a sigh of relief. The boy didn’t pay them any attention, faced toward the guild’s receptionist who was looking back at him with wide eyes.

“Rank qualification for three,” his voice calmly spoke as he flicked a cold coin into her hands.

The rumours quickly spread among the members of what had transpired, that the B-rank mercenary had been taken out in two seconds but a child less than half his size. Adventurers were ranked on a lettering basis. The weakest of the weak were D-rank and were rare. D-ranks were treated less than dirt and had no hope of earning a living doing mercenary work. C-rank was the most common, where most people would wound up. B-rank meant the mercenary is above average in skill, and was also the limit hard work was capable of reaching. A-rankers were talented and highly regarded, and were typically the leader of excursions. Finally, were the S-rankers, legendary figures among mercenaries that demanded respect from all. In the world of the Guild, strength and rank were the rulers. No one bats an eye at the weak when they face injustice. The question on everyone’s mind was, what rank would these random, masked children get assigned from the qualification test? When it came to the mercenary rankings, the Adventurer’s Guild, the neutral administrator of all mercenary work, would have an unbiased assessment to test the applicant, and then with its authority, assign a suitable ranking to them. The form of the test was simple. One of the higher ranking mercenaries can take up a position to test newcomers in a one-on-one battle. Very rarely was a newcomer able to overcome the examiner with their high level-skills and years of experience.

Aelius, with Aria and Lia behind him, was led by the receptionist down a long corridor and to an open door at the end. It opened up into a wide arena made of sand, and two fighters were interlocked in exchanging moves in the centre.

“Take a seat, they’ll call for your names when you’re ready.” Aelius exchanged a glance with Aria and Lia, and with a firm nod, led them up to the bleaches where a dozen other fighters were also waiting. Most of them were staring at him as he took his seat, all older fighters, but he noticed a few young people as well.

“Kugh!” a grunt rang out from the centre of the ring as the examinee was sent flying and sprawling across the ground. The examiner, a short-blade wielder in his thirties, wiped his lip with a scorn and turned to a woman with a clipboard at the end of the arena.

“C-rank.”

As the examinations continued, Aelius noticed quite a few people appear at the opposite bleachers to them, sitting down to spectate. There, he noticed the teammates of the previous Butcher he had dropped, patiently waiting. He looked down to see quite a skillful exchange going on at the field, and saw Lia’s hand tremble slightly. She must be nervous. A few fights passed by and the examiner rotated out, intriguing Aelius to see one of the younger applicants step up. It was a young man in his mid-teens, just like him, and appeared to be a Geo-mage. The boulders flying around was quite impressive, but it was nothing on Aria’s hepta-mage abilities. Finally, the time came when he heard his name called.

“Next applicant… Lius.” Aelius slowly rose to his feet and descended the steps to the arena. By now, lots of spectators had gathered, and at the call of his name, were excitedly leaning forward. He paid none of them any attention, instead only focusing his gaze on the examiner. The man was roughly A-rank, Aelius judged, and was a lance-wieling Pyro-mage. Considering that he needs a relatively high rank to gain access to jobs worth working, and he can’t be bothered wasting time at the lower ranks, the most effective method was probably to… Aelius smiled to himself beneath his mask. Ideally, he’d use Asura for she was his preferred method of fighting against humans, but he can’t expose all of his cards to the public, so screw it, he’ll just use the orthordox method. “Can I borrow a sword?” he called out and the examiner frowned at him.

“You didn’t come with your own?” the man answered and shook his head disapprovingly. “Preparation is key to mercenaries.”

“Well,” Aelius shrugged. “I just didn’t want people to accuse me of cheating when I beat your ass. I hope there’s a decent back up examiner on site.” The man’s eyes flared up with rage, but he quickly reigned it in to a smirk, and turned to the lady with the clipboard.

“Go fetch a sword.”

The administrator quickly returned with a standard quality sword, passing it off to the examiner who handed it to Aelius. “Are you sure you’ll manage with this skinny body of yours?” he spitefully remarked but Aelius didn’t respond, only briefly examining the blade before taking a stance.

“Start,” he demanded to the examiner, and the man’s eye twitched.

“Fine. Don’t expect me to hold back after you decided to provoke me,” he responded lowly.

“Good, or else it’d be a meaningless win,” Aelius answered as the man flashed forward.

User has activated the passive buff Reawakened One.

The User’s Mana Ring count will triple its original value.

In an instant, Aelius evolved from a Second Tier mage to a Sixth Tier Mage, making his only superiors in Farrien the two Archdukes in the North and the South and the Holy Knights. Sixth ranks were typically either A-rank or S-rank mercenaries, so this should be an easy win. The man’s dash ended a close metre away in front of Aelius and he lunged forward with a quick stab of his lance. No doubt, this attack was too fast to defend for most of the examinees, but to Aelius who had years of combat experience, it was nothing. Additionally, with the perks of Six Mana Rings, his body was moving more than fast enough in response to his thoughts. With the standard sword given to him, he simply swung it to parry the lance and deflected it with a hurricane-like strength. The examiner was immediately knocked off balance, his eyes widening in surprise as Aelius followed up with a slash of his sword. The examiner was shocked as he panic-casted a defence spell around the front of his body, but Aelius’ sword shattered it. This was what overwhelming superiority meant. Anything the man could try would be out-classed. His technique, his skill, his strength, his speed, was all beneath someone at the higher Mana Ring. Nonetheless, Aelius allowed the examiner to weasel back a few steps and let him catch his breath. The other man’s experienced judgement immediately kicked in, and he quickly assessed Aelius to be a difficult opponent. The young boy watched as the man changed his stance, lowering his lance again and reciting a quick chant. His lance lit up with flames and his body donned armour of red, molten lava, his eyes glowing a transcendent orange and he, now wearing his magic apparel, slowly circled Aelius. From the fact that the examiner didn’t immediately attack means he’s decided to be cautious and wait for Aelius to make the first move. Aelius wondered what attack he should use, seeing as how long it’s been since he had a traditional mage battle.

“He forced him to use his element!” Whispers erupted from around the colosseum.

“A newcomer, forcing an examiner to use their combat apparel. It’s been years!”

Magic was often split into elements in combat circumstances. At least, in conventional and orthodox scenarios which Farrien followed quite faithfully, Mages would purposefully separate themselves into different categories. The purpose was so they could settle down on one specific specialty and dedicate themselves to that singular field of combat. In other words, elements. Additionally, every mage also had natural affinities with different elements, just like how Alea was able to sign a contract with the Spirit Queen Gaia, because her affinity with the element of Dendro, or nature, was high. Because Mages were in different categories to each other, the Elemental Reaction theory was eventually created and taught to Mages. It was quite simple. Every element had a weakness, due to their innate properties and inherent qualities. In the case of Pyro, it would quite easily defeat Cryo, but would be defeated by Hydro.

As Aelius regarded the lancer’s Pyro apparel, he sighed internally. Hydro was not an element he typically dabbled in, and it was uncommon for a Mage to wield multiple elements. Since there was public attention on him, it would be smarter to pick an element he intends to stick with and defeat the examiner with it. If that’s how things are going to be, there’s probably only one answer. The singular element that can reign over all other elements if intense enough in output… Anemo.

Anemo, or wind, didn’t have its own distinct property. Fire is hot and ice is cold, but wind can be either depending on what it comes into contact with. Because of its unrivaled adaptability, it had the potential to disperse any element, all except for one. The only element that can counter Anemo easily was the element of Geo. As Aelius gathered his Mana in his right hand, wind began to slowly pick up around him and a green energy enveloped his blade. The lancer tensed at the sight when Aelius, with speed enhanced by his Anemo magic, disappeared on the spot. Professionally, the lancer may have panicked only for a moment before quickly regaining his composure and trying to predict where Aelius’ attack would come from. He heard the sound a footstep to his right and quickly turned, raising his lance to block but was surprised to see nothing was there, and a strong blow shot into his flesh from behind him. Aelius outplayed him by baiting him to face one direction and then attacking him from behind, a classic strategy in a one-on-one battle for fighters with high mobility against strong defence. The Pyro armour resisted Aelius for only a moment as he plunged his hand into the flames and summoned Sixth Tier Anemo magic. The examiner was no match for it as it quickly penetrated through his armour and shredded him, sending him flopping across the sandy field.

The entire crowd was watching in dead silence at what just took place, including Aria who was looking to Aelius with eyes of horror. Was this his true strength, now that the poison was removed? Just how did he reach the Sixth Ring so quickly? Now she truly understands why his grudge against her mother is so strong. His entire future was in jeopardy because of her selfishness. It would be unfair for his talent to be taken away because of someone else. She thought of herself as a genius, reaching the Fifth Tier at her age, but here he was, only a few days after being cured of his poison, and had already surpassed her. The Mana that was being channeled through his body was unrivaled and unimaginable. To concentrate on guiding such an immense amount of Mana mid-battle was something she didn’t think was possible. It would take either years of experience or a monstrous amount of skill and talent. The Aelius before her had limitless potential. That’s what she could see with her God-eyes. The deafening silence ringing throughout the small arena lasted for a moment before it was interrupted by one single man who had appeared at one of the doors at the bottom. Wearing a clean dress shirt, formal trousers and dress shoes, he gave off a sophisticated atmosphere as he stepped forward, all the while clapping for the brilliant performance he just witnessed.

“Amazing. Brilliant! What a beautiful show.” Aria rose to her feet at the sight of the man. She wanted to shout out to Aelius to be wary, but she could tell it wasn’t her place to interfere. The man opposite Aelius was also a Sixth Tier, and no doubt, the Guildmaster of this establishment.

Aelius narrowed his eyes at the sudden appearance of the man before him. “Guildmaster,” the lancer uttered as he pushed himself to his feet, battered and bruised, clutching his arm. “I-I…”

“It’s okay,” the Guildmaster waved his hand. A man appearing to also be in this thirties, with a handsome face and a noble voice, gave his underlings a relaxed gaze. “Go get yourself treated. I’ll come check up on you later.”

“O-okay,” the lancer nodded as the lady with the clipboard lent him a shoulder, helping him out the arena, leaving Aelius with the guildmaster down on the field.

“So, now then, Lius, was it?” the Guildmaster turned his attention to Aelius. “That was very impressive, but let’s admit it, he wasn’t nearly good enough to push you to use any of your actual skills,” the man shrugged his shoulders. “Right?”

“Does it matter? I sent him with a flick of my hand,” Aelius answered from behind his mask.

“Well… the highest rank he has the authority to assign is B-rank. It’s not everyday we get someone that blows the top off that, you see,” the Guildmaster hid his thoughts behind a neutral smile. “So well, that brings us to this. Would you be willing to settle for B-rank, or do you want to challenge me for A-rank?” the Guildmaster asked. Aelius didn’t move as he momentarily considered the current situation.

“What rank are you?” he asked the man opposite him, who chuckled.

“Naturally, I am S-rank, as the leader here.”

“So how would I obtain A-rank?” Aelius asked.

“Well, I suppose, I’ll ramp up to my full strength slowly over a short period of time, and let’s see how well you can defend against me? How about that?” the man suggested.

“Okay… and if I defeat you?” Aelius asked and the Guildmaster’s smile disappeared for a moment. And then he began to laugh.

“Well, you’re a funny one despite how serious you sound. If you defeat me, then of course you should be assigned S-rank.”

“Okay,” Aelius lowered his stance. “Come at me.” The man’s neutral smile faded and a distasteful expression crossed his face.

“It’s not good to be overconfident, young one.”

“We’ll see about that,” Aelius coldly answered.

“Sure,” the man smirked again and wind slowly picked up around them, as he stood there barehanded.

As soon as the Guildmaster made his first move, Aelius knew what had led to this. The man didn’t move a single muscle, simply standing opposite him with his hands in his pockets, and a force invisible to the eye almost hit Aelius in the shoulder. He reacted just in time for it to graze him, his blood splattering onto the sandy ground beneath his feet. Normally, anyone would have been hit by that and would be very bewildered, but he knew this skill, and he knew why this man had come to challenge Aelius himself. This was the special skill called Wind Bullet, and the man opposite him was just like him, a fellow Anemo mage. It appears the Guildmaster was a battle freak who wanted to fight a fellow Anemo user. Wind Bullet was a unique skill in that with its speed and range, it had incredible applicability and destructive ability. It made for taking out weaker opponents incredibly easy because of how it could be shot in any direction, its increased penetration and its speed. No doubt, it wouldn’t have been too difficult to climb to S-rank with the help of such a skill. However, Wind Bullet becomes unusable if it can be countered by something such as a barrier. Any other S-rank would immediately, after seeing this skill, activate a defensive ability. Lower rankers would certainly be defeated on the spot, but Aelius was not one of them. Though both him and this Guildmaster were Anemo mages, they were still different types of Mages. The other man was an Emitter. He can freely manipulate the air around him without physically moving, simply through his will, whereas Aelius fights with his body. He applies magic with his sword or his hand, and must be in physical contact for magic to take effect. That is the con but the perk is his destructive ability is much higher. This battle was between who knew their specialty well enough to defeat the other. And obviously, Aelius had no confidence in losing. He didn’t expect the Guildmaster to come out, but this was an opportunity, he thought as he smirked to himself and began to move his sword fluidly around him. Like a paintbrush and as though he were performing a graceful dance, he began to draw in the air with magic. The Guildmaster refused to give him any chance to cast, firing out a barrage of Wind Bullets, but to his surprise, Aelius’ dance itself countered them all as he waved his blade in a refined manner, slowly approaching the Guildmaster step-by-step. The Guildmaster gave up on Wind Bullet and quickly switched to Wind Canon instead, a skill that takes longer to charge up and can be fired less, but trades that off for increased damage. This one was troublesome, and could not be countered by Aelius’ Wind Dance. The invisible canon came crashing down on Aelius, but he was able to sense it and quickly dodged. He was close now, but this battle wouldn’t automatically be over when Aelius reaches the Guildmaster. As an S-rank, he would surely have close-range abilities as well. Strong ones. Well, normally that’s the case with experienced emitters. Still, he was not confident in losing, as he closed in on the Guildmaster. Their fight soon became a legendary event, a mythical showdown between two Mages of the highest hailing for all to watch and witness.