Nysa POV

After what felt a few minutes of testing, Aya came back, along with the receptionist. "So, how was it?" I asked with a smile. Any advantage should be grabbed and hugged to death, and since Aya was just tested...well, she knew how things would play out.

"Well, it is quite hard. I got C rank, though, so that's something to be proud of!" She said, puffing up her chest, to make herself look even bigger than before..."I bet you can't surpass it."

"...I think I will." I'll aim for at least a B rank, even if it is only to not having to deal with Aya being like that, and to assure myself, that I am not weaker than her.

"If you two are done with your chat, it is time for the Fae to be tested." The woman said, motioning for me to climb on top of her shoulder. "We'll be back soon enough!" She added to Aya...

"....I can walk on my own." I mumbled as I jumped off the counter, using wind magic to safely land on the ground.

"By the way, my name is Larissa." The woman, which was leading me towards the downstairs, said.

"The name is Nysa." I replied, deciding that it would be rude to not exchange greetings so soon.

Soon, after we had gone through a staircase to the underground, we arrived inside of a large, circular room, with three dozen training dummies... although these training dummies were similar to scarecrows.

"Well, here is the first part of the test, your offense. You have to destroy all scarecrows. A-ranked adventurers would take just 10 seconds to do it, on average, while B-ranked ones do it just under 20 seconds." The woman said... making my face go pale. one second to destroy all of them?! But then I remembered, that Aya got C rank... meaning that as long as I get them down under 20 seconds, I'll be better than her!

"So, when it starts?"

"When the first scarecrow is hit." Was the answer I got... which made me grin widely.

"Make sure to stay behind me, then." Closing my eyes, I began to focus. Focus on the idea, which was almost silly at first...to destroy all scarecrows as quickly as possible. I was hoping it wouldn't make the room collapse as well, though, so I needed to do some edits.

I entered in the [meditation] state, which made me see things a lot better. I didn't activate on my own, but I guess the game sensed my mental state.

Moving my hand forward, I made a ball of wind in the center of it. But I didn't shoot. Instead... I activated [doublecast], to cast another ball of wind on top of the first one, making them slightly bigger. It was easy, until three minutes of charging... which then it felt like I was trying to yank the chain of an over-energetic dog.

I kept it under my control, though, just long enough for me to aim. "Mana Overload: Tornado!" I shouted, mainly to look cool, as now I poured all of the remaining mana inside of the wind spell, and shot it forward.

I did not see what happened afterwards. I only knew I was knocked backwards, onto the wall... everything turned black.

-45 HP!

I didn't know that it included experiments I did too... but yet, I felt myself recover back to full HP seconds later, probably due to a healing spell.

+40 HP!

"So... did I pass?" I asked, getting back on my feet... before looking at the destruction it caused.

It did a massive, ball-shaped hole on the opposite side of the arena, big enough to destroy...

... All but one scarecrow.

"...." I threw a fireball at it,using my recently-recovered MP, to burn it into ashes.

From less than 1 second, I ended up taking...

"Uh... how long I was out?" I asked, somewhat angry at that single scarecrow.

"Hmm... well, the whole test took 18 seconds, the standard for B-ranks... so I guess you were cold for 15 seconds. By the way, don't tell anybody I healed you. It is against the rules to help, but I guess it would be bad if I let somebody die under my watch." The woman replied, sounding... amused.

...I hate that stun effect now.

"Either way, for the next test, it is the 'fighting' test. Simply putting... you need to defeat me. I am a B-rank adventurer, before I've began to work for the guild, so if you beat me, you'll be of that rank."

She said, and I was a bit curious for what happens if I lose against her... and how she would rank my strenght in such situation.

"Can you wait for 2 minutes before we start?" I asked, hoping to get my mana back...

"How about 1 minute instead?" The woman replied, making me gulp a bit. She then closed her eyes... and I focused on the mana surrounding my body, mainly to speed up mana regen. At this rate, I could be a bit glad... mainly because due to the boost to the meditation, I would fully recover my mana.

But yet, I was scared. Scared of what could be the next part of the challenge...

"Time is up." The woman said with a rather... scary grin. "Now, we'll start in 3...2...1..." And then, it finally started. She made a tullip grow in the stone, right in front of her...growing to 5ft tall."Now, time to start the test~!" She added, as the flower began to move, to 'face' me.

Gulping, I stared at the plant back...

And then I discovered what it was capable of. It shot fireball towards me. "Water ball!" I instantly countered it, by making a ball of water in front of me. But yet, the woman which was testing me didn't seem surprised... as she made more plants grow around her, without even showing any signs of exhaustion... and now I had to deal with three fireballs, in quick succession.

"Stone wall!" I shouted, making a small stone in front of me, twice my tiny size... but yet, the fireballs were too strong for it. It didn't outright destroyed it, but instead it knocked it over, towards me.

I shifted the ground, just like what I did to create the stone wall. Instead, to make a small 'fox hole' under my feet, barely avoiding the blow.

After that, the fireballs just stopped coming. But yet, I knew what would happen next. Instead of fighting in the open space, I decided to fight underneath it. Slowly and surely, I made a small tunnel underground... and covered the entrace, to make sure I wasn't found so soon.

...I didn't plan it through, since it was too dark.But thankfully, the mana sight doubled as dark vision, to some extend. Now...time to try out this weird idea. I wonder if it'll work~!

Larissa POV

I stared at the small slab for the next few seconds. "...Did I just kill her?" I gulped, moving over to lift it. After her little display , I already assumed she would be as hard to defeat as the Arachnae from earlier... but I was careless. My superiors would kill me if they knew I killed somebody, even if it was just from inexperience. How am I supposed to know a mage that nearly collapsed half of the arena die just like that?

But yet, as I lifted it, hope came back to me. There was not a single sign of blood, meaning that she survived...

"Are you alive?" I asked, to no reply. I turned back to see the flowers, which were the cause of the murder... but yet, by some reason I only saw 2 of them...

...then I saw it. The ground broke under the flower, and swallowed it, before turned back to normal.

"... I know you are there." I said, mainly to myself, as I took a small step backwards. Mainly so I wasn't staying in the range of danger. Even with that thought, I ended up failing, since as soon as I took a step backwards, the floor fell down, making me land on my butt in the pit.

I tried to get up, but I was too late, as the edges of the pit moved over, to close onto me, only leaving my head unburied.

"It is my win, right?"

Nysa POV

I grinned, truly, earth magic is more useful than I've given credit for! Even if I can't make huge boulders to crush the opponent yet, it was still more than useful for making pitfalls!

"It is my win, right?" I asked, as I stood proudly, finally climbing out of the stone ground. Gueez, these tunnels were too hot. I swear I'll need to take a bath after all this digging.

"Well... I didn't expect that... but yes, it is your win, even if it was only through cunning." Larisssa said, bluntly.

"...Hey! Digging is harsh work, not just a simple trick!" I shouted, this time voicing my complaints, although I began to focus, mainly to move the ground out of the way, smilling...

"But before I award you the title, there is another test you must do." She replied, with a rather malicious grin.

"...W-what it is?"

"Clean up the whole mess you did to the arena. This place was not cheap, but wasn't made to test mages such as yourself." She mumbled, unhappily.

... this is going to be a long night...

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Author's note: I'm not sure if it is just me, but I feel like the writing quality of my work is somewhat decreasing as I go along @[email protected] I want your guys' opnion on the matter.