"I will go by The Plotter," I answered gruffly. The name didn’t mean much and was made fairly mindlessly.

Lysander’s eyes widened in surprise but he quickly recovered, responding with a casual smile.

Mr. Plotter, we will proceed with The cursed one here as your sponsor. Do you know how this will work?"

Shaking my head, I let him explain. "An Adventurer of A-class or higher has the right to sponsor a new adventurer for an examination. Depending on how well you do, this exam will give you the opportunity to be placed into a suitable rank. This way, you can avoid the needless struggles of starting from the very beginning. The rank exam will consist of only a practical portion. Now, judging by your weapons, I can assume that you are either a fighter or mage, yes?"

"Something like that."

He nodded and opened the door at the end of the room.

"Okay! Usually, there would be a quick application along with an inspection of your mana core before the exam but since it is Mr Sebastain here sponsoring you, I will waive that," he continued as he opened another door at the far end of his office. "May, take him to the examination hall."

"Y-Yes!" The receptionist, who had been waiting outside the room, entered hastily and led us toward the back door.

"This way, Mr. Plotter."

I peered at Lina through my mask as we made our way down the long corridor.

Sebastian had stayed with Lina. Her potential assessment was being conducted in a separate wing with different criteria for a spirit mage.

***

May led me down a long corridor and through a door that opened into brightness.

The examination hall was an indoor arena dirt floor, tiered stone seating that rose on all sides, the kind of space built to be watched in as much as fought in. Most of the seats were empty. Ten, maybe twelve people scattered through the upper rows, watching the two fighters currently at the center of the floor with the focused quiet of people who understood what they were seeing.

"Please remain in the observation area until your name is called," May said and left me to it.

I found a seat with a clear line of sight to the floor and watched.

The fighter on the left was large, bald, carrying a polearm with the confidence of someone who had won enough fights with it. The fighter on the right was average build, short black hair, a jagged scar running down one cheek, broadsword in hand and not using it. He was dodging everything the larger man threw at him with the unhurried efficiency of someone waiting for the other person to run out of ideas.

The bald fighter’s face had gone red.

"Take this!" He brought the polearm up high, the weapon glowing a dim orange as heat spread outward from the metal. The scarred fighter’s expression moved from boredom to mild interest. The bald man brought it down.

The broadsword came up to meet it.

The polearm spun into the air. The bald fighter stood looking at his empty hands.

The scarred examiner looked at him.

""Your skills as a polearm wielder are nonexistent and your battle senses are lousy... and that’s me being nice. You depend too much on physical strength compared to your mana reinforcement, which throws your attack’s balance off. Fire affinity noted, though what you demonstrated barely qualifies as heat. D-class. Next."

The bald fighter collected his polearm from the dirt and walked back to his seat.

***

"Next! Ravena Varkas" the scarred man bellowed as the bald examinee dispiritingly made his way back to his seat, picking up his polearm along the way.

"Yes! Coming!"

A girl came down from the upper rows.

She had long silver-white hair that flowed past her waist, the ends fading into a warm sunlit orange like embers burning through snow. Her eyes were bright golden amber.

"Ahem. Ravena Varkas, age eighteen. A warrior at the solid Silver Grade with a specialization in swordsmanship and water-element affinity. Let us begin ." The female examiner threw the notepad towards the scarred examiner and held up her grey staff.

Single specialization, in her case, meant that she relied primarily on Swords. Dual specialization and up, there would be a strict test to see if you really were adept at two elements.

Instantly, the freckled examinee murmured a spell, conjuring a bubble of water to surround her.

She stepped through it before it finished forming.

The distance between them vanished.

Her eyes widened.

The sword came up toward his shoulder.

A barrier snapped.

Good reflexes.

The basics of battling were setting up defensive measures. They did this since most weren’t proficient in reinforcing their bodies with mana.

Ravena’s examiner, however, didn’t cast a defensive spell but instead chose to go on the offensive.

"Sandstorm!" the pale examiner shouted as a gale of sand whirled around the freckled girl and her defensive water bubble.

The gust of sand merged with the water, turning Diane’s defensive spell into a large orb of mud. "Release!" The mud bubble burst at the examinee’s command. Jumping back, she muttered another spell while a pressured ball of water began forming at the tip of her wand.

[Aqua Cannon]

The sphere of water burst out in a blazing speed towards the pale examiner.

Rather than defending against the spell, the examiner nimbly dodged the water sphere. Thinking back, I had realized that this was the first time watching a duel between a warrior and mage.

She ignored it.

Her sword stopped at her throat.

Silence.

The mage looked at the blade resting against her neck.

"Match over."

"S-class," she said. "Welcome to the guild."

Scattered applause from the seats. Ravena stepped off the floor without any visible reaction.

From my left a voice said, "Finally someone worth watching."

I glanced sideways.

A boy, roughly my age, noble by the cut and quality of everything he was wearing, medium-length blond hair trimmed just above green eyes that were currently watching the examination floor with an expression of entertainment. A white wooden staff leaned against the seat beside him, a large ruby-colored gem set at the top catching the arena lights.

He hadn’t looked at me yet.

I looked back at the floor.

"The Plotter."

I stood.

Lysander was at the arena entrance. He was watching. I walked down to the floor, rolled my shoulders once, and looked at the scarred examiner across the dirt. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

He looked at the fox mask.

"You can remove that."

"I would prefer not to."

"Okay let’s begin."