“Registration?” Melinda asked.

  Veronica nodded once and stepped closer to the counter. She reached into her pouch and produced the thin, stamped identification slip the Mage Tower had issued her. It was temporary—plain parchment reinforced with a faint mana seal—but still official.

  The clerk accepted it and glanced down.

  Her expression shifted almost immediately.

  “Oh,” she said. “You’re a mage.”

  Veronica inclined her head. “Yes.”

  Melinda straightened slightly and turned the slip to check the seal again, then began copying information into her ledger. “Name?”

  “Veronica.”

  “Last name?”

  “Everwells.”

  The clerk paused just long enough to write it down. “Is that with an ‘s,’ or without?”

  “With,” Veronica said.

  “Any prior guild affiliation?”

  “No. Unless you count the mage association.”

  “For the purposes of this form, I’m only concerned about adventurer guilds,” she said.

  “Then no,” Veronica replied.

  She nodded and checked off a box. “Place of origin?”

  “Erldrengar.”

  Her pen froze for a moment. She looked up at Veronica with a curious eye.

  Veronica turned her head, and brushed back some of her hair, revealing her slightly pointed ears.

  “I see.” Melinda finished the entry quietly. Veronica, however, noticed a slight pause in her eyes. Something almost judging.

  That’s how it always was with elves and dark elves. She was used to this.

  Melinda flipped the page over and looked up. “Do you have prior combat experience?”

  “A lot,” Veronica replied. “Several years’ worth.”

  That earned her a look—not disbelief, exactly, but reassessment.

  “I see,” the clerk said. “What’s the highest-rank monster you’ve fought?”

  Veronica frowned slightly.

  “Rank… in what sense?”

  The clerk tilted her head. “Monster classification.”

  Veronica considered the question seriously.

  She knew tiers—mage tiers, swordmaster tiers, demonic ranks, abyssal hierarchies. Monsters, however, had always been… incidental. Obstacles that she got rid of nonchalantly.

  “I don’t really know monster ranks,” she admitted. “If I had to guess… S-rank, maybe?”

  The clerk’s eyes squinted at her. “What?”

  “I mean,” Veronica added, a touch too late, “I hope to defeat one someday.”

  The silence that followed was polite, but telling.

  She tried again. “For reference, what rank would a Fellabear be? Or a forest ogre?”

  Melinda raised a brow. “An adult Fellabear is E-rank. Forest ogres vary, but the common types are E as well. Both around middle-grade.”

  “Then…” Veronica recalculated quickly. “At my best, right now… probably D-rank.”

  If S-rank monsters stood at the peak, only Tier-8 or Tier-9 mages could challenge them. At Tier-3, she could only estimate her potential. At the very least, Fellabears and Ogres weren’t much of a challenge, so she could put herself confidently above E-rank.

  Melinda resumed writing. “I see.”

  She didn’t look convinced.

  Melinda gathered the form and tapped it once against the counter. “I’ll call upon an E-rank adventurer of the guild to conduct a rank exam for you. It’ll just be a simple test to see whether or not you can fight on equal terms—”

  “W-wait,” Veronica interjected. “You said E-rank? I said I could handle D-tier monsters.”

  Melinda let out an exasperated sigh. “Miss Veronica, it is a common occurrence for new adventurers to misjudge their strength. The highest death toll among adventurers happens within their first thirty days.” She shook her head, her voice firm but still professional. “If we assign you a rank higher than where you belong, the guild has to live knowing we may have sent you to your death.”

  A slight annoyance flickered in Melinda’s expression as it softened. “Trust me when I say that you’re probably not at a D-rank adventurer’s level—mage or not. I’m already extending you the courtesy of a E-rank exam and not F-rank, and even that is pushing it.”

  Veronica remained silent.

  A few moments passed before she sighed. “Alright. Fine. Just lead the way.”

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  The guild clerk smiled. “Great. If you would follow me,” she said, turning toward a side hallway. “I’ll take you to the training grounds.”

  Veronica followed without issue.

  She doesn’t believe me, Veronica thought. This whole ‘I’m a nobody’ thing is going to get really annoying.

  After a brief walk, Melinda led her into a large room at the back of the building. It was a training field. Lines had been drawn across the ground at the center of the court. Near one of the walls stood a weapons cache—swords, spears, shields, and more, all neatly arranged.

  “I’ll be right back with an examiner,” Melinda said. “For now, feel free to stretch, or inspect the weapons rack if there’s anything you’d like to use.” She paused. “Ah—and there are mage staffs and wands there as well.”

  “Alright. Thank you,” Veronica replied.

  Melinda left the room.

  Veronica walked over to the rack and glanced along it. She ignored the melee weapons. She’d never been trained with swords. The most she could manage was a crossbow—and there weren’t any here.

  At the end of the rack, she spotted a wooden wand and a hefty staff.

  She lifted the staff. It was nearly as tall as she was. At its tip sat a small, dull-gray crystal. The mana gem embedded within was close to its limit.

  Truthfully, she didn’t need it. The staff was shoddy and nearing the end of its usable life. Staves helped regulate mana and improve control, but at her current level they were unnecessary. At best, it would be useful if she needed to cast spells above her tier. And even that—she wasn’t sure if the staff could handle it.

  She set it back on the rack.

  After waiting for some time—longer than she’d expected—Veronica decided to do as Melinda had suggested.

  She began to stretch.

  Right arm up. Down and to the left. Torso twists. Back arches—

  Man… it feels so good to stretch. Medusa—you stupid bitch.

  After a couple of minutes, two people entered the training room.

  Melinda had returned. Beside her stood a tall man. He was bulky, though not excessively so. It was the kind of build that looked like it could fistfight a bear. And maybe even win.

  “Veronica,” Melinda said, gesturing to her left. “This is Warton. He’s an E-rank adventurer who’s been with our guild for about a year now.”

  Veronica stepped forward, and they shook hands.

  “Nice to meet you,” Warton said.

  “Likewise.”

  Veronica glanced back at Melinda. “You said a year?”

  Melinda nodded. “Warton is a E-rank adventurer, but these days he only adventures as a side hobby. Truth be told, he should be D-rank by now—but he doesn’t want to take the rank exam.”

  Warton chuckled. “I’m not that ambitious. I’m perfectly fine doing E-tier quests.”

  Melinda sighed. “You really should just take it, Warton. You don’t even need to do that many D-rank quests. Just one every few months.”

  “No—no,” he said, shaking his head. “I don’t think I could keep up with the other D-rankers. E-rank is perfect for me.”

  “Whatever you say…” Melinda replied, resigned. She turned back to Veronica. “That said, Warton is one of our most experienced E-rankers. My evaluation places him somewhere between E-rank and D-rank. He’ll be conducting your rank examination today.”

  “Aye. Glad to be of help,” Warton said. He looked Veronica over. “Linda mentioned you’re a mage?”

  Veronica nodded. “That’s correct. I’m a Tier-3 mage. I follow the Path of Ruin and Tempests.”

  Warton hummed. “I see. That’s basically a war mage, right? Someone like that’s bound to be a good adventurer.” He chuckled. “That is—so long as you don’t blow everything up. Not every quest is extermination. Some are retrievals. Escorts. Rescues.”

  “I’ll be careful to stick to exterminations,” Veronica said politely. “That’s what I’m good at.”

  “Good,” Warton replied. “It’s important to know one’s strengths.”

  He walked over to the weapon rack and selected a dull iron sword, then a buckler shield. Turning back to her, he paused.

  “You’re going unarmed?” He gestured toward the end of the rack. “There are wands and a staff there, too.”

  Veronica’s smile didn’t fade. “No, I’m alright. They’d only slow me down.”

  Melinda, watching from the sidelines, shook her head. A faint click of her tongue followed. “Tsk.”

  Veronica pretended not to notice.

  “Well, if you’re that confident—be my guest!” Warton gave the sword a few test swings. Satisfied, he moved toward the center of the court, speaking over his shoulder.

  “Think of this as a sparring match,” he said. “Your goal is to show me how you fight. While adventurers take on all sorts of commissions—herb gathering, treasure hunting, retrievals—combat is our lifeblood. Every adventurer needs to know how to fight. Most jobs involve it in some way.”

  He strapped the buckler to his left arm, flexing his shoulders.

  “You’re a mage,” he continued as he walked to his side of the court. “Mages aren’t usually solo types. Most work in parties. Even if you’re 3rd-tier, for this exam, that still puts you at a disadvantage. However, Melinda and I will factor that in. Just do your best.”

  Veronica nodded and walked to her side of the court.

  Her body was loose and ready to go; her mana reserves were also full.

  Melinda stood near the wall, lifting a small whistle. “Alright. When I blow this, the exam will begin. The test will stop whenever Warton or I deem it sufficient. Both sides may attack one another, but please avoid causing any major injuries—this is only an evaluation.”

  She looked between the two of them. “Are you both ready?”

  “Aye!” Warton shouted.

  Veronica nodded. “Ready.”

  “Alright. Then the examination will begin in three… two… one—”

  The whistle pierced the air.

  “Begin!”

  Warton kicked off the ground and burst into a sprint, buckler raised and sword angled forward.

  “Haha! I’ll take it easy on you. First, try to create some distance between—”

  He didn’t get to finish.

  A ball of fire launched straight toward him.

  Warton skidded to a halt and raised his shield. It was too fast to dodge. The spell struck the buckler head-on—and what should have been a small bundle of flame detonated into a roaring explosion.

  Warton was blasted off his feet, sent skidding several meters across the ground.

  He grunted as he scrambled back up, smoke and heat rolling past him as the flames began to dissipate. He still couldn’t see her.

  “Haha… that was a great attack! Keep that up and—”

  His face drained of color.

  Three more fireballs shot toward him in a triangular formation as the smoke cleared.

  “Oh shit—”

  Back where Veronica stood, two small, glowing wings had formed behind her palm. Although she was casting a tier-2 spell, these were third-tier fire spells, condensed down.

  “If this is an exam,” she said calmly, “I’m not going easy. I’ve never half-assed an exam before.”

  A third wing unfurled.

  Wind began to swirl in front of her hand. Pressure molded the air, compressing it tighter and tighter until it flattened into a disc-shaped sphere. This was a fourth-tier spell, broken down to the third. Although not as powerful as their original versions, Veronica estimated they kept roughly 70% of their power.

  When the three fireballs detonated, Veronica cast her next spell.

  The disc ruptured.

  A violent gale exploded outward—sharp, spiraling wind forming a roaring tunnel aimed straight at Warton. With Sage’s trajectory upgrade, a spell that normally scattered its power was now brutally focused.

  It hit his raised buckler dead-on.

  Flames were pulled into the gale, feeding it as the torrent smashed into Warton’s shield and sent him flying across the training grounds, slamming him hard into the far wall.

  Veronica didn’t stop.

  She began forming another spell.

  “Third-tier should be enough for this test, right?” she murmured.

  Crackling arcs of lightning flashed around her as three new wings sprang forth from behind her palm, taking place of the ones already dissipating.

  Although she felt bad for taking it out on Warton, these spells wouldn’t cause any permanent damage. Maybe some soreness for the next few days. After all, she needed to prove her strength to the elf clerk who was underestimating her.

  Off to the side, Melinda watched in horror as Warton was battered by not one, not two, but four fire spells—each far more powerful than they had any right to be. She watched the compressed wind blast tear through the courtyard and hurl him helplessly into the stone wall.

  Her gaze snapped back to Veronica.

  Lightning danced wildly in front of her hands.

  “W-wait! Stop!” Melinda screamed, dropping her clipboard as she sprinted forward. “You pass—you pass! Stop the exam!”

  Art by

  Path of Revelation and Path of Tempests

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