"No wonder you made sure to feed me like a king last night…" I muttered while staring at the line of people hoping to become adventurers.
To my left was Hektore, smirking like he had uncovered the secrets of the universe while to my right was the other sibling. Both had dragged me out of bed early in the morning. They had informed me that to get assigned a rank I would need to take the registration day exam. I didn't know what it entailed but it had to be bad.
After all, anything that makes Hektore happy is bad news.
"Ah, come on, you'll be fine!" The dumb, bastard knight said while smiling.
"Ah, come on, you'll be fine!" I mocked back, mimicking his voice. "I hope your favorite waitress from Köstlichkeit finds a wealthier guy to swoon over."
"I can't wait to see your ass get kicked." He replied while smirking.
"You need your ass kicked!"
Hektore loved to get me angry. I knew it wasn't malicious but somehow it still worked. Whenever I would try and call him out on it, he would just smile and sit there.
I let out a sigh before turning away from the siblings to make my way to the entrance of the association.
"Good luck, Esther!" Klina called out as I walked in.
I waved farewell while entering and couldn't help but marvel at the adventurers who passed me in the halls. I could tell that some of them were strong enough to wipe out countries. Yet, they were here to help decide the future of those hoping to be adventurers.
Once inside, I was amazed even further by how many people could fit inside such a small room. The walls were a dull gray and the floor was separated from the stands by a glass barricade.
I sat next to a young man with straight, black hair and violet eyes. His combat attire was black light armor that lacked a helmet while holstered on his back was a bastard sword. He seemed experienced in combat which made me feel inferior but I didn't let that get to me considering this was a test for new adventurers.
I was going to turn away but his eyes found me after he finished, what I assumed was, his observation of others.
"Hey! You seem pretty young to be here." He said. "I'm Paris Krisson, what about you?"
"I'm Esther Nectens." I replied evenly.
This guy. The first thing he did was call out my age but he looked about the same age as me.
"Nice to meet you, Ther!" Paris exclaimed.
I stared in confusion at the nickname. Ther? That was a new one. Most called me Es or Est. Even then, that was if we were close in our relationship. Paris had assigned me a nickname within seconds of knowing me.
"Uh, same to you."
"Woah!" A young woman with smooth, silky black hair said. "I'm not the only teenager here? I was so nervous."
Her black hair was unique due to the orange streak running through her front bang. Her hair was styled into a ponytail with the length going to her ears and no strands going any further. In contrast to the orange streak, her blue eyes were the color of the deep sea. It felt as if you could drown in those eyes if you stare long enough. She wore heavy only the greaves and gauntlets to go with her light armored chestplate. Her armor was blue in color while she wore a black shirt and black combat pants to go with it.
"I'm Ellora Razel!" She introduced herself before placing both her hands towards her chest. "May the Twins bless your day!"
'She's so beautiful!'
I had never seen anyone so beautiful. The light reflected off of her skin and made her appear as an angel. Her mere presence was keeping the words from escaping my throat. All I could do was admire and question the existence of such a beautiful person. I wasn't sure how to respond. I didn't know how to respond or what to say. I was stuck coming up with a response until the proctor's voice rang out.
"Alright, gather up!" The proctor ordered. "These are your groups!"
I watched in disappointment as the girl, Ellora, began to make her way to the front of the crowd.
"Better luck next time." Paris said while patting my back,
We made our way to the front of the crowd, though it was difficult. The nine hundred and forty participants were divided into one hundred groups of ninety-four. I was in the same group as Paris. The first test was quite easy, a written test with questions exploring various topics.
'Exploration, survival, combat, tactics.' I noticed that every twenty questions would change topics. All eighty were logic based and asked you to remove any emotional perspective. I turned in my test and was directed to the next area. It seemed that we wouldn't have to wait for everyone to get here.
"Alright, this is a physical test." The proctor said.
I stared at her, waiting for a more in depth explanation but she just directed me to an area with different sized weapons. There was a shortsword, a longsword, and a greatsword. I picked up the shortsword easily and moved on to the longsword. It was difficult. It wasn't just a small amount of resistance, it felt like I was fighting against my own pull. Somehow I managed to remove it from the ground though.
The greatsword was impossible to pick up. It made me question how Hektore could carry around that thing. I turned toward the proctor for further instruction but she merely nodded while writing something down on her clipboard. I could hear her muttering but I couldn't make out the words.
'Did I do that bad?'
Once she finished she brought her attention back to me.
"You're pretty unique, kid!" She called out.
I looked on in confusion. How was I unique? I just picked up a couple of swords. There was nothing special about that. Although, I was kind of mad I couldn't make the greatsword budge.
"You're strange, kid. That was made so that only someone with strength equal to at least Adept rank could pick up two at least." She elaborated once she noticed my confusion. "That's it for the physical. Now join the others in the arena downstairs."
I made my way through the labyrinth-like building, almost getting lost in various corridors before finding the correct room. There were about one hundred people all crowded in the arena while the stands were filled with people.
"Esther! Over here!" Fionna called from her spot in the crowd. "Don't die!"
I waved towards her before turning back towards the stage where our new proctor stood. She was an Unuan. Unuans were known for their blood red eyes that went with their animalistic features of rabbit ears and sharp teeth. This woman had all of those features to go with her silver hair and strong stature.
"Alright! I hope you're all ready, we switched things up this time." The woman hollered. "There are no one-on-one trials or combat with people."
Most of the examinees look confused. What could have changed that made it so that they would need to change up the way adventurers were chosen.
'What? I trained specifically for combat!'
I wanted to be angry but it might have just been terrible luck on my end.
"This time, the promotion exams will require your final test to be hunting monsters from the Cave of Endeavor!"
I would have questioned what the significance of the cave was, if the gasps were anything to go by, but I picked up something in her announcement that threw me off.
'Promotion?'
I searched the crowd for Fionna and used her to find Hektore. There in the crowd he was smiling. That bastard was smiling.
"You need at least one monster corpse to pass! Good luck!"
I turned to find the proctor smirking. I was about to raise my hand to ask how we were supposed to leave but then it happened.
The fucking floor opened itself up!
My scream was drowned out by the shouts and cheers of the, now to my knowledge, experienced adventurers. They were all here to get promoted. They were all at least Adept rank. I saw most of them pick up all three swords. I saw one of them receive a perfect score on their test.
I passed with an average score!
"Hey!" A voice called out from behind me.
There in the space right beside me was Ellora. She was smiling as she plummeted towards the ground of what I could now tell was an underground area that beasts lived in.
"Good luck out there!" She said before positioning her body to fall faster.
I wanted to panic, I wanted to scream. I wanted to do a lot of things but that wouldn't change anything. No matter how unfair this was or how much I hated it, there was only one thing left for me to do.
I needed to hunt.