Chapter 17: E Tier Test
Note:「」This is Ensis (The Sword: 'The Eye of the Storm') talking to Leon via his mind.
The light pierced the window with a subtle stream of warmth. The city had just started to wake and dozens of people walked the streets to start their jobs. Inside the room, Leon had finally awoken and yawned as he got up from the bed.
Today was an exciting one for Leon. For the first time in his life as an Adventurer, he could finally start his journey towards the top. He had always been too weak to advance his tier and this had always been a subconscious pain that bugged Leon.
However today would be his chance to clear his pain away, Leon conversed with his sword.
'Ensis, give me a reminder of our chances of advancing?'
The sword's voice sounded like it had just woken up, which Leon found funny.
「From the knowledge you have and my calculations, if this was any other tier with a more defined power level I could calculate quite accurately. However, from what I know, F Tier is a confusing Tier. Since all adventurers start at F, some strong opponents who may have just become adventurers could potentially participate. With this fact in mind, your current combat power should suffice as long as the opponents are D Tier and below. This combined with the fact, that there is no defined test, as the tests are usually determined by the proctors at low Tiers. It is quite hard to quantify your chances, my best-educated guess would put your chance of advancement at 75-90%. 」
Although Leon had roughly the same information as Ensis, Leon enjoyed his knowledgeable companion's insight.
Instead of trying to worry about the test, Leon knew it was best to be relaxed and only start prepping once they knew what they were up against. Therefore, he casually strolled down to the tavern on the first floor of the Inn and ate a routine breakfast, as the many other patrons of the tavern were rather lethargic since it was the morning.
After eating his breakfast, Leon went back up to his room and examined everything. Monetarily, Leon still had about 80 bronze coins, after his expenses with his new armor and the pay for the room and food. With this amount of money, Leon did not have to worry about housing and food for at least a week. Therefore he was more focused on his gear, Leon tripled checked that he had everything he needed. Although he planned to use Ensis, Leon took his repaired dagger with him and equipped his scrap metal legging and chest plate. His armor weighed more than his previous leather gear, however with his increased stats it felt about the same.
Leon had finally set out to his Tier test early, as he could barely hold back his excitement.
-30 minutes before Leon's arrival-
Trage took the proctor job for this month's test for advancement to E Tier. This surprised many of his fellow Phantom guild members since he had just become a C Tier Adventurer, however, the only reason he did this was for two main reasons. One, he did not plan on giving any complex test, as he was rather quite lazy. Secondly, doing proctor jobs offered decent pay and good points with the Guild Bureau.
Trage had arrived at the required amount of time before the test started, all proctors had to obey and simply closed his eyes, as he sat on the edge of the stage in the Arena.
-Present-
Leon had left quite early and when he arrived at the Arena, he was the only person there besides Trage.
Seeing Trage, Leon skipped towards him full of questions and excitement.
"Hello, are you the proctor? What rank/tier are you? What Guild are you from?"
Trage merely opened his eyes and sighed unenthusiastically.
"Yes, I am the proctor. I am C Tier. I am from the Phantom Guild. Please settle down and wait until the official start time."
As Leon took a seat on the ground next to the arena, Trage thought to himself.
'Isn't that the weakest member of The Chosen Guild? What's a weakling like him doing here? Also, were all F Tier adventurers this annoying?'
To answer his question, soon many Adventurer's arrived, however, they quietly took their own places near the stage.
Many seemed to be friends or guild members, but they all eyes Leon suspiciously and whispered among themselves.
"Hey, isn't that the kid who only got to join a prestigious Guild because the Guild Master took care of him?"
"Yeah, I heard he is actually super weak and might be at the bottom of F Tier. What's he doing trying to advance? Is he suicidal?"
Leon heard everything and it dampened his mood a little bit, however, he tried to pay no mind to it.
Soon after 14 other adventurers besides Leon had arrived, Tage stood up.
"Alright, since it's now ten minutes past noon. I will begin the test now. Since I am not in the mood for a complex test. Your test will be a free for all fight on the stage. Here are the rules, first off you will be confined to the main stage. You can not move from the stage, meaning if you get pushed off the stage or leave it, you will not advance. The test will end when four of you are left. Also, be warned, if I see someone kill another person after they surrendered or have been eliminated, they will be punished severely. Also please try to refrain from doing fatal damage that can't be healed. Now everyone please gather on the stage and we will begin shortly."
Everyone went silent and the sound of footsteps echoed throughout the Arena. Soon everyone had taken their own place on the stage, Leon had himself in the north, west corner of the stage.
Tage yawned and sat down on the spectator seats right next to the stage.
"Begin in 3..."
Everyone took out their weapons, Leon himself took out his dagger and his sword and held them both with a different hand.
"2...."
Leon surveyed his surroundings and went over his plan in an instant with Ensis.
「From my low-level sense, I can tell there are some decently powerful adventurers here. I don't think any are much stronger than you, but I believe perhaps three others are relatively around your combat power. I can't accurately locate them, but I believe they are mostly on the opposite side of the stage. The best plan of action is to take out the person next to you with your knife, as they are very weak and will clear a direct path for you.」
In just that split second, all this information was relayed to Leon who took note.
"1.... Begin!"
Everyone started to enact their own plans. However, Leon with his quick agility was the first to move, he gripped his knife and flung it with all his strength at the poor female Adventurer next to him. The knife flew through the air like a rocket cutting through the air just inches away from the female Adventurer's face.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone