Chapter 21: Mercenary Test (Part 1)
Sol didn't bat the man an eye. He slapped the ugly bozo across the face so hard that a giant red mark was left sizzling in his cheek.
The ugly man slammed face-first into the ground beside Sol. He was completely knocked out and down for the count.
A roar of laughter erupted from the crowd at this moment. Sol kicked the ugly man away before resuming his conversation with the lady, acting as if nothing happened.
"So... let's get started with the test," Sol said to her in a kind tone, as a few of the ugly dude's friends dragged his body out of the guild.
"Ah--yes! Before that, please, place your hand on this orb and put Ether Energy inside of it. This is to test whether you have it or not, as it is mandatory to become a Mercenary."
After this, Sol placed his hand on the apple-sized white orb. As he did, a horrible pitch-black aura filled and surrounded the orb.
"This orb is also supposed to tell me what Element Affinity you have. It goes Red for fire, Blue for water, Green for wind, and Brown for earth." The young lady said with a smile.
The black aura from the orb leaked out, filling the surrounding part of the room. Then, it stretched out and encompassed the entire guild, cloaking it in a pitch-black array of gloomy energy.
Sol's expression remained calm as this happened. His eyelids were loose.
After a mere couple of seconds, the black energy enveloped the entire Mercenary Guild, and then the street that it was on and further.
"Oh great! I see you have a wind Elemental Affinity." The young lady suddenly said.
Through her eyes, all she saw was a lime-green aura that appeared in the orb.
Sol took his hand off of the orb, and all of the black aura disappeared and absorbed back into him instantly.
'Cursed Ether. It transferred with me through my transmigration. All but I can see it as of now. In reality, I have all of the different elements, but I chose to show wind as my current main skill is Wind Blade.'
Sol moved on, guided by the young lady to an elevator that went downstairs.
After that, the lady dropped him off at the bottom of the elevator and went back up by herself. Her last words were, "Please continue through the passage and you should find your way to the testing room."
Sol turned around, walking through a large underground stone corridor.
Finally, at the end of the passage was a giant door about 20 feet in height.
As he neared it, the door opened up automatically. He stepped through it and appeared in an enormous underground chamber with over 500 people of various different creeds standing within it.
The chamber itself was likely larger than a football field in size. It was well lit with giant amber crystals that lined its walls.
Sol looked around to see many people who seemed to have different backgrounds face him. They too were all waiting for the Mercenary testing to begin.
Many had cross brows, swords, battle axes, spears, and various other weapons. They wore tunics and armor made from metal, leather, and many different types of ores.
Clearly, they were taking this seriously. But Sol had just taken an Exam that was most likely harder than this test, so he wasn't stressing. In fact, even if it was harder, he wouldn't be stressing either way.
However, he did get some odd looks, as he was one of the only kids in there.
After he came in, a 5x5-foot stage in the middle of the room raised up a few feet.
On Sol's half of the room was where every single one of the testees was standing, and on the other side were the testing instruments.
On this small stage appeared a person clad in white shining armor. They took their broadsword and pointed it toward the testees before speaking.
"Welcome, all 500 of you, to the Mercenary tests! This test shall begin right now! Form five groups of 100 and await your turn to start the test!"
The voice was extra loud. Everyone looked left and right at each other for a few seconds after hearing it.
They then quickly squirmed around to get into groups.
Sol didn't move, as he didn't find any need to do so. He found himself in group 5, the last to go up and perform the test.
'Man... what a bother.' He mused to himself, finding it annoying that his group was the last to go up.
Speaking of which, the first group entered the second half of the room at that moment.
They all first took on a challenge where they had to perform an Ether spell of some sort and hit a target.
"Ether Energy Spells are placed into two different categories! Enhancement and Sorcery! Enhancement strengthens your body internally, while Sorcery allows you to use external weapons of Ether. Use either one you prefer, but you must have a spell that is up to par!" The knight in the middle roared.
Lined up beside each other, everyone used their Ether Energy spells one by one.
Most shot balls of their Element Affinity type. Water balls, fireballs, wind, earth. Others shot more advanced techniques, such as "Fire Snake!" and "Water Turtle!"
In the end, only 80 passed the first test, successfully hitting a dummy standing 30 feet away from them.
Next, they were all ordered to hit a punching box as hard as possible to prove their physical strength.
This time, only 50 were able to pass. Many of the weaker sorcerers who were still very powerful when it came to Ether manipulation simply faltered in the strength department.
Next was a dodge test, where everyone was forced to stand in front of a machine that shot quick Ether-powered arrows and avoid all of them from passing.
Only 30 from the original 100 passed this test and moved on to the fourth and final one.
The final test was a poison test. All of the contestants had to sit in a vat of poison for a minute, and then fight a wild beast afterward.
This was a very harsh part of the test that many failed to pass, but it was deemed as mandatory nonetheless.
In the end, only 10 people remained standing.
"Congratulations! You all pass!" The knight exclaimed eagerly, as the next group stepped forward for their turn.
Just like this, groups took the tests one by one. The ones who failed were sent back up to the guild, and the ones who passed stayed to observe the next testees.
Finally, after about half an hour, the knight shouted, "Congratulations! You all pass!" To the fourth round of passers. There were only 6 that time.
"Next! The fifth group!"
Sol felt himself awakening from a nap...
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