Chapter 3: 3. Guild & Exam

Leo and Grayfia were on their way to the Adventurer’s Guild. Meanwhile, Leo told Grayfia about the layout of this world. She learned that there were 7 continents, and the God realm and the Demon realm. However, this made Leo curious.

Ageha, Grayfia is different from the Demons of this world, right? She is considered a devil, right? Leo asked her.

<Yes, she is fundamentally different, she is even stronger than most demons as they are at the lower end of Tier 4, meanwhile the Gods range from A to SSS in Tier 4.>

“Leo-sama, it seems there are a lot of people in the Adventurer’s Guild.” Leo hears Grayfia say that beside him. He sees her pointing at the building and she was right. They were quite fast at moving since they’re different from the inhabitants of this world, so they arrived here quite quickly.

Although Leo did note some of the shops and buildings they passed by earlier since some of the food he saw in them looked quite delicious. Therefore, he planned on heading back there with Grayfia later. Leo also had a thought. ‘The cliché exam for becoming an adventurer. It’s either that, or just putting your hand on some kind of magical ball and measuring your power.’ Either way, Leo was fine with one of them.

There are multiple people in there with higher power than Leo-sama. I may need to step in and protect him, but... Grayfia thought, but when she was being summoned by Ageha, she was told something, and that was to let Leo grow stronger on his own.

Ageha did say it was okay for her to help train Leo, but she wasn't supposed to baby him and do everything for him. To Grayfia, who was being trained as a maid for her clan it conflicted with her, however, she also understood what Ageha meant.

As the two of them walk towards the building, Grayfia glances at Leo who was looking around at the buildings and scenery around them. The next ruler of the Omniverse? He’s a bit naïve right now, hopeful even. As the years pass, will that light fade away? Or will he hold true to his own convictions? Whatever they may be… Grayfia thought, although she had her own wish that she wanted to be granted.

She didn’t mind staying with her newly appointed master. She was given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and she would take full advantage of it. Old Devil ways be damned, this also gave her an opportunity to get stronger.

“Is something wrong, Grayfia?” Leo asked the maid that had been staring at him.

“No, it’s nothing Leo-sama. I just thought about what kind of exam we will take once in the guild.” Grayfia didn’t lie, she was also curious about that. However, she didn’t tell Leo the full truth. Trust works both ways, and they both still had to prove to each other that they could trust each other with greater secrets.

“Hmm, actually I had a thought.” Leo proceeds to tell Grayfia what he thought the exam would be. Grayfia couldn’t help but laugh. “Right? It’s cliché as hell.” Leo looks back forward with a grin. He was curious, very curious.

The two eventually arrived near the door of the Adventurer’s Guild and they had to wait in a long line. Leo taps the two people in front of them. “Hey, what’s happening in there? Why’s the line so long?” he asks them and they look at him before nodding.

“The Heroes of Phazerene are here! They’re officially checking the guild hall in our city! It’s a rare opportunity, so there are a lot of people here today. Normally there’s only the regular traffic of adventurers and the ones who send in requests.” One of them says with excitement.

The Heroes of Phazerene? So they do have heroes, huh? Leo thought it was a bit cliché, but still made sense. Even though he didn’t know much about the world, he kind of guessed that this was the case. However, another thought came to him.

How long will I be an adventurer? Will I be able to start my own kingdom one day? In a sense, this is my home world that I’ll always come back to, right? I’ll need a stable place to live eventually. Leo believed that adventuring for a certain time would be fun, but he would like to stop at some point.

Leo didn’t see himself as some grand hero that would save the world, change it for ultimate world peace. Even though Ageha said that he needed to be ‘neutral’ when he becomes the next ruler. That meant he would need to do things down the line that would be considered both ‘good’ and ‘evil’.

Good and evil are subjective and need context and perspective. To one person what I do can be seen as good, while the other can see it as evil or bad. Well whatever, I can’t be hung up on everything I do.

“Heroes, huh? Are they strong?” Leo inquired to the two, but they just burst into a fit of laughter. However, they eventually calm down.

“Of course, they are! They visit all the continents in our world! They battle the demons on a regular basis as they need to defeat the Demon Queen! The Gods also grant them blessings to get stronger!” the other beside the man explains.

“When one hero dies, a new hero must be chosen. Once that hero is chosen, he will need to gather allies and they in turn will be given blessings by the Gods! After all, they occasionally come back to our world to give sermons.” The other continued as the other nods along.

“Really? That sounds cool…” Leo pretended to be amazed, but he accidentally got very valuable information out of talking with these two. One, Heroes are chosen when the previous one dies. He doesn’t know if the cause is old age, or dying on the battlefield, nor does he know how long it takes.

Two, the Gods do come down here to speak with humans, so maybe there was a chance he could speak to them and gain an understanding of them. To Leo this was going to be near the top of his priority list, along with getting stronger and getting closer to Grayfia. Leo proceeded to chat with them until they kept on moving closer to the building, all the while Grayfia silently stood beside Leo.

●●●●

Around 30 minutes later, Leo, Grayfia and the two people they were chatting to had finally gotten inside the Guild’s building. The interior is one you would expect, very, very wooden and brown. There were a few tables and chairs around the room, as well as two sofas. At the front were three reception desks where 3 staff members were, and would answer any questions anyone had about being an adventurer.

“You two are applying to be adventurers, right? Just walk up to any of the 3 guild receptionists and take it from there. It looks like the Heroes are in the examination rooms. Since both of you are applying together, then go to the same one since you’ll be brought to the same examination room.” The buff one called Michael explains.

“Thanks for all the info, Michael, Robert. Good luck seeing the Heroes.” Leo thanks the two, they both wish them luck and both parties walk away from each other. “We got a lot out of that, didn’t we?” Leo asks Grayfia as they approach the middle reception who had a short line.

“Yes, we got a lot of information from them. Although, why don’t you ask Ageha about this world? She has told you about the 7 continents and other things, Leo-sama.” In response Leo just chuckles confusing Grayfia, although she had her suspicions about why he hadn’t.

To put it simply, Ageha wouldn’t. Not out of malice or spit, but she didn’t want to baby him too much. Like her and her bosses’ words, Leo had to grow on his own with some help. So they left it up to him to figure out the rest.

“Do you really think Ageha is the type to just tell me?” Leo asks Grayfia in a deadpan. The maid sighs but agrees with what Leo said.

No, no she would not… Even Grayfia couldn’t help but sigh to herself. The two of them finally reached the receptionist after waiting in line for a few minutes.

“Hello! How can I help you two?” the female receptionist asked. She had brown hair tied in a ponytail, wearing a black and white uniform, that had ‘guild receptionist’ on the chest area.

“We’re here to apply as adventurers.” Leo answers her and she nods happily.

“Great!” she takes out some forms and places them in front of Leo and Grayfia. She also added two pens. “Please sign these, fill in as many details as you can!” she pushes the forms closer to them.

Grayfia and Leo took a look at them and the form was designed as such:

●●●●

[Adventurer’s form]:

[Name]:

[Rank]:

[Job]:

[Mana/Ki]:

[Gender]:

[Skills]:

●●●●

Leo was a bit surprised by it, especially by the ‘gender’ part. How was that relevant? But he was also interested in his [Skills] and [Rank]. Did the rank refer to your own personal power, or what the guild gave you? Additionally, he was surprised to see [Mana/Ki]. He speculated that it's how they measure you in another way.

“Please leave the [Rank], [Job], [Mana/Ki] and [Skills] blank as it will fill itself out once your adventurer license cards are created.” The receptionist informs the both of them.

Both Grayfia and Leo nodded and proceeded to fill out the form. Of course, it wasn’t a long process. This is because all they needed to fill in were [Name] and [Gender]. Once done, they both give the form and pens to the receptionist, who happily nods.

“Please follow me, I will bring you both to the examination room.” She says and turns around.

The two of them follow the woman as she leads them to a waiting area after stepping through a door. In the waiting area there were multiple other people. She looks around and nods. “It seems like we’re full now. All right everyone you will start your examination, please proceed through the door in front of you.” She informs them.

Leo, Grayfia, and the rest of them piled through the door and came to a large open area. It seems they were in another room. A man with white hair, green eyes and a grey beard stood away from them all with his arms crossed. He looked at everyone with a stern gaze.

“He will be your examiner, however before that allow me to explain some things for newcomers." She looks at everyone before continuing. “The ranking system for the guilds all around our world ranges from F to S. As you know, S rank is the highest rank an adventurer can achieve, and they gain many benefits from it.” The receptionist continues on to explain.

In a nutshell, when one reaches S rank, they qualify for discounts on all continents, whether it's for blacksmiths, tailors, armorers, hotels and inns. Almost everything is designed to make it easier for the adventurer. Of course, reaching S rank is very arduous.

“There are only a few S ranks all over 7 continents as we speak, and even fewer throughout our history. It takes a long time to reach it. You must do perhaps hundreds of quests or do something of monumental significance for a continent, city, or even kingdom.” She says while tapping a clipboard she had summoned.

“As you know the Heroes of Phazerene are here in the guild hall today. There are six of them in total and all of them are S rank. As you also know, they defeated a high-ranking demon a few weeks back, but demons replace each other quite quickly. Nevertheless, the achievement is monumental.”

“The last time a high-ranking demon was killed was over 200 years ago! The Heroes are here today to see if they can recruit promising adventurers to their party.” After the receptionist says that, the room erupts into chatter.

“They’re recruiting? That’s odd.” Leo says and Grayfia agrees beside him.

“They must have an ulterior motive.” Grayfia comments and Leo agrees.

It would be strange if they were genuinely doing this to recruit someone. Something must have happened. Leo thought it was too strange.

“One of the Heroes will be overseeing your exam today.” After she said that, footsteps were heard, and then a woman clad in purple armor appeared beside the examiner. It was a woman with long jet-black hair that reached to her waist, sharp and stern golden colored eyes. On her hip was a sword.

A round of gasps occurs, and then one of the examinees points at the woman. “It’s Rosemary! Oh my god!!” he screamed.

Rosemary. Leo and Grayfia heard about her from Robert. She’s also known as the ‘Blitz Queen’ as she’s known for her speed and technique with the sword. She’s been blessed by Yris, the Goddess of Gales, so her speed is her biggest advantage.

From what Leo could see, Rosemary was a prideful woman. Her ego over the years of being active within the Heroes party helped inflate that. Of course, as her skills and power also grew, and being blessed by a Goddess, also inflated it even more.

Leo looked at Grayfia and they silently agreed on one thing. Underperform. From seeing Rosemary, they already knew what type of group the Heroes party was. Now all Leo needed to hope was that the Hero wasn’t a womanizer/harem seeker and wouldn’t try to get Grayfia. This is because he doubted he could take any of them on at the moment.

Cliché after cliché, huh? Give me a break… Leo sighed to himself and the exam finally started.

“The exam is simple. First you will have a mock battle with the examiner, Leywarldo. The fight will last exactly one minute. Please do your best to show what you are capable of. Once that is done, you will put your hand on this!” the receptionist unveils a small ball. “This will measure your Mana, Ki or both!”

Grayfia looks at Leo as she sighs. It has both…dammit it all. But my mana or ki shouldn’t be too high, right? As for Grayfia though… Leo thought then looked at Grayfia with some concern. She had the same face as well.

I will need to match Leo-sama’s mana or ki output. Leo-sama does not want any kind of unwanted attention before he gets some sort of barring in this world. Grayfia thought while looking at the small ball.

Leo doesn’t care if people know about him or his powers. However, as of now, he has next to no experience, very limited control over his powers, a small understanding of them, and any unwanted attention right now wouldn’t benefit him at all.

Perhaps he was being paranoid or just overly cautious, but he would rather be that than be caught off-guard or taken advantage of.

“Anyone can start, or Leywarldo randomly picks any of you.” The receptionist informs us. The examinees start to look around at each other before someone steps up.

“I’ll go first.” He says with some confidence.

He was a human male with an athletic build short pink hair, green eyes. He and Leywarldo stood at opposite ends of the small field. The rest of the examinees stood to the side along with the receptionist and Rosemary.

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“Are both fighters ready?” the receptionist asks and they both nod. “Begin!”

“I’m Mebarki, pleased to fight with you!” he says with enthusiasm, and Leywarldo nods before assuming some kind of fighting stance.

Mebarki strikes his fists together and both are engulfed in flames. "I'm fired up!" he says as he dashes towards the examiner. Once he gets into range he cocks his right arm back before sending a straight punch towards him!

However, Leywarldo easily dodges it, and counters with a sweeping kick! Despite this, Mebarki wasn't a slouch in defense, covering his arms in flames and blocking the attack. Leywarldo looks impressed and nods. The two of them go at it for the next 40 seconds before the receptionist blows a whistle.

“That’s enough! Wonderfully fought Mister Mebarki, please come and touch the power finder.” She says and he complies.

When he arrives by her, he touches the ball. It suddenly and briefly glows before becoming dull. Above the ball it says: Mana + Ki = 607. The crowd seemed impressed by it as they shouted ‘Ohhh!’.

That’s something impressive? Leo thought and looked at Rosemary who didn’t react. The examiner nodded as well. Leo didn’t have a definitive answer, so he chose to sit back and listen for now, the same with Grayfia.

“Wow! That’s quite high for a new adventurer! Although there has been higher, you are the first one in the last few years to reach this high.” She says happily.

However, Mebarki looks at her and frowns. “What’s the highest on this continent? No, this guild?” he asks her and she taps her cheek before answering him.

“Well, the highest in the guild hall is 3719 for mana, 4012 for ki, and for both it’s 4444.” After saying that Mebarki looked shocked. “For our continent? I think it’s Miss Rosemary there at 7102 at her initial test, and of course she’s grown since then!” the receptionist looks at Rosemary who nods.

“The Hero, Vexes. As you know his [Job] is [Hero of Humanity], and he’s currently the strongest S rank on all continents. He is also blessed by the God of War, Ukius. In the beginning he had a rating of 9999; however, since our journey started and continues to now, he should be around 96,812 in both Mana and Ki." She paused to look at everyone, but they were all paying attention intently.

“He hails from Oseon, also known as the strongest continent and has produced many outstanding warriors over the years. Vexes was born for this role and job.” She looked at Mebarki, “Grosscarriage is the weakest continent, however, that rating is not bad, most over the years have barely broken past 200.” She gave him somewhat encouraging words.

Maybe my judgement was wrong? Or is she putting on a show to fool them? She—no, they are looking to recruit someone, so it makes sense to praise those who want to be adventurers. Leo squinted his eyes at her with suspicion.

For the next few minutes, Leo and Grayfia watched the rest of the examinees do their exams. Most of them were as they speculated, poor, very poor. During that time, the receptionist also said that most adventurers will start at F rank. There are some exceptions, but they are very rare. Leo and Grayfia agreed that they wouldn’t be the last two since it would be suspicious.

There were around 15 examines left, so Grayfia decided to go next. She glanced at Leo before walking to her spot. There were many people in the room who noticed this and assumed she was his maid, but they all thought the same. Why would he bring his maid? And in a way, they started to look at Leo as weak since he brought ‘help’ with him.

“Begin!” the receptionist said and both Leywarldo and Grayfia did not move from the spot confusing the new and up-in-coming adventurers.

Leywarldo has to be measuring Grayfia, but I don’t think Grayfia is doing the same thing. She knows she’s stronger so she’s just waiting for him to move. Leo then sees a single drop of sweat fall from Leywarldo’s cheek. He’s nervous, isn’t he? It has to be it…

Humans, even though they evolved from what they once were, still have that primal instinct within them. That if they see someone stronger than them, their body will freeze and kick into overdrive. The next move is either fight or flight. Leywarldo must be agonizing over that instinct right now.

He is the examiner. If he bows out and retires, he will look like a fool, but if he faces her, there is a chance that he will be badly beaten. But they didn’t need to wait any longer as he had made his choice.

Doom!

Leywarldo, for the first time since the examinations started, powered up to his current full power, surprising everyone in the room except for Grayfia and Leo. Even Rosemary who had an uninterested expression on her face seemed surprised by the move.

The ground beneath Leywarldo began to break, indicating that he was seriously going to use his full power!

Why? Why is he powering up to fight that maid...? Rosemary was confused. She and many of the party members of Vexes did not expect much from this batch of adventures in Grosscarriage. But now she was witnessing something irregular.

Leywarldo appears in front of Grayfia and sends a punch to her stomach! But Grayfia easily dodges it by moving her body ever so slightly. Missing his attack, Leywarldo follows it up with a roundhouse kick! But again, Grayfia jumps over it and dodges it easily.

The entire room was already silent from the start, but it had become even more silent as they watched the intense yet short exchange between the two! Everyone was watching with bated breath, including Rosemary.

So much for underperforming, huh? Maybe she was too caught up in the moment? Leo wryly smiled at the scene.

However, this scene carries on for a full minute. Leywarldo uses all his powers and experience in hand-to-hand combat, trying to land a hit on Grayfia with no success. Grayfia dodged all attacks relatively easily. Until time ran out.

“T-That will be all! M-miss Grayfia please come and measure your power…” the receptionist says and Grayfia strolls over to the ball and touches it. It briefly glows and shows that she has both Mana and Ki!

Did they change her to be able to use Ki? Or did she have the ability since Touki is a thing in the Draconic Deus? Touki is just Ki after all… Leo became curious as he looked at the number that was displayed.

“My! That's the highest we've seen in years!" the receptionist gasps, and so does the rest of the crowd.

The ball showed 2500. Nothing more, nothing less. But two people were skeptical, and those were Leywarldo and Rosemary. However, they decided not to say anything about it, but did eye Grayfia suspiciously, and in turn, they were interested in what Leo could do.

Yeah…no pressure, right? Fucking me sideways with a table spoon. Grayfia, she just made them have some kind of high expectation of me. Leo inwardly sighed at the thought.

<Just go with your original plan. But if you do lose badly, that Rosemary chick might try to take Grayfia away. However, if you perform to their standards or even better, then they might try to recruit you. You got shit luck, huh, Leo?>

Fuck you too, Ageha. Leo quipped back but Ageha just laughed at him.

The rest of the exams went on as normal with mediocre to low results, and finally the last person to do his exam was Leo. Leo had never gotten into a fight in his past life, because he had a weird rule for himself.

You could say everyone in the world has their own ‘unhinged crazy’. Of course, our protagonist, Leo has that too. He always did his best to keep this opinion to himself, and not let anyone else know about it. However, he did not believe in rules in fighting or thought war crimes ‘rules’ were stupid.

No, he didn’t think this just to be edgy, but he genuinely believed it. To Leo, if you want to fight, you have to lay down your life. He always thought that even if he was knocked out, he would just hunt down his opponent, find out where they lived, and burn it all down. This was regardless of who was in it.

The same for war. To Leo, war is war. No rules should exist. It’s every man and woman for themselves. What happens in war stays in war, and no one should be punished. Only the victors should be alive by the end of it and they could do whatever they want.

Did that make Leo a psycho? He himself didn’t know the answer to it, but…that hasn’t changed since he reincarnated. Hell, he has the opportunity to actually follow through with it now, doesn’t he? He’s about to fight someone for the first time in his life, and to get a license.

Leo didn’t count the slimes or goblins he faced. To him, they lacked the advanced intelligence to give him a challenge. However, to Leo, who was standing on the opposite side of Leywarldo, this was the first intelligent thing he would fight since coming to the world.

Leo-sama… Grayfia looked at Leo with concern. She suddenly became worried, but she didn't know why.

“Begin!” Once the receptionist said that, Leywarldo did not waste any time and appeared beside Leo. A few gasps of shock at the sudden change in Leywarldo.

But to Grayfia and Rosemary, it made sense. If they assume right, the maid, Grayfia was with Leo, so it means that the ‘master’ has to be skilled, right? That was the logical way of looking at things.

Leywarldo sends a full-powered punch towards Leo’s gut! To Leo, right now, the world has slowed down. It was like he was back in that train station, on that platform, waiting for his train for the day. Time had slowed down. What he did next would decide if he would live or die.

However, everyone was surprised by Leo’s next move. As if his body moved on instinct, he made a slight adjustment with his body, and Leywarldo’s punch missed! In one swift motion, Leo grabs Leywarldo’s arm, puts a foot in front of Leywarldo’s path, and using the man’s momentum forcefully flips him on his back.

Thud!

Leywarldo made a large thud, as he stared up at the ceiling in shock. The crowd also gasped, however, the one most shocked by the situation was—Leo.

What the fuck?! The fuck just happened?! It’s like my body just moved on instinct! Holy shit, is this Ultra Instinct? Leo was horrified and giddy at the same time, but he didn’t have time to relish in that feeling as Leywarldo quickly got up and put distance between them.

Leo faces Leywarldo, and again Leywarldo appears in front of him this time! Leo could keep up for some reason! Leywarldo sends another punch towards Leo, but he swiftly deflects it with his own hand! He uses the momentum and guides the punch away from himself and forcefully makes the bulky man miss him!

Leo-sama… Grayfia felt a smile appear on her lips as she watched on. Perhaps all that worry was all for nothing? Did her own instincts betray her?

The same scene repeated for the next few seconds until time was up! The receptionist ends the small exchange! “T-time’s up! Mister Leo, please come here and measure your power!” The entire room was still silent since they hadn’t gotten over the weird exchange just now.

Leo didn't show extreme power, nor did he demonstrate any impressive techniques. He just simply countered Leywarldo, and made the man fall on his back. When Leo arrived at the receptionist's side he put his hand on the ball.

Once the light dimmed down, Leo’s current power was displayed. Most weren’t expecting it, some were expecting higher, some lower, but to Leo… Perfect. He thought because it displayed…

Just 1000 below Grayfia. Leo smiles and nods to himself. Satisfied with the result. It wasn’t super extraordinary since the highest ever was 3000+, and both Grayfia and him were below it.

“1500! Wow, just 1000 lower than your maid! Very impressive. It seems we have three impressive adventurers this year!" says the receptionist. She brings out a list, and using magic, displays it in some kind of hologram in the air.

At the very top was Grayfia at 2500, after that was Leo at 1500, and after him was Mebarki at 607. The rest of the examinees scored in the 100 to 200 range, and only a few scored below 100. Once the exam was over everyone made their way out of the room, but to no one’s surprise, Rosemary stops both Grayfia and Leo.

“You two, Leo and Grayfia, was it? Could you stay for a moment?” Rosemary asks the two, who look at each other and nod.

“How can we help you…Rosemary, right?” Leo asks and she nods.

“Hmm. I don’t like people talking in roundabout ways, so I will keep it short and straight. Would you like to join our party?” she asks the two.

But Leo doesn’t miss a beat, and answers her right away. Leywarldo was still here and was watching the exchange silently.

“I will have to respectfully decline. Grayfia and I will be starting our own party. I feel like we’ll hold your guys back.” Leo says quite casually.

Leywarldo was surprised, and so was Rosemary. But… “I see, thank you for giving your reasoning. I won’t waste your time any longer.” Rosemary turns around with Leywarldo and the two walk to the back of the room and speak with each other.

Leo and Grayfia also take this chance to leave the room.

●●●●

“What do you think, Sir Leywarldo?” Rosemary asks the examiner.

Leywarldo looks back at the door that Grayfia and Leo just left through and smirks. “They are both promising, but they are still green. Your party and Vexes' will probably not want them.”

“I see…maybe the quality of adventurers has declined over the years that seeing those two raised my hopes up. Thank you for your opinion, Sir Leywarldo.” Rosemary bows before she leaves through a different door.

What Leo got wrong about Rosemary was that she WAS arrogant. However, after coming back to this continent and getting her ass handed to her by Leywarldo, she was brought back down to reality. That happened two years ago. Now she’s back to being relatively humble, having some arrogance, and wanting to train again.

Leywarldo looks back at the door and smiles. “But those two…have a lot of potential, especially that Leo character. The maid was also holding back…if we both went all out, I would certainly die.” Leywarldo looks at the door that Rosemary went out of. “You better watch your back, Rosemary. No, not just you—the rest of your party. Those two will surely make a name for themselves soon enough.”

Leywarldo Elrod, former S rank adventurer, and former [Brawler] of the last Hero’s party of this world. He has since retired from the front lines and has become the examiner for this branch of the guild.

●●●●

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