Chapter 12: Lining Up
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A child can be seen wandering around the streets while heading a single direction southeast this child has jet black hair and it was completely unkempt and scraggly this boy is naturally Akihito Reiki and right now all he was thinking about was those words that the old man said. Go southeast towards the Arch Forest for your first trail. Reiki didn't really need to worry about food and lodging because he can easily kill a few low-level monsters and roast them with fire and he can always make a makeshift shelter and a bed with different length of sticks and a few dozen of leaves the only problem he was facing right now was one thing transportation.

How am I supposed to travel to the location with this pace… At this rate that so-called trail might have already finished by then. Reiki mused to himself as he kept on passing by all the buildings, Cafes, shops, and so on. As he kept on walking he noticed that the sun was already at its peak and he was walking non-stop until noon so he went to the closest forest near him while he was walking leisurely he heard a loud voice coming from a fairly decent wooden stage but it was obvious to him that it was just made a few days ago for this one time use.

¨Recruiting adventurers young and old are welcome to join whether they have a Guild license or not we welcome all and we pay first then we meet 3 days later at the pub down at Magi street for those who don't know the way our guide will be here starting at o six hundred o’clock at three hour intervals for those who are interested just go over there by that snobbish looking warrior for the details and the screening process!¨ 

The old man shouted in a single breath while on top of the stage the old man hair was only a simple Army cut and some of his hair was already turning white he wore simple dark green tank top and military pants and army boots the old man was at least 5’11 tall and his body was honed and muscular after years of training and a few more years of serving his country.

Reiki wanted to use God’s Eye but he felt someone was watching him. He didn't know who and where but he knew someone was keeping tabs on him so he decided to stay hidden for the time being. As he watched from a distance a few people were already heading towards the snobbish warrior and some of them were peasants trying to live another day. But Most of them were just some wanna be adventures with the hope of becoming famous like other adventures.

But he wasn’t interested at first but then he thought about those loan sharks that kept on pounding the door in the near future asking for them to pay up he thought. I might as well join to prevent some of my future troubles… It would be better if I can pay them back as soon as possible although I do have these six fake guild cards. But I can’t place all my hopes on their bounty for all I know those bandits put together won’t even amount up to anything decent. After putting some thought into it Reiki sighed and made his way to the snobbish warrior for the screening process.

When Reiki was already near the screening process a decent line was already formed. It wasn't short but it wasn’t long either. He gave a rough estimation that it should be at least about 50-70 people. He was able to see some adults whose occupation were farmers, miners, and etc. Hoping they would be able to turn their lives for the better there were even a few oldmen in line. There were even some orphans that were children hoping to get paid to eat their next meal. The majority were teenagers, they all knew each other and the boys were bragging off that in the future they would easily be accepted into the guild to impress the girls with them. Majority of them were impressed while a few of the girls stayed indifferent. 

But with a closer look Reiki was able to notice that the majority of the girls that were impressed were wearing make-up and was pretty much average in looks and the few that remained indifferent he counted three girls and they were the true beauties in the group the first one had beautiful golden blonde hair that reached all the way to her waist she was easily six foot tall her figure would easily cause the downfall of empires she had an oval shape face a pair of sharp eye with ocean blue pupils. With a lip that could easily stimulate the fantasies of men and a cute pinchable nose to boot. 

She had all the right curves and an ample bosom and a firm and perky butt she wore a white fitted sleeveless t-shirt but the sleeves looked like it was cut by using scissors giving it a rough look and she wore blue skin-tight jogging pants and black rubber shoes her skin was a bit on the whiter shade which was able to emphasize her golden hair and he saw a grey string bag that she was carrying in her hand. But with a second inspection. 

Reiki noticed that this girl's hands had boxing gauze on them and her fitted sleeveless t-shirt had an outline of a six-pack and further observation he was able to see that she had visible muscles on her body although they weren’t as big as bodybuilders. But Reiki was able to notice that her build was more balanced between power and flexibility. Reiki thought. I wonder what type of martial arts she practices. As he looked at the next girl beside her.

Next to the blonde hair was a unhealthy white-skinned girl with black messy hair although it wasn’t as messy as Reiki’s hair due to some of her being neat and tidy and some of them were just a jumbled into places giving her a somewhat haggard look her hair was in a ponytail and it was reaching about a few inches past her shoulders. She had a pair of dark brown eyes that could see through a person's soul and a somewhat slim nose even if her looks were only above-average she gave off a mesmerizing aura. She had her own form of beauty. 

She wore a plain blue t-shirt that was a bit big on her that was almost halfway at her thigh and a pair of simple jeans that hugged her lower figure with a simple pair of brown leather adventure shoes. Her figure wasn’t ample but it wasn’t small either if Reiki were to describe her size it would be a bit bigger than average her boobs and butt weren't big to the point it someone's hand would sink in but it wasn’t small enough to an entire hand to cover them it was just right with a bit more size on them.

She had a brown satchel bag on her that was open exposing 2 thick books that weren’t able to see the name of the book and she was currently looking down writing notes on what looked like her personal notebook that contained all her findings and understanding of what's she's studying.

… I wonder what's she’s researching on… Reiki mused to himself.

And the last girl was the final one and she pretty much looked out of place in the entire line and the reason for that she was basically one of those rich bishoujo that you usually see in anime’s her long black hair was reaching all the way to her knees and the ends were curling up and added to a more refined aura around her. She was wearing a school uniform but it wasn’t from any school that Reiki was able to recognize and there was the possibility that this was custom made for her the uniform was white with a complementing scheme of black at the edges and some parts of her uniform her skirt was plain white that reached all the way to her knees. She wore a simple pair of brown leather shoes and black stockings that looked like they reached all the way to her thighs. 

She also had pair of sharp black eyes her skin pasty white and looked more natural than the girl next to the blonde one the girl that was writing down notes skin color was the result of her staying indoors for long periods of time which made it look unhealthy but the rich bishoujo pasty white skin was a more natural color. Her nose was perfectly proportioned and looked like it was carved for her and had a dainty look to it. 

She wasn’t smiling but wasn’t frowning either she looked like she can see through everything and also looked down on everyone around her she had her hands in front holding the handle of a brown briefcase with multiple pockets her proportions were better than the unhealthy skinned girl she had an ample bosom and a perky butt but it wasn’t bigger than the blonde boxer.

What’s the reason that she’s here lining up… Those three came here with their own motivation in mind but the question is what are their motivation for joining? Is the only thing that he was able to make a conclusion. Majority of the people who lined up were here for one thing in common and that was the money although they never said how much they were gonna pay an individual. But judging by the crowd it shouldn’t be too bad but those three what are they here for? 

Was the only thing that was weighing on Reiki’s mind he can make a few assumptions for the two girls but that rich girl was out of the picture she couldn't be here for the money because Reiki was able to tell that her briefcase alone was more expensive than all of the things everyone had on them the orphans are here for their next meal, the farmers and miners are here to improve their living conditions, the teenagers are here for experience on how to become adventures and Reiki was here to pay off their debt that gonna be collected in the near future. The girl with the boxing gauze is here for a good fight, the unhealthy one is here for research. What if. Reiki thought but before he was able to continue one of the examiners shouted. “152 kg punching force next!”

The examiner that shouted looked like one of those hardened veterans that came from a war black hair bulging muscles and a military uniform as the military-like examiner looked indifferent at the result and the adult that punched the solid stone. The man walked away with his face looking down in shame after looking at the direction that the examinator shouted in the front of the line there were a total of three examiners one of the military-like was in front of a cube-shaped stone that was on top of a simple iron stand that can alter its height and a kg measurer just like a punching machine. 

The stone cube dimensions was roughly about 20 inches in length and 20 inches in width. The next was another male his lower face was covered by a masked and he looked like one of those thief based class in games he had his black hood on and leather armor and a dark longbow behind his back and a quiver on the table with a different colored arrows some were orange, green, red, and a few of them were black the with a plain bow and a bundle of arrows on another table the masked examiner was in charge of the result of the archery test had three targets with the shortest distance about 500 feet and each target is separated about another 500 feet the longest about 1,500 feet all targets are the same it was a simple target it was 80 cm in diameter and 160 cm above the ground

The last is an old man wearing a simple blue robe and sitting on a chair the third exam was a simple magic casting test with a target that was made out of solid Iron and was shaped of a person upper body it was about 700 feet away from the caster it looked like the simplest one of the three but by the looks of it, no one has yet to try it.

A stream of shouts came out of the examiners.

“289 kg punching force pass!”

‘“100 minus 40 totals to 60 points next!”

“75 kg punching force pass!”

“100 minus 14 totals to 86 points pass!”

The after halfway through the line the first three had already passed the first one was a teenager that passed the kg requirement the second one was one of the orphans although his right-hand skin was broken and started bleeding he was happy to be able to buy another meal and another to pass was one of the farmers that had experience in hunting monsters from time to time the rest that failed left the examination area and just went on with their day.

Upon noticing that the screening process was harder than expected most of the people in line started to discuss how it worked and Reiki decided to listen in thanks to his heightened senses he was able to hear the others hypothesis for all three exams.

One of the people in line started to discuss the difficulty of the exam and he decided to eavesdrop for a bit, one of the teenagers said. ”I see from the looks of it the punching force test varies from age by the looks of an adult. Their punching force needs to be roughly 300 kg for kids it should be about 60 kg and for teenagers, it should be about roughly 250 kg. The archery test you're given a maximum of a hundred points and depending on the distance of the target the examiner deducts it from your score since the deduction isn’t explained."

The teen continued. " It's safe to say that the nearest target deducts the most while the farthest target deducts the least. As for the third one, no one even tried it but I guess we need to at least cause visible damage to the iron target that's shaped like a person upper body which requires a higher purity of mana than average for tier one spells to work or a decent tier two spells like Wind Slash, Fire Breath, or Water Whip.” The teenager said after more than half of the line was about gone.

Reiki didn’t really need to listen to their conversation, he just wanted some confirmation from someone else’s hypothesis there were exactly the same but he mused to himself. Well it’s basically the same what I thought up was but I was able to deduce the point system from the archery exam the nearest target lowest deduction was five which was the center colored yellow next was red deducts 10 points, black deducted 15 points, and white which is the outer ring deducts 20 points the second farthest target starting from the center going towards the outer ring yellow deducts 2 points, red deducts 4 points, black deducts 6 points, and white deducts 8 points and for the farthest target no one wanted to shoot at it but it should be yellow deducts 0 points, red deducts 1 point, black deducts 2 points, and white deducts 3 points and a miss also results in a deduction of 20 points… 

And he didn’t notice that each person that tried the archery exam was given 10 arrows and he also left out that everyone can try all of the exam but no one bothered with trying another one after failing their first exam. Was his deduction although he knew he was right he just wanted to be careful in case something was off about the examination.

After a while, it was the blonde girl with the boxing gauze on her hands. She didn’t even need to think about what exam she wanted to try. She casually walked in front of the cube and threw out a simple straight jab. The entire line and the people who were watching their potential teammates instantly went quiet after a few moments of silence. The blonde girl lightly coughed which snapped the military-like examiner out of his daze.

The examiner wrote down the punching force and after making sure that the machine was not faulty and a few tries of the military-like examiner finally said with a stunned expression. “.... 5-568 kg punching f-force pass.”

Everyone here whether they were able to pass or not was looking at the blonde girl in disbelief at this point the people who wanted to make her acquaintance easily decided to just keep their   achievement of passing for themselves and before the crowd got to whisper the next girl was the one with unhealthy white skin and she was the first one to go to the third examiner and asked the old man with a monotone voice. “Are we allowed to use altered magic plants for this exam?”

The old man wasn’t surprised by the blond girl's result and just replied simply to the unhealthy white skin girl and said. “It’s allowed as long as you were the one that altered the plant in the first place.” She just smiled and threw a small bottle with a small plant. She opened the bottle and poured another bottle with green sludge-like liquid. It looked similar to sewage water. She opened the bottle with the sludge-like liquid and poured a drop of liquid in the bottle. 

The plant she casually closed both the bottles and threw the bottle with the plant in front of the iron target that’s shaped like a person's upper body suddenly the plant grown so fast and angled itself to stab the iron target the plant that grew was a vine that was about 6 inches in diameter yet it was able to pierce the iron target like it was made out of tofu.

The old examiner's eyes were wide as he thought. This is comparable to a tier 3 spell! The old man easily regained his calm showing his experience of his age and said in a gentle and amiable voice. “Pass.”

Now the focus of the crowd was on the unhealthy white skin girl even the boxer girl was surprised by the result that just happened to the iron target even though she could break it after punching repeatedly being able to pierce through it like she needed to reveal a few trump cards.

Now it was finally the rich bishoujo’s turn she casually walked to the third exam again and waited for a few moments for the iron target to be replaced after the target was replaced she pointed at the target and soon a strong fluctuation of mana suddenly gathered at the girl's hand and soon a spell was shot out.

The iron target center was missing a huge chunk. If a person were to get hit by that spell unprepared it would easily result in their death no questions ask it was brief but the old man was able to see a wind-based spell that was cast and thought. That was a tier 1 spell Wind Gun… How pure is her mana for a tier 1 spell to rival a tier 3 spell. The old man took a deep breath even if he had the most experience in this group of people. This was the first time he was able to see a high concentration of mana purity after a few seconds of silence, the respectfully and humbly old man said. “Pass.” 

The old man had a big smile. God knows how strict the hierarchy was for mages and the reason was simple. The more advanced the research the more abundant resources you need and doing research would cost tens of thousands of gold coins for materials some were doing there research live just like the unhealthy white skin girl so the old man needed to be careful very careful he can easily imagine how powerful her family is for nurturing her is not something any noble is able to provide.

Reiki simply looked at the three girls the boxer girl was sitting underneath a tree with her back leaning on it. The Unhealthy white skin girl was under the shade of a different tree while examining a few plants under the tree. The rich bishoujo was just standing by herself by a lone tree under the shade indifferent to everything around her. Maybe I should take a look at their stats… Go-. But before he was able to cast one of the examiners shouted. “Next!... Next!” very impatiently as Reiki looked around he was the only one left that was taking the exam of course after the three girls nobody wanted to see what a kid can do especially since he looked so simple. Oh, it’s my turn now. He simply thought and started walking

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