The carriage drew to a stop. The coachman pulled on the reins before turning around to face Elaine inside the cabin.

"We are here young lady, the town of Wintrell," The coachman said pointing towards the town in front of them, "The guild hall is just ahead, you should be able to find it easily."

Elaine leaned and stuck her head out the window, her gaze sweeping over the town ahead of her. She gave her thanks to the coachman after hurriedly disembarking, bag in hand. The coachman tipped his hat before whipping the reins of the horse. The horse neighed and shook its head before proceeding to pull the carriage away.

Elaine entered the familiar town, it was part of her family's territory after all. She often accompanied her parents as they attended to business in the town: regular meetings, inspections, and updates. Events that Elaine found nothing short of boring.

The familiar streets bustled with life as people went about their daily tasks. She made her way through the crowd and cut straight through the center of the town, the marketplace, the lifeblood of Wintrell. Shops lined either side of her, people hawking their wares, haggling with their customers. Children running around playing in the streets. The smells of food, the sounds of laughter, the hustle and bustle of the city filled Elaine with joy.

Looks like Wintrell is doing well, she thought with a smile on her face.

Continuing her trek through Wintrell she made her way to the northern part of the city, where the Adventurer's Guild resides. It was a massive building, three stories high with a pointed roof and large wooden doors acting as the entrance. Taking a deep breath she pushed open one of the massive doors and stepped through, into the guild hall.

Inside was a large open space filled with adventurers of all sorts, shapes, and sizes. The sounds of laughter and merriment reverberated throughout the hall, it was truly a warm and friendly atmosphere and definitely a sight to behold. To the left and right of the room were notice boards detailing quests available to adventurers. From the extermination of monsters to the gathering of rare ingredients and materials, the list went on and was limited to only the imagination of those who requested help. Multiple counters sat at the end of the room, manned by receptionists ready to receive any adventurer looking to make a registration, report on a quest, or even some general assistance. The adventurers mainly occupied the space in front of the quest boards, although some gathered at the center for casual conversation amongst each other.

"This place is so lively." She mused, eyes sparkling as she observed the guild hall, "just like daddy used to say."

She approached the counter, and the receptionist greeted her with a warm smile.

The receptionist was dressed in a simple long gown, the color a faded yellow, which extended to her ankles. Over it, she wore a sleeveless tunic, colored a drab gray, that reached her knees. It was cinched at her waist with a simple black belt.

"Good afternoon, how may I help you?" The receptionist asked.

"I'd like to register as an adventurer, thank you very much."

"Gladly, young miss. To register you'd have to pass the initial evaluation test. Would you like to take the test now or enroll in our training course and take the test at the end of the course?"

"Just the test is fine."

With all that training Mommy and Daddy put me through, I’m sure an evaluation test like that should be easy, she thought.

"Ok then," the receptionist replied.

She began to write something on a piece of paper before placing it in a box behind her. Elaine stood there patiently waiting unsure about what to expect.

"Please follow me." She stood up and walked around the counter before beckoning Elaine to follow her.

The receptionist led Elaine out of the hall through one of the doors at the side, leading her through a dirt path that extended up to a small hill near the guild hall. Elaine looked ahead at her destination, the top of the hill boasted large wooden palisades that deterred would-be intruders or perhaps to keep something in.

"My colleague here will assist you ." She gestured to a large man in full plate armor standing in front of the palisades.

In front of Elaine stood a large man, his muscular frame clearly showing even through the full plate armor he wore. A helmet covered his head with a red plume on top.

"Alright then, I'll be taking my leave now." The receptionist nodded to both of them before returning to the guild.

"Here for the test, are ya?" his voice gruffly sounding, "You're a tall lassie ain't ya? Surprised to see a gal as tall as me."

"Yeah, I get that a lot." Elaine chuckled sheepishly.

"Alright then. Follow me, lass."

He opened the wooden gate, revealing a small grove, lush with greenery. Trees towered over their heads, the canopy swaying in the breeze, and a few leaves fell and decorated the grass below. Wildflowers dotted the grove, their bright colorful petals contrasting against the lush green grass. The grove felt alive, a gentle breeze caressed Elaine’s cheeks, as the grass danced below her.

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Elaine spotted slimes bouncing through the grass as she followed behind the armored man. Their gelatinous forms jiggled and hopped across the greenery, as each impact with the ground sent ripples throughout their body. They were a variety of colors, from blue, red, yellow, green, and even pink, but all shared a common trait, a core situated deep inside their gelatinous body.

"What's with all the slimes? They're everywhere!" Elaine exclaimed, a little startled.

"Part of the evaluation, lass." The armored man replied, "The guild uses slimes to check if candidates are good enough to be an adventurer."

"Just slimes? Isn’t that a bit too easy?." Elaine asked.

"Them's the rules. Can't have you young'uns dying now, can we? Gotta see if y'all are strong enough to handle the real thing." He said scratching his bearded chin, "We got quite a few cases where new adventurers got hurt real bad, a few near-fatal cases as well. That's why the guild started the training program and evaluation test. Gotta train y'all up and see if you learned a thing or two."

"Makes sense," Elaine nodded along, “But why slimes?”

“Slimes are weak, make real good training dummies. Like I said, don’t want you young’uns dying now, do we.”

“I guess that makes sense.”

"Perfect! Rules are simple: defeat 50 slimes by the end of the day and you pass. Others are taking the test too so don't go causing any trouble or you'll be disqualified. Don't gotta worry about dying too. We're always watching." he grinned, "Now go further in, this outer area here’s where we raise the babies."

This should be over fast, Elaine thought to herself.

As she strolled deeper into the grove she heard more noises coming about, it was the sound of combat. She peered as far as the eye could see and noticed others who were taking the test along with her. They were fighting slimes. Some had their weapons out swinging wildly trying to cut down their foes, yelling like a madman. Some cast spells trying to hit their slimy targets. Their aim was poor and their inexperience was evident.

I remember when I used to be like that, she reminisced fondly.

She watched as they continued attacking the slimes, more often than not their attacks being rendered ineffective. With each hit, chunks of ooze flew off vandalizing the trunks of nearby trees or being splashed onto the ground only to be absorbed back into Mother Nature. The lost mass quickly regenerated, restoring the slime to its original size. Every once in a while some got lucky, their hits connecting with the slime's core: shattering it. The gelatinous ooze would scatter across the floor before slowly being absorbed back into the ground providing nutrients to the soil. Truly the magic circle of life. The only evidence of the slimes being there were the chunks of rocky core that lay scattered hidden between the blowing grass, they gradually disintegrated into dust and got picked up by the wind, scattering across the grove. In some rare cases, the blow was sufficient enough to kill the slime but not strong enough to shatter its core, causing the valuable slime core to be dropped, only to be picked up and sold to alchemists and researchers.

"Well then," Elaine cracked her knuckles, "Time to get started."Elaine cast 'Conjure: Bow'. A light blue bow appeared in the palm of her left hand. She pulled back the string and, a translucent arrow similar in color to the bow itself, appeared perfectly nocked in place. Letting the arrow loose, it flew through the air past the other candidates, who were none the wiser. The arrow hit a green slime square in the core, killing it instantly. The ooze no longer held together by the slime splattered all over the ground, and like the rest of its kin who met similar fates had its body mass quickly absorbed by soil. Dropping along with it was the core.

A rapid succession of arrows zipped through the air, the other candidates were too focused on the prey in front of them, oblivious to the shots whizzing overhead. Each arrow hit its mark killing the slimes in a single shot. Arrows penetrated the slimy bodies, only to impact the core with the least amount of force required to kill the slime, preventing the valuable core from shattering.

"27,28,29,30..." She murmured as she fired off arrows one by one.

Eventually, “49…”

"Just one slime left."

Elaine scanned the area once more, the other candidates still engrossed in their own hunt, oblivious to hers. She spotted a lone green slime hopping towards her, determined to avenge its fallen comrades. It bounced with a ferocity that caused the grass around it to shiver and shake, but its fate was sealed when Elaine laid her eyes on it, just like all the slimes that crossed her path. An arrow soared through the sky and when the slime reached the apex of its jump, the arrow penetrated the jelly-like body striking the core. At the highest point of the slime's life, it came tumbling down, as the life drained from its core. The ooze once again splattered across the ground, the green substance matching the color of the grass that it decorated.

"50."

With the final slime defeated she let out a long groan as she began the laborious task of picking up the slime cores dropped earlier. The magical bow disappeared from her hand as she walked toward the corpse of her last target, retrieving the first slime core.

At least I can sell these for a pretty price, she reassured herself.

She quickly walked throughout the grove, retrieving the spoils of her war. She made sure to avoid any sudden attacks, be they from slimes or the other candidates' wild blows. After retrieving the final core she turned to face the other candidates, there were fewer of them now. However, Elaine wasn't sure if they left simply because they had completed the task or if they just gave up. She didn't dwell on it and made her way out of the grove, with a bag of slime cores in hand.

As she walked through the gate, the armored man approached her.

"Heard you did a good job. Ole Margaret, there saw everything," he pointed up at the tree, "Killed them slimes and got yourself some cores."

Perched on one of the branches overhead was a woman holding a crossbow. She was dressed in a long flowing coat that reached her knees, the color was a deep red. Underneath it, was clad a thick tunic, colored a light gray as well as a dagger strapped to her left thigh.

An arrow plunged into the ground next to the man's foot, startling him.

"I'm not old, Greg! Now shut up." The crossbow-wielding lady yelled, "And yes the girl did a great job. I’d expect nothing less."

“You could’ve taken my bloody foot off,” he waved his fist at her.

Elaine stood there slightly stunned as the pair squabbled in front of her. Greg eventually regained his composure, before stepping forward, in his hand was a piece of cloth that was tightly wrapped around something spherical.

"Anyways just place your hand on this and we're good to go," he said as he pulled away the cloth revealing a crystal ball the size of a fist.

"What for?"

"Formalities sake, lass. I ain't one to break protocol," he laughed, "Gotta confirm yer kills, that's all."

Elaine nodded and followed his instructions, placing her hand on top of the crystal ball. It responded by glowing faintly with a white light.