Sure enough, here we were. In line with Vaughn and Beryl's expectations, we stood within a dust-filled arena. It seemed decrepit, its floor covered in layers of rock and soil. Charred wood and marble aligned its walls in a strange mixture as if they were in use far longer than the structure above. Gates made from some kind of metal were spaced evenly apart, five in total. It was expected to be old, but nothing in the city resembled the ornamentation of the marble nor the natural flow of wood grain that mimicked that of a tree that was simply carved out. Amongst it all, the bleachers above were wooden, stone, and marble interspersed with each source of light.

The lamps. They aren't simple crystals encased in metal and glass like those in the streets.

Intricate pillars of spiraling wood grew outward from their marble bases, providing sufficient lighting for the entire space. If its size were put into perspective, we currently stood within a football field-sized arena. All the more astonishing given the lack of pillar support for the structures above. The ceiling was a dome, an intricate spider web of roots and stone pillars melding together. If we weren't there for a purpose, I would have been drawn in by such a fantastical sight. Magic was ever present, but the structure was tangible. Unlike fleeting mana, it stood strong for what must have been millennia.

There's no way this was built by the city. This is like staring at Mediterranean architecture, unfeasible compared to the rest of the area.

All the same, Vaughn seemed to be enraptured by such foreign construction. Being so enamored with creating things like his father, his eye nearly glowed in response to the spectacle. His mouth was agape as he looked upward, his eyes tracing along each detail.

Those are the eyes of someone seeing something awe-inspiring…

I smiled for some reason, a drop of happiness leaked out from the sight alone. Turning to Beryl, she seemed just as enamored with the use of raw Mana crystals. Their integrated use must have astounded her for their source of power alone.

Even with the nightmares… with my old self… seeing these two happy is always a little light I look forward to.

I sighed outwardly, my eyes turning from the two beside me back to the ceiling.

Something is off though.

Then back towards our front, I saw them. Dimly lit at first, until Beryl and Vaughn both zeroed in on the same balcony placed above the bleachers.

So they're all here to watch.

The light from the surrounding crystals grew, illuminating our spectators. Lorn, Callum, Gregor, Sophia, Avery, and lastly Maria.

Are they all assessing us? Or are some of them just watching over us as parents?

We stood looking onward, with bated breath. Anxious about what awaited, we remained silent.

"Open the gates! Enter, all participants!"

Lorn yelled as loud as she could, her voice obviously straining as she stifled a cough near the finish. Nearly in time with the cough, each of the doors surrounding us lifted, save the one directly in front. The loud clanking of metal, creaking of wood, and scratch of stone drowned out any other noise. They continued raising until approximately six meters of clearance to pass underneath.

"It's finally time?"

"They talked these kids up like some kind of prodigies. Better be good."

"C'mon, it's a paycheck to just sit here and heal."

"We're supposed to give emergency backup, but will they really need it?"

"Why hire mercenaries AND adventurers, personally the guild's a little too desperate to keep this group in check."

"You do know the target they're fighting, right?"

A flood of random voices filled the arena as the doors stopped. With it, numerous people walked out of each exit. By final count, roughly twenty people in total stood by their respective entrances. Most seemed indifferent, while surprise was evident on the faces of others.

"They look so young! I thought they were gonna be just short of their sixteenth suns."

"Did the Elder Elf finally lose it?"

"Miss Lorn is the oldest in the city, could be she's reaching that age?"

Comments like these echoed amongst those present for the next few moments. Finally, a grumble silenced the crowd, followed by Lorn’s voice echoing loudly.

"Quiet!"

Each of the adventurers present ceased conversation, instead bringing their full attention to Lorn.

"These are your charges, any failure to meet the request assignments will result in revoked payment. Bear this in mind as you work today. As for the latter secondary requirement-"

Lorn looked at us, eyes narrowed.

"Intervene only at my behest."

Lorn sighed.

“The three of you already realize what's about to occur, so I will be brief."

Lorn spoke, looking over her shoulder to the other spectators before continuing.

"Let it be known, on this day we bear witness to the apotheosis of these apprentices. Should they weather the trial ahead, let it be certified by all present that these three have shown sufficient metal to survive our frontier. Upon completion of this assessment, they will each be counseled and assigned their secondary classification."

Lorn scanned over the crowd while speaking, searching for any hint of dissent amongst those present.

"With the formalities concluded… the assessment has now begun."

At those words, Lorn's eyes settled upon us, and the final gate began to open. Dust kicked outward from the door as it was raised. Growns and growls could be heard over the scraping of claws and dragging of flesh against the ground.

"W-w-wait already? Aren't we going to, like, go over the rules? What do you expect us to do? Anything like that?!"

Beryl questioned in a panicked voice, glancing at the opening door rapidly. She received no answer, Lorn instead chose to post herself against the balcony rails and observe. Beryl and Vaughn themselves may have been caught in the moment, but for some unknown reason, my eyes were rooted to the door that opened. I received the early glances of our opponent just before the monster's own impatience urged it to slam into the door and force it fully open.

ROOOOOAAAW!!!

----------------------------------------

Lorn’s hands clamped down on the wood as she watched fervently. It had been some years since she witnessed a new team's assessment. Considering a fair portion of adventurers in the city were migrant workers rather than permanent residents, it was only every few years she was able to oversee the admission of new adventurers. Either through distrust, or hesitancy of the parents of the city, Adventuring was quite an unpopular life path. Less so for those that choose the path, as opposed to their elders being unwilling to allow the option at all. Why send your children to act as guardians for the region when those from other regions were all to willing to do so on their behalf? Even more so given the mortality rate thanks to disease or the fatal combination of super fauna in the area.

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But these three…

Lorn looked on as Vaughn grabbed Kiyomi’s shoulder, bringing her to the present. The girl's eyes locked on the door below Lorn as if they'd seen death. It was odd given the disposition she maintained up to now. Until this point, following her first few months opening up, she showed so little actual fear of many things. She was unphased by the Bullet attack from the spring prior, choosing to stand her ground in place of allowing Vaughn to endanger himself. She then showed great bravery towards monsters that could have very well torn her limb from limb at the pass. All that in the name of retrieving a seasonal flower to alleviate Beryl’s mourning.

So why? Why does her fear of a Wyvern seem so real? It makes no sense.

Beryl was displaying her maturity well as the eldest of their group, noticing Kiyomi’s sudden freeze and yelling at Vaughn to pull Kiyomi back and gain the girl some time to recuperate.

“I’ll open up with Arc-bow! I’ll have at least twelve good shots with it alone.

Beryl curled her tail in an attempt to give herself a positive base, ensuring her shot would land. Vaughn in the meantime pulled Kiyomi along by her hand some distance before shaking her free from one of her bouts of inactivity.

We understood she already had enough trauma to have those fits in her day-to-day life. Is this the first example of her freezing up amidst combat? No, if it were she’d display part of her old personality in full. This seems different.

“Callum, did you notice anything different about the girl this morning?”

Lorn asked, barely turning her head directly away front he arena as the wyverns advanced outward from its cell. The beast did not fully recognize its situation at the moment, so to Lorn’s expectation, it simply began running along the wall in an attempt to escape. Beryl, Vaughn, and the now alert Kiyomi attempting to keep formation against the monster.

Callum leaned against the railing with his side, turning his head to the left to continue his own observation.

“I couldn't find her in her mother’s room surprisingly. By the time I’d found her, she was voiding her stomach into the toilet. Seems her mother not being present for one of her nightmare fits affected her negatively. She was also rather to the point in her speaking for the most part…”

Callum looked to Lorn for a moment and went to speak, hesitating and looking back to the arena, to his ‘niece’.

“She should hold up. The girl’s never shown to maintain that kind of freeze for long. You can see what I meant though, yes?”

Callum nodded to the arena.

“They’re spacing is far too clustered. They’ll never hope to actually take it down like that. Kiyomi can’t use her ‘Violent Impact’ skill thanks to the arena’s location, so she will have to rely on her sheer strength and her sword.”

Kiyomi had fully recuperated by this point, directing Vaughn to cover her off-hand so the two could avoid switching their guard up often.

“Vaughn and Beryl seem unable to voice their own thought on the scenario. Granted, in combat, second-guessing the leader can result in accidents… and death, they're too close to each other to effectively fight.”

Shortly after Callum spoke his mind, the Wyvern turned its sights to the three at the center of it all after Beryl fired a shot into one of its torn wings. Unfortunately, the blow was pointless. Beryl’s first use of Arc-Bow was a waste as it passed through the webbing of already torn wing material.

The beast roared as it turned to see its attacker. After spotting the three children in the center of the arena, and the crowd of mercenaries and adventurers bordering the arena, its situation became evident. It was trapped, and now it had to compete for survival before it could even seek freedom. As if on cue, Beryl began charging Arc-Bow a second time, provoking the beast into charging them.

“Beryl and Vaughn both wield a healthy variety of skills and experiences to be able to handle themselves. Being so close together limits their maneuverability and their combat options.”

Callum tapped his foot against the wooden floor.

“Vaughn knows simple offensive earth magic, and Beryl can surely use other variations of arc-bow. Not to mention the physical strength Beryl must harbor, coupled with Vaughns's own growing strength and shield skills. I don't know where exactly he got it, but the boy even seemed to acquire an aggro skill.”

Greggor spoke himself this time.

“I caught my idiot of a sun courting the ire of bulls out in the fields in the attempt to get a ‘monster-like’ experience of using his defensive skills.”

Greggor chuckled for a moment before exhaling and crossing his arms.

“The little shit was paying one of the farmers with his allowance to do so. John-something… John Egger I think?”

Callum shook his head.

“It’ll undoubtedly come in handy, but sure as shit not right now with them so tightly clustered. For him to use Lesser-aggro, he’ll need to be far enough from Kiyomi and Beryl that they don’t get caught in the effect. The entire point is to give his team the opportunity to strike. With that magic though? If he uses it right, he can immobilize the wyvern for a little while at least.”

Callum tapped Lorn’s elbow with the back of his hand, earning a sidelong glance from her.

“Got one of those cigarettes? It’s hard to watch this as much as I hate to say this. Never got to say it was my own kid out there.”

Lorn searched through her coat pocket for the loose paper package, holding it to the side as she brought her attention back downward.

“Beryl still hasn’t learned anything other than lightning or healing-based magic?”

Lorn next passed Callum an igniter, awaiting an answer. Next to speak was Sophia, slithering to Lorn’s opposite side.

“Some. Basic water magic, Rivers blessing, so they won’t have to carry water, some fire magic, granted in the form of Sol’s spear and Ember. The prior for self-defense, the latter for utility. She’s really anchored herself on mastering electricity given its effect on each of their outings… As for healing? Can’t you take that guess?”

Sophia’s yellow eyes planted themselves firmly on her daughter. The girl tossed herself aside as the Wyvern charged, Vaughn and Beryl diving to the opposite side.

“She care’s about them. She’d rather lick their wounds than attempt to raise her lethality.”

The wyvern turned toward’s Vaughn and Kiyomi, both recovering. Throwing itself forward, it opened its massive maw in an attempt to crush the children in one fell swoop. With Kiyomi’s sword yet to be drawn, and Vaughn still coming to his feet, the demon used her strength as best she could to halt its attempt at devouring them. Her arms were outstretched and locked firmly in place as she held the beast's maw wide open. Realizing it could not bite down, instead of pushing her into the ground where she could maintain her foothold, the beast snapped its head to the right and flung her to the side. Kiyomi yelled as she flew through the air, skidding along.

“Kiyomi! Shi- Vaughn look out!”

By the time Beryl was fully up Vaughn was the next target of the monster's ire. His buckler raised, the once light-blue glow it would emit amidst combat now forming a honeycomb spiral nearly four times its original size. The Wyvern’s clawed wing came crashing down atop him, smashing into the honeycombed layer of mana and bringing him to one of his knees. Vaughn was doing his best to hold, but it was for naught when the very next swing from the opposite wing was directly to his side. Vaughn slid across the floor without falling to his side, but his left knee was in less than optimal condition because of that. The spiral of mana disappeared as Vaughn posted himself up by his buckler arm, attempting to raise himself with his hand on his good knee. As he did so, two of the arena-bound spectators ran up to him, skidding to a halt as they did. Mana emanate from their hands and the scrapped skin healed over as they worked, revealing their purpose to Vaughn and the other children.

“That’s new! When did he learn that?!”

Callum yelled out in surprise, now fully facing the arena below as he leaned over the railing in surprise. His lit cigarette nearly fell from his lips from the shock.

“You mean to tell me, as his master, you didn't know his capability?”

Lorn asked aloud in a mocking tone.

“Well no, but… It wasn't that big when he displayed Shield-wall before!”

Beryl yelled aloud, attempting to halt the monster's advance as it turned away. Summoning Sol’s spear in a rather abrupt fashing, she grasped the concentrated rod of flames within both palms and slammed it down into the tail of the wyvern just as it was about to be out of reach.

ROOOAAAAAHH!!!

The monster bellowed, yanking its tail to its left and turning reactively to Beryl. A light built up in its throat, signaling some form of mana buildup. Beryl seemed genuinely shocked to see such an advent, considering she did not have much in the way of defensive magic. The light was cut short as their final party member made her move. Kiyomi used her strength to launch herself from the ground, the power of her legs propelling her as if she were a javelin. She slammed into the beast's shoulder, a loud meaty thud could be heard as she impacted. It would be safe to assume she broke the monster's collar if not for the glow in mana that grew around the place of impact. Kiyomi herself fell to the ground, lending on her backside and just narrowly avoiding the beast maw multiple times as it ran its head along the ground in retaliation.

“She can at least weaponize herself given her strength. She’s not so closed-minded to only think with that sword of hers.”

Avery spoke now, watching intently.

“Too many deaths in the field attributed to ‘I never thought to do that’. It seems at a glance they don't have that flaw.”

Next, Kiyomi scrambled to close the distance between herself and Beryl, Vaughn following in the same manner.

“Beryl! We need to regroup!”

Kiyomi yelled.

“Now if only they’d stop fuckin clustering up each other's asses.”

Visible frustration could be seen building through Avery’s expression. Being as she doubled as the Guild’s Coroner, Avery had the greatest experience with the failings of teams to properly acclimate to the region in time. With that position and experience in mind, she was a grader alongside Lorn and Callum.

“They care so much about completely covering for each other thanks to each of their prior confrontations, that they can’t fathom properly managing to fight within their own fields of fire.”

Beryl herself slithered to close the distance, but the Wvern seemed keen on ending what was able to effectively wound it up until this point, Kiyomi. The mana built up within its throat again, while Kiyomi grabbed her sword in both hands. Unlatching its hook and flinging the sheath to the side in a simple swing, Kiyomi was trying to keep up in time to cover her team's offensive shortcoming. Though, with Vaughn now closing in on her side, she made to change guard so as to not catch Vaughn within her swing arc.

“And this is where their weakness rears its ugly head.”

Lorn gritted her teeth at those words.

Kiyomi’s sword lit ablaze with mana for but a moment as she swung in an upward arc, losing her leverage thanks to Vaughns's proximity to her dominant swinging side.

Beryl coiled her tail once more, Arc-bow being summoned once more. Thanks to Kiyomi being directly in front of her though, Beryl hesitated in her initial shot thanks to the fear of hitting Kiyomi.

Lastly, Vaughn, realizing he was in Kiyomi’s original swinging arc used Aggro in an attempt to draw the Wyvern's attention. However, thanks to the proximity, it simply maintained the monster's concentration on the demon.

Come on, think! What can I- ah!

Amidst Beryl’s hesitance, Kiyomi’s fear of hitting them, and his own mistake, he tried something he had not fielded with the other two yet. Since he wasn't close enough to stop the fire breath of the Wyvern with his shield, he called for the stone from under the arena in an attempt to shield Kiyomi and Beryl. At this moment, their collective weakness and mistake manifested as one. With Kiyomi’s swing, she threw her footing off and placed herself in the way of the stone wall and throwing her into the air as a result. Beryl released her Arc-bow at this moment thanks to her moment of hesitancy, losing her free shot at the exposed maw of the wyvern, And Vaughn was now without his team members to strike the Wyvern in its moment of distraction.

“Oh shit.”

The wyvern turned rapidly towards him, swiping its tail at Beryl and sliding her backward into the arena wall. The beast, in that moment, took another approach to throw him from his feet by swiping its head upwards from the ground and tossing him.