During the few days before the results of the written examination are posted, Ethan and Ashley continued to hone their adventurer skills through practice and study. Although there are times where they'd fumble around and make terrible mistakes, none of it were life threatening. Their mentor, the renowned Faye Asfalis, constantly assured them "It is okay to keep experimenting and make mistakes now, once the test comes up, there will be no more room for mistakes. With the looming threat of Parallax and the involvement of this Miss Trust, we can't keep our guard down," a shadow crosses her face as she continued, "although I sent an owl to inform the king, I can't help but wonder what her agenda truly is."
She looks over Ethan who's leaning over Ashley while struggling to maintain his balance. "How many summons can you maintain now?"
"Right now, *blurrggh*," Ethan holds himself back from vomiting, continued, "I can share senses with three."
We pan out of ground view to the sky as several birds flew by. The sprightly avens danced around the sky with blinding speed. These creatures are brought into existence by Ethan's quillmancy after he recited a few verses of the poem by Percy Bysse Shelly entitled—To A Skylark. To top it off, he encoded the spell with encore x5.
"This is unprecedented. Beckoners could hardly summon two creatures much less control them. And here you are, able to summon a bunch them," Faye stated.
"Hah! He summoned five and passed out completely! it's shocking three of them remained, Professor you're a freak of nature!" Ashley retorts.
"It was *blurrggh*—because I managed to subconsciously held on three of them," Ethan struggled to cough up a reply.
"How exactly?" Faye asked.
Ethan finally gives up and untethered one of the birds. The disorienting fog cleared in his head. As he is only sharing senses with two birds now, he finally stands properly, albeit still holding Ashley's shoulder. He replied "I don't exactly understand the process, but I feel a weak link being formed between me and the summoned creature. Once it connects, I hold on to it, and when I do, its as if we're sharing the same senses."
"Beckoners can use LRP to give the summon a simple command, why don't you give it a try."
"Come down," a magical wave echoed from Ethan's voice as the three skylarks swoop down in front of him and stayed in place, as if they understood the intention behind their summoners' words. Peachy waddles over to play with the skylarks but the newly summoned birds instinctively avoided him.
"Impressive. As usual, you are unable to command creatures that can't hear you like most Beckoners. It is still unusual though, you haven't gone into a class change yet you can already do what Beckoners do," Faye comments with a smile. She looks over at Ashley who raises her fist as a response—
"I can control it now, atleast one aspect of it," Ashley proudly claims.
"Demonstrate," Faye said with a stern voice.
"Okie-dokie!" Ashley's physique, together with her clothes, grew several times in proportion, effectively turning her into a semi-giant. A slow deep voice echoed from above, "PrOoffesOorr yOUUu lOOk smAAal. SOoo cUute."
The next moment she shrinks and becomes two-feet tall, in a squeaky voice she exclaims "Look! I'm doll sized now! Aren't I cute?"
As if on cue, Peachy waddles towards her and happily taps her on the head.
"Great. Both of my mentees have unique traits, these will serve as your trump cards. Remember, until you have truly mastered your abilities, it's best to keep a low profile for now. The lesser people knowing your skills, the better," Faye instructed.
"Wait! Some adventurers are aware of my wild capabilities!"
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
"That can't be helped. Many are already aware of your capabilities, but it doesn't mean you can just go out and flaunt your skills. For all we know right now, the stories about you might just be a fairytale to others," Faye conjectured.
"Plus! I've been spreading gossips around that your exploits are nothing more than baseless rumors"
"Feywin!" Ethan exclaims.
"Why?— you're in my domain of course I'd be here! Don't act so surprised. Here, have some tea while they're piping hot. I've prepared some snacks too," Feywin lays down a try of delicacies over a small table as the group gathered around for a meal.
Ethan and Ashley looked at each other like children receiving a new toy as they knowingly exclaimed in unison, "LEMBAS!" to the surprise of both Feywin and Faye.
"I had the same reaction after knowing about Amontillado as well," Ethan sheepishly remarked.
"Oh really? Wait til you hear this. Hotroot soup as well as turnip and beet pie!"
"What! That is outrageous, you should've saved some for me!"
"I was on an adventure with Peachy at that time while you were out soul-searching. The food was really good too!"
"Noooo! I want some"
"Ehem," Faye interjects as if to reprimand the duo for acting like kids. "I... I know the recipe for hotroot soup," she gives a knowing smile, "...but first, you must tell me how great I am as a mentor."
That day, the duo showered Faye with endless phrases of flattery. So much, that even Faye's vanity got fed up at some point. After an afternoon of sparring sessions of the duo against Faye and Feywin, they enjoyed a nice dinner of hotroot soup.
The next morning while out for his daily training of gathering herbs, Ethan was shock to see a pop up window in front of him.
[ Knapweed : Poison Ingredient ]
He already knew what a Knapweed does, the problem was there weren't any Knapweed in front of him. Only a bunch of tall grass.
What if I- Ethan moves the tall grass aside and lo and behold, inside, just barely visible is the reddish sheen of a Knapweed. He gently pulls it off from the sturdier part of its stem and the pop up window fades.
"Is this, the famous appraisal skill in most isekais? Man, this is so cool!" Ethan muses. He looks around and several pop up windows come into view:
[ Spiderwort : Glue ]
[ Cinquefoil : Aphrodisiac ]
[ Wolfsbane : Prevents Lycanthrophy ]
.
.
.
Ethan excitedly grabs the herbs until his spatial inventory and his herb basket are full, surprising everyone with his harvest.
"H-how?" Ashley quips while looking at her basket which is only half full.
"Well, I've been seeing this pop up windows here and there making it easier for me to spot herbs. Don't you see it too?"
Ashley brows furrowed followed by her lips pressed into a tight line which indicates that she hasn't acquired appraisal yet.
"Well, you keep getting better and better my boy!" Feywin exclaims.
"Indeed, [ Appraisal ] can only be acquired when you have sufficient knowledge over something, looks like the hours you poured into studying herbs has finally paid off. It is impressive that you got to memorize the entire compendium in such as short time," says Faye.
Ashley gets up and walks towards the library.
"Where are you going?" Ethan quips.
"I'm hitting the books," Ashley replied with a determined expression on her face.
And just like that, a week has passed. With Faye's guidance, the duo managed to iron out their errors and streamline the use of their skills—learning more about the world and its inhabitants in the process. They were even able to amass a tidy sum, although ultimately deciding to spend it later once they got their class upgrade.
The day of the score revelation for the written exams has finally arrived. Fully geared to attend the practical exam, Ethan and Ashley looked on in anticipation at the ranking board as the names begin to magically appear. Whether they will qualify for the practical exams today or go home crying will be decided based on what is written in front of them...
Amirleo Tillaura. - Score: 69 / 100 (failed)
Adinola Laijani - Score: 86 / 100 (Passed)
Ashley Briar - Score: 91 / 100 (Passed)
Chaelmi Anasani - Score: 43 / 100 (Failed)
Desmond Barlipac - Score 93 / 100 (Passed)
Falmes Tansos - Score: 74 / 100 (Failed)
Felucky Ramoles - Score: 90 / 100 (Passed)
Ethan Erstellen - Score: 100 / 100 (Passed)
.
.
.
Zumoe Laragui - Score: 52 / 100 (Failed)
Out of eighty bronze ranked adventurers, only forty seven managed to pass the written exam. They are also eligible for the practical exam. Ethan and Ashley did a mini celebration as they gave each other a double high five.
At this moment, the group of passers have divided. Most of them decided to rest on their laurels and decided to just upgrade their adventurer rings. On the other hand, Ethan and Ashley are part of the few who decided to proceed to the practical exams.
As soon as the others left the guild, a loud mewing can be heard over a megaphone. Amidst the gathered crowd, Ethan cranes his neck surprised to see a familiar face.
"Meowwwwww testing-testing. Alrighty then! Hello bronze adventurers, my name is Mi Hye and I will be your arbiter for today. Your path to ascension begins now! Out of the forty seven who qualified, only eighteen of you has the balls to take the next challenge. As congratulations, each of you will be receiving a random item. Once you arrive at the test venue, kindly check your spatial storage for the reward. Without further ado, let the silver-rank practical exam!"