He was beginning to feel impatient enough to tap a foot by the time he was finally called to the front again.

Kevin followed the receptionist through a door into another room. This room reminded him uncomfortably of the dungeon he’d just fought and killed in less than a week ago. The walls looked old, made of smooth stone, though it was not actually meant to house prisoners.

A new person standing inside the room, waiting for Kevin, nodded his head. He had a long, dark beard and wore a light blue robe. Hello, I am Chance. Welcome. I understand that you have done very well on the written portion of the exam," he said. "However, the Magi Guild has an excellent reputation, and we plan to keep it. Welcome to the Magi Guild practical adventure exam.

“This first test is relatively simple. Just follow me and then make a fire. You can use anything that you have on you, whether it's in your pockets or carried on your person, or you can use knowledge or a skill to make fire. You have fifteen minutes."

The man gestured, and suddenly in Kevin's vision, words appeared that read, "Tutorial: Fire Challenge - Difficulty A." Kevin could feel himself getting a twitch from the levels of bureaucracy that this seemed to indicate might exist in the Magi Gild.

Seconds later, with no transition, he found himself in yet another stone room, but now he was alone. There was nothing in the room other than four blank walls and enough light coming down from the ceiling to see by.

A new message floated before his eyes. “Tutorial: Fire Challenge - Difficult A: Commencing soon. Prepare yourself.”

Kevin felt his heart rate speed up a little bit in anticipation, but after five minutes, all the excitement faded and he sat down. Another five minutes later, and his surroundings changed again.

Now he was in a forest, similar to one found outside Clearmine. It was nighttime, with only the moon providing illumination. Now Kevin thought he might understand better why there’d been time to prepare earlier. This test was likely not given to every applicant, so some had to try making tools before the test actually started.

Kevin had no such problems. He knew how to make a fire bow out of wood and string, and he had a knife on him, but there was no need to spend so much time and effort. Although he didn’t have any magic, there was one ability that might even be a little better.

Dragons had fire breath, and Kevin didn’t. But he could use a dragon life skill, [fire breath focus]. This helped dragons tone down and sharpen the aim of their fire breath. For Kevin, it gave him a little bit of fire breath for the duration of the life skill.

He didn’t even rush, just gathered enough food for the fire, some dry tinder from the base of a tree, fashioned himself a little “fire tepee” with a hollow in the center of the base on one side, then got a handful of small sticks. He activated [firebreath focus], starting the twigs on fire, put them gently into the hollow of the little pyramid of kindling, and stood back to watch.

The forest disappeared as soon as the flames were up higher past the piled-up wood.

Now Kevin found himself back in a stone room, but another person was with him. This time, the person was not Chance, but an ork woman wearing a robe instead. The room was adorned with relief sculptures of seemingly random subjects. One depicted the likeness of an elven noble, while another showed a mural of a few people climbing a mountain. The new tester glanced at Kevin, as if expecting him to inquire about the art on the walls, but he remained silent. Although the carvings piqued his interest and he was curious about them, the prolonged waiting had frayed his patience, and he now just wanted to be done with the testing.

He had lost track of time since he’d come to the Magi Guild. While he’d been building the fire earlier, he realized he hadn't given any money to the other goblins, leaving them without means to feed themselves. Meanwhile, he had indulged in meat on a stick while en route to the Magi Guild. A seed of guilt felt like it was growing at the base of his neck.

When Kevin continued to stay silent, the ork woman gestured for him to follow. They walked for a short amount of time before she quickened their pace. The hallway they traversed transitioned from relief sculptures to paintings halfway through. Near the end, freestanding marble sculptures filled a few alcoves, one of which took Kevin's breath away. Before he could fully comprehend what he saw, they had moved past it. He wanted to ask the guide about the sculpture now, but pride sealed his lips.

Suddenly, she opened a door in the hallway and stepped through, revealing a grassy valley with a large hill, almost a mountain, in the distance. The ork woman waved, and a wooden doorway materialized about five paces ahead. "Once you step through the doorway, you will be at the top of that hill," she said, her eyes tranquil but her voice gruff. "All you must do is make your way down the hill back to me. You will have three hours."

"Three hours?" Kevin exclaimed. "I have people waiting for me back in Clearline, and I've already waited a long time for this test."

"Yes, but you chose the test, did you not?" she asked.

“That is true.” Kevin gritted his teeth, vowing to complete the test as quickly as possible. He took a step forward but then hesitated. "Actually," he said, "why am I doing all this to begin with? Isn't it just because the powers-that-be want to start me at a higher rank than usual? I stated on my application that I'm not a mage, at least not yet. So why does it matter if I can do all these physical things to prove I can adventure or whatever?"

The ork placed a hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow. "They didn't explain it to you?"

He thought back to everything he’d been told. "Not that I know. At least not explicitly."

She sighed. "Okay, well, sorry about that. I will tell you everything that the front counter should have. But first, my name is Narissa. I am your test overseer for this portion of the practical exanm. The test begins when I say and ends when I say. Nobody can question my assessment. The reason you're being tested on all this is because you will be attaining your rank without any feedback on real world missions first. If somebody starts at the bottom and they have no ability or desire to go on travel missions or go adventuring, that would be reflected in their record. They wouldn't be alerted nor asked individually to do work that doesn't suit their talents or temperament. However, you will be attaining a relatively high rank without any of that, so nobody will know what you're capable of unless we test you first."

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"Couldn't I just refuse work that I don't think I can do?" asked Kevin.

"Yes, you could, but you could also accept work that you're not suited for and make the guild look bad. You could also die. More importantly, if we take on talented newcomers and nobody knows what they can do, it lowers efficiency. We try to keep our lists of appropriate candidates for appropriate work fairly concise and well-curated."

"And if I don't pass this stuff, why don't I get the higher rank but with the understanding that I shouldn't be going on adventures? I tested pretty well with the knowledge portion from what I understand. And I’m sure I could take further tests to prove further knowledge in the subjects the guild already tested me meeting the minimum requirements on."

"Ah, now that is a good question," said Narissa. "There's one official answer and one unofficial answer."

"I'm listening."

"Well, the official answer is that your value will go up if you are a C-rank who is also certified for the field. Theoretically, you should want this.. You'll be eligible for promotion faster because we have a need for scholars of your level that can also be attached to adventurers. However, the unofficial answer is..." She paused and sighed.

Narissa said, "I am the only high ranking ork in the Magi Guild in Clearmine, so this is something I can shed light on from experience. From the moment you become a full, card-carrying guild member, you are the only goblin above Rank F in the Clearmine Magi Guild. As an ork, I've already been a bit of a marketing example for the guild as they tried recruiting. Some of the attention is positive, using me as an example for other orks, but I'm sure that some of it, taking place behind closed doors, is negative. I can just imagine the sales pitch to rich merchants who have sons or daughters they need to find something to do with. 'Look at our guild, we have an ork at rank A! Your son knows a bit of magic. How hard can it be to be high ranked in the Magi Guild!? Even the ork is high ranking!’'"

She bared her teeth in a smile that wasn't a smile. "If you succeed in your test and you are placed higher up in the hierarchy, it will reflect well on the guild, and you probably will get all sorts of benefits out of it, most of which I'm not allowed to say out loud."

Kevin frowned. "So, your professional opinion—it would be good for me to do as well as I can then, huh?"

"Indeed," she said.

He folded his arms. "You seem like a straight shooter to me. Are you a straight shooter?"

"What does that mean?" she asked.

"Somebody who doesn't lie and cares more about truth than politics."

At this, the ork woman gave him a crooked smile and said, "It's not every day I receive compliments from goblins, but I can't say I hate it."

Kevin smiled back. "Oh yeah, that's right. I forgot we're supposed to hate each other."

She chuckled. "That's exactly why I'm your tester. Not only do I have a reputation for being fair, but the enmity between goblins and orks is fairly well known. On top of that, with no false modesty, I am considered perhaps one of the most educated orks in the world. I am also a fairly powerful mage by how these things are measured. So if I pass you, nobody would be able to object."

"Oh, I see," said Kevin. "I really don't like feeling like I'm being used."

"That is understandable, but if we don’t feel like we’re being used, we are often in the position to use others, or we are just not paying enough attention around us. I try to balance the two evenly so I will not be too heavy on one side when I die."

Kevin was taken aback. "I've never heard it put that way before. Cynical, huh?"

"Yes, it's an old ork philosophy, one that I found great wisdom in over the years. Anyway, I will not fault you if you decide to just walk off the test now. It's not easy, and to be frank, it's actually a bit unfair for your assumed level. Since you are not a mage. However, I meant what I said. It really is your decision. But I can keep giving you tests to understand your capabilities–as many as I deem necessary."

"Great," he muttered, but he turned towards the door, stepped through, and watched it vanish behind him. Then he surveyed the land from the top of the giant hill he'd seen before—a sparsely forested, mountain foothills several miles from where Narissa stood. He could only see her clearly after using a dragon life skill [enhanced vision].

Then he dismissed the ability and carefully observed the surrounding hill. It was treacherous in the extreme. Using senses his parents had taught him, he could detect magical traps scattered around the hillside. One was nearby, so he crept over to it and, after some careful inspection, found a series of runes carved in a rock nearby. The runes explained the type of trap as well as how to disarm it—all of which he could read and understand. However, disarming the trap would take quite some time.

He could see now that someone taking this test would effectively need to decide between difficult terrain, difficult traps, or both.

Kevin climbed atop a rock and mentally mapped out several routes over terrain that would not kill him all the way down the hill. Then he considered how many magical traps these paths would intersect. He whistled silently when he realized that only someone with fairly decent physical and scholarly skills would be able to get down the mountain and back to Narissa quickly. This was an obstacle course of sorts and it was laid out quite ingeniously.

He could appreciate the efficiency and clever layout of the test. However, Kevin was irritated and wanted to make a point. So he returned to the first trap he'd inspected, quickly solving and deactivating it using every shortcut he'd learned during deep study in his parents' cave. Then he went back to the top of the hill, climbed the tallest tree there and prepared himself. Then he used the dragon life skill [weightlessness] before using [jump].

This combination together could be dangerous for someone like Kevin without wings. There was a limit to how long he could keep any dragon life skill activated, and it varied per skill. If he was still up in the air when [weightlessness] ended, he’d fall and die. It took a short amount of time to reactivate the skill, and if he was falling too fast, the crash would be dangerous even if he reactivated [weightlessness]. But from high up like this, if he timed it right…

He spread his arms as wide as he could and used every ounce of his willpower to turn up the ability of his dragon life skill. As a result, and because the wind was at his back, he was able to float down almost to the very bottom of the hill. Reactivating the skill wasn’t even a problem, he had plenty of time.

Kevin set down on the ground like he’d just jumped off of something a few feet up. Once he landed, he looked all the way back up at the huge hill–almost a mountain–of traps he’d just bypassed. That had been a satisfying, if flashy way, of showing his irritation. And even better, he had a feeling that the testers would not know how he’d done it, and would be able to verify it had not been magic.

There was only one more trap that he had to solve on the route back to Narissa. There were actually two routes, and the other required him to climb an extremely steep slope full of razor-sharp jagged rocks. To one side was the jagged rocks, going on for miles into the distance. To the other side was a wall of brambles with a built-in magic trap. If he failed to disarm it, he’d be stuck inside.

Deactivating the trap required solving a coded message that gave the password. For Kevin, it wasn’t even a challenge, though. The code itself was actually written in a language that he knew–ancient Herodonian.

Kevin solved the puzzle, and just like that, he was past the entire hill test and running across the large, grassy meadow towards Narissa in the distance. It didn’t take a genius to realize this portion of the test was all about endurance, and was unavoidable. He really turned on the speed, pumping his short goblin legs for all they were worth. It would have been much quicker to change forms into either of his human forms or his squirrel form, but he was still keeping his polymorphing ability secret. Besides, he didn’t need to. However, [Werewolf Endurance, Minor], on top of Kevin’s trained body, was already enough of an advantage.

He came jogging up to Narissa and panted, "How was that?"

With a face completely devoid of emotion, she looked at him evenly and said, "It hasn't even been an hour yet. In fact, it hasn't even been a half-hour yet. This might be one of the fastest times ever recorded. I'm sure there are quicker times for certain types of mages, but I haven't personally seen it, and you are not being tested as a mage." She shook her head. "I watched some of what you did. Are you sure you don't want to classify yourself as a working mage?"

"I'm sure," said Kevin, and a door appeared behind them.

"All right then, let's go back."

"Go back? You mean I'm not taking another test?"

"No," she said. "As far as I'm concerned, this exam is over. After what you just showed me, additional tests would be a waste of time."

It was an unexpected but welcome turn of events. Feeling slightly less annoyed with the entire situation, Kevin followed Narissa all the way back to the hotel-like waiting room of the Magi Guild.