-Ren's POV-
I stand in the testing arena of The Cuties, the day is going the same as usual, people come and get wrecked in this place, some might join but others don't make it. One hell of a job though, paying 1000 dollars per test with no taxes at all. I am an adventurer, but this type of job is also good for relaxing
It's already evening and, there she stands, the final candidate for today who appears to be the same age as me, which is a surprise to me.' Why the hell is she becoming an Adventurer at that age?' I think because people start their journey as soon as they turn 18, while we both get ready as the testing will soon begin.
I take up my usual stance, first defend to gauge out the enemy, then take the right openings to deliver the blows, and knock them out. I observe Lily, whose name means a flower but she does not look that beautiful, although she does look cute.
She takes up a boxing-like stance which has a lot of openings and stands there, as if waiting for me to hit first. I comply with that request by first using a body enhancement spell that immediately makes my power double up, with my reflexes and my speed going up a few notches as well. I move out and land a side punch to her stomach but she dodges it by a hair's breadth at the last moment. ‘It might have been a fluke because dodging like that is only done by veterans’ After seeing her dodge it like that I immediately retreat a few steps and beckon for her to come.
She complies with running towards me and ducking down at the last moment to sweep me off the floor, but I take a few steps back and see her standing again in that boxing-like stance. 'This will be a good fight' I think to myself while having a grin on my face.
-Liz's POV-
I observe as Ren retreats from the floor seeping move that I just did. She seems like a good fighter, knows when to retreat and when to get a hit in but still not at the level of even my subjects on Elanoir, they would’ve definitely wiped the floor with her by now.
She moves again and comes straight at me, trying to punch right into my face but I block it by raising my hands and slide a few steps back ( on my own ) so as to show her that her punches work on me. After this the next few minutes go with both of us gauging each other. The next thing we both know is we are moving at speed exchanging blows with each other that even the judges have a hard time trying to locate us with their eyes.
-Judges POV-
There were only three judges in the testing site and all three were pretty much bored with the candidates so far as, they were inexperienced and couldn’t do shit against Ren, so even Ren had to hold back from seriously injuring them. It has been a boring day for them, not having seen a single good fight.
“So who’s the last candidate for today?” asks Judge A
“It’s a woman name Lily, age 35, just moved into L.A, no family” answers Judge B
“And why does a woman at the age of 35 want to become an adventurer?” asks Judge C
They keep discussing a few possibilities but come to the conclusion of financial issues and wait for the test to start.
-A few minutes later-
The judges are shell-shocked by the display of Lily and Ren as they exchange blows with each other at such great speed that they find it difficult to even see it with their own eyes. It’s not like the judges are normal people either, they are veterans in their own way but the fight happening before them seems more like an action film. They find it difficult to believe that this type of fight is being fought by a woman who just now wants to become an adventurer but alas it seems that the guild has just found a golden goose right now, who will give them so much profit, if she ever enters the battlefield.
“Are you all seeing what I am seeing?” says Judge B.
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“Yeah, that sure as hell ain’t a newbie fighting there” says Judge A.
“True, that right there is a fight between two veterans who have fought countless battles, and know what to do in any given situation” says Judge C.
“We have to get her anyhow!” says Judge B.
“I agree with you but we have to wait for the mana test as well” says Judge C.
“Still we will get her even if her mana capacity and power are just above the margin we want, hell if it even comes close to it, I will pull a few strings and get her in our Guild” says Judge.
As they discuss these things the fight comes to an end.
-Ren’s POV-
-A few minutes earlier-
‘Damn this is getting difficult, it’s as if she’s a machine who only knows how to work efficiently and to not make any mistakes, like she’s programmed to do this’. I am at my wits end as this battle which started with gauging each other out is coming to and end after exchanging thousands of blows ( quite literally ) after fighting for 10 minutes. 'I should end this now'. I try to do a feint but she quickly catches it and holds my arms, sweeping me off the floor with her legs and throwing me in the wall a few meters away from where we were fighting. ’Fuck I wouldn’t have done that feint if I was going to be thrown in a wall’. And I brace myself for the impact.
-Liz’s POV-
‘This fight’s been going for 10 minutes now, I should end it’. I see Ren rushing towards me thinking the same thing, to end it with this move. She throws a feint at my side but I grab a hold of her arms amidst the feint and using my legs I sweep her off the floor and throw her into the wall a few meters behind me. I obviously threw her gently because I did not want such a capable woman to become a meat paste.
I stand at the side of the arena watching as the healers rush to Ren’s aid and quickly peel her off the wall. ‘I guess I went a little overboard’ as I see the fire lit under the eyes of the judges, who are staring at me, like I'm some kind of lottery prize to them.
‘I don’t want to deal with the questions they have but how am I going to explain all the speedy shit that I just did’. I miscalculated and became a bit over excited while fighting Ren ‘Fuck!’.
“Miss Lily, shall we move to the Mana Testing?” says one of the judges, who I assume is their leader.
“Sure but what about Ren?” I reply while glancing at Ren who is unconscious and is being treated by the healers.
“They will handle it properly, we should move to the mana test as its already late for us to be doing this work but as we have seen your potential, we want you to become a member of our guild by the end of today” says the leader of judges while eyeing me like I am some kind of golden goose for them. ’I guess I am a golden goose for them after the show I put on’.
They lead me to the other side of the arena with a door in the wall, which is where the mana testing will be done.
I stand there in a room with a punching bag and a mana core sitting in the middle of the room on a stand.
“Miss Lily, please walk up to the crystal and put your hand on it and release mana pulses in short intervals, with this we will be able to observe how much mana capacity you have and stop sending mana pulses when you are at your limit.”
I do as the judge says but holding myself back when sending the mana pulses because even one percent of the mana pulse I send can destroy this whole room. I keep sending a mana pulse in short intervals for two minutes as I watch the mana core of a B Rank monster being filled to half its capacity and stop right then and there. I look back to the judges who are all smiles by then probably because I went above the margin for mana capacity.
“Well done Miss Lily, now launch your spells at the punching bag, I know you might be confused as to why a punching bag is used for measuring power but fret not as the punching bag is made of special materials which can withhold the power of even S Rankers, this punching bag measures the firepower you have with the damage you can deal. There is a counter near it which will tell you about your damage dealing capabilities.” I watched in fascination as this type of thing was never invented on Elanoir, there we had the standard mana crystal for measuring everything about your mana capacity and the firepower.’ New World and New Things huh’.
I walk up to stand in front of the punching bag a few meters away and prepare a spell using the chants only this world has seen so as to not arouse suspicion. The spell I’ll be using is a simple wind blade spell that will deal damage to the bag. I held back while launching the spell because I did not want that punching bag to be split in half and cause more problems for myself.
As the mana blade touches the punching bag leaving a sizable gash on it, I see the numbers on the counter go up and stop at around 80000 which is an average number for top B rankers and bottom A rankers. I do the same things for a few minutes using the different wind spells and the result is the same as it was before, around 80000.’I’ll have to keep this persona if I become famous, ughh… such a pain in the ass this adventuring stuff is’.
The judges quickly note down the numbers each time I hit the bag and tell me to just wait in the lobby for the final results of the tests.
I look around the pinkish lobby while sitting on a chair in the waiting area, taking out the phone I see that it is already 9:10 pm and surf the internet for a while as I wanted to know how the S ranker did in the Mana test, I quickly find the results because these kinds of things are a sensation for the internet and also they make the adventurers more famous as guild PR promotes them using this information. 'So a bunch of these S rankers have the power to level a whole city huh’. The average number of mana tests is around 200k which is a lot higher than the A rankers who are around 100k. ‘So double the power, double the benefits’.
I sit in the waiting area for half an hour while surfing the internet about random stuff and finally I see one of the Judges coming to me with a woman who appears to around the age of 20 with a cute face, standing at 5'8 feet in height, white color tone to her body, an hourglass figure, black hair in a short wolf cut, with brown eyes.
“Miss Lily, please meet our esteemed Guild Master, Luna.” And the Guild Master of The Cuties, one of the most beautiful women on earth is here in L.A. right in front of me, what a coincidence, or is it now?
“Let’s make this short for both of us, do you want to become a member of our guild or not?” And she happens to be the blunt type as well just like Ren. She puts her hand forward, likely to greet me in her way or something like that.
“Sure, why would I not want to work with a guild like yours.” I say while shaking the hand she had offered to me.
“Good, give her the contract and we’ll negotiate if you have any problem with it, take your time but not too long” Luna says to the judge who immediately hands me the contract. I take it and start reading the clauses thoroughly