Rin turned to the source of the clamor, seeing a red-haired girl, slightly taller than herself, that was pointing directly at her.

[Mage – lvl 35]

“Emma?” she muttered, recognizing the cider brewer.

Standing around the girl were a group of people, their clothing was rugged and well-worn. Among them was a woman with slanted brows, a man whose shirt was having a hard time containing his muscles as he glared at her, and two other men who were also looking her way. Rin knew for sure that they were indeed adventurers.

“You,” Emma strode up to Rin with a wide-spread smile and poked her in the chest. “Want to join our team?”

“Wait, what...? Hold on for a second,” Rin said.

She took a step backwards as the remaining members of Emma’s group drew near, joining the girl’s side. They looked at her with a certain confusion, or perhaps it was more of a curiosity. But anyways, Rin frowned and crossed her arms as she waited for what they had to say.

“Hey Emma, what’s going on?” One of them asked, glancing between Rin and the mage.

“Yeah, who is this? "Another added.

Emma groaned. “Didn’t I just tell you guys about her. She’s the one who bought out my entire stock!”

“You mean she’s the crazy rich one who bought all four hundred of your drinks??” The first exclaimed.

“Yes! That’s her! How many times do I have to tell you guys,” Emma sighed before a grin appeared on her lips. “And for the record, it was four hundred and one.”

Meanwhile, Rin gave the other woman in the group a funny glance. She noticed that the woman was staring at her intently and trying to appraise her strength. Although, it was particularly amusing to see their expressions as Rin continued to mask her aura.

To her, the rest of them didn’t seem to worry too much as they continued to talk. Yet the rogue was somewhat wary—Rin noticed; the woman kept her hand near her waist presumably where a weapon lay ready to be drawn.

‘That’s the careful one.’ Rin thought as she waved slightly.

The rogue didn’t wave back.

Some minutes later, Rin was starting to get bored and brought out the water construct’s head. She looked at its face once before spinning it on a finger, chuckling slightly as she noticed the rogue trying to hide away a bewildered look. Until finally, the group seemed to have decided on a verdict as Emma once again approached her.

“Hey, sorry I came up to you like that earlier, but do you want to join our team?” Emma asked, her eyes slightly distracted by the piece of spinning ice. “It looked like no one else was with you and my guys don’t mind, right?”

Emma glanced back at the rest of the group as they all nodded, save the woman who wore a frown and the big dude.

“See, they don’t mind at all!” Emma beamed. “All we really need is just one person to go to this dunge—”

“Nope.”

“Awesom—hah? What do you mean nope?” The girl’s face dropped. “Why did you come to the Nexus if you weren’t looking for a party?”

“I just wanted information,” Rin replied, placing the skull back into her inventory.

“Information on what? Come on... weren’t you the one who said I should go hunt monsters for money?” Emma complained just as a light bulb seemed to appear above the girl’s head. A playful smile coming to her lips. “What if I die just because you weren’t there. What would happen to the only cider dealer in the city.”

‘Blackmail is it now, eh.’

“Aren’t I only level 29,” Rin retorted. “Doesn’t that seem a little too low for you guys? What do you need a little weak mage like me for?”

She looked around, panning her gaze over every member of the group as she activated her identification skill and used it in rapid succession.

[Warrior – lvl 45]

[Guardian – lvl 41]

[Mage – lvl 35]

[Swordsman – lvl 38]

[Rogue – lvl 42]

But what she saw only reinforced her words. What could they possibly need her for if they had this amount of firepower? After all, all they knew was that she was level 29. It wasn’t as if they knew about her capabilities, unless...

“She’s right,” The rogue spoke for the first time. “We can’t just babysit her. What if something goes wrong? What are we going to do th—”

“Enough, Anna.”

A booming voice easily drowned out the rogue as Rin and the rest turned to the speaker. It was the warrior, his frame was powerfully built, and a massive great sword was strapped across his back. But most notably he was the highest level of them all and was most likely the leader of this little group.

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“Don't we all know that to use the services of the nexus, proof of abilities should be shown?” he began, locking eyes with the rogue. “Tell me, do you see a badge on her person?”

Rin glanced around the building. The man was right, most of the adventurers who looked particularly seasoned all wore a badge, while those without, were presumably novices just like her. However, something Rin noticed was that there were slight differences in the badge colors.

‘Some sort of ranking system?’

“...No,” The rogue said demurely as the rest of the group shook their heads.

The warrior then turned to Rin. “I’m sorry for your time miss. If you’d still like to join the team, I will allow it if your assessment shows promise. But if your answer is still no, then we will simply find another.”

‘What a gentleman, allowing me to join his team.’ Rin thought with a chortle.

“But...” Emma started.

However, a quick glance from the warrior shut her up as he waited for Rin’s answer.

“Well?” He pressed. “What’s it going to be, we don’t have all day now.”

‘Chill... give me a minute man.’

Feeling the man’s gaze bore into her, a slight irritation emerged within her. Obviously, she only had two options, to join or not to join and she was leaning towards the latter. Although countering her plans, Emma had a point. The group didn’t seem to be very compatible with each other, unlike her party with Merial and the rest. Which very well meant that death could be a possibility and wasn’t something to joke about. Especially so as the girl was the only cider brewer in the city. And last but not least, based on what the warrior had said, she would have to take an assessment of sorts either way.

‘That should be fun at least.’

“Yeah, I’ll join. Why not,” Rin said simply.

****

Rin found herself following a thin male clerk that guided her through a narrow hallway leading to a set of stairs.

“Your assessment will be just up these stairs,” he said, taking out a note pad. “Name and level please?”

Rin gave the man the necessary information as he quickly scribbled the information onto the page.

“You may proceed whenever you'd like,” he glanced up from his page and motioned towards the stairs. “But beware, spectators will be watching from the stands. If you care, it might be best if you do not reveal all your abilities. And if you have any questions, now would be the time to ask.”

Rin shook her head; she didn’t have any questions.

“Then good luck.”

The employee briskly walked back into the narrow hall as Rin stretched her body. She wasn’t sure what to expect from the assessment, but they had made it known that it would be scaled to her level.

With a deep breath, Rin made her way up the stairs, the feeling somewhat reminding her of a colosseum fight rather than any sort of testing area. The space she had entered was an enormous oval-shaped arena that was around a hundred metres in length and fifty metres in width. Stands ran across the edge of the area as Rin could see people. Many people, including Emma’s group as they looked her way with interest and anticipation.

“Good luck!” Emma cheered, her voice cutting through the air.

Rin slightly smiled.

“Thanks,” she murmured.

Keeping light on her toes, she channeled her mana through her body to stay at the ready while also serving as a warmup. Her eyes scanned the area, waiting for whatever was to come.

“Applicant Rin, mage,” a monotone voice echoed through the air. “Your assessment will now begin.”

‘That’s it?’ she thought.

There was nothing. No instructions, no introduction or guidance of any sorts. Instead, runes flashed on the plain ground, illuminating the field with white light as a pressure filled the air.

Immediately, she felt the force of gravity strengthen as her knees threatened to buckle beneath herself. But she quickly got a hold of herself, standing tall as she pushed back against the force.

‘Maybe this tests my strength and endurance,’ she thought.

Rin took a couple steps, quickly acclimatizing to the increased gravity as she glanced up towards Emma’s group. The main girl in question had widened eyes, while the rest of the party either had raised brows or another reaction of the sort.Maybe to them, it was impressive considering that she was a mage. But if these were the standards for what she could call an average level 29, it was quite pitiful if you asked her.

However, not even a couple seconds passed as the next part of the trial began. She suddenly heard a whistling noise and felt a spike of danger behind her head. Tilting to the side, she could see that she had avoided a projectile, a medium sized orb made from a black metal.

Rin watched as it smashed into the other end of the arena before she turned and followed its path to its source. She frowned, seeing that a panel had opened up within the wall just beneath the stands to reveal a magic circle faintly glowing with a red energy.

‘Just one?’

Immediately proving her wrong, clicks echoed through the air as more panels opened. One by one they spread continuously around the circumference of the arena until Rin was entirely surrounded. In the center she stood with at least a hundred circles aimed at her person.

‘Guess not.’

And then, they fired. The bullets, if they could be called that. travelled at a decent speed through the air as Rin released her aura. Now, she would be able to detect the slight disturbances in her field as the first one approached.

The bullet entered her field as Rin immediately pinpointed its exact position, tilting her head backwards as the projectile soared just inches above her nose. Then another five entered her vicinity as she dashed to the left, twisting into a back handspring with the increased gravity doing little to hinder her as she effortlessly avoided the bullets.

However, as the bullets soon increased in speed, their patterns wound up being slightly harder to read. Instead of coming towards her one by one, they now soared towards her in waves. Groups of ten, fifteen, then ones and twos rushed towards her as she weaved around the arena. Her form flickering against the flashing runes. Rin almost found it difficult as the first bead of sweat emerged on her forehead.

“That was fun, eh,” she muttered. “But... let’s be practical.”

Stomping down on the ground, walls of ice were raised all around her as every single one of the projectiles paused in their wake. For a few moments, the thudding stopped. Maybe the test administrator was surprised. Perhaps even a little annoyed as the projectiles resumed with increased intensity and speed.

But Rin only smiled. Within her box of ice, she felt calm with not even a care in the world as the faint booming of the bullets filled the air. Cracks certainly did appear in the ice, but they were immediately regenerated, with ease too as not even a dent appeared in her mana pool.

And a few moments later, the thudding completely stopped and the runes beneath her feet released as a silence filled the air. Although, quickly replacing the sound were the quiet whispers of the crowd. Some were confused, maybe even frightened while there were others that wanted to recruit her right away.

‘Done already?’

But Rin didn’t really pay attention to the crowd. For her, the trial was more of a waged war between herself and the imaginary test administrator she had in her mind.

“Applicant Rin, mage,” the same monotone voice boomed through the air. “Proficiency of speed and agility, high. Strength, above average. Endurance, above average. Defensive capabilities—” there was a pause. “...exceeding.”

Listening to the verdict, Rin had released her walls about midway through the announcement. It surprised her that she had received such high scorings as the whole time she had been holding back. She hadn’t used her frost blink ability, nor did she pull out any sort of weapon. On second thought... considering the nature of the trial, it might’ve been odd to pull out a weapon.

‘Am I don—’

Interrupting her was the monotone voice. “Commencing phase two. Survive.”

This time, it sounded angry?