It must have been Mikzel’s lucky day. Not only had the Quest Hall filled up on the first day the first-years were free to run their errands, but he’d just met the two most beautiful women he’d ever seen.
Ahhh~~~, this is youth! This is life! He thought as the two beauties filled out their applications.
He was a bit disappointed that the one with midnight black hair was not only going to be on that guy’s team but was also his servant, but at least the sapphire haired beauty was going to be leading her own team. That way he’d have more chances to speak with her!
The young man’s- Joram’s- team name confused him, but Alicia’s made his heart sink as its name could be taken in many ways that would end many of his dreams of romance.
After sending them off while he set the time for their assessments, he called a few more people in to help with the assessment. If what Joram’s servants had recorded was correct, then the standard assessments they had prepared for first years wouldn’t be up to the task.
He was also astonished beyond all measure that not just one Mentalist applied, but two! They were rare at the best of times and to have both not take support roles, but the team captain position, was unheard of.
Normally, Mentalists served a support role when they joined a questing team, preferring to keep their fragile selves away from the action while their abilities tore through the enemies. Some could even provide their team with limited support buffs which made them even more valuable and thus kept at an even further remove from the front line.
Mikzel shook his head, calling others up and going through the introductory speech, handing out tablets for their applications.
He soon noticed that these were standard first years, nothing like Joram’s group and Alicia who could immediately be C-Class and E-Class Questers. No, these were all F-Class, Tier 0 to Tier 1, at best.
Then he started seeing some second years showing up, then even some third years, the lobby starting to fill even more.
He was starting to get giddy with how many contribution points he was starting to rack up, silently thanking Collette for begging this shift off on him, when Joram’s group returned with Alicia.
His smile grew wider and his spirits soared as he beheld the two beauties, even seeing the attractive “Quinn” who followed Joram like a shadow.
His heart then stared to ache as he thought of his lonely life. Then it turned to envy thinking of how lucky Joram was. Not only did he have the looks to get on the Hero Ranking, he also had a one in tens of millions ability that many coveted that probably also allowed him to have so many beautiful women at his side.
“Hello?”
Mikzel snapped out of it when he heard the question, focussing on Joram and company.
“Ah, yes,” he said, then raised a hand to cover his mouth as he coughed lightly. “Alicia? Could you please wait here for a bit while I take Team N7 for their assessment?”
He sighed in relief when Alicia just nodded and stepped off to the side. He wanted to personally run her assessment after Team N7, as that would give him time alone with her.
“Team N7, please follow me,” he said, then waved at another receptionist to take his place.
He led the way through the hall that led to the open courtyard they used for the assessments. It was an open space paved with almost black blocks of stone each ten feet across. There were also ward pillars set up in a circle towards the centre of the courtyard, creating a separate space that could be enclosed with force fields. Safety was important after all.
On the sides of the courtyard were other miscellaneous devices, structures, and puppets that were also used to assess the would-be quester, testing their strength, agility, resilience, magic power, and such. It was all important in making sure the quester was able to handle anything they took on in relative safety.
Even for Joram’s team that had already been listed as a C-Class Team (confirmation still pending), he’d start at the bottom, as it were. The letter grades for questers really only correlated to their Tier. F-Class was for Tiers 0 and 1, while E-Class was for Tier 2, D-Class for Tier 3, and so on. The fact that Joram had a Tier 5 Mage on his team, as well as two Tier 4s, meant that his team had gotten a bit of an initial- pending- boost.
What was important, indispensable, to each class was its Rank. You could have an A-Class team, but if their Rank was still at 1, then not only would they not get the best quests available, but their reliability was considered low.
A quester or a team was promoted to a higher Rank when they reliably completed the quests they undertook. Not only that, but there were many other considerations taken into account for Rank promotion.
For example, the difficulty of the task. If it was a monster extermination quest that was considered tricky for their current Rank, then they’d get extra “points” added to their ranking pool. Or if, the heavens forbid, the monsters happened to be a much higher threat level than was reported and the team managed to survive or even overcome the situation, then more points would be allocated.
Also, anything the quester or team did that went above and beyond the minimum that the quest required for completion would also get them an added bonus.
Mikzel shook his head and got back to the assessment. He saw the other assessors and waved them over.
“Sanstros,” he said, motioning for the man to come forward, “will be taking care of Moyra’s assessment as she is already in the 5th Tier. Rayara here will assess both Quinn and Wentian over there,” he said, pointing to another part of the courtyard. “I’ll take you, Joram, over there and get started,” he said, then made his way over to where he’d indicated.
Once there, he activated the strike gauge, a magitech instrument that measured the power behind a strike.
“Since you’re registered as a Mentalist, we’ll need to know how well you’re able to defend yourself, as well as how durable you are. We would be remiss if we sent you on a quest that might put your life in danger,” he said, going over the script.
Joram gave him an odd look, but stepped past him and squared off in front of the strike gauge. After a moment, he looked over his shoulder at Mikzel and asked a question.
“Umm, is there a limit to how many times I can hit it?” He asked, looking slightly worried.
Mikzel could understand his concern. If he didn’t get a good reading, he probably thought that his assessment would suffer for it.
“No, feel free to try as much as you need to feel comfortable,” he said with much magnanimity.
Joram nodded and turned around again, then threw a punch that seemed to lack confidence to even Mikzel’s eye.
Not surprisingly, the reading came up as T1R1, showing that the strike only registered as something an average Tier 1, Rank 1 mage could manage.
Joram reset his stance, then struck again, this time getting a score of T1R9, making Mikzel’s eyes widen. Then Joram began striking it repeatedly, alternating which hand he used with each strike.
T2R3…
T2R7…
T2R10…
T3R2…
T3R5…
T3R8…
T3R10…
T3R10.
Mikzel’s jaw was hanging slack as he watched the numbers go up with each strike, his eyes opening wider and wider until Joram’s score plateaued and he stopped hitting the padded sensor plate.
“That should do,” Joram said, nodding to himself.
Mikzel snapped out of his shocked state and managed to clear his expression back to neutral before Joram turned around again.
“Ahem,” he cleared his throat. “That should do,” he said, then motioned for Joram to follow him over to the next measuring device, one that appeared to be a column of dark grey stone that stood seven feet in height.
“This will measure how much of an impact your Mental Strength will have on a target,” he said, motioning to the pillar. “It will give a reading like the last device, grading the power of the attack. Again, the score is based on what an average Mentalist is capable of,” he said, then stepped back.
Joram just looked at the pillar for a moment before he once again turned to regard him.
“Are we talking about abilities that directly target the mind, or ones that would cause physical damage?”
Mikzel silently applauded the young man for asking a good question.
“The device is designed to measure both the pressure exerted by the Mental Strength targeting it as well as its concentration, not the damage it might do. It will display a number like the last device, but this number will have a specific colour determined by the concentration of Mental Strength it detects.”
Joram frowned at this, then turned back to regard the pillar for a minute before the first reading was displayed, appearing on a flat surface near the top of the pillar.
T1R3, red.
Both Mikzel and Joram frowned at that. From Joram’s application, he should have been a peak Tier 3 Mentalist, but the pillar seemed to disagree.
He noticed Joram’s eyes narrow slightly before another score popped up, this time reading T2R7, green.
Mikzel sighed in relief. It seemed that Joram had taken it easy for his first try much like he’d done with the strike gauge. Then he remembered what had followed and steeled himself.
T3R2, blue…
T3R4, green…
T3R6, blue…
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T3R8, blue…
T3R10, violet.
Mikzel waited for a few more seconds, wondering if Joram would continue trying. He got his answer when Joram turned around and gave him a weak grin.
Ah, he must have used a lot of Mental Strength to do that, he thought as he nodded at Joram encouragingly.
“That’s an amazing result,” he said, clapping Joram on the shoulder and wincing, startled by how solid the boy was.
“Thank you,” Joram replied, still looking a bit wilted.
“All right, then let us make our way to the combat dolls,” he said, leading Joram over to where a couple of the dolls stood, waiting to be activated.
As he walked over, he took the chance to have a peek at how the others were doing.
Moyra was already sparring with a combat doll, her hair flowing gracefully about her as she shifted between attacking and defending, ever moving. He took a deep breath, realizing that he’d forgotten to breath.
He then looked to where Rayara was just finishing with Quinn and Wentian’s magical testing. Rayana seemed to be in a good mood as she led them to the Tier 4 combat dolls, so they’d likely had decent results.
“OK,” he said, stopping in front of a Tier 4 doll. “This doll will test your hand-to-hand combat ability while measuring your defense as it strikes you,” he said. “Given that your strikes have the ability to damage a Tier 3 doll, we’ll be using a Tier 4 doll instead. But don’t worry, I’ll adjust its combat strength down to mid Tier 3,” he said to assure Joram as his eyes widened in surprise.
If he were in Joram’s place, he too would have had reservations about going up against a Tier 4 combat doll. Those things were no joke, even if this one was only a Low-Grade doll; the weakest grade for a doll.
“Ah, no worries,” Joram said as he turned to the combat doll and got ready.
Mikzel’s opinion of the lad continued to grow. He’d assessed hundreds of people over the years and had been witness to false bravado more times that he cared to count, so he knew it when he saw it. But what he got from Joram was genuine confidence that bordered on insouciance. He was so relaxed that Mikzel’s expectations of what he’d see involuntarily rose.
He walked over to the doll and retrieved the control rod from a small holster on the doll’s right arm, then adjusted its strength to the appropriate level before stepping away to watch.
As soon as he was far enough away, Mikzel called a start to the spar.
His jaw dropped again when Joram dashed forward at the same time as the doll, meeting it halfway before exchanging blows with it. He watched as their pace increased until Joram started to outpace the doll, more and more of his strikes landing.
Fascinated, Mikzel slowly adjusted the doll’s strength higher and higher until it reached Tier 3, Rank 10, the highest it could go before its strength jumped to Tier 4.
And yet Joram not only kept up with it, but slowly, ever-so-slowly, he started to exceed the doll’s speed, once again landing blows from not just his hands, but also his feet, elbows, and knees. The speed of the combat was at the point where his Tier 3 senses were having difficulty seeing their movements, their strikes appearing to blur.
“Holy stars,” Sanstros said from beside him, shocked. “Isn’t he supposed to be a Mentalist?”
Mikzel could only nod in response. He noticed Moyra also watching the spar from beside Sanstros, eyes sparkling.
“Hey, that should be good,” Rayara suddenly spoke up from his other side. “You don’t want to accidentally injure the kid if he slips up because he’s exhausted, do you?”
Mikzel snapped out of his daze and quickly de-activated the doll mid-strike. That might have been a mistake, as Joram’s kick then connected with it, sending it flying back a dozen feet to land in a heap.
Joram’s eyes were wide as he looked at the group staring at him, a blush slowly rising across his cheeks.
Mikzel looked down at the control rod and read the results, the read them again.
The results displayed were nonsensical.
Successful Strikes: 1.32%
Strikes Received: 94.693%
Foe Estimate: T4R1
Foe Defense: Error.
The first result recorded how many of the doll’s attacks landed out of those it made. The second result measured how many attacks were made against it and how many of those attacks struck home. The third result was self-explanatory, really. It was the fourth reading that didn’t make sense.
“Hey,” he said, motioning Sanstros and Rayara over to have a look at the readings. “Have you ever seen the last one?” He asked, indicating the offending result.
“Either it’s broken,” Rayara said with an odd look on her face, “or it couldn’t get a proper reading.”
Sanstros nodded his agreement as Joram walked back, still a bit red-faced, and stood by his team.
Mikzel nodded along then shook his head.
“Is everyone done then?” He asked the other two assessors, getting nods of affirmation in return. “Then we’ll call it there. We’ll enter your evaluations into the system and your classifications will be updated on your student cards no later that tomorrow morning,” he finished, then motioned for them to follow him back to the lobby.
As he walked, he took the time to calm himself. It had been a ridiculous assessment by any measure, but he now understood why Joram had applied as the team leader instead of having Moyra take it. As nonsensical and counterintuitive as it was for a Mentalist to have such outrageous results, it meant that Joram’s team was likely to remain firmly in C-Class.
Once back in the lobby he waved goodbye to Team N7 and waved Alicia forward. He was not only looking forward to one-on-one time with her, but also a more standard assessment after Joram’s ridiculousness.
* * * * *
Ah, that was rough, Joram thought as he led the Trio out of the Quest Hall and back towards their home.
The first test had been easy enough, as it just required him to adjust how hard he hit the sensor. Easy.
The next one had annoyed him, though. He’d used a level one Power, un-augmented, to get a feel for what it would do.
Nothing. Nadda. Zilch. Zero.
He’d then augmented the power with a good ten power points and only managed to finally get it to register.
Then he remembered that Mentalists relied on quantity over quality here. From there, he’d just literally shot out a mass of raw psionic power into the pillar. He’d adjusted and repeated the process until he reached the peak of Tier 3, then ended it there, frustrated that he’d had to use such a crude device and was embarrassed to the point where he just wanted to shift back to his Realm and hide in his shop.
The last test had been the most fun. He’d been able to shake off the cobwebs and get back into it. He hadn’t had a good spar since before being reborn. He didn’t count his sessions with Gramps, as those had been more beating sessions than anything else.
He’d had so much fun that he’d lost himself in the rhythms of attack and defense had accidentally kicked the doll harder than he’d wanted to when it suddenly stopped. He had feared that his kick had damaged the doll, and that they’d ask him to pay for its repair fees. Thankfully, the receptionist was more interested in his results than the doll, so he’d just slipped over to the Trio and tried to blend in.
As straightforward as the assessment had been, it had wound up being a bit stressful for him. He hadn’t had to keep what he could do a secret for a few years now, and he had gotten used to the freedom that came with that.
“So, how’d everyone do?” He asked the Trio as they returned home, taking seats in what he’d call the living room.
Wentian and Bai Lian exchanged looks and a shrug. “We’re both in the C-Class. It was expected, though,” Wentian said, replying for them both.
“I was assessed at B-Class,” Mo Yu added in.
His interest was piqued with how blasé their reactions were.
“Do you have a similar system where you’re from?” He asked, leaning forward in interest.
“Yes,” Bai Lian said, eager to share. “I’m not sure why the Academy calls theirs the Quest Hall, but the Adventurer’s Guild spans both continents. Their ranking system is the same, even down to their classifications and point system for determining which jobs you qualify for.
“Their assessment and subsequent licensing are even recognized by the Adventurer’s Guild, giving you the same treatment and access to job postings as any of their regular members.”
“How do you know that?” He asked, a bit surprised.
“I read the pamphlet,” she replied as she held up said pamphlet.
“So, what? This is basically just getting us a foot in the door?” He asked, almost offended by the idea.
“No,” Wentian said, shaking his head. “It looks like the Academy just trains you better. The Adventurer’s Guild just gives you your classification, rank, and leaves you to your own devices. The Quest Hall seems a bit more involved with how they approve any request you want to take.”
“Makes sense,” he said, rubbing his chin in thought. “Guess they’re a little more invested since they’d be hemorrhaging crystals if they let their students take quests they aren’t qualified for and they die because of it.”
“That is my thought on it,” Mo Yu agreed.
Joram nodded, then changed the subject.
“I need to start on the next step for my body refinement technique, so I’ll need to be in seclusion for a little bit. Do any of you need any cultivation resources while I’m indisposed?”
The Trio exchanged uncomfortable looks, making him a bit exasperated.
“I really don’t mind. Instead, it helps me to help you. The stronger you’re able to get, the more help you’ll be to me,” he said, trying to explain it in a way that would get them to let go of their pride and accept the help.
“That isn’t quite it,” Mo Yu said, taking the lead for them. “It’s just that our cultivation techniques aren’t… as advanced as the one you seem to be cultivating,” she said, managing to not sound jealous. “We also require specific resources to help us progress further.”
“That’s why I asked for copies of your cultivation techniques,” Joram said with a flat smile. “Make up a list, and I’ll get Kinkade and Asura to have a look for them while they’re out.”
Bai Lian was already writing before he finished. Mo Yu nodded and started her own list, but Wentian took a minute before starting on his. It seemed as though he was still hesitant to reveal the secrets of his Sect to an outsider, even one he’d sworn himself to.
Once they were done, he took the lists and shifted them to Kinkade along with a request for him to look for the stuff while he was out and about.
“If you need anything while I’m indisposed, please let Avi know,” he said as he waved goodbye to them, getting nods in return before he shifted back to his Realm.
He appeared beside Grammy’s hospital bed and took in her resting form. The readings still hadn’t changed from when he’d first visited her, showing stable life signs, but little else.
He’d researched various ways to help restore a person’s Knowledge Sea after it had sustained critical damage, but found that the natural treasures that could do something like that were vanishingly rare. Even if he gave her a Meridian Reforming Pill, it wouldn’t do her any good as she needed to consciously direct the reformation of her meridians.
Joram kicked himself as he looked at Grammy’s still broken form. He’d been so focussed on restoring her Knowledge Sea and cultivation that he hadn’t thought about making things easier on her body. To ease her physical discomfort.
He looked at the many machines hooked up to her to keep her body stable and sighed. He wasn’t sure why Avi hadn’t thought of this, or why she hadn’t done it if she had, but he was going to do it.
[Restore Extremity], contrary to what its name implied, didn’t just regrow an amputated body part, but would also repair or regrow damaged organs and such.
So, he carefully removed the coverings that were in place to hide the scarred-over damage that had been done to her, taking care to not jostle her more than strictly needed. He re-covered her as he finished, not wanting to keep her wounds in sight.
It was an emotionally difficult task even though he’d already “seen” the injuries when he’d [Delve]d her. Seeing the puckered up skin that had healed over the ends of her legs, which ended above the knee was hard. It was the same for her arms and the left side of her chest where she’d lost a breast in the fight. An attack had taken her right eye along with part of her face and right ear.
If the one who’d done this hadn’t already been killed by Avi…. Well, the anger from seeing such grievous wounds was sufficient that he was sorely tempted to use [True Resurrection] on the bastard just so that he could kill him again. Then do it again.
He took a few calming breaths to lower both his heartrate and blood pressure. Doing such a thing was meaningless. Even if it might allow him to vent his anger, it would also train him to lash out when he was angry. It would also give him a precedence to repeatedly torture and murder someone because he’d lost his temper. Which, in his mind, was in no way acceptable.
Once done, he looked down at her again and readied himself. Since she was still in his Network, he didn't need to touch her for the Power to work, but he did so anyway. He laid his hands upon her head and drew forth the necessary psionic power to manifest [Restore Extremity].
The results were virtually instantaneous. Her arms shot into existence, along with her face, breast, and legs; showing perfect form and skin when her legs caught on the blanket as they formed and pulled it down to her waist. He quickly covered her again, murmuring his apologies to her all the while.
Joram then removed most of the now redundant tubes and IVs from her, placing them to the side. She wouldn’t need anything else considering that the bed had been enchanted with [Sustenance], which provided her with what her body would need to sustain itself.
He looked over to the terminal that had the holographic display of her body and was pleased that it had updated itself to show her now restored body.
Then another thought occurred to him, making him turn back to her. On a whim, he manifested [Cleanse Spirit] on her, fully augmented. Much like [Restore Extremity], its name was a bit misleading. He wasn’t sure if it would do anything since it was a power designed to restore temporary or permanent ability drain or damage, lost levels, and healed permanent confusion or insanity….
He nearly smacked himself, but instead reached out and [Delve]d Grammy. He could feel subtle changes occurring in her body, so he passed off [Delve] to M3 and quickly sent his consciousness into her shattered Knowledge Sea.
After studying it for a few minutes, he was sure that some of the larger pieces of her shattered Knowledge Sea that had cracks along their borders had partially mended. Those cracks were no longer as pronounced as they had been, giving him a surge of hope.
He immediately had M4 manifest [Cleanse Spirit] again and watched for any changes. Then had M4 do it again, then again.
Each subsequent manifestation of [Cleanse Spirit] seemed to have an exponentially diminishing effect on her Knowledge Sea, causing disappointment to crash home.
He shook that off almost immediately, though. If [Cleanse Spirit], a 6th level Power, could do that much for her Knowledge Sea, then what could at 9th level Power do for it?