“Oh?” Toby exclaimed at what he saw.

By learning a Skill from the Hero Path, Lukas actually got the Path. With it, the title the boy called himself - Hero of Might.

“Congratulations Lukas.” Toby clapped. “You are now officially a Hero. With the title you called yourself too, Mr. Hero of Might.” He teased.

“Stop it, big bro Toby.” Lukas waved his hands frantically. "It's kind of embarrassing now that you’re the one to say it.”

The boy scratched his head. “I’m glad that I get to be a Hero, but… It’s not as cool as I thought it would be. I'm kind of disappointed, actually. Don’t people have to go on an epic quest to save hundreds of lives before they are acknowledged by the stars and gain the Hero Path? What would I tell people if they asked me how I became a Hero? I don’t want to say I learn a Skill and suddenly become a Hero.”

Seeing how Lukas drooped his ears and tail almost made Toby feel bad. He tapped Lukas’s leg.

“Begger can’t be chooser, Lukas.” Toby made the boy drop his shoulders too. “Well, if you tell people that you gained the Hero on your test to become a Silver Rank Adventurer, then it wouldn’t sound as bad."

“I guess.” Lukas puffed his cheeks as he used his index finger to push a twig back and forth.

“You two done?” The proctor poked his head out from behind the tree, breadcrumbs were sticking on his left cheek.

“You have a little something there,” Toby said as he touched his left cheek.

The proctor quickly used his sleeves to wipe his right cheek.

“The other side,” Toby said, prompting the guy to wipe the correct side this time.

“Ehem, are you guys ready to get back to the test?”

“Yeah, we are.” Toby patted Lukas leg. “Come on, Lukas. No time to be moody. Time to finish our test.”

Lukas closed his eyes and slapped his cheeks lightly. “Yeah, I got a new Skill now. We can do this. I refuse to give up when we are so close to completing this test.”

“Eh?” The proctor squinted his eyes at Lukas before gasping. “Red eyes? A Hero?”

“Oh… Um… Yes,” Lukas peeked at Toby. “I gained the Hero Path just now.”

The proctor peeked at Toby for a split second before he looked back at Lukas. Luckily, it wasn’t that easy to see Toby’s red eyes through the soaking-wet blindfold.

Lukas made a mistake by peeking at Toby just now. Toby needed to remind him about it later.

“Right, you will have to re-register your Path to the guild after these.” The proctor said as he wrote something in this notebook. “Seems like the stars are flavoring you two with good luck. The rest of this test should be simple now.”

Toby and Lukas nodded before restarting their hunt.

A few more minutes of searching, they found a group of three Wave Walkers.

“Ready to test your new Skill?”

Lukas shallowed before nodding his head. “Yes, I’m ready. I know how to do it. I can do this.”

“On my mark, we go at zero.” Toby raised his flipper. “Three… Two… One… Zero.”

With the signal, Toby dived into the water as he used [Push] and propelled himself forward as fast as possible. Lukas also charged forward. When the monsters snapped their heads at the Lukas, he shouted.

“Stop right there.”

[Heroic Roar received. Increase Mind by 5 points in 5 minutes]

Toby felt his thoughts become clearer as he swam. He looked at the squirrels and saw they froze; two of them tried to jump but fell into the water instead. It was a chance Toby wasn’t going to miss.

He shot forward and used [Magic Hand] to grab the two that fell into water and pull them toward him. Once they were in range, he slapped them with [B*tch Slap] and broke their necks. When Toby swam up, Lukas already took care of the last one.

Toby looked at Lukas and raised his flipper. The two high-fived. With this, they only need five more. Two for Lukas and three for Toby.

The turtle peaked at the corpses again before closing his eyes and frowned. He took a deep breath and moved toward the next group of Wave Walker.

They used the same strategy for a group of five squirrels. But there was a problem.

Neither of them could get buffed, the squirrels didn’t get stunned either. The two helplessly watched as the monsters ran away.

“What’s wrong, Lukas? Did the Skill not work?”

“I don’t know.” Lukas shook his head.

“Would you two like me to explain or would you like to figure it out yourself?” The proctor said as he gazed at the group of Wave Walkers that were running away while writing something down in his notebook. It seemed testing them wasn’t his only purpose for being here.

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“Explain it to us, please.” Lukas turned around and said.

“From what I can see, you got that shout Skill when you gained the Hero Path, right?”

Lukas froze for a second before nodding.

“From what I can tell, it’s a Skill that applies negative status to your enemies. If that’s the case then, as most Skill of the same type, you can only use them for a limited amount of time in a day.”

“But there’s nothing about any of that in the Skill’s description,” Lukas questioned.

“That’s because the Skill is still at low Rank. You’ll need to practice using that Skill and fulfill some kind of condition to increase its Rank. Once at a higher Rank, you wouldn’t just have a better Skill but you can see the details or hidden information of that Skill too.”

“I see. That’s interesting.” Toby nodded.

“Since you can’t use it again, that shout Skill of yours should only work once a day. You can still forcefully use it, but it will come with a rebound. The stronger the Skill you are using when your body and mind subconsciously refuse to use it, the stronger the rebound. So don’t use your Skills recklessly.”

“Got it. Thank you for your explanation.” Toby bowed.

“Thank you for your explanation, mister.” And so did Lukas.

“You’re welcome,” The proctor nodded.

Toby looked at Lukas, “Since that’s the case. We should slow down and think of another way to get the monsters. It's unfortunate we can only use it once a day, but it's not like we are out of options.”

“I’m sorry.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry about, Lukas. That’s just how life goes. It throws wrenches in your plans.”

“What’s a wrench?”

“Anyway, we should focus on another plan to catch those monsters.”

“Okay.”

As they brainstormed what they could do to catch those monsters, Toby saw a few of them gathering around a Driftwood mangrove far away. He suddenly remembered he upgraded his [Insight] so he used it on them.

[Wave Walker – Rank. 2 – Lv. 2]

[Alliance: Monster – Suggestion: To kill this monster, use Driftwood]

Huh? Use Driftwood? What am I supposed to use it for? Cook the thing? As Toby thought that, he started to observe the monster group more.

That was when it hit him. Somehow, these monsters only ever gather around Driftwood mangrove. The monsters might have used sight to find the trees. But that didn’t explain how he and Lukas were spotted even when they hid themselves perfectly. If it was through sound, then it wouldn’t explain how the monster found Driftwood trees. That only left him with one possibility.

“Smell,” Toby mumbled.

“Did you say something, big bro Toby?”

“It’s the smell, Lukas, the smell. Those things found us and ran away so quickly because they could smell us from miles away. The first group we killed didn’t react before we got too close to them. But after that, any other group ran away before we even got anywhere close. I think they smelled the blood of their kind on us.”

“Ohhh, that makes sense,” Lukas exclaimed. “Big bro Toby is so smart.”

“Let’s try something.” Toby grinned.

Afterward, they found another group of five Wave Walkers. They sneaked up on the group like the first time they did so. As expected, those monsters didn’t react when the two tied Driftwood to their bodies using vines or roots as ropes. Either barks or branches, it didn’t matter. As long as it was fresh and had that thick, pleasant aroma of Driftwood, it was a go.

“Yaaaaaa,” Lukas shouted as he swung his sword from the front of the group, effectively killing three immediately.

Behind the group, Toby shot up from the water and pinned two squirrels onto the root they were standing on, and pushed down as hard as he could. The root snapped, and the three fell into the water. Once under, Toby used [Magic Hand] to snap their necks.

With this, Lukas finished his test while Toby needed one more.

They high-fived before throwing the Driftwood on their bodies away before going for another hunt. Just as quickly as the last, they finished their test before the sun even halfway through dusk.

“Congratulations, you two pass the test.” The proctor applauded.

“Yeahhhh,” Lukas raised his hands high while Toby only smiled.

“With that said, we will need time to assess your score and see what kind of role you are most fitting for a party. So please come to the Guild tomorrow to get your silver tag.”

“Why do you need to see what role we are most fitting with?” Toby asked.

“You’re a Healer right?” The proctor asked.

“Yes.”

“But throughout this test, did you heal anyone? Did you even use any healing at all?”

“…No.”

The proctor nodded. “You see, the Path we have is more of a guideline and direction for us to follow rather than something we must do. For example, a Mage might be proficient in using a bow, but he is a Mage because he is more talented in using magic. Or you, who fights like a Monk instead of staying in the back like a Healer.”

He closed his notebook. “If we can note down which position each Adventurer is fitted for, then we could organize and form new parties much quicker and with better results once disaster, or any kind of emergency, strikes. Many permanent parties have been formed from our suggestion after emergencies. Even if there’s no emergency, the guild can still suggest a new member that fits your party’s needs. For a fee, of course.”

“I see. That sounds helpful indeed.”

“If you ever want to form a party, you can talk to the receptionists. Personally, if you want to form a party, I suggest you two find yourself a Mage and a Rouge. You have, um.” He opened his notebook. “Lukas as the close-range fighter, you as the Monk and Healer at the front line. With a Mage, your party will have more long-range options along with more situation control. With a Rouge, your party can safely travel through more dangerous areas. A Rouge can also act as a scout and long-range supporter or take your place on the front line whenever you have to fall back and heal one or more members. There’s also some mixed Paths like Bard and Scroll Maker but those are rare.”

“We will keep your suggestion in mind. Thank you very much.” Toby bowed.

“Thank you very much, sir.” Lukas bowed too.

The proctor nodded. “Since my job here is done, I’ll be heading back first now. You two remember to go to the guild tomorrow to get your silver tag.”

With that, the Silver Rank test came to an end.

-----

That night, inside the Adventurer Guild Master’s office.

“How did it go?” Elaria asked Toby and Lukas’s proctor.

“As you expected, the Blue Wolf boy got the Hero Path.” He put his notebook down on her table. “But that turtle is more suspicious than I thought. He could use some kind of Skill made up of pure Mana to immobilize the Wave Walker while they were underwater. He also uses words that I don’t know the meaning of.”

The proctor sat down in the chair in front of Elaria. “Are you sure he can help you with your plan? It’s risky enough to go against the Temples. Pulling someone of unknown background into your plan will only make it riskier.”

“It will be fine. I’ll make sure of it.”

“…Is there a chance to convince you to not do this, Guild Master?”

“No.” Elaria shook her head.

The proctor sighed. “That’s all for my report. I’ll take my leave now. Good night, Guild Master.”

“Good night, Eliot.”

Once the proctor, Eliot, left the room, Elaria took out a piece of childish drawing she had from her drawer. The paper was already worn and torn, with a piece missing in the bottom left corner, its white color turned to faded yellow. It was a drawing of five children – three humans and two elves. They were holding hands in front of a temple with a flower garden in front of it.

“No one will have to go to that again. I swear it.”