-Swiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiish…
The parade of diocrity continued.
Weapon wielders fumbling their lifelong partners. Healers fainting at paper cuts. Mages compiling buggy spells. Watching them was just as painful to as it seed to be for the veteran instructors present.
"Interns," I muttered. "Thrown into production with no onboarding. No wonder adventurer death rates are high."
Riddle didn't contradict even after giving a look or understanding. Which, frankly, said everything.
I also noticed sothing else.
So candidates proudly announced their innate skills, the rare little gems that evaluators loved. They were like our certifications. Optional, but sothing that certainly boosted your score.
But it was clear: nobody expected everyone to have sothing flashy.
"Other skills" were even rarer; practically only a rare few in the entire world possessed them, according to the black guide, which made think carefully.
Too much show off, and I would have painted a target on my back. Too little display, and I'd look like a dead weight to them.
I wanted to keep a few things hidden as much as possible, but coming off as useless was not going to be the goal here.
"Aria Solona," barked a gravel-throated examiner. A man with half an eyebrow and all the warmth of a tax audit.
This was my turn, so I stepped into the chalk square, back straight, face calm, even though my heart was jackhamring. Fake it till you make it.
"Skills?" he demanded while observing my tip-top appearance that did not match the other ladies. Not that he cared, I was the sa in their eyes as any rookie that had stepped onto this arena.
'Let's show them, baby girl.'
I lifted my hand and opened the {Pocket Space (A)}.
-Oooooooong!
A ripple of light flashed, and then a torch, flas still burning as though no ti had passed since they were lit, appeared in those bare hands.
Gasps.
Then bread and stew from last night, steam rising, aroma rich, followed.
More gasps.
Then it was parchnt that I stole from the last exam hall, pristine and flat.
The examiner's eyes narrowed; he had understood exactly what this was. "Storage skill that preserves state?"
"Exactly as stored," I answered with a serious but calm nod, slipping everything back without directly touching them. "Fresh food stays fresh. Flas stay burning. Paper stays flat. Even corpses don't rot in there."
The whispers rose among the other instructors, a rare occurrence in this practical hall. So speculated spatial magic, so a rare skill— most believed it to be an innate skill, certainly a rare one.
"Anything else?" he pressed while writing a few things down on his notepad.
"Material Collection. Material Appraisal." I answered with the sa calmness, looking directly in the fierce eyes of the instructor without flinching.
He may be intimidating, but I was also a corporate executive at so point. We were on the sa level, if anything.
Still, the answer had earned everyone's attention, including the people watching the show from the balcony— according to Reddy, they were from the guilds, or other prominent forces of Westford.
For the appraisal part, the instructor nodded at one of the employees, who brought out a sack that contained a stinky corpse.
The creature looked like a capybara, but more dangerous and as big as a predator cat.
I invoked my job skill, Material Appraisal, on this strange creature as a status window popped up before .
[Ding!]
[Appraisal target has been identified.]
[Lesser Fangboar [Corpse] has been identified.]
===Status===
Race: Lesser Fangboar [Corpse]
Strength: 10
Agility: 12
Stamina: 10
Intelligence: 6
Level: 6 ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ NoveI★Fire
Skills: Charge, Gore
[Note: Material collection available.]
============
I activated Material Collection as soon as the option beca available.
Blue light enveloped the husk. It dissolved into motes, then re-ford into neat piles of hide, tusks, and fresh at. No blood splatter. No waste extracted.
As the observer might understand, the skill harvested a few elents of the creatures at a random probability, sotis granting good loot, sotis not much at all.
Gasps again filled the hall as many of the candidates craned their necks.
I crouched with a hidden smirk, touching the freshly extracted hide. "Low durability for armour. Fire-resistant to so extent. Degrades in two weeks outside mana saturation."
That was the information my appraisal had provided as well, but my words alone weren't enough, so a proctor appraised it separately.
He used a different kind of Appraisal skill than mine, but still nodded; the Appraisal was a perfect match.
My burly examiner's gaze softened into a smile. "Rare indeed. Anything else?"
I smiled faintly. "Nothing I'd like to show today."
This much was enough. Who knew how they would react to a near indestructible safe zone that heals and protects at the sa ti?
"What you've demonstrated already makes you more valuable than any candidate we've seen this season." The strict examiner praised for the first ti, nodding along as he glanced at his fellow examiners as well as my proxy-chan.
Jealous stares burned into as I stepped back. Riddle smirked faintly in the corner, arms folded to hide her triumphant joy.
"Dungeon trial begins in one hour," the examiner barked right as I reached my Reddy. "Until then, remain within Association grounds."
We both nodded at him as we took our leave from the humid hall before so of the following test takers in line ran up to and stabbed with their weapons.
"Haha, one last trial awaits, Aria." Reddy reminded while I was lost in the sa victory dance, pulling attention towards the distant window.
Beyond the tall windows of the association, the dungeon lood.
A jagged black tower stabbing into the sky… casting its shadow across the city like soone had coded an error ssage into reality itself.
I was afraid of that place for so reason, but, deep inside , sothing wanted to march in there right this instant.
The sensation was strange, but not unfamiliar.
I caught my reflection in the glass… green glow in my hair, eyes steady, lips pressed tight. If this is another trial I must face, I shouldn't falter here.
Skill demonstration was over. The Class was hidden successfully.
One hour was left until the final trial.
"Huuu…"
One hour was left until the final 'no risk, full push'.
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