“Hold on a second. I’m having a bit of trouble following this,” Ray said, pressing her fingers to her temples as if to fend off a headache.
“We’re forming a guild and taking the promotion exam. But…? Aren’t we missing sothing critical? Is there even a point if it’s just us?”
She was right. The real value of a guild would lie in its strength—enough power to deter threats, like the professors or Abyss worshippers of that level. We needed strong allies.
“Once we form the guild, we’ll affiliate as a sub-guild,” I explained.
“With the Frontier Guild?” Leif asked.
“That’s right.”
But not only the Frontier Guild.
If it were only about joining them, we’d hardly need to start a guild. We could simply join individually. So, if we were going to establish a guild, I’d take it a step further.
“We’ll affiliate with multiple guilds.”
“Multiple…?” Ray trailed off, processing my plan.
“Frontier, Enigma, and Conquerors. I’ll propose sub-guild arrangents with all three.”
“Roman, you’ve officially lost it,” Ray blurted, her words slipping out on pure reflex.
I sighed. “Is it really that ridiculous?”
If we managed to secure affiliations with all three, they’d have difficulty influencing us directly. Like the old saying goes, a tripod is hard to topple when all three legs are balanced.
If one guild wanted us to do sothing, the other two would have to agree or at least stay neutral. One veto would an we couldn’t be forced into anything. The power dynamics would shift; we’d be in an oddly advantageous position—a “super subordinate,” so to speak.
“Well, I can see Frontier working out. We’ve got good connections there, and Viola’s on our side,” Ray mused, her expression shifting as she analyzed the situation, almost as if she were a strategist now. Watching her ponder it made feel… oddly proud, like a father watching his child grow up.
“But what about the other two? We don’t have much to do with them, do we?” she asked.
“Actually, we’ve got so connections. Rember, we worked with them during the last expedition.”
“Oh, right! Was it… Crawler?” she asked.
“His na’s Hernan Wakefield. Crawler’s Viola’s nickna for him. You’re really starting to sound like her, you know.”
“What? I am not—!”
Ignoring Ray’s indignant growl, I continued explaining my plan for the third guild.
“Admittedly, our link to Conquerors is a bit weak, but we did do them a favor.”
“Returning Grant Dexter’s remains,” Leif said, filling in the gap.
Grant Dexter had been one of Conquerors’ key mbers, and we had retrieved his remains and returned them, along with his artifact, which had survived even the blazing inferno of the Blazing Dead.
“But will that be enough…?” Leif seed uncertain, her expression dim.
It was no small favor, but Leif doubted it would be enough to get Conquerors’ guild master—a Pioneer himself—to agree to share us as a sub-guild with two other powerful guilds.
“Don’t worry. It’ll work,” I reassured her.
I wasn’t relying solely on past favors. That alone wouldn’t be enough.
I had one more idea in mind.
“It’s a kind of… mutual leveraging.”
The strategy involves sothing like this: Imagine countries A, B, and C. I’d tell country B that my product was incredibly popular in country A, prompting B to buy it. Then I’d take it to country C, advertising it as the latest sensation in country B, and so on. Eventually, the popularity would beco genuine through perception alone.
This “mutual leveraging” approach could work with the guilds. If I approached Conquerors and told them we were a promising guild that even Frontier supported, then if they agreed, I’d go to Enigma and say we had affiliations with two major guilds. By that point, Enigma might be eager to join in—they’re known for loving the unconventional, after all.
It sounds wild, but this strategy has precedents. There’s a famous story of soone securing orders for ships without having a shipyard, then using the down paynt to build one. It’s different, but the principle is similar.
And beyond that bluffed approach, we have two real, potent assets.
**My spatial magic and Leif’s High Elf lineage.**
The more valuable one? Likely my spatial magic.
The High Elf bloodline is an incredible privilege, but it doesn’t directly aid in Abyss exploration. Not all elves defer to High Elves. If they did, extremist elven factions wouldn’t be a problem.
Spatial magic, however, is different. It’s unquestionably useful for Abyss exploration.
My interference with shortcuts suggests I could potentially open one myself as my abilities grow. One of the greatest challenges in Abyss expeditions is supply lines; if I could open shortcuts, resupply would beco infinitely easier. There’d be no need to run around looking for the gates on each level.
This could be valuable enough to convince anyone to invest in us.
“Trust . This will work.”
For now, that ans focusing on the promotion exam.
“...I don’t get it, but whatever. I only followed you here because I trust you, so I’m in,” Ray said.
“ too! If it helps, you can even use my bloodline!” Leif added.
“Wouldn’t that be a bit risky?”
“Oh… maybe? But I don’t think it’s much different from using your powers, Roman.”
In the end, they both followed my lead, and I felt a comforting sense of responsibility settle in.
I had to make this work.
**For them. For us.**
---
So, I returned to the starting point: the promotion exam.
Before I could secure joint sponsorship from three guilds, I needed to et the requirents for forming a guild.
The three-month restriction on Novice promotions had long since expired, so nothing was stopping now.
Now, how did the promotion exam work?
“The promotion exam is also called the 3H Exam.”
a held up three fingers.
“That ans there are three paths, right?”
“Right. Of course, there’s a preliminary evaluation based on performance and reputation, but with your record, Roman, that shouldn’t be a problem.”
The “Expert candidate” that Bong-Sik had ntioned referred to this—the preliminary evaluation to ensure that applicants are qualified.
But that’s just the qualifier. The real test follows.
“First, there’s the *Body* exam—the *Hand* path. This is the most popular option. It’s a straightforward duel.”
So this path was focused on combat ability, as an extension of training and license exams.
“The second is the *Mind* exam, the *Head* path. Hardly anyone takes this route.”
This path tested knowledge of the Abyss through academic or experiential questions. Those with high explorer rankings but low combat skills often take this route. Hernan is an example; he made it to Expert despite Senior-level combat ability because he made up for it with his knowledge.
“The final path is the *Heart* path. Roman, I think this would be best for you.”
Hand, Head, and Heart—the 3H paths.
“How does the Heart exam work?”
“Recomndation and interview. It’s a popularity test. Everyone has to go through an interview, regardless of path.”
A duel, a written test, a recomndation, and an interview.
A nostalgic lineup of options.
But to take the Heart path, you need recomndations—either three recomndations from explorers one rank higher or one recomndation from soone two ranks higher.
So, to apply for Senior rank, I’d need recomndations from three Experts or one Master. It’s a bit restrictive, but…
**“This should be easy.”**
It felt like a very low bar.
**“For Experts, there’s Hecate, Ruslan, and Lyudmila. That’s enough. Or there’s Filon’s teacher, who’s also an Expert, so that’s another possibility.”**
Or I could save myself the trouble and ask Viola, though I’d decided to leave that for later when discussing the guild proposal with her.
“So… could you give a recomndation, Hecate?”
“Hmm? Oh, for promotion? Sure, I’ll write one for you. For a Regular?”
“For Senior.”
“Wow… skipping two levels? You’re going to get famous at this rate.”
“My na’s already out there.”
“Huh, true.”
As we chatted, Hecate efficiently filled out the recomndation.
“All done. Here.”
“Thank you.”
So this was a recomndation… nothing fancy. Just Hecate Clay recomnding Roman Sun—short and simple.
“I’ll put this to good use. Now, I’m off to gather the others.”
I decided to visit Seraph Faction first and save my contacts in the Frontier Guild as backup.
I only needed two more signatures, so it wouldn’t be too hard.
“Oh, Roman?”
Hecate called as I was about to leave the workshop.
“Yes?”
“That should be enough.”
Looking a bit embarrassed, she scratched her cheek as she spoke, as if the words were awkward to say out loud.
“You know, I’m… technically a Master.”
A Master...?
Who?
Hecate?
“No way!”
“It’s true!”
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