Burnt Sword, Broken Body
The general fitness test was easy enough for me.
The whole purpose of it was simply to check you had the minimum stamina to be an adventurer.
Being an adventurer often meant walking miles every day through rough terrain.
So if you couldn't even run a few laps and do some pushups, then you would immediately be too incompetent to be called an adventurer.
I completed it leisurely, since it was pass fail, there was no point in me going all out and showing off.
To my surprise, after we finished the general fitness test, the guild receptionist lady from earlier came out and cast a recovery spell on us.
'She was a mage? Huh.'
Such treatment was quite luxurious for prospecting adventurers, but considering this city is the headquarters of the entire association, I supposed that it made sense.
I looked around at the others who had taken the test, and unsurprisingly almost everyone passed.
One fat guy wearing glasses unfortunately failed, having passed out whilst running laps.
It was a little funny, but I could also respect the fact that he ran till his body failed him.
"Next, we'll be holding duels, anyone who wields a weapon, come and take your pick."
The knight looking instructor pointed towards a rack of wooden weapons, ranging from swords to battleaxes to clubs.
I took a sword similar to what I was used to.
The wooden material actually made it feel more comfortable than my steel sword, since I had used wooden swords against Skelly for so long.
'Should I show an overwhelming victory?'
This test was graded, meaning that if I did well, the chances of me automatically being awarded a higher adventurer rank was increased.
Someone who managed to 'scrape a pass' would be ranked F, the bottom of the barrel.
But if I did well, I could skip straight past F and E into D or perhaps even C rank territory.
I had no interest in wasting my time on shitty F rank missions, so I decided to obliterate whoever my poor opponent might be.
It's not as if my sword skils were great or anything, just that they were above the rabble gathered around here.
...
A few fights passed by, most of which seemed amateurish to even me.
The knight instructor shouted after a man in the current match had been disarmed by his opponent.
"Good work, six, that feint was impressive. As for you, three, you did a good job too, so don't feel too down."
"Alright! Applicant seventeen, you will be fighting applicant nine."
Glancing at my paper, I confirmed that I was number seventeen and entered the sparring ground.
"Heyyyy~ Outis! We're rooting for you!"
'Huh?'
Looking to my side, I saw a blonde haired woman cheering me on.
She was sitting next to the poison eyed woman I encountered earlier, Mai.
'...Did they come to watch me?'
Well, I wasn't going to complain about pretty women cheering me on, so I smiled and nodded my head.
I took a look at my opponent, a tall tanned muscular man with braided hair.
He too was staring at the girls on the sideline.
After a moment, he looked at me and smiled whilst scratching his stubble.
"This seems a little unfair... putting me up against a kid your size. Well, don't worry, I'll go easy on ya', ladies dont like a man who bullies kids, after all."
I didn't really feel insulted by his underestimation of me, rather, I'd probably think the same in his shoes.
I gave a wry smile before responding.
"I'm a little stronger than I look, you know?"
"That so, huh? Then, show me, why don't ya?"
He still maintained an overly nonchalant demeanour, clearly unconvinced of my warning.
"Applicants seventeen and nine, you may begin battle."
The instructor shouted that we could begin the match, yet neither of us moved.
'No way, is he really?'
The man flexed his muscles, causing them to bulge through his shirt.
"Kiddo, I'm a nice big brother, so I'll let you take one shot."
'...Really?'
Okay, he's just an idiot.
Since he was not moving, I took a moment to analyse him
[Hernando]
Threat Level: Low
Bodybuilder turned prospecting adventurer.
'So, he has a little skill, at least.'
The fact his threat level was low meant that he had some combat ability.
But since the analysis window was probably considering his threat level based on the idea of me using spells, his threat level was most likely higher than low as I was fighting without the ability to use magic bullet.
I shouted towards the middle-aged instructor with an idea in my mind.
"Hmm... Instructor!"
"Yes?"
"I have a question, are we allowed to use any martial techniques utilising mana?"
At my question, he seemed rather surprised.
He looked at me for a moment with a questioning gaze, probably wondering if I could even use a martial technique.
Well, to be fair, I couldn't use any, but what I planned on using, even if it was only limited to mages, looked close enough to be called a martial technique.
"...Yes, go ahead, applicant seventeen."
I took another look at my opponent, now identified as Hernando, and asked him.
"You sure about this?"
Rather than responding verbally, he flexed his muscles even more.
'...Whatever, he had a chance.'
Closing my eyes, I shut out the outside world and took a deep breath.
"Mode."
An fiery aura began leaking from my body, and I felt my strength surge by fifty percent.
"...Huh, he was serious?"
I heard the instructor's incredulous voice from the sidelines.
'Let's end this quick.'
I shot towards Hernando with enhanced speed, who had suddenly stopped flexing whilst looking at the rafters.
"Wait up a se-"
A flaming wooden sword slashed his chest.
He fell back immediately, shouting in pain.
"Kuh!"
It was a wooden sword, but it was still sharp enough to leave a deep cut.
'I guess he's lucky, in a way?'
My lack of control over mode caused my sword to ignite as it was overloaded with my fire mana.
His wound was intstantly cauterized by those flames.
I dropped my sword to the floor, watching it quickly burn up.
Looking at the instructor, whos jaw was currently hung open, I had another question.
"...Do I have to pay for that?"
LOG 29 - LIGHT MAGIC
Light magic is an elemental affinity which is significantly rarer than other affinities, excluding darkness, which it is on par with in terms of rarity. Light magic possesses natural healing properties, allowing mages to with the affinity to cast recovery spells. Unfortunately, this healing property is entirely dependant on the user's affinity for the element. Even an archmage with a low light affinity would only be able to heal bruises and light slashes.
