026 | Three Star Gold Mercenary

My name is Asher.

After filling out the documents, it was surprising that Rudif didn't ask me to explain what something meant. Well, I'm glad my future transportation- my friend is growing up nicely.

We handed the documents to the receptionist. She told us her name was Emily and then after verifying our documents, we were led down a floor to the basement. She stated that an examiner will be testing if we are suited to become mercenaries.

A friendly guy greeted us. He had light-blue hair and green eyes, very much reminding me of the ocean. Perhaps he's a mixed child?

He introduced himself as John and he was one of the examiners that were part of the Adventurer's Union. As I predicted, he told us the examination will be a one-on-one spar. Depending on how each of us fares against his attacks, he will decide if we pass or fail.

I'm not worried about any of us here failing. Lisha isn't as strong as Rudif and especially not me. However, we are not really suitable people to compare her strength too.

I can tell that she's strong, right now it just seems to be like she's having trouble handling her small frame. Just like me when I first reincarnated here.

Rudif was called first and as I expected, he passed easily. I communicated with him telepathically telling him to end the fight with a flashy move that demonstrates how much Raw Energy he can utilize. I'm glad he's good at following instructions. John passed him easily while praising him non-stop.

"You're so young and you already have so much Raw Energy!"

"Your hands are full of calluses! You must train a lot!"

"That kick was unbelievably strong! I didn't expect it to have that much of an impact!"

It was getting kind of awkward just hearing him praising the mutt for so long. It was a good thing the other guy intervened. John called him the manager so I guess he's a pretty important person.

I thought he was a bodybuilder at first but then I saw two large weapons sheathed on his back. Some sort of saber or blade? He has dark beige skin and his AU suit looked tight on him. He wasn't nearly as tall as Rowan or Calamno, probably 180 centimeters. No, scratch that, a little bit under. He looked intimidating, was it because he was bald?

He motioned me to come forward and he stated he was going to conduct the examinations from now on. He gave John an early and extended lunch break, which John was happy to accept.

His deep voice sort of echoed in the basement, "Your name is...Asher?"

"That's me."

"Heh. This is going to be fun."

His dark orange eyes stared me up and down.

"What?"

"Just...checking you out."

Ew.

"So, what's your name mister manager?"

"My name is Peness."

Rudif started laughing hysterically. Lisha looked away while covering her face. She was probably trying not to giggle as well.

I heard him shout: "Did he just say his name was pen*s?!"

The man cleared his throat loudly, "Ahem!"

Rudif stopped laughing. Looks like the mutt can see that this person wasn't some small fry.

"My name is Peness!"

Lisha snorted.

Nonetheless, the man continued talking, "It is a Southern name!"

I nodded my head slowly, "I see..."

"People call me Pen because they don't want to say my full name! They fear me!!"

Yeah, I highly doubt that.

If anything, they're scared of laughing to their deaths.

I will call him Pen. According to what he said, most people call him Pen as well.

"Right, Pen."

"Question, Asher?"

"Can we begin already? My friends and I still need to find lodging."

Pen loudly laughed, his voice filled the entire basement.

"HAHAHA, IF IT'S ROOMS YOU WANT, THEN IT'S ROOMS YOU'LL GET!!"

"Thank...you??"

Pen smiled and then drew one of his weapons on his back. It was a large thin sword with only one sharp side. The blade was massive as well, I would have mistaken it as a greatsword at a far distance.

"Let us begin! Show me what you can do, little monster!"

Monster? Who? Me?

Ridiculous. Well, maybe not too far of a stretch. I guess he's at a level where he can sense an individual's magic power.

I'm not even exposing most of it. I've hidden and suppressed about half of my mana so unless he's at the level of Calamno, one of The Twelve Duke's, then he's only calling me a monster from only seeing half of my full magic power potential. I don't believe that this level of magic power is THAT strong.

Is Yanalia that weak? Perhaps I overestimated its citizens. Not even the guards at the gate today could hold down Lisha if they tried to.

I reached into my Inventory spell to grab a junk sword. It was just a simple iron longsword. Slightly heavier than I thought, probably because I'm only 12. Rudif could handle this with no problem. I covered myself in a thin layer of Raw Energy and enchanted the sword with a spell to make it lighter.

Pen creepily smiled, "Have no fear! I will make sure you don't die! I formally introduce myself as a Three Star Gold Mercenary!"

"Right...I'm Asher."

The two of us nodded to inform each other that we were ready. I couldn't help but smile.

Let's have some fun, shall we?

"Blink."

This is an abridged version of a short-distance teleportation spell I used in my past life. In this world, I modified it using a standard Teleport Spell and since it was such a short distance, it didn't require a long cast time.

I appeared behind Pen, spinning downwards and slashing my sword. Pen dodged the first few attacks and countered.

"Not bad."

He stepped to the side and covered himself in Raw Energy. As if he was swinging a baseball bat, he raised his saber and struck.

I blocked the attack with the backside of my sword. I rolled downwards, dodging his spin kick. I attempted to elbow his wrist after I got up to detach his grip on his saber but it had no effect.

Pen smiled and raised his other hand, "Let's kick it up a notch. It'll be boring with ONLY some exchanges made with Raw Energy."

His hand generated a swirl of sand that surrounded him slowly in a spiral. I backed away in time to dodge a sudden spike of sand that erupted from the ground.

"That's more like it!"

I dodged in a zigzagged pattern as dozens of more sand spikes came at me.

"Barrier."

I erected a small barrier that blocked an attack coming from behind me.

Pen had his saber shrouded in the sand and slashed in my direction. Several blades made of sand were sent forward, growing larger as they accumulated velocity.

I stabbed my sword into the ground and clasped my hands together.

"Wind."

A strong gust of wind was sent to counter Pen's Sand Magic. I used Wind Magic in order to blow dust his way, hopefully creating an opening for me to strike. Unfortunately, sand just bounced off a colorless barrier around Pen. Raw Energy? No. He simply surrounded himself in mana.

"This is how it should be! You have skills!"

"Can we stop here then?"

"Absolutely not! I'm still having fun!"

"You piece of sh-"

Suddenly, sand arose from where I stood and encaged me in a pillar of sturdy sand. I closely covered my hands in Raw Energy and blew a hole through the cage. As I expected, it started to regenerate. I grabbed my sword and dived out through the hole. The pillar collapsed behind me.

"Heh."

Fine, I guess I'll take this time to test out something.

"Physical Enhancement."

I quickly closed the distance, to my surprise Pen threw his saber spinning towards me. I stabbed my sword at the ground and jumped off from the hilt. As I flew towards Pen, he was ready to launch a deadly sand-infused kick at me.

"Water."

I carefully aimed a stream of water that shot up from the ground and onto Pen's sand. This made it unexpectedly heavier for Pen for just a short moment. This only bought me a second at most.

Just enough time to cast a spell before getting a wet sandy boot in my face.

"Wind."

Using wind, I changed my trajectory. Skimming past Pen's kick. Pen's eyes followed me, they widened out of shock. He probably thought that since I was in the air, I couldn't dodge. How naive of you.

As I closed in on Pen, I slowed down his body's movements while increasing mine. I reverse-engineered the Acceleration Spell, it's generally used for farming as it's effective in speeding up the growth rate. However, it's also effective in combat if you know how to use it right.

In this case, I accelerated my speed and decelerated Pen's reaction time.

"Decelerate. Accelerate."

Honestly, decelerating Pen's speed wouldn't have been a wise option as he's on a way higher level of physical prowess.

Remember, I'm ONLY 12 years old.

Pen's fist couldn't reach me fast enough. I quickly enveloped my fist with Raw Energy and applied another spell.

"Greater Impact."

I did a fast and accurate jab towards Pen's chin. If this went as I calculated, I would have enough power to cause enough trauma so that Pen's brain would bounce around inside his skull, effectively knocking him out.

Surprisingly, Pen spun in the direction I punched him in. After that, he staggered around before regaining his balance.

Commendable.

"I thought that would get you for sure."

Pen smiled, "Where'd you learn to fight?"

"Uh...Rowan."

"Who is this Rowan you speak of?"

"He was the one who taught Rudif and me."

"I shall remember that name along with all of yours."

Pen patted his hands and went to fetch his saber. He swung it around a few times and checked the blade before sheathing it back on his back. He grabbed my sword and tossed it to me with a wholehearted smile.

Pen looked at each and every one of us.

"All of you pass."

Lisha was confused, "Wait, what? I didn't even get to-"

"I can see you're talented as well, young lady. No need to test you."

Is Lisha weak to compliments? She looked smug as she brushed her hair behind her ear.

"Now! First things first, I'll allow the three of you to settle in. I'll prepare two rooms, one for the beautiful miss and the other for the two boys. I'll have Emily escort you guys."

Pen looked at Lisha closely.

"And I'll have clothing delivered to your rooms."

With that being said, Pen went towards the exit and left. The three of us slowly made our way up as well.

If Pen had used his other saber and didn't hold back, I'm not sure if I can hold my ground against him even with the full extent of my magical capabilities. With my prior fighting experience, I'm confident I can leave Pen with a few grave wounds, but not enough to kill him.

Those eight years could only get me so far. That accursed Overseer, Alpha. Of course, he had to place twelve DIFFERENT seals on me.