Chapter 54 : : Iron Rank Advancement Exam

He then looked at the bone in his hand he was chewing in his mouth, he quietly placed it on the side and started organizing his words to make a futile attempt to explain his actions.

"You see, it is not what you think…"

"It's alright no need to explain, we all have our secrets and…. Fetish," Layla said with a wink.

Kale's face was dark.

She saw that he was about to flare up and quickly changed the topic "Let's forget it, I am hungry, do we have anything to eat?"

"The lunch is in the dining room," Kale said.

Layla nodded then left while rubbing her tummy.

Kale looked angry until she left, then his expression turned to that of surprise 'Strange, too strange, at first, she was able to drink so much wine and managed to handle it, this was one thing but now she sobered up in just about two hours? My knowledge on humans of this word is limited but this is without a doubt, not a usual thing,'

He wasn't sure if Layla was purposely showing her abilities to rope him in or she was just nonchalant, if it was a normal person Kale could read them easily but now he was hesitant, the reason was, her capabilities were beyond ordinary.

Of course, there could be other reasons like if she had the blessing of so-called God Of Wine, but the chances of something like that happening was low.

'Her background is unknown, I believe it can't be simpler than Mike, it is better to ignore her capabilities, for now, having too much curiosity with lesser strength can be lethal for life,' He thought then focused on chewing the bones again.

Once he finished eating up the one in his hand, he started to chew on another, he kept eating them until he used up all the Psychonic Energy in his body.

Mortals can also use Mutant traits without becoming practitioners but at that time they can't do much with their trait, only when using Psychonic Energy can they have a considerable effect.

After his Psychonic Energy was used up, Kale couldn't continue, as a result, he stopped and took out his phone to check his body's condition, like before, he typed his question in the Ask Me panel.

{Give me a report of change in bone density of my whole bone frame in last two hours,} (Kale)

[Scanning…..]

[Scanning complete.]

[The overall bone density of your body had increased by 1%.]

'Hmm... Earlier it decreased by 2% from original when my bone nails broke inside the Vanishing Lizard's body and now it is increased by 1% but this 1% is of my current bone density so I can't actually call it half recovery. I have eaten so much bone but the result was slightly disappointing, is it because of the quality of the bones I am eating? What if I ingest bones of a stronger beast? Can I even do it? If not now, will I be able to do it in the future?' Kale thought.

The portable body scanner isn't too accurate, that's why it doesn't calculate values in points and give the result after doing a round-off, of the original value.

Kale packed the «Body Nurturing Juice» in several small bottles, to separate it in equal amounts, then stepped out of the kitchen, entering the dining room.

Layla was already gobbling up on the food, he pulled out a chair and sat on it. Kale had drunk the ‹Body Nurturing Juice› a while ago and because of that, he didn't have much of an appetite, he took out his phone and started browsing through it.

"Have you heard of Carran Town? It is near the border of Blazing Sun Kingdom and has two dungeons in the forest around it," Kale suddenly asked.

Layla had hardly finished eating when his words caught her attention, she gave him a long look before speaking "Don't even think about going there, I get it that you want to travel around and broaden your horizon but that town isn't for beginners. Firstly, the town comes in the border of Blazing Sun Kingdom but only by a small margin, on the other side of the border is the Evander Kingdom, it is Kanna's home kingdom.

Because of that, I know some things about it, Evander is a kingdom that favours Magic Civilization, even the environment there is like that, you cannot use things like phone, laptop, cars or any other electrical equipment there because they would only malfunction and can cause explosions at most.

Although Carran Town is at the edge of our kingdom, it follows the principles of Evander Kingdom, your phone's signal will go zero even if it doesn't stop working..."

"Even if I use GHO's VPN?" Kale interrupted.

Layla again looked at him.

You say you are from a normal family and now you use GHO's VIP privilege's? She thought.

"Maybe you will have some signals but it is only a minor problem, dungeons at other places are not as same as dungeon at the Academy, same goes for wilderness, there is always a possibility of the beast tide there. The first dungeon there is General-Type that can give birth to any type of monsters, thankful it is fully explored and is now being treated as farming zone but the other is Poison-Type, and it is unexplored do you know how dangerous a Poison-Type dungeon is? All the creatures inside have at least lesser poison resistance and most of them are poisonous.

Buying antidote of all kinds of poison is expensive, carrying them is a headache and even after that, they can only have limited effect, too much poison can kill you," Layla said in a serious tone.

"I know, I was just asking," Kale said while he thought 'Perfect, what could be a better place to cultivate ‹Nether Venom Body›?'

"By the way, at morning, I got a call from Alice, I also passed the test so I decided to go home and prepare myself for the next test, because of that, I would be leaving by the evening," Layla said.

"Oh," Kale said in a slightly surprised tone, although he felt inwardly relieved.

***

In the evening, Kale accompanied Layla to the nearest railway station then headed directly to the Adventurer's Guild in Imperial City.

The Adventurer's Guild in the city was same as the one in Academy, it was the main theme of the guild that remains the same at most places, only the staff and the adventurers inside changes.

The receptionist this time was a man, he was a tall man wearing round golden glasses and a loose full-sleeved shirt, at first glance he looked weaker than a normal adult man but Kale didn't underestimate him because no one who can get the receptionist job in Adventurer's Guild was a simple person.

"What can I do for you?" The man asked in a polite tone as he observed Kale from head to toe.

"My rank advancement is pending, and I also want a solid badge," Kale said then he took out his phone and showed his Adventurer ID.

"Let me check," The man said and scanned through details in the database, once he was done, he spoke again "It is done, so you want to take the test now?"

Kale nodded.

After completing ten missions from a corresponding rank in succession, the adventures can choose to take advancement exam for advancing to next rank, the exam differs with each advancement, from Copper-Rank to Iron-Rank advancement it is simple, that is gaining the acknowledgement of the Guild Staff which can be done through a duel or simple fight.

The man looked around then stood up from his seat and walked towards the back door of the guildhall "I am the only one here today, others aren't in the condition of undertaking a duel, so I will be your opponent, follow me,"

Kale followed him without hesitation.

Both of them walked through a long corridor and finally ended up at the battle stage in the Guild's courtyard.

The man walked to the front of Kale and spoke "I'm Alison, I won't make it hard for you, er... What was your class again?"

"Mage," Kale replied.

In fact, he could choose to hide the truth, it was fine even if he didn't answer it, every adventurer has the right to do it unless they committed a crime and are under investigation.

Answering also had its advantages, the examiner would take their class into account while taking the advancement exam.

The exam depends on the ability of the adventurer in their main class, early mages are weaker because of that, their passing quota is set easier, that's why he chose it without hesitation. After all, showing off his true strength isn't going to get him some special prize here.

"Good then, we will make it simple, you can attack me all you want for the next five minutes, I will decrease my strength to match your level group, if you manage to even scratch my clothes, you win. Let's start, oka...Huh?" Alison was saying but suddenly his pupils enlarged, he quickly tilted his body to the right.

..Swoosshh... x 3

Three knives passed through where he was present a moment ago, making air cutting sounds as they moved.

When he looked in front again, he saw a green whip advancing at his head, he had precisely bent to dodge it when a shining green spike was shot at his chest out of nowhere.

His eyelids flickered, Alison waved his hand at the incoming spike, brown Qi covered his hand like a gauntlet.

...Cru Tch...

The green spike shattered into light particles on collision while his hand remained unscratched.

"Was my level always that strong?" Kale said in an innocent tone.

Alison's lips twitched. Earlier he said that he will decrease his strength to match his but now he shattered the ‹Wooden Thorn› with his bare hands.

But how would he know that the boy in front of him would attack so suddenly and even if he attacks, he would use knives and whips, didn't he say he was a mage?

Although you did use a spell but what kind of mages use knives and whip? He thought.

Alison could guess that Kale may be a Martial Mage but it didn't change anything, his battle power made him qualified for the advancement.

"Do we have to start again? Let me collect my knives first?" Kale said when he saw him being silent for so long.

"No need, you passed the test," Alison waved his hand and headed back to the guildhall, Kale collected his knives then followed him back to the reception counter.

Alison took out a shining black iron badge and gave him "Imbued your mana into it, once it is refined by you, others cannot use it,"

Kale did what he said, once the badge absorbed his mana, a faint connection was formed between them, the badge was without a doubt, a magic tool.

"Is there anything else you need?" Alison asked when he saw that Kale was still there.

"I want to go to Carran Town," Kale said.

Alison looked at him in surprise, at first he thought of pursuing him to stop but then gave up on that, from the battle earlier, he had seen how quick-witted Kale was, he didn't look like a nonchalant child who would make rash decisions and neither an understanding one who could be persuaded easily "There is a merchant caravan accompanying task in two days, with your strength you likely won't be accepted as an adventurer but there are free spots for passengers, you can join as a passenger if you like,"

"What is the fee?" Kale asked.

"30 Gold, you have to pay 10 Gold in advance, so you want to register?" Alison replied.

Kale was slightly surprised by the fees, as it was a little expensive just for travelling to a town but he still nodded. He transferred 10 Gold from his bank account.

"Come to the Guild at 8 in the morning after two days, don't blame me if you are late and they leave," Alison said with a smile.

Kale nodded in agreement then left the Guild.

Next, he went to a Bank and converted his digital money in real one, Carran Town does not have a Bank or ATM-like machines there, only physical money works there that's why he went through all those efforts.

In the next two days, Kale focused on increasing his mastery of ‹Mana-Resilience Cycle› and also went to Black Market to buy two new Tier 1 Earth Spells, both were common spells, that's why it was easier to get them, it was also faster than going back to the academy and slowly accumulate points to buy spells.

After two days, Kale packed his luggage and came back to the Guild in the morning.