Watching the rude burly man leave in frustration, Aurelia secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
‘Phew, security and guards being useful for once.’
She thought to herself.
‘Though, this maid outfit really is a bit too eye-catching. If my regular change of clothes wasn’t still damp, I wouldn’t have worn this out.’
She steadied herself, pushed aside the distracting thoughts, and refocused on the line in front of her.
Behind the counter was a bespectacled, middle-aged female clerk who looked somewhat weary but still maintained a polite smile.
“Hello, what business are you here for?”
“I’d like to apply for a Strength Rating Certification.”
Aurelia nodded, her tone equally gentle.
“Understood. Please register your basic information first. Name?”
The clerk picked up a quill, ready to record it in the register.
Name…
Aurelia paused slightly.
Using her real name didn’t seem wise.
After all, Laurence was too familiar with the name “Aurelia.”
If he found out she had gotten a strength rating here, he’d probably come knocking tomorrow—no, likely tonight.
It was better to at least use a simple disguise, however flimsy.
“Liya,” she said softly. “My name is Liya.”
The clerk looked up at her, her gaze sweeping over the maid dress and youthful face.
She didn’t ask further, just nodded and wrote “Liya” in the register.
“Age? Do you have a recommender or belong to a team?”
“Seventeen. No recommender, currently solo.” Aurelia replied.
After finishing the record, the clerk took out a form stamped with the Guild’s seal and a small wooden token from under the counter.
“Miss Liya, this is your temporary pass. Please take this, go to the back of the hall, turn left, go through the corridor, to the Strength Rating Test Area.”
“The tester there will guide you through the process. After the test, bring the results and this pass back here. We’ll handle the formal Rank Badge and registration procedures for you. The test fee is one Silver Coin, payable during the final registration.”
“O…One…”
Aurelia’s voice hitched for a moment.
She instinctively touched her money pouch.
Minus the forty for the ear studs… what was left could only amount to about one hundred and ten Copper Coins.
If she paid the test fee, wouldn’t she be left with only ten Copper Coins in her pocket?!
‘I’m really so broke! I’ll go back tonight and take that Dolotov guy’s dozen or so Silver Coins! This isn’t robbery, it’s rightful… uh… compensation for emotional distress!’
She quickly adjusted her expression, not letting that momentary pause and hesitation leave any trace on her face.
She simply nodded slightly.
“Alright, understood.”
She took the form and wooden token, tucked them into an inner pocket, thanked the clerk again, and turned to walk towards the back of the hall.
Passing through the slightly noisy main hall and entering the corridor leading to the test area, the surrounding clamor was instantly absorbed by the thick walls and carpet.
The corridor was dimly lit, with a few Magic Lamps emitting steady light hanging on the walls, illuminating the simple Guild emblem reliefs carved there.
‘Sigh, I’m so broke… Even after taking that guy’s Silver Coins, I still owe the shopkeeper for the weapon. How can I make a lot of money quickly?!’
Thinking this to herself, she soon arrived at the door of the Strength Rating Test Area.
She knocked. A flat “Come in” sounded from inside.
Pushing the door open, the first things that caught her eye were the diamond-shaped crystals emitting a soft white light in the eight corners of the room, and the faint white, semi-transparent barrier formed between them.
The moment she entered, Aurelia felt her head seem to grow heavy for an instant, so fleeting it felt like an illusion.
In the center of the room, three metal puppets of different materials stood silently.
From rough gray-black to refined silver-gray, they clearly and simply indicated different difficulty levels.
Behind a wooden desk in the corner sat a recorder in a deep blue uniform, chin resting on his hand, quill propped on a piece of paper, yawning lightly.
Hearing the door open, the recorder slowly turned his head to glance at Aurelia, his tone full of laziness and impatience.
“Pass.”
Taking the pass Aurelia handed over, he gave it a cursory glance, then flipped to a new page in his record book, scribbled “Liya, seventeen, first rating,” and yawned again.
“See those three metal lumps? Black Iron, Bronze, Silver. Hit them however you like until they break, or until you’re down. Start with the leftmost one. Go all out, even if you really die, it’s fine. Don’t hold back, otherwise it’s hard to rate properly.”
Aurelia nodded without further comment.
She was quite familiar with this kind of test scenario from novels and anime she’d seen before. Her theoretical knowledge was ample.
But… go all out? Could there be some protective mechanism?
“I’m ready.”
Then, the recorder casually poked a button on the desk with his quill.
The pitch-black puppet suddenly moved, stiff friction between metal parts emitting a sound that made Aurelia’s eardrums ache slightly.
She ignored all the puppet’s movements, waiting patiently until it entered her attack range.
The moment its crude metal arm lifted to perform a downward smash—
The metal arm grazed the edge of her skirt and smashed into the ground with a heavy thud.
At the same time, her right hand, which had been hanging at her side, swiftly rose.
As the hem of her skirt fluttered up, a flash of cold light shot out from within.
Clang!
A light yet exceptionally crisp metallic impact sound rang out.
The marble-like white blade accurately pierced into the gap at the puppet’s joint, severing it.
But Aurelia didn’t press the advantage.
Instead, using the momentum from her earlier slide, she nimbly circled to the puppet’s side.
She was adapting—adapting to this body’s limits, and probing this puppet’s reaction patterns.
The one-armed puppet turned clumsily, its other arm sweeping horizontally with a louder whoosh of air, aimed directly at Aurelia’s face.
This time, Aurelia didn’t completely dodge.
She leaned back, letting the metal arm pass a few inches in front of her chest.
But the moment the arm passed, her own arm moved again.
Another flash of cold light rose from below, aiming for the puppet’s joint connection, severing its other arm as well.
In just two exchanges, mere breaths apart, this Black Iron Rank puppet had lost both arms, becoming a metal stump with only a torso and legs.
Without waiting for it to move again, Aurelia spun around and delivered a whip kick, knocking it over.
A flash of White Shadow’s light swept across its neck, and the Black Iron Rank puppet ceased moving, rendered inoperative.
The recorder poked another button on the desk with his quill.
The second, bronze-colored puppet also began to move.
The piercing whine wasn’t as loud as the Black Iron’s, but it had a strange, slightly disorienting quality that reminded her of the days when the Disaster Source constantly babbled in her ear.
In that instant of distraction, the Bronze Rank puppet had already taken heavy, swift steps, charging towards her.
Its fist, as big as two sand pots, even created a sound of tearing air, rapidly enlarging in Aurelia’s just-refocused vision.
Her waist suddenly exerted force, the flexibility of a young girl coming into play.
Simultaneously, she crossed her arms in front of her chest, attempting to deflect and dissipate the force of this clearly powerful punch.
A heavy thud accompanied by the sound of bones groaning under pressure exploded.
The bronze fist smashed hard into Aurelia’s crossed, blocking arms, sending her entire body flying like a kite with a severed string.
A mouthful of blood rushed up her throat, which she forcibly swallowed, but a trace of crimson still overflowed from the corner of her mouth.
The forearms that bore the main impact were numb with piercing pain.
Likely fractured.
Her internal energy and blood churned, her vision flickered with black spots, and the annoying whine in her ears seemed to grow sharper because of it.
“Cough… cough…”
She lay on the ground, coughing violently, each cough aggravating her injuries.
‘Holy… This is the real, proper Bronze Rank? This is worlds apart from that Dolotov guy! Or is it because I didn’t use Dragonification? Using Dragonification… no, absolutely can’t use it. The Dragonkin identity is too conspicuous, especially at this critical time…’
Just one encounter, one attack, had rendered her nearly half combat ineffective.
Was this the crushing feeling brought by an absolute gap in strength and physicality?
Then Laurence… back then when she had severely injured him, what was his rating?
At least Bronze Rank.
After awakening his Braveblood, he had most likely reached Silver Rank.
Thinking about it now, if he hadn’t been completely irrational and fighting with his life on the line back then, even with Dragonification, she would have had absolutely no chance against Laurence!
However, the danger wasn’t over.
After punching its target away, the Bronze puppet didn’t pause for a moment, didn’t even check the result. Its empty eye sockets locked onto Aurelia, curled up on the ground.
It took heavy steps again, rumbling closer like a merciless steamroller.
Its heavy metal feet stomped on the ground with dull thuds, each step seemingly landing on the beat of Aurelia’s heart.
The recorder still rested his chin on his hand, but the previous laziness was gone, replaced by absolute focus.
He didn’t call for a stop, didn’t make any move.
He just watched quietly, quill hovering over the record book, waiting for the final outcome.
Death, or… something else?
The test field’s protective mechanism?
He had said it was fine even if she really died, but how could she easily entrust her life to someone else’s hands?
But the Bronze Rank certification was important.
With this certification, she could form a team, enter the Underground Black Market, and one day knock some sense into that red-haired jerk!
‘Dammit… For my future, I’ll fight you to the death!’
The moment that fatal iron fist was about to smash down, Aurelia moved.
She performed an extremely risky, even insane maneuver.
She used all her strength to lunge directly towards the puppet’s descending massive fist.
Using the terrifying momentum of the fist’s downward smash, her body shot upward along the arc of the metal arm.
Her hands desperately clung to rough metal protrusions on the puppet’s arm.
Her body was carried upward by the tremendous impact and inertia, narrowly avoiding the direct smash.
But in that instant, her waist was tightly gripped by the puppet’s other hand.
The immense force made her body emit a brittle sound of strain.
Her skeleton tightened under the increasing pressure, almost on the verge of snapping completely.
Simultaneously, her right hand, using the last of her strength, swung fiercely towards the connection point at the puppet’s neck.
‘Break… for me!’
Amidst the ear-piercing screech of metal grinding against metal, the sharp blade of White Shadow, a Silver Rank magic weapon, continuously advanced, easily severing the structure made merely of bronze.
The massive metal head crashed to the ground with a thud.
Its body, like a giant beast with its spine removed, remained rigidly standing in its grasping posture for several seconds.
Then, its torso toppled backward with a crash, hitting the ground.
The huge cut at its neck still emitted black smoke and numerous points of Magic Power light.
The next moment, the recorder slammed his hand down on the button nearest to him.
The space within the room began to twist and transform, finally returning to the state it was in when Aurelia first entered.
Everything was as before, as if nothing had happened.
Only Aurelia’s rapidly heaving chest and eyes wide as saucers showed that her recent experience wasn’t an illusion.
“Alright, test concluded.”