Rank-up Exam

We drop down all the items and quest papers in front of Mrs. Sugio.

"You actually got it all...?" Mrs. Sugio asked with shock. "How did you do that in one day?"

"They weren't that hard of quests. Basic quests anyone could do." Scarlet shrugs.

"Do we get to rank-up now?!" Kara excitedly asked.

"Rank-up...?" Mrs. Sugio asked almost like she was in a daze, "Wait a second!"

Mrs. Sugio then starts going through all of the quests and the papers. She then looks over to the board.

"You actually did all the quests on there huh...?" Mrs. Sugio responded. "I guess...you are eligible to take the rank-up quest..."

Scarlet and Kara start cheering together.

"You know, you don't have to say it like it's that painful for you," I remarked. "Regardless, thank you."

"You guys must really be wanting to participate in that guild tournament next week huh?" Mrs. Sugio asked completely ignoring my question.

"I'm sorry, say what?" I asked confused as Kara continued to drag Scarlet into a happy dance cheering.

"The guild tournament. The one that you have to be at least E-Rank or higher to enter into?" Mrs. Sugio gave me a puzzled look. "That is what you are after right?"

A guild tournament. Now that she mentions it, I do remember something like that happening in the game but at this point, the MC never joined a guild yet. So you had to wait till next year or further before you could participate in it. I can't believe I forgot about that.

"Oh, yeah. That is something we would love to do." I respond like it was part of the plan all along.

"Right..." Mrs. Sugio definitely didn't buy it.

"What's happening?" Scarlet got Kara to settle down enough for her to listen in on the conversation.

"We are going to be joining the guild tournament!" I smile.

"Hold on a minute." Mrs. Sugio rained on my parade. "You have to pass the rank-up test first!"

"Gladly." I smiled.

Mrs. Sugio smiled at me but there was definitely something frightening underneath it.

"Come here tomorrow morning. I will have your exam ready." Mrs. Sugio smiled threateningly.

I nod and laugh nervously. Scarlet, Kara, and I then took our leave from the room.

"I can't believe we get to rank up so fast!" Kara exclaimed.

"We need to pass the exam first." Scarlet reminded us.

I decided to just listen in on their conversation as Kara talked excitedly about joining something like a tournament and ranking up while Scarlet tried to manage her expectations a bit. I couldn't help but laugh to myself a bit hearing them. We then say goodnight and go our separate ways once we go outside. Though I thought all the girls would live together... nevermind I forgot this world is annoying favoring 'nobles'. Though it's not like that doesn't benefit me!

I make my way over to the dungeons and head into the sword dungeon. I will catch up to Scarlet tonight, and then try my hand at the Dagger Dungeon tomorrow night! I laughed as I got excited at the possibility of using daggers. I go through the Dungeon and teleport to floor 16. Thankfully I was able to go through it pretty well considering I hadn't been in the dungeon for a few days. By the time I finished floor 20, I was badly beaten and bruised. I guess I am not in as good of shape as I had hoped! I look at my skills.

"Skills -

Blink Level 3 [Evolutions 2/3]

Sword Master level 4 [Evolutions 1/1]

Dagger Master level 0 [Evolutions 0/1]

Hunter level 5 [Max Level] [Evolutions 1/1]

Flash Strike Level 2 [Evolutions 0/1]

Slime Tentacles Level 3 [Evolutions 0/1]

New Healing Constant [Advance] Level 3 [Evolutions 2/3]"

Innate abilities:

Evolution"

Not too bad if I do say so myself! It looks like I am getting up there with my skills. The Sword Master skill has been quite handy. Not to mention the healing! I sigh in relief from getting such a skill. With this little expedition done, I should head back and go to bed.

I then leave the dungeon and make my way to my dorm. Once there I collapse on my bed and fall asleep rather quickly. I don't know how long I was asleep but it felt like seconds before the sun started to rise, shining right into my eyes and waking me back up. "That definitely wasn't enough." I sigh as I get ready for the day.

After getting ready, I then make my way over to the teacher's lounge. While I am walking up to the door, I see Kara leaning against the wall falling asleep.

"Feeling tired?" I joke.

Kara then yells out of surprise and backs up a bit. "Don't sneak up on people!"

"Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to make you jump," I say apologetically. "Is Scarlet here?"

"Nope, I have been waiting for you both," Kara replies with a yawn.

"Didn't get enough sleep?" I asked.

"Nah, not really but don't worry about it." Kara laughs.

Before I could ask anything more Scarlet walks up to us.

"You guys ready?" Scarlet smiles.

"Ready? I am excited!" Kara exclaims, her usually bubbly attitude returning.

The door then slides open as Mrs. Sugio pokes her head out into the hallway.

"You guys are way too loud." Mrs. Sugio quipped.

"Well, since you already know we are here," I ignored the annoyance in her voice. "Can we take the rank-up exam now?"

"Yeah, yeah. Come on in." Mrs. Sugio said as she turned around and went back inside.

We then followed her into the teacher's lounge.

"So what do we need to do?" I asked.

"Well those two," Mrs. Sugio said pointing to Scarlet and Kara "Will be participating in a mock battle against a Sophomore while you take a test."

I feel my jaw drop. "A test...? Seriously."

"Yep. As the guild master, you have to have the knowledge necessary to lead to guild to success but don't worry, after the test you will do a mock battle as well!" Mrs. Sugio smiles.

I sigh and hold out my hand for her to hand me the test. Mrs. Sugio then beams at my reaction.

"Two hands now." She says as she holds a stack of papers in her hands.

"You can't be serious!" I complain.

"Oh, I am dead serious." Mrs. Sugio responded as she dropped the heavy stack into my arms. "Have fun!"

I then take a seat at a nearby desk and start my test as Mrs. Sugio tells Scarlet and Kara to go for their mock fighting exam. I look up as they leave, Scarlet gives me a thumbs up while Kara gives me a 'Sorry' kind of reaction, clasping her hands together. 

"You have one hour. Good luck." Mrs. Sugio warns.

I start going through the pages. The quiz asked a lot of questions about how to care for members and what to do in different situations. I sigh at my predicament. I continued giving the best answers I could. I don't even know where I would find some of this information. After a while, I finally finished all of them just seconds before Mrs. Sugio called time.

"Time is up Mr. Silver." Mrs. Sugio informed me. "Please put down your pencil."

I put my pencil down as asked. Mrs. Sugio then grabs the stack and places it on her desk.

"Stay here till I go over everything." Mrs. Sugio told me.

"I can't go watch my friend's fights?" I complained.

"No, because if you fail this, you automatically fail." Mrs. Sugio said not even looking at me.

"What?!" I asked.

"Exactly, so I hope you did your best for both you and your companion's sake." Mrs. Sugio continued to go through the questions marking them. I sat there watching as she graded each page, getting more and more nervous every time she wrote on it with her red pen. After what felt like an eternity, she finally put down her pen as she finished the last page.

"So...? How did I do?" I force myself to ask.

"You passed...barely" Mrs. Sugio informs me.

"Yes!" I jump up and do a little dance.

"I said barely. One more question wrong and you would have failed." Mrs. Sugio said putting a damper on my party. "I advise you to take the whole being a guild master more seriously. Those girls are putting a lot out for you, don't treat that lightly."

I paused after she said that. She has a point, what I do now affects others. I need to be careful. 

"Thank you for your advice Mrs. Sugio, I will more care in the things that I do...for their sake." I do a slight bow to try to show appreciation.

"Good. Now go. I am sure you want to see how your teammates are doing" Mrs. Sugio told me. "I'm sure the last one is almost done."

"Thank you Mrs. Sugio!" I yelled as I ran out of the room.