Ch 25: Ascension Test Begins

On the day of the ascension test, Rein and his lovers went to the adventure guild battle arena early in the morning. As participants of the test, they needed to report early in order to give the guild staff enough time to brief them about the whole process.

The ascension test was not just an important event for the adventurers but it was also important for the guild and even for the general population. It was not a common occurrence for them to be able to watch high ranking adventurers in action.

And as the guild was in charge of hosting the whole thing and selling the ticket and broadcasting the show, they also had quite a lot to do in their plate. All in all it was an exciting day for everyone involved.

After reaching the arena Rein, Tasha and Stella had to get separated for a little bit as the reporting place for all the ranks were different. But after they were done reporting that they would be participating in the test, all of them met back up once again and then went to the VIP audience room that they had booked for this part of the test.

When Rein went to report about his participation, he was able to meet and converse a bit with the other platinum rankers who would be taking the mithril rank ascension test alongside him. Both Stella and Tasha were curious about them so they asked Rein his opinion of those other participants.

Rein told Stella and Tasha everything he was able to know after meeting them. And what he knew about them was actually quite a lot even though it was his first time meeting them. Obviously that was because of his overpowered Eye of Truth.

Other than Rein, four more people were going to take the mithril rank ascension test. Among them two were first time test takers just like Rein and the other two had taken this test before but had failed to be promoted to the mithril rank.

One was a catkin with a thief or rouge job class and he was also the party member for one of the mithril rankers working in this city. His name was Jack and he had taken this same test 2 years ago but failed at the last moment. But this time he was very confident.

Another one of the experienced participants was a dwarf knight named Goul. He was quite old and had been adventuring for over 100 years. It was not very uncommon as a dwarf had a natural lifespan of over 300 years but he was definitely an old veteran. He had taken the mithril rank ascension test 3 times before this in different cities but had always failed for one reason or another.

And among the first time test takers, one was a beautiful half elf mage, Lauren. She was a researcher type and looked a bit cold and distant at first but when she started to talk about her experiments and theories, she was very excited. She was also quite young as her age was only 23. And being able to take the mithril rank ascension test at such a young age made her a top tier genius.

The last man was a human named Hans. He had been working as an adventurer for 20 years or so. He did not have much personal strength but he was an inherent ability holder and that ability was quite powerful. Now his ability had unlocked new powers for him which were strong enough to match a mithril ranker. So he came to take the test. He looked like an overall good guy.

Stella and Tasha were intrigued to hear about the participants. There were millions if not billions of fighting styles in this world and everyone had their unique something mixed with their style even if that person was using something common like a sword of a spear. That was especially true for the higher rank powerhouses. It was very interesting to know and learn about such different styles.

...

Just as Rein and his lovers were happily chatting with each other, the ascension test began. At first it would be the ascension test for the iron rank and this section definitely had the most number of participants. So 10 battles would take place at the same time to save time.

The first challenge of the ascension test was same everywhere. As adventurers mostly had to fight against monsters in their daily lives it was very important for them to have the ability to defeat monsters. So, for the first challenge, an adventurer had to defeat a monster which would be at the peak of his current class alone and without much struggle. So a gold rank adventurer taking the test for promotion of the platinum rank needed to defeat a peak rank 5 monster to qualify the first challenge.

So currently, the copper rank adventurers were facing off against peak rank one monsters. Only by defeating them one would be qualified to take on the next challenge for promotion to the iron rank.

As it was expected most of the copper ranks were actually able to pass the test. Most of them used their own skills to get the win, but a few depended on powerful magic items to beat their opponents faster. Some such people were sent out even though they were able to defeat the monster as the adventure guild had judged them to be completely dependent on the item.

One was allowed to use any kind of item for this test. Adventurers had to risk their lives in order to earn money. So for them using everything from their arsenal was common sense for them. But then again if an adventurer was only throwing away money to win, he was obviously unsuited to rank up.

It was also possible for a person to challenge the guild decision on this and he would be able to take on the next round. But in that case, if he fails to clear the whole test then that person had to pay a big fine. On the other hand, if he was successful then he would be able to gain quite a lot of reputation.

Just like that, Rein, Tasha and Stella spent their time together while observing the low rank adventurers fight. There were some good ones here and there but they were unable to find anyone too exceptional.

The format of the test changed when the silver rank ascension test began. A bronze rank adventurer could be said to be a proper adventurer and if they were able to become silver rank then they would be known as veterans. So all the participants of the silver rank test were gathered together and the guild gave a short introduction about them.

It was quite an honour and this also gave their reputation a huge boost. Guild also did this to acknowledge an adventurer's hard work. It was one of the customs that was quite wholesome.

The silver rank test takers were not too many, so the process was over not long after. Now it was Tasha time to go over the stage to take her gold rank ascension test. Rein encouraged her with a kiss and headpats and Stella also gave her good sister a hug. Then Tasha left the room and went to the stage.

Finally it was time for one of the conquerors to participate in the test.