11

The ogre noticed him the moment he stepped into the clearing, it roared a challenge, the leaves on the ground swirled accompanying the sound. Jace grinned, he felt the butterflies in his stomach that proved he was slightly nervous. The ogre charged towards him, its heavy steps thundering over the grass, dirt kicked up in small explosions in its wake. Behind him Weira grabbed her halberd, she let the mana gather in its tip and gave it a swirl. Creating a perfectly round glowing circle in the air. She closed her eyes and a variety of glyphs appeared around her hand. She opened her eyes and smashed her palm into the middle of the circle. It sped forward and smashed into the oncoming ogres chest. The sigils swirled around its arms and legs slowing the monster down.

Jace smiled and walked forward, "Clip and cut." He could feel Weira acknowledging the plan behind him. The ogre swung its dinner plate sized fist at him, far too slow to be dangerous, he dipped underneath it and with a smooth twirl let his blade bite its heel. On the other side he saw Weira's mana reinforced halberd do the same to its other heel. The creature collapsed to its knees, it roared in agony and made a desperate swing towards Weira, a step back and it was dodged. Jace dashed in and sliced his sword across its artery. Another roar and the ogre targeted him with a clumsy swing. He danced back only to be replaced by Weira a powerful swing from her halberd cut through the remaining flesh. She severed its head, blood pumped from the ogres neck for another few seconds before it realised its fate and crashed into the dirt.

Jace turned around to Norm and grinned, "See? Not a thing to worry about." The herbalist stared at them with wide eyes and a slack jaw. "So uuuh, I probably should have asked this earlier. But what level are the two of you?! That ogre must have been level eighty at the least!"

Jace checked his notifications, "It was level eighty-seven. As for our levels, we are a proud and clean level zero."

The man blinked, "Level… zero?"

"Yup."

Jace could almost see the light bulb appearing above the man's head. "Aaaaah now I understand the both of you walk the path of mastery. People who give that a try are rare, but I did not know they could grow to be so powerful. Most people give up early, I am not sure as to why but perhaps that obstacle will appear in your paths shortly."

Jace glanced at Weira and they both shrugged, "Possible, but we will cross that bridge when it appears, for now Norm. Lets get those magical plants you need so badly."

The man nodded quickly and carefully stepped around the bloodsoaked ground where the ogre's corpse was still bleeding into the grass. He walked upto the tree where the ogre had been sitting and was carefully studying the area around it. Jace heard a happy exclamation when the herbalist found what he was searching for. He congratulated the man on his find and asked him if there was anything else he needed from the forest. Norm shook his head and the group soon made their way back to the village. The journey back was remarkable uneventful. They didn't even run into a single Kliccer, as if their dead comrades had warned them away.

Once back at the village they waved their goodbyes to norm and went back to the adventurers building. They walked up to the same receptionist they had spoken to the day before and turned in their quests. She nodded and checked everything they had brought back and then passed them a small pouch filled with a few silvers. They accepted their rewards and Jace immediately asked if they could rank up now. They were told to come back in the early morning, an experienced adventurer would be there to test their capabilities. They nodded their assent and went back to the inn for a nights sleep. They woke up early the next morning excited about improving their rank.

They made their way through the village, most of the people only just starting to wake up. They popped up in the guild and waved their greetings to the receptionist. She waved back and motioned to a tall silver haired man leaning against the wall with a bored expression on his face. Jace glanced at his ears and noted they were pointed, based on the man's figure,face and ears he must be an elf. He also noted the blue-ish metal plate that hung around his neck. They stepped towards the man who eyed them and sniffed. Jace walked up to him, "You must be the one assigned to test us for a rank up."

The elf looked down at them past his nose, "Unfortunatly, yes."

Jace blinked in surprise, "You had no choice in the matter?"

The man sniffed once more and shook his head, "Every adventurer past the gold rank is obligated to test at least five adventurers when they want to rank up. It's how the system works."

"I see, well we shall try to make this as short as possible. We all probably have better things to do with our time."

The man stared at him for a moment before nodding, "Right you are, lets get this over with. There's a small field just outside the village that we can use for a quick spar. The requirements for getting past the copper rank are honestly incredibly low. I've never seen anyone fail to get a rank up before and the two of you look as if you atleast know how to use those weapons of yours. It's mostly a formality at this point."

Jace nodded along, surprised by how informative the man was despite the obvious disdain he had for doing this chore. And a chore it must be, Jace could already imagine the fresh faced youngsters who normally wanted to rank up from copper. Their youthly enthusiasm probably incredibly annoying for most veterans. Which reminded Jace of a question he had always wanted to ask. "I apologise if this is rude but you are the first elf i have met, do those pointy ears actually help you hear better?"

The man froze and stared at him with wide silver eyes. Then he burst out in laughter. "Why I suppose maybe they do, all of an elves senses are better than a humans however so it's hard to know how much our ears 'pointiness' have to do with our ability to hear. What an amusing question, normally we get asked how old we are or something of that vein." The man glanced at them and smiled. "I'm over six hundred years old by the way, should you be wondering."

Jace grinned, "Can't say I wasn't wondering, may I know what class you hold?"

The man nodded, "You may, I am an arcane duelist. I use magic and blade, both focused on speed to take down my opponents. I am better suited to a duel than I am towards fighting a horde of enemies."

Jace nodded, "Me and Weira walk the path of mastery, we use magic to enhance our weapons, and in her case do a whole load of other stuff. All I do is mainly reinforce my shield and sharpen my blade. "

The elf nodded, "The path of mastery is a difficult and lengthy path to walk. But it is worth the effort for those who walk it. Your first barrier will be when you come across enemies who have passed the hundred level mark. That is when both people like us and monsters receive their first traits. A troll for instance will always be above level hundred. Their well known trait of extreme regeneration is an example of what you will then need to fight against. The traits are strengthened, or your opponents receive new traits at every hundred levels. Which means the difficulty of going for the higher levels will increase the further you get."

Jace stroked his beard, "Huh, guess we found out about that first barrier earlier than expected right Weira?"

She nodded and gave the elf a small bow, which he returned in kind. "Your friend, she is mute yes?"

Jace nodded, "Has been since birth, she's the reason I started out on this whole path of mastery thing."

The elf nodded then rolled his shoulders. "Well now that I have gotten to know the pair of you I have to admit I am more interested in this test than I normally would be. Let us have a match you and I. The pair of you against me. I will adjust myself to your level as we go." The man stepped forward and was suddenly twenty paces in front of them. He drew his blade and swished it in front of his face. "Have at thee!"

Jace unsheathed his sword and got ready. The duelist stepped forward and left afterimages in his wake, each step covering at least five feet. Jace dove forward to interrupt the distance he would have to cover with those steps. On pure instinct he shield bashed to the left and saw the elf dance away from his blow with an approving smile. His dodge led him right into the path of Weira's halberd, which he dodged with a smooth bend of the waist. He sailed beneath the whistling blade and poked towards her with his rapier.

Jace dashed forwards and intercepted the blow with his shield, he slashed towards the mans wrist only to find it long gone. Weira made another circle in the air with her halberd and readied her glyphs. The elfs eyes widened slightly and he rushed forward, only to be thwarted by Jace's shield. The glyphs raced through the air after Weira's palm strike and tried to constrict the elf's limbs. A small blast of concentrated mana dissipated the symbols. The elf charged towards them once again only to disappear from right in front of them. Jace placed a mana barrier behind Weira and noticed her do the same.

The man's rapier bounced off the shield and he retreated back leaving another after image. Jace stepped in front of Weira again and rolled his shoulders. The man sheathed his sword and smiled. "I have seen more than enough. The two of you are skilled far beyond your rank. Your teamwork is impeccable. Among the best I have ever seen even among experienced adventurers."

Jace sheathed his sword and smiled at the man. "At times I can almost feel what Weira is planning to do, I know just where she needs me to be more often than not that is when we manage to defeat or opponent."

The elf nodded, "A telepathic bond of sorts, while not truly rare it is impressive to have already formed one at your age. To find someone on the same wavelength as yourself is rare. When you do find someone of that caliber however you will find they make the best of partners. To have found a partner this early on his truly beneficial for the growth of both of you. Lets head back to the guild and get you your new plates."

They nodded excitedly and Jace suddenly paused. "I just realised we never really exchanged formalities. I'm Jace, no last name. And this is Weira Hillmorr."

The elf paused for the briefest of seconds before resuming his step. "Hillmorr huh, that would explain your skill. I am Lívialärio cá Tre dí Morellastia. Since I know how much a pain that name is for most tongues you may call me Liv."

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance Liv"

"Likewise"

The group made their way back with friendly conversation. It turned our Liv was here with his adventurers group to check out a new dungeon that was found nearby. He and his group were stocking up when he was suddenly contacted by the guild for the rank up. Since he had nothing better to do with his day he figured he might as well. That was how he ended up being the one to test them. Once they made their way back to the guild Liv walked upto the receptionist and told her that the two of them were good for tests until they attempted to reach the gold rank.

The receptionist blinked in surprise but it must not have been entirely unheard of as she quickly filed away the information and handed them their new plates. Jace and Weira said their goodbyes to Liv and once more made their way to the Job Board.