I followed Hartman to the backyard where we stopped on a wide, open field.
"Nice backyard you got here."
"It's necessary if we want to facilitate the tests without changing the venue. What rank did you want to get tested for?"
"C."
"C? Ahm, how about we just spar a bit so I can see what you're made of and we talk about your rank then?"
"Fine by me."
"Very well then, be careful, I am now going to attack you!"
The warning was noted but not need. Hartman once again pulled his sword and closed his eyes. Moments later he reopened his eyes and struck towards me with an unusual type of energy covering his blade.
The old man was using sword intent to strengthen his blade and make his attack much more dangerous. However, the only indication of his sword intent was a light green shimmer on the blade. This showed that his attainments of this intent were lacking.
Since he wanted to compete in this way, I condensed my own sword intent into a blade and struck back. Our swords clashed briefly before separating once again. My blade was fine, it was made of energy after all but Hartman's blade had a deep grove where the flow of energy was now disrupted.
"You must have comprehended this mysterious energy to a very high degree to be able to form a sword out of it. However, it will be of no use if you aren't strong enough!"
I could tell that Hartman was enjoying this fight. He grinned broadly and charged straight at me once again. I remained where I was, answering each of his strikes with one of my own. Defeating him was useless so I settled for perfectly blocking all his attacks and waiting for his weapon to break.
The exchange continued for a dozen more clashes until Hartman's sword couldn't take it anymore and snapped in two. His sword intent in the blade faded losing its anchor to the physical world.
"Just how durable is that sword of yours?"
"It's made up completely out of energy so it technically cannot break. If it weren't for its limited range in this form it could probably replace a real sword."
"What do you mean by saying its range is limited?"
"You should find out yourself if you want to grow stronger."
"Okay then, about your rank... I can't in good conscience make you a C-rank adventurer. B-rank at the lowest but I would prefer to make you an A-rank."
"Let's go with B-rank then. I still need some room for improvement after all. Also, you might want to consider getting a better sword. I heard they have a magic grade sword in the auction at the traveling silver coin."
Shameless self-promotion you say? That's how you make money! These people wouldn't know where to find such a treasure on their own so I was generously granting them the opportunity to do so.
When we went back into the guild, they gave me a silver card with a large B on it. It also had my name and my combat class engraved upon it. By the way, the combat class shown was magic swordsmen but in reality, I'm more of a jack of all trades.
Julia was also kind enough to give me a comprehensive explanation of how the guild worked. Adventurers of rank C and below stayed on the ground floor with the general reception. Anyone above that could head to the first floor and use the reception there. Naturally, it was possible to accept quests of a lower rank. Further questions could at all times be asked at the reception on the first floor.
All in all, it was a rather informative talk with the guild master's yelling as background noise. I slightly pity the fatso now. Slightly.
Since I was already here, I decided to take a look at the B-rank quest board. The board only had a few pieces of parchment here and there and most of them were very specific requests that would require a long time to complete. For example, one request asked for the antlers of a paradise elk, a being of myths that was said to have been close to some mining town.
I disregarded such requests and focused on more doable stuff. One such thing was the mapping and exploration of a recently discovered ruin. Originally posted in the explorers' guild it had also been posted here since the casualties had indicated the ruin to be dangerous.
The quest details said that there was no limit to the number of adventurers who could accept this quest. The goal was to deliver the map one drew and any information on the ruins one could find. The guild would also buy any item found inside the ruins at a very favorable price.
Exploring ruins was a fun activity. Assuming that you had the ability to teleport out at any moment and go back in to continue. If not... tough luck and try not to die I guess.
I walked over to Julia who was currently working as a first-floor receptionist and told her about the quest. She added my name to a list of all the people who had accepted and handed me a rough map of where the ruins' entrance was located.
Before I could start the exploration of the ruins, I needed to find myself a cartographer. Or anyone who could draw a map. I most certainly wasn't going to waste the thrill of adventure on drawing maps.
Best to find Arahnia and ask her if she knew anyone. But that could wait for tomorrow. It was already evening and while I was walking back to our guild I could see Aurelia's advertisement glowing in the sky.
I entered the room I had claimed for myself and erected a two-sided noise cancelation barrier. Finally some peace and quiet.
I spent the night in meditation. Facing my problems or at least trying to. A redundant task because I wouldn't overcome most of them by meditating over them but it was good practice for my mind.