"Seriously Gavin? Walking? We have the money to rent a caravan! For fuck's sake"
"I don't think you have a say in this Natalie, we already all opted for this. Unless you want to use your share and travel ahead. Be my guest"
Gavin's group has been walking for the past 7 hours. Most of them voted for this method. Natalie was the only one against it, but as established from before. She no longer has authority within the group.
"All right, we'll camp by this clearing for a few hours. How does that sound everyone?" Gavin's presence was calming for them, his voice was what guided them to safety after all.
"Sounds like a plan boss" The large young man, Larry saluted.
"Agreed." Stated the archer who looked to be exhausted.
The group is actually thriving with Gavin's lead, especially since he actually accounts for the opinion of others and he takes responsibility when something is his fault.
They can now take care of groups of goblins without much problem. Finishing the 1st mana circle for their Archer and training with Ki, for Larry and Gavin made up for their lack of experience.
Reaching this stage gave all of them some benefits. Which helped in inducing growth. They were growing at a steady pace now.
"Gavin"
"Yeah?"
"It seems that we have company."
Green-skinned, pointy ears. A large nose. They stood at a height similar to that of an adult human man. Hobgoblins, a step up above what they hunted for the past 2 weeks.
Gavin grew his extra arms and pulled out all four of his swords. Larry stood next to him with his axe at the ready.
Trading blows and taking them down. These two were having a good time, their archer can be seen with her eyes darting around empowering her arrows with mana.
Natalie can be seen flinging and casting spells.
They each understood that they had to play a certain role in the party. They were confident that they could take on the next level.
It's just that, the next level is not actually a big leap. Hobgoblins and goblins are closer in strength than an Orc and a Hobgoblin.
...
The attacks were not as frequent as he thought they would be. The 5 day journey to the city of Gramm was also faster than Matthew imagined.
The City of Gramm. It had tall walls and the line to enter is quite long, there were all sorts of merchants, adventurers and mercenaries lined up. Each presenting their identification cards.
He was given his last bit of payment before he entered the city.
"Welcome to the City of Gramm, The Iron's Forge. Home to the best smiths on the eastern side of the kingdom!"
He presented his ID and thanked the man.
"The Adventurer's Association is North of here, while a few mercenary's dens are present at the east. Please enjoy your stay!"
He waved goodbye as he headed north.
The Adventurer's Association had a bit more of a professional feel to it. There were multiple clerks and an actual lounge.
He walked up to an open clerk and brought out his ID.
"Hello Ma'am, I was told to ask for a man named Buford"
"Ohh Buford, then you must be the one that the manager has been talking about for the past few days. Please wait here for a moment."
Buford, a retired adventurer and the twin brother of the clerk from the town of Pablosini. Well-respected amongst his peers he was once a powerful adventurer. Now he works as a manager for this branch of the association.
The tall man approached him and shook his hand.
"Tis a pleasure ta meet ya lad! I have heard great things from me brotha! "
He urged for the clerk to follow him, she put up a sign on her desk that says "Please go to the next line" before they all headed for the training grounds.
"He said that I had ta see it ta believe it ! Hahahah now lad, how about ye show these scruffy bastards the shit my brother wrote about ya"
A simple test.
If he just wanted to register, they would have taken his Mercenary ID and he would only need to pay about 3 silver coins. But it seems like it will not be that simple this time around.
Asking for Buford or any of the manager means that you're presenting yourself as more than just an aspiring adventurer. Taking the "C - Class" test willingly or unwittingly in his case, he didn't think that the Clerk from Pablosini would mess with him like this.
The Clerk then began his short speech.
"I will be giving you a small explanation Mr. Khan.
For Mercenaries who have reached the veteran rank, they are expected to be capable of dealing with D - Class monsters like the Orcs and Gnolls. Normally for registry we would only ask for 3 silver coins and call it a day.
But upon asking for one of our Managers, you have been signed up for the C - Class test. I don't know if you were aware of it beforehand or if Mr. Buford's brother is simply testing you but should you finish it, then you we will provide you with some supplies along with a C-Class card.
The test is a simple one, fight the next three waves of monsters that will be sent to fight you in that arena.
Good luck sir!"
He nodded at her before entering the arena. There were stands at the end of the Arena with a bunch of adventurers and mercenaries sitting around. They were lounging about and some of them were training. But it all came to a halt at least on this side of the building because Buford came to make an announcement.
"The C - Class test for Puppeteer Matthew Khan will soon commence, OI Place your bets lads! This should be good!"
Cheers from one side, murmurs of people asking if he can actually do it. The sound of everyone assuming his current level of strength.
"The First Wave is about to begin. 1"
He brought out the twin pawns and immediately placed Summer on his back.
"2"
The blue threads began to encompass his fingers as the woman said "3"
The first wave. Four groups of Orcs, Twenty overall.
"I mean he is a veteran merc yeah? Then he should at least be able to survi-"
"Holy shit what?"
"BY THE GODS"
The goal of the first wave is to survive for a few minutes against an "Unbeatable" force for someone who's in D - Class.
As a First Circle Puppeteer, with access to Three puppets. He showed the difference between a normal puppeteer and someone who treated it like a game. A puppeteer training for years close to his age range with 2 circles could only use 2. He can use three and not just that, he used them with such precision that one would think that he is already at the "Experienced Puppeteer" level. Puppeteers who can manipulate 4 puppets at once.
"Oh my!! The second wave will commence in a few seconds."
The second wave is the wave that the person is supposed to actually take down, giving them a set of 8 D-Class opponents.
Needless to say, the Goat-headed creatures they sent his way were subsequently massacred in seconds.
In RTS and similar types of games there is a shortened term called "Micro". Not to refer to the size of one's tool but instead used to refer to one's skill. Skill in the act of Micromanagement. If Macro refers to the higher level strategic decisions that a person makes in these games, then Micro refers to the level of specific control that a user has with their game character or hero.
So in this lingo, he can be described as a mechanically talented puppeteer who is extremely good at Micro.
The precision of their sword slashes along with the timing of the ray of fire was simply impeccable. He didn't even need to use any of his other puppets.
"It seems that we have quite the talent this time around, which is why the Managers have asked us to up the ante! This young man will be considered as a C -Class already, but how about we make a new bet!"
The announcer incited the crowd.
Upon hearing the announcement he knew that the pawns would no longer work for this so he shoved both of them back into his inventory space. He took out a Rook and a Knight puppet.
Unlike the pawns these two were noticeably larger. With the knight standing at a height of at least 6 feet tall and the rook standing a handful of inches taller.
From the gates that released the monsters, three red figures came out. C - Class monsters can be differentiated from their lower ranked counter parts in a simple way.
They give off a lot more magic power than before, giving them an increase in all of their physical abilities.
A D- Class orc can be differentiated from a C- Class one simply from the color of their skins. In the more populated areas, these orcs are considered the main leaders of the group.
"Begin!"