"Lalalala," Yue hums while skipping through the road while me and Izzi follow behind.
"Where are we going?" I ask
"Let's see….." Yue cheerfully says while tilting her head, then came skipping to me and tip-toed a bit, and position her mouth at my ears, "It's a secret~," she said in a teasing tone, and immediately skipped forward again, maintaining the distance between us (as she's leading the way.)
I look around and thought to myself, "Damn, this really is another world, the houses look like it came straight out of an anime, while the roads are filled with a colony of human and dwarves." Hmm, no cars. It seems like the technology here is a bit lacking compared to our world….?
After about 20 minutes or so of walking, Yue came to a halt and enters an expensive looking building. Oi oi oi is this a restaurant? It is isn't it? Who's paying for this? Wait, we're in an isekai and Yue got some money from the duke right? It's not like she's making my wallet thinner or anything. Hmm? My wallet is empty? I'm broke? Haha, nice joke, my wallet is as full as a sheet of paper!
"Welcome!" An elf dressed in uniform greets us behind a counter about 50m away from us. The distance between us is filled by a lot of tables with people drinking and eating on them, some drinking till they get drunk, while some just peacefully eating.
"This is the adventurer's guild! I mean, you gotta already at least thought of this right, master? This is an isekai after all," Yue tells me while pulling my hand to the counter.
"Hi hi, this is my master, Hoax, he'd like to register, can you assist him?" Yue tells the clerk.
"Of course"
"Thanks"
"Well then, Hoax, can you follow me to the room over there please?" (Note : this is to register adventurer's license, not indecent acts.)
I followed her to another room and on her signal, sat down on a chair while she sat on a chair directly in front of me, with a table between us.
"Well then, Hoax, first of all, let me introduce myself. I am Yuki Snow, a receptionist here at the guild. Can you please fill in some paperwork, touch this crystal to measure your strength, and finally take the theory test? I will explain everything before you take the test of course, as I am aware you are an otherworlder."
She says otherworlder so naturally, as if it was just a normal Joe. I hope I'm wrong, but could it be….. that I'm not that special? It can't be, can it? I was summoned by god, and a guest in a duke's guest, I'm a big shot…. right? I mean, my luck got fixed and everything….
"ok," I replied
"Well then, here's the paperwork, and here's the crystal, let me know when your done filling the required data in, and I'll help you measure your strength with the crystal."
"ng," I mumbled while nodding my head
Let's see…. What do I need to fill….
Oh it's just the basics, my name, my race, age, and those boring stuff y'know.
After only about a minute of some gymnastics done by my pen, I already filled in all the necessary data.
"I've filled in everything," I muttered.
"Well, that was quick! Well then, let's measure your stats. Press this crystal please."
"mm," I nod my head
I touched the crystal and…. It turns bright red. Ehhh?? Doesn't red usually mean bad? I can't be a F- rank or something like that right? I'd die of embarrassment, I'm already in an isekai, can't I be an overpowered mc or something? Please?
Yuki's face looks surprised for the first time since our first encounter, I mean it's only been like 5 minutes but still.
"Red… It can't be…"
Ehehe, it seems like red means good? Maybe it's different here and red is good while green is bad?
"Hoax…. I have good news and bad news…. Which do you want to listen to first?"
"The good news of course!"
"Well, you see, red means you have extraordinary stats, and 99.9% of the time, you'd
probably immediately be a C-ranked adventurer or higher. Also, besides that, you seem to have some unique skills."
"ehehe, isn't that great? Well, what's the bad news then? It's probably something
insignificant right? Like I'm not that good at a certain type of magic or something like that"
"Ehm… that's the problem, the bad news is major, probably even outweighing the good news….. you are unable to use your strength… I'm not just talking about physical strength, I mean everything. Magic, Speed, Endurance, everything."
What? My brain isn't processing fast enough.
"Well then… Uhhhhh…. There's gotta be away to lift that limit, although it'll be a perilous journey. Besides that…. Let's talk about your skills now:
Skills :
[ Appraisal ] – level 1 – can see the status items or people, accuracy depends on level
[ Status ] – can see the status of oneself, accuracy depends on level
[ basic magic – offensive]
[basic magic – support]
Unique skills :
[ Telepathy ] – level 1 - allows one to communicate to someone else through telepathy, conditions : User has met that person before. The person consents to communicating. Distance depends on the level. Encryption can be unlocked at level 5.
[ oracle ] – allows one to converse with gods, although it's not always high ranking gods or the gods the user would like to communicate with. Conditions : the user has met the god before and the god consents to being communicated with. The user can communicate with high ranking gods at level 4, the user can choose which god to communicate with at level 6."
"Well, that's pretty much it…"
"I see…"
I can't say I'm excited, but it's not like I'm 100% disappointed either… I mean, I wanted to be omnipotent you know….
"Well then, for now, let me explain the contents of the theory test before you take it. You can take it anytime you're ready by the way. The test will have 2 sections, section A : multiple choice questions , 15 questions with 2 marks each, while section B has 5 open ended questions with 6 marks each for a total of 60 points. The passing score is 4 points. The test will consist of questions about monsters, rules of the adventurer guild, as well as the basic theory. The time limit for the exam is 1 hour. Well then, for now, here's a short summary regarding the contents of the exam. Generally applicants can score well enough just from this small booklet. By the way, the reason the passing score is so low is because there are hard questions in the exam, designed for those taking the exam for ranking up to do, and not for novice adventurers."
Well, that's weird, having a single exam for everyone, despite of their level ,that's like a single exam paper being given to everyone from kindergardeners to university students.
Well, let's see the booklet first I guess. Let's start with the adventure guild rules….
When you take a quest, you will be penalized if you do not complete it You will score points upon completion of quests, the amount of points depends on the difficulty of the quest You may form a party of up to 8 members You may take a quest with 1 rank above you if you are in a party of at least 5 people of same rank In case of a party having diverse ranks, they may do quests with difficulty up to the highest rank in the party. Use your common sense, the law still applies.
Hmm, pretty simple, only 6 rules? Well, nothing to worry about here….. now then, let's see
the basic theory…. I guess that means the explanation of the ranking system and stuff?
Ranks in the adventurer's guild (ascending order):
F- : average human, danger rating 2 to 3
F : above average human, danger rating 4 to 5
F+ : superhuman, athlete human level, danger rating 6 to 8
E- : novice adventurer, has ability to use basic magic (either body strengthening, support or offensive), danger rating 9 to 18
E : fairly experienced adventurer, or average. Has ability to use basic magic and either 2nd tier magic or physical strength of at least 32, danger rating 19 to 40
E+ : slightly above average adventurer, has fairly good control of 2nd tier magic, or has physical strength of at least 65, danger rating 41 to 75.
Hmm? That's it? No D- and above? Well, I mean, I guess I don't need it yet since I'm a beginner? Also what does the danger rating mean? Oh, its probably just the combat strength of that rank? I guess it also applies to monsters? Speaking of monsters, let's look at the monster section….
Monsters:
F- : red fox,goblin
F : ice fox, 2 to 3 goblin or equivalent.
F+ : night wolf (cub), 4 to 5 goblin or equivalent.
E- : night wolf, 6 to 8 goblin or equivalent
E : 2 to 3 night wolf, 9 to 15 goblin or equivalent
E+ : night wolf pack (4 to 7), goblin group (16 to 25, has working together skills) or equivalent.
Hmm, not that much, I can handle this much, heck, I can even take the exam now, yup, let's do just that.
Well then…. Fast forward to the time I got reincarnated as a slime I started taking the exam… I wasn't that nervous really, this isn't an exam that determines the fate of my life or anything like that, I can just retake it if I fail. Besides, the passing mark is 4 out of 60, and there are 15 multiple choice questions which are worth 2 points each. Seems pretty easy….. was what I thought.
It was hard- insanely hard. No, it's not that I got nervous or forgot what I studied… let me show you an example question….
Question 4 : You, a E- ranked mage, are in a party of four, including a tank (F+ ranked) , a support mage (F+ ranked) and a offensive mage (E- ranked) . In front of you is a goblin cave with over 50 goblins. On your left is 14 red fox, and on your right is a dragon. Behind you there is a cliff that is over 2800 metres tall with 3 C ranked crocodiles waiting below. Who will die first?
options :
A) you
B) the tank C) the support mage D) the offensive mage E) goblin fighter A F) goblin fighter B G) goblin fighter C
.
.
.
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.
.
.
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BT) crocodile C
Like what??? How am I even supposed to do this???? Well, my luck was patched so I just hope it doesn't bug anymore…. By the way, the open ended section of the exam weren't any better- in fact, they were worse. I won't even put it here cause if I do, I'm sure you'll come out with less brain cells. Well, I can only pray luck was on my side….. as an hour passed and I was forced to submit my paper. I see why the passing score was a mere 4 now.
"Come back tommorow for the results," the examiner tells us.