Two days later
"Mohin. Your rest period is over," Lana said as she knocked on the door of Mohin's room.
She opened the door and saw Mohin still sleeping on the bed. Lana called out, "Talia! Your patient is still sleeping. Didn't you say you woke him up?"
Talia arrived with an angry expression on her face. She entered the room and said, "You lazy bastard. I woke you up twice already."
Talia grabbed the water bottle that was on the table and poured it over Mohin's face.
Mohin woke up startled, jerking his head around wildly. He moved his hand and began wiping the water from his face, not yet processing what had happened to him.
---
After a few minutes
"What is this terrible treatment from the medical staff?" Mohin said in disbelief.
"Oh, I'm sorry, sir. I had a patient here who escaped through the window without a diagnosis, and only hours later, he returned here again," Talia replied sarcastically.
"Is this because I don't pay for treatment?" Mohin asked.
"Treatment is our duty. But if you want treatment from a mage with highly effective healing magic, you'll have to pay both your kidneys," Talia replied.
"So because treatment is free in ordinary hospitals, high-class healing mages don't want to work there," Mohin said.
"Exactly. Because they would get paid more if they worked independently, away from the government's meager wages. That's why your recovery took so long both times you came here," Talia said.
Lana said, "Alright, alright. Enough nonsense, you two. Mohin, get diagnosed and wait for me outside."
"Diagnosis?" Mohin replied, turning his gaze toward Talia.
Talia smiled and said, "Of course, diagnosis. Did you think you would escape from it again?"
---
After fifteen minutes
Mohin sighed and said, "Finally, I'm done."
"See? It only took fifteen minutes of your time. Not much at all."
---
Mohin walked out of the Hunters' Association and saw a group of hunters outside. He waited for Lana outside, as she had told him. After a moment, Lana came out with two women and a man. All the waiting hunters fell silent.
Lana said, "Welcome, everyone. Today, the classification test will be conducted, and you will be divided into three groups. Each group will have an evaluator. The evaluators are the ones who determine your classification as a hunter – whether you are Novice or Experienced. The evaluators will ensure your protection if they notice any dangerous behavior that threatens your safety. The evaluators are the three people behind me. They are of the Expert classification. Now, the evaluators will call you by the hunter ID numbers that were given to you during the first test. Does anyone have any questions?"
"Where will the test take place?" one of the hunters asked.
"You will be tested in a D-Rank Dungeon. And remember, we are testing your ability to use your own skills," Lana answered.
Some of the hunters whispered among themselves.
"A D-Rank Dungeon? Isn't that too easy?" one asked his friend.
"She said the test is about using skills, not clearing the dungeon," his friend replied.
---
The evaluators began calling the names of the examinees they would be assessing.
One of the evaluators was a man. He called out, "7842Z76, 7842V424, 7842S851, and 7842A219, come here." The other two evaluators did the same. Each team consisted of four hunters.
"And the third team consists of 7842F129, 7842A08, 7842C34, and 7842K68. Step forward."
"Finally, my turn. I hope my team is good," Mohin said to himself.
Mohin went to the evaluator. There were several other hunters there as well. They were all wearing valuable equipment, and some had high-quality weapons. In contrast, Mohin was wearing ordinary clothes and had no weapon at all.
The evaluator asked, "Members of the third team, raise your hands." Mohin raised his hand.
"Get to know each other. You will be test partners."
Mohin gathered with his partners – two men and one woman, all in their youth.
"You're with us? Are you going to fight or beg?" one of the men said.
"I don't have the money to buy strong gear," Mohin replied calmly.
"Why is my luck always bad?" the same man grumbled.
"No need to complain, Ben. Welcome. My name is Sui Tion." Sui was smiling at Mohin with blue eyes and slightly long blue hair.
"I'm Mohin. I hope so too," Mohin replied.
"Welcome, Mohin. This grumbling person is called—"
"My name is Ben Burton," Ben interrupted Sui's speech. Ben's hair was short and black, with dark brown eyes.
"And you?" Sui asked the woman in the team.
"My name is Mina Tanara. I hope we get along," replied Mina, who had long brown hair and eyes that matched her hair color.
"Damn. The Tanara family again. I hope she doesn't know," Mohin said to himself.
"Alright then. We need to know each other's specialties so we can coordinate. I'll start with myself. I am a magic swordsman. My magical specialty is fire. So I'm an offensive hunter," Sui said.
"I am a magic swordsman. My magical specialty is water. So I'm also offensive," Ben said.
Sui replied, "That's great. We have two attackers. What about you, Mina?"
"I am an offensive mage, and my magic leans toward wind and earth," Mina replied.
Sui hesitated but continued, speaking hesitantly, "Alright. Three attackers. What about you, Mohin?"
"I'm also an offensive hunter," Mohin replied.
"We're finished already. Four attackers? What a terrible team," Ben said.
Mohin replied, "The goal of the test is to see if a hunter knows how to use their skills, not to harmonize with the team."
"He has a point," Sui said.
---
"Attention! My name is Nat Nolin, and I will be your evaluator. Each evaluator has four teams. I have already completed forming the four teams. So I will start before the other evaluators."
There were three carriages for the first four teams. Each team entered a carriage and was taken outside the city.
(Just for clarification: There are three evaluators. Each evaluator has four teams. Currently, Mohin is with the first evaluator – meaning the first batch.)
---
After a few hours
The first batch arrived at the dungeon location. After the examinees disembarked, the carriages returned.
"Gather around me, everyone," Nat called out to them.
After they gathered around him, he continued, "I will lead the way at the beginning with the first team and test them. Then we will return, and I will go with the second team, and so on."
Evaluator Nat went into the dungeon with the first team. To pass the time, Mohin began talking with his team members. Sui and Ben were conversing with each other, mentioning dungeons.
Mohin asked them, "What exactly is the dungeon system?"
"What? You don't know?" Ben replied.
"That's why I want to know," Mohin said.
Sui said, "A dungeon is, in short, like a cave. It has several floors extending downward. The number of floors varies from one dungeon to another. High-ranked dungeons have many floors, extending to 80 or even higher."
"Are the monsters the same on every floor?" Mohin asked.
"The deeper you go, the stronger the monsters you face become, but they are all of the same rank. That is, the first floor of this dungeon contains monsters considered the weakest in D-Rank, but on the last floor, there are monsters considered the strongest in D-Rank, rivaling the weakest in C-Rank," Sui replied.
"So that's how it is. Thank you, Sui."
"You're welcome."
---
After the conversation, Mohin became lost in thought. He began thinking about his skills and whether he was using them correctly or not. He remembered that he had an active skill of C-Rank: Lightning Shock.
He asked The Outsider, "Outsider, I know you told me to figure out how to use it myself, but can't you give me a hint?"
"..." Complete silence once again.
Mohin said to himself, "I forgot, specifically. Was he only helping me to enter the city, and now that he's helped me, he disappeared? Or did he leave because something dangerous happened to him?"
He took a deep breath and continued his inner monologue, "In either case, I see that I should forget about him for now. I've always relied on him, but I need to forget that."
---
Mohin thought and remembered that there was an offensive mage on his team, so maybe she knew how to use magical skills.
He went to Mina and said, "Hello, Mina. I want to ask you a few questions, if you'll allow me."
"Go ahead and ask. I don't have anything else to do anyway," Mina replied.
"You're a mage, aren't you? How do you use magic?"
"You mentioned you're an attacker. Why do you want to know? Are you a magic attacker as well?"
"I'm an attacker, and I want to use magic in combat."
"So you want to be a magic swordsman. First, I'll explain the types of magic. There is Natural Magic and Skill Magic."
"Is Skill Magic the skill a person has?"
"Yes. Skill Magic comes from acquiring a specific skill for the magic you want to use. It's acquired either through an artifact or inherited from one of your parents."
"Can anyone use it if they inherit it from an artifact or their parents?"
"Not exactly. Skill Magic is activated by the magic present within the human body itself. So if the body doesn't have enough magic, they won't be able to use the skill."
"Can you use Skill Magic?"
"My family has always passed down powerful offensive magic. But the only one who can use it among the three heirs is my eldest brother. My second brother uses it, but incompletely. My third brother is despised because he can't use the skill."
"So you're the youngest among your siblings, and you don't even have the right to become the head of the family."
"Women don't have the right to become the head of the family, it seems. And this is your first time learning that because you're a villager."
"Of course. We don't have this strange family system."
"How lucky you are. I want to be able to use the skill so I won't be compared to the third brother. I even heard he was defeated by a villager, but it seems that hunter was skilled enough to overcome my brother and his friends."
Mohin became worried the moment he heard that and said, "What do you say we continue our talk about magic?"
"Oh, right. Sorry, I talked too much about my family. So, where were we?"
"It's fine. I finished explaining Skill Magic."
"Yes, that's right. So now we're on the second type, which is Natural Magic. Natural magic is the most common among mages. Learning natural magic is harder than skill magic. A mage needs to study a single technique for months to learn how to use it correctly."
"Is its release the same as skill magic?"
"Not really. It's called natural magic because the mage uses the magic present in the atmosphere and nature to release the technique. It's done by manipulating magic, and each technique's manipulation differs from another. Some are done by concentrating magic at a specific point, and so on."
Mohin asked, "Which is better, Skill Magic or Natural Magic?"
"Mages prefer Skill Magic because it's faster to release, easy to use with reasonable damage and effects. On the other hand, Natural Magic takes a long time and is complex to use, but with high damage," Mina answered.
"I already know the answer, but I'll still ask you. Is there a way to increase one's magic reserve in the body?"
"If the body hasn't been trained to store magic since childhood, there's no other way to do it. So, sorry."
---
The evaluator came out of the dungeon with the first team. One of the team members had minor burns. The evaluator distributed classification grades to the first team. Three of them received Experienced, and one received Novice because his magic attack hit his fellow attacker instead of the monster.
The evaluator went with the second team into the dungeon. After ten minutes, they came out. One received Experienced, and the rest received Novice.
"Third team, step forward," Nat said.
The third team – Mohin's team – advanced to the dungeon entrance. Nat began reading the examinees' details.
Nat said to himself, "Four attackers on one team. This test is going to be strange, since all of them will have to attack the monster to be classified."
He continued his inner monologue as he looked at the team members:
· Sui Tion – the eldest son of Lord Nalyon Tion.
· Ben Burton – son of Mono Bayt Burton, the auction master.
· Mina Tanara – the first daughter of the famous businessman Peter Tanara.
· And finally, Mohin, and just Mohin – a villager whose rank couldn't be measured by the device, who was personally acknowledged by Hert Diaki, who confirmed his strength.
"This team is truly interesting," Nat said to himself.
---
The third team entered the dungeon. It was extremely dark, so Mina used light magic to illuminate the path, and Evaluator Nat did the same to assist her.
The plan was for Ben and Sui to be the attackers at the front, with Mohin protecting Mina if she needed to cast magic.
Sui asked Evaluator Nat, "Do we need to kill the monster, or just prove we can use our abilities and skills?"
"You just need to prove yourselves, nothing more," Nat replied.
After a few moments, Sui raised his hand to signal the team to stop and take formation, because he sensed something ahead.
---
(To be continued...)
( The Author Note: I have indicated that due to exams, the release pace will slow significantly until the end of the month. Thank you for your understanding.)