Chapter 207: The Second Test

There were a total of 61 examinees who passed the first round. Except for the homegrown ones, the examinees were mostly from various places, mostly villages that surrounded Lotus Town.

There were also plenty from further in, even Towns. Guilds naturally had to make the tests uniform across branches, otherwise biases and unfair practices would be normalized in time.

This was why only border town branches, aside from the cities, had the right to test members. Anyway, the danger zone had to be part of the job, and it was not practical to hold these tests for those deep in the safe zone.

It was another reason why there were far fewer adventurers than there were mercenaries. Adventurers must have knowledge of the danger zone, and therefore had to be tested there, unlike mercenaries, who could be tested anywhere with a guild branch.

The fact that they frequented the danger zones and had a more difficult entry threshold made adventurers revered amongst the general population.

Compared to mercenaries, adventurers were better loved by the masses; it was just that mercenaries were far more numerous, had more noble connections, and more wealth. Further, there was still a strength gap that made commoners afraid and intimidated by them.

As for how mercenaries practiced their fighting skills, it was usually against fellow humans. Not to mention, they had more money, so they could just buy cores without having to risk their lives.

While they were generally less capable against monsters and had less fighting prowess than adventurers, they could outnumber them. Not to mention, adventurers had far higher mortality rates.

In their words: What’s the use of a strong foundation and well-nurtured skills when you’re dead?

The sheer differences in number also made mercenaries easy to outnumber adventurers anywhere, especially in the safe zone, which was how the current dynamic between the two ’battle’ guilds originated from.

Anyway, this next exam generally did not have a failing grade. It was more to determine how much leeway could be given to them, especially if they failed the third test due to an accident.

The third test had too many variables, after all, and the adventurers knew not to miss talent just because they failed a single test. It was not to say that the examinee would pass regardless, but they could be given more chances and more consideration, depending on the results of the second test.

The second test was simple: to determine one’s level and to determine the quality of one’s aura.

People with trained eyes could see a person’s level, especially when the person was absorbing a core. However, this was not perfect, nor was it an official way to rank one’s strength.

Finn found out that people’s status gems did not actually automatically indicate a person’s level, not like his [Status] did. It was just input after the exam. They also needed to update it periodically, especially after the person upgraded.

On the other hand, the quality of one’s physique could not be determined by the naked eye at all, even if it was the eyes of someone with far superior levels.

Arguably, the quality mattered much more in the long-term than just the level. After all, the level could be increased just by absorbing cores that they might not have even earned themselves.

Each passer was called into a private room, one by one, and the arrangement for the testing was first come first serve. Although Finn was not the fastest, he was still within the first third of the passers, which could be said to be a point of pride.

Before they were called on, of course, the instructions were given while they were gathered for efficiency.

There was apparently a crystal tube in the middle of the exam room, and he had to place his hand there and mimic the absorption of cores, except it was their powers that’d be partially absorbed rather than them taking essence from the cores.

The tube would light up depending on the level and quality of his powers.

Soon, it was his turn, and he saw this tube himself. It was bigger than he thought, and about a few of him would be needed to hug the entire thing.

The tester was an old man around 60 years of age, and there were three others in their seats. He seemed to be bored, which was natural if this was the only thing he did the entire day.

His rank and tier would be formalized in this place. The ranking here would also determine the rank of missions he could get. At his level, once officialized, he could get Class E and Class D missions.

Class E missions would usually be simple tasks like town deliveries of semi-sensitive items, simple escort missions within the safe zone (though this would be done with a team, depending on the person being protected), clearing wild animals, escorting caravans, and simple exploration missions in the safe zones.

The rewards for these missions were decent, especially for commoners, and especially since the adventurer could even do 2 jobs of that level a day, if they were really desperate for money or hardworking enough.

Even if they didn’t work too hard, each job could make more than a hundred danas or so. Compared to the peasant earnings of only around 30 to 50 danas and the commoner earnings of 70-100 danas after pushing oneself to work hard the entire day, this was really good.

To sum, adventurers, even for the simplest of jobs, could earn much more than others who had to toil for most of the day.

One could imagine why many commoners who were a little braver would hope to become adventurers, even the lowest-ranking ones.

These were the jobs in most conflict with mercenaries, but generally, the jobs available for adventurers were around the border, where monsters were sighted.

Class D missions, which required a minimum of Tier 2 to 3 Awakened Levels, would expand to border scouting and exploration missions, bandit controls, and hunting of small monsters. This was usually at Level 0 or at the edges of Level 1 Danger zones.

Most adventurers were active in these areas and doing these missions.

Rewards here ranged from 300 to 600 danas a day, which was not bad either.

Class C Missions, which required a minimum of Toughened Tiers 1 through 3, paid with 1 to 5 Gold per person per day on average. One had to remember that 1 gold was equivalent to 10,000 danas, so there was a huge jump, which correlated to the difference in danger.

These missions consisted of subjugating organized bandit and syndicate groups, monster cullings, and danger zone explorations. Their main area of activity was Level 1, which was a massive area with a lot of active monsters.

This was also the most common mission level of his current and future clients. If he could create services that would assist them in their missions, wouldn’t that be a great money-making opportunity for him?

As for the few Class C-missions in the safe zones, they were ranked as such for a reason.

All bandits operated within the safe zone. They took advantage of the spaces in between the territories, which were not small.

They were common in the roads, gaps, and farms between the fortified territories, especially amidst the villages. Technically speaking, the bandit groups could very much own their own village.

This allowed their numbers to grow and gather their power, making it a relatively dangerous mission despite being in the safe zones.

And that was the safest job in this rank, too. Danger zone exploration could go near the level 2 areas, and he knew how scary that place was from the others.

Class B missions and above were way above his paygrade, and he wasn’t planning on exploring that. He was already having a good life leisurely in his inn, and he joined the adventurer’s team just for the convenience and, of course, his friends.

As for the testing of Aura Quality, it ranged from E to S, but it didn’t really affect the mission levels much.

According to the others, this is more of a show of potential, how fast one could level up, how far one could go, and how many skills one could learn in the future.

This could also affect the resources the Guild would be willing to invest in a person, regardless of their current levels, which wouldn’t be a bad deal if one wanted to live a life of an adventurer.

However, Finn just wanted to relax in his new home and provide a place to stay to those who needed it. He was perfectly fine with being ’average’. His Inn as a cheat code was already more than enough.

With these thoughts, he raised his palms to touch the tube as he was instructed. He watched as the tube lit up to a certain level.

“Physical Awakened Tier 3,” the examiner said with a bored tone, writing it down, but then he paused when the tube took on a certain color.

The bored old man with sleepy eyes flinched, and his eyes widened so much that Finn could swear his eyelids ripped.

“This…” He gulped, shaking as if he had gotten electrocuted. “Spirit Quality S!”

“…”

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