Just as they entered the guild, Sofia and Selena could hear the adventurers whispering,
“It’s them!”
“She kept a Crimson Cobra at bay?” As they looked at Sofia, the moment she glanced at them they turned back.
“Having a fistfight with that kind of monster? Is she crazy?” They eyed Selena’s swollen arms, Some even comparing them to theirs!
Cain seemed to ignore all of their comments, walking directly toward Mary’s desk.
“Good morning Mary!” Cain greeted her with a smile as if he was expecting something.
“Don’t ‘Good morning’ me! First, it was the sewer’s quest behind my back, then the toads, and now this… !” She yelled at him, It was the first time Sofia saw Mary’s angry face.
When they brought the Cobra, Mary’s shift have already ended so she didn’t get to scold him.
Cain understood the reason for her anger, just thinking about it rationally was enough. Diseased rats, a single scratch if left untreated can lead to death! Eaten by a giant toad, and a whole Crimson Cobra!
If Cain was a regular adventure he might have died long ago!
“I believe I told you before, we couldn’t help it that we encountered such a monster!” Cain knew she was just worried for them, She was just too caring to not care!
Rather than that, Cain wanted to focus on another thing, having Sofia take an exam!
“I want you to apprise Sofia, She should have leveled up after Cobra’s incident! Also, I want the apprise to be private!”
This time Mary didn’t even bother asking, she just got inside and pulled the appraising Orb. Bam! She put it on the desk. ‘Treat the thing gently!’ Cain thought as he saw her slam the orb on the desk.
“Follow me to the room inside, we will conduct the test there!” Mary guided them inside.
It wasn’t unusual for adventurers to hide their stats, especially high-ranked ones! Taking that in mind, the guild had prepared a special room for that!
After getting them to sit down, Mary presented Sofia with the orb, “Touch it whenever you’re ready!”
Sofia seemed nervous, she stared silently at the Orb.
“Don’t worry, even if you didn’t level up he will be the one to pay!” She told Sofia, looking at Cain as he was the reason for this whole thing.
“Thanks for worrying about us, we appreciate it!” Sofia replied with a slight bow.
“But I trust Cain, If he said I leveled up then it must be true!” She added, putting her hand on the orb.
The orb flashed with a bright red light, showing Sofia’s stats! they were impressive, to say the least!
——————————————
<Name: Sofia Lawrence><Race: Human><Level: 2/20><Exp: 75/900>
<HP: 12><MP: 20/20><SP: 10>
<Strength: 8><Dexterity: 10><Constitution: 10>
<Intelligence: 14><Wisdom: 14><Charisma: 16>
<Magic>
<First-tire Magic>
[Firebolt]
[Fireblade]
[Burning hands]
[Bonfire]
<Second-tier Magic>
[Firelance]
[Scorching Rays]
——————————————
‘The [Fireball] spell didn’t show up? Is my appraisal stronger than the guild’s orb?’ Cain thought, This might explain why they wen’t able to discreet that Alice was a devil!
‘It seems that my [Enchanting] is stronger, Shall I use it to modify my soul further?’ In his past life, Cain used [Enchanting] to modify his soul making him able to see the system without an appraising orb, that was just for convenience.
It might be possible to exploit it even further, Enchanting his soul into something stronger! Turning it into an Enchanted System!
Mary was is shock for the how many spells Sofia had learned, where did she get those? Was it the Cobra’s bounty? No, it didn’t make sense to learn this much magic in a short amount of time!
“So with this, can…” Before he could finish, Sofia interrupted him, “I want to take the rank-up exam!”
Mary was uncomfortable with that, she seemed clearly worried! Holding Sofia from her hands, “You don’t have to do that! It’s true that Cain somewhat managed to make it but…”
“I want to try!” Sofia had settled her mind,
They walked out. Mary quickly headed out to report to the guild, The exam can be quickly held if a mage was available to fight Sofia.
It was quickly prepared, as if Sofia’s opponent was waiting for her.
…
The fight was to be held outside in the guild training ground, the reason was simple, magic was dangerous and could burn things!
Sofia approached the newly formed ring awaiting her opponent, all she needed to do was hold her own, prove that she isn’t weak!
As soon as she saw her opponent walk into the ring, her face gone pale! ‘Why has it to be her of all people?’ Sofia screamed internally as she gripped her staff.
“Please…Don’t be…Afraid! I don’t…bite!” Yamauba spoke slowly, fully concentrating on Sofia.
“Yamauba speaks slowly when she is preparing magic or actively using it, She is taking her seriously!” Takeshi said as he stood beside Cain, a wide grin on his face, “Yamauba! Don’t hold back, go all out!” Out of nowhere he started cheering.
Cain was baffled looking at him, ‘Is he really encouraging an A-rank mage to go all out on an F-rank?’
“Sofia, Don’t be scared! You can do it!” Cain started cheering as well, he wasn’t going to let Sofia be alone.
“Beat her-nya!” Selena added, following in Cain’s foot steps.
Quickly, the fight hasn’t even started yet the guild was divided into two teams! Team Yamauba and Team Sofia.
“We got quit the audience!” Sofia said with a wry smile and Yamauba just replied with a smile.
“Fight!” The referee Screamed, announcing the start of the fight.
Sofia charged directly, She was almost confident she will lose in a magic match she decided to close the distance! At least that way Yamauba wont be able to use big spells as she might hurt herself!
“Guess she still can’t use magic!” One of the spectator said.
Mages usually fights at a distance so closing the distance was a viable strategy! Cain thought looking at the fight.
“Hem, naive!” Takeshi said.
Just as Sofia swang her staff down, Yamauba dodged to the side with a single step, Jamming her staff into Sofia’s stomach, [Shockwave] blasting the girl backward.
“I trained her well, she might not be a master but she could beat a little girl!” Takeshi said proudly, Cain noticed it as well! Yamauba movement weren’t impressive but they were definitively better than Sofia’s!
“Sofia, you can’t win in close quarter, use your head!” Cain shouted.
“Just punch her in the face-nya!” Selena didn’t understand the difference in skill between them.
‘What happened?’ Sofia vision was blurry, her ears were ringing ‘I was hit with a spell?’
Hardly standing up, she charged again.
“Idiot…” Yamauba prepared to blast her a second time, quickly dodging Sofia’s strike…’I fell magic?’ At the last moment, She felt Sofia’s Mana moving.
[Fireblade] A concentrated stream of fire gushed from the tip of Sofia’s staff forming a blade, extending her reach.==
It was too late for Yamauba to dodge, she smiled at Sofia’s try, [Forcefield] A thing, glass like layer protected Yamauba from the fiery slash.
Yamauba quickly prepared to blast her again, It was a good try on Sofia’s side!
[Burning hands] Before She could react, Sofia cast another spell directly in Yamauba’s face. ==
A large blast of fire exploded from Sofia’s hand, It was strong enough send her flying backward.
“Two spells? From when?” The adventurer started shouting, perplexed at the useless Sofia managed to improve like this in just a few days.
“Huge…power…uncontrollable…first time?” Yamauba was unscathed, her [Forcefield] seems to be still intact, Sofia didn’t have enough strength to break it!
Sofia manged to stand up, pointing her staff at Yamauba, finally deciding to fight at a distance.
Accepting the challenge, Yamauba lifted her staff preparing to counter whatever Sofia throws at her.
[Firebolt] Sofia launched a firebolt from the tip of her staff, aiming at Yamauba’s face. <MP: 12/20>==><MP: 8/20>
[Waterbolt] Yamauba countered with a slimier spell but from a different element, as the spells clashed mid-air they canceled each other.
“A third…spell…impressive!” Yamauba praised Sofia for managing to learn so much quickly!
Sofia was already sweating, It was the first time for her to fight with magic!
‘I can feel it! I need to make this attack count’ Sofia was determined, gripping her staff with two hand and bracing herself!
“FIREBOLT!!!!” She screamed at the top of her lungs, instinctively reacting, Yamauba countered with another [Waterbolt].
At that moment she knew, she messed up! Sofia didn’t shot any firebolt, instead the amount of Mana circulating around her was far bigger that what a first-tier spell could do!
[Scorching Rays] <MP: 8/20>==><MP: 0/20> Sofia didn’t pass out due to Cain’s buff.
Three rays of fire launched from Sofia staff, one of them Evaporating Yamauba’s Waterbolt and the other two heading straight for her!
‘Second-tier? are you kidding me?’ Yamauba screamed internally, she didn’t expect this and wasn’t even prepared.
[Groundnest] walls of dirt engulfed Yamauba, protecting her from the fire. As she constructed the spell in a hurry it wasn’t stable and walls were considerably weaker than what they should be!
As the fire rays hit the wall they dealt massive damage, not because they were strong but because the walls were weak!
The walls instantly crumbled after Sofia’s spell ended, because they were badly constructed so the spell failed.
Due to that, Sofia’s spell seemed stronger than it should be, by a lot! Some adventurers started shaking cause they knew what Yamauba’s Groundnest could stop!
Groundnest was a Fifth-tier spell specialized in defense! Yamauba’s party were named Dragon fang after they hunted a Red dragon!
The adventurer there saw Yamauba’s Groundnest tank the dragon’s mighty breath without suffering a dent!
That made it seems as if Sofia’s Scorching rays were stronger that a dragon breath, a truly terrifying fact considering that most C-rank adventurers can’t survive a dragon breath!
The only people who noticed it wasn’t the case were the dragon’s fang members and Cain! Of course Yamauba and Sofia as well.
After the spell ended, Sofia fell flat on her face, she was out of MP.
“For real? She seems to have passed out from MP exhaustion!” Yamauba said as she turned back, she has won the fight and Sofia had showed her enough.
Just as she turned back, Sofia who was supposed to have passed out lifted her hand aiming at Yamauba’s back.
‘I still have Cain’s second buff!’ [Firebolt], Sofia blasted Yamauba’s back. Sending her rolling.
Yamauba was was never hit with a spell in years was shaking, her trembling fingers didn’t seem to clam down as she looked back at Sofia with menacing eyes.
‘The witch! She forced a spell even after running out of MP?’ She though, regretting even turning her back to a witch!
“Fight Over!” The one shouted wasn’t the referee but Takeshi, he rushed to check on Yamauba.
Yamauba suddenly started laughing, “I haven’t been hit in years! This is a cause of celebration! You girl, you pass!” She declared, with that the fight was over!
The Guild medical team along side Miko rushed to heal the two of them, Sofia sustained Shock damage when Yamauba blasted her and Yamuba was burned in her back.
Yamauba was truly happy she found a strong mage, be it a witch or not! She even handed Sofia an MP potion as she thought going over the limit is dangerous!
“Take it’s free! You should be exhausted if not about to pass out!” Sofia was exhausted but nowhere near passing out! As she was a level 2, Cain’s buff granted her two [Firebolt] spells, she only used one of them!
Even with that she accepted the MP potion, The day was still long and they might go on a mission.
BANG! At that moment, someone kicked the guild’s doors open, that stupid face, most of the adventurer recognized him.
‘The bastard came on his own?’ Cain thought, looking at him!
It was Jack!