13 Ranking

It took an hour before the examiner came back to the room. He asked all of the children in the room to form two lines. Another examiner entered the room and brought two tables at hand. The first examiner went out again and when he came back he brought a ton of paper.

It seems before we get to start testing we need to first register our names, style, and the rank we want to apply for. I estimated that there where fifty people here in this room who will take the ranking test. I was at the back of the line dead last actually. Gerard and Eri were placed in the other line and they were midway into the line.

It took a while until I was at the table in front. One of the examiners asked for my name. "I'm Edge Regius." Upon hearing my name the examiners showed a shocked expression. Today was the day that I had seen many people shocked faces upon hearing my name. Well, today was also the only day I had a conversation with this many unknown people.

"Are you Leonard and Serina's son?" I nodded my head in response. My parents were even more famous than I initially thought they were.

After that, the examiner went I see and continued on with his questioning. "So what style do you wish to rank is it in magic or swordsmanship and which class?"

"Everything except summoning magic." Once those words came out of my mouth a deep silence had enveloped the area.

"Everything except summoning magic. Are you sure?" One of the examiners ask. I nodded my head everyone started whispering (Huh is he bluffing?) (Nah he's just showing off.) And other such comments could be heard.

The examiner nodded his head and said. "Very well then due to you being unranked the person who will examine you will determine what rank you'll get. If you want to do a rank up after this all you need to do is apply for a rank up test at the front desk. The details will be explained at that time. That is all, wait until your name is called or if you like you can watch someone else's ranking test." I nodded in confirmation I went toward Gerard and Eri. While walking there were many people whispering. I didn't really care what they thought.

†

Gerard was called for his test, so Eri and I followed him to his testing site. There were three examiners there. One was to be a judge the other the tester and the last a back-up. The three examiners were Rank C class fighters of the Fire Style swordsmanship.

The testing site was a huge room that had windows on the upper corners so that people from outside can watch the test. Eri and I were one of the people looking beyond the window.

Gerard and the examiner took a stance. The Fire Style boasts of its strength so this should end with a one-hit finish. But of course, that would depend on both Gerald and the examiner's skill level. Also, they may be using blunt swords but one wrong move and death might come. The two moved forward in one instant.

The examiner did a downward slash while Gerard did an upward slash, logically the downward slash should've been the stronger one cause of gravity. Yet they canceled each other's strike and were at a stalemate.

The examiner jumped backward and dashed forward again the both of them released a series of blows. The moment the examiner's stance broke, Gerard jumped as high as he could and slashed downwards this was a skill of the fire style called [mountains peak].

Yet even with this and even while the examiner's stance was unstable, the examiner simply did a side step and evaded the strike. Three minutes after that failed strike, the battle continued in a stalemate. It was at that moment the judge stopped the battle and announced. "Gerard Chime is now a C class in Fire Style swordsmanship."

†

After his test was concluded Gerlad headed towards Eri and I. The two of us congratulated him. I was happily smiling while Eri continued being expressionless, but for some reason I could feel that she was glad. Even her tail was wagging a little. That was pretty cute.

I then started asking Gerard on how he felt when he was taking the test was he nervous or excited? He simply answered, "hmm excited I guess... I simply did what I practiced that's all."

So now Gerard was a C class fire style swordsman. He can leave the examination building now that he was done. But he said he wanted to watch mine and Eri's test. Minutes later while we were talking Eri was called next.

She entered the testing site, the same setting was made. The match began and without warning, Eli flipped the examiner using her sword. This was a skill in the wind style called [thunder step] an advanced version of the move [wind step]. That was the first time I saw the movement technique in action, and it was fast very fast.

Not only that, I found out that Eri was stronger than I thought, she was able to flip a person thrice her size. The Judge stopped the test for a moment. When the test resumed the reserved person was also fighting. Ah, so when a person surpasses C class they would use the appropriate number for it.

Seeing as it's rare for a person to go beyond C class it was hard to find an examiner that was B class or higher. Thus adding numbers and team play into account was their solution.

The test resumed and both examiners attacked at the same time. The two examiners were extremely fast which was expected of wind style swordsmen. Yet Eri was faster still, though she did have the advantage in terms of speed with fighting two C class swordsmen she could only barely keep up. After a while, the test ended and the judge announced: "Eri Slynn is now a B class in wind style swordsmanship."

†

After her test, Eri headed back to where Gerard and I were standing. While walking through the hallway people were whispering and staring at her both in admiration and fear.

Gerard shouted happily at Eri. "That was great Eri! So you're the so called genius type huh. For a seven-year-old to achieve B class is nothing but incredible. I thought I was stronger than anyone near my age but it turns out, I wasn't. Next time I'm getting a B class as well."

I nodded my head in approval, then I looked at Eri and said "You really were amazing Eri! You're a true genius unlike me." Eri looked at my honest smile and started wagging her tail violently even though her expression remained unchanged.