"You came up with an interesting test this year, Dark Star," Crow spoke up, lighting another cigar in his mouth. In front of him, a glowing blue screen materialized, displaying various numbers. Each number would show him one of the exam teams.

"Yes, I read over the report." Father chuckled. "It was interesting to say the least, especially with how you did it. I wonder how many of them will figure the 'twist' out?"

Dark Star gave another toothless grin and tapped a finger on her head. "I tried my best to come up with something fun. Had to make sure those little piss ants got the scare of a lifetime. After all, this is the test of Courage. I look forward to seeing how they get around the obstacles that have been placed in their way."

Laerton wanted to say something, but the captain of the Phoenix Flight guild held her tongue. The other captains were enjoying the show that was being put on for them, since most of the teams had infighting that was already starting. She was too busy going over last-second paperwork that she had missed while on the toilet.

Each page she held had the name of a different Arcane Knight on it. There were over twenty different groups of four, and each group had a guide that came from one of the eight (seven since Phoenix Flight wasn't allowed to make one of their members a guide) guilds. The guides were all Knights who had at least five years of experience and ranged in different levels of power.

The mission in question that each group would be going on was a low-level quest that the guide would be able to solo by themselves without any help; that way, if the group got into hot water, the guide would be able to save them.

The role of the guide was to be a driving instructor, basically. They would be tagging along with the group and seeing how they handled themselves on a real quest.

Most of the paperwork had been what Laer was expecting. Each guide was rather bland in her opinion until she finally turned to the final page. "What the hell?"

"Shocked that someone like him agreed to take this job?" Gorgon asked, already knowing which page Laer had turned to.

Laer scanned the document up and down. "Myth, this is one of yours, isn't it? Why is someone like him here?"

Myth let out a small snort. "He said he was bored and happened to see the paperwork on my desk when the mission was first being created. He agreed he'd fill in the role of guide for one of the groups."

Laer frowned as she read the file a second time over. Even she knew who this guy was, although he wasn't in her guild and she rarely dealt with drama. He was an infamous Knight, one who had rumors constantly clinging to him.

Finally, she set the paper down. "Well, I feel bad for whichever group gets stuck with him."

Meanwhile, back in the stadium, Davi flicked his finger through the air casually, causing the blue system box that had his role and quest written on it to appear. He'd then flick his finger again and cause it to fade, only to reopen it a moment later.

The box would flash and glow as it appeared and disappeared in rapid succession. Doing this was something Davi seemed to find amusing because he had been repeating the action for almost an hour now.

"Can you knock it off!" Ruby growled out.

"No," Davi said in his usual flat tone.

Ruby's eyes narrowed, and her hands balled into tight fists at her side. "Excuse me?"

"Are you deaf?" Davi tilted his head to the side. "I said no."

Ruby practically growled, and the noble girl looked like she was about to blow a fuse. "I am the Face of the party," Ruby announced, and she pointed a thumb at herself. "Do you have any idea what that means?!"

"Don't know, don't care." Davi flicked the air, summoning the box into existence. "It makes a funny whooshing sound whenever it appears."

"You're amused very easily, aren't you?" Ken sighed. In her arms, she held Yujin, who had now taken on the form of a large and plump raccoon. The fire spirit also had a pipe that was now poking out of his snout, and he was smoking something up, sending puffs of black clouds out the tip of it. "I have to wonder, though, how in Han Yuan's name did I get stuck with this role?"

Ken's own box appeared with her role written in bold letters. She was a support. The role that was made for healers and buffers. It ticked her off that she had been assigned that job, as she would have much preferred being the Attacker or the Face.

The role of Face went to Ruby, which made some sense to Ken at least. Ruby was beautiful and had the divine beauty nobles all had. Of course, Ken was confident that she was better looking than Ruby. The real reason Ruby had likely gotten the role was for two reasons.

The first was that Ruby was relatively well known and even had an unofficial title—the Druidic Paladin. Ruby had gained a lot of eyes on her even before the start of this test and was viewed as a noble and pure soul. The second reason the woman had most likely been given the role of the Face was that she was skilled with her magic.

In Rossum, Ken had heard some faint rumors of Ruby, just like how people in this kingdom had heard legends of Ken Yuan. Ruby was a well-known fighter and a shoo-in for the Arcane Knights, having an arsenal of offensive, defensive, and support spells, which meant that woman was able to back up and assist any other role, which was an essential quality for the party Face.

The last two spots on the team were the Attacker and Defender roles. Ken had a feeling Davi would get one of them since he had no support spells, and he was way too awkward and socially dumb to fill the role of the Face. Davi could take a hit and constantly seemed to get back up, so she wasn't shocked to see that he had been given the role of Defender.

It was the Defenders' job to be either the first or last line of defense. The Defender needed to be the hardest to kill and was required to be able to take heavy hits since they would be the shield of both the Face and the Support. A Defender also needed to be able to fight alongside the Attacker and make sure they could stay in the game.

It was the perfect role for someone like Davi, whose body was borderline like that of a machine and wouldn't slow down no matter how hard he was hit.

Lastly, that left Cain, who, of course, had the role of Attacker; Ken knew nothing about the boy. She could tell he was a noble and powerful from the qi that leaked from him, but that was it. He didn't have rumors that followed him like Ruby, but he seemed like he could handle himself.

Ken was relieved to be on the team she had found herself on. Sometimes a Knight could fall into multiple roles, but it would still only be given the role that best suited it. She knew Davi was powerful, so he was a Defender that could also be a sub-Attacker, and Ruby was a Face who could also take on any role. She might not have liked being in the Support role, but she also knew she was strong and could be a sub-Attacker as well. That just left Cain as the unknown variable, but he was giving off a substantial amount of qi, so she was confident he would be strong.

All in all, this was a better party than she first thought.

Ruby let out a scoff, the woman keeping her arms folded as she shot daggers at Davi, who was still playing with the box. "How did we get stuck with these two, Cain?" She asked but got no response from the silver-haired boy. "Cain?"

Cain had stayed silent for the most part since he arrived. He had looked out at the other groups, studying them, and then, when he was done, had been silently staring at Davi. The man's lips were in a thin line, and he seemed to have something running through his mind, but he didn't speak it aloud.

"Cain!" Ruby said again, finally snapping the man's attention.

Cain looked away from Davi and frowned as he stared at the noble woman. "The teams are all the same." He finally said.

"What?" Ruby and Ken both asked.

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"He means the teams are all built the same way." Davi casually spoke up.

"You noticed also?" Cain went back to looking at Davi.

"I was keeping my eyes on Olivia." Davi shrugged. "I noticed her setup was the same, and that got me looking at the other groups."

"What are you two babbling about?" Ruby demanded.

"Think about it for a moment." Davi looked around at all the people who had formed groups. Most were gone since the guides had come to collect their groups, but a few remained like them, awaiting the appearance of their guide. "Isn't it weird that this is the four-person group? We were already sorted into groups of four last night."

"That was for sleeping arrangements," Ken said, shaking her head. "They put four girls and four boys together."

"They did the same thing with what they're doing here, though," Davi stated. "Each group consists of two boys and two girls. They made sure it was a perfect even split. On top of that, last night I noticed people got paired in rooms that they shouldn't have. You and Olivia got into a fight during the first match, yet they put you two into the same dorm? Bruno and Cain also fought and were placed in a dorm room. Either that's a coincidence, or they deliberately put two people who should hold grudges with each other under the same roof, and they're doing the exact same thing now."

"They are?" Ruby looked confused.

Cain nodded, and it became his turn to speak. "I noticed each group has at most two nobles, and they also seem to have done their best to pair those nobles up with foreigners or commoners. They haven't let teams of three or four nobles exist here. Ken Yuan is a noble in her home country, but here she would be a foreigner. They also seemed to make sure that at least two people on a team fought each other at one point. Mr. Davi fought Ken Yuan, for example, and over in another group, I saw both Nori and Emma, and I know they did battle with each other as well in the first round."

Ruby scoffed. "Are you two sure that it's just not some coincidence? I mean, from the sounds of it, you're making it sound like they tried to make bad teams on purpose."

Davi and Cain looked at one another, and then both nodded. "Yep. That's exactly what they did."

"What?"

Davi shrugged his shoulders. "Think about it. That old goat from earlier said that in order to pass this test, we have to impress our guide, and one mistake can lead to failure. They're offering up a big reward as well. Knight gear is crazy rare for high-ranking Knights, so why would they give it out to a couple of exam takers? The answer is obvious. They don't plan on giving it out. If every team fails, then every team loses the ability to get the Knight gear for this test. If the guide needs one excuse to fail a team, then it'll be easy for that excuse to come up because every team has been made to cause infighting. They're putting nobility with commoners and also making sure people who would hold grudges are paired up first. I also wonder if they put someone in the wrong role on purpose to further add fuel to the fire. Ken would be better suited as an Attacker, in my opinion, but yet here she is in the role of Support."

Ruby let out a heavy sigh and tapped her foot down. "I see. The real test isn't actually to finish whatever mission they're taking us on, but instead to play nice, is that it? They've made teams that can't work together as well, to try and get an easy fail on us?"

"What does any of that have to do with courage?" Ken asked, raising an eyebrow. "This is the test of Courage, isn't it?"

"Have the last tests followed the rules?" Cain questioned. "The test of Skill had combat, sure, but in reality, it was a test built on seeing how people would stand out. They made the weak gang up on the strong, knowing the strong would win, and just wanted to see who would stand out amongst the crowd. The test of Knowledge could hardly be called a test examining Knowledge as well. It was just one answer, and once again, it's likely they wanted to see which ones would be unique. None of these tests has actually been about passing or not. Since the beginning, it hasn't mattered how many points we got or whether we passed or failed, since we'll still be taking the last test no matter what. They made it clear from the start that the only thing that truly matters is to get the eyes of a captain to land on you. There is only one way to do that for this exam."

"And what's that?" Ken raised an eyebrow.

"We do exactly what we were told to do." Cain snorted. "They want us to be a good team and follow the guide and impress them. Every team is going to have infighting or someone that won't be able to follow their given role properly, so if our team is the only one that does the job well enough, we'll be the team that stands out the most."

"So I should fulfill my role as the Defender," Davi said. "Cain should be an Attacker, and even though Ken is better suited to another role, she should try to be a good Support. That lastly leaves Ruby, who…"

Ruby suddenly smiled. "I'm the Face. So if we're going off of the assigned roles, I'm the one who is in charge of the group, and you guys have to obey and follow my orders."

"I think I'd rather fail," Ken responded flatly.

"I guess it won't matter until we're out in the field," Cain said, rubbing his chin. "We should try to make an effort to be on our best behavior, though. I have a feeling we're all strong, so let's just not step on anyone's toes and do our best, okay?"

Ruby snickered but nodded her head. Then her look grew serious. "Speaking of being out in the field, where the hell is our guide?"

Davi looked around and frowned. Most of the groups, including Olivia's, were gone now. There were only five remaining, counting them. Every other group that was still here had an Arcane Knight with them who was still going over the rules of the mission. They were the only group that didn't have their guide. Was their guide running late, or was something wrong?

More time passed, and the four other groups eventually left, leaving just team Ruby behind. It took another full hour of waiting before their guide finally appeared.

By that point, all of them were totally bored. Cain had taken a seat on the ground and was polishing the sword that was at his side. Ken was playing with Yujin, who kept flickering through different animal forms. Ruby had her phone out and was scrolling through funny epic fail videos. Lastly, that left Davi, who discovered he could make multiple of the same system boxes appear simultaneously and was now putting on some sort of strange song since the boxes would let out flickering beeps when they appeared and vanished.

It was to the sight of all of them relaxing or goofing off that the guide for team Ruby appeared.

"Stand up straight, and fall into formation." A voice barked out.

Ruby let out a squeak and stuffed her phone back into her shirt. Ken stumbled up as well, Yujin taking on the form of a snake and wrapping around her neck like a scarf. Cain calmly sheathed his sword, put his tools away, and stood up. Davi reached the end of the song and closed all the boxes. When he was done, he looked up at the Arcane Knight who stood before them.

"You're late," Davi said simply, causing Ken and Ruby to shoot him nasty glares.

"Sorry about that. I had something important I needed to take care of. I'm here now, so we can start." The Knight in question was a handsome man who seemed to be in his late forties to early fifties. He was lean and well built. He had reddish-brown hair and a pair of eyes that glowed with an intense blue flame behind them, as well as a bit of red stubble around his chin. He wore relatively normal-looking clothes, black jeans, and a black buttoned-up shirt, but he also had on a long, flowing white trench coat. On the sleeve of his jacket was the symbol of Pantheon's guild, the black image of a bull's skull. Lastly, two swords hung from the man's belt. Both were longswords, one looking like a standard sword that wasn't all that special, while the other had a slightly longer and thicker blade, like a half-claymore, with a handle that was pure white. "I'm here now, so we can start. Go ahead and introduce yourselves." The man said, fishing around in the pockets of his coat.

Team Ruby stood there awkwardly, mostly confused. It got even worse when the man pulled a sucker out of his pocket and unwrapped it, placing it into his mouth. Davi was the first to recover and shrugged. "Davi Hawker."

"Cain Lunar."

"Ken Yuan."

"Ruby Marsian."

The man tilted his sucker down and nodded his head. Casually, he pointed his thumb at himself. "Jack Larison. The Knights call me Battery, though."

"The Battery?" Ruby asked, stunned. Even Cain looked a little amazed.

"Is he important?" Davi asked.

"How do you not know who he is?" Ruby hissed.

"I also don't know who he is," Ken said sheepishly.

Ruby's glare doubled down as she stared at the two ignorant members of her team. "How do you two not know about him? He's a big deal—"

Jack raised his hand and shook his head. "Rumors don't matter. Make your own judgment for yourself. Now that I'm here, I guess we should start?"

Davi nodded his head at the older man. "That would be nice. What exactly are we doing?"

"Good question, you get a sucker." Jack tossed one to Davi, who eagerly opened it and placed it into his mouth. "I was told that I have to take you four on a quest. It'll be a low-level one, and your job will be to finish it to the best of your abilities. I'll be mainly remaining on the sidelines watching you all. I won't be getting involved unless I have to. If I do have to get involved, then consider that an automatic failure."

"What sort of quest are we going on?" Ruby asked.

"Good question, have a sucker." Jack tossed her a sucker as well. "A village near the edge of the city has been having an infestation problem with goblins. A very low-level dungeon likely appeared, and you're going to be tasked with putting an end to it."

"What the hell is a goblin?" Ken asked.

"Bad question, have a cigarette."

"What?" Jack tossed a cigarette at Ken, and she stared down at it, baffled.

"When do we leave?" Cain questioned.

"Good question, sucker." Cain raised his hand up and caught the sucker. Jack tossed his way, and like Davi, he instantly put it in his mouth.

"Why did I get a cigarette? I want candy!" Ken demanded, but she was ignored.

"Do any of you have anything you need to take care of?" Jack asked. When everyone shook their heads, he nodded and raised his hand up. "Good. In that case, we'll be leaving right away. Normally, we'd go out the front door, but since I took so long to get here, I'll speed us up a bit." Jack balled his hand into a fist, and his mana began to wrap around it, intense and thick. It looked like blue flames, much like Davi's own mana, but way more intense, and it actually heated the air. Bits of lightning also seemed to zap out of it. "Row Imaginary Portal." Jack lazily punched the air, and the energy exploded off of his fist.

The air current blew back, causing Team Ruby to wince as their eyes stung. Despite how low-level the spell was, the amount of mana it held within was tremendous. Cracks began to appear along the air where Jack's fist touched, and suddenly a shimmering blue portal formed into existence. The portal hummed and was bright, revealing nothing on the other side.

"Cool." Davi nodded.

Jack placed his hand back into his pocket. "There we go. One portal straight to our destination." A faint smirk crossed onto his lips. "So who's ready to slay us some goblins?"

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