As Anemone finished reading the summary, she decided it was time to pay. And since she wanted to try to get Father to, she looked at him with her bright blue eyes, a folded bottom lip, trying to force tears out to water her eyes.
"Father, would you please pay for the meal?" Anemone asked.
He looked at her with a rather blank expression before simply nodding. Anemone immediately uncurled her lip, looking at him with excitement.
"Thank you!" she exclaimed.
As the serving maid came back, they paid and quickly left.
"Father, would you mind if I stayed with you? I want to learn to control my flames well," Anemone said.
"Of course!" he said with a bright smile. "I would love to spend some time with you! Just go buy a small table and chair and a few candles, and I can make sure nothing goes wrong!"
Anemone nodded and then left his side, going to a nearby trinket hall, designed to sell small items. When she arrived, she found a wooden table with two wide legs on the left and right, and a wooden beam connecting them on the underside near the ground. Sold alongside it was a wooden chair sitting about thirty centimeters (12 inches) off the ground. This was worth just a few silver coins altogether, including four candles in case something happened to one.
Once Anemone acquired the stuff she wanted, she traveled back to their shop while carrying the candles in her satchel and the small table and chair on top of one another. Thankfully, the cart wasn't far and only took a few minutes. She then set the table down to the left of the cart, the chair right behind it, took out three candles, and spaced them out evenly on the table.
Anemone looked around to make sure Father was near, and he was, then she began to focus her mind on the practice in front of her. Even if it was hard, she would like to be able to control the flames she lit, when to snuff them out, and how large they might be. She closed her eyes, picturing the candles in front of her, the table, and herself in an infinitely white space.
'Left and right candles only,' Anemone told herself, trying to reinforce the picture of said candles lighting without including the middle.
She opened her eyes to see none lit and Father walking over.
"Start with only one candle. Do not push yourself so much. If you expect yourself to be able to do something that is so above your current possibilities and fail, all you will receive is disappointment," Father advised.
Before Anemone could open her mouth, he took away two candles, leaving only one in the middle. She simply nodded instead of speaking and then looked at the wick, imagining it lighting, from a simple spark to it catching fire, to then a blazing orange flame. After a few moments, whether it be seconds or minutes, she couldn't tell, it lit. It was a small, gentle flame at first, but as it caught fire, it turned up the heat. Later on, after having more control over her flames, Anemone would like to have complete control over the intensity, but for now, this was all she could muster.
Anemone then blew out the candle and repeated this for an hour, until she could light it within a second of thinking about it. The sun was now setting, and she took out another candle, continuing to practice until she could almost light them simultaneously. She soon noticed they were not lighting at the same time and were instead doing so at separate times, but very quickly.
***
It soon became midnight, and Father closed up the shop. The remaining stock they had would be all they had, as now that they had money, they could continue their adventure, searching for clues on where to find a rare seedling, not just any normal tree, even though they could, they requested a long-living tree, so that was what they must find.
"Hey Father, I am going to head to bed now!" Anemone said as she cleaned up, hugging him as they arrived at the tavern.
"Goodnight, young one!" He wrapped his gentle arms around her neck.
Anemone smiled and then headed to her room, shutting the door behind her and finding a paper on her bed.
Dear Anemone. Please come to the Adventurers Guild tomorrow at 2 pm for your placement test. You may arrive an additional hour earlier to meet additional applicants and/or purchase equipment.
'How did they get my address?' Anemone wondered. 'Well, whatever.'
***
The next day came, and as the time hit noon, Anemone got dressed in a green gypsy skirt, a floral-designed, loose-fitting corset, and a white Victorian blouse. Once dressed, she grabbed her bag, putting it over her shoulder, and walked to the Adventurers Guild.
Anemone opened the wooden doors to see a vast space filled with adventurers, mages, swordsmen, assassins, bards, archers, priests, healers, many people, and many species. There was even a bard standing on a wooden pillar in the center of the room wearing a green bycocket with a feather sticking out, playing a mandolin while singing with an almost angelic voice.
There were multiple large tables with adventurers sitting, drinking ale, and discussing, large chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, and a staircase leading to a second floor. This scenery filled Anemone with a sense that she was home, among fellow peers, family, and people to look up to. Suddenly, a woman with blonde hair and a red dress approached her.
"Hello, miss, are you an adventurer or an applicant?" the woman asked.
"I am an applicant," Anemone replied.
"Well, let me show you around, ma'am," she said with a bright smile. "I am Helen, just think of me as a clerk, or someone to go to when any questions may arise. The second floor is available for everyone, but quests ranked B, A, and S are all located there. Any higher-ranked quests are given away in an isolated room, dedicated to only our top adventurers. While the floor we are on has F, D, and C are all located here. Each rank has its own dedicated boards, as these ranks have lots of quests."
Anemone simply nodded while taking in all the information, trying not to be overloaded. Helen then led her to the stairs and took a right before approaching them. There were two doors, one leading to a storage dedicated to magic-related or enhancement items, beads, gems, wands, necklaces, etc. The other was a storage room dedicated to blunt weapons, swords, maces, shields, etc.
"Each weapon or accessory will have a price tag, with two available currencies for adventurers: one is coins, copper, silver, gold, and platinum. The other is tickets. After each quest, you will get a ticket relating to said quest, so an F-Rank ticket from an F-Rank quest, alongside your actual pay of a few copper, for a D-Rank, it would give a D-Rank ticket, etc. Each ticket of a higher rank can be traded down if needed, though most people do not. So, any questions?" Helen explained.
"No, ma'am," Anemone said with a nod of her head.
"Okay, well, as you will be given the placement test, it means you have already been accepted as an adventurer and, at minimum, will be put in F-Rank. So may I please have an adventurer's name for the foreseeable future? You can change it every time you advance in a rank, and if you start at D-Rank, then you start with two extra changes, C-Rank has three, etc," Helen said.
Anemone simply nodded, unable to say her adventurer's name due to the front door opening as two people walked in, a tall, dazzling, muscular man with golden hair down to his waist, a sword on his side, in shiny, black armor. The other was a woman with blonde hair, the same as Anemone's, green eyes that seemed to be able to see right through her, and a small wand on her left side with a blue jewel at the tip, wearing a blue robe.
Helen then walked up to them and bowed as Anemone overheard, "Welcome, Master Malbeze and Madam Eline, we already have one applicant here! I have yet to get her adventurer's name!"
The two spectacular people talked for a few minutes and then walked past Helen up to Anemone, the elegant woman, who Anemone thought was much taller than her, was standing at the same height of about 167 cm (5'6), she looked at Anemone's eyes with her mouth closed. After what seemed like an eternity, she opened them, and a bright smile spread across her face. She reached out with warm hands, grasping Anemone's own.
"It's lovely to meet you! I swear I must have seen you before somewhere! I am Eline, and I am a water mage. I do have other talents, but as you are an applicant, I may not disclose more information," Eline said.
"That's okay! It is lovely to meet you, miss! Please, call me Aurora as that will be my adventurer name! So, when will the test start?" Anemone asked.
"You have one hour remaining, you may prepare by practicing in the courtyard that has dummies, shopping, exploring, or you may relax and wait. But I must go, so good luck, and I wish you the best," Eline replied.
"Thank you, ma'am!" Anemone said.
'I wonder who I remind her of,' Anemone thought.
***
Over the next hour, Anemone walked around and eventually found the small arena where the placement test would commence. It was a small dirt arena with a radius of about fifteen meters (50 feet), then three stair pathways leading up in between seats which rotated around the arena, almost like a small colosseum. Anemone then sat about halfway from the top in the exact center while looking at everyone else.
Twelve applicants were present currently, some were mages, some were swordsmen, one other applicant and one was a healer, both of whom Anemone was curious about how they would be tested.
She overheard two people who both seemed to be late teens.
"This test will be so easy, B-Rank will be easy, anything below that is for losers and peasants," said the young man with blonde hair.
"Look at that man sitting alone, the one with black hair and glasses. I will bet fifty gold that he will be D-Rank," the other young man said.
Both of whom were in blue silk outfits, whom Anemone would assume to be noble or spoiled brats.
'I know I may not be the best here, but I hope they both get worse than everyone,' Anemone thought.
She then focused on the young man they were talking about, who was sitting alone. Wearing a white shirt that had a large shield on it with the Rod of Asclepius in the center, signaling he was a healer, he seemed to be the most skilled of all applicants here. Anemone could tell from looking at him that he was keeping an eye on everyone, including her. He knew what those brats were talking about; nonetheless, he kept a level head.
The last person Anemone looked at was sitting just a few feet to her left. He was a short, young boy, muscular with short blue hair, carrying a large sword on his back with two straps of leather holding it on to him. He was extremely handsome and seemed to be around twenty. Anemone felt her heart skip a beat when she looked at him.
Then the two instructors Anemone ran into earlier entered, and the space became quiet quickly, besides the two brats speaking, who didn't seem to care.
"QUIET!" said Malbeze. "The placement test is about to commence."