A Senior’s Graduation
To rank up from Bronze to Copper, you needed 100 points. And until you reached Copper Rank, you could only accept requests other than subjugations, so it had always been hard to move up just by doing in-town requests.
But now, thanks to the children’s herb-gathering experience, people who relearned the tricks of herb collection were able to earn points efficiently. With that, it was only natural that ranking up started happening faster.
The academy’s curriculum basically ran until Copper Rank. If you could reach Copper, it meant your basic abilities were solid enough, so that was considered graduation.
Of course, even after graduating, you could still participate in martial and magic training, but so far, we hadn’t run into any graduates during our classes. Apparently, graduates mostly used the training grounds in the afternoons, probably to avoid getting in the way of the younger kids.
The reason I’m talking about all this now is because today, Kathe was graduating from the academy.
I was holding back my points by focusing on making karuta, but since I’d be Copper Rank in just eleven more points, my own graduation probably wasn’t that far off either.
“I wasn’t very good at herb gathering before, but during the gathering experience, we relearned the basics, right? Thanks to that, I got a lot better, and now I can earn a decent amount every day.
Yesterday, I finally reached 100 points and became Copper Rank.”
“Waaah, that’s amazing!”
“Congratulations~”
“I just became Bronze through herb gathering too, so I’ve gotta keep working hard.”
Everyone congratulated Kathe on her announcement.
Over the past couple of months, thanks to karuta-making and the athletics course, the students’ Wood and Earth magic had been improving rapidly. Kathe’s strong attributes had originally been Water and Wood, but now she said Earth was easier to handle than Water.
“Dad and my brother will be back soon. Once everything’s ready, Mom too, and then we’re all going to challenge an introductory dungeon together.”
Oh! A dungeon!
She’d told us before that her dad and brother went into dungeons together. So they were waiting for Kathe to reach Copper Rank, then starting as a family from the introductory level.
It was… kind of a lot for a family trip, but then again, even back in Japan there were families who loved camping or trained for hardcore mountain living. For an adventurer family, this might just be normal.
“Man, being able to go to a dungeon sounds so nice.”
“Kathe’s whole family are adventurers, after all.”
Clang, clang.
Just as the excitement was building, the bell rang and Teacher Ariana came in.
“Oh? Is today your last day, Kathe? Congratulations on reaching Copper Rank. Your family’s drilled the adventurer basics into you already, so I’m not too worried, but don’t ever overdo it.
The academy gates are always open. If you run into trouble, come back anytime. Now then, let’s get started for today.”
With those encouraging words from the teacher, class began.
As usual, we did Number Ten. It was meant for addition practice, of course, but more than that, it was training to keep your ears and tail from moving.
The three sheep sisters were naturally good at poker faces, and their emotions didn’t show in their ears or tails at all.
Kathe too, maybe it was a lizard trait, kept her tail steady, and even when she was happy, it didn’t wag around.
Dogs and cats, though, showed their emotions way more in their tails than their ears. Nachi and Run didn’t go straight from snap! to wag-wag, but their lowered tails often swayed back and forth.
Tony was fine when it came to his tail since you could barely see it, but his long ears were very expressive, standing straight up, then drooping. The contrast with his blank face just made it funnier.
Hachi and Ren moved both their ears and tails a lot. When the Demon King card came up, it was painfully obvious. But since both “take the card” and “don’t take it” made them excited enough to wag their tails, it was actually hard to tell which one was the Demon King.
After arithmetic class came martial training.
Because everyone’s Earth magic level had gone up, the athletics course kept getting longer. Now it used up half the training grounds. Of course, we restored it to normal every time afterward.
Kathe used Water to make puddles.
I used Earth magic to create thin balance beams over those puddles.
Ren and Hachi made raised earth to act as logs with height differences. The three sisters and Tony made large earth walls.
Nachi and Run worked together to make parallel earth walls that formed a narrow passage. Kathe added puddles there too, so you had to brace your hands and feet against the walls to cross.
With the longer distance and more obstacles, the course was seriously like an attraction now.
“Ohhh, it’s gotten way more intense than the last time I saw it.”
“It really has. This term’s students are getting much better at magic control before graduation.”
While we were inspecting the finished course, the Guildmaster and the Vice-Guildmaster entered the training grounds.
Back when Professor Doua the elf was here, one of them would sometimes accompany the teacher, but it’d been a while. Everyone noticed and ran over to them.
“Kathe, today’s your graduation from the academy, right? Your family returned earlier. Your brother has safely been promoted to Silver Rank. Congratulations.”
“Huh?! My brother’s back?”
“Oh! Silver Rank!”
“That’s awesome!”
Kathe looked surprised by the Vice-Guildmaster’s words. She’d known they’d be coming back soon, but she didn’t expect it to be today.
Everyone else was buzzing at the words “Silver Rank.”
To be promoted from Copper, you needed at least 200 points, with a minimum of 20 coming from subjugation requests. On top of that, you had to clear one introductory dungeon solo and also clear an intermediate dungeon as part of a party.
So going from Copper to Silver always required real combat ability. You could safely rank up to Copper, but Copper to Silver wasn’t easy at all.
Apparently, dungeons were divided into introductory, intermediate, and advanced, but even within the same tier, the difficulty varied a lot.
Some introductory dungeons only had monsters that appeared near the shallow edges of forests. Others had fairly strong monsters, but were still considered introductory because the routes were short.
So if you thought “it’s just introductory, it’ll be fine” and went in without preparation, you could get into serious trouble.
I was curious whether Kathe’s brother had cleared an intermediate dungeon alone with their dad, or with a temporary party. I wanted to ask about that later.
The Vice-Guildmaster and Guildmaster had apparently just come to encourage Kathe as she became a Copper Rank adventurer, but then the Guildmaster looked at the athletics course and said he wanted to try it himself.
“With a route this fun, it looks pretty rewarding. It’s all made with earth walls, but if it works well, wouldn’t it be good training for adventurers too?
Maybe we should build one permanently in the Guild’s backyard.”
“If we built it there, wouldn’t the wind season cause problems?
Earth walls made with Earth magic need regular mana reinforcement to maintain their strength. And having everyone rebuild it like this each time is good magic-control training for them, isn’t it?”
The Guildmaster was getting all excited, but the Vice-Guildmaster shut him down cleanly.
Yeah, since we always restored it at the end of class so no one would get hurt messing around, that made sense.
So first, the students started challenging the course they’d built.
The logs and balance beams were familiar now. Not rushing, but not being overly cautious either, they moved through at a steady pace.
“Hm. You change the route slightly every time, but everyone’s clearly used to it.”
“Yeah. You rearrange the order too, but after falling so many times, they’ve learned what to watch out for.”
The Vice-Guildmaster and the teacher shared their impressions while watching. The Guildmaster was staring intently as well.
The first wall could be climbed without adding handholds now. The narrow passage where you braced hands and feet against the walls was basically perfect for my invisible spider suit.
The second earth wall was two meters tall, about twice my height, so footholds were necessary. I used to make four, but I’d been trying to reduce the number each time, and now two were enough.
Tony was still the best at wall climbing. Watching him leap up so lightly was honestly enviable.
The final wall had a pit about one meter deep, making it three meters total if you stood at the bottom.
No one had cleared this wall yet, but it was always built anyway.
Like bouldering, I chanted Rock and placed several blocks along a route. Footholds appeared one by one on the overhanging wall.
“Vio, aren’t those footholds kinda small?”
“If you grab there when it flips back, you’ll fall, right?”
“Yeah, since it overhangs, you can’t just jump up either.”
Tony climbed up to just before the overhang and then jumped, but because it leaned back, he always fell.
Teacher Edel was always watching whenever we challenged this wall, so even if you fell, he’d catch you safely.
I checked that my arms and legs were properly enhanced, and that my barrier armor was still intact. All good!
Everyone left enough space for the teacher to rush in if I fell, and focused on me.
You know, you can restart your own challenges…
Thinking that, I hooked my fingers onto the first foothold. I wasn’t here to enjoy bouldering, so I’d made all the holds easy to grip.
I placed my right foot on a slightly higher hold and pulled my body up. I was light, and with arm enhancement, it went smoothly. With a spring-like motion, I stretched my left arm and hooked my fingers onto the next hold.
It probably looked slow, like I was crawling up the wall, but I was steadily moving higher. From below, I heard voices—“ohhh,” “whoa.”
I couldn’t respond. This was dangerous if I lost focus.
Finally, the overhang zone. My fingers and feet weren’t tired yet.
Imagining myself as a spider, I put my right foot on the next hold and reached forward with my left hand. Thank goodness I stretch every day. If I were stiff, this would be impossible!
And hey, don’t say “you look like a bug.” I’m already thinking that myself.
With enough safe holds and decent-sized footholds, once you got the hang of it, you could make it up.
“I did it~!!!!”
“Ohhhh!”
“That’s awesome!”
“Vio, you’re so cool~!”
“I wanna climb it too!”
“I feel like I could do it if you left those footholds!”
The top of the wall was flat, and standing there felt really high up. Everyone was cheering from below, and when I peeked down, I got a little scared.
“Ohoh, I didn’t expect the first clear to be Vio. Nicely done.”
“Vio, that was splendid. It looks like your stamina and strength have improved a lot.”
“Ohhh, impressive. Vio? You comin’ down or what?”
Everyone was praising me, but unlike in the forest, I had no idea how to get down from here. In the forest, I could always use vine magic, but…
“I only thought about climbing up. I don’t know how to get down.”
The other side was vertical too. Pretty scary.
“Hehe. Then, Vio, I’ll catch you. Please jump over here. You’ll be fine.”
I was a little teary-eyed when the Vice-Guildmaster opened his arms and beckoned.
Dad always caught me properly too. It’d be fine. Thinking that, I took the plunge and jumped toward the Vice-Guildmaster.
“Wind Wall.”
It was the same spell as a wind barrier, but instead of repelling attacks, it gently caught me like a cushion of air.
I felt myself wrapped in the wind cushion, then it vanished, and I was in the Vice-Guildmaster’s arms.
“Vice-Guildmaster, that was Wind Wall, right? The one that keeps things away with blades of wind? But it was really soft, like a cushion. Why?”
“Vio, are you alright… yes, let me explain.”
“Vio, that wasn’t scary~? Okay then, I’m gonna try too.”
Ren and the others rushed over right away, but I got so excited about the magic difference that I started bombarding the Vice-Guildmaster with questions. Seeing that I was fine, the two of them went back to challenge the wall.
“Fufufu. You already know that image is important in magic, don’t you?
We say ‘wall,’ but that can mean anything from this kind of earthen embankment to a sheer vertical face like this. Even with solid earth, the results vary greatly. Wind, however, has no fixed shape.
So you can create wind that cuts like a sickle and damages the skin, or wind that is soft and gentle.
Just now, I deployed a soft wall together with an upward current of wind, which is why it was able to catch you so gently.”
He explained carefully while setting me down.
Everyone was watching Tony challenge the wall, but they were also listening closely to the Vice-Guildmaster’s words.
One spell, so many forms.
Next time, I’m going to practice making a wind cushion myself before jumping down!
What do you think about this chapter?
