"And here is where you will take your written exam." The guide said while pointing towards an open door.

  His tone held no mog uone, her words held no animosity...But instead some pity...

  She wasn't sure how to feel about it, uhe first time there was no undercurrent hate on anyone she met, no hidden grudges thrown her way, and no expectations...

  Instead, some held...Pity, that she found amusing, they expected her to fail. It was obvious in hindsight, she was taking a test that was meant to be taken by a sed year, it was meant for those who had traiheir powers a year and honed amid battle.

  And while she had iaken to battle...She didn't have the same [Level] as everyone else, most of the alumni that passed by were around the levels 15 to 25. And she was registered as level 10.

  Her evaluation under an [Identify] skill showed her as level 10 after all...And while it didn't show her status nor skills, it showed her title as [Inductee]. So they didn't expect much from her.

  Her [Job] didn't get appraised either, as a low level usually meant that one didn't have a weird or rare job, that worked in her favor...Somewhat, as that might mean she could get an easier time on the more physical side of the testing.

  Not that it would help her much if (Or when) she moved to the practical testing. "Miss Starbright, we have been waiting for you." A voice from within the spoke.

  She felt as if the voice was familiar but couldn't quite pce it, "Oh, sorry we got distracted on the way here..." Answered Elizabeth, that was a lie of course. She didn't get distracted, but her guide had insisted on taking it slow.

  "That's fine, we are aware of your special circumstahis school is impressive enough on a first tour after all." Said the voice within the .

  Elizabeth wondered what she meant and instead just walked in, the was normal enough, even while empty of other alumni it was kind of cozy.

  On the desk at the front was a woman that looked familiar, she had seen her before, the younger version of Agatha "My name is Agatha Moonstone. I will be your proctor for this test." And the young woman gave her a small curtsy.

  Uhe older version she remembered this one seemed more...Happy, she didn't have that perma frown on her fad her gait was more rexed, she was half tempted to try her luck with [Appraisal] but decided to not.

  "Hmm....[Magical Girl - Level 10] huh? You managed quite the feat, I see why Miss Singh appealead that much for you." Said Agatha while eyeing her.

  She [Identified] her? She didn't evehe mana wave!

  She tried to do the same with her [Appraisal] but all she got back was [Magical Girl - Level ??] back.

  "irl, just want to make sure you will have an opportunity, uhe eezers at the [Magical Girl cil] I do want to give you a fair ce, just so [Odyssey] stops pestering me about it," Agatha said while batting away something with her left hand.

  Had [Mother] sent her a notification?

  "Yes [Odyssey] she will get a fair ce, I told you that already." Agatha gred to her side while saying so. "Oh sorry about that, our new asded goddess likes to bother me for some reason, by the way, if you ditch the [Young Body] skill as soon as you , that one mess up your body chemistry at the higher levels and if you let it stay long enough it bee a [Vital] skill. So it bees harder to ditch it ter."

  Was that [Skill] affeg her behavior then? She would check about ditg the skill ter...Or moving it to ara slot if hat way it would not affect her as much...In theory.

  "Anyway, here, you start at any moment, but the timer will start at the same time you turn that paper up." Said Agatha while summoning a paper in one desk.

  She assumed that would be her desk so she sat down and took her pen from her handbag, "So I just..." Started saying Elizabeth while taking the exam.

  "Yes, just write away. I will tell you wheime runs out." Agatha shrugged while answering.

  So Elizabeth decided to just start the exam while trying to not think too much about how Agatha was ag, it was weird having her being so...Friendly.

  Had been the shadow cast upon her by [Mother] that big? She could guess that her mother's shadow was big, but that big to make someo this different?

  That was one weird way to live life, letting something like the shadow of another affect you this much. "No [Odyssey] I will not tell her the answers...No, it matters not if she is cute or not....Why would that even matter?" And now here she was, bantering with her [Mother] like that.

  Better focus oest for now and ighe older woman...'First Question: What is the differeween [Magid [Skill]?' That was...Simple enough...?

  Something must have shown on her face as Agatha turo her and said "I know the questions are weird, but the [cil] made them, just ahem as best as you ." And tinued speaking to the air, probably something her [Mother] had told her.

  It was weird how everyone else seemed to speak to her [Parents] more than her nowadays, not that it was that different before they asded. But at least they didn't do it on her face.

  "Okay..." Elizabeth said while thinking of an answer.

  'Magic is a when we build a [Formu] into a [Magic Circle] and [Execute] it using [Mana] as fuel.' She wrote in the first half.

  That was good enough she assumed, then on the sed half 'A [Skill] is how the [System] interprets a [Phenomena] using [Mana] and executes on its own using our [Mana] as payment to give us the shortcut version.'

  She wasn't that fident in the sed half, but she guessed that it should be good enough for now. It wasn't like she expected to get that many right answers anyway.

  She moved on that stering her knowledge about skills and magic, most just spoke about very specific skills or spells, like 'What is the differeween [Magic - Mana Bolt] and [Skill - Mana Bolt].' How was she supposed to know?

  She didn't have either of them!

  In the end, she settled with 'The Magic version has more freedom in size and power while also dependiirely on the skill of the user, oher hand, the skill version has standardized power, size, and speed that depeirely on the level of proficy.' She assumed that would be a good enough amount of bullshit to cover her bases.

  Other questions she ignored pletely like 'What happened on the day of the [Advent].' Like...She was unsost of that day, and the parts she was aware, of occurred within her [Soul]. So those probably didn't even matter for that event!

  So she just settled it with 'The [System] came into the world and we ended with two new gods.'

  "Aaaand that's enough," Agatha said at the same moment an arm sounded. "That's about all the time I get you, more than it, and the geezers will notice."

  She felt a mana wave after that as if a ward had expired uhem. Had Agatha created a barrier in the ?

  She looked at her phone w how much time that exam had taken, as she barely got enough time to give one che her answers. "Yeah, now let's move to the est or they will get annoying." But Agatha stopped her before she could check.

  She guessed that it had been just shy of one hour in the best case, sed her curiosity away and stood from her seat, "So where to?" Elizabeth asked while handing her exam to Agatha.

  "The [Arena], we will check your [Proficy] on [Offensive skills/Magic], you have the right job for a [Hero] so it should be easy enough. Just use whatever variant of [Mana Bolt] you have and that should be enough." Said Agatha while pg her exam into a folder and motioning to her, "Follow me, I will get you there."

  "Thank you, Miss Agatha." Elizabeth thanked her, she was being quite helpful. It was still jarring, but she wouldn't mind some extra help she could get by being polite.

  "Yeah yeah, I know..." Agatha said while batting away another notification, "Nothing of that, Agatha is fine. Not that many students refer to me as Miss or Teacher anyway..."

  "Okay...?" Elizabeth said in a questioning tone, did they stop treating Agatha as a feared teacher after her ge in body age?

  She could see it of course, while she was quite good-looking before, her frown and character made her quite hard to approach, and if this younger form she had ealing to the eye...And she acted this carefree...Yeah, she could see why not many people would treat her like a teacher.

  Maybe she got treated more as a friend or older sister? She wouldn't do the same of course, hard to be that friendly suddenly...Especially after how she had beeed.

  But at the very least she could be polite. "So to the arena?" Elizabeth said.

  "To the arena we go!" And Agatha guided them there.

  She knew where the arena was, of course, havihere a few times in her first year, but she still looked around, plenty of people used some variety of skills here and there, most of them dressed in some kind of [Hero Suit] variant.

  She couldn't detect many with a heavy amount of mana on them, so that meant most were using mundane armors...And not that many used a [Shift] skill nor spell...That was...Worrisome.

  But Agatha felt the same, so wasn't she using a [Shift] either? "What?" Asked the older woman.

  "Don't you have a [Shift]? Or anyone for that matter?" Elizabeth asked.

  That made her stop for a sed before she ughed, "Oh, sorry. It's only that [Odyssey] told me you were a little precocious and I hadn't believed it." Agatha said after tering herself, "Yeah...The [Legendary Shift] Spell, that thing is harder to get nowadays. Most have the disted version [Sed Form] or some like your friend use [Magic Circle] to build the thing. But that is harder and harder if you depend too mu [Spells]."

  So Rossie could use [Shift] before she got access to her [Soulscape]? Damm girl....

  "To answer your question...Yes, I do have [Shift]...Do you think it's [Spell] or [Skill]?" Agatha asked her while winking at her.

  ...Was she filtrying with her?

  "...[Divine Skill]?" She joked after thinking for some seds.

  Only for the world arourayscale leaving her and Agatha normal, "...Are you an [Apostle] too?" Asked Agatha suddenly more serious.

  Before she answered a blue s showed in front of Agatha with the back turo her, she couldn't read it of course. But it seemed to calm down the older woman.

  "She isn't? But then....Oh...She what?... And she did...?" She eaking with her [Mother]?

  Rude...She was here too!

  "Sorry about that, so..." Agatha said and the wained cain, "You fought Akira huh..."

  "On my first year...on my first time at the arena...I...May have...Won? On a teicality." She said not sure how to describe that one.

  She wasn't proud of the fight...Nah, she would do it again if possible. "So that's how you found out about those types of skills huh...So Akira had one even before? Damned monster." Agatha mumbled to herself the st part, "But yeah, my version of the skill es from [Odyssey] so thanks to that I have to deal with having her on my head 24/7. Wouldn't reend it."

  That was oeresting way to get a [Shift], she could see why she wasn't reending it. She loved her [Mother], but she wouldn't want her on her head 24/7.

  How was she supposed to cuddle and smooch Rossie in peace if her [Mother] was seeing it too!

  No, she wouldn't ever accept any skill like that.

  "What? What do you mean by ving her? I mean yeah, she fihe stupid test faster than I expected...No, I will not lie to the girl..." Agatha started speaking to the air while walking.

  Did [Mother] wao get a skill like that?

  It would make speaking to her [Parents] easy...But did she want to have them looking over her shoulder?

  No.

  She would search for another way to do it.

  "Agatha, you tell [Odyssey] that I will think about it?" Elizabeth said.

  She wouldn't accept any skill that gave her [Parents] a livestream 24/7 of her life though.

  "Sure girl, I mean. It's annoying having her looking, but they are [Gods], besides, [Framework] hasn't spoken to me at all, so it's mostly [Odyssey] the one looking around. She only es when something iing happens anyway." Agatha said trying to sound reassuring.

  Somehow she doubted [Father] would be as cold to her as he was to her Teacher. [Father] never showed too muterest in ahat he didn't deem [Family] after all.

  "So here is the [Arena] your est will be here, and your proctor will be him," Agatha said pointing to a lone figure in the middle of the arena.

  It was a grizzled old man covered in injuries and dressed in an army suit, he was smoking one of those overly big and expensive cigars.

  It was...The crazy old man.

  "CADET STARBRIGHT!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. "E FORTH!"

  She...Wasn't a cadet tho.

  "Ignore him, the [System] wasn't kind to him," Agatha said while ushering her forward.

  "Good wetting here on time, I'm aware of the meddling the geezers did giving you only 10 mins for your written exam." Said the crazy old man. "But you still got here on time so that is good. Most of your credits will e from my test and the fight. So don't mind it if you missed some questions."

  He was crazy indeed, while she wasn't able to check the time before ing she was aware that she wasted at least half an hour in that . So this man wasn't only crazy, but he was missing in the department of time.

  She wondered why Agatha was looking everywhere but at her though...Oh...' Silly Elizabeth, you are letting your former bimbo head think for you.' She said to herself.

  Instead of letting herself be caught ftfooted she just looked at her wrist, she had a wristwatch there, and....It said that only 15 minutes after her appoiime had transcurred...

  ....' She made a time dition barrier...Agatha made an hoo god time dition barrier...'

  Yeah, that had been her [Mother], 100% her [Mother] had turned Agatha into her [Apostle] just to do that. Well, she probably felt bad about whatever trauma she had given her before too. But she had either nudged Agatha into doing it or made her do it.

  "It's okay Sir, time flies when you do tests like those. And I did feel every sed spent with my pen dang over that test was well spent." Elizabeth smiled while answering that.

  Agatha smirked her way, while the crazy old man just raised his eyebrow at her. "Okay...Well, your test for this part will be easy enough." He said while pointing to the far end of the [Arena].

  A couple of target practice dummies were there already, some with different colors o different distances. "You will o hit them with any type of [Offensive Skill], it matters not the type or attribute, just hit them." He said while then pointing to a billboard that said her the top.

  Bellow there was a list with multiple names and scores, the top four written with gold letters, of course, she cared only for the ohat was in the fourth pce.

  4- Rossaline Singh

  The other 3 annoyed her if only because they stood above her, and of course she knew who they were....Michael Shepherd, Watanabe Rena, and Suzuki Akira.

  The four [Former Heroes] held the top four spots, who would have seen that one ing.

  "You will get more points for incapacitating them. So while any overly offensive or [Killing] skill will less points. That is why the first spot is for the [Sage] even though [The Demon Syer ] and [The Warden of Justice] have more offensive power." The crazy old man said.

  "And why do those four look like that?" Elizabeth asked while pointing to the four dummies on the far end.

  "Oh, those...They represent the current top four spots, the bck is [The Warden of Justice], the pink is [Sylphie Starheart], the red one is [The Demon Syer] and the blue one is [The Sage]. The [Warden] was the ohat asked for that, and since he is number one in offensive power, and [The Sage] didn't test it, it was granted, it did motivate the lower scores to try ahem...He was also the ohat suggested to make the top four like that." The crazy old man said while shrugging.

  "So...If I get to be number 1 I ask something like that too?" Elizabeth asked with a smile on her face.

  "Sure...But don't get too ahead of yourself, while [Sylphie Starheart] only did her test on this once when she came to sign her vacations...They are still above the rest in power." Said the crazy old man to her.

  But she wasn't listening, she wasn't listening at all.

  She was only fog on sharpening the image in her mind and w on the formue for the spell she would cast, she would o make sure to incapacitate the biggest amount of [Dummies] in the shortest amount of time.

  She would be missing some points, after all, she wondered hooints would castrating the dummy that represented Akira would take from her score...

  Well, "It's okay...I am not overestimating myself." She would get enough points one way or another.

  Her [Shadows] were good at expanding araining targets after all.