Unlike the test, the results were publicly announced for every adventurer and examinee to see. And to say a lot of people were baffled and impressed would be an understatement. After all, getting to the bronze rank in the first go was nothing less than an achievement, that too at such a young age.
But none of the people present there had expected Ashton, whom they all assumed to be a noble brat, would be the one to top the list. However, Ashton was far from pleased. He was merely able to secure the bare minimum of what he had desired to.
The creatures he had to face were especially difficult to one-shot despite being only level 10. Their tough exoskeleton made it difficult for him to kill them swiftly, especially with a whip of all things. However, Ashton wasn't pissed because of his performance but because of his weapon of choice.
If only he had used the twin blades instead of the whip, he would have been able to kill those creatures much more easily. Hell, if he had some kind of heavy weapon, that would have been even better. That way, he would have been able to squash their heads in one go.
'No point in crying over spilt milk.' Ashton thought to himself as he was given his bronze dog tag.
He stared at the prize of his efforts for a moment. The tag had some weird engravings on it which he did not know the meaning of along with his name. He was officially an adventurer now and was allowed to head into appropriate dungeons after receiving a contract from the guild.
He did not waste any more of his time there and immediately headed towards the head office of the guild that issued quests to the adventurers based on their ranks.
It also appeared that one of the knights was called back to the palace while Ashton was giving the test. Leaving him with only one knight to guide him around. The Knight accompanying him suggested him to rest for the day but Ashton did not listen to them.
Thanks to not getting the rank Ashton wanted to, he would have to clear 7 to get to Gold rank missions instead of 4 that he would have needed to in case he had gotten the silver rank. That being said, he wanted to get a higher rank as soon as possible.
But that was only the secondary reason. His primary reason was to level up the rest of his genes by feasting on the night creatures. It was a blessing that the monsters he had to face during the test were simulated beings and not real. Otherwise, his werewolf class would have already levelled up and as a result, a genetic shit show would have started within his body.
'Status.'
__
Name: Ashton Fenrir
Species: Zombie (Active), Vampire (Active), Werewolf (Active), Human (Deceased).
Status: Zompirewolf
Class: Unassigned
Title: [Defiant], [Novice Brewer]
Age: 16 years
Gender: Male
Grade: F-tier (Evolution is possible)
Affiliation: Werewolves.
Level:
> Werewolf Level: 13 (18%)
> Vampire Level: 9 (89%)
> Zombie Level: 8 (92%)
__
'Only 8% more exp needed to level up the undead genes. It should be fine if I just kill and consume one monster.' Ashton thought to himself, 'But just to be safe, I'll try to level up the vampire and zombie levels as much as I can.'
The headquarter was only a five-minute walk away from the testing facility, and this time, Ashton was not disappointed. The building was humongous and the people around were at least level 15 and had lots of good gear on them. All in all, the place looked like somewhere strong people would frequent.
Well, on the inside, the place was even more hustling and bustling. People were chatting amongst themselves, discussing their adventures or looking to team up to take on a variety of quests.
"You should go and take a look at the available quests. In the meantime, I'll go ahead and inform the concerned authorities about who you are. That should make it somewhat easy for you to get some intel about the dungeon in question." The knight accompanying him informed Ashton before disappearing.
'Let's see what we have here...'
There was an electronic board in front of them that listed the available dungeons that were free for anyone to try and clear. Next to this bluish bulletin board was another red coloured holographic board which listed 'Exclusive quests'.
These were the quests only gold or above ranked adventurers could accept and they also needed the permission of the guild before accepting the quest. Thus, not a lot of people were standing there and the majority of the crowd was gathered in front of the blue board. That's where Ashton was headed as well.
However, just as he reached there, a man stopped him. Well, he wasn't alone, he had a few other members as well. The man who stopped him was carrying a gigantic hammer strapped to his back while the two women behind him had a bow and staff each.
'Better take a look at them before getting into a fight or something.' Ashton calmly reminded himself.
Everyone in the trio was at level 15. Which meant they had just received their classes and were probably looking for a quest to test their new skills out. As for their ranks... well the man was a Bronze ranker while the two behind him were both ranked at Iron, judging by their dog tags.
The only thing Ashton wondered was... why the hell were they stopping him?
"Kid, this is not a place for someone like you. Go there and get some non-combat quests." The man had a gentle voice, unlike his ragged appearance.
"Don't worry me. I can handle myself just fine."
Since the man was being friendly, Ashton replied to his question with a smile and walked towards the board. Only to be stopped by the bearded man. However, before he could utter a single word, someone quickly called out for Ashton.
"Ah, you must be Ashton Bismark. A pleasure to meet you." A smartly dressed man was standing behind them along with the knight.
Standing at 5'5", the man had a gentle feel about him. He had well-kept brown hair which went quite well with his dusky, beaded beard. There was a deep scar on his face, which would have probably been the reason why he was wearing an eye patch as his left eye was in the middle of the scar.
"I'm Markus Finnely, the assistant guild manager."