Chapter 83: Promotional Exam - Rank D

School went on as usual. It was fairly boring, as always. I’d always found lessons tedious, but ever since I became a Magical Girl, I hated school even more. Through Felicia, I learned that not many Guardians continued formal education.

Of course, some Guardians insisted on attending school, but most of them either chose specialized training or skipped school altogether. After all, why sit in a classroom when you could be out saving humanity? Guardians had their own perfect partners—Familiars—who were more honest and even smarter than top college graduates.

Even now, after only three days back, I have already caught up on all the lessons I missed during the past three months of Guardian activity. All thanks to Felicia. She compiled my lessons, sometimes did my homework, and summarized everything in a way that was easy to understand. She could even teach me in my sleep.

As I stared aimlessly at the concrete jungle that was Eden, Felicia’s voice rang inside my head.

“I took the liberty of registering you for the Rank D promotion exam. The test will be conducted this evening. Will you attend? Today is the last day to change your mind and cancel it.”

I stared at her for a moment when Felicia said I can still cancel it. The rank advancement exam had completely slipped my mind—I’d forgotten it was supposed to be today. Guardians were really pampered, huh? You could cancel appointments even at the last minute.

“I’ll take it,” I said. Now that I knew the promotion came with a point reward, I was motivated. My points had been hovering just below ten thousand—at 8400 points—the dream of upgrading my vault into a masterwork felt so close yet so far. A thousand points from the exam would bring me to 9,400.

“I wonder if I should duel someone in Guardian Command for the required points…”

“It’s certainly recommended. You might gain some allies that way. Moreover, if your abilities are known, it will be easier for others to work with you. Working solo might be the norm for Dark Guardians, but joining a party is always safer,” Felicia said.

“I see,” I replied half-heartedly. Despite my role as an actress, I never truly indulged in socializing. I realized a long time ago that I’m an introvert—like a quiet princess in a castle. That was all I was, even when Felicia came into my life and turned me into a Guardian, my personality didn't change much.

“Where to, Miss Yuri?” Sebastian, my butler, asked from inside the Seinjet.

“Guardian Command, please. I’m going to confirm my participation in the rank-up exam.”

“Understood. May you do well on your exam. I shall be watching your endeavor from my portable device. Hmm… You’ll soon be a mid-rank Guardian. If I hadn’t signed that geas, I would’ve told my granddaughters about you—they’re fans of yours and of Magical Girls in general.” Sebastian smiled. He had been getting more talkative lately.

“Sorry,” I said.

“No need. It’s understandable that Guardians should hide their identities. The way Guardians are worshipped in Sanctuary Cities might not be entirely healthy for their mental well-being.”

“I agree,” I nodded.

After arriving at Guardian Command, I astral-shifted into Black Lily. The Guardian Command building was open to the public, but floors 40 and above were reserved for Guardians. I admit I arrived a bit early, but I didn’t expect the Guardian training room to be so empty. There were a few Guardians here and there, but it was much sparser than when I first came here. The sparse crowd reminded me of a popular coffee shop beside an office—open during non-office hours.

“Where are the Guardians?” I asked the receptionist.

“Ah, they’re on the 47th floor. They’re queuing for Anathema essences.”

“Queuing?”

“Well, there’s a workshop there too. If you like to pursue the path of enchanting, you should attend. Would you like to go?”

“No. I’m here for my promotion exam.”

“On it. Let’s see… You’re Black Lily. I’ve confirmed your arrival. Your exam is scheduled in three hours. A notification has been sent to Guardian Green Harvest—he’ll be your proctor. Ah, he asked whether it would be okay to start your exam earlier.”

“Sure.” once again, I realized that guardians were not attached to the system. The system was the one that evolved around them.

“Alright. Message sent. He’s on his way. Expect him to arrive within the hour,” the receptionist said with a smile.

“Hm… this feels a little plain compared to when I was promoted to E rank,” I muttered.

“Well, the new craze is all about enchanting these days. And honestly, D rank isn’t anything special. You’ll get more recognition when you hit B or C rank.”

“Hmm?” I tilted my head. Felicia then spawned beside me to explain.

“F and E rank help introduce new Guardians. So, they’re more popular among the public and even companies looking to hire them. Once a Guardian reaches C rank or above, they’re eligible to attend over 80% of usurpations, so companies start considering them for bodyguard contracts.”

“In exchange, D rank offers nothing?”

“Think of it like being promoted from intern to full-time employee. People might stop treating you like the new favorite.”

“I see. Then, once you reach B rank, people start seeing you as a senior employee?”

“That’s correct. The timing fits too—usually, it takes about five years to reach B rank.”

“Freya must be amazing. She’s an A rank, right?”

“Well, luck plays a role in exams. Plus, as a Pink, delivering the killing blow awards more points. If you had more stats and point investments, you’d get stronger too. Hm… By my personal metric, you’re already worthy of a C rank. Will you register for the C rank promotion exam after this?”

Felicia smiled slyly before continuing, “If you keep following raids and usurpations diligently, and open that Masterwork vault, you might even contend with B rank. A rank isn't that far—you could even reach it next year.”

“No,” I denied her. Anathema are scary—you must not underestimate them. Just before, I was nearly killed in the Darklands while driving my jeep with Shining and the others. Felicia shrugged and lay down on a couch in the waiting room. A few moments later, a ding from the elevator marked the arrival of my exam proctor, Guardian Green Harvest.

“Well, hello there. Friendly Dark Magical Girl. Nice seeing you again for a rank-up. You’ve been catching up to your friends. Nice.”

I nodded. “Yes. Thank you.” I followed him to the empty examination room. There was no one else who took the exam. Green Harvest frowned.

“Well, that damn Enra sure made a mess. We lost a lot of good kids here. Even for D-rank promotions, there were supposed to be double or triple the usual participants, you see,” Green Harvest muttered.

“I see. Have you ever been hired by them? How was it there?”

“They offered me the usual—promised my parents and me a chance to become stockholders ten years ago. But my mom refused. She hated companies. Thought they were all filled with carnivorous, greedy directors and CEOs.”

“So, you never liked Enra and Newstar? How did your parents survive without working for a company?” I tilted my head. Green Harvest’s tone was a bit extreme. Everyone disliked working to a degree—companies were profit-driven, sure—but his parents seemed to hate them to the core.

“My parents were civil servants. So, here I am. I was hired by the Guardian Command and never left,” Green Harvest said.

If I wanted to debate, we could go for hours about the darker side of government or private corporations. But I wasn’t here to debate opinions. I was here to take the exam, so I pressed on.

“So, today it’s just me taking the exam?” I looked around, not seeing anyone else.

“There should be another one. And well... she’s also a Dark. What a surprise. I’m going to ask Elvie to record this moment.”

I frowned. Felicia then spawned on my shoulder and grumbled, “That’s against the privacy law.”

“Ahem. Well, I have no ill intent. This exam will be on public record, so it should be safe. It's similar to taking photos in public,” Green Harvest coughed.

Despite being a public worker, his knowledge of privacy law was lacking. What he just said wasn’t true—even if you take a photo in public, you still need to blur people’s faces, otherwise you risk breaching their privacy.

“Ahem. Just don’t tell her anything. I promise I won’t use it for anything weird,” Green Harvest added, coughing again when I glared at him.

“Should I begin now, or wait for her to arrive?” I sighed. I was an actress—even when I was Yuri, people often took pictures of me, both openly and in secret.

“You may start now, Miss Lily.”

I lay down inside a virtual pod, sending my consciousness into the simulation. The room was empty, with only white tiles and walls surrounding me. Then blue static distorted the space, transforming it into a vast wasteland.

“Hm? We’re not fighting in a city?” I tilted my head.

“Ahem. Guardian Command asked the Zenith to review the exam structure. The content will no longer focus solely on city battles, as we’re doing more raids in the future. After the Newhill and Newlake incidents, we've also implemented other types of tests for each promotion: survival missions, escort missions, and the usual battle mission,” Green Harvest explained. He wasn’t physically here, but his voice echoed directly inside my head.

"It's my fault, isn't it? this test..."

"Hahahaha. Well, You certainly played a big part. There were only a thousand guardians in Eden, so news about guardians traveled fast. When you harm that S rank... let's say it lights a fire in our heart. However, that fire of bravery certainly made us reckless."

Before me, over twenty three-headed, bipedal dinosaur-like creatures spawned. They didn’t move. I instinctively tried to attack them, but Felicia reminded me that the exam hadn’t started yet—and I wasn’t allowed to move until the signal.

“Your mission is to retreat to a dock three kilometers away and survive. Each of these red lizards is at least C-rank. They’re called Fire Raptors. They don’t spit normal flames, but rather flame magic. Be careful—their flame magic hits like a rocket, they explode. Any questions?”

“I can ask questions?”

“Well, yes, you may. In real life, you might not be offered such luxuries. In fact, higher-difficulty exams don’t tell you anything at all,” Green Harvest said.

“What happens if I fail one exam and succeed in the others?”

“In that case, you’ll still pass. Nevertheless, a word of advice from the Zenith and Guardian Command: please be safe and know your limits.”

“I see.” I nodded. “We should have implemented these kinds of exams a long time ago.”

“A long time ago, there was no need,” Felicia replied. “Thanks to RED, we always knew the rank of the Anathema we’d face. Victory was nearly guaranteed. And since the usurpations happened inside sanctuary cities, Guardians were never expected to flee. Even if a Guardian bit off more than they could chew, they would still be asked to hold the enemy at bay until stronger reinforcements arrived.”

The Frontier Project really didn’t account for an S-rank Anathema to show up and annihilate everything, huh? We were truly unprepared for that level of threat.

“But we’ve had expeditions for a long time,” I said.

“Most of our casualty rates came from those. It was an oversight,” Felicia admitted. “Expeditions usually involved ten people or fewer, and there would always be at least one A-rank or S-rank Guardian nearby. Fleeing was easier back then.”

“That’s going to change?”

“Yes. Guardian Command and the Zenith want to ramp up expeditions into the Darklands to harvest Anathema essence. We also need to watch for potential Anathema gate formations.”

“Ahem. We do allow you to assess your surroundings, but we don’t have all day. Are you ready?” Green Harvest’s voice chimed in.

“Yes!” I nodded, and the promotional exam began.