Kingdom of Teralisa

"Identification, please," a guard requested from Haruno & Emila as the pair stood in front of a stone gate entrance. 

"What if we don't have one?" Haruno inquired softly while Emila stood behind her, holding tightly to her.

"It'll be two silver coins for a temporary entry card per person," the guard answered, waiting for payment. 

Haruno took out a small leather pouch from her skirt pocket, opening it and handing over four silver coins. "Here you go," she stated, placing the coins in the guard's hand, and gestured over to another line for inspection. After waiting for a few minutes, the pair stood in front of the crystal ball and took turns placing their hands on it as a window appeared with their status information. 

"Okay, you both are good to enter," the guard stated after completing the inspection, and handed over a thin piece of parchment containing their name, age, gender, race, and date of entry. "Please keep it on you at all times while inside the Kingdom walls, and make sure you obtain a valid identification as soon as possible."

"How do we obtain identification?" Emila asked, still hiding behind Haruno. 

"Identification for commoners can be reissued from the record buildings as long as you have your village chief's signature. Otherwise, you will need to apply for one of the major guilds," the guard answered, pointing at an open map on a wooden board. 

Haruno & Emila thanked the soldier and walked over to the map. *Map Update* 

"Now then, what should be applied for?" Haruno asked Emila while they studied the billboard map. "What piques your interest right now?" 

"Hm....probably an Adventurer?" Emilia answered, "It's after a common trope for all isekai stories to obtain an adventurer card when first entering a city or town," as she recalls reading and discussing manga with her kendo club members in school. 

"Alright then, let's go to the adventure guild!!" Haruno exclaimed as they marched onward. 


"Welcome to the Adventure Guild! My name is Lucy. How may I help you?" a female receptionist asked as the pair stood in front of a wooden counter. The female receptionist was dressed similarly to a female officer worker, with a light grey blazer, a white button-down shirt with a bow around the collar, a light grey pencil skirt, black tights, and black flats. 

"We would like to become adventurers!" Haruno answered with excitement. 

'Of course, I can help you with that!" Lucy, "Before we start your registration, there is an entry exam that you must pass first. Are you both okay with that?" 

"Yes, we are fine with that," Emila answered. "Do we spar with someone?"

'We actually don't do that anymore." Lucy answered, walking out of the wooden counter area and gesturing for Haruno & Emila to follow. "The act of sparring with an examiner was deemed too ineffective in determining a person's combat abilities, and there have been records of examiners being bribed for higher ranks," she explained, stopping in front of an open arena with a short marble fence, and a wooden humanoid dummy stood in the center arena.

"Each of you will spend one minute attacking the dummy with any skills or magic you wish to use, and the damage it takes will determine rank," Lucy explained, pointing at a blackboard above the arena. "Remember, no items are allowed during this test! If you are caught cheating, you will be banned from taking the entry exam for a whole year!" she warned. 

"I'll go first," Emila volunteered, handing over her cloak to Haruno, and took out a long wooden branch from her item box. She proceeded to hop over the short marble fence and got into En Garde position. "Let me know when I can start," she requested. 

"When your first attack hits the dummy, the time starts," Lucy yelled, pressing a small red button on the marble fence as it turned green, with a transparent barrier surrounding the arena. 

"Hey, let's go watch the newbie complete their ranking!" a voice yelled. 

"Let's take bets on her rank! I'm betting ten silver coins on it being F-rank," a voice mocked. "I'm betting ten silver coins for E-rank," another voice stated, with more bets being placed. 

"What with the stick?" a voice laughed. "It'll break the moment it makes contact with the dummy!"

Haruno remained unamazed and continued to watch, even after hearing all the satirical comments they made towards Emila, as she knew her skills better than anyone. 

Emila closed her eyes. clearing her mind, taking a few more deep breaths, before opening her eyes, Flash Step + Single Thrust, darting forward, with the dummy taking a single strike to its chest, as its wooden limbs shook from the force. Emila proceeded to change from her stances from Fencing to Kendo, striking with Hiki Waza (Backward Strikes), Tsuki (Throat), and Ni-Sandan No Waza (Double Hit) to both the left side and right side, finally returning to her original starting position. She took a deep breath and changed her stance to Kenjustu, striking the dummy with Shomen Uchi (Vertical Downward Strike starting from the head), Migi Ichimonji Giri (Right Horizontal Cut), and finishing with a single focus Tsuke (Thrust) (Single Thrust) to the dummy's head. 

*Skill: Chain Attack Unlocked*

"L-L-Let's see the rank now," Lucy stuttered, after witnessing a high-level demonstration of swordsmanship. "C-RANK?!?!?!" she screamed, with multiple jaws opening in shock. 

"Good job!" Haruno congratulated Emila as they high-fived each other."How did you feel?"

"Unstable," Emila answered, "I wanted to connect the strikes a bit more smoothly, but couldn't properly move the way I wanted," she commented. 

"THAT'S BECAUSE YOU ARE USING A WILLOW WISP BRANCH, " a female voice yelled from above the wooden staircase. "If you used a proper weapon instead of a branch, you wouldn't need to adjust for the way it bent after each strike and could have connected those attacks better," walking down the staircase and arriving in front of the group. 

In front of the group stood a tall, gorgeous elf with half-up braided brown hair, emerald green eyes, wearing a loose, black button-down shirt, a long, silky white skirt with an open slit, and tall, black leather boots. 

"Good afternoon, Guild Master Ana!" Lucy greeted, "What brings you down from your office today?" 

"I felt some intense mana being released and came out to watch," the Guild Master answered, glancing at Emila, whose white button-down shirt had become transparent from her sweat, exposing a sky blue sports bra. Ana proceeded to take out a blue towel from her item box and covered Emila's body with it, "Keep it."

"What is a Willow Wisp Branch?" Haruno questioned, "Is it a special branch ?" 

"Not at all. It's a very common branch used to make bows, as it is known for being flexible and able to evenly distribute any stress that acts upon it," the Guild Master explained, looking down at Haruno, whose eyes were gleaming with curiosity. "You may not have realized it, but you were subconsciously coating the branch with a thin layer of mana that helped strengthen it. This is why the branch didn't break when you used it as a weapon," she chuckled lightly, amused by Emila's natural intuition. 

"Thank you for the explanation," Emila graciously accepted the comments from the Guild Master.

"OKAY, IT'S MY TURN!!" Haruno exclaimed, eagerly to show off her skills to the Guild Master. She jumped over the stone fence and started shuffling across the arena, throwing a few air punches for warm-up before finally arriving in front of the dummy.

Lucy pressed the red button to raise a barrier, and the Guild Master's emerald green shone brightly, with her expression suddenly shifting from amusement to concern. 

"T-This is bad," the Guide Master muttered, watching Haruno's fist slowly accumulating with mana after each warm-up strike. Hexagon Barriers, the Guild Master quickly placed ten barriers inside the arena, keeping the arena's barrier on the outside. 

"OKAY! LETS GO!" Haruno yelled with excitement, aiming a right hook towards the dummy's abdomen region, followed by the sound of glass shattering and a dust cloud filling the arena. 

*Skill: Charge Shot Unlocked* *Title: Barrier Breaker Unlocked* 

"Hm?" Haruno searched for where the glass sound came from, but couldn't see anything in the dust-filled area. "Whatever," she muttered, and began her attack again. 

"STOP RIGHT THERE!" the Guild Master yelled. Vine Bind,  with vines appearing from a large green magic circle on the ground, proceeded to wrap around Haruno's wrists, ankles, and body. 

"WHAT'S WITH THESE VINES!!! Haruno exclaimed, "WHY AM I ALWAYS GETTING INVOLVED WITH VINES?!?!?", struggling to get free. 

"If you continue to attack any more, you will destroy this building," the Guild Master explained, pointing at seven heavily shattered barriers, with the last three barriers showing signs of fractures. "I will grant you the same C-Rank as your friend," she stated, pointing up to the scoreboard displaying C-Rank.

Lucy and the remaining onlookers remained in shock, realizing that a single punch dealt that much damage to be counted as C-Rank. They couldn't imagine if Haruno continued her attacks and what would be left of the Adventurer Guild.

"That's not far!" Haruno protested, flaying around in place before being released onto the wooden floor. 

"You are more than welcome to continue as long as you are willing to pay for the repairs," the Guild Master stated, glancing at Haruno with a serious look. "Let me explain something to you, the dummy is a ranking tool used to determine a person's ability when they first begin. It's not meant to take excessive damage from someone of your caliber. I'll acknowledge that you possess immense strength, but you lack control," she stated. 

"FINE!" Haruno answered, standing up and jumping over the marble fence. 

"Both of you, follow me," the Guild Master ordered as they began walking up the wooden staircase, entering the Guild Master's office. "Sit here," she pointed at one of the two brown couches and proceeded to bring over a tray of tea and cookies to the small coffee table. She proceeded to place two tea cups in front of them. 

"Thank you," Haruno & Emila replied, while slowly sipping on the hot tea. 

"I'll get straight to it. You both are not from this world, right?" the Guild Master interrogated, sitting down on the other brown couch and staring directly at them. 

Haruno's right hand began to shake while holding the tea cup, while Emila looked downward to avoid eye contact. 

"Based on your reactions, I'm assuming I'm correct, huh?" the Guild Master stated softly, picking up her teacup and taking a gentle sip. "Calm down, Haruno, you are spilling tea everywhere," she handed over a napkin to Haruno. "I'm not going to do anything bad or stop you from being adventurers," she reassured them. 

"How did you find out, Guild Master?" Emila inquired softly, slowly looking up toward her. 

"Just call me, Ana," the Guild Master requested, hoping it would make them feel more comfortable. "I possess a rare set of special eyes that allow me to see a person's mana, and people who are not from this world tend to have a lighter color mana," she explained. 

"What do you mean by that?" Haruno inquired, hoping to learn more about this world. "How would it compare to the residents of this world?" 

"Hmmmmm....let's take the color of this tea as an example, this caramel color you see would represent the mana color for people in this world," Ana explained, "Now the color that I see from you two, would be like this" as she took out the tea bag from the tea pot and placing it into a large pitcher of water, with the water barely turning color. "You both possess mana, but it feels like you were only given it instead of being born with it." 

"Is it really that simple to identify other-world people?" Haruno questioned, "Are we going to get identified that easily by other people or monsters who can also see mana?"

"It may sound simple, but it's not easy at all," Ana answered, "It takes decades of training to truly identify people based on mana color, and believe it or not, I'm actually over a thousand years old." 

"HUH?!?!?" Haruno & Emila yelled in unison. 

"That's pretty much the same reaction I get from other-world people, too," Ana laughed. 

"Wait, other-world people? Are there others?" Haruno inquired. 

"Well, I'm not sure if they are still alive exactly, but in my lifetime, I've encountered my share of other-world peoples, or what we commonly call them, lost," Ana answered, "I think you two would be my hundredth encounter with other-world people and I doubt it'll be my last," she responded with a hint of sadness. 

"What do you mean by th-" Haruno attempted to ask, before being cut off by Emila, who grabbed hold of her hands. Haruno looked towards Emila, who shook her head, asking not to inquire further, with a moment of silence filling the air. 

"OKAY! I want both of you to take these," Ana stated, placing two silver color cards onto the coffee table and sliding them forward. 

Haruno & Emila picked up the Guild Card, inspected the detailed engraving on the metal card.

"What are you both planning on doing today?"  the Guild Master inquired, collecting the empty tea cups, snack plate, and tea cup and placing them onto a tray. 

"We would like to sell some materials from a Bloody Boar and Daemon Wolves," Emila answered, "Afterward, we would need to find lodging for the next few days." 

"You can sell the materials downstairs," Ana stated, taking the tray to a wooden counter for later cleaning. "As for lodging..........you both can stay with me," she suggested. 

"No, no, we can't bother the Guild Master any more than we already have," Haruno quickly refused, realizing she would lose her opportunity to sneak out at night once Emila fell asleep. "Isn't it dangerous to offer your home to a bunch of strangers, especially those who aren't from this world?" 

"OH?? You think you can become a threat to me?" Ana inquired as she released a dense wave of mana, causing the glass window to shake, teacups to clink, and dust to fall from the wooden ceiling. "I'll let you know now, but I don't expect to lose any sleep in my own home," she warned, with an empty, threatening smile. 

"Yes, Ma'am!" Haruno & Emila responded, knowing they couldn't find any excuse not to stay at the Guild Master's home.