After the class, Eli went to the principal's office to ask for permission to enter the hunters' class. She entered the principal's office and found her feeding her pet fish.
"Miss Eli, what brings you here?" Principal Jarks questioned when she noticed Eli.
Eli had come to talk about joining the hunters' classes, so she just answered truthfully. "I would like to join the class of hunters."
The principal looked surprised at first before she smiled softly. "Uh. Why?"
Eli sighed, "Because I want to explore dungeons."
"Without being able to use mana?"
"Uh..." Eli scratched the back of her head awkwardly.
"Hmm. You have guts, Miss Silver. But I don't think you'll be able to survive in a dungeon."
"It is okay. I have many now."
The principal raised her brow and stared at her in curiosity. "How did you get mana? Can you prove it?"
"Okay." Eli extended her hand and focused the mana on top of her palm, creating a fireball. She smiled at how fast she could create one. "See?"
"Oh my!" The woman exclaimed, stunned by the beauty of the tiny star above Eli's hand. "It's like a miniature sun."
"Yes," Eli confirmed with an amused smile.
Then the principal sighed and shooked her head. "Unfortunately, even if you have mana, we can't accept you into the Hunters' class. There's simply no way you can transfer classes in the middle of the year."
"What about the hunters' exam?" Eli asked hopefully as she lowered her arm. "I can enter them even without being in hunters' class. Can't I? "she asked again in a more desperate tone while lowering her gaze to the ground.
"True. This exam tests your ability to fight against monsters inside dungeons." The principal paused for a moment to gather herself. "Those who will do well would get guilds' invitations and support."
"I know! So can you register me into it?!" She pleaded.
Principal Jarks smiled at this girl begging like that, and she decided to give her another chance. She stood up from her chair and took out the forms they used to fill in the information before the exam.
Eli looked over the form, wondering how much she was going to be required to pay to take the test. It didn't matter because Eli had money saved up; however, Eli had been curious about what the payment process involved since it wasn't explained. She raised a brow after reading all the terms of the exam and noticed that the fee was 'one-hundred gold.'
Eli raised her hand to stop the principal from continuing and turned around. "I will pass the exam."
"Is that so?" Principal Jarks said with excitement.
"Yup!" Eli replied confidently. "You won't regret taking me on." she looked at the date of the exam and saw that it would be in two days. "Wait... It's in two days?!"
"Is there a problem?" Principle Jarks asked curiously.
Eli shook her head slowly and clenched her fist tightly. "Nope. No problem at all..." she was worried that she didn't have any time to prepare for it. However, she was also a little happy that it was happening soon. 'The sooner, the better.' her inner self-thought.
The principal smiled warmly at this answer. "Good! Let's proceed then." She took out the necessary documents to fill in and wrote down the exam details.
After she finished, the principal told Eli that she needed to pay one-hundred gold for the exam. Eli pulled out a card from her pocket. 'Hundred... This is basically everything I have saved up.' she bit her lip as she was saying goodbye to her money.
The principal brought out her own card and scanned Eli's. Eli received a notification on her phone asking whether to confirm the payment.
"Bye-bye, my two months' earnings..." she mumbled to herself while she confirmed the payment.
"Alright. You're all set." The principal handed over an envelope containing all the information regarding the exam. "If you need more information about the first dungeon, please contact me directly." She pointed at Eli with a smile on her face.
"Thank you very much, Principal Jarks!" She waved happily at her before running out of the room like crazy.
She then ran to the library, sat down at the table near the window, and picked up the contents from an envelope.
There were three papers inside the envelope: a copy of her registration, a map of the area where they would be testing, and a note that read, 'First dungeon will be in Sanctuary forest. The main monsters will be dire wolves, one-horned bears, and goblins. The boss monster: Goblin Knight.'
"Goblins..." Eli felt shivers going down her spine. She heard lots of rumors about the vicious green creatures kidnapping women and doing unthinkable things. 'Will I be alright?' she thought as her face was frozen in disgust.
"It's okay... It's okay..." she calmed herself down by taking a couple of deep breaths. "It's just ferocious green beasts that can... kidnap me."
'I burn down the entire forest. Just in case.' she nodded to herself.
After she was done reading the paper, she immediately looked for a map of the sanctuary's dungeon. She was lucky to find a map at the back part of the library. She studied the map for a while and then put it in her bag with her other materials. 'It's already time for a lunch break, so I'll look through it after school. And I better start preparing now!' she thought as she grabbed her books and walked towards the classroom.
***
Two days later, Eli stood infront of giant portal gates that led to the dungeon. She looked back to see Lara, who was wearing leather armor, holding a spear over her shoulder. She had a number on her shoulder '27'.
"Hey! Don't you have some kinda weapon?" Lara asked Eli. Then she noticed Eli's daggers. "Oh... You know daggers are for either assassination or close combat?"
Eli stood there wearing chainmail and carrying two daggers on her waist. On her shoulder, there was a number 4. "I know... I know..." but these were the only weapons she could afford, and her chainmail was something she found in her house's basement. 'I can't believe my family had no weapons I could steal.'
"Next up, number 4." A voice sounded through the air. It was an examiner who used air magic to increase his voice's volume.
"My turn..." Eli exclaimed and hugged Lara before entering the portal. "And here... we... go."