The Adventurer Association maintained a dedicated registration booth beneath a suspended, glowing golden crest. A long line of students snaked out from the counter.

The standard licensing process required applicants to submit stamped paperwork proving they had passed a grueling series of physical endurance trials if they were a weapon user, mana capacity checks if they were mages, and written survival exams.

Solomon took his place at the back of the queue. The translucent chat interface scrolled rapidly at the edge of his vision as his viewers reacted to the recent appraisal.

[LootGoblin]: 15k gold baseline... I am actually sick to my stomach.

[DeepDiver]: don’t forget the arena payouts. bro is a walking bank right now.

[SpellSlinger]: time for the adventurer license! place your bets, what rank is he getting?

[IronBreaker]: easily D-rank. maybe C if they count the Paladin fight properly.

[ShadowStep]: nah they usually start everyone at F-rank no matter what. association rules are strict.

Solomon ignored the speculation and observed the people standing in front of him. A tall boy with a bruised jaw nervously clutched a crumpled scoring sheet, complaining to his friend about failing the stamina trial for the third consecutive time.

The Association deliberately made the entry exams punishing to weed out aspiring adventurers who would otherwise die during their first commission.

The line moved forward steadily as the Association representative processed the paperwork. The clerk, a tired-looking woman wearing a sharp business suit with the golden crest pinned to her lapel, stamped forms and handed out starting bronze tags with practiced efficiency.

"Next," the representative called out, keeping her eyes glued to her monitor.

Solomon stepped up to the counter and rested his hands on the polished wood.

"Application form and academy exam scores, please," she requested, holding her hand out.

"I do not have those," Solomon replied.

The representative finally looked up and raised a skeptical eyebrow at his empty hands. "You cannot register for a license without completing the physical and written evaluations. You need to head over to the testing grounds first."

"The Grandmaster cleared my registration," Solomon explained calmly. "He said I could bypass the standard evaluations by submitting my broadcast footage as empirical proof of my combat proficiency. You should have an authorization request under the name Solomon."

The woman sighed, clearly doubting the claim, but she typed his name into her terminal anyway. Her fingers paused over the keyboard as the screen immediately flashed green with a high-priority administrative override.

She scanned the notes attached to his file, and her tired eyes widened slightly. She glanced at the mechanical owl perched quietly on his shoulder before looking back at her screen.

"You are the student who cleared the Eden Kingdom anomaly," she noted, her tone shifting from dismissive to professional. "The Grandmaster officially endorsed the footage of your Paladin duel as your practical exam."

Solomon offered a simple nod. "That is correct. How long does the ranking process take?"

"Usually a few days to properly review external combat logs," she said, tapping a sequence of runes on her desk to link the footage. "However, the academy administration explicitly requested an expedited evaluation for your file."

’Let us see what the system thinks I am worth,’ Solomon thought while watching a holographic loading bar fill up on her monitor.

The holographic loading bar on the terminal hit completion with a soft chime. A brass slot built directly into the desk whirred to life and spat out a dull, rectangular metal tag.

Solomon picked up the license and examined the engraved lettering. A very clear, bold "F" marked the center of the bronze plate.

[User12]: F-RANK LMAOOO!

[BladeDancer]: the system did him dirty! F stands for Fraud!

[LazyCat]: bro fought an ancient paladin and got the same rank as a guy who picks magical weeds for a living.

[OldTimer]: the association bureaucracy strikes again.

Solomon slid the tag across the counter. "I want to upgrade this immediately. The combat footage clearly demonstrates a threat level far beyond the baseline requirements."

"I am sure it does," the representative replied, not sounding the least bit apologetic. "However, front desk personnel only possess the authority to issue entry-level tags. The automated system strictly registers all new applicants as F-rank regardless of their background. If you want to bypass the standard progression ladder using external combat logs, you need to meet with a senior evaluator inside the testing wing."

Solomon took his bronze tag and walked through a heavy set of double doors located behind the registration booth.

The environment immediately shifted from a noisy trading floor to a highly organized, magi-tech assessment center. Several large holographic screens floated near the ceiling, broadcasting live feeds of ongoing exams.

Solomon watched as nervous students dodged elemental projectiles in a mirrored room, while others struggled to lift heavy runic boulders in a physical endurance ring.

Instead of another receptionist, a row of sleek, terminals lined the waiting area. Solomon approached the nearest kiosk and tapped the glowing screen.

A digital menu populated with various assessment options. He selected the Rank Upgrade tab and inputted his newly acquired license number.

The terminal chimed. A slip of hardened light materialized from the console, displaying a glowing 72.

A mechanical voice echoed from a speaker above. "Currently serving ticket number forty-one."

Solomon sighed. He leaned against the polished wall and prepared for a lengthy delay.

[GoonLord]: you can defeat a paladin but you cannot defeat the waiting room line.

[BloodKnight]: this is the real trial of an adventurer. patience.

[LoreMaster]: usually the queue moves fast since most people fail the preliminary physical checks anyway. Speaking from my own experience from the adventure guilds.

Nearly an hour passed while Solomon watched the live feeds of students failing their respective exams. Finally, the overhead speaker chimed with his number, directing him toward Evaluation Chamber Four.

He navigated down a quiet corridor and pushed open a reinforced steel door.

The interior of the chamber looked like a strange cross between a medical clinic and a magical forge. Glowing geometric arrays coated the walls, and various metallic measuring instruments floated lazily in the air. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

A senior evaluator wearing a heavily modified leather coat sat behind a cluttered desk. The man had a magical prosthetic eye that rapidly whirred and clicked as it zoomed in on Solomon.

"Sit down on the inspection chair," the evaluator instructed.