It's so hard being a hero!

The first year focuses primarily on theoretical knowledge, while the second year emphasizes practical application.

In the third year, students generally have to leave school to go on internships.

An internship, in this context, means leaving school and going to various official institutions, such as the military or major guilds, to carry out missions.

This kind of internship is life-threatening.

Chapter 115 Thirteen-Year-Old Silver Level

The next morning, all the new students who had advanced to the second year arrived at the Adventurers' Guild branch located in the academy's commercial district.

Today they are going to conduct a combat capability assessment.

The testing room is located in a separate building on the east side of the college's commercial area, with the Adventurers' Guild's uniform blue and gold emblem hanging at the entrance.

Sophia and her group arrived very early, but there were already many queues outside the guild.

Lilia stood beside her, holding an information form in her hand, looking somewhat nervous.

"Sophia, do you think I can be ranked as Bronze? I didn't sleep well all night after receiving the notification yesterday."

Sophia looked at her with amusement and said, "So that's why Lilia was tossing and turning all night yesterday."

What are you afraid of?

"As long as your wood magic works normally, you'll definitely pass."

Lilia lacked confidence because she was considered the weakest of the six.

But after being encouraged by Sophia, she felt much more at ease.

"And what about you? You were already at the Bronze level after enrolling, so this test will most likely check if you have Silver level strength, right?"

Sophia chuckled. To be honest, if she went all out, she could potentially reach the gold level, let alone the silver level.

"Quiet down, line up, one at a time."

Just as the commotion outside subsided, members of the Adventurers' Guild came out and began to maintain order.

Just now, we were still in the preparation stage and the testing had not yet started. Now we are officially starting.

The line moved forward slowly; the testing wasn't particularly fast.

Soon after, someone finished the test and came out wearing the Realm Badge.

Some people came out beaming with joy, while others looked dejected.

After about an hour, it was finally Sofia's turn in line.

The middle-aged man in uniform glanced at the form she handed him, his gaze lingering on the name "Sophia" for a moment before he paused slightly.

After all, he was already at the Bronze level at the age of twelve; he was definitely a monster.

But he quickly reverted to his usual businesslike attitude.

"Go in. The testing room will automatically generate an environment and opponents. Defeat your opponents or survive for three minutes to pass."

Sophia nodded, then walked through the heavy metal door and went inside.

The moment the door closed behind her, she felt as if she had been thrown into a completely different space.

The surrounding light dimmed, replaced by a vast, desolate landscape.

The ground beneath my feet was soft soil, the sky above was a hazy gray, and in the distance I could see rolling hills.

This testing room was built using a combination of spatial and illusion magic, capable of simulating a remarkably realistic combat environment, almost indistinguishable from the real thing.

Just as Sophia was looking around, a cold, synthesized electronic voice rang out above her head.

"Detection initiated, target Silver rank, opponent randomly generated."

As soon as the words were spoken, the air ten meters in front of them began to distort and deform, and a ball of dark gray energy condensed from the ground, gradually forming a blurry humanoid outline.

A few seconds later, a humanoid creature dressed in black leather armor and wielding a dagger took shape.

It was a humanoid creature covered in dark gray scales, with no facial features, only two eyes that shimmered with a dark red light on its face.

It held a curved short blade in each hand, its body slightly arched, like a wild beast ready to pounce on its prey at any moment.

"Is this a Silver-level assassin?"

Sofia recognized the type of opponent and a slight smile appeared on her lips.

Before she could even adjust her state, the figure of the shadow assassin suddenly vanished from the spot.

By the time she noticed the other person's presence again, two cold, sharp glints of light were already skimming the ground, slicing towards her calves from her side and behind.

Sophia suddenly jerked her body upwards, wind-attribute magic condensing into a propulsive force beneath her feet, propelling her more than two meters into the air. The twin blades slashed past her feet, missing their mark.

The shadow assassin missed his attack, rolled on the ground, and disappeared into the shadows again.

The moment Sophia landed on the ground, her magical perception spread rapidly, and she quickly detected a faint magical fluctuation to her left rear.

Without turning her head, she made a fist in the air behind her back.

A silver rapier appeared out of thin air, its blade flashing a blinding white light as it swept across that direction.

A beam of white light drew an arc in the air and struck a figure that had just begun to reveal its outline.

The assassin was sent flying backward by the sword strike, rolling several times after landing before regaining his balance.

He glanced down at the charred, shiny sword wound on his chest, a flicker of human-like shock crossing his dark red eyes. He clearly hadn't expected this seemingly young girl to react so quickly.

The assassin quickly transformed into a blur and pounced again.

This time he was even faster than before, his double blades drawing two intersecting trajectories in the air, one aimed straight for Sophia's throat, the other slicing towards her waist.

Sofia did not dodge.

She raised her left hand and made a grasping motion in front of her, and a ball of earthy yellow magic quickly condensed in her palm.

With a muffled thud, a thick earthen wall rose from the ground, precisely blocking the assassin's path.

Two short blades struck the earthen wall one after the other, embedding themselves half an inch deep and leaving two deep cuts, but the earthen wall itself remained completely still.

Before the assassin could even draw his weapon, Sofia's right hand had already moved.

A crimson luster appeared on the silver rapier, and scorching flames coiled around its blade, radiating an unsettling heat.

She slashed her sword down towards the earthen wall, the crimson sword energy piercing through the wall and leaving a scorching trail in the air.

The assassin's figure blurred as the sword energy approached, attempting to disappear into the shadows once more.

But Sofia's sword was faster.

The crimson sword energy struck the shadow assassin's right shoulder precisely, and his dark gray scale armor shattered with a piercing sound.

The Shadow Assassin lost his balance and staggered back several steps.

Sofia did not pursue, but simply stood there, her right hand gripping her sword, while the earthen wall on her left side dissipated.

The entire testing space fell silent for a moment.

Sophia looked at the shadow assassin in the distance, whose figure was gradually stabilizing, but whose aura was obviously much weaker than before.

"Is that enough?" Su Tong said to the people around her.

The staff in the testing lab were quite surprised to see this.

"A 13-year-old Silver-level player, his future is limitless, let's end it here."

As the head of the control room announced the results, the assassin's body began to become transparent, eventually disappearing completely into the air.

The cold, synthesized electronic voice above my head sounded again, its tone seemingly carrying a hint of something more than before.

"Testing completed, assessment result: Silver level."

Sophia sheathed her longsword, turned around, and pushed open the metal door behind her.

The staff outside immediately gave Sophia a specially made silver-level badge.

"congratulations."

Sofia smiled and accepted the badge, putting it on her chest.

Meanwhile, those still queuing in the hallway outside saw her come out so quickly, and their faces showed complicated expressions.

"You're looking at the silver-level badge?"

"Isn't this the monster Sophia? A 13-year-old Silver-level is just too outrageous!"

Sofia ignored the gossip and went to Lilia to encourage her.

Lilia wasn't surprised that Sophia had been promoted to Silver rank; she would have to take it seriously from now on.

Sofia went outside to wait for Lilia.

Two minutes later, Lilia emerged, wearing a bronze-level wood-type mage badge on her chest.

She seemed very happy.

"Sophia, I've also successfully advanced."

"Yes, congratulations."

The students nearby, witnessing this scene, began to murmur amongst themselves.

"Wow, it really is Silver rank! It just went up to Silver rank? It's so frustrating to compare yourself to others."

"This is definitely at a third-grade level."

After a while, Noah and the others also finished their ranking assessments. They were all undoubtedly at the Bronze level, while Noah failed to reach the Silver level.

So when he saw the badge on Sofia's chest, his expression was quite complicated.

He turned to look at Baron beside him, his tone resigned.

"See? I told you she definitely wasn't using her full strength."

Baron grinned.

"So, will you still fight with her in the future?"

Noah remained silent for several seconds, then shook his head resignedly.

"I'm not fighting anymore. What's the point of fighting monsters?"