Here is chapter 21! Probably the most detailed fight I ever written (which doesn't mean much as this is my first novel) so would love feed back on it so I can improve on it for the future!

The discovery of the Mana Ale was… strange. The adventurers that discovered it first, thought it was just normal ale and decided to taste some on the spot. Sage thought it was an extremely dumb thing to do but not his problem. Sadly the adventurers were all fairly new rank G adventurer so with just a sip they were completely drunk. What happened afterwards were a series of strange events that ended up with the group of adventurers dancing half naked with a group of drunk goblins. In the end they were found by another group and taken out, the goblins were spared.

“Sir this was recently discovered inside dungeon.” Penny handed the gourd of Mana Ale to the guild master. He took the gourd, opened it, sniffed it, and poured himself a cup. Just as Penny was about to warn him about what happened he drank the small cup of Ale down.

“Sir! Are you ok?” Penny quickly ran up toward the guild master, she found him smiling but he didn’t seem drunk at all.

“Good Ale! Good Ale! Hahaha, I haven’t tasted something like this in a long time!” The guild master let out a roar that shook the entire Adventurer’s Guild building. “This stuff is Mana Ale, it recovers a good amount of mana but the downside is that if your mana capacity is too low you easily get drunk. Now this is some good stuff. Oh this dungeon making me want to go inside for this alcohol. Hahaha”

“Sir! You can not go inside there!” Penny quickly walked forward and grabbed the gourd closing it. “And I know how much of a drinker you are! Please remember that you are the guild master here.” She angrily walked out of the room with the gourd of Mana Ale.

“Ah… can’t believe I’m getting scolded by a little girl. Still that Ale really hit the spot, it has been years since I drank something like that as Zeal has no way of producing it.” The guild master’s eyes were shining as he looked out his window “Hehehe little dungeon core, thank you for the little gift, guess I’ll owe you one.”

*Sage’s Secret Chamber*

“Well that sure was… interesting? Even though I saw the whole thing I still don’t feel like I understood exactly what has happened.” Sage carefully pondered about everything that had transpired but finally gave up on it and went back to teaching the Goblin Shamans.

“I guess the Goblin Shamans are most skilled at brewing potions, so the skill book I tailored for them ended up focusing on liquid formed medication. And due to the high level of mana density it somehow turned the potion into alcohol but instead of getting drunk from the alcohol you get drunk from the mana.” Sage carefully studied the Mana Ale the goblin shamans had created to see if he could recreate other pills from his world in this form. He began to teach the goblin shamans how to make some of the alchemy tools that were needed for higher grade recipes. This once again proved to be very difficult as those tools were very intricate and complex while the goblin shamans were still too simple in comparison.

“I might have to teach Sigrid to help me make these tools. It’s going to waste some of her cultivation time but the things it will help produce can easily negate the small amount of time wasted!” Now Sage was focusing all his attention at the secret entrance he had made for Sigrid and Alice to enter and leave the dungeon. Based on his calculation and the information he has gathered they will finish basic training around noon today so they should be back by nightfall. Sage was very excited for their return and if his soul wasn’t so damaged he would probably feel how weird it was but right now he was completely lost in anticipation.

Soon a figure appeared near the secret entrance…

*The City of Dawn, Adventurer’s Guild’s Main Battleground*

“Welcome trainees! You all have done well in these past 6 days. In this short period of time you have changed from a normal person into an adventurer. Remember the things you have learned here well as they will guide you for the rest of your lifes.” Shannon stood before the trainees with a smile on her face, a rare thing nowadays. “Now we will proceed to the last test which is an one on one battle against me. Don’t be afraid to go all out as you won’t manage to hurt me. We will begin in order from front to back, everyone else please move to the sideline. Now begin!”

Soon the battles started, Shannon purposely let the trainees show off what they could do. In truth there wasn’t much for her to see as 6 days of training allowed her to gather enough data to not have to do this at all but the reason these fights were still done at the end, was to see if anyone had been hiding their ability or sometimes someone’s power only displayed in true combat. This fight would allow Shannon to draw everything out of them. Among the trainees here today there were 3 people here who Shannon knew were holding back.

However, beside those 3, there was one person that she really needed to test and that was Sigrid The Jade Water Fairy. It was very rare for an adventurer to get a nickname during basic training but many would just play that off as her looks but Shannon knew. Sigrid was at least a league above the rest and at least high tier rank G in terms of power. Even though Sigrid had been holding back really well Shannon could still easily see through that Sigrid was holding back.

The mock battles went by fairly quick, most adventurers fought for less than 5 minutes because Shannon decided it was enough and ended the battle. The only fights that were different were the 3 talented newcomers. Two of them fought for almost 10mins while the last one went on for 15 before Shannon decided to finish the fight.

Although the fights were fast, there were a total of 40 people so by the end when it was Sigrid’s turn more than 3 hours had passed. All previous 39 trainees had been easily beaten by Shannon after she tested out their abilities and now it was finally Sigrid’s turn. Shannon’s eyes lit up as she called Sigrid up for the fight. Sigrid also seemed to pick up on Shannon’s excitement, immediately becoming very cautious and confused.

Sigrid walked to the center of the training ground and ready herself. Shannon saw that Sigrid was ready and shouted, “Begin!”

Sigrid quickly casted multiple water bullets and shot them at Shannon but all of them were easily dodged. Seeing that direct attacks would be pointless Sigrid quickly moved to Shannon’s side and shot water bullets from Shannon’s flank. However as they got close they suddenly merged together and formed a thin veil between Sigrid and Shannon. Shannon was startled by this but didn’t mind it too much, once someone had reached her level of strength sight wasn’t as important when comparing to sensing your surrounding with your mana.

Even though Shannon’s view of Sigrid was blocked she could still easily sense where Sigrid was and what Sigrid was doing. Sigrid rapidly prepared many water bullets and shot them toward Shannon. Shannon couldn’t help but let out a smirk and thought, “You’ll need to try harder than that to touch me little girl.” She could sense the water bullets were coming behind the veil and prepared to destroy them all. However when they got close to the veil of water the veil didn’t collapse but instead the water bullets fused into the veil. Suddenly the veil expanded rapidly and surrounded Shannon. At first the layer of water surrounding her was thin but as more water pullets hit the wall of water became over 1 meter thick.

Shannon was completely caught off guard by this as the water surrounded and engulfed her. She was honestly surprised by the sudden turn of events but couldn’t help but praise Sigrid in her heart for being able to come up with something like this. This move required very precise control of one’s own mana and mastery of water magic. If a rank E adventurer was trapped in this unless they had some hidden ace they would be at her mercy. She let out a big smile as energy quickly gathered in her sword. Her sword began to slowly glow brighter and brighter, finally it suddenly became too bright forcing everyone to cover their eyes. When the light disappeared so did the water trapping Shannon.

Sigrid couldn’t help but let out a wry smile “This is the power of a high tier rank A alright to be able to get out of that so easily. Guess I showed enough of my hand already so it’s time to get beaten.” With that in mind Sigrid prepared herself for Shannon’s attacks. Suddenly she felt a sense of danger and quickly summon a water bullet to her left as she dodged left. Immediately after a fist punched through the water bullet and she just barely dodge that hit.

“Not bad, using the water bullets to slow my attacks down so you have time to dodge. Sigrid you shouldn’t have been holding back during basic training.” Shannon stood before Sigrid with a bright smile on her face but somehow caused Sigrid’s heart to sink. “But this is the final mock battle and you will have to use your full power whether you like it or not. I won’t kill you or leave any lasting injuries but if you keep holding back you might find yourself a guest at this Adventurer’s Guild for a few months. Although with someone as pretty as you I wouldn’t really mind personally nursing you back to health.”

Sigrid shivered at those word and immediately felt danger to her left and once again dodged with the help of the water bullets. This continued as Shannon’s attack became faster and faster making it harder and harder to Sigrid to dodge even with the help of the water bullets to slow down the attacks. The audience were at a shock to see someone holding out against the Vice Guild Master’s rain of attacks. But soon Sigrid was no longer able to keep up and a punch that would break the bones in her left arm came crashing towards her with no time to dodge.

“I can’t afford to get injured here! Sage is still waiting for us to go back!” Suddenly there was a white glow as the punch connected and there was the sound of something shattering. Everyone in the audience gasped thinking it was Sigrid’s arm but soon they saw Sigrid looking perfectly fine 10 meter from Shannon. The entire audience was confused except for a few who were able to see what happened.

“Such fine control over ice… could it be the Ice Maiden? No that’s impossible the Ice Maiden’s aura would shine like a beacon and would have been discovered by us the moment she came near the city.”

“What if she reached rank S and can hide her aura now?”

“You moron! She was heavily injured and hunted for over a month. Her power must have dropped down to rank F or G when she got away, it would be impossible for her to even be as strong as the girl before us. However keep a watch on her as she could be useful to us in the future.”

“Yes sir!”

Shannon let out a even bigger smile and whispered “So you finally decided to show your real power?”

Sigrid knew that she could no longer hold back unless she really wanted to stay here and be nursed by the Vice Guild Master for a few month. Just thinking about it caused her to shiver again and she quickly attacked. This time it was no longer slow and weak ice bullets but fast and deadly icicles. However they were all still easily destroyed by Shannon as they came into her range. Sigrid quickly moved by freezing the ground and gliding on the ice and sent out a wave of icicles and water bullets. After the icicles crashed into shannon the water bullets formed another veil between them.

“Don’t think this will work a second time!” Shannon punched toward the veil to destroy it. However a hole suddenly opened up causing her fist to go through as an big icicle smashed into it to cancel out the force. Soon the water gathered around Shannon’s wrist and force locking her in place. Before she could break free however the veil of water turned into ice and ice spikes shot out toward her forcing her to block with the left hand. Soon she gathered mana in her right hand and destroyed the veil of ice.

However as soon as she broke free and got sight of Sigrid again it was already too late. Shannon’s eyes widened as she saw a dark blue orb with a speck of pure white snow in the center appear before her. The orb instantly broke open and surrounded Shannon. The temperature dropped rapidly creating a thick layer of mist so no one could see what had happened. After the mist slowly dissipated everyone in the audience sucked in a breath of cold air.

At where Vice Guild Master Shannon was there was an giant beautiful ice flower with the Vice Guild Master trapped inside. Soon the crowd erupted into chatter as most of them thought the trainee won against the Vice Guild Master. However Sigrid knew that this move could only stop Shannon for a while. This was the first technique she learned from the Ice Flow Cultivation Method Sage taught her. It was a very powerful technique but due to her current weakened state she couldn’t use its full power and just one use drained almost all her mana.

Suddenly she felt danger more than 10 time stronger than before but before she could even react a fist was already before her face. The ice flow had suddenly exploded as a figure charged out in flash and arrived before Sigrid. Sigrid couldn’t do anything as the fist closed in on her but instead of a punch that would knock her head off she felt a gentle tap that caused her to fall to the ground.

“You should have gone all out when I told you to. But still not bad. That skill is powerful enough to easily kill any rank D adventurer but it looks like you’re still too weak to use it more than once. Good job trainee.” Shannon reached out and picked Sigrid off the ground in a princess carry. Sigrid couldn’t help but let out a yelp as she tried to struggle and get down but failed.

The audience were all still shocked by the sudden turn of events as Shannon carried Sigrid out of the training hall. Shannon finally put Sigrid down when they reached the other trainees and Sigrid’s face couldn’t help but burn red.

“All of you did well and with this you are all officially adventurers of the Adventurer’s Guild! Please go to the front desk and Jenny will update your badge to make you all official member and update your current rank.”

Sigrid, embarrassed by everyone’s look, quickly left to meet Alice who was waiting on the side of the training field. She rushed to Jenny, was the first one to get her badge updated and rushed out of the Adventurer’s Guild without even giving Jenny any time to explain anymore. They dropped by the Inn to eat lunch and say goodbye to Hellan and Ellen. After a nice lunch they quickly left the city and headed towards the dungeon town.

After walking for an hour Sigrid couldn’t help but having this nagging feeling in her and finally said, “Alice, I can’t help but feel we forgot something…”

Alice let out a sigh and felt sorry for the poor guy, “Don’t worry about it, we need to get back so Sage knows we are safe.”

Sigrid nodded, “You’re right, we been gone for way longer than what was planned, he must be worried sick!”

*Sage’s Chamber That Night*

The figure entered the secret tunnel and Sage was immediately able to tell who it was.

“Alice! You guys are back! You guys had me worried…” Sage suddenly focused on the entrance and couldn’t find anything else, “Where is Sigrid!?”

“Don’t worry Sage, Sigrid is fine but she just can’t leave at this moment to come here.” Alice moved quickly through the secret tunnel and arrived in Sage’s chamber “After she arrived at the dungeon town she attracted a lot of attention from everyone and even got invited to dinner with the Guild Master. Since she is going to stay at the Adventurer’s Guild today there was no way for her to sneak out without raising too much suspicion so I came instead.”

Sage finally was able to relax after realizing both of them were safe. Only now did he truly realize how on edge and nervous he had been this whole time and this scared him greatly. It took a while for him to clear his mind and finally ask, “So what exactly happened Alice? I heard from some adventurers that came in about some basic training for new adventurers which was the only reason I didn’t send out monsters to find you guys.”

“Aw that’s so sweet Sage... but like I said before sending monster out from the dungeon is very dangerous. If it was found out you would be marked for extermination and then me and Sigrid wouldn’t have a home anymore.” Alice’s tone became very serious at this point causing Sage to be slightly startled, “You should have more faith in us Sage, after all we got those tokens from you too.”

Sage pondered for a bit before finally saying, “You’re right, sorry for thinking so rashly.”

“Hehe, it’s ok Sage, it was kinda cute.” Alice seemed to be in high spirits as she circled around Sage

“Tell me what happened in this past week Alice?” Sage’s gaze locked onto Alice as he waited for her response.

“Well, it all started when we ran into some ogres in the forest…”

Edited By: Nova