Chapter 24: into the dungeon
"You again?"
The evaluation officer didn’t look up from his datapad. "Frank Hagan. Trader class. Still F-Rank?"
Frank nodded. "Last I checked."
The officer, gray-haired, sun-wrinkled, the kind of man who’d seen too many rookies fail, sighed. "Alright. Step onto the ring."
The assessment chamber was nothing special, bare stone walls, rune-inscribed tiles on the floor, and a lingering smell of sweat and scorched mana. Three judges sat behind a wide console, their faces unreadable under the blue system light. A dozen other F-Ranks stood in the viewing area, whispering among themselves.
Frank walked calmly into the center of the ring. He didn’t posture. Didn’t flex. Just rolled his shoulders and said, "Ready."
"Start with combat demonstration," said the woman on the far left, adjusting her visor. "We’ve logged your class as support-type. So show us your offensive protocol."
"Copy," Frank said.
He slid into a stance, one he’d mimicked a hundred times, watching others better than him.
Piercing Fang – Level 1.
A simple lunging strike technique, designed for agility builds.