Chapter 57: Exam

"Hey, Cedric! Good morning!"

Cedric paused whatever he was doing, he turned around and saw Erica standing not too far from him. From what he saw, he assumed that she must be tending to her lawn.

"Oh, hey Erica! Good morning to you too." He greeted in return.

"You're well dressed, going somewhere?"

"Ah, yeah." Cedric smirked, "Going to visit the nearby Lifestyle Guild branch to get my certification and credentials."

"Oh!? You have a Profession Class? Can you tell me what it is?"

"I'm a Scribe." He replied.

"Wow!" Erica looked impressed at least. "I heard that that's one of the more challenging professions. Good for you!"

"Oh, it's nothing." Cedric waved a hand in dismissal. "How about you? What are you up to today?"

"Nothing much, just tending to my lawn, giving it a last-minute trim cause lord knows that I won't be able to do this for a while." Erica sighed.

"Hmm? Why is that?"

"...business trip." Erica paused before replying. "I won't be home for...maybe a month or two? Who knows?"

Cedric blinked as he caught that lie. Well...it's more of a white lie, actually. One of the benefits of having superior senses than most is the ability to tell when somebody's lying to him, white lies included.

"I see. Must be troublesome, then." Cedric replied sympathetically. "Hey, if it's alright with you, I can look after your home while you're away."

Erica paused whatever she was doing to look at him with a hopeful gaze.

"Really? You'd do that?"

"Yeah, no problem." Cedric replied, "I'll be home most of the time anyway and your house is just in front of mine. It's no sweat on my back. This way, you can focus on your job instead."

"Great! I'm obviously okay with that! I'll pay you when I return, I promise!"

"Oh, there's no need to pay me. It's not like I'll do much anyway, aside from making sure that you have a home to return to."

"Really? You're okay with that?"

"Yeah...like I said, no sweat on my back." Cedric shrugged while grinning at her. He then looked at his watch and said: "Oh, look at the time. Well, I have to go now. See you later!"

"I see. Let me check my list first for confirmation. It won't take long I promise." The lady then opened her database to search for details about Cedric's appointment.

A minute later, she got back to him and said: "Thank you for waiting! I confirmed your appointment with us. Sadly, your facilitator is still preoccupied with something. We do apologize for the delay, but if you can wait for at least five more minutes, he will be with you."

"I understand. I'll wait."

"Awesome! Please, take a sit in the waiting area. Feel free to help yourself with some snacks and refreshments too, if you feel like it. I'll call you when our staff is ready."

Cedric nodded to her. He turned around and went to the waiting area. While he's waiting, he decides to distract himself by refreshing his knowledge about Symbols and the responsibilities of a Scribe cause he knows that he will need it.

Time passed and before he knew it...

"Excuse me, Sir. Our staff is now ready to receive you."

Cedric looked up and saw the same lady standing near him. He nodded to her and dismissed the system windows he had brought up recently.

The lady then led him towards the place where his appointment would take place. When they got there, the lady told him to enter and didn't follow him inside.

Knocking (just in case) before entering the room, he saw that there were a few other people there as well. Scanning the room briefly, he assumed that he wasn't the only one who had an appointment for today. He's also not the last person to appear.

He sat on one of the chairs available and waited until something started. After five more minutes, a person suddenly appeared out of nowhere - a man who didn't come through the door. Cedric assumed that he teleported here. The others appeared to not sense the man's arrival, but he certainly did.

The same man then walked towards the podium at the far front of the room and gazed at the crowd. He saw the man sigh and clapped his hands to get everybody's attention.

"Right, it seems that everybody's here. If not, well I can only apologize since I won't wait anymore. Better luck next time I guess."

"Anyway! Welcome, everyone. My name is Chrome. I'll be facilitating your registration and examinations for today. If you succeed, you'll be officially recognized by the Lifestyle Guild as Professional Scribes. If you fail, you can always try again later."

Cedric could sense the shift amongst the crowd. He could tell that at least half of the people here didn't expect there to be an examination. He could even hear their murmurs clearly as if they were speaking right next to him.

"You're here so you might as well take the exam. Who knows? Maybe some of you would be lucky enough to pass. And it's not like you'd lose your life by taking this exam. You won't get injured either. And if you fail?

So what? Like I said, you can try again next time. There are no trial limits either, so don't be nervous."

His words managed to calm down the participants. Cedric could tell that Chrome was used to this.

"When the exam starts, your access to the System will be heavily restricted. This is to prevent cheating. You will have an hour to answer the questionnaire as much as you can."

"The passing score is 725 Points. Pay attention to the instructions, that's all the hint I'll give you."

"That's pretty much it. So, ready or not folks! Your exam starts...now!"