The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]
Chapter 319: Update

Chapter 319: Update

Lane stared at the two digits blankly for a long while, just blinking mindlessly.

Then, he suddenly laughed.

"Hah!" A chuckle escaped his mouth. Soft and quiet at first, but quickly turning into full laughter. Loud, boisterous, slightly harsh, but not unpleasant to the ear.

Hearing this, Damien put the laundry basket down, and walked into the living room, where Lane was laughing his lungs out on the couch, his whole body spasming.

...He really didn’t know what to make out of it. Although it wasn’t rare for Lane to smile and laugh, an outburst like that was unusual.

"What is it?" he asked, approaching the man.

Then, he noticed the phone in Lane’s hand. The screen was still lit up, displaying Lane’s personal profile records in the Association’s application...

And on top of it all was the result of the written exam for the Basic Esper Qualification Lane had taken earlier in the day, updated just a few minutes ago.

71%.

"I passed, I passed!" Lane laughed, almost breathless.

Damien stared at it for a moment, completely stunned.

Indeed he had. Barely - the passing score for the Esper test was 70% - but still.

"Congratulations," Damien said, snapping out of his daze. He patted Lane on the head, making the man momentarily freeze. Although he was the one more touchy between the two of them, he was still sometimes taken aback by Damien’s warm gestures... It only lasted for a split second, though, before he grabbed the hand that was petting him, and pulled Damien closer, wrapping his arms around the man’s waist.

"Should we celebrate?" he grinned.

"How would you like to celebrate?" Damien asked. Even though the answer was rather obvious...

And Lane indeed had dirty thoughts in his head. "How about..." his voice trailed off, as his hands slid under Damien’s worn-out, navy polo shirt, stroking his waist.

Damien let out a quiet sigh, shaking his head, but the corners of his lips lifted slightly. He still had laundry to fold...

But it could wait. Lane had finally passed the written exam, on his tenth attempt. And with his own ability at that, with no cheating involved! This indeed was worthy of celebration...

Not that this evening could have possibly gone any other way. If Lane had failed, then he would surely act all pitiful, asking Damien to console him...

Well, it didn’t matter. Whatever excuse Lane used, or even if there was no excuse at all...

Damien leaned down, and pressed his lips against Lane’s. And a moment later, he was pulled over, landing on top of the man...

***

Once the written test was behind Lane, everything else went smoothly. Lane immediately had his practical exam scheduled. Perhaps Director Torres was impatient, with Lane failing the exam and being unable to start the job for over a month since signing the contract with the Association, or maybe because Lane was simply lucky, but his practical exam was scheduled to take place only three days after the written exam. Damien had to go on inspections that day, so he couldn’t accompany him, but Lane arrived uncharacteristically on time.

Not because he had suddenly changed or anything, of course. He had simply made plans with Ava earlier that day. The woman arrived at his apartment before noon, to give Lane guiding... And keep an eye on him, to make sure that he wasn’t late. It was an important exam, after all, and if Lane missed it, there was a chance he might not be able to schedule it again before Damien’s Eldenveil trip... So, he couldn’t afford any mistakes. And since he couldn’t trust his own time management, and Damien was away, he could only rely on his best friend.

He needed guiding anyway. After all those ’study sessions’ he had in the dungeon, his wavelengths had grown a bit chaotic. Not enough to put him in danger... But if he were to receive any guiding right after the test, the Guide might be able to notice that something was wrong. Lane wasn’t officially working just yet, so he didn’t have his matching rate test with Samantha either, and thus he could be temporarily sent to a random Guide whom he wouldn’t be able to trust...

It was only Samantha and Eloise in the Association who might not rat him out, out of consideration for Damien. And although Lane wasn’t particularly worried about being caught right now - he could always come up with some excuse to give Director Torres. Since he had already signed the contract, the worst that could happen would be deducting his pay or extending his term... - he’d much rather not get in trouble right now.

Either way, with the guiding he had received from Ava, his wavelengths were stable again. He arrived at the exam venue on time, and cleared all the obstacles prepared for him, displaying his aerial capabilities, defending against projectiles with his Force Shield, and striking targets with his Wind Blades. In the end, he had been awarded a score of 94%, with only a few points deducted for the excessive use of force - the examiners had wanted him to strike the targets cleanly, while Lane practically obliterated them.

It was ridiculous, really. There was no such thing as ’excessive use of force’ on the battlefield. When you were fighting monsters, you shouldn’t hold back at all...

But Lane didn’t expect those examiners, some of whom might not have stuck their foot in a dungeon, to understand. And he didn’t care about the score anyway. As long as he passed, it was all that mattered...

Just like that, after his fifteen years of experience in the field, and after a month of failed attempts, Lane had finally obtained the Esper license. From then on, he was able to start his job at the Association... The very same day, his status in the system changed, first from ’unlicensed’ to the ’General Staff’, then to the ’Field Agent’, and in the evening, when Damien had returned from the inspections, Lane had officially been accepted as a new member of his team.