“By the way, you do know about the adventurer ranks, right?” Clairmont tilted his head to my side. The two of us were waiting in front of the counter after our turn comes to be served by the receptionist. When we said that we wanted to register as an adventurer, the receptionist lady pardoned herself for a moment saying that she wanted to bring the exam tool.
I shifted my gaze to him for a bit, before drifting it away to look around the guild’s interior. It looks a bit like a bar, but much bigger in size and is filled with adventurers from various races and sizes.
“I do. They are divided into F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS ranks, right?” If I am not wrong, that’s what they said in one of the chapters inside the novel. It was only for a few paragraphs though, to introduce one of the male leads of the story.
“Good that you know. That saves my time in having to explain to you.” Clairmont cracked a smug expression while crossing his arms.
I didn’t say anything and only glared at him.
“I’m sorry to have you waiting.” The receptionist lady arrived soon after that with an object that looks like a medium sized white crystal embedded on a platinum-coloured slab. Putting it on the table, she then said, “This is the measuring device. It will measure your physical and magic capabilities. Your ranks will be determined by how capable you are in both terms. To measure that, please put one of your hands on top of it.” The lady’s explanation was brief but easy to understand.
Both me and Clairmont exchanged glances.
“You wanna go first?” He said to me.
At that moment, I stammered a bit. “W-Well, I guess?” I then inhaled and exhaled for a few times.
I’ve read many times in a lot of mangas about this device. Though some functions are different from others, they are all similar in terms of measuring one’s power. It’s kind of nerve wrecking to have your power measured. Even so, I just have to do it so I can get my adventurer’s license.
“I-I’ll put my hand now.” Gosh, I just stammered.
“Just put it. You don’t have to remind anyone, you know?” Clairmont’s remarks are as snide as ever, but thanks to that, it calmed my nerve down a bit.
I then placed my hand on the slab. For a short second, nothing seems to be happening.
CRACK!
Hm?
What was that?
I turned to look at Clairmont. He too looked at me and jerked his head a ‘what?’, like he didn’t hear that sound. I rolled my eyes.
“Do you hear that-”
“Oh, my goodness!” Suddenly the receptionist lady exclaimed loudly. We both looked at her in surprise, wondering what was that about.
“The crystal on the stone slab, it broke!” Her tone somehow was a mix between amazement and nervousness. Then I drifted down my gaze to the slab.
Oop-
“Wow, didn’t know you have that much power, huh?” Clairmont’s remark was once again snide, although this time it was mixed with a slight amaze.
“What power?” I arched an eyebrow. Don’t tell me that a magic device breaking indicates something even greater happening?
“O-One moment. I will bring you another device.” The receptionist lady ran off somewhere and appeared again instantly. This time the device is a light blue coloured globe the size of a basketball.
“Please put your hand here, Miss.” She prompted.
I do exactly as she said and oh boy, do the globe shone brightly that it hurts my eyes.
“It’s true… It’s really true.” The receptionist lady mumbled in shock. The people around me and Clairmont started to chatter between themselves.
“You are an SS-rank, Miss!” She congratulated me, in a loud voice as if she wanted to tell the whole hall about my ranks.
Clairmont beside me was giggling non-stop.
“Congrats.” His tone taunting.
“Shut it, Clairmont. I don’t need your congrats now.” For some reason I felt my head throbbing. I heaved a tired sigh.
“SS rank…” I read my own adventurer identification card. Then, my head slumped as I heaved another sigh.
“What’s with that gloominess? Aren’t you supposed to be happy that you are an SS-rank? You are the highest tier among all the adventurers.” Clairmont said and sat down beside me on the wooden bench after he looked around. Because of the commotion earlier inside the guild building, we decided to run away after getting our identification card to avoid the scouting from other guilds. After running for some time, we returned to the town centre.
I shot him a glare. “Well, you too got an SS-rank, you know?”
Clairmont snickered and shrugged. “Isn’t it great? That just means we won’t have to waste time doing quests just to rank up. And moreover, the guild even said that they will arrange a meeting with the King to introduce us a few days from now.”
Well, I know all is well and all, but I didn’t expect for it to happen this quick. Like, how is it possible for me to get SS-rank? Aren’t I just a normal human?
Wait…
“Don’t tell me they measured my strength as a dragon?” I mumbled by myself.
My mumbling gained a grimace from Clairmont. “What? You ARE a dragon, aren’t you?”
I pulled my expression into a tight face. I… can’t really deny that anymore. I am a human, and ALSO a dragon. But…
“…Will you believe me if I said that I was originally a human?”
For a moment, he threw me a confused look. Then the next moment, his lips twitched a bit, bordering between wanting to laugh or not.
“I am telling you the truth.” I pressed.
His twitching died down, replaced with an empty look.
“…Okay then.” He said, almost nonchalantly.
“That’s it?” I said and stood up. I know that he said he doesn’t care about my background but is he for real?
“Yeah.” He shrugged again. “I mean, even if you were a human before, that still doesn’t change the fact that you are a dragon now. I do am curious as to how you manifested as a dragon though.”
Well, that is one thing that I shouldn’t tell you.
“Ignore what I just said. I get a bit baffled by all that’s happening I can’t think straight for a bit.” I shook my head. No, I can’t tell him now, not here. He is one of the new characters inside the novel and I still don’t know whether to trust him or not. “More importantly, we should go and find a lodging for us.”
“So early? It’s still in the afternoon though?” Clairmont glanced up to the sky.
My eyebrows twitched. It is still afternoon yet I feel this tired. I lifted my gaze slowly to follow him and saw the bright blue sky. The sun is a little hidden in between the clouds. Still, it never failed to shine brightly, giving a little bit of warmth in the midst of this slightly cold weather. Is it almost autumn here?
“…Then what do you suggest?” My mouth gaped a bit from looking up. While saying so, I lowered my head and positioned my focus to him.
“Well,” He shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe look around the town or go shopping? Don’t women like going shopping?”
Shopping?
My brows furrowed a bit.
Now that he said that, I suddenly remembered about the obsidian golem inside my inventory. I need to know how much the obsidian golem is sold for. I can just sell it to the ‘ONLINE SHOPPING’ but when I remembered what Elfina said about the ingredients from it being rare, I kinda want to do the opposite.
“Then, let’s go back to the guild. There is an item that I wanted to sell. After that we’ll look for a lounging and then eat.”
“Alright!” Clairmont assumed a victorious pose, probably happy hearing the word ‘eat’. I snickered at him and shook my head, then the two of us went back to the adventurer’s guild.
“Obsidian golem?” The receptionist lady that assisted us in registering from earlier fluttered her eyes. Her eyes were telling me that she was in disbelief.
“Yes.” I opened my inventory. To my convenience, I can open my inventory anytime that I liked. The entrance is like a medium sized portal but the inside is big enough to fit a lot. And when I said a lot, I mean it can still fit about hundreds of obsidian golems inside. I popped out the lifeless golem’s head to show her so to give her assurance that I was not scamming. Instead, I gained her shocked shriek.
“D-Dear adventurer, you can do your transactions there at the dismantling centre.” She motioned towards a door just nearby the reception counter. Although shocked, and maybe in fear, she still does her best in assisting people. I too were at fault because I suddenly scare her like that.
After apologizing to her, me and Clairmont head inside the dismantling centre. We greeted the only person inside this place, a rough looking guy with goatee and short dark brown hair. One of his eyes has scars on them.
“Well, what do we have here? Aren’t you guys the rumoured SS-rank?”
I weakly chuckled. “Hello.” I wanted to ask how he knew, but he is affiliated with the adventurer’s guild, so he must know about it. Besides, our registration caused a commotion to our surrounding, and there were a lot of witnesses back then.
Still, the rate of rumours when spread is scary.
“The name’s Kiza. So, what can I help you with?” He threw the blade he was using, causing it to stab perfectly on the huge wooden table.
“Yes, I want to sell an obsidian golem.” I answered.
His expression contorted into a surprised expression, but he was able to maintain his composure and broke into a wide grin. When he smiled like that, he looked less intimidating.
“Alright then. Shall we see this golem of yours?” He turned his body from facing us back to the table. That was when I opened my inventory and took out the obsidian golem I defeated.
Because I am now a human, taking out a 10-meter golem out from the inventory is proven to be a heinous feat. Though, the troublesome part was actually having to drag it’s huge body with this little body of mine above all else, the golem is not all that heavy. It was probably due to my unreadable STR stat that I am able to carry heavy things. Putting that aside, I lunged the golem’s body towards the top of the table. It landed with a loud THUD!
“Oh…” Exclaimed Kiza. He was unable to hide his amazement and looked at the golem in awe. “It’s been a while since I saw an obsidian golem looking this intact.” He then sauntered around the golem. “Because of how difficult it is to defeat one, the battle against an obsidian golem would usually end up with its hide being in a complete mess. So, seeing a hide this perfect is almost impossible.”
“I see.” I replied simple. To think I defeated an infamous obsidian golem with a smack of my hand, my strength is really fearsome.
“I will dismantle this one, but it will take some time. Come again in about three days.” Kiza started to sharpen his sword. For some reason, his sword—possessing a length shorter than a long sword but longer than a short sword—looked shiny in my eyes. It is not made out of steel, but maybe something more precious.
After leaving the guild, it was time for us to find a place to sleep.
GRRR…
A subtle rumbling erupted between the two of us. I turned behind to see Clairmont behind me was rubbing his stomach. Now that I remember it, we both hadn’t had our lunch yet.
“Let’s have some lunch first before we look for an inn.”
Once again, Clairmont made a subtle victorious gesture that won a laughter from me. What a glutton.
Comments (0)
See all