"Hi, excuse ," I remarked casually, playing it cool.
"Yes, how can I help y-...wait, is that you, Larrk?"
"Mhm, sure is. How’s it going?" I responded with a grin.
"Uh, good, can’t complain...so, this is what you look like without a disguise, is it?" Replied Rosary with a smile.
"Yup."
She’s just as hot as I rember. Thought it’d take her longer to recognize , maybe it was my voice that gave away. I’d just gotten to town about an hour or so ago, first booked an inn room for myself, let Prysm out for a bit before putting her back into my Pocket Dinsion.
I then went to get a haircut...my hair had grown pretty long and was getting hard to maintain, so I had it trimd down to about dium-lenfth. After that, I made my way to the Guild.
It was mostly empty, with hardly any Adventurers to be seen...I’d encountered a couple of groups of them on my way to the town, fighting Monsters.
"So, you’re still working as a receptionist, huh?" I remarked, as I glanced her over.
"Yeah, I like managing upcoming, talented Adventurers, and while I can do that as an Adventurer myself, doing so as a receptionist gives more perspective and insight," She explained, before adding, "Anyway, are you here for a quest?"
"Maybe later...I’m mainly here to try and rank up," I said in response.
"Hm, you seem to be quite confident in yourself...alright, then let’s get right to it, shall we? You head down to the basent, I’ll be down with an opponent for you in a bit," She responded, as she set aside a stack of papers she’d been working on.
"That’s a lot of paperwork, busy day?" I inquired curiously.
"Busy weeks, actually...rember the Basilisk and all the Monsters that had been appearing around here, Monsters that typically weren’t known to appear in this area?" She replied with a grimace.
"Yeah, I definitely rember the Basilisk."
"Things haven’t been much better since then. More Monsters that aren’t native to this area have been showing up constantly, and we’ve even had a couple of Wyverns showing up. It just seed like really bad luck or sothing, but a few months ago, I noticed a pattern.
Every ti we start to cut down the abrupt outbreaks of Common and Interdiate Grade Monsters and make so real progress, a Disastrous Grade Monster proceeds to show up. And by the ti that’s dealt with, more Common and Interdiate Grades have appeared," She frowned, before leaning over and adding quietly, "It’s far too unlikely to be a coincidence, as if soone’s deliberately doing this, bringing Monsters here sohow.
And about a month ago, I confird it...I successfully predicted where the next Disastrous Grade Monster would appear by following the pattern of the appearances of the previous ones, and I sensed soone with my sensory Skill.
Naturally, I intended to capture them, but before I could make a move, they were gone, just suddenly disappeared without a trace. They must have had so sort of a Skill that allowed them to escape.
And I couldn’t search the area since there was a Wyvern there. Until I realized it was very deep asleep...as if it had been sedated or drugged. I killed it before it could wake up, but the culprit had already gotten away."
Hm...that doesn’t sound good at all. A Wyvern is a smaller, less powerful version of a Dragon, but they’re still pretty dangerous Monsters, with a Threat Level of Disastrous Grade, the sa as the Basilisk.
In other words, to be able to capture and transport a Monster like that would require soone highly powerful and skilled. Let think, what kind of Skills would let a person pull this off?
Let’s set aside the sedation for now...hm, even if soone was able to successfully drug a Monster like a Wyvern, they’re large creatures, way too heavy to just drag here.
So, they were probably transported using a Skill of so kind. Pocket Dinsion would work for that, though it would require a high level of mastery since it takes more focus and concentration to put a significantly large object into that space.
There’s also a Skill called Transport...by physically touching an object or a creature and placing a marker on them, you can instantly teleport the marked target to a new location.
Getting back to how they might have sedated the Monster...there are Skills that can put a target to sleep, but the most powerful and effective ones require direct physical contact to activate. In which case, could it have been so sort of tranquilizer gas or liquid?
"I think I’ve got a good idea of how this could’ve been pulled off...but that brings up the next question, why?" I frowned uncertainly.
"Yeah, I’ve been asking myself that very sa question. We’ve been having Adventurers take shifts scouting out areas that are likely to be where the next Disastrous Grade could potentially appear. I don’t think the person I sensed noticed , so hopefully, we’ll be able to ambush and capture them," She sighed wistfully, before clearing her throat and adding, "Ahem, anyway...why don’t we get your ranking exam underway?"
"Sure, sounds good. I’ll head down to the basent," I replied, as I made my way to the staircase with a slight wave of my hand.
In all likelihood, a Noble is behind these Monster appearances around this town. What could be their motivation in doing so though? Are they just doing it for their own amusent?
That’s...actually a very real possibility. Nothing like this has been happening around any of the other towns or villages I’ve been to, so why here? Let’s see...oh, if I rember right, Kieph Town has the highest average Adventurer rank in the nation.
Maybe this is a asure to keep the Adventurers here occupied and in check? I an...a bunch of Knights were killed here not too long ago, three of them disappeared without a trace.
No, but this Monster issue started before I first arrived in this town, so there must already have been a reason for doing this. Or, like I’d initially suggested, it could just be a Noble ssing things up to entertain themselves.
I don’t have any solid basis to go off on, so this is all mostly speculation...hm, you know, what? After this ranking exam, maybe I’ll stick around and help the Guild investigate this, at least until I leave for Kaygee Town and check out the Labyrinth.
It’s been a while since I killed a Noble, and who knows, I might be able to get so useful information out of them too. Anyway, I’ll put that all aside for right now, and focus on the ranking exam.
Failing it because I’m distracted would seriously suck, so I should put all other thoughts at the back of my mind for now.
As I reached the bottom of the stairs and into the basent, I looked around as the vast space...this place hasn’t changed much, it still looks mostly the sa as it was during my first ranking exam.
I began stretching to warm up, feeling pretty eager. After I left Kieph Town about two years ago, I decided to fly under the radar, trying not to stand out too much.
I didn’t interact much with the Adventurers of the other Guilds I visited, except for asking around about Argent. Naturally, I’ve played my cards close to the chest, hardly revealing anything about what I’m capable of.
I then glanced back as I heard Rosary coming back, along with my first opponent for this ranking match. Oh, hey, I recognize her...she’s one of the Adventurers who was on the Basilisk quest, the one with the bow Soul Weapon.
Her left arm was heavily strapped and reinforced, and just slightly crooked as well...it had been pretty badly damaged when she was attacked by the Basilisk, guess it doesn’t function as well as it did before.
Still, though, the fact that she’s my opponent ans that she hung on to her Platinum rank despite that setback...that’s pretty impressive.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, let’s get started right away. You rember Jane, don’t you? She’ll be your first opponent, she’s a Platinum ranked Adventurer. If you win, you’ll be promoted to Platinum rank yourself," Explained Rosary, as she took out the Magic Item for activating the barrier.
Right, her na is Jane...thanks for ntioning it, I would’ve had to dig into my mory quite a bit to rember on my own.
"You know, you don’t have to say all that, it’s kinda stating the obvious," I remarked wryly, as my opponent headed in.
"Actually, we’re required to say all of it during every ranking exam, it’s a rule," She replied with a sigh.
That’s gotta be rough.
"Hi, it’s good to see you again. I never got the chance to thank you for saving my life, so thank you," Smiled Jane gratefully, before adding, "But that doesn’t an I’ll go easy on you."
"Oh, you won’t have the luxury of going easy on ," I smirked in response.
"Is that so? We’ll see about that, won’t we?" She replied with a laugh, as she headed into the area.
Anyway, once she had found a hiding spot, I headed in myself, a rising sense of anticipation inside . I hid behind a large, jutted rock as I waited for the barrier to activate, before manifesting my Soul Weapon, bringing out my whip.
I think I’ll make the first move for once...since I’ve been sparring regularly with Prysm, I’ve gotten better at direct confrontations, instead of being kind of a specialist as sneak attacks like I was before.
Now, then...Elental Lava: Molten teor Shower!
I first used Elental Earth to crack up the ground, before floating up ten large chunks of rock, coating them in intense flas before flying them up to the top of the barrier, letting them hover up there as they lted into glowing, fiery red globs of molten rock.
I then swiftly cracked my whip across as a couple of arrows ca shooting towards , before I spotted my opponent springing out from the direction that the arrows ca from and sprinting towards rapidly.
Damn, she’s pretty fast! Must be so kind of boosting Skill. She wasn’t this fast before, she must have reached a higher level of mastery over whatever Skill that is...I then had three of my molten rock teors shoot down towards her from above, which she responded by swiftly zigzagging to evade them.
"Now, Initiate Skill:...!" She began to chant as she closed in on , the grip around my whip tightening as I braced myself, "...Disarm!"
A spherical wave of energy burst out from her, and as it reached ...the grip around the handle of my whip was suddenly wrenched open, my eyes widening in surprise as my hand was abruptly repelled away from the handle.
That’s a pretty handy Skill, not bad...she then charged up an arrow and began to take aim from just a couple of ters away...before I swiftly grabbed the length of my whip and swung it across, the handle rapidly swinging towards her, the dagger end poised to slash across her face.
She noticed right in the nick of ti, her energy arrow dissipating as she sprang back in alarm, the tip of the dagger nicking the bridge of her nose and drawing out a trickle of blood, as I dissipated my Soul Weapon.
That Disarm Skill is only gonna disrupt each ti she uses it, so I’m better off fighting unard. She then took a couple of wary steps back as streaks of flas and lightning roared and crackled around , a little intimidation tactic on my part. Even without my Soul Weapon, I’ve got plenty of tricks up my sleeve...
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