James: The book of phantom?

--- Chapter 87 ---

Red, Hiro, and Luna find each other and walk to one side of the room. They begin talking about what’s to come.

Red: I hope the next challenge is harder. That was way easier than the first one!

Luna: Yeah, I have to agree with that 2nd part. It seemed a little too easy.

Hiro: Maybe cause this next challenge is gonna be super hard. They thought “hey let’s go a little easy on them cause half will fail to this one”.

Luna: R-really?

Hiro: Yeah, it’s not that far-fetched. Plus don’t you smell it?

Luna: Smell what?

Hiro: You smell it, right Red?

Red: Yeah, I do. I kinda wanted to ignore it.

Luna: What are you guys smelling?!

Hiro: If you take a deep breath in, you should smell lavender or rosemary-like smell.

She takes a big deep breath in, smelling a little bit of what he said.

Luna: Yeah, I do smell it, but what is it?

Hiro: Incense.

Red: More specific, Yalu-Incense.

Luna: Yalu… Isn’t that-

Red: Yeah, it attracts and enrages monsters. But it’s only faint, so I think it was only stored here. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they used it for our next mission. We are doing it at night after all.

Luna: How do you know we’re doing it at night?

Red: Well they would have said morning, not next challenge. It’s getting late but there is still time I think.

Luna: Oh, I see.

Luna thinks to herself for a few moments.

Luna: I was thinking, who actually runs these exams? It cant be a guild to remain unbiased right?

Red: Oh what, you don’t know? How don’t you know that?

He says in an overly sarcastic joking tone. Luna thinks for a moment and cracks a slight grin.

Luna: I’m not big on politics.

They begin laughing about it, while Hiro awkwardly laughs along looking at the two of them, not getting the joke.

Red: To answer the question, the mage association runs this thing. They are like the police force of the guilds. If a guild disobeys the law or abuses its power, they step in.

Luna: Oh, I think I heard of them before. Don’t they have, more SS+ mages than the 5 court guilds combined?

Red: Yup, and they also have multiple branches all around the world. They are always ahead of the curve when it comes to tech as well. Anti-mage stuff.

Luna: Wow.

Red: Yup, and to go further, it’s one of the few organizations that aren’t under the rule of any kingdom. They got like a treaty with every nation.

Luna: Oh man, they are a much bigger deal than I expected.

Red: Yeah. And their SS+ ranks arent no joke either. They hold most of the top 10 SS+ rank mages.

Luna: Which ones?

Red: Apart from 1 and 2, I think they have 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, and 10.

Luna: Oh, who are 1 and 2?

Red: Darren, and Akarada, who is often referred to as Vector.

Luna: Wow, I knew he was strong but number 2 SS+ rank?!

Red: No.

Luna: No?

Red: Number 1. Vector is number 1.