Chapter 36:

Cort and Rine stood before the imposing building and watched the bustling crowd entering and leaving.

The building belonged to Aswend, also known as the second strongest guild in Phentar. Originally Cort had considered registering at Heaven Fall, but he reconsidered after recalling his loose relation to the death of a certain team.

Cort looked to his side and observed the nervous Rine. After a moment of contemplation, he said “Don’t be nervous. We will get through it quickly. Go in, get what we need, and get out.”

“Y-yeah” Rine replied with a slight stutter.

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The insides of the building were just as hectic as the outside, though the boisterous atmosphere did have a certain charm to it.

Evidently, the guild had its own bar as the smell of alcohol wafted throughout the area. All around the two youths, they could hear the sounds of people being rowdy. Some laughed while others bickered, but the mood was generally jolly.

Cort couldn’t help but notice that the bar was frequented by people who looked like veteran members of the guild. Most of them were whispering among themselves as they evaluated the rookies who stood in line waiting for their turns.

Finding their place in the line, Rine started going through the information he learned earlier. Registration simply involved handing over your ID and paying the fee. After doing so, you would then be given a badge through which you could accept quests and receive rewards. However, there were many things to consider. For one, though it was called registration, you were not truly affiliated with the guild just yet.

Every person who completed registration would be given the rank: Stone which was the lowest. It went: Stone - Iron - Bronze - Silver - Gold - Platinum. Only after reaching Iron would one be considered a bonafide member of the guild.

That said, the bar for reaching Iron and Bronze was different for every guild. This meant that an Iron ranked member from one guild was not necessarily as strong as another Iron from another guild. Same for Bronze. The story changed however with the other ranks. The qualifications to enter those ranks were uniformed and strict.

In fact, in the entire city of Phentar, the highest rank ever reached by a guild member was silver.

Rine also knew that the strongest guild in Phentar was Heaven Fall. In fact, he knew some people who belonged to it.

‘I wonder what rank they were in…’ Rine thought as he recalled the faces of Silva and his team.

After what seemed like an eternity, the two had gone through the registration successfully.

Rine stood in front of the quest board as he fiddled with the badge. Its design was simplistic and it had two words engraved onto it. The guild’s name and his rank.

Cort was busy surveying the board for appropriate quests.

“How about this one?” He turned to ask.

Rine squinted as he read the details. The quest was simple. They had to hunt some Swift-Foots which were small rabbit-like beasts. To Rine, who had just fought against an Earthen Fur Bear, he found it laughably easy.

Perhaps reading his thoughts, Cort shook his head lightly. “Its level is perfect for us right now. We don’t want to stand out too much.”

“Why?”

“Because of the war of course.”

“Oh,” Rine replied leisurely as if it did not concern him.

Seeing this, Cort smirked. It seemed like his partner had yet to fully grasp the situation. “You act like you aren’t involved but let me ask you this: Who is the guild’s main fighting force in war?”

Was it Silver-ranked warriors? Of course not, they were too valuable. The strongest people of the Silver rank consisted of warriors who had come close to comprehending Aura. Why would they uselessly throw them away? No, the main pawns were those of the Bronze or Iron rank.

Realizing this, Rine’s hand that was fiddling with the badge paused. Suddenly, it seemed to grow heavier.

“But this is Phentar right? Who would expect us to send people over? Moreover, this war is just a light skirmish. Right?”

“Maybe. Still, better safe than sorry,” Cort said before registering the both of them as a party and accepting the Swift-Foot quest.

‘I don’t know what that old man is thinking.’ He did not know why they had to register. What was the rush for?

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“{FireBall}” Rine chanted as a small bundle of flames gathered in front of his palm. Within seconds the flames darted from him and hit the small creature he targeted.

Uttering a final squeak, the rabbit-like monster died.

Coming up to its corpse, Rine snapped its horn off and tossed it into a bag. This was the twentieth beast to fall by his hands. At first, he found the repetitive actions boring but soon he discovered that it was a good way to train. He had to constantly lower the spell’s power so that he could use it with greater frequency. In this way, he could continue hunting for longer periods of time between rests.

“Need a break?” Cort, who was beside him, asked as he placed the charred rabbit corpse in another bag. The meat could be sold to a local butcher.

“I can hunt a few more before taking a break.”

“Alright, this will be the last round.”

“Yeah.”

After a few more creatures perished, Rine sat down to rest and regain his Origin.

“You can head back to old man Carson if you want,” Cort told him while taking the bag filled with Swift-Foot horns.

“What about you?”

“I’m gonna head over to the guild to turn these in, then I’ll have some matters to take care of in town so don’t wait for me.”

“Alright, got it,” Saying so, Rine plopped down and watched the clouds lazily stroll on by. Straining his ears he could hear the grunts of nearby warriors as they killed their share of Swift-Foots. Strangely though, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't hear Cort’s footsteps as he walked away.

‘This place is pretty though.’

They were in a vast field filled with luscious green grass that reached the height of one’s knee; were it not for the vast amounts of Swift-Foots roaming around, it would have been an ideal place for a picnic.

‘Now what?’ He thought to himself after a brief rest.

The sun felt good; not too hot as to burn but just hot enough to feel like a hug.

‘Guess a nap would be good…’ He knew he shouldn’t as there were beasts around, but he couldn’t bring himself to take them seriously.

As a nice breeze stroked his face, he dozed off.

‘How long has it been?’ He thought dazedly as he heard a rustling to his right.

Turning over he could see the cute head of a Swift-Foot pop-up. The horn on its head was pointed towards him as it crouched slightly.

‘Wait isn’t this a bit bad?’ He sobered up as he realized the beast was going to charge at him, hoping to pierce him with the horn.

“Wait, no let’s talk about thi-” But it was too late. The beast lunged at him.

Having no time to cast his spell, he lifted his hand and covered his face.

Bracing himself for the impact, he started to also chant his spell.

Though, these actions proved futile as the attack never landed.

“{WindBlade}” He heard a melodious voice chant before the Swift-Foot’s head was decapitated.

“Are you ok?” The voice asked him in a worried tone

“I-I’m fine,” He replied, flustered. The voice belonged to a pretty girl around his age. Her blonde hair was tied up in pigtails and her blue eyes shone with innocence. She wore a green robe that was slightly too big for her.

‘Cute…’ He thought before hurriedly replying. “Thanks for the help, I’m fine I was just taking a nap.”

“A nap in the middle of a field? You shouldn't do that!” She said with slight admonishment. “Look you don’t even have your weapon on you.”

“Actually I don’t use a weapon, I’m a magician.”

Her face brightened up. “Really? So am I! My name’s Amelia, I’m a Wind magician from Shadewood.”

She offered her hand for a handshake.

Reciprocating her greeting, he replied, “I’m Rine, a Fire magician.”

“Are you also from Shadewood? What year?”

“Ah...” He hesitated, contemplating whether telling her he flunked the test was the right choice, but he couldn’t decide so he changed the subject.

“So what brings you here? Come here often?” He winced at how awkward he sounded.

Amelia tilted her head before smiling brightly and replying. “Actually I’m helping my brother. I just joined a guild with him today and we are on our first quest together.”

‘A chance!’ Rine’s eyes shined. “I also joined a guild today!” He pulled out his newly acquired badge.

“No way!” She exclaimed as she pulled out the very same badge.

The two busily chatted away for a while before a ring on Amelia’s finger began to shine.

“Oh, that’s my brother.”

“Calvin right?”

“Yup, he probably found another quest to go on.”

“Another quest?”

“Yeah, he found this one too boring; I should go meet him at the guild entrance.”

“Oh… yeah” He was a bit disheartened about the separation.

Amelia bit her lip slightly before asking: “Wanna come along.” Her voice was quieter than normal.

Abruptly snapping his eyes towards hers he replied. “Yes!” A little too excitedly.

Amelia smiled brightly before nodding.

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Along the way, Rine learned a lot about Amelia. Unlike him, she was born in Phentar and from the moment she could talk, she wanted to become a magician.

Luckily for her, she seemed to have the talent for it as she passed the entrance exam of Shadewood on the very first try. He also learned that she was, in fact, a year younger than he.

‘Whoa,’ He thought to himself after hearing this. It became clear that she was more talented than he in terms of Magic. A fact that put him further and further to shame.

Soon, they could see the guild before them.

“Calvin!” Amelia exclaimed as she saw a familiar figure.

Looking at her brother, Rine could see a young man around his age with blonde hair and eyes as blue as Amelia’s. However, unlike Amelia's light frame, Calvin was tall and broad-shouldered. At his hip dangled a Broadsword with a fancy looking hilt.

“Calvin, this is Rine, he is a flame magician who's also in the same guild as us,” Amelia said excitedly.

“Oh, so you go to the same school?” Calvin asked casually as he offered Rine a handshake.

Rine’s body stiffened at the sudden inquiry. “U-uh actually…”

Calvin squinted his eyes as he placed a bit more pressure in his grip while saying “Oho…”

Amelia’s gaze grew inquisitive as she looked between Rine and her brother.

“Rine?” She asked.

The magician in question darted his eyes around as he thought of ways of avoiding this. His hand was being squeezed but he could care less. “I’m planning on taking the test next year actually…”

Amelia’s eyes shone with understanding. “Ah, you must be training beforehand so you can do better in the first year’s tournament.” She nodded with confidence. “I wish I knew about that before joining so I could do the same.”

‘Tournament?’ Rine thought but spoke in contradiction. “Yup exactly.”

Calvin’s grip loosened as he smiled an easygoing grin.

“Ame, you don’t need to train, I’m sure you’ll do fine,” Calvin reassured his sister.

“I’ll do my best but there are some pretty strong people. You know actually one of my classmates just broke through the second grade.”

“Really?” Calvin asked, surprised.

Rine tilted his head in confusion. According to the old man, he was currently in the second grade as well, so he thought it was normal for students to progress to that stage quickly.

‘Whatever,’ He decided to remain silent. There was too much he did not know.

“So Rine, what brings you along?” Calvin asked him.

He opened his mouth to answer but Amelia beat him to it. “He’s coming with us on a quest, did you find one?”

“Hmm,” Calvin stroked his chin as he contemplated something. “Well, at first, I did pick one, but since there are three of us now. Might as well go with the one I really wanted. Wait for a second.” He darted back into the guild.

Moments later he came out with a copy of the quest poster he chose.

Rine did a double-take at the familiar beast.

Wind-Sped Wolves.

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