Joshua left Mulligan and was back in his room by the hotel. It seems that despite all of that fiasco, only a couple of hours have passed. Well back to the comfy sofa bed he goes. Dozing off within a second, then waking up the next day. Messy bed hair? What else is not to love?

Joshua took a shower and went off to the gunstore. He needed to buy ammo for the new weapons he had received. Looking 338. Lapua Magnum, 458 Winchester Magnum and some extra magazines for the pistol. There were quite a few people inside the gunstore, some of them were Venerators. They talked about ballistics, they talked about bullet drop and which has better firepower. Though Joshua could not be bothered by all of those words.

Now, he was going to go to the Union HQ to find a Spire to try out. When he arrived at the counter, the receptionist prepared the document for him.

"Chairman Lee said that you should try this one. It's a Quest Spire that can be done solo or in a group. Please head to the location." Joshua nodded as he stepped out to leave, bumping into another Venerator. It was a group of 5, armed with mithril armor and weapons.

"Watch where you're going, G-Rank!"

"Sorry." Joshua apologized but the 5 of them did not seem satisfied. One of them threw a tag at Joshua, seeing the words A/5. Joshua looked at it, then he looked at everyone else.

"What? Never heard of a duel before?" Joshua shook his head.

"A duel is where Venerators fight each other with their own stats and skills being the difference." They heard the voice of Chairwoman Lee who came down to explain it to Joshua.

"The words A/5 it refers to Arena Ranking. The Venerator Arena exists for Venerators to hone skills in one on one combat. Some people make a name for themselves in the fight. You can refuse if you want. It's up to you." Chairwoman Lee spoke with a smile, yet some parts of the lobby were creaking just by her pressence alone.

"Thank you Chairman... Maybe I will accept it." Joshua said as he prepared himself for it. The A/5 Venerator walked down to the staircase which was the combat arena. Joshua was thinking of what weapon to use. The Unknown Soldier's Vow seemed to be a perfect fit against this person.

"Ladies and gentleman! Today on the sudden duel! We have our famed A/5 ranker, Jordan Eisen and with our No rank, G Rank in the Arena!" Joshua could see Jordan waving his hand to his fans as people came to watch. Some of the other Venerators held signs for Jordan with what seemed to be his victory phrase.

The Venerator Arena was populated, people took turns to watch. Though Joshua felt some strong energy from 5 figures that were quite hidden. Where everyone else could be seen, these 5 were content to being in the shadows.

"Jordan! Jordan!" Jordan seemed to be a showman instead of a Venerator, something like a gladiator in the past.

The Chairwoman stood in the middle of the 5 hidden figures, Jordan and Joshua took to the arena.

"Sorry about bumping into you." Joshua said.

"Yeah, yeah. Truth is. This is a favor from the Chairwoman. Don't worry about it. The audience can't hear us. She wanted to see you in action." Jordan said as he readied his spear. Hopping in place as Joshua could see his feet glow red with the mithril spear in hand.

"I'm A/5 and an A rank. Don't make it too easy, now." Jordan said as he vanished. Joshua lost track of where Jordan was. It was not about speed but perception, the pressence of the many Venerators was messing with him. Joshua rolled to the side, firing the rifle. Watching something move away and seeing some weird patterns in the environment.

Joshua kept on firing until a loud ping was heard.

"You're wide open!" Joshua intercepted the spear with the body of the rifle. This all came down to strength and body weight. Joshua was not going to be able to hold it but he could do something else instead. Letting Jordan win the contest of strength, Joshua slipped to the side and swung the bayonet at Jordan.

"Oh ladies and gentlemen! Jordan had been struck!" the announcer said as Jordan backed away from Joshua.

Jordan summoned five familiars, they were saphire werewolves. They were raring to go, growling at Joshua and then howling at him. It was a debuff of sorts. They were trying to negate Joshua's speed to match with Jordan.

"Oh ho, what a turn! Jordan has summoned his 5 familiars. The Wolf pack!"

"Lugasa!" Lugasa appeared, scratching his head and looking at the saphire werewolves.

"Ah.. Sapphire Werewolves... Cute! Why don't you give your good ol uncle a hug!" Lugasa charged at them first, he was able to push all 5 werewolves to the wall.

"Have fun, master!" Lugasa shouted as Joshua ran straight to the fight, this time striking Jordan with the bayonet.

Meanwile at the stands.

"He can sense us. He's been glancing at us for quite a bit. Chairman... Is he that good?" A manly voice spoke, clearly wanting to know more.

"All 5 of you managed to break my glare and my hit. You had scratches, this one... He was unfazed. He's only 75." Chairwoman Lee said to them.

"Might be a good potential recruit, don'tcha think?" A woman said.

"Normally I'd agree but just look at his eyes." Another male spoke up.

"What did you find in them? The keys to life?" Another woman asked.

"No. Those are the eyes of someone who is lost." Chairwoman Lee said.

The fight continued where Lugasa had pommeled the 5 werewolves to submission, throwing them aside as he sat down to meditate. While Joshua and Jordan were going at each other's throats. Jordan struck Joshua's neck, but took a blow from Joshua's fist. If one were to look at the level difference. Jordan should be winning. Because of the fact that the level difference is high. An A rank is around level 200 to 250. S ranks are 251 to 499 and SSS ranks are 500 to 1000 and beyond.

The crowd watched as Joshua pulled the spear by his neck and threw it back at Jordan. Blood trickled from Joshua's neck but he barely felt the sting. He swapped the Unknown Soldier's Vow for something else. Sheena's Love and Todd's Tears. He was swinging the blades around Jordan. What the audience could see were the flashes by the blade striking the armor. Jordan was kicked to the wall but the match ended as Joshua had his blades by Jordan's throat.

"Match over!"

Joshua turned to the 5 figures by the stands with the Chairwoman. Strong was not the word, it was like staring at the Ancient of Autumn, Asim. They were beaming with power, Joshua could not dig into their powers because of how much the accumulated energy had. Jordan walked on over to shake Joshua's hand which Joshua did but his attention was with the 5 people by the Chairwoman. Lugasa stretched his back, walking towards Joshua with a yawn. Where people could see the sharp teeth of Lugasa but most importantly they were able to look at the famed Crimson Werewolf.

There were the Resource Workers from before, Carla, Erden and Julie. Lugasa walked on over to them carrying the kids on his shoulders.

"Good match. If you fight exclusively in the arena, you might be able to make a fortune with your skills." Jordan said, tapping Joshua's back as he joined his team. It was confusing even for Joshua, because he had an image of Jordan being a stuck up asshole but seems like he is a good natured person after all.

That was a bit different from his experience with the other Venerators. The 5 figures stepped out with Chairwoman Lee. Three men and two women.

"It's the top 5!" People spoke as they were in awe. The 5 of them were not necessarily aged figures, there was one who was younger than the others at 29 but it did not change much. They weren't Guildmasters or affiliated with any guild. Rather, they were working for the Chairwoman herself. They wore badges on their chests. 'Investigation Bureau'

Joshua froze in place, he could look at them but his body could not move. He could not even breathe, watching his stamina drop in huge chunks. Dropping by the thousands for each second the Chairwoman and her entourage were present.

Supreme Rule has nullified Berserker's Rage, however due to 5 other skills of the same type. Supreme Rule was unable to nullify them all.

Level Difference and cumulative stat points are not enough to stop them.

When they left, Joshua could finally breathe. Gasping for air as he fell to his knees. Everyone else seemed fine but it was more likely because they were aiming for him. Not in a hostile way but as a test of sorts.

"You alright?" Joshua turned to Jordan who helped him up.

"Normally people try not to stand in their path. It's because weaker Venorators tend to get sick or be in pain after spending that much time with them. The Chairwoman has the 5 of them with her as a means as a deterrent. Other countries have SSS Ranks but they aren't combat types. They handle more administration work and recon. Investigation Bureau is meant to help deal with Venerators that go missing or ones that work with criminal organizations. There's even a bounty board." Jordan pointed to the bounty board with faces of Venerators that have different set of crimes.

"Crimes?"

"Yup. Even Criminals become Venerators too or in general just bad people who want to cause harm. So the Bureau keeps track and tries to stop them but lately. You can see the board being full right? It just means that there are Venerators that sneak in to cause trouble. They may want to recruit a guy like you to their cause too. You might even get a Spire Quest with criminals too. So be careful yea?" Jordan's words were kind and this kind of thing was something Joshua had not expected but it just meant that there was something new for him to learn.

Joshua headed out to the location of the Quest Spire. This time it was going to be with a few D-Ranks. Should he try it solo or do it as a group?