Orange lines began to appear in the ball shortly after Karen injected her mana into it. Over time, the lines began to blend into the common language.

Karen's stats appeared in the black sphere after a few moments. All of the other mercenaries in the hall could see them.

Vitality – F

Endurance – E

Strength – F

Agility – F

Mana – F

Intelligence – E

There were several tools like this one for measuring stats in both hell and on Earth. These tools could only grade a person's status, and only the blessed could accurately estimate their values using identification.

The reason for Karen's and Eliza's surprised expressions was the Intelligence and Endurance stats, both of which were rated E.

Karen and Eliza both used identification to recheck Karen's status window several times, and the information displayed never changed. This was further perplexing them because the system was supposed to accurately display their physical prowess.

"Ha, you just barely passed," The Lamia sneered at Karen, "you should consider yourself lucky. Let’s see if the same could be said for your companion.”

Karen decided to look into it after they were finished for the day. She stepped back from the sphere, and Eliza approached.

Eliza put her hands on the black sphere and infused it with some of her mana. Again, orange lines appeared and began to transform into the common language. Eliza's stats were displayed on the sphere after some time. This time, unlike Karen, the stats did not differ from those in the status.

Karen decided to look into it after they were finished for the day. She stepped back from the sphere, and Eliza approached.

Eliza put her hands on the black sphere and infused it with some of her mana. Again, orange lines appeared and began to transform into the common language. Eliza's stats were displayed on the sphere after some time. This time, unlike Karen, the stats did not differ from those in the status.

Vitality – F

Endurance – F

Strength – F

Agility – F

Mana – E

Intelligence – E

"Well, it appears that you both just barely passed the threshold." In a crestfallen tone, the Lamia said. Eliza glared at her to which she replied with a playful smirk.

"This will determine whether or not you have a bounty placed on you."" The Lamia pulled out a small golden card this time.

There was no reaction in the card when Karen and Eliza injected some of their mana into it.

"It appears that you two are not criminals." Now that the formalities have been completed, please allow me to distribute your guild cards." The Lamia said this in a dull tone as if she was expecting something exciting to happen. "Wait until I finish preparing your Guild cards," she said, returning to her work.

Karen and Eliza began to look around the hall because they had nothing to do. The hall had become noisy again after their stats were determined, but a few monsters were staring at them with an evil glint in their eyes.

Around the hall, there were a variety of intelligent monster species. Their hierarchy appeared to be predetermined, as evidenced by the fact that it was easily discernible. The stronger ones occupied the center space, while the weaker ones sat or stood on the sides. A timid cat person standing to the side approached them soon after.

"You seem to be new here; why don't you join us?" the black-haired cat boy suggested. He appeared to be quite young, only about fifteen years old.

'What do you think, Eliza?'

‘We don’t have anywhere else to go and also need information about places here. They will also be helpful in finding a suitable inn. Let’s temporarily get along with them’

"Won't associating with strangers like us cause problems for you?" Eliza asked as she masked her voice.

“Ah, no. The stronger ones mostly ignore the younger and weaker ones. Moreover, sticking together provides a better chance of survival during missions”

“Then lead the way” this time Karen replied. The cat boy led them to his group. There were four other cat people along with him in his group. They were all young, two boys and two girls.

Eliza glanced at Karen, ‘They won’t last long outside the city'.

‘Yep’

Eliza sighed. 'Young people thinking they're going to make it big by killing a few monsters.'

Karen just slightly nodded her head. She had seen a lot of these kinds of young ones.

It wasn’t that Karen and Eliza were underestimating them, but these cats were just that weak. They both had survived till now because of the experience they had gained from countless battles. If it was someone else in their place, they would have died a hundred times by now.

“Let me introduce ourselves. I am Dij and these are my friends. We all joined the guild a few days ago to become brave mercenaries. As you—” before the young boy could finish the introductions he was interrupted by the receptionist Lamia.

“Alectrona and Selene, your cards are ready!”

“Sorry Dij. We will come back in a few moments” saying this Eliza started to head towards the Lamia along with Karen.

They received their cards from the Lamia. The card was pure black and their names were written in the center with white color. There was ‘Probationary F’ written above their names.

“It looks like you have made some good friends. You will get along very well, seeing that you all are weak. "I think you should join their party, too," the Lamia said with a smirk.

“Are you telling us to dig our own grave?" Eliza asked her in a soft voice and with a look of innocence on her face, which was disguised.

“Ha Ha Ha” the Lamia started laughing, “I thought you were also as boring as your friend here, but it turns out you have quite an odd sense of humor”

With an expression of hurt, Eliza replied, "I am just stating the facts.".

“Ha Ha. That’s true. Hundreds of young beastmen come here every year and not even a quarter of them are alive after a year. It is even worse for the young ones,” now the Lamia was smiling broadly at Eliza. “My name is Mystis” she extended her hand towards Eliza.

“Alectrona. You can call me Alec if you want” Eliza shook the extended hand.

“So Alec it is. As you might not know, I have very few friends here, so how about being one of them”

“What will I get in return?" Eliza asked in her same innocent voice.

Hearing this Mystis’ smile broadened. She looked at Eliza as if she was looking at an interesting new toy. “I can help you get a few easy quests with high returns after your probation period is over. And looking at your outfit, you two must be from outside. I know every corner of the city like the back of my hand”

“I think I will like to be one of your few friends if you don’t mind her tagging along” the now excited Eliza pointed towards Karen, who was watching this exchange from the sidelines, without interrupting them.

“I don’t mind her at all. She seems to be the silent type so she will not be disturbing us” Mystis replied with her smiling face.

Suddenly Karen’s voice rang in Eliza’s head ‘Ask her about the black market. We have to sell the Orc weapons and buy a few new ones'.

‘Ah’ Eliza had completely forgotten about the weapons.

“As a toast to our new friendship can you help me out a bit?" she asked Mystis.

“Ask whatever you want,” Mystis replied.

“Is there a black market where we can sell weapons without getting traced?” Eliza asked.

“Everyone coming here asks the same thing,” Mystis sighed. She wrote a note and gave it to Eliza, “It is a bit tricky to remember the directions so I have written down everything here”

“Thank You,” Eliza thanked her and started to leave.

“See you around” Mystis waved her hand at the retreating pair. ‘Something fun is definitely going to happen’ she thought to herself.

The pair said their goodbyes to the cat people and exited the Guild.

‘So the demon won’t come after us now?’ Eliza asked Karen.

‘Not sure about outside, but inside the city, we are safe’ Karen replied with a smile.

‘Why are you smiling?' Eliza was confused by Karen’s unusual smile.

‘Your glib tongue works wonders on monsters here’ Karen replied with a smirk.

There was a slight blush on Eliza’s cheeks. ‘Let’s get started quickly. We will have to walk for quite some time to get there'. As she looked at the note, she began to lead the way.

From behind her, Karen checked Eliza’s status once again.

Eliza

Species: Human (Heroic Bloodline)

Level: 7

Stats:

Available Points(10)

Vitality – 7

Strength – 7

Endurance – 7

Agility – 8

Mana – 17

Intelligence - 9

Skills:

Available Skill Points(8)

Identification - Level 3

Inventory – Level 2

Mana Manipulation – E

Hereditary Skills:

Perseverance (Passive) – E

(Other Hereditary skills are locked)

Soul-Binding Skills:

Telepathy - Level 1

Soul Transfer - Level 1

Intermediate Regeneration - Level 3

Aura Disguise - Level 1

(New skills will be unlocked after your bond increases)

Penalty (Permanent) – As a result of the forbidden technique used by the hosts in order to preserve their lives, their power will increase 10 times slower than before.

She had not paid it much attention before, but now Karen noticed that Eliza’s Intelligence stat was less than what was required for a rank E. This was raising a lot of questions in her mind as the measuring device was never wrong.

“Hey Karen, what are you doing. Hurry up!” she was brought out of her thoughts by Eliza’s shout.

She wasn’t about to get her answers no matter how much she contemplated so she stopped thinking about it and followed Eliza.