I woke up to see that Dob and Lob were still asleep and chuckled to myself.

That's what you guys get for partying so late.

I was feeling nice so I went out and got some food for me and the goblins from a very exhausted-looking Stella.

"How late did you stay up Stella?"

"Well, I couldn't go to bed until everyone had left so very late. I feel a bit jealous at your good night's rest although you definitely deserve it after killing the Wolf King."

I smiled, slightly smug about my victory.

I can't get too arrogant though Dob and Lob did help quite a bit. I don't think I could've done it without them.

"Well, thanks for the food. I hope you sleep well tonight."

"Thanks, James!"

"No problem Stella."

I headed back to my room and woke up Dob and Lob. They both covered their ears in pain and glared at me. They reminded me of what I think vampires waking up for the first time in centuries might look like. I made sure to talk very softly to not cause them more unrest.

"Do you guys want to stay here today?"

They both nodded their heads vigorously as if afraid that if they nodded slowly it wouldn't get the point across.

I chuckled, "okay then. You guys rest well."

They both gave me a weak smile and plumped back to the floor, out like a light.

I need to get these guys some beds or something. They're not sleeping in my bed.

I shuddered at the thought. I walked back to the Guild noticing lots of people with weary eyes that I assume had attended the party yesterday night. I opened the door to the Guild to find it empty except for a person slouched over the counter. I got closer and as I had expected it was Melissa.

"Hey, Melissa!"

A barely audible groan escaped her lips as she raised her head slowly.

"Ah James. What can I do for you?"

Damn, she can wake up quick.

"I just need a quick mission. Something new that'll give me enough credits to get to F Rank".

"How many did you need again?"

"I need 25 credits."

"Tell ya what, I can't do it right now for uh work reasons but there are a lot of monster corpses in the back room. If you could process them all for me I could pull some strings and get you the 25 Credits you need."

"Really? That's great! Thanks, Melissa!"

I walked around the back of the counter, ready to skin some beasts and get paid. The door to the back was unlocked so I just pushed it open. I made sure to be gentle though since waking up a tired Melissa seemed like a very bad idea. I noticed a lot of rooms and corridors branched out from this one but I saw a large pile of corpses in the corner so I put my curiosity aside and walked over to it.

Wait... how exactly do I do this...

I realized that I had no idea how to do this and a frown surfaced on my face.

Hmm. Oh, right I have Rune Programming. I can probably spin something up.

I looked through my list of unlocked Runes. I had Movement, Time, Observe, Bind, Parameter, and If. I thought about the combinations for a moment and decided to make use of the new If Rune. I walked up to one of the corpses and thought, "Rune Programming".

A while later I had a finished program which I happily finalized, ready to see my work in action. I watched expectantly as the skin of the dead wolf moved off of it and went to the side. I jumped in joy at my success.

This is great! Now I only have umm a lot to go.

So I kept repeating the process. It took me most of the day but I managed to do it. I had to program each of the corpses one by one so by the time I was done I'd gotten way better at using the Rune Programming interface. I wasn't sure what to do with the skins and the leftovers of the beasts so I went out to look for Melissa.

I found her exactly where she'd been earlier, still sleeping away. I lightly tapped on her shoulder and she opened her eyes and twirled around to face me.

"Hey, James. What are you doing here?"

"Uhh, you asked me to process the monster corpses in the back in exchange for the 25 Credits I need to rank up to F."

Melissa had a contemplative look on her face for a moment.

"Ohh yeah, I remember that now. So did you do it?"

"Yeah."

"Well how many of them did you manage to do?"

"Um all of them."

Whatever leftover grogginess that was in Melissa's eyes disappeared in an instant, "wait what? That would usually take me a week! Show me."

So I led her back to my pile of skins and watched as her mouth dropped in shock.

"How the heck did you do this James? Are you some sort of Grandmaster Skinner or something?"

"Ah no, I'm just very, uhh... very efficient."

"Well come by any time if you always work this fast."

Melissa moved closer to the skins and her mouth opened even wider.

"These skins. They're perfectly removed. What the heck?!"

"Well, what can I say. I'm pretty awesome."

Melissa didn't even bother retorting at me and just stood there for a few seconds.

A fly is gonna go into her mouth if she keeps it open like that.

I walked in front of Melissa and waved my hand in front of her face.

"Hello... anyone there?"

This seemed to work as Melissa turned her gaze at me with a look of confusion.

"I'm right here. Could you seriously not tell? We were just talking."

"It's just an expression. I was aware that you were there. I have eyes."

"That's what someone who didn't see me would say..."

"Oh come on that's not fair."

"Yeah well, life isn't fair. I mean look at these skins. I wish I could do that as good as you."

"It just takes a lot of practice", I said shamelessly.

"I bet. You must've been practicing for so long."

"Yeah. You wouldn't believe how long I've practiced."

"Okay well, you've earned the 25 Credits."

Melissa walked back to her counter and took out the same device that had printed my and my minions' Guild Cards and held out her hand expectantly. I put my Card in her hand and she slid it into the slot where my card had materialized in the first place. She then went crazy pressing tons of the Rune buttons on the device for about a minute and then stopped.

"Okay well, that should be it."

[Gained 25 Guild Credits]

[Credits: 100/100]

[You are now Rank F!]

I smiled at the notification.

"Yeah, it worked. I'm now F Rank!"

Melissa smiled at me.

"Congrats James! Now you can take on harder missions!"

"I can't wait!"