Chapter 11

“Finally” Lemrod exclaimed. He had been waiting for his chance to register but unfortunately he had to wait his turn. He looked at the clock surprise at the time, it seems he had been waiting for almost three hours. He remembered leaving the inn called Elmundo at twelve in the afternoon after quenching his thirst for the cider; the only thing his addicted to at the moment. Hearing the receptionist at the guild office shout “next”, Lemrod headed down to her station which was at the very bottom row of the lined front desk.

There were ten receptionist male and female taking in details from Saints who wanted to join the guild, to take quest and earn varying rewards depending on the difficulty of the job taken. The whole procedure didn’t take long as all you needed to do was touch a glowing stone enchanted with magic and the stone itself will automatically identify your name, gender, rank and ability. Once the stone has determined your information, it will automatically store that data in the Guilds database among the other members.

Finally looking up from the data sheet she was looking at, the receptionist in charge of desk 10 looked at Lemrod with tired blue eyes. Her brunette hair in a ponytail and her cute cheeks in a slight huff as if she’s tired from sitting there all day.

“Long day huh” Lemrod started. The receptionist only smiled and nodded.

“Yep” she agreed eagerly. “Been stuck here since this morning, I would kill anyone just to have a break” her eyes glistened dangerously for a brief moment.

“Well you can kill the guy the after me” Lemrod leaned lower down to be closer to the cute receptionist as he begun to whisper “Not going to lie but he’s been following me since this afternoon, it’s been 3 hours now and he’s still wouldn’t go away. I think he has the hots for me, but honestly I don’t swing that way” after he finished, he winked jokingly at the receptionist.

“Aww poor you, maybe it’s because he’s not really following you at all and was just unfortunately stuck behind you because of the line” she agreed with faked sympathy. Giggling at his idiotic declaration.

After hearing the complete logical explanation of the cute nurse, Lemrod nodded while closing his eyes in a deep thinking motion. “Maybe, just maybe” he muttered trying to go for a dramatic effect.

Laughing at the strange boy in front of her. “Made my day thanks” she told him, her lips now curled up in a natural smile, which made Lemrod blushed. Not knowing what else to say, he just winked at her but that only made her giggle more. The jingle of her voice was like music to his ears.

“Here you go” reaching out to the stone next to her hand and handing it to Lemrod.

“Just touch it right?”

“Yep, that’s pretty much all you have to do, don’t let go of it until a blue pop up box shows up” the receptionist explained.

“Got it”

Taking the glowing stone from the receptionist silky smooth hands, he then proceed to held the glowing stone in the palm of his hands silently waiting for the stone to finish analysing him.

“So after registering, can I immediately start off dungeon quest?” Lemrod inquired.

“Well no, since you have just started we are not authorised to give you a higher ranked quest. You know, to reduce casualties. You need to be at least B Rank to start doing basic Dungeon quest. The Rank B quest will most likely involve you being sent on an errand to gather certain materials or ingredients found in the lower level areas”

“So how does the rank system work?” inquired Lemrod his brow furred and displeased at hearing the news. He didn’t want to do the boring quest and was more eager in exploring the newly formed dungeon. His adventurous spirit made him giddy and excited at the prospect of being able to explore and being able to find out the secrets and treasures of the dungeons. If things don’t work out he has decided to sneak past the guards guarding the dungeon entrance in order to fill his curiosity.

“Well” the receptionist paused dramatically, putting a finger on her chin and looking upwards recalling the stored information from her memory. “You accumulate points by doing quest and that’s how you rank up. For example each Rank E quest will be divided into different difficulties, the difficulties are divided from Difficulty A, B and C, with C being the easiest to do in the Rank E quest category. Difficulty A quest will only give you 25 points, Difficulty B 10 points while Difficulty C 5 points”

Pausing to catch her breathe she proceeds to explain again. “You need to accumulate 100 points in total in order to rank up. The next rank will give you more points compared to the points given on lower ranks, the reason for it is because is the rise in difficulties, thus giving you more points.”

“However there is a way for you to gain a Rank B status early, and that is by defeating one of the Dragon’s Descendants roaming around openly and showing it to any of the receptionist. We have the authority to override the system and manually change your rank status without you accumulating any of the points.” She finished professionally.

After hearing the last bit of information given by the receptionist, Lemrod’s face brightened up quickly and the previous worries disappeared from his face, almost as if there were never there in the first place. Seeing the change in the boy in front of her, she smiled relieved that the problem he seemed to have with the system has disappeared. Linley liked this boy because of his refreshing attitude, unlike the other Saints whose purpose was just to join the Guild and was not interested in small conversations, the day proceeded to be very dull and that made her job even more painfully boring as time ticked by until he arrived to provide a bit of entertainment.

“So I’m guessing after completing the quest, I can go to one of the receptionist here and hand in the finished quest to gather my rewards and store the points garnered from the quest?” Lemrod asked.

“Yes” Linley winked at him to let him know he’s right on the ball.

A blue pop up sign suddenly obstructed Lemrod’s view.

NameLemrod ChromeAge18AbilityDark Matter ManipulatorRankE

The bright stone then started flashing from green to red and back again. Perplexed by the strange situation and worried that he did something wrong he gave a questioning look to the receptionist.

“Is this supposed to be normal?”

“Hahaha relax” she laughed seeing the stupid look he’s giving her. “That just means that the stone is loading your information to the database, you should get another pop up telling you that you’re information has been successfully stored to the Guild’s database”

“Oh” Lemrod sighed in relief.

You're Information Has been sucessfully stored.

Thank you for your cooperation Adventurer.

The stone then stop flashing after informing Lemrod that it has been successful.

“Here you go” Lemrod then hands back the bright stone to the receptionist. After taking the stone from him, she then placed the glowing rock on a drawer under the table.

“After you completed a quest, you don’t need to hold the Information Stone to be able to store the accumulated points from the quest.” Reaching with her left hand under the table again, Linley took out a small black pocket book which has a black stone in the middle. The book was made from a very special metallic substance that’s very sturdy yet light. This type of metal was chosen for its practicability. The lightness and the size of the notebook would not hinder the Adventurer as its weight almost seems like it’s not their while its size makes it possible to store in almost any size pockets.

Curious about the object being handed to him Lemrod waited for the receptionist to explain its uses. “This artefact is called Monster Scanner and it has the ability to scan most monsters your encounter in your journey. It works by pointing the black stone at the intended target and the stone will then proceed to analyse the target by absorbing visual particles in the backgrounds and collecting some of its DNA signature. The Monster Scanner can determine the Monsters name, rank and racial abilities.” Linley explained.

“Ohh, that’s pretty amazing” Lemrod replied, clearly impressed.

“Yes, this is one of the artefacts found in the last floor in one of the dungeons after defeating the boss of the dungeon. Blaze Drake a famous enchanter was able to analyse the artefact and mass produce it, he’s also the one who created the Information Stone.” Her excited voice shows how much she admired Blaze.

“Amazing” Lemrod replied, trying to sound sincere about his compliment. Linley’s eyes sparkle at Lemrod’s reply and vigorously nodded her head in excitement. Her bright eyes seem to say “I know right”.

“Anyway” Lemrod began trying to change the subject. “I have defeated a dragon descendants and it was a fire type but the problem is, I used the monster core in order to use one of my skills; I can however provide evidence that I have defeated it.” Lemrod finished meekly, trying to explain his circumstances to the receptionist.

“Well, normally I don’t think that would be enough to get your rank to change but since it’s you I could probably make an exception depending on the type of evidence.”

“Hmm well ok”

Lemrod backed a few steps and begun to channel his dark matter, a dark aura begun to pulse around Lemrod.

“Summon Shadow Snake”

Out of nowhere serpentine shape begun to take place in front of Lemrod. The surrounding Saints stood agape watching the strange spectacle happening inside the Guild’s abode. Some Saints got into their battle mode, stood alert and ready. They all watched Lemrod like how a hawk watches its prey.

The summoning process was complete and Nyuu stood before his master, he was 4 meters long and as big as a grown horse. Seeing that he has been summoned and eyeing the spectators surrounding Lemrod, thinking that they were surrounded by enemies, Nyu immediately curled around his master protectively and hissing aggressively at the surrounding Saints, warning them to back off. Seeing the distress behaviour on his servant, Lemrod just laughed and begun to stroke Nyu smooth hard scaled feathery skin to calm him down.

Lemrod finally notice the stares from the Saints nearby, he just smiled and waved at them awkwardly. The Saints finally relaxed their stance, knowing that there was no danger and proceeded to line up again.

“Sorry about that” said Lemrod apologising at the receptionist.

“Hahaha, you’re just full of surprises.” Linley said casually.

“So is this enough evidence for an immediate rank up?” Lemrod inquired.

“More than enough” Linley reassured him.

Sighing in relief Lemrod unsummoned Nyu immediately.

Taking out the Information Stone again from the drawer she begun to manually access Lemrod’s Information and change it by poking the air in front of Lemrod. Bewildered by the action of the receptionist but did not want to interrupt what she was doing, Lemrod just shrugged and did not ask any questions.

“Alright, here you go, Check if your Rank has been changed” said Linley as she handed him the Information stone.

NameLemrod ChromeAge18AbilityDark Matter ManipulatorRankB

“Yeah it’s been changed. Thanks.. ehh—“

“Linley” Linley interrupted, knowing that he was going to ask for her name.

“Name’s Lemrod” Lemrod replied smiling and putting his hand out to shake hers. Seeing the gesture Linley complied.

“Nice to meet you” she smiled brightly.

“And you” Lemrod equally glad that he made a friend.

Guessing what he was going to ask next, Linley pointed at the Quest Board across the floor. “You can take a quest right over where I’m pointing, that’s the quest board.”

Nodding his head in appreciation he waved goodbye to Linley and walked over to the Quest Board.

***********

“Hello my name is Micah Frost. We noticed that you chose the same quest us. So how about partying up with us for a while, you know as the saying goes, there’s safety in numbers” said a petite girl with silver hair.

Surprised by the sudden question, Lemrod just stood there with his jaws slightly open. “Huh?”

“I said-

“No I know what you said” Interrupted Lemrod “but why me?”

“Well, you look like a powerful summoner” Micah replied.

Lemrod was about to contradict her observation but decided not to, he was feeling mischievous. Besides it’s not every day you can pretend to be a summoner, in fact he might as well be, seeing that he can summon servants because of one of his skill. It’s better to hide his real ability anyway, Lemrod’s not entirely sure how trustworthy Saints are as he does not associate with them.

Before he could say anything, a muscular man covered in steel plated armour who looked like he was in his 30’s came over. He glared at Lemrod and sneered.

“Micah we don’t need a Summoner in our group. Apart from they’re summoned beast, the Summoner is a weak class” he said coldly.

“Brother don’t say that” Micah protested. “This guy has a B rank monster as a companion and that alone would increase our chances of survival in the dungeon. Apologise to him” she glared at the man she calls brother. Seeing the glare from his sister he backed off and gave Lemrod an even colder glare.

“I’m sorry” he said stiffly.

Smiling “I don’t think that was a sincere apology” Lemrod said.

“Bastard” shouted the armour guy angrily. “Know your place summoner. Without you’re Snake, you’re nothing.” He spat.

“Brother. Stop this” Micah shouted, but before she could say anything else Lemrod spoke.

“How about this, if I win against you in a duel. You have to admit that you’re nothing but a little bitch but if I lose then I won’t join the team. Fair?” Lemrod proposed.

Hearing the proposal, the armour guy gave a confident look.

“Ok” the armour called Gilan agreed.

*****

Having move to a spacious location. Lemrod and Gilan stood opposite each other. Nyu was normally summoned and was glaring at Gilan dangerously. Nyu’s scales has started to change giving it a feathery texture instead of a scaly one. Lemrod surmised that it was probably due to eating a lot of Phoenix Chicken cores that the slight change in appearance has occurred.

Micah who was reluctant at this arrangement at first but seeing that there is nothing she could do to stop them, reluctantly agreed and become the judge for the duel.

Wearing a smug look Gilan brandished a giant axe and smiled at Lemrod. His posture confident and overbearing.

“Start” that was the signal. Micah stood in the distance and proclaimed the start of the duel with her cute timid voice.

Hearing this, Nyu wasted no time and slithered forward, charging at Gilan hoping to take him by surprise at the sudden movement.

“Stone Prison” shouted Gilan. A bunch of boulder suddenly surrounded Nyu and imprisoned him. Nyu let out a surprise cry, his body unable to react at the sudden change in terrain, slammed directly at the boulder in front of him. The boulder didn’t even crack at the force of the impact. Lemrod could tell this was no ordinary boulder, this was made using his ability, and it was only natural that it was going to be different.

“Nyu use Shadow Flame” commanded Lemrod. Lemrod is commanding at the back, keeping up appearances that he’s a Summoner type Saint.

After hearing the command, Gilan immediately used “Rock Magic, Fire Resistance Enhancement”

Nyu hearing the command from his master tried to use ‘Shadow Flame’ to break through but due to the ‘Fire Resistance Enhancement” that attack was nullified and Nyu became unable to do anything. Nyu was imprisoned, unable to help his master.

“Hahaha, you’re pet has been sealed Summoner. Surrender now if you don’t want to get hurt” saild Gilan boldly, sure of his victory.

Lemrod just smiled, wrapping his leg in dark matter he blinked forward and appeared behind Gilan. Because Gilan had become a skilled warrior with a large experience in battle due to him exploring the dungeon and facing different type of enemies, he immediately sense danger and used a defensive type ability.

“Rock armour”

Lemrod confident that he will be able to give Gilan a clean hit in the back of the head, wrapped his fist in dark matter to enhance the damage of his attack. However his fist only hit the rock armour, the damage was reduced to zero due to the armour beneath the rock armour covering Gilan.

“Ou, you’re quite strong brat.” Exclaimed Gilan, surprise at Lemrod’s speed and strength.

“Are you really a Summoner?”

“Who knows, why don’t you find out yourself” said Lemrod, in a teasing voice.

Swinging the giant axe with him as he turned hoping to catch Lemrod off guard, the axe hit nothing but air. Lemrod had backed away, putting a good amount of distance between them.

Not waiting for him to recover at his failed attempt to injure him. Lemrod conjured multiple spear that hovered beside him. Gripping one of the floating spears, he begun to throw them at Gilan using extreme force. With the spear boosted by the dark matter, each hits pack a punch that punctured and peeled Gilan’s rock armour. The impact of each hits making him step back.

Not wanting to be outdone by Lemrod, Gilan then conjured up floating boulders beside him and begun hurling at Lemrod.

“Shadow Clone, Defensive Formation” Lemrod immediately conjured a show clone using dark matter. The clone conjured held a massive sturdy shield made from the dark matter and intercepted Gilan’s attack, sacrificing himself to be used as a meat shield.

Both men show sign of enjoying the battle and a vicious smile both plastered on their face. They did not stare at each other with hate, they look upon each other with nothing but admiration and respect for the other person’s strength.

The battle ended with them both collapse and losing consciousness after exhausting their ability which put’s grain strain on the physical body.