Giant... pain in my ass is what you are!

Thankfully, the guild has a large variety of mounts that you can buy or rent( I'll be renting one for now since I'm broke and all). They have quality's here that go from F rank to D + rank.

Why does stuff around here only go up to D+?

I walk into the stables located to the left of the main buildings entrance and immediately my eyes fall upon.... a unicorn( it's quite big, it's horn is in a spiral shape, and looks like it's made of silver

"Are you interested in that particular mount sir?"

A small boy asks from behind me.

" Is it capable of handling my weight?"

" Just because she's majestic doesn't make her frail"

" Is it available for rent."

"Of course, 3 days costs 4 silver "

That's almost all my money....

" I'll take it"

We walk over to a small desk located under a stair case and I hand him the money.

A small piece of paper at the top of a stack starts glowing and is absorbed by my tablet.

" What's that?"

" it'll have a timer on it for 3 days. If you don't return her in time, You will be charged a 2 silver fee per day "

" You'll also start to loose guild points if you take too long"

" Don't worry I won't be late"

" You better not"

" last dude that rented her tried to steel her instead of paying the full price "

" Which is"

" 7 gold "

" that cheep huh"

" cheap?!"

" never mind"

( it'll still take a while before I understand prices here)

It takes 4 minutes for her to get prepped for the journey. She's now wearing a black leather saddle with silver inlay.

I get on top of her and she doesn't even budge.

" Woah... she really is strong"

" Told you so"

I immediately depart from the stables and head towards the northern entrance. I've been trying to save time by choosing quests that are near the guild hall and this one will pay quite well compared to the other one( oh yeah... the quest is to kill a giant that's been hiding in a cave near the northern road and the pay is 7 silver). It's been killing adventurers and travelers so now it's rank is at D- minus. Hopefully the quest info isn't inaccurate like last time.

Thankfully this time I pass by the guards without a hitch and then make my mount run at full speed. She's almost as fast as me.

It takes 40 minutes to reach the location of the cave. I tie her up to a tree and make my way towards the giant's home. It's obviously going to be harder than the goblins I fought before but it's just one enemy. Ill be happy if I can take it down in two strikes.

I get to the entrance of the cave and yell out

" Come and get me midget!!!! "

It walks out of the cave with every step causing the ground to shake a little. The giant looks like a human but it has tusks and a flat nose. It's even wearing an animal skin kilt for clothing... it's also a little over 4 meters tall.

Without hesitation I cast my thorn spell and two large thorny vines burst out from under the ground and each wrap around its two arms. Then they retract into the ground causing the giant to kneel.

Expecting for this to be over with a single swing of my sword I jump up, and swing down my blade. Before it can hit, the giant lifts itself from the ground snapping the vines and grabs my sword with its bare hands.

Wut?

It then proceeds to lift its hands up attempting to launch the sword back into me.

I don't let go of the sword and get launched back with it. I fly 30 meters and smash through an oak tree before rolling back onto my feet, sword still in hand.

I cast three fireballs and launch them at its head.

It doesn't seem very fast so it probably won't be able to dodge.

Turns out it didn't have to, it's face only got a little burnt like when you touch a hot stove with your bare hands for a few seconds.

I then burrow it down a little into the ground and then launch 5 basket ball sized rocks at it using earth magic. Then I run straight towards it and swing my sword from left to right using one hand, while using hydro strike with the other. Before any of my attacks can reach it, it dodges me by jumping up.

I stop and stay standing there having missed all three of my attacks and the giant prepares to stomp me mid air.

It's attack manages to hit me which, to my surprise, caused a huge ass crack to appear on my chest. It then grabs my left leg and throws me.

I land in a lake nearby and use water magic to quickly move to tiny beach.

Then I heal my wound with earth magic.

This is getting no where... I can totally kill it but it'll take a while.

I can hear the giants foot steps getting closer and finish formulating my plan.

It's moves two trees out of its way as it looks around clearly trying to find me.

From behind a large boulder smashes into it

And a sword pierces it's lower right abdomen.

Looks like a surprise attack will work after all.

It swings its arm back trying to swat me away like a fly but I open the ground under me, fall into the hole, then raise the ground to fly out like a canon ball. I give it a direct hit to its left eye Which makes it keel over in pain.

I'll finish this now you gigantic..... waste of time.

I raise my sword and slice its head clean in half.

I got 4 whole lvls from him.

Goddamn it, the quest info was definitely off again. There's no way a mob one rank higher than me caused me this much trouble.

I better get paid extra for this.

I take a picture of me tea bagging it and collect it's mana stone. This one is the size of a baseball and a very light blue almost purple.

Then return to where I'd left my mount.

As I reach her location I'm surprised to see....

The corpses of 4 hobs near her. With stab and slash marks around their bodies and blood on her entire horn.

Damn....

I mount her again and return to the guild.

This time the guards give me wary looks as I pass them.

I return to the stable and leave her in their care. Hopefully I don't have to pay extra for a wash.

I return to Patricia as she says to me,

" Still in one piece I see"

" Yes, being made of dirt has its benefits. I can repair any damage as long as my core isn't destroyed"

" So was it as easy for you as I thought?"

" Easy... that fight dragged on forever. My magic did almost nothing against it and it clearly out matched me in strength"

" But your one rank abo.... was that really just a D- rank monster?"

" Give me the mana stone you got from it"

" Why"

" Just do it" She had a serious look.

I remove the stone from inside of me and place it in her hand.

" Yeah the quest information was faulty"

" That monster must have leveled up these past few days because you just took down a D+ rank monster"

" Well it was a long fight but not necessarily a hard one"

" You must be just shy of D+ rank yourself then"

" Cool, can I get payed now?"

" Of course "

" Oh yeah, you still haven't presented the photographic evidence yet"

I proceed to insert my tablet into the registry and the image pops up on her screen.

She returns with a payment of 11 silver coins.

" This is 5 over what the quest said"

" You did take down a monster 2 ranks higher than yourself.... officially"

" What do you mean"

" I'll just come out and say it, would you like to take the ranking test?"

" What's that"

" Just completing quests isn't enough to rank up. You need to be tested by an instructor so they can allow you to rank up"

" If you take the test you'll automatically become a D+ rank... if you pass"

" Really ... you'd do that for me"

" Of course.... I get 15% of the fee if I'm the one who recommended you and you pass"

" How much is the test"

" It's 20 silvers"

" Can't afford it"

" How about this... if you go to the second floor where all the ranks C- through B ranks are. There's this fighting ring that's always populated. Just set a challenge and bet on yourself"

"I'll only spare 10 silvers"

" That's fine... if your as good as I think you are, you'll come out of there with gold in your pockets"

" I don't have pockets"

" You know what I mean dummy"

" Are you sure?"

" Of course, it's not like you'll die if you lose or anything"

I turn around and start on my way to the challenge room.

I stop in my tracks remembering how the fight with the D+ rank giant went. A D+ rank adventurer would be way stronger than that.

I go to the second floor armory to prepare for the fight.

I'm long overdue for an upgrade.