Ranking? What's That?

Despite his injuries, Liam was still celebrating, dancing happily about the room. The adventures that surrounded him stared at him in a different light now.

"T-that little shrimp actually managed to beat Spin!" said one of them in astonishment.

"I don't believe it! You think he cheated?" someone else asked.

"No, there's no way the guild would let that happen", said another ,"Plus Spin's a D ranked adventurer. This kid is just something else..."

Hearing this, Liam regained his composure and settled down. Although he was happy that he had passed the entrance exam, he remembered the warning he had received from Jacob.

'I shouldn't stay here too long, there too many people around' thought Liam as he eyed the other adventurers out of the corner of his eye.

"Ha ha, thank you for accepting me into the guild", Liam thanked the attendant in front of him ,"Please thank Mr Spin for me as well when he wakes up"

"W-what?" the woman blinked in surprise, still dumbfounded about Liam's results ,"Oh, sure"

With that done, Liam walked out of the guild and headed back to Momma's inn. He had some celebrating to do.

"I'm back!" said Liam cheerfully as he pushed open the door to the inn. It was way busier than he had left it, with customers bustling about drinking and eating the delicious food.

Momma was in the middle of taking some peoples orders but she grinned when she looked up and saw Liam.

"You passed, eh? Congratulations, boy!" she said with a broad smile on her face ,"As promised, you can have a room for the night and diner, all free of charge!"

"Nice! Thank you", Liam thanked her gratefully.

"Don't worry about it", Momma simply waved him off ,"Now get going to your room and clean yourself up, I'll bring your food up for you"

Liam nodded and ran up the stairs to his room. Momma had even left a note on the door handle with his name on it already.

'She must have had faith that I would do it' thought Liam happily and he went inside.

The room was small, with a single bed set against the wall next to the window. A small bedside table with a lamp stood right besides the bed. Another door on the other side of the room led to a small bathroom with a toilet and a bath.

To most people this wouldn't look like much, but to Liam, He felt right at home. First he stripped his clothes off and took a nice hot bath, making sure to bandage his wounds afterwards.

A moment later, Momma brought him his diner. A bowl of rice with a side of freshly grilled salmon and soy sauce. Liam digged in hungrily, scarfing down his food so fast he nearly choked.

"I'm glad you enjoy my cooking", said Momma as she took back the plates, which were now empty ,"If you wanna have more of it, I expect you to start paying for your stay starting tomorrow"

"You know I will!" said Liam with a grin.

After Momma left, Liam laid back on the bed and sighed.

"What an eventful day...", he muttered out loud with a small smile on his face ,"I can't wait for tomorrow"

Just as he was about to close his eyes and fall asleep, a message appeared in his Inbox. He frowned as he sat up and opened it.

[«Attention»

-During your battle with the berserker <Spin>, you showed excellent coordination as you worked with your familiars.

-You have received special hidden skill, Tactician.]

"Wait, I got a new skill!" said Liam in surprise ,"So, that means I can still earn skills from special experiences"

[<Skills>

-Tactician: upon activation, acts as an auto optimizing system as well as adviser to the skill holder.

Mana required to activate (once): 200

Mana and Health required to activate (at all times): 390MP

300HP]

"Although it sounds beneficial, this skill looks a bit dangerous", Liam grumbled unhappily after seeing the costs for activation ,"Guess I'll try it another day"

With that he closed his menu as his eye lids became heavy and Liam quietly fell asleep.

•

The next morning, Liam got up bright and early and headed straight for the guild. Despite the time, the place was still bustling with busy adventurers.

'Guess no one wants to be left behind' thought Liam as he walked over to a huge notice board that was mounted on one of the walls. All sorts of quests were posted there from picking simple herbs to hunting or capturing monsters.

'Wait' Liam thought as he realized something 'I've already done some of these!"

Sure enough, he picked at least three quests. One for collecting Fire fox pelts, another for defeating fanged boars and lastly, one for collecting herbs for potions. Liam still remembered his promise to Jacob of course.

Liam walked over to the counter and handed over the quests he had picked.

"All three? And they're all E rank and higher, you're only an F rank", said the blond female attendant with a frown.

"F rank?" Liam asked curiously.

The girl nodded ,"Yes, F rank. You're the guy that joined just yesterday, right? Well upon joining, every adventurer here starts off at a certain level, according to the power they show in the exams. You were evaluated to be an F ranked adventurer, so you can only take F rank quests"

'I'm an F rank?' Liam thought in confusion 'But I managed to beat someone way higher than me! How did I end up with the lowest rank?'

"I-I see", Liam stammered disappointedly ,"But I've already completed these quests and I wanted to turn them in"

"Hmph!" the girl scoffed ,"As if someone in the subclass like you could take down any of these-huh!"

The attendant stared in shock as Blu spat out the fox pelts and one of the dead bodies of the fanged boars they had defeated.

The attendant poked them hesitantly, as if to see if they weren't illusions. After some time, she accepted the items and went to collect the reward money.

The girl came back carrying a tray with a large brown bag. She presented it to Liam with a nervous look on her face.

"I apologize for my rudeness, sir", she said quietly ,"Here is your reward for the quests and may I please have your guild card to confirm completed quests"

"Oh, sure", said Liam as he took the bag and handed her his card. Liam opened the bag and peeked inside to see a bunch of silver coins, more than he had ever seen in his life!

"Whoa!" said Liam excitedly and he looked at the attendant and asked ,"How much is this exactly?"

"Two hundred silver coins, sir", she answered ,"One hundred for the pelts and another hundred for the boar"

'Great! Now I have enough to pay Momma and even some cash for some shopping' thought Liam happily.

The girl handed his card back to him and said ,"As per the rules, once you complete one more mission above your rank, you will move up to E rank"

"Really? I'd better get going then", said Liam and he walked out of the guild ,"Time to go pick some herbs and find out what's going on in this mystery forest"

•

"So this is the place, huh?" Liam wondered as he stood at the edge of a massive forest that stood east of the town.

The trees in front of him gave him an ominous feeling, almost as if the trees were trying to whisper to him.

"Well, there's certainly something strange about this place, I can't deny that", said Liam ,"Come out, Blu and Sky!"

The two familiars both came forth and perched themselves on either side of his shoulders.

Liam looked at Sky first and ordered ,"Go ahead of us and scout around. If you see anything strange, fly back immediately"

"KYII!" replied the mighty bird before she spread her wings and took off.

"Alright", Liam nodded and then turned to Blu and said ,"As for you and I, we'll go around looking for Mr Jacob's herbs. Just make sure to use your 'detect enemy' skill every few minutes to check if there's anything creeping nearby"

Blu bounced up and down to show that he understood and they went ahead and entered the forest. Just as Liam had requested, every 20 metres they covered, Blu would use his skill to check for any nearby enemies.

It wasn't long before they came across a small cluster of purple colored flowers at the base of one of the trees. Liam crouched down next them and examined them for a moment before he smiled.

"It must be our lucky day!" said Liam excitedly ,"These are fox gloves. I heard they're used to make common grade health potions"

As Liam bent down to pick the flowers, he tensed sensing a presence above him. He quickly jumped back, narrowly missing the jagged tree branch that had stabbed down at him.

"What the hell?" asked Liam in surprise as the tree in front of him moved it's branches once more and attacked him again. He quickly dived out of the way as he suddenly received a notification from his system.

[«Notice»

Quest:

-Defeat 10 Corrupted Fernil Trees

Rewards:

-120 Experience points

-12 Stat points

-??? ]

"Really?! Now?!" Liam complained as he repeatedly dodged the branches of the monster tree. As if to make matters worse, the surrounding trees, about double the number needed for the quest, came to life and closed in on Liam.

'You've got to be kidding me!' Liam cursed his luck as he tried to figure a way out of his current situation.