S-Rank

"I heard a voice, sir." Adam replied. "The voice was telling me to destroy it."

"A voice, you say?" A rough-sounding man interjected. "Are you easily corruptible? Chaosbeings are creatures that feed on the weak minded, and they always try to manipulate those who are easily swayed."

"I don't think I am easily corruptible." Adam said with his head bowed in respect. "I don't think the voice belonged to Chaosbeing."

"Whose voice was it then?"

"It might sound silly, but I think it was God's voice." Adam slightly raised his head to look at the screen. "I don't know why, but I just have a feeling that it was Him."

The room turned silent as the Council of Mercenaries didn't speak a word. They then started whispering with each other; the audio was muted, so Adam and others couldn't hear.

At last, one of them started speaking again to Adam.

"You're still new and don't know better. Powerful Chaosbeings can even imitate the voice of God. We suspect that you heard the voice of the leader of the Chaosbeings. Only they have the strength to do so."

'I am just basically copying the things that one of the people who found the respawn crystal said.' Adam said to himself casually: 'She said that she heard a voice of God, but it was never fully understood whether it was really God or just the trickery of some Chaosbeing.'

"Don't be discouraged, little one." The person with the amiable voice said: "You are still new; there is lots of room to grow. Today, destroying the respawn crystal wasn't a bad thing. It was an important discovery, and destroying it was the right thing to do.

"It is getting late, so why don't we call it a night?"

"Yes, sir." Ron rose from his kneeling position, bowed once more towards the screen, and watched it turn dark.

"Did it go well?" Adam asked Muriel as she slowly approached him.

"I think so." Muriel said in her monotone voice. "I am not sure how this will affect your points, though."

"This discovery changes how the tutorial is done from now on." Ron said. "However, any respawn crystal discovery is very important as it inches us closer to the Full Clear."

'Full Clear, a fool's dream.' Adam chuckled to himself. 'I didn't think Ron was also believing in that.'

Full Clear, a faraway dream. There were groups that fervently believed that there was a chance to clear all the floors of the dungeon by destroying the respawn crystals scattered throughout.

Those groups spent all their time and energy finding those respawn crystals and then killing all the remaining Chaosbeings on that floor to make it safe.

It was a fool's dream, as it was still unclear how many floors in the dungeon there were. In the current timeline, only four respawn crystals have been discovered and destroyed.

The second floor's respawn crystal being the fourth one.

"You should go take a rest." Muriel instructed. "In the evening, the third lesson will start, and then the third floor will open."

"Right…" Adam nodded, bade them farewell, and left the room.

"Aye, aye…" Ron sat down on the chair's back rest and scratched his head. "It was supposed to be calm for one month, get well-paid, and then perhaps go for a vacation in the New Lake…"

Muriel hugged the clipboard against her chest and asked, "What do you think of him?"

"About who?" Ron stopped scratching his head and turned to her.

"Adam," Muriel said.

"Hmm…" Ron crossed his arms and shrugged his shoulders. "It is hard to get a good reading of him. I thought he was a lone wolf, but now I am not too sure. I think he might be a leader."

"What score do you think he will have?" Muriel asked curiously.

"It is pretty much confirmed that he will have an A-ranked score; I think so." Ron said. "Those two discoveries alone will put him in the B-rank, but he has also shown great fighting prowess for Coinfeeder."

"Only A…" Muriel pursed her lips and asked, "Do you think he will be able to reach an S-ranked score?"

"Mmh…" Ron scratched the back of his head. "I am not too sure; that is above my pay grade. S-rank is reserved for the best of the best. Do you think Adam can be one of those monsters?

"Konrad Moriarty is the current High King of the Mortal Online and the leader of humanity.

"Mauricio Slaughter, the guild leader of Death Mercenaries. He reached Grand Lord not too long ago and is on his way to becoming one of the Council of Mercenaries.

"Sapphira Everheart is the youngest Royal Mercenary in history, and she is part of one of the Seven Ancient Guilds—Dying Star Guild. She is incredibly skilled in combat, and she has already completed numerous high-risk missions with great success.

"At the current moment, she has the greatest chance of becoming the next High King alongside Calamity Black. Their rivalry in the future will definitely be legendary.

"Then, Arkham Everheart, Sapphira's elder brother, is also part of the Dying Star Guild. He is mostly in the shadow of his sister, as he isn't a flashy person, but in terms of combat prowess, he is considered the strongest of that specific rank.

"Calamity Black is the latest S-ranked person and has already reached Royal Mercenary rank. He is part of Death Mercenaries and has already become Mauricio's right-hand man, but we all know that he either takes over the guild once he becomes strong enough or leaves to make his own guild.

"He isn't a person who follows others, but he is a natural-born leader!"

Muriel stayed quiet during the whole introduction.

"Now, do you think Adam can be part of them?" Ron looked at her and smiled weakly. "I think it is too early to say. There are only two floors left, and unless he truly does something special to show that he belongs among the other S-ranked recruits, I don't think he will make the cut."

Muriel nodded silently and hugged the clipboard even tighter to her chest.

Ron patted her shoulder before walking out of the room.

"Sigh…"

With a long, thoughtful sigh, Muriel took a seat and looked at the empty screen that reflected the chairs and herself, barely.

"What shall I do…" She mused to herself and looked at her clipboard in hand, where she had reported the doings of Adam so far in the tutorial.

"Is that enough for him? Is that enough for me? No, I don't think it is…"

Outside the room, in the shadowy corner, Adam leaned against a wall with his arms crossed. He was hidden nicely in the shadows, as even Ron didn't catch sight of him.

He was eavesdropping a few moments prior, wanting to know how his score was looking so far.

"Something special, huh…" Adam put his head against the wall and closed his eyes.

The timepiece in his chest pocket continued ticking down peacefully without a care in the world. It was still ticking down towards the end of the 48 hours.

"Fine."

Adam opened his eyes wide and cracked a smile before stretching his arms out wide.

"I'll give you something special…"