1 Prologue 1 - Lover's promise
"One day I want to explore gates with you, and I know we'll make it. We'll pass the exam and become rankers in no time at all."
"I hope so, but this doesn't feel right. I only want to be a ranker to see the other worlds, not fight. Isn't it a bit dangerous to enter gates for a reason like that?"
"It won't be dangerous, because I'll be with you, along with our future teammates. Let's just go inside and get our license, if you really don't want to be a ranker, you can just have the license as a sort of trophy."
We walked inside the largest building in the state, greeted by a pure white floor and a ceiling three times as tall as me.
About five minutes after we arrived, a voice sounded over a speaker. "Gabriel and Hanna, please come to the front desk to be escorted to the exam room"
"Come on, we shouldn't keep them waiting."
"I'm sure a bit of waiting would be fine, Gabe"
We got up and walked over to the front desk.
"Gabriel and Hanna."
"Hi! I'm Charlotte, I'll be the one supervising your exam today. If you could, please follow me to the back."
We all started going back, following after Charlotte.
'*-She seems pretty cheery, probably new.'
"What? Hello?"
"While we're walking, I'll tell you about the exam. For starters, there are ten portions, but you'll most likely only be doing about three. Each part gets harder yet shorter, meaning if you get to stage ten you'd get a C-Rank license immediately. The lowest rank license you can get is rank E, with an F being a disqualification. During the first two stages you will be sparring with another applicant, f you win against both of them you will be able to go to the next stage. If you pass the third stage you will be given an E-Rank license and giving up here wouldn't lose you your license. The third stage onward, you will have to kill a chimera which scales in rank based on your current stage. That's about all. Since you came here together, you won't have to fight each other and you'll be using the rooms next to each other. Is there anything you need before? We can get you water, food, or training weapons."
"I'll take a glaive. I'm fine on everything else, but could I talk to Hanna a bit before we start."
"Of course! It'll take a minute to get you a glaive anyways."
"I'd like gauntlets please"
"Sure thing! It will only take a minute."
Charlotte left us next to two doors with a bench in between.
"Are you still nervous, Hanna?"
"Yes, but not as much. I at least feel confident I can get to the third stage. Besides, if I fail, I can just try again next month"
"Good, I know you'll do well."
Charlotte came as fast as she left.
"Here you go, you can enter either of the rooms now!"
She handed us our weapons and gestured towards the doors.
"See you on the other side.", I said to Hanna as i walked into a pitch black room.
A new monotone voice could be heard over the speakers, "The lights will turn on and the wall separating both sides of the room will open in five seconds, not that you could see it in this light"
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I could see another person across the room, roughly 60 feet away. He was holding a rudimentary sword and using a basic stance that anyone could break with a bit of time.
He rushed at me, brimming with confidence and with a cocky smile that said "This is child's play"
I used a basic thrust once he got in range, knocking him on his ass.
"You alright? Seemed like that really hurt, do you think you might puke?"
"SH-SHUT THE HELL UP! FIGHT ME AGAIN AND WE'LL SEE WHO'S HURTING!"
An astounding response from a basic taunt.
'-*Didn't have to hit him while he was down, both figuratively and literally.'
'Who in the righteous fuck? Am I a schizo now too?'
'-*You bet. You've officially gone mad. But at least there's nowhere to go but up.'
"QUIT FUCKING STARING AT ME, YOU FUCKING ASS-HAT."
"Aren't you the one who needs to leave, though? I didn't lose yet."
"PIECE OF-"
He started pushing himself up and hobble-ran over to the door.
The wall in the center of the room started closing with the lights dimming with them.
The same monotone voiced started again, "You know the drill, five seconds and you fight."
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The lights turned back on, revealing a tall, handsome man with white hair wielding a kusarigama.
'-*You're taking being a 'schizo' quite calmly, maybe you really are mad?'
'Well, I'm kinda busy. I'll go through all five stages of grief later, Zoe.'
'-*Zoe?'
'That's you, now be quiet for a bit.'
Foo swung his weapon at me as I caught the chain on my glaive and planted both weapons in the floor.
I looked up to a seemingly empty room.
Spinning around, I haphazardly threw a punch that just so happened to hit, but I didn't stop with one.
Leaping forward, I grabbed something invisible and pinned it to the ground, punching it over and over until it either fainted or resigned.
"I GIVE UP!"
Almost as soon as I started attacking, Foo cried out resigning, and became visible once again.
I got up, watched him leave with his weapon, and the wall closed once again, but this time the lights stayed on.
I dug my weapon out of the floor and waited for the monotone voice to sound one again.
"Five seconds, then you'll start."
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The wall open again, showing what it once hid. A chimera goblin the same height as me stood across the room watching me, waiting for an opportunity to attack. While chimera goblins may be too stupid to build a proper civilization and make a language of their own, their battle IQ is higher than most adults.
I turned around to try and get the chimera goblin to make the first move. It made one step, then two, and when it saw I showed no sign of turning around, or even flinching at its footsteps, it started rushing towards me.
The chimera goblin attempted to plunge its wooden short-sword into me, but I spun back around and deflected the blow using the pole of my glaive, and using the blade to decapitate the chimera goblin.
"I quit.", I said, leaving the room before the monotone voice got a chance to respond.
"Congratulations! Great job on passing the exam!", Charlotte praised me for passing the exam and gave me a license.
"Already? I thought it would take a while to actually get my license, or at least a couple minutes."
"Your license automatically updates and identifies its owner, we could have given you any of the thousands of cards we have and it would have been the same so there was no need to wait!"
Hanna left her room with a proud smile on her face.
"Good job, I knew you could do it."
"Did you pass too, Gabe?"
Charlotte started handing Hanna her license.
"Of course, I wouldn't just leave you to be a ranker all by yourself."
'-*Sorry to ruin your celebration, but there's something important we need to talk about. Find somewhere to talk soon. Like today soon."
