Ranking Up! (1)

PREVIOUSLY

"Let's do it together, Raegis."

"Oh right, before I forget, control your aura so that you don't attract every steel in the house."

"Okay." I could tell Raegis didn't understand why, but she trusted me enough to listen to me without asking. Holding Raegis's little hand underneath mine, we both channeled our energy into the scroll. Mine of prana and her of aura.

The scroll gleamed a quick flash of white, and silver, then it was done.

"Alright then!" The Receptionist chippered. "With this, the Society will be able to tell whether you died or not while taking this quest. Oh, but don't worry! The tracking doesn't tell us anything other than that and that's a Society's guarantee!"

"Have a great adve-Wait! I almost forgot!"

Raegis and I turned to look at the Receptionist. Was making clumsy mistakes like this a part of the act or did Illya actually forget? Thought for the bath. The bath system at the tavern I was staying in was surprisingly not bad and I knew I'd have to take a bath after getting rid of slimy, disgusting. . .slimes.

"Yes?"

"Would you like to form a party?"

Ah, how could I forget about that? The party system of the Adventurer's Society, and the main reason as to why the Society never has to worry about the many different Adventurer classes duking it out for profit gains. Okay, maybe never's a strong word but at least, they didn't fight in public.

There were 6 classes available for Adventurers, at least currently. Well, technically, only five were available since the last, and latest class, the [Enforcer] was more a class that only those recognized by the Society could obtain. A class that Raegis would later gain as she grew older, and became wiser about her origins and constitution as the Steel.

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With me as a [Supporter], and Illya as an [Attacker], even without the other four, we should be able to form a pretty good party since a [Supporter] mixed well with any of the other classes. That was why, later on in the game, [Supporters] were highly regarded, sometimes even more than an [Enforcer].

But, I didn't want to make a party yet. Especially since I really didn't want to attract much attention to myself right now. With the background of me as the Maiden, and Raegis as an incarnation of Steel, I knew it wouldn't be long before we both had our own little platinum badges. . .but that would only frighten the other talents. In fact, the person I had in mind for the [Wanderer] really hated popular people for some reason.

"Hm..Not yet," I said. "I still need 2 more. Then, I'll make a party. For now, just list us as a duo."

"I understand." Illya started typing away on something. "Alright then, your adventurer cards will be issued after you succeed in your first quest."

"Happy adventuring!"

***

"1 unranked quest. Objective: Kill 5 Slimes. Location: Outer Edges Of the Mystical Woods (Recommended)."

"Huk!"

"Just 5 Slimes."

"Hak!"

"Just 5 slimes," I muttered. "I should have really looked into why the outer edges of the mystical woods were so highly recommended."

It had been a long time so I forgot how the questing system worked. In the game, when you did little side quests in the Adventurer's Society, sometimes, you get the words 'highly recommended' in the quest descriptions to help you look for your quest item, creature or monster. And, whenever this highly recommended was paired up with quests asking for the clearing of monsters, it usually meant that the location they were asking you to go, would be packed full of the monsters you were supposed to clear.

A little prank from the game devs, but a life-threatening situation when faced in real life, especially since I managed to piss off all the slimes in the area by accidentally stepping on their young, killing it.

That's right, the slimes of this world actually gave birth to smaller versions of themselves, or slime young as we'd like to call them. It was also highly recommended to not kill a slime young or well, my situation would happen.

"Hgfk!"

Whoosh!

I relaxed on the tree branch, high above the ground, where I was watching my little attack dog do her thing with the rusted steel sword in her grip. This was when I saw how overpowered an incarnation of steel was.

Everyone knew that physical types really didn't do well with slimes, simply due to the law of physics and their gelatinous nature. Only the really physical types could bypass that law, having enough punching power to simply cause the little slimes to implode inside out.

But the usual sword and fist? Absolutely not.

And, yet again, before my very eyes, Raegis was cutting down many, many of these slimes by the second, as with a swing of her rusted sword, at least five slimes were cut down, leaving behind their monster cores. All of the slime cores were green because only green slimes really lived in these parts of the woods.

"Fuu~"

Oh, was she done already?

I looked down. There were still a lot of slimes left to be vanquished but it appeared that both of them were at an impasse. Raegis looked a little fatigued from killing so many slimes and if this went on, I would definitely have to go down and finish the job myself. But then again, the slimes were hesitant to attack again now that so many of their kin had been slain.

With my enhanced eyes, I could see that Raegis's belligerent aura was also somewhat influencing the slimes's natural instinct as the weak to scatter and hop away. Each time a slime tried to hop at her, Raegis's sword-like aura poked at the slimes, threatening them to kill them if they took a step closer.

Did Raegis even know she was doing that?

I looked at her face. "Of course, she doesn't." At this rate, nothing was going to happen and they'd just be locked in a staring contest for hours.

Looks like I'd have to do something. A lightbulb popped in my head. It was still a little early, a gamble but I needed to see if she would be able to do that, yet. Knowing the game's events, Raegis was still much too young to awaken that, but my influence should steer the story forward enough that Raegis should be able to do it.

"Raegis!"

Her aura was still as spiky as ever, but she managed a glance up at me.

I broke off small branches, twigs at most, before tossing them down at her. "Use those."

I didn't have to look at her to know that she was most likely sporting a confused expression at me. "You remember when I told you I'd make you get your revenge?"

She nodded.

"Well, step one's here. Get rid of the sword, and use those branches," I yelled. "If you're thinking about following me, you should at least be able to use those branches to kill off those slimes."

I decided to give her a pretty big hint. "For, everything you touch shall turn into the sharpest steel."

I could smell her hesitation, before her obedience to me won over. Or maybe it was her curiosity? For a split second there, I felt her aura spike towards me. Ah, she was probably going to lose all trust for me if my little gamble didn't pay off.

With her other hand, she picked up a branch, the biggest and longest one. Studying it around, I could tell that she was trying to discern if it was some sort of magical weapon. I felt sorry for her.

"I'm going to take a nap. Finish them off, or at least scare them away before moonrise." My nose crinkled at the smell of confusion. "Remember what I said!"