The Rankers Guild (1)

With a long red carpet walkway from the door to the white reception desk, two white couches opposite each other with a glass table between them in the middle of both sides with a circular grey carpet under each one, marble floors and huge glass windows on the walls. The building looked fancy and mysterious, the place was huge but had few decorations and not many people were around. one man in blue jeans and a black shirt was sitting with what seemed to be an employee facing each other on the couches, they were talking, some papers were on the glass table and the employee seemed like she was explaining things to him.

A man wearing black jeans with a long white shirt with black horizontal stripes walking slowly towards the reception while looking around with amazement.

That was red, he was surprised how big the space was when he knew that the building had four separated identical lobbies.

"Hello, are you here to register or assign a request?" the woman at the reception asked with a calm voice. looking around red noticed the odd uniform all the three employees wore, there were 2 females and 1 male. the man was on a computer that was out of view from the front, located beside the woman that was standing in the middle.they wore tight red sleeveless dresses, it looked like a dress someone would wear to attend a high class party and the man wore a black tuxedo with a red shirt, on their right shoulders there was a small black eye for the women and a white one for the man. From what red saw online, it was the logo of the rankers guild.

"Assign a request?" asks Red calmly, he wonders what requests could be assigned here.

"Well, it depends on what you need. in the stores outside or in our guild, some items, materials or anything needed would sometimes be unavailable. if paid for, a request will be posted where our rankers would accept and keep an eye out for what you need. it may even vary from minerals for building, pets of all kinds or even slaves of other races (elves, dwarves, fairies ...)." the woman explained with a smile.

"Slaves??" Red was surprised, he heard rumors about it but he never saw them. with their absurd prices only the wealthy and powerful can own one.

"Indeed, hostile races live in the dungeons, which is why several theories exist about it being another world. we were not able to comprehend their language or have any sort of communication. With the enslavement magic spell, a defeated monster or person would be put under a seal where all orders must be obeyed. a ban was put on using the skill against humans of our realm but not the other races, even if they don't understand our language the seal somehow delivers it. elves are beautiful and skillful with archery, high rankers use elf slaves in the dungeons as a party member to assist them, or for other sexual desires. dwarves having skill in being blacksmiths and item enchantment, they are being sold to big companies for production of many items. Fairies are small humanoid creatures with transparent wings, mainly being skilled in buff and healing spells, they are quite popular among rankers. many other races exist but they are either very rare to find or unpopular with customers."

Red was listening with interest, having slaves can save him a lot of trouble when in dungeons, he doesn't have to hide his powers or be stabbed in the back by others. it was a common thing, people would get greedy with the loot found and killing their teammates is the only pathetic solution they can think of.

"What is the average price for a slave?" asked red.

"For the healthy slave it would be around ten million to fifty million, depending on the race and skill." answered the woman with the smile still on her face.

Red nearly had a heart attack. He understood why he never saw a slave before and it being an unknown thing to most people. getting that much money and using it all at once was an absurdity for him, but high rankers can make millions from difficult dungeons, with all the dangers, the materials and reward for closing it would be in the millions, which is why high rankers would use slaves instead of other rankers. they can not risk it.

"Nevermind, i would like to register as a ranker please." asked red with a disappointed look.

"Yes of course, are you newly awakened?. please answer these first." the woman smiles then hands him a paper and pen.

On it, was the information needed on red, his name, age, current abilities ...

Red sits on one of the couches and takes his time answering them. In current abilities, red put the skills he purchased from the store (Summon Skeleton, Mana Bolt, Defensive Posture and Healing Touch). he couldn't risk telling them about the Dungeon skills and the others, he didn't know what the consequences would be and he didn't want to risk it.

After handing the paper and pen back to the woman he asks."If i beat a C ranker, would i be promoted?".

He wanted to rank up as fast as possible, it was the only way for him to start earning real money.

"Are you the student that defeated the ranker auston? i got a report about the incident. but i would like to explain something to you. Auston was a retired ranker, cursed by a wraith in an undead dungeon rendered him unable to control his mana properly and reduced his physical abilities tremendously, he was a C ranker on papers only, which is why he retired, the curse was removed but the effects stayed." Explained the woman.

"Understood, so what now?'' Red was disappointed, he thought he won against a strong ranker but he was wrong. He still had a long way to go.

"Yes, please follow me, we'll have to test your abilities and mana level." said the woman as she started walking out from behind the desk. she moved to a door at the left side with red following behind her.

The room had white walls, with a black carpet covering the floor, and in the middle of the room, a machine that looked like an atm was connected to a black box 2 meters long no wires of any kind can be seen.

"Please put your hand on the screen." the woman smiled once again.

red approaches and puts his right hand on the black screen.

White dots started appearing and moving around the screen and stopping on his hand.

"Please remove your hand now." the woman says calmly.

Reds handprint was left on the screen with the white dots, then suddenly they started moving again shaping into a number. (450).

Red was surprised, that was the Max MP number his status screen showed.

"Not bad, that's a high mana point for a new awakened. your mana is as strong as an E ranker. Now can you please follow me." the woman started walking towards another door. Red looked at her properly, her body was curvy and well developed, and in that tight dress she looked very attractive. He couldn't help but stare.

After entering, he found himself in a well lit room, with black tiles on the floor connected together with a white thin line, the walls were white, the room was spacious.

"You can go all out here, this room is enchanted with a time loop. being stuck in a certain point, whatever damage done would be removed after some time, so go ahead." said the woman.

red was curious about the time loop spell but he couldn't do anything at the moment. he raised his hand and shot a Mana Bolt at the wall, a blue line was drawn in the air and with a loud hit dust and broken wall pieces was everywhere, the wall had a large gap, with the sides completely cracked. The woman was a bit surprised, the damage was pretty good for a new awakened "That's impressive, so it wasn't luck that you beat auston.." says the woman. Red walks a bit in the room and summons Sol, he's looking a bit better, the first time he was summoned the skeleton had cracks and moved weird, but now the cracks are gone and it's moving more comfortably. after showing the rest of his skills, they both started returning to the main lobby, red looked behind while he was walking out, he saw the walls reshaping themselves and the broken pieces slowly moving back, he couldn't believe his eyes, he shrugged and kept walking.

Confirmation had to be made and tests were a priority. After being asked to wait a bit, red sat on one of the couches and started checking his phone.

'39 Missed Messages'

'26 Missed Calls'

"What the hell?" Red was surprised, his phone was on silent and he didn't notice anything.

He had 12 messages and 3 calls from Sam, asking if he was ok and talking about how cool the fight was.

17 messages and 6 calls from random numbers. From what Sam told him, some of the female students managed to get his phone number from him. most of the messages talking about the fight and if he wanted to hang out sometime. red wasn't interested.

10 messages and 17 calls from his sister and mother. After reading them he understood that someone recorded the fight, and uploaded it on the schools page which has caught the attention of both his mother and sister.

'What is this video, is that you??'

'What the hell, how did you do that, how long have you been hiding this from me'

'bro that was so cool since when did you get powers, all my classmates are asking me about you haha'

...

Reds school and his sisters were the same, but in different sections, they shared the same school page. He didn't know what to tell his mother, but thought he'd deal with it when he got home.

He called Sam, telling him where he was, and texted his sister back.

10 minutes later he hears the same voice again, it was telepathy "Everything is done, please come to the front desk". Red looks over and the woman is waving at him. He walks to her and she gives him a card the size of an ID, but it was brown in color with his name, age and a large F letter in the bottom corner.

The woman handed him a thin book, on the cover it said 'F Rankers guide'. it had all the information and the benefits authorized for his rank.

"Congratulations, you are a ranker." The woman congratulated red with a genuine smile. it made his heart skip a beat.

His journey has begun.