Chapter 11: I’m heading out?

'It's finally time.'

Saransh was smirking throughout the way while he was walking towards one of the Top Clans in the vicinity. If it wasn't for the recent incidents he would have never thought about joining a Clan.

He was in the defense vault of Delhi, one of the most highly guarded vaults in the entire country. And it was only a day since he was discharged from the hospital.

"Pandemia! Sounds cool enough for me."

Saransh was thinking of joining one of the best clans.

The Clan building was right in front of him.

'I guess, the only thing left to do is to attend re-evaluation program and most of the clans would be begging to recruit me. Hehe!'

That was source of his confidence as well as the grin on his face.

Every clan conducts a re-evaluation once the huntsman requests for it. It is conducted so that the huntsman could apply for more gruesome quests with various ranks.

'Well! It's my turn now!'

Saransh entered the clan building as soon as he shown his huntsman licence. He went straight for the counter. Because of the recent turn of events, the clan building was almost empty.

"Can you please arrange for re-evaluation!"

"Oh! Yes sir, would you please hand over your licence."

Saransh handed over his license and the receptionist started looking for the details.

"Sir, since you are not part of the clan your bill would be sent to the Huntsman association. Is that ok with you?"

"Sure, Sure"

"Ok then please head to counter 3, You can have re-evaluation there!"

"Oh! Thank You"

Saransh started getting nervous this time around as soon as he walked towards the counter.

'Exams are always my weakness!'

*Sigh*

'It isn't that big of a line, I guess this counter is reserved for outsiders'.

There were only three more huntsmen waiting in front of the counter. Two men and a woman precisely.

'I think those guys have pretty high levels.'

To anyone from the outside, they were wearing high ranking equipment and only high level huntsmen could afford something like that.

"Hey! Guys, is this seat taken?"

Saransh asked while pointing towards the seat beside them.

"No! No! Go ahead". The guy who appeared to be the leader of the group replied.

Saransh took a peek at the room inside the counter and then took a seat. His anxiety was reaching its peak.

Seeing him in distress, the same guy asked.

"Hey! I'm Rahul and I'm a swordsman what about you".

"Hi! I'm Saransh and I'm a dismantler."

Saransh replied to Rahul without a second thought since he was used to saying that.

The three huntsmen looked at each other with surprise and then Rahul asked with curiosity.

"Brother! Wouldn't it be too hard for a dismantler to take the re-evaluation test?"

"My mistake! I used to be a dismantler and that come out!"

"No problem! I thought so!"

Rahul replied as soon as he was convinced.

"Are you guys all together?"

Saransh asked this time.

"Yes! We are running a small clan of our own! And I'm the Clan Master"

"This is Aman and Shilpa, they are also with me!"

Saransh understood what was going on. Usually small clans don't have infrastructure to conduct a test which is directly affiliated with the Huntsmen Association. So these clans, run these tests at the other prominent clans.

'But even then, having a clan is quite a big thing, since the clan has to fulfil the pre-requisites from the Association.'

"That's nice, and you guys are probably here for Shilpa's test, if I'm not wrong?", Saransh asked.

Rahul was quite surprised.

"Infact, yes we are!", Rahul replied.

"I thought so". Saransh was hoping that they won't take much time and his wish was granted.

"Well, Shilpa is my sister, and we thought of accompanying her…"

*TRGG* *TRGG*

Before Rahul could complete, an alarm beeped which indicated for the next person to step in.

"I'm going in, wish me good luck."

Shilpa stood up and prepared to enter.

"Don't worry! We will accompany you!". Rahul reassured her.

Rahul and Aman were planning to enter the room for relieving Shilpa's tension.

"Okay! Bhayya". Shilpa's face lightened up a little.

"Can I also come in?". It was Saransh who asked it.

"You see, I'm also a little bit nervous since I have been a dismantler so far."

"Sure brother, if that helps you". Rahul replied.

Normally other huntsmen wouldn't permit such a situation, but Rahul was kind enough to accept it.

"Thank you brother, you are a life saver!".

And then they all entered the room together. Saransh swiped away the notification which he received on his watch because he thought it might be Mira teasing her.

The test room had quite a number of instruments which all had one purpose, to evaluate the huntsmen. There were separate instruments for each weapons but all of them were connected to a single machine which did the final evaluation. There were many instructors managing all these instruments. Shilpa headed towards the sword's instrument.

"Good luck Shilpa!", Rahul tried to cheer up Shilpa.

Shilpa closed her eyes and placed her hands on the panel of the huge machine which looked like it was out of a sci-fi movie.

"Please start channelling your plasma now!".

One of the instructors instructed her and she started doing the same.

*TRGG*

There was yet another notification on Saransh's watch. Saransh was finally getting annoyed and he decided to look at it.

*[ There is an unusual fluctuation in the main instrument even before the test started. ]*

*[ And stop ignoring me, idiot! ]*

Saransh now knew some trouble was brewing and headed towards the main instrument without a second thought.

"Is there any issue with the instrument?", Saransh looked concerned and asked the instructor.

"No there isn't, anyway let me analyse once", The instructor replied after seeing Saransh's face.

He started looking through status of all the instruments and his face also turned stiff.

"Pankaj Sir… Help! There is an issue!". The instructor shouted.

Pankaj, who had the most seniority inside the test center rushed towards the main instrument once he heard it.

Pankaj started looking the status of all the instruments.

"It appears that the plasma requirement of the sword instrument is surging and it is already above level 10."

Pankaj said after analysing it.

"But I'm sure that it was calibrated before the test started."

"There is no time left! Head outside and ask for assistance of a Swordsman atleast at level 5."

"Okay Sir". The instructor sprinted towards the exit.

Rahul and Aman who were listening to all of this were infuriated.

"Pankaj! What is meaning of all of this?" Rahul's rage was boiling up for every second.

"Sir, I can explain but this is not the time. Please arrange for swordsman as soon as possible."

The situation was dire. The instrument was power hungry and it needed the plasma energy of a level 10 swordsman. Since Shilpa wasn't level 10, her life was already in danger since the machine would suck out all her plasma energy.

Rahul and Aman were not swordsmen and arranging someone from their guild at such a short notice was an impossible task.

"Can I help?". It was Saransh who asked it.

Without a second's delay, Rahul grabbed Saransh's hand and pulled him towards the machine.

"What level are you brother?"

Rahul asked it.

"I'm level 5!". Saransh replied.

Pankaj tried to instruct Rahul on what to do next. But he didn't bother this time since he was going to get yelled at if he did.

Saransh wasn't mentally prepared but he didn't have a choice either. He placed his hands on the machine and started channelling his plasma into the machine.

A second after.

*[ You have entered the realm of Plasma. ]*

Saransh looked around to see he was all alone. This was actually the first time he entered the Plasma realm. Since he hadn't activated any of the instruments before he hadn't seen it so far.

"Thank God! I'm wearing something."

"Usually in Anime and all, people lose their dresses once they are inside."

*[ You don't surprise me one bit. ]*

Mira had gotten used to Saransh and didn't bother to tease him this time.

*[This is not your plasma realm. So be careful! ]*

Saransh didn't bother to reply but rather started walking.

*[ Head towards West! There is a very high concentration of plasma. ]*

"Okay!"

Shilpa's plasma realm was dense and there were huge trees all around. The trees had cylindrical top.

"Is that normal?", Saransh asked while looking at one of the trees.

*[ Yes! Since they reflect the user's inner mind. They can take any shape. ]*

Saransh started crossing a lake this time which was shallow but it didn't have the color of water at all.

"Things couldn't get any weirder!"

Finally, he could hear the sound of fighting.

*[ You can't use any weapon other than sword here. ]*

"Of course I know that!".

"Creator's space!". Saransh shouted so as to pull his sword out.

Meanwhile on the outside,

Rahul and Aman were pretty tensed up and Pankaj was trying to explain the whole thing. These kind of situations don't happen often and the chances are almost negligible since the instruments are always calibrated according to previous level of the user. But even if something like this were to happen, high level huntsmen were usually present in the vicinity.

An hour had passed and Rahul eagerly awaiting their return. Pankaj who was monitoring the machine was eased after seeing the status of the machine dropping to normal.

For them Saransh and Shilpa were standing still placing their hands on the instrument.

Saransh finally opened his eyes and then Shilpa did afterwards. As soon as she regained her consciousness Rahul hugged her to reassure her.

"Bhayya, you are embarrassing me!".

Afterwards Rahul thanked Saransh was rescuing his sister.

"Thank you Saransh! You are such a life saver!"

"Oh… It was nothing!".

"As the Guild Leader of the `New Era`, I give you my word. Don't hesitate to ask for help if anything bad happens".

"You are welcome!". Saransh replied with a smile.

"So! What actually happened?"

Rahul was very curious about the whole ordeal.

Shilpa face turned red and she responded first.

"It was nothing brother, he helped me defeat some mansters and then we were done."

"Glad to hear that… Shilpa!"

Rahul was convinced by the reply and didn't ponder too much.

"Rahul, I think I should go next".

Saransh was preparing for his test next.

Pankaj came up to him with a sad puppy eyes face.

"Sorry Saransh, we won't be doing any more tests until we get too the root of the cause."

"Yeah! I guess so". Saransh didn't get angry because he thought it would be just a waste of time.

"But as for the compensation we are ready to give you an E-Card".

Saransh's face lightened up.

In the world of huntsmen, atleast an E-Card was necessary for someone to cross the border of a state no matter what the level of the huntsmen. The rank of cards goes from 'E', all the way up to 'SS' and there are only 7 huntsmen in the community who actually reached that rank. The card was the measure of the proficiency of skills rather than level itself. The amount of plasma energy was worthless if one didn't have the skills to boot.

'Finally, I can head out of Delhi…'

Saransh thought to himself. It was the second reason for him to get this test done. Even though the test didn't happen, getting an E-Card was equivalent of passing it with a minimum score.

"Great Saransh!". Rahul commented.

"Thanks!".

"Actually we had an C-Rank quest and we are heading out right now. Would you like to accompany us? We are in need of a skilled dismantler."

"Where are you guys heading?".