It was the next day, thanks to Vaniti’s rangers funds, we managed to rent out an inn. The city was bustling as ever, but the next place I wanted to head to that caught my eye earlier was, you guessed it, the Voyager’s Guild.
We entered the building, with Vaniti standing right beside . Her light armor reflected light cleanly. Passively. No more of the black blindfold from my cloth, but moreso different altogether.
She stood cleanly, silent as ever and always. Didn’t look the sa anymore.
Gone was the shitty old torn ranger rags. Now? Now she wore sothing that practically breathed in the spirit of mana and magic. Her new light armor wasn’t bad, or loud. Blackened tal, the perfect alloy for soone of her ability and class. Accented with a silver, and when she used magic, the accents would pulse, glow slightly. In a bluish-silver color.
It was sleek, predatory, and tailored to her body in a way that made every movent look intentional. Wasn’t here for delicacy. Here for magical calculation more like.
But even around the vibrant colors that sotis pulsated around the gauntlets and greaves, her waist was decorated with a dark cobalt sash, tied at the waist. More plating her hips and chest with decorative etchings.
I think those were glyphs, or maybe warnings.
All in all, she looked like soone who far exceeded the Guild Hall, like soone who belonged in the dark. Cool, too cool.
She took her hood off, and revealed her better blindfold. In the middle of it was a logo that was unknown to , I would suppose that was the nation’s emblem, Aurea.
rch for the country?
I give Vaniti a thumbs up, "You look lethal."
She only nods, a warm smile. Maybe she understood the complint, or took it literally. If she did, then that’s better. To undergo the feeling of being lethal.
I felt lethal once, but that was a long ti ago, and honestly, not my proudest mont. I’d rather try to gloss over it if I can.
We encountered a myriad of different people and classes, ranging from Wizards and Mages, to Hunters and even more advanced classes like Duelists or Specialists, none of which were as strong as .
I knew if I wanted to do anything first, would be to get registered at the Voyager’s Guild. Get that card, and move on. I’m surprised that even that still feels like one of the things from the past. Facing that Aurea Islands was never that populated anyways to begin with.
We ca across one of the clerks, a woman. Brown hair, busty, and the cleavage for everyone to see, literally. I forced my eyes to stay on hers. Brown, too, wow.
It didn’t last for long.
"Hey," She begins. Her voice and tone seductive, sultry. Is this legal? I thought they were moreso respectable and isolated. None of the Voyager Clerks I knew were like that before.
But who am I kidding, it’s Aurea Islands. Everything is new here for .
I clear my throat, "Yeah, I wanted to get registered here into the system."
"No problem, honey. But first things first...what are you?"
Oh, yeah.
"I’m a Dragonoid," I tell her quite confidently, but she scoffs, and even laughs afterwards.
"Alright...funny way to say a beasthuman..." She goes on, in her cubicle, she picks out two small cards. She must’ve assud that Vaniti was getting one too. Because I’m pretty sure all she had before was the Ranger certification, that was it.
But, wait, I’m not a beasthuman. I’m a Dragon. Dark Silver Dragonoid to be more specific. Do they not see the horns?
And you confuse with a beasthuman?
"I’m going to need you both to stand over here please," She motions for us to follow her, and we do. We are led to a part in the room where there’s a white background, which I assud they were taking our pictures for.
Vaniti and I stood there, there was a solid cara flash, and there, before us popped out a machine from the ground. It printed out our cards.
I picked up mines, smiling. Even in the picture, I was grinning. Pearly white. Stone silver hair. Black large horns. I think my tail even got in the fra (which...kind of makes sense on how I was confused for a beasthuman)?
The darting silver eyes, it was everything.
Vaniti picked hers up, but as I saw in her photo, she wasn’t smiling much at all. Not at all. That sa calm, neutral expression.
Scary.
She called out to us once again, "Almost done! This is the last part, the classification of both of your abilities!"
She led us to the front again, and there an orb appeared. As usual, we would have to put both of our hands on the orb. It would gauge our magic, mana, and entire worth. Thing is...I’m not sure if I want them to truly know the extent of my abilities.
Ah, what the hell. Let’s go for it.
And to boast, I’ll cut my mana in half to see if I’m as strong as I could be.
Vaniti went first, she put both hands on the orb. The orb pulsed a blue color, before forming to a bluish-silver. The clerk watched, and noticed. Then, when it was done, more information was printed out on her Voyager Card.
"A Nightstalker! What an advanced class!" She says surprised, intrigued almost. But even I think she knew Vaniti made truly no progression. She was just starting out.
"Vaniti, was it? You’ve been giving the rank of Apex. Prove to be strong, and you’ll enter the echelons of power real soon!" She complinted, Vaniti only gave her a blank stare back that sowhat confused and worried her.
too, included.
The whole...ranking system is based on 6 tiers. Initiate (where Vaniti should’ve been), Adept, Apex, Ascendant, Exalted, and Master.
Surprisingly, they are based off of the ranks for hardcore PvP, and yes, I was Master during that as well.
It’s been so ti since I’ve activated any of my true power, and when I was playing the ga of course I was Master, pretty much everyone living and breathing in endga content was.
But...I’m surprised Vaniti was given Apex, even after showing zero actual skill. Was it the armor that sent her over the edge? Or maybe her passive adaptation to makes her learn faster?
Don’t know, will think on that part later.
Then, it was my turn. I placed both hands on the orb and concentrated. Cutting my mana it half to fool the orb. When I opened my eyes, it went from blue, to silver, then pulsed dramatically.
I took both hands off, and the clerk’s mouth was agape, wide open. She looked at , shocked. I could only muster a nervous smile. Hopefully I’m not that strong.
Who am I kidding, though, right?
"A-Ascendant...?!" She slowly realized, and the commotion within the Guild Hall went silent. What? This should be pretty common, right?
I turn around, and everyone is looking at . Giving weird stares. I look back at the clerk, and she’s still shocked.
"That...shouldn’t be possible," she muttered, eyes fixed on the data.
"What?" I tilted my head, trying not to smirk too hard.
"You’re listed as Ascendant. With only half of your mana signature..." she looked between and the orb like it had spat out a lie. Oh, so she must’ve known I was holding back. Damn orb snitched on . Oh well. So much for a cool gimmick.
"Third-highest rank?" I asked, tapping the side of the orb.
Wait, so does that an with the other half I would’ve achieved Master? As far as I know, my abilities and magic still feel a little bit rusty to .
"Initiate, Adept, Apex, Ascendant, Exalted, and...Master," she recited, mostly to herself.
Then, her eyes went back to . "But Master or even Exalted has never been recorded... not once in this region."
I shrugged, pocketing the card.
"Let’s keep it that way. Wouldn’t want to break your machine."
And since I assud Aurea Islands was fairly knew, they’ve never had a Master ranked before.
"Let’s go, Vaniti," I motion.
"We are going to go tackle our first quest."
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