Chapter 43: Rankers Test

Chapter 43: Chapter 43: Rankers Test

Victor was led through the side door and into a wide corridor that opened up into far grander than he’d expected from the outside.

A young man in his late twenties was waiting for them near the front desk. He wore a sharp suit, a thin silver monocle sat on one eye, catching the light.

He had a kind of relaxed posture that only came from being comfortable with authority one did not need to strive to have.

"Manager Lee," the staff member said, handing over the card. "He’s got a priest’s recommendation."

Manager Lee took the card between two fingers, reading it with an easy, unhurried calm. "Ah. A recommendation from a priest." He glanced up, eyes sweeping over Victor once, twice. Then his head tilted slightly. "Your face looks familiar. Where have seen it?"

Victor scratched the back of his head. "Maybe from the news yesterday?"

A grin broke across Lee’s face, as his eyes brightened, "Oh! You’re the one who rushed into the gate to save that child."

"It was actually a pretty foolish decision," Victor admitted.

"It was foolish." Lee said it without hesitation, almost cheerfully. "But apparently foolish enough to win the hearts of plenty of people, including a priest, it seems. We like brave men like that around here." He clapped a hand lightly against Victor’s shoulder. "Come. Walk with me."

Victor followed him deeper into the building, and the inside lived up to the promise of the outside.

High ceilings stretched overhead, veined with the same faint blue light that pulsed through the walls, and the floor was polished stone so clean it practically mirrored the light fixtures above.

Rows of counters lined one side of the massive lobby, by then stood guild staffs weighing strange materials on glowing scales, logging item after item into floating screens, exchanging what looked like monster cores and innards, and pelts for stacks of currency.

"This is our exchange hall," Lee said, noticing Victor’s gaze. "Rankers come straight from Gates to cash in their loot here. We save them the trouble of hunting down buyers on the outside." He said with pride buried under the casual tone.

Victor hesitated, but then asked the one thing that had been sitting at the back of his mind since he came here. "What’s the fee? For the test."

"Normally?" Lee glanced sideways at him. "Five hundred thousand gil."

Victor felt something seize in his chest. Five hundred thousand? He didn’t have five hundred thousand anything.

He barely had enough saved to cover next month’s rent with his father.

Of course, a bit of cash would start coming in from sponsors as a result of being the top player of Dungeon Conquest, but there was still a while before that.

Lee caught the look on his face and waved a hand, laughing it off before Victor could even try to explain. "Relax. For you, it’s on the house. Call it a thank you, for what you did yesterday."

Victor blinked. "Really?"

"Really. The Central Guild likes encouraging the young ones, especially ones willing to risk their own neck for others." He kept walking, not waiting for a response. "Come on. This way."

They turned down another hall, and this one ended in a set of heavy double doors. There were people filing out from the other side in twos and threes.

A young woman practically skipped past them, cheeks flushed with excitement. "C-Rank! I’m a C-Rank!" she announced to no one in particular, and the two friends beside her burst into laughter, pulling her into a hug.

Before she’d even made it ten steps further, men in sharp suits peeled off from the walls and converged on her, business cards already out, voices overlapping in a rush, "young miss, how about you join our Ravens guild. You know we have four A Rankers, and they have all touched the outside world beyond the ring."

"Forget about him young miss. We of the Gavador guild have six A–Rankers and they are even rumors that a priest of the goddess of the moon wants to join our ranks."

Victor kept his eyes forward and followed Lee.

"Forget about it. It’s a normal sight around here," Lee said, noticing. "The Central Guild handles testing, awakening, and overall management of Rankers citywide. But plenty of independent guilds and teams operate outside us, and every single one of them wants fresh talent before someone else grabs it first."

They reached the doors, and Lee stepped inside briefly to speak with the operators waiting inside. Victor caught glimpses past him. There was a massive chamber bathed in soft light.

A minute later, Lee waved him in.

"Come on. Let’s see what you’ve got."

Victor stepped through, and the room opened up in front of him.

It was far bigger than he’d expected.

At the very center stood a crystal, easily the size of a small mountain, glowing faintly from somewhere deep inside its structure. Light shifted slowly beneath its surface, such that it looked like it was breathing.

"That’s it?" Victor asked. "I just... touch it?"

"That’s the whole test," Lee confirmed.

That makes absolutely no sense. Five hundred thousand Gil for touching a damn rock? No wonder people fight to work here. They must pay them real good.

Still, Victor walked forward. He took a deep breath in, heart thudding harder than he expected.

I am finally here. Let’s do this.

The operator near the console glanced at Lee, Lee gave a short nod in return.

Victor took a breath in, let it out, and placed his hand flat against the crystal’s surface.

Nothing happened.

Then, slowly, a faint light began to build beneath his palm.

It grew. It was not fast, but steady, climbing brighter and brighter until it was bright enough that Lee visibly flinched, bright enough that the operator’s eyes went wide behind the console.

"That’s..." the operator started, then stopped.

The light shifted. Blue, then violet, then a deep burning red, cycling through color after color, refusing to settle. It was not behaving like it was supposed to.

"Is it not meant to just shine once?" Lee muttered, leaning toward the operator without taking his eyes off Victor.

"It’s supposed to," the operator said quietly, perplexed but still staring. "It’s... never done this before."

The colors kept cycling, faster now, then slower, until finally, gradually, the light dimmed, and dimmed further, and settled into something low.

It became Weak. Barely glowing at all.

Both men stared at the crystal in silence.

"Well?" Lee asked, voice tight.

The operator checked the readout twice before answering.

"Urh.... E-Rank?"

Lee’s head turned sharply toward him. "E-Rank!?"

"That’s what it says, sir." The operator sounded as just as confused as he looked.