The sunshine hits the leaves — a sign that a new day is on the horizon. A gentle wind blows through the forest, wrapped in peace and silence.
The campfire is dead, with no one around — just silence, smoke rising from its ashes.
Klaus yells with chaotic energy, "Wake up, Sebastian! Wake up, Sapphire! Wake up, Elijah! Everyone, wake up!"
Elijah gets up grumpy, his hair undone. He snarls, "Shut up, Klaus! You're waking us up as if we're under attack!"
Klaus folds his arms and adjusts his glasses. He scoffs, "Well, who knows? There might just be one."
Elijah grunts, "Why you—?!"
Then, a soft voice is heard. Both of them turn their heads.
Sebastian wakes up and murmurs, "Is this the first thing in the morning I wake up to?"
Elijah grumbles, "It's not my fault—it's Four Eyes annoying all of us!"
Klaus scoffs, "Yeah right, like you're innocent."
Elijah stands up, done with Klaus. "You know what, I don't have time for you," he says while leaving the tent.
As he arrives outside, he notices Sukiro still sleeping in his tent. Elijah smirks faintly, planning something mischievous.
Elijah mutters softly, "Water Magic." A huge pool of water forms above Sukiro's head — and it bursts open, crashing down on him!
Sukiro sits upright, gasping for breath. "Wh—why did you do that?!"
Elijah smirks, "It's called training, kid. You gotta get used to that if you're sticking with us."
Sukiro grunts, "What's the big deal, old man?!"
Elijah snarls while glaring at him, "Who are you calling old man, pea-brain?!"
But then, Sapphire interferes.
"Good morning, everyone!" she chimed with positive energy.
Sirius replies, still sleepy, "Good morning…"
"Today's morning is unusually lively, huh? That's good," she giggles.
Sebastian joins in, "Very energetic today — that's good for our mission."
Sukiro stammers, "We have a mission today?" he asks nervously.
"Well, not quite. We have to go to the guild first and get your ranking, then we can pick out a quest to head on to," said Sebastian.
"So let's clean up camp and get ready to head to the guild," he smiles.
The party cleans up camp and folds the tents, putting them back into their vehicle.
Klaus then takes the wheel, with the rest of the party chilling in the back of the vehicle.
Sukiro speaks up, "So… what are these guilds? And how are they gonna rank me?" he asks, confused.
Sirius replies, "So, guilds are basically hubs for hunters — connecting everyone. Hunters receive their ranking and Hunter ID from them. Guilds also have posters of recent dungeons waiting to be conquered, and every hunter is connected to a guild."
"But sometimes, we can go to multiple guilds to take different quests. We aren't forced to only go to one place," he adds.
"Ohh, so that's what a guild means. Okay, I understood that," Sukiro replies.
"But what about my ranking?" he asks.
Sirius replies, "Your rank is assigned based on how much mana you can consume in one hour. For example, Sebastian consumes 10,000+ mana in an hour, making him an elite S-Rank Hunter. There are various classes that depend on your mana consumption — as you already know."
Sukiro retorts, "I see, that explains it."
Klaus gestures with his hands, "Guys! We're here — the guild!"
Sebastian nods, "Okay, everyone get ready. Especially you, Sukiro."
Sukiro nods, determined. Let's see what I get, he thinks.
The vehicle lands, and the Emeralds slowly walk into the guild.
Whispers and rumors stir around them — their reputation precedes them.
"Isn't that the Emeralds?!"
"This is the first time I've seen them!"
"I heard they had a conflict with the kingdom…"
They walk up to the receptionist.
Sebastian greets her, "Hello. How have you been?"
She answers back, smiling, "Oh, I've been doing great!"
"What brings the great Emeralds here?" she asks.
"We want to get his rank checked. Sukiro, say hi," Sebastian chimes.
Sukiro nervously replies, "Hello… my name is Sukiro."
She smiles, "Nice to meet you, Sukiro. Please follow me this way."
Sukiro follows her into a room. At the center is a big crystal ball — the size of a human.
"Put your hand on this for a while. This will calculate your mana consumption rate," she smiles kindly.
And then, after a moment, a rank is shown… a rank no one expected.
E-Rank.
The receptionist smiles, trying to cheer Sukiro up. "Oh! It's an E-Rank. That's okay, though. Don't be too sad about it. Many people can't even absorb that much mana."
Sukiro looks down, disappointed. "I—I didn't think…" he sighs.
He walks out of the room with the receptionist.
Sebastian asks coolly, "So… what's his rank?"
The receptionist replies with a smile, "It's an E-Rank."
Elijah bursts out laughing, "An E-Rank?! Seriously?! An E-Rank?! Even my gloves rank higher than that!"
Even Sirius, Klaus, and Sebastian try to hold in their laughter.
Sapphire tries to cheer up Sukiro. "Now, now… it's okay. We can train and improve, right? Besides, you have all of us to train you!"
Sebastian asks, "So what's his class?"
The receptionist replies, "Now actually… he didn't have one. Which, I know, is unusual. So the best course of action is for you guys to train him and find out his class."
Sebastian nods thoughtfully. "Huh… no class. No problem, though. This is rare, but not dangerous."
He feels a burden lifted and sighs, "Well, guess
we're gonna have to train you now."
Sukiro smiles, "Yeah… guess we only have one option now."
They both smile at each other.