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NUOR, the National University of Rankers, a worldwide university specially built to grow rankers to protect the world after the invasion of the outer world monsters. People from all over the entire world send their children to the university, hoping that they would one day become the saviors of mankind.
Of course, aside from the worldwide university built on a man-made island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, other countries, too, have their own associations and schools to build their own rankers. These associations, sometimes, would hold training programs in collaboration with the national university for them to come to their country and participate in the worldwide training.
After the invasion of the outer worlders, children born are divided into a few levels, in which we call, ranks. From the lowest E rank, to the highest known S- rank, people fight and train to rise higher than the others. High rankers are able to join a guild and participate in dungeons. Rankers are then divided into classes, for example Swordsmaster, Archer, Elementalist, and so on. Some of them could even hatch monsters and train them, which the monsters are known as pets.
Dungeon varies from normal to extremes, from lower ranks to higher ranks. The Glass Mirror, usually white or pastel coloured, are ranked from between E to A rank; the Crimson Mirror, usually red-coloured variants, are ranked as S, quite rare honestly; and the most dangerous and least seen, is the Shadow Mirror, always black like voids, are ranked S- or even higher, once rankers enter the Shadow Mirror, unless they defeat the boss of the domain, they are unable make it out alive. Sometimes, Black Mirrors and Crimson Mirrors are disguised as Glass Mirrors and when the rankers enter only that they reveal their true self.
Among the outer worlders, there are some who weren't threats towards mankind, just like the elves, they don't like humans but they wouldn't bother to harm them. And deeper in the forests, lived half-beasts or full-beasts that are able to absorb genetics from the food they consume and become the monster that they ate. That's where mutated monsters usually come from. There is also another kind, the hybrids, new kinds means new love, some of the monsters cross-breed with their lovers to create new livings. Humans does the same though.
The existence of the outer worlders, means the existence of man-created livings, made from cells or even genetic. Some crazy scientists, for example the Blue Whale Corporation, would take powerful ranker genetics to create a new living from them. The productions, the children birth from the experiments, if they're stronger than their original parents, would be named Alpha (α); while others who were born weaker or the same as their original parents, would be given the name Beta (β). Betas will be released to the orphanages worldwide for people who wanted children to adopt them, while alphas will stay locked up in the laboratory for research purposes. Aside from human-human parenting, some mad scientists also tried letting monsters father human children, which mostly come out being half-human and goes feral when they're not restrained properly in their own cell, with electric bars and lasers.
Alphas are hardly found roaming in the world around us, since they're overpowered. But if you see a random child suddenly manifested into a very powerful ranker, or even a guild leader or sort, he or she would likely be an alpha, or probably, a mutant. Alphas usually awaken as S rank or perhaps even S- rank if they were to participate in the ranker trainings. Unlike normal rankers, they're made to be very powerful and unsurpassable, a very suitable solo.
Hybrids and mutants are different from alphas and betas, hybrids are born from two different species of beings, and has characteristics of its' parents; while mutants are possibly born from one or two types of beings, and with something wrong with their genes, which makes they slightly or very different from their parents. Mutants are almost in the same level as alphas, but one is born from nature and another is made by humans.
One thing that we, humans, hold onto, was the belief of better fate and future of humans if we are able to build powerful rankers to protect us. This is what we wish for, all of us, the whole world, the universe.
To achieve that dream, we need you to join us, the community of the rankers. We are born to fight and protect mankind, and here we invite you to stand beside us.
Welcome, to the National University of Rankers.
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Story begins
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Her eyes sparkled a crystalized tone of yellow as her gaze swept the large university compound from the grand entrance with her hazel eyes. "Another year has arrived." She smiled, blocking the bright sunlight with her pale hands over her brows.
She ran light steps across the university and into the main building straight north of the entrance, right behind the giant fountain with a statue of a rock-made man welding a sword and a shield, lined with trims of pure gold. She passed by the statue and opened her money pouch before throwing a gold coin into the waters below, into the fountain base, making a wish silently. She once again fixed her gaze on the magnificent main building ahead of her, a smile slowly forming on her face.
The insides of the main building was made of white marbles with black and golden swirls within, decorated with lines of golden in shapes of beehives. In the middle of the hall, stood the receptionist, in white uniforms and a dark-blue tie, behind the counter. The receptionist looked up as she entered the building.
"Welcome to the National University of Rankers, young miss." Said the receptionist in a soft tone. " May I have your name for registration?"
The girl gazed into the blue eyes of the receptionist's, smiling, she replied, "My name is Aiko, code number 00357296." She handed the receptionist a small file in black filled with her information.
The receptionist took Aiko's file and keyed her information into the computer, "Aiko, 00357296". Awhile later, she smiled and returned the file back to Aiko, along with a small card tied together with a string as a necklace. "This is your room card, we hope you enjoy the rest of your stay in the university." She smiled.
"Thank you, miss." Aiko bowed slightly, slipping the card over her head. "Have a nice day." She said, heading to the direction of the elevator. As a third year, 21, the last year of being a freshman, she had became quite familiar with the school facilities and directions.
She waited for the elevator to arrive while scrolling through her phone, eyeing the information and newest updates of her school. Despite being a freshman, Aiko has already reached B rank among the Elementalist rankers, which was usually achievable only when you become a sophomore. There was always exceptions though.
She felt a tap on her shoulder, and loaded for a while before jumping out of her skin, screaming like shit. Behind her, a male voice mocked, laughing silently. "You won't be able to survive if you reflexes are still this slow." He said, chuckling.
Behind Aiko stood a male in grey long-sleeved shirt, with a full black suit vest on the outside, wearing black leather gloves with silver buttons. His white hair sparkling silver strands under the dim lights on the ceiling over them. His eyes black like void, gazing deeply into Aiko.
"Hello, Bondo." Aiko forced a smile at him, holding back the urge to smack him to the worst. "Good morning."
"Good morning, Aiko." Bondo returned her with a sweet smile. "Your new code?"
"00357296." She replied.
"Cool, we are neighbours this year." Bondo grinned, leading Aiko into the elevator, looking like a gentleman. Aiko raised an eyebrow, doubtfully.
"00357297, Bondo, Swordsmaster."
"00357296, Aiko, Elemetanlist, archer."
"Welcome back to the National University of Rankers, we wish you good luck during your stay." Said the elevator bot as Bondo and Aiko lit their ID at the screen.
"Are you still joining defense classes this year?" Aiko asked, pressing the button to the 29th floor. She tucked her hands into her pocket, as she watched the fully transparent glass elevator go upwards.
"I am. Unlike you, I'm still at C rank. Joining defense classes are highly beneficial for me." Bondo replied, smirking at her.
"..." Aiko didn't bother to reply him. Why did she have to be his neighbour out of everyone??
"By the way, I heard they added swimming and diving classes into the schedule this year?"
"Apparently, yes." Bondo replied, crossing his arms. "Since the past few months they happened to find some water-based monsters roaming in the seas beyond the borders of our control."
"Are you taking them?" Aiko asked, gazing into her reflection on the transparent glass.
A young girl with black-and-white zebra striped bear-eared hat, a zebra striped scarf wrapping her neck, wearing unzipped black jacket on the outside, and a pure-white t-shirt on the inside, together with long black pants lined with a white vertical stripe from the side pockets down to the end, gazed back at her with hazel eyes covered under those black hair with blue fade of hers', filled with deep secrets. Aiko shuddered.
"We have no choice, Aiko." Bondo smirked. "They didn't give us a choice."
The elevator paused at the 15th floor, and the doors creaked open, they could hear weird noises coming from the small gap. Aiko assumed attack stance the moment the elevator door opened to half, Bondo drawing his sword beside her.
A ray of red light swept past the gap of the elevator door, it looked like the eye of a monster, perhaps a C rank or over, the aura coming from it was quite powerful. A low growl rang through the hallway, followed by screams of terror from humans, possibly students of the university.
Aiko pushed the half-opened elevator door aside and rushed out into the clearing, with Bondo following closely behind her. She attached a long sharp-ended feathered-arrow to her bow and held it up to eye-level, closing her right eye as she focused into the darkness, where the screams were coming from. She approached the darkness warily, gripping tightly on her bow and arrow. Bondo held the handle of his sword tightly, drawing half of the blade out of its sheath, a word "Time" carved in platinum sparkled on the blade body.
It was pure silence. The moment they exited the elevator.
"What the hell? Where've they went?" Bondo muttered, frowning. "They can't just evaporate out of nowhere, can they?"
"HELLO, ANYONE THERE?" Out of nowhere, Bondo shouted.
"Shush, Bondo!" Snapped Aiko in a low warning tone.
The red-eyed giant monster was just right ahead of them in the darkness, where human eyes couldn't reach, carved with a full body of black scales that could vanish into the darkness, and silver talons as sharp as blades, four slanted slit eyes in the colour of blood-red, just like those dripping from its' talons as Aiko and Bondo proceeded deeper into the darkness. Hearing Bondo's calls, it averted its' head, from the dead body under is talons, to the bright side, where Aiko and Bondo stood, opening its' mouth, showing the blade fangs growing within. The long red tongue of the monster flicked, saliva dripping down as it crept through the darkness, eyeing hungrily at the two living people in front of him.
Aiko felt like hearing steps treading within the ever-expanding darkness, her heart thumped heavily. Did the monster hear them? She clenched her bow tightly, adjusting the arrow onto it as she held it up to eyelevel, frowning as she squinted her right eye. Her hands trembled, as the sound of sharp things tapping against the floor moved closer to them. Bondo clenched the handle of the sword passed down to him by his great-grandfather, Shouta Omei, the legendary S rank Swordsmaster from the past generation. The sword gave a faint blue glow.
"..." The sound of the talonsteps were gone, leaving the hall quiet as if nothing has ever happened for the past few minutes. Aiko frowned, gazing around their dark surroundings, if Nanao (a friend of Aiko & Bondo from when they're firsts years, who was also a flame Elementalist) was there with them, it would be much easier since she could've lit a fire. Bondo closed to her side, assuming attack stance. They realised that they shouldn't have came out of the elevator alone despite being B and C ranks.
Such a bad timing that I'm not fire based. Aiko grumbled under her voice. It must to be somewhere here. She took a step further into the darkness. "!?" A drop of water hit Aiko's shoulder, she jumped. Bondo beside her startled, with wide eyes. Aiko tapped on Bondo's forearm softly before tapping her message in Morse Code (摩斯密码/摩尔斯电码). Something's above us. Be careful. Simple, but threatening, if the monster ever finds out that they've noticed it, they'll all be dead under its' talons by the next moment.
Bondo held the handle of his sword with two firm hands, channeling Silk into the blade. From the tip of the sword, emerged glow in pale blue, spreading down to the handle where Bondo's hands were. The place where the sword's name "Time" was carved, dyed a luminescent shade of lightning-green in the mix of sky-blue, slowly turning darker as he channeled more Silk into the sword. Now. Bondo thrusted his sword above him with full strength.
Splat!
The corridor echoed with eerie shrieks coming from above Aiko and Bondo, where the monster was stabbed through the Core by Bondo's sword. The Core in iridescent purple shattered to pieces as Bondo withdrew his sword abruptly from the monster's chest, followed by waves of dark-purple blood, with heavy stench and stickiness. Aiko winced, watching the monster twitching a few times before going out.
"That was close." Bondo huffed, wiping the sweat on his forehead with his sleeves. "We could've died anytime just now if you didn't inform me that it was just right above us." He retrieved his phone from his pocket and hit on the emergency button. "Let's leave the rest to school."
"No." Aiko stopped him before he could turn back to the elevator. "We should at least check for survivors, or any other living monsters." She pointed out.
"...I don't have enough Silk to do that one more time if we ever get in trouble again today." Bondo sighed, half-agreeing but his ability couldn't cope with the heavy consequences. "Let's leave it at that, alright Aiko?"
"..." Aiko hesitated, glancing into the darkness. "...Alright." She clenched her fists, following Bondo back to the elevator. A brave but reckless thought flashed through her mind. What if I do it alone? But she shook herself, quite aware of the risks she would be taking if she did so.
Things took an unexpected turn, as always.
The monster, in black scales, grumbled under its' breath, climbing up onto fours, snarling at Aiko and Bondo with bloodlusting red eyes. Its' jaws creaked open, a long forked tongue shot out like arrows at Aiko's left back, where her heart is.
As a B rank, Aiko's senses aren't just anything normal, she felt a sharp blade pointing at her heart, coming in their direction at full speed and rage, she felt fear. Silk escaped her palms, sewing into a wall as protection as the long tongue slapped against the surface. "Bondo! Run!" She shouted, retracting her silk as she retreated, running back to the elevator after Bondo. The tongue attacks kept coming, Silk produced by non-S rankers have a limited amount in a day, retracting and channeling them in and out are a great waste, Aiko chose take the risk to dodge them instead of using Silk protection.
As Aiko landed a thud in the elevator (she tripped, apparently), Bondo slammed hard on the close button like a firing gun, stealing glances at the black-scaled monster hiding within the dark, flicking its' long tongue unhappily. "Hah... We both ran out of Silk today." Aiko huffed, sitting up, holding her wrists, frowning slightly. "What will the school do?"
Bondo glanced at her, wiping his forehead. "What, the emergency?" He raised an eyebrow. "I suppose they would send people down here to destroy it, and hopefully, find some survivors." He shrugged, pressing the floor to their rooms.
Aiko hugged her knees, glancing at Bondo while she laid her head on them. Why did she ever choose to come back to this national university? When she already made up her mind last year that she hated it and would never come back? Who made her change her mind?
I can't remember a single thing.
Aiko and Bondo stepped out of the elevator as soon as they arrived at the 29th floor, in all low spirits with pale faces, drained from using too much Silk. Aiko slipped her room card out over her zebra-striped scarf, and pressed it against the door handle screen of her room "006".
She creaked open the door of her room and slammed it hard behind her, her knees giving in, collapsing onto the carpet below her. "Why did I return?" She huffed, tucking herself into her zebra scarf. "... Mother, why did you allow me to come back?" She forced herself up and dragged herself into the shower, before throwing herself onto the bed and passing out.
One thing happens before and after another, that night, the King balancing the chaos between the world of humans and the world of Mirror monsters, passed away. And a new King, shall be chosen, with the ability to overcome thousands of obstacles and problems, only to replace the fallen King, which everybody once respected.
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Vocabulary
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Silk ~ Mana (FlameSilk, FrostSilk, WaveSilk, CosmosSilk [S rank or above], ForestSilk, LumiSilk...)
Elementalist ~ Mage, Grand Magician
Swordsmaster ~ Knight, Paladin
King ~ Ruler and Balancer of the human race and Mirror monster race, without them, the world is chaos.
Mirror ~ Dungeons, or so called nests of the monsters' (Glass Mirror, Crimson Mirror and the Shadow Mirror)