After a rest, Zero continues to walk the city of Citrine. His footsteps on the cobblestone road blended with the sound of footsteps of many others that are walking together with him.
A week had already passed since he arrived in this city. With Alex's help of finding him an Inn, he was able to live in this place without problems. And in that past week, he had spent his time trying to complete tasks in the guild, trying to improve his rank a little, before he tries to enter the dungeon.
At first, the tasks he took were nothing but 'Gather Herbs', but only just after two days, he switched to tasks that require hunting down monsters, starting from weaker ones to much harder and difficult ones, gaining much XPs in the process.
And this day, in particular, he had already finished a single task, and his destination is the guild for the second time, completing the second task he took for the day.
With small changes of angles of his head, he looks at his surroundings, curious to see how he fits to the population of this world and how he compares to them as an adventurer.
With the amount of money he previously earned, he was able to change his overall clothing, gears, and armory. Now wearing a light set of armor that reflects the light - transparent white, embed with red lining, and detailed with design; and placed on its waist part is his new weapon; a sword with a golden sheath and a carved dragon-scaled grip.
Now, he completely blends in the street he's walking in, with adventurers like him that fills the area with clattering sounds of their clashing weapons and armors, and the normal population of ordinary humans and of other races. But there is one thing that differentiates him from anyone in the streets, and that is his pet, Zear.
Resting on his shoulder and trying to support itself with its own tail on his neck, it tirelessly caresses his head as if it was its plaything, gathering the attention of everyone around him.
*Purr! *Purr!
Zero still doesn't really know how to take care of it yet, but for now, he keeps it with him, always keeping it close and never out of sight. And because of it, it actually already learned how to fight, being strong enough to fight off slimes easily. It's also well-behaved and can follow instructions, leaving Zero the trouble of keeping it at bay.
[ Hey, isn't that Zero? ]
[ You're right... That's the newest adventurer, right? ]
[ I wonder if we can team up with him... ]
He hears the chatterings of the people with his enhanced hearing. But ignoring them, he continues to walk, also not minding the creature that's playing and ruining his hair.
And without a minute past, he reaches his destination. With a creaking sound, he enters the large structure and reveals the spacious room of the guild.
Unlike the guild in Azir, this room's ceiling is much higher and the space between the curved walls is much wider, being able to house numerous amount of people, or rather, adventurers.
Zero took a second to observe the room - taking a look at the adventurers that are inside. Equipment-like, Zero would fit in the middle class, having half of them have a better class of armory and weaponry than him; and some clothing much lower class than his. Staring at them, it's unavoidable that he would lock eyes with some of them, some staring back at him with normal stares and some glaring at him with poisonous eyes.
And after standing in front of the entrance after only a few seconds, he resumes to his linear, short walk towards the receptionist that had already anticipated his arrival.
[ Zero-san... Have you already finished...? ] with a hesitating smile, the receptionist spoke before he could.
Having to have been doing tasks from this guild a week already, Zero was already familiar with their staff. The receptionist in front of her, named Clara, in particular, serves him almost every day regarding the tasks he takes and the rewards he gets.
[ Yes, they're much easier than the previous ones so it didn't take me that long. ] with his reply, he triggered his new magic, space-class magic, [Void Space], which he can use to store non-living items, and only including fresh carcasses of monsters - meaning he won't be able to store those who had already started to rot.
With the magic activated, a blackened, circular whirl of space appeared out of nowhere, popping out two carcasses of monsters known as 'Water Bear' onto the ground - making a thud which gathers the attention of every adventurer inside.
Their eyes alined the two monsters that are cleanly finished off with only a cut on the neck. No blood is pouring out from the two carcasses as it was already dried off by Zero. This kind of scene has already been considered normal since Zero had first show it off to them. Space magic is a rarity to even the highest mages in the Mage Corps, in their minds, Zero is a powerful mage, and the weapon that is on his waist is nothing but a decoration.
[ I... Still can't believe you're able to use space magic this powerful... ] barely audible to Zero, Clara, the receptionist, whispers; not amazed by how he was able to kill off two Water Bears, but about the fact that he can use space magic of this level.
For as long as Zero knows, this newly obtained magic is one of his most convenient. A high-class magic that he gained after he reached level 40. Other than his DraconicAura and DraconicScales, this is his most used; helping him store not just the important part of the monsters he hunts, but also their carcasses, which he can sell with a high price. With this magic, he's a party of his own; unlike normal adventurers, he won't need to hire supporters anymore to have them carry his gained loot.
[ A- Anyways! Thank you for your hard work, Zero-san! ] as if she was finally able to snap out of her thoughts, she addresses Zero with a stutter.
Knowing what to do, Zero took out what seems to be a single piece of yellowish paper, where the task was written. And together with his Adventurer Card, she handed it to her.
[ The-Then, please wait a moment! ] she bows her head and immediately runs to the back of the receptionists' desk, entering another room.
~~~
[ Thank you very much... You've been promoted to Silver(III)! Congratulations, Zero-san! Please continue your work! ] she shouted those words as if she was reading on a script, with sweat forming on her forehead and her tone shaking a little.
[ Un, thank you very much, Clara-san. ] with a nod and a small smile, Zero took the coin pouch and his card on the desk, thanking Clara in the process.
( Finally... I've managed to increase my rank to Silver... It won't take that much time before I'll reach Gold or even higher... Additionally, I was also able to increase my overall level to 43. It's not the fastest but I learned and experienced many things trying to hunt down these varieties of monsters. )
He felt a satisfying feeling inside as he receives his card where his name is written. He was able to gain it with hard work, and that might be the reason why he feels so. But soon, that emotion changed to that of excitement. He was now able to finish his goal of reaching a certain rank in the guild, and now, he will move on to another; he will try to enter the dungeon, in which just the thought makes him feel excited.