Chapter 74 : The Feelings Of A Ranker
"How many people were in your party?" Vivian asked, her eye twitching slightly.
*T-they've got to be lying. There's no way Bracha would do something so reckless.* Vivian thought to herself as she struggled to maintain her calm.
"Just us." Katrin responded, with Agni nodding to herself.
"Well, Bracha was with us.." Agni then added, causing a bit of relief to wash over Vivian.
*They must be trying to impress me since I'm the Doyenne.* Vivian thought to herself, until she heard--
"But Bracha never helped us fight. Also last week we went into the blood shard on our own." Agni said.
*Y- you what?!? Reckless! Foolish! Do you know how many adventurers die in blood shards? This can't be right.* Vivian's thoughts were racing as she struggled to calm herself down.
Agni felt as if she saw a vein throb in the young girl's temple but she dismissed it after a moment of thought.
"If this is a joke it isn't funny. Blood shards are very dangerous. It's not something you can waltz into without being fully prepared. The enemies inside blood shards are anywhere from twice to ten times as strong as their counterparts." Vivian explained.
"We know. Even the Fulger Stags were pretty tough, but it's not like they were unbeatable. Once you get used to fighting them they are actually pretty easy to take down. They rarely move out of the way when you attack them and some of their magic strikes are so obvious that they can be avoided. The only real danger is -- "
"Do you have any proof?" Vivian interrupted with a wave of her hand. She was now furiously crunching on the candies in her mouth.
"Sure." Katrin responded as she opened her inventory and quickly called forth a monster drop.
"This is...a Fulger Stag Horn." Vivian said as she eyed the long piece of shattered animal bone in Katrin's grasp.
*There are so many tales of zero rankers being killed by enemies inside the blood shards. How did these two manage alone? With a party of two no less?*
For Vivian it simply blew her mind that anyone would speak so casually of placing themselves in danger. It was the same reason she regularly found herself annoyed with Georgina. The foolhardy girl would constantly seek battles and even excitedly speak of the day when she could face off against the 'Grimlock Threat'.
Vivian was obligation bound as a third ranker to participate in quelling the expansions. For her it was a very annoying job that she would have to do monthly. She'd seen her fair share of blood and carnage in the process. One wrong move could cause entire parties to fall to ruin and for her it was mind boggling how anyone could aspire to thrive in such situations.
However she couldn't really explain her position, after all there were unspoken rules within the world of adventurers. The higher up in rank one rose, the more limitations would be placed upon them to a degree by the system itself. While the number of privileges far outweighed the detriments some knowledge simply couldn't be shared without penalty. The existence of the expansion was one of them. Like clockwork within the world of Adventia blood shards would begin the process of expanding rapidly, spawning dozens of Grimlock in the process. To make matters worse the more blood that was shed, the worse the situation would become.
*The entire eastern range of the continent is filled with hundreds of second and third rankers who barely manage to keep the lid on Pandora's box and these two are just fine? It's...difficult to accept.*
With this in mind Vivian decided to change her tactics. At first she wanted to sway the young adventurers to explore their other options rather than flocking to battle. But there was one simple way to test whether they had the capability to handle Grimlocks or if they were only fit to be town-rats.
She interrupted Agni's exposition on the annoyance of having her gear charred by errant lightning strikes to make a suggestion.
"I'll be the first to admit, combat is sometimes unavoidable. That's why one should always learn to defend themselves as best as possible. You could certainly learn a great deal about using magic by studying within these walls but since you have experience in the field already, how would you like to join our expeditionary classes? They are aimed at helping to improve the survival rate of adventurers by pairing them with more experienced leaders. This would probably be more helpful...in the long run."
"Expeditionary classes? Could you explain please?" Katrin asked.
"We gather together inexperienced adventurers, group them based on their strengths and weaknesses and then have them participate in live combat. They are monitored to avoid trouble and the conditions are substantially less dangerous than entering a blood shard."
"That shouldn't be too much trouble. What do you think Agni?" Katrin asked. Agni was surprised that Katrin would even ask her input. After all she was the party leader.
"I'm fine with whatever you'd like to do." Agni said with a shrug of her shoulders. For the most part this was true. Although..
"Oh. I was wondering -- Bracha mentioned that this chapel has access to some kind of transporter or warp device? Would it be possible for me to use it?"
"It's not totally impossible, but generally free use of the transfer gate is reserved for contract members. There's also usually a fee as well for use. What's your reasoning, if you don't mind me asking?" Vivian said.
"To visit the city of Kirlunst in order to awaken my familiar." Agni replied.
"Wow, you have a familiar as well? That's a very rare ability and it could be super useful. Though I have a hard time imagining what power your familiar would provide you with as a succubus." Vivian seemed to fall into genuine consideration at this point.
"Very well. If you can perform well during the expedition, I will personally take you to Kirlunst. I have quite a few associates there and I know the city."
Agni still couldn't believe that such a cute teen was speaking to them on equal terms but she had no reason to decline such a deal. It was apparent that after a few minutes of conversation that there was much more to Vivian than meets the eye.
"Great. One other thing...are there any other clothes I can borrow?"