"Alab. I am ranked 982", he frankly replied.
Alab believed that there was no need to lie about his ranking. Besides, getting unwarranted expectations on his shoulder was not a good thing. It would be best to be lowkey.
He just wanted to act on his own and upgrade his skills as fast as possible.
Alab then walked around the barrack, examining the table and chairs. He didn't bother glancing at the other three persons sharing dumbfounded expressions in the room. He couldn't loiter anymore.
His little palm met the rough surface of the wooden table. With a keen gaze, the details of the table and chairs were unfolded before him.
[Self-Cleaning Wooden Table (E)
Description: A table that is barely a magical item. It can clean itself.]
[Comfortable Wooden Chair (E)
Description: A seat to relax on. Can relieve fatigue slightly.]
As Alab speculated, these were E-grade items. It appeared that every object in this world contained even the subtlest magic. They were at least E-rank.
Without troubling himself for others' permission, Alab took the items to his inventory. The table and a chair disintegrated into particles that at the speed of light permeated his body.
"You, what are you doing, kid?!", Girth shrieked as he retracted himself from slumping on the floor.
Alab responded discreetly.
"That's a secret", he muttered before heading to the rooms on each side. There were three rooms in total with the door leading to the outside dwelling in the south of the barrack. Alab headed north and pushed open the wooden door right after.
A plain 5×5 meters room filled with a wooden bed and a two-compartment cabinet on the side welcomed his sight.
Girth was about to pounce on Alab, upset by his ignorance. As someone older than Alab, he could not tolerate such disrespect.
"Kekeke"
"Stop, Girth. Just let that young boy be", Anastasia halted Girth as she blocked her way. Turning her head, she just gaped as Alab strode from room to room.
Alab was the youngest in the group. Anastasia deduced that he could be just 18 years old and below. She just couldn't wonder about the reason why a boy that was yet to reach adulthood was branded as an exile.
Alab had a little frame. His 150 cm height barely reached the standard of his age, and his silky black hair loosed to his forehead was entwined as the chaotic air failed to fan them. His dull black eyes eluded nonsense discussions, with soft tiny lips tightened than ever.
The concept of pores appeared void to him as skin even fairer and smoother than Anastasia clad his body that was further enclosed with black fitted pants and an oversized black shirt.
Seeing him at a short distance, Anastasia couldn't help but adore his world-class beauty.
Before she knew it, Alab slid into one of the rooms, closing the door modestly right after. Flustered, the three persons gazed at each other, queries surged as to what just happened.
Knowing that Alab was a rather timid guy, they gave up knocking on the wooden door after three attempts. Alab just wouldn't get out of the room and it was clear that he would never share a room with others.
They could only compromise and share the remaining rooms.
"Just let him have a room for himself, he is the youngest after all. As for the remaining two rooms, I will be sharing the one with the remaining member who is yet to arrive while you two will share the last room, okay?", Anastasia lead their discussion, sitting in between the two to disrupt the tension. It was a funny sight how they just sitted in their chairs with no table to rest their arms on.
Anastasia stole a glance at Alab's room before she proceeded.
"We will have to help each other so I hope you two will finally reconcile. As for the ranking, we have two bottom rankers in our group. Let's just hope that the last member is at least in the top 50.", she added as she crossed her arms.
At this thought, Girth raised his concern.
"You would help us, right? After all, we are from the same world, kekeke", Girth reiterated Anastasia's remarks from earlier, making sure to entice pressure on them.
"This?!"
Anastasia turned to Han Seo Yeon in an attempt to hush him. She had a grasp of their personalities. Han Seo Yeon was the reasonable and gentlemanly one between the two, while Girth was rather lecherous and imprudent. It would be best to hush the more rational Han Seo Yeon.
Han Seo Yeon eluded Anastasia's gaze timidly. His body tensed as he looked at Anastasia's hand close to his face.
"That is right, we are from the same planet so it is a given that we help each other. Take a rest for tonight and tomorrow at dawn, we will head to the practice dungeon.", Anastasia muttered. Daylight had already receded and before they knew it, a crescent moon was up in the sky, shading the other world with darkness.
They couldn't bother with their rumbling stomachs as there were no food stalls nearby anyways. Besides, their hunger was still at a tolerable level.
As they were about to enter their respective rooms, a creaking of the door resounded as Alab dressed in blank expression, exited his self-claimed room. Tightening the door shut, Alab headed to the main door, without sparing a glance at the three.
"Where are you going? It is already dark", Anastasia voiced, her tone modest the best she could.
But, Alab, with upright back facing the three, muttered as he spoke.
"That's a secret", he uttered as his figure vanished into the darkness of the night.
"These ungrateful low rankers?!", Han Seo Yeon mumbled, getting furious at Anastasia's stead. She just couldn't get mad.
Shut by her own phrase, Anastasia tossed her concerns off as she plastered an optimistic smile. Still, she couldn't help but worry about Alab's state. Later that night, she found it hard to sleep as she waited for Alab's return.
A waft entered her room at midnight as her drowsy eyes finally succumbed to slumber. In the other room, with Girth laying atop the wooden bed hugging his bent knees that touched his chest, snored wildly. On the floor, Han Seo Yeon laid blue vapor escaped his body as it directed to the room of Anastasia. Her eyes fixed on nowhere, oblivious of the discreet mist that permeated her nose.
She felt her eyes closing in as she succumbed to sleep. Han Seon Yeon muttered.
"You can sleep now, Anastasia.", he muttered as he remained vigilant of the surrounding. They were still in another world and the threat of other species and the unknown lurked. As an adept soldier, Han Seo Yeon took the role of keeping vigil as he waited for Alab.
[Skill "Drowsy Mist (A)" has been activated]
[Skill "Vigilance (A)" has been activated]
Han Seo Yeon glanced at the system notice, tossing them off as he breathed.
----
Meanwhile, Alab called for his griffin as he flew in the shadow of the night. He was currently heading south right at the foot of the mountain where the barracks were at. Luke mentioned that the E-grade practice dungeon was located in that area.
Alab had just experimented with his skill inside his room earlier. As he touched the wooden table, a system text greeted him as he activated his SSS-grade skill [Conversion].
[Insufficient mana. You cannot convert an item into points at the moment.]
[Conversion (SSS) (Unique) (Active)
- Your experiences have thought you that life is unfair. You can now play with fate the same way fate has toyed with you. You have developed the power to convert anything you touch into points. The points can be used to increase the grade of your chosen category.
MP Cost: 990
Cooldown: None]
The outrageous 1-year cooldown of the skill was amended by his other SSS-grade skill [Zero Cooldown]. However, he remained incapable of wielding his skill due to its extreme mana usage. If not for his D-grade [Mana Cost Reduction], the mana cost would be a whopping 1,000.
Alab decided to level up at the practice dungeon and increase his mana capacity.
Carried by the unnamed griffin, an onslaught of cool dusty gusts of the night struck his image. The griffin maximized its speed as it accelerated in the air, leaving a vague afterimage. Still, Alab felt that there was more to its speed. Just the speed of this level didn't live up to its title as a legendary monster.
Alab caught sight of draconian flying in the sky, their velocity betrayed common sense as Alab couldn't see their image at all. Red eyes glimmered at night as bats crept into the area. Species active at night bathed in elation as they wandered in the area, creating wild noises that disrupted the serenity of the night.
Alab witnessed barracks lit up in fire as species inherently scorched, bathed in fire as they entered them. There were also barracks with dismantled roofs, razed barracks, and even barracks reduced to nothingness as murky species satiated their hunger, consuming their very own refuge.
The dreary night boasted more liveliness than daytime. Alab took note of the distinction in each species, keeping watch of their unique and lethal traits.
Before he knew it, the griffin made its way to the foot of the mountain. Slender trees with thin trunks filled his sight as a luminous signage was pinned at the tallest tree in the forefront. The dim light of the crescent moon shone upon it.
{ Slime Practice Dungeon (E) }
It was slime, the weakest monster in this world. One of the monsters with an enormous population. As an E-grade monster, even a young boy could kill such a monster. As a practice dungeon, it barely provided combat practice. However, Alab was not here to train.
Shortly, Alab dived into the gloomy wilderness. A stretch of slender trees obstructed his way.