Silence followed the slaying of the grand beast; all eyes watched the rookie as he plucked his weapons from the head of the beast before slowly returning to his feet.
It was once he held up his leaf-made sword did the silence finally break with resounding cheers; the celebrations both of life and victory filled the basin valley.
'...This is my introduction to Fantasia! Wherever you are, 'Reverse King', I'm sure you'll hear about the rookie who slayed a dragon!' He thought.
After a life spent scraping the bottom of society, doing nothing of substance and living only day-to-day, what flooded through the body of the exhilarated man was a sensation he hadn't felt as far back as he could remember: standing triumphant amidst the resounding cheers, he felt alive.
Looking back, most of those below were busy celebrating–either jumping up and down, hugging one another, or profusely crying that they were still alive–though all of his faithful familiars watched him proudly.
A thumbs-up was given to them before he found himself suddenly being joined atop the dragon by Vildren, who was beaming with joy.
"Jett Levine, my friend!" Vildren said, embracing him, "--It's because of you that we were able to defeat this beast without tragedy."
"I don't know about all of that, you kept the morale up," he bashfully responded, though scratched his cheek as he looked at the man, "Still, were you serious about talking to the Guild about a potential promotion for me?"
"Of course! Bias aside, there is no doubt a bronze rank is not only a disrespect to your prowess, but an extreme oversight by the Guild, seeing as your skills could be put to much better use as a higher-privileged adventurer," Vildren told him.
"I see…If that's the case, then I can't say no!" He said, hardly hiding how badly he wanted the promotion.
–
The cleanup was left to an entirely different quest, which allowed non-participating adventurers to handle hauling the corpse of the dragon down the colossal mountain for verification, studying, and selling.
As for Jett, he returned to the cave, having to continuously assure Edith he didn't require healing, even if it did make her pout. The Transport Crystal was being used in order by adventurers seeking to return to the Merdlum Guild, which he stored his familiars before using it for himself. It was always quite the odd sensation witnessing all of his familiars be stored into the [Void Inventory], though he learned from asking a few of them that it was a pleasant experience for them–like a beauty sleep they couldn't achieve normally.
"Transport!"
It was that odd sensation once again, as if all gravity removed itself and his body was carried upon subtle ripples of space. There was nothing to do but stay with his thoughts through the brief process of being transported magically.
'I wonder how much they'll bump me up–that shaky guy, Johannes, I think? He said he was silver and one rank higher than me. I'd definitely kick that guy's ass any day of the week, so I better be promoted higher!' He thought.
–Just like that, once again, he suddenly found himself standing there in the back of the Guild Hall of Merdlum, blinking a few times as a tingling feeling was left throughout his body as a side-effect of the transportation.
"...That's definitely going to take some getting used to," he mumbled.
"There you are!"
He found himself suddenly hounded by a pair of unfamiliar faces; they were clearly adventurers from the Raid Quest as their leather-and-steel gear was dirtied and scratched, as was their skin, though he didn't recognize them.
"I saw you out there–that's some mean summoning magic you got there! Not to mention some crazy magic!" The left adventurer said, an energetic, short man with fuzzy, orange hair and a chipped tooth.
The right adventurer was tall and built broadly with a stomach that could hardly be contained by the armor he wore, nodding his head, "A bronze-rank taking out a dragon? The bards of Merdlum are going to be singing their hearts out tonight!"
"Err, thanks," he bashfully accepted their kind words with a chuckle.
It wasn't just those two, either, it seemed he was the man of the hour with the looks of reverence and excitement he received, along with constant chants of the "Dragon-Slaying Rookie"--which definitely didn't help his already building ego.
"Looks like you're already quite famous in town. Word spreads fast, my friend."
Walking beside him through the Guild Hall was the man in shining armor and of dazzling, purple eyes–
"Vildren," Jett said, looking over at the man, surprised by his sudden appearance.
"Meldrum isn't a small town, but it's not a large one. Grand feats like slaying a dragon don't stay quiet for more than mere moments, as you've already experienced," Vildren smiled, "Celebrate tonight, Jett, meet me at the tavern tomorrow if you'd like–there will be plenty others there, as well. We'll drink, sing, and feast to our heart's content…And, bring some of those summons of yours. I grew quite fond of some."
The offer sounded delightful, especially after quite a tiring experience such as dragon slaying, so he accepted it graciously, "Alright, it's a deal!"
All that was left before he could take his time off for the day was to obtain his reward for the Raid Quest–which was observed by scouts and confirmed by trusted adventurers for fair compensation given in accordance to one's accomplishments during the raid.
Most adventurers seemed to get around fifty to one-hundred copper, seeming almost like a participation trophy than anything.
As it was his turn to receive his accommodation for the raid, he approached the two receptionists and the silver-bearded, well-dressed man standing before him. There was a small, golden plate on his chest that inscribed his title: "Guild Headmaster."
"Rookie Jett Levine, hmm…" The Guild Headmaster stroked his beard, "I believe we haven't had the chance to meet as of yet. I am Jormun Heisgard, the Headmaster of the Merdlum Guild."
"Nice to meet you," he nodded, accepting the senior's handshake.
There was certainly a firm grip he received; looking at the scars left on the silver-bearded man's hand and face, along with his inexplicably strong physique, there was no doubt he used to have quite the action-packed occupation of his own.
"You've only been affiliated with the Guild for but a day, yet your exploits have shown the Guild, loud and clear, that the rank of "Bronze" is unfitting for one of your caliber," Headmaster Jormun said.
"--" Jett gulped.
It was the moment of truth; the promotion he sought with the hopes of rising in the world of Fantasia–it was the natural order of gaining the fame, power, and reverence he desired–all of which he missed out on in his first life.
"Jett Levine," Headmaster Jormun said, beginning to open the esteemed marble case, "I hereby promote you to the rank of Elite Gold."
Inside of the case lay a new necklace, laying on a velvet blanket; it dazzled, being made of an exuberant, golden material with the insignia of the Guild etched onto it.
"With the rank of Elite Gold, you will have access to much more dangerous quests, but in turn, much more lucrative–in addition, certain privileges will be awarded to you in each city of the continent of Elyrian," Headmaster Jormun explained.
"Gold…?" He let out in awe.
"Is this a sufficient promotion?" The Headmaster asked.
"Sufficient? It's great!" He accepted the new necklace, wearing it around his neck, "Thank you, Headmaster!"
"Of course," Headmaster Jormun said, "Thank you for your hard work."
A promotion wasn't all he received, as he also was granted a small chest filled with copper coins, totaling to a whopping amount of five-hundred.
'...It's taking all of my willpower not to salivate at the sight of this much money!' He thought.
Of course, he wasn't going to walk around willy-nilly with such a heavy supply of copper, opting to send it into his [Void Inventory] as the maw of darkness swallowed it up for him. There was simply nothing more convenient to him than the personal inventory he gained as a skill.
'I'll definitely be doing a lot of summons tonight…I'm almost too excited–I can't contain it,' he thought happily.
Curious of the placement of his rank as an adventurer, he asked Julia about it, who explained it simply, the rankings went as followed, from lowest to highest:
Bronze, Silver, Cobalt, Gold, Platinum, Obsidian, and Cosmic.
In addition, there were "sub" rankings to differentiate within each individual ranks, being three of each rank: Intermediate, Elite, and Superior.
'So, I'm around the "middle" of gold,' he thought.
Cherishing his new rank-bearing necklace, he glanced over to where Vildren was sitting in the hall, who was cleaning his blade with a rag. He noticed a few adventurers around Vildren, talking to him as if he was quite the popular fellow–which wasn't exactly surprising.
'A Gold-rank seems like a big deal, at least in a town not so big like Merdlum. I wonder if that applies to me as well?' He thought.
Although there was something else on his mind as he left the Guild Hall, venturing into town, which was bustling near dusk–it was the idea of another promotion along with actually progressing through the world of Fantasia.
'This is the "Town of Beginnings" basically–a town in RPGs where everybody makes their start. What that means is…I'm going to need to move on soon. If I want to get closer to reaching the Reverse King, I can't stay here forever,' he thought.