Promises

I awoke, still in the room where my aptitude test was conducted. I have a tendency to black out a lot, don't I?

Looking around, It seemed like an Earthquake had recently hit. There were cracks all over the walls, floor, and cieling.

I must've done this during the fight.

Suddenly, I remembered my testing advisor's words.

"Congratulations, you pass."

I stood up, dusting myself off. I decided to check the time. It was now 1:36PM.

A few hours have passed since my battle with Lucian. A thought suddenly hit me. My promise. Bear kid, I promised I'd meet him in the slums.

"Sun rises and shines the brightest..."

I walked toward the doors of my testing room to find that they were already open.

Exiting the room, I turned my attention to the guild advisor I had first spoken to in this place. She was calling out to me and waving me over.

I walked over, overhearing a few voices in the process.

"He finally came out. I thought Lucian went and killed him."

"Woah, he looks completely unscathed."

"He's the first person I've seen to come out of that room intact."

I stepped in front of the Guild Advisor's booth.

"Congratulations on becoming an Adventurer, Milo. Lucian told me about the entire test. Don't worry about the expenses, we'll cover them. Here's your official guild card." She said with a genuinely cheeful expression.

Taking the card from her, I examined it. It was a silver metallic, laminated piece of paper. On it was my finger print and name printed on it in cursive. In the upper right corner of the card, a large C was present.

"I neglected to ask earlier, but how do rankings work?" I asked curiously.

"An excellent question, Milo! There are 7 classes on which adventurers are ranked. F being the lowest and S being the highest. There are only a few S ranks in the world. You can move up by completing various quest or performing another aptitude test. Each test is 2 silver," She said this, finishing off by booping me on the nose.

"I like her," Erythro said.

If Lucian was a B-rank, I don't even want to imagine what an S-rank could do. If I faced one, I'd be destroyed in an instant.

"Thank you ma'am. I should get going now." I said as I put the card in my bottomless pockets and began walking away.

"It's Rachel, you can call me Rachel. Thank you for what you did. It's been a while since I've seen Lucian in a good mood. He's been down ever since an abundance of low ranking adventurers met their untimely demise." She said earnestly.

I turned back around.

"...It was nothing special." I said as I left the guild.

It really was nothing special. I was completely overwhelmed. The gap between C-rank and B-rank is huge.

I walked through the streets absentminedly for a while.

"I finished analyzing the video of your fight with Lucian. Our physical abilities have also increased," Erythro said.

Video? So you can even manage that?

"New Skill Obtained: Swordsmanship"

"New Skill Obtained: Intimidation"

I check my status window again.

Name: Milo Foster

Race: Human/Crimson Slime

Rank: C

(Status)

Lv.7-Exp(5,111/7000)

Strength: 13^

Agility: 17^

Endurance: 14^

Intelligence: 21

Sense: 25

Mana: 4

Spirit: 30

Attribute Points: 14

Passive skills:

G.P.S. (Lv.Max)-Mapping and positioning of areas.

Regeneration (Lv.10)- The rate at which the body heals.

Calculator (Lv.Max)-

Understanding of numbers.

Electro-Magnetic Perception (Lv.3) The ability to feel and sense Electro-Magnetic Fields.

Mana-Sense (Lv.2)-The abilty to sense mana within people or the environment. Currently only works within a 1 meter radius.

Fashion-Sense (Lv.2)-One's understanding of clothing and fashion.

Martial Arts (Lv.4)- Understanding of physical and combat prowess.

Stealth (Lv.2)-The ability to conceal one's presence.

Acting (Lv.1)- The art of social deception.

Swordsmanship (Lv.1)- Understanding of sword-based combat.

Activation Skills:

Combat Mode (Lv.4)- Boosts all stats in response to danger. Boosts depends on the danger posed.

Crimson Web (Lv.1)-Eject adhesive spindle fibers from your body. Detachable.

Metamorphis/Shapeshifting(Lv.3)- The body can shift anyway the user imagine. Harden, soften, sharpen, etc.

Transmutation (Lv.3)-Change the properties of a material manually.

Absorbtion (Lv.8)-Take in material and assimilate it with your being.

Appraisal (Lv.1)- Observe someone's status. May even be possible to see skills with heightened proficiency.

Meditation (Lv.1)-Focus youself with a calm mind and guided breathing.

Intimidation (Lv.1)-By will of thought, you can send waves or terror and dread through your enemies.

My base stats aren't even enough to qualify for D-rank I bet. I'm weak, I need to get stronger. I still need to meet up with bear kid too. As I was lost in thought, I heard a familiar voice call out to me.

"Hello again, dear customer." Sarah spoke.

"Oh, Sarah, what's up?"

"Just running my stand. Anyway I should be the one asking you that question. You had a pretty serious look on your face."

"Ah, no I'm fine. I was just doing some thinking. So, what's for sale today?"

"If you say so, today's meat is grilled chicken. 5 copper per piece."

(1 moment later)

"Thank you, come again dear customer." Sarah

Current Balance: 60C, 3S, 0G, 0P.

I walked away with a bag of grilled chicken.

I followed my U.I. map, heading for the alleyway I had entered the main city through.

It took about 10 minutes to arrive. I hopped over the 8 meter tall border (26ft) undetected. I walked through the slums heading toward my rendezvous point.

As I walked through the slums, I could see more of it than I could when it was night time.

There were designated areas for makeshift graves, and outhouses everywhere. This place...the main city really doesn't care about this place.

As I drew closer to my destination, I felt someone watching me carefully.

I turned in the direction of the gaze to find that it was the old lady from before.

I walked over to her and she pointed he stick at me again.

"You dummy. Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?"

"Umm...very?" I said shrugging my shoulders.

"Very? Very!? You-" She fussed before I interrupted her.

"She is quite concerned, who is she?" Erythro spoke up.

"By the way, I never did catch your name?"

She breathed in deeply, and turned her head to mutter something I actually couldn't hear.

"I'm the nurse of the slums, Ms. Merideth," She stated.

"Ms. Merideth...well I have to be going now. Here's a drumstick as my apology for worrying you." I said I placed a chicken drumstick into her hand from my bag.

"Okay, bye now!" I said, running off.

She huffed and ripped a chuck out of the chicken while looking at me intensely.

I saw bear kid sitting at the bench where I told him of my 'misadventures.' He sat their smiling, dangling his feet. That must've meant he got the permission he needed.

"Hey kid, what'd your mom say?"

The kid looked up in surprise.

"She said it was okay. I just have to be home before dark." The kid said.

Guess I'm a trainer now.

"Most unfortunate," I could hear Erythro say.

"Where is your mom anyway?"

"She went on a date. She does that a lot."

A date? Something feels off about that.

"Oh hey, I brought you a gift." I said as I handed the kid a drum stick.

"It's smells good, what is it?"

Huh, he doesn't know what chicken is?

"It's chicken, it's a type of food. Go ahead and give it a try."

The kid took one bite out of the chicken before devouring the rest impossibly fast.

"Thanks Hero Milo!"

"No problem. Alright, lets get to training, but first. What's your name?"

"Oh man. I forgot to tell you. It's Juro."

I decided to use appraisal on Juro.

Name: Juro

Race: Beastmen (Bear)

Rank: N/A

(Status)

Lv.2-Exp(1460/2000)

Strength: 3

Agility: 5

Endurance: 11

Intelligence: 9

Sense: 15

Mana: 10

Spirit: 25

Attribute Points: 2

His base endurance rivals my own, his mana exceeds me. He has a strong spirit and good senses. The only thing lacking is his physical abilities. I can't see any skills either.

"Appraisal Upgraded to Lv.2."

Something new appeared under Juro's stats.

Passive Skill:

Scavenger (Lv.5)- Understanding of searching and collecting.

Scavenger, poor kid.

"Alright kid, if you can hit me once, I'll give you a special reward and we'll continue tommorow."

"A-alright!"

We both readied ourselves.

"Begin!"

Juro charged at me, eyes closed and threw punches. Well, they were more of slaps. I dodged them with ease.

"Keep your eyes open when you fight."

"I-understand." Juro said eagerly.

He threw a few more punches. This time with more accuracy, and they looked more like punches.

"Don't forget to use your full body. Never limit your movements." I instructed.

"My movements..." Juro repeated.

He then attempted to throw a kick out, losing his balance and falling on his rear end.

"Can you continue?" I questioned.

Juro nodded his head, then got back up.

(10 Minutes Later)

"Your movements are too basic, switch things up! Create a more complex attack pattern."

"Yes master!"

He began throwing feints and new foot work into his fighting. His rate of improvement was outstanding.

"Try to read my movements. Anticipate where I'm going to dodge next, and beat me to it!"

Juro adapted to even this. His attacks were becoming harder to dodge even with his considerably low stats.

(10 Minutes Later)

"J-Juro you did it!" I exclaimed.

Juro was sweating and panting heavily, but there in the middle of my chest was his little fist.

I wasn't tired due to my constant regeneration.

Juro collapsed on his rear end once more, letting out words in between long breaths.

"I...did...it." He said in labored breaths.

"His growth is rather abnormal," Erythro said.

"You think so? Well, I did notice that he was a quick learner." I responded.

I checked his stats once more.

Name: Juro

Race: Beastmen (Bear)

Rank: N/A

(Status)

Lv.2-Exp(1460/2000)

Strength: 6^

Agility: 10^

Endurance: 13^

Intelligence: 9

Sense: 18^

Mana: 10

Spirit: 28^

Attribute Points: 2

Passive Skill:

Scavenger (Lv.5)- Understanding of searching and collecting.

"Hey, you're right. He grew way more than I expected." I said to Erythro.

"It may be an effect of his high spirit score. The stronger you're will, the more you'll grow," Erythro said.

I pondered the thought. If that's the case, then this could be useful.

I pulled 3 silver out of my pocket and handed it to Juro.

"Here's your reward."

His tired eyes lit up.

"You're giving this to me?! I shouldn't-" He spewed out before I interupted him.

"I'm not giving you anything, you earned it yourself. You should get home now." I said as I handed him a piece of grilled chicken.

"Thank you very much Master Hero Milo" He said as he bowed his head before running off.

"Don't let anybody see it!" I yelled at him.

"Okay!" His voice trailed off.

"That was not the wisest decision," Erythro said.

"It'll be fine," I claimed.

The stronger the spirit, the better the results. Hmm...

Reader's Bonus

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Current Balance: 60C, 0S, 0G, 0P.