The training... town?! (part 1)

'So it has begun,' thought Adir, as he felt the aura of Liam vanish from where he left him, as he proceeded to look towards Antonio and Kalmin with a serious look. 'They must grow well, for a challenge with the fate of humanity at stake comes their way'

********

"So you wield the wind element too. Is that why you agreed to teach me and not Liam?", said Kalmin as they were flying or maybe being carried by Adir in the air.

'So this is what flying is like… I feel kind of weird, I feel so light' thought Antonio as he started trying to practice his spear moves in the air, which received a light chuckle from Kalmin.

"Hey, what are you laughing at?" asked Antonio while not stopping his practice.

"You look like a bird flapping its wings as if flustered" said Kalmin barely able to control his laugh.

"Now, now stop with your laughing and giggling and look forward, that is the town you will be training in." said Adir as he pointed towards a town just in front of them.

The town was surrounded with high walls and had 2 big gates for entry and exit. Both gates were guarded and some sort of card was needed for to enter.

"Hey Adir, what is that object that the guard seems to be checking? Is it some sort of identity proof?" asked Kalmin curiously. He had never seen such an object back in his village and did not have one. He was afraid that whatever it was, was important, as the people without it were required to pay a sum of fee to enter.

"It is a guild card, most of the towns in Darna are based on guild systems, though I won't say it's perfect, it is an impressive way of management." replied Adir, as he continued, "Guilds are groups with members of a common objective. Like the Adventurer's Guild, whose members do exploration and hunting to earn, The Merchant's Guild, which is run by people who tend to have business relationships with other towns etc."

"But I do not have a guild card and neither does Antonio, and we are not carrying any money either, will they let us enter?"

"Do you really think I would bring you to a town without having made any prior arrangements?" said Adir hopelessly, as he began to wonder if this student of his is slow-witted.

Antonio giggled in an attempt to get back at Kalmin for his practice, which seemed to work, as a fit of helpless rage was thrown out by Kalmin.

"Let's enter, follow me", said Adir as they landed near the gates and began walking. Kalmin took the time to observe his surroundings, while Antonio carried forward with his usual serious face. As they reached the gate, Adir took out a card. The card Adir took out caused quite a commission.

"AN S RANK ADVENTURER?!?!" screamed a guard with an expression of disbelief. For a second, he wanted to tell the young blond man who was in front of him to leave, as he couldn't believe such a young man could be of this rank. But, when he thought of how impossible it is to steal one as only the most powerful have one, and they carefully stored it which barred any chance of it getting lost, he let go of the thought as he chose to verify it.

The Adventurer's Guild had a ranking system in place, which was as following-

F rank- people who have just registered. Power level 0-1, mostly do menial tasks such as collecting herbs.

E rank- people who have completed 10 F rank tasks or have power equal to 1-2. Mostly hunt common monsters which are used for materials.

D-rank- people who are of power level 2-3 or 1.5+ but with special abilities which could be used by high rank parties.

C-rank- at least power level 2.5, with having done 10 D rank missions successfully.

B-rank- power level 3-3.5.

A-rank- power level 3.5-4 and having done 4 B-rank missions successfully. Have authority to lead emergency missions which require the help of people A-rank and below.

S-rank- have power level-4. Only a select few present, with most of them being the dukes of cities.

"Kindly wait here sir, I am just going to get the orb to verify this card is real" said the guard as he went to get the orb which is used to make the cards. To check the ownership of the card, the card had to be placed bottom touching the orb and the hand of the owner on other side of the orb.

Meanwhile, Kalmin was about to ask about why the guard had such a reaction to Adir's card, but the look on his face, which seemed to say 'really?' changed his mind.

The guard came back with a purple orb in his hand along with a woman, who was dressed in formal wear, had short green hair and green eyes, a pointy nose but a beautiful face. Her appearance was received with salutes from the guards, as they greeted her by addressing her as guild master.

Adir seemed to recognize her, because as soon as he saw her, he turned his head down and covered it with his hands. 'Why did that idiot have to bring Layla along too? Wouldn't the orb for verification have been enough'

As soon as Layla saw Adir her face adopted an astonished expression, which looked like it was turning into an expression of worship as her eyes seemed to shine.

"You are finally back, sir Hope! It's been years since you left, I am glad you are back." said Layla as she looked at Adir like a fanatic. "Have you finally changed your mind about taking me as your student???" she asked, hopefully.

"We have talked about this before, Layla, your fighting style is too... different from mine. It is out of my field of expertise." said Adir as he quickly added, "Here, meet Antonio and Kalmin. I brought them here so they could train with Kat and James"

"Train with them?! They must be quite the geniuses if you would like them to be taught by other S- rankers!"exclaimed Layla as she walked closer, "You are quite lucky to have caught the eye of sir Hope, he isn't the type to actively approach others." she whispered to Antonio and Kalmin.

Meanwhile, the guard who had gone to get the orb to confirm Adir's identity was shocked speechless. He had heard all about how an S-rank adventurer saved the whole city from a monster tide which was deemed impossible to survive, He had literally given hope to the people and helped them live another day, therefore given the title of Hope. He hurriedly apologized to Adir who forgave him as he understood his appearance didn't exactly resemble how old an S-rank would look.

In Tamen.

"I have gathered all the blood you asked for, although that Red Dragon did give me a bunch of trouble, this better be worth it seven" said Number one.

"Don't worry, once I consume all this, I would be the worst enemy those arrogant pricks have ever faced. I will show them their worst nightmare, after all, I will have all their weaknesses accounted for." said Number seven as he bottled down the different set of bloods.

"Just 4 more days, and we will be ready to launch our coup..."said Number four