‘Tori, have you been idling on your training recently?’ Delo gives the Barrier Turtle a questioning gaze.

The Barrier Turtle did not know what it had done wrong to receive such a stare from its owner, it could only tilt its head in confusion.

Delo took a look at Ban and tried to see if he was telling the truth.

‘I can’t believe it, how can his monster have such strength if he only awakened yesterday?’

Delo continued to stare at Ban and little Eva curiously.

Meanwhile, upon knowing that Ban had also gotten awakened recently, the girl’s expression could not help but brighten up, however, it suddenly became gloomy the next second.

“A-are you okay?” Ban noticed the changed in her expression and he could not help but ask about it. After all, he is not sure if he said something bad.

“N-no… it’s just that knowing that you are also sixteen years old like me, and yet you’re already that tall kind of gives me a bad feeling about my future.”

Ban did not understand what she meant. He had always been taller than most of the boys his age but did not know the reason why. After all, he did not interact with them that much and would only glance at them whenever they visited the Kuys Bar along with their Adventurer parents.

“Maybe you just didn’t sleep and eat enough?” Ban stated with a tilt head.

“Ehh? Maybe?” The girl also tilted her head in confusion.

“Well, anyway, I was also actually on my way to my awakening process. I already have an inkling on what will happen, but how does it really go?”

Ban scratched his cheek as he did not know what to answer. His awakening was a failure after all. However, he still chose to answer normally. “It’s quite easy really… You just need to put your hand in the Beast Core that they provide and the receptionist will do the rest.!”

“Hmm, just like what my Dad had said! Alright, thank you, and sorry again for the slap!”

She nodded and bowed her head to express both gratitude and apology.

Ban also bowed his head a little to express his apology for what Eva has done. He also bowed towards Delo who has been staring at him from the beginning.

Krrr!

Little Eva’s eyes did not leave Delo and his Barrier Turtle for even a second after realizing that they are more of a threat than the girl in front of them.

Hearing her low hiss, Ban caressed little Eva’s head and antenna to calm her even just a little bit. The action seems to work as little Eva’s tense expression finally subsided a little. Of course, she still did not let her guard down.

“Ahm, so, my question earlier! Where’s the receptionist in charge of this table? The girl named Marrie?” The girl asked. It was the real reason why she approached Ban.

“She went upstairs to take my Adventurer’s badge. She said that she would be back in a minute though!” It was already more than a minute and she still isn’t back, Ban wondered what happened to her.

The girl nodded her head in understanding.

There was an awkward silence in the air, but fortunately it only lasted for a few seconds as they saw Marrie descending from the stairs while carrying a stack of paper on her chest.

When Marrie noticed the girl beside Ban, she moved in an even quicker pace as she greeted, “Good morning, Belle. You’re here already? I thought you would only proceed with the awakening this noon?”

“Hehehe, of course, I even pestered Dad that I should come here first to familiarize myself.” The girl named Belle laughed in a proud tone as she put her hands on her hips.

Marrie smiled as she put the stack of paper on her table before taking out a piece of wood in her pocket.

She then turned towards Ban before saying,

“Here’s your Adventurer Badge, Ban.”

She then continued, “There are five Adventurers Rank in total, namely, the Wood, Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Diamond. The Wood Rank is where all the Adventurers started while the Diamond Rank is the highest.”

Ban put little Eva on his shoulder before he received the badge eagerly with a smile. He felt elated as he finally became an official Adventurer. With this, he thought that he was already getting closer to his goal.

“Currently, you’re only at the Wood Rank, hence the reason why you only have a wood badge. With that badge, you can only accept Quests that are graded, from F grade to E grade.”

“And for you to rank up your Adventurer’s Badge, you need to do a certain number of Quest. You can check the details in the Quest Board.” She said as she pointed at the row of boards in the distance that is full of Adventurers, trying to search for a suitable quest to complete.

“For now, I recommend for you to only accept F Grade Quest, you have only just awakened after all, you and your Monster are only at the X- Mortal Rank!”

Ban smiled wryly after hearing her mentioning his supposed to be Rank. If only she knew that he was already at the F- Apprentice Rank and even though little Eva was only at X- Mortal, she had already evolved once, meaning she is actually stronger than the others on the current rank and might even be stronger than some Monster with Rank’s that is above hers.

“Speaking of it, do you already know the Ranks and their respective names?” She asked curiously.

“Yeah, I already know a little about it!” Ban nodded his head.

“I see, that’s good then. For starters, you should go to the Quest Board and choose an F-Grade Quest for yourself. You can then come back here for me to approve it.”

Ban nodded his head as he went towards the Quest Board area that is located at the center of the place.

“Did he really just awaken yesterday?” Delo could not help but ask for confirmation.

“Yeah, why do you ask?” Marrie answered as she stared at him with a curious gaze.

“Nothing!” Delo responded before ignoring her questioning gaze.

‘Tori, we need to train again for the whole night. You are a Barrier Turtle and yet your Barrier even broke from the punch of an X- Mortal Monster, tsk!”

The barrier turtle could only weep in silence upon feeling the vibes that it was getting from his owner. If it could speak, it would surely say, ‘I really did my best!’

A while later, Ban came back with Eva with a piece of paper on his hand. It was the Quest that he decided to take.

Quest Information:

Grade: F

Description: Collect 20 pieces of Red Cave Rock!

Location: Periphery of the Beast-Filled Forest!

Reward: 2 Silver Coin per piece of Red Cave Rock!

Note: The more Red Cave Rock you can collect, the better!

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Thanks for reading!