The Extra's Return

I had been walking behind the receptionist lady.

Veronica was her name.

Speaking of which, I was aware of her name when her coworkers kept calling her. But not calling her like a friend, but with an insulting tone. They complained about the way she dressed.

"Aren't you angry?"

"Why should I be angry? I knew this was the risk of having an above-average face and body."

Her voice seemed to be holding back her irritation. However, a trace of confidence was still clearly exuded.

What she said was not a total lie, in addition to her long hair, charming smile, and beautiful face she had, she also had charming curves.

Even from behind, I could see her two buttocks dancing to the rhythm of her footsteps.

I bet you will have dirty thoughts in your head when you see those two dangerous things.

But there's no way I would make such a stupid expression like a man with a dirty mind.

I just focused on following her to the test room.

I'm going to take a test from the Adventurers Association. After that, I will obtain a ranking that matched the test results

The rank of an adventurer will determine the quests that can be taken. Therefore, the higher the rank you get, the higher the quests you can take. And the higher the rank of the quests you take, the higher the rewards you get.

But I have no plans to reach a high rank.

At least not for now.

"I'll start explaining about the work of an Adventurer."

Veronica, who was in front of me, with her usual stiff face, started explaining the things that a beginner needs to know.

First, she started explaining the working system of the Adventurer's Association.

The work system of the Adventurer's Association was simple. They were in charge of gathering people with powers, giving them quests, and then rewarding them according to the difficulty of the quests.

"Please note that you will not be able to accept quests that are higher than your rank. For your safety."

Of course, I had to know all of that.

In my previous life, I had also enlisted as an adventurer and had felt how difficult it was to be a low-rank adventurer.

At that time, my rational mind realized that the Adventurer's Association gave each quest a rank so that Adventurers could have a higher chance of survival.

But, even so, living by taking low-rank quests was just torture. Low pay and a high risk of accidents were common occurrences.

I knew that because I had been there.

I had been in that position.

In my previous life, I had experienced as a low-ranked Adventurer. I often became a scarecrow for the higher-ranked Adventurers.

Grid!

As the memories of the past settled in my head, I accidentally bit my lip.

The flames of anger seemed to still reside in my heart. However, there was nothing I could do about the past. I just need to focus on the future. Trying to reach a future full of happiness, wasn't that was my dream.

Veronica suddenly stopped and looked at me over her shoulder.

"Are you listening to me?"

"Hm?"

"What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing. Please continue your explanation."

"Haah... Okay. So, you probably already know this, but I'll continue by telling you the rank order of Adventurers and Quests."

Adventurer rank was divided into 6 levels.

F, E, D, C, B, A.

From F, the lowest possible rank, to A, the highest possible rank that a human can attain.

Veronica's explanation stopped there.

"What about ranks higher than A rank?"

I asked innocently.

"Why do you think that there is a rank higher than rank A?"

"Well, that's just my guess."

Behind the expressionless face she had, there were slight signs of surprise. Although small, her eyebrows seemed to be twitching cutely.

"Sorry. I don't have the authority to explain that."

Then she looked straight ahead again. She walked on without explaining further.

Without her having to explain it, I knew that there was one more rank above A rank.

The people or the general public was indeed no one who knows.

Ranks higher than A rank were only known by a few people.

It wasn't announced openly because they were afraid that weak people would go crazy, crazy to reach a rank that they couldn't reach. Or maybe people would instead be afraid of people who had reached ranks above A rank?

And it was S rank.

Rank S was a level that only 'Abnormal' humans could obtain. Rank S could only be obtained if one possessed immense power. Normal people wouldn't even be able to dream of reaching it.

Most of the S rankers were the head of the family of a prestigious noble family. In other words, the S rank was a special title to distinguish between commoners and nobles.

That's more or less what I understand.

"Alright. Here we are."

When we reached the entrance of the rank measurement room, we both braked our footsteps, and simultaneously, we frowned.

"..."

"..."

Without a signal, both of us simultaneously jumped to the side.

My eyes and Veronica's eyes met.

We were not flirting with each other through our glances. But, the meaning of our eyes meeting was that we realized that each of us had power beyond our expectations.

Boom!

We turned our eyes towards the person who flew out from behind the door.

We both knew that someone would fly out from behind the door, so we dodged to the side.

The person who flew out finally hit the wall and lost consciousness.

I turned my gaze to look at the person inside the room, to see the figure who had flown out of the unconscious person.

He was seen carrying a sword on his shoulder. His face looks very dissatisfied.

"Fwuhh~ why are the newcomers so weak these days? Don't they realize that they are still too weak? Why do they want to become Adventurers so badly? Do they think being an Adventurer is an easy job?"

And he turned out to be Fidel.

As I watched him, he also watched me. Perhaps he could read my confused face, so he started talking.

"Hahaha, I didn't expect us to meet again."

Without me asking, he then started telling me why he was here.

I heard that he received an offer from the Adventurer's Association to test people who want to register as Adventurers. And of course, it can be called a quest too.

Given that he was ranked B, he was already qualified.

After telling me the story, he told me to go inside.

"Then, I'll excuse myself." Veronica resigned.

Before she walked back to the reception desk, our eyes met once again. And right at that moment, I felt something.

"...."

"...."

For now, I'll let this feeling pass.

A small smile accidentally appeared on my lips.

On the other side, Veronica frowned.

"What's wrong?"

"No. Nothing. See you soon."

I walked into the rank measurement room with Fidel, ignoring Veronica who walked back to the reception desk.

***

There was a very large arena inside the rank measurement room, but before going there, I was guided by another Adventurer Association staff to take a Mana Core measurement test.

It reminded me of the Mana Core measurement test that I did during the Maturity Ceremony. And the results were still the same as back then. When I placed my hand on the Crystal Ball, there was no reaction at all.

"Heh, who would have thought that there are also children of nobles who don't have Mana Cores, just like commoners? And there are even many commoners who have Mana Cores like me. So sad."

Fidel, who was watching from the side, made his scathing comment while rubbing his beard. His attitude was inversely proportional to the friendly demeanor he had previously shown.

As I suspected, he knew that I was the son of a nobleman.

But I ignored it.

Generally, people who weren't had a Mana Core wouldn't be able to register as an Adventurer, unless they had special skills in a certain area, such as an expert in finding medicinal herbs, an expert in determining the direction of exploration, or other skills.

But seeing that the Adventurer's Association staff didn't stop my registration progress, it seemed he was considering the matter of my identity as a noble's child.

'I had expected the identity of a noble child to come in handy.'

Without much consideration, I was told to proceed to the next stage.

He told me to do a sprint. It was to test how fast I could run.

Then I was told to hit the scarecrow using full strength.

The scarecrow was not a normal scarecrow, but a magical device to test how strong the applicant's punch was.

Actually, any tests I took would be useful for determining my position when I entered a Party.

The Adventurer's Association will recommend a suitable position for me.

Whether it's as a Scout, Tanker, or Attacker, will be decided after the tests I'm currently doing are completed.

In my previous life, I always became a Porter. Because it was only in the Porter position that I could enter a Party and could take on quests that had more pay.

Back then, when I showed my adventurer card, which contained my adventure rank information and the position that suited me, which was the position recommended by the Adventurer Association, then everyone would tell me to become a Porter if I still wanted to join the Party.

'What an unpleasant experience.'

I shook my head to banish the nostalgia from my mind.

"Are you ready to be beaten?"

Fidel grinned in my face.

Fidel and I stood in the arena in the center of the room.

After undergoing a series of tests, I was left with one more.

The martial arts skills test.

The opponent I had to face was Fidel, a rank B Adventurer.

Of course, Fidel's face looked very lazy. I could already guess that he wanted to throw me into the air like the person I saw flying out of the room earlier.