Chapter 598: Promoted to S Rank

Shaking aside the sense of pain he felt from the depth of his soul upon learning how Valerie had already managed to reach the Peak of the A Rank. Only needing to complete her class advancement quest to reach the S Rank. Verdell made his way towards a counter specifically for updating one’s status with the large woman following behind him curiously. "Hello, what can I help you with?" Hearing that familiar question from the kind looking man standing on the other side.

"I’m here to update my status from A Rank to S Rank and also examine my current status." Not wasting any words as he directly stated his purpose. Earning a small nod of approval from the man behind the counter. Feeling as he was examined a bit more closely by the other party upon mentioning how he was there to update from an A Rank Adventurer to an S Rank Adventurer.

Still, the look wasn’t one of shock, just a bit of surprise. After all, this was one of the frontiers managed by the guild and there was no lack of S Rank and even SS Rank Adventurers in this kind of place.

Of course, even with this, someone advancing from the A Rank to the S Rank was still rare.

That aside, following a quick line of questioning from the young man, he was soon enough escorted through the guild towards an isolated room in the corner where he would get his status inspected by a guild member to verify that he had truly reached the level required to be listed as an S Rank Adventurer. ℴ

But to ensure privacy, the only part of his status the guild member would see was that of the most common kind of inspection that only showed his race, class and level. Not anything like his skill and more detailed information on his overall strength for obvious reasons.

He could allow the guild access to this information, but he didn’t have any especially unique skill that would be requested for certain special tasks, so there wasn’t any benefit to him sharing his more detailed status with the guild.

"Wow, I haven’t been here in some time! Hehe, looks like I won’t need to go here either before I complete my class advancement quest and become an S Rank Adventurer as well." And of course, Valerie was following along the entire time. Verdell himself not seeing anything wrong in having the young woman follow along. After all, if he didn’t have her tag along, she would just end up pestering him about how strong he was after he completed the inspection. Having her tag along would save him the trouble.

Even more so because he knew she wouldn’t just take his words for it and would undoubtedly drag him away to spar with until she felt certain that he truly was at the level of strength he told her- or in other words, she would use t as an excuse to duel him...

"This is it, please place your hand on the device and I will authenticate your promotion after ensuring you have reached the minimum requirements for rank advancement." And as the group of three entered the relatively small room with a large mechanical device that took up close to half the room on its own, the man gently stepped aside before signaling for Verdell to step forward.

"I know, not my first time." Rolling his eyes at the introduction from the receptionist, Verdell took a step forward and placed his hand atop the device that had been lowered for him by the receptionist so he wouldn’t have to climb up the device to reach the place where his hand had to touch.

Bzzz~

Soon enough, a gentle buzzing sound echoed through the small room before the machine roared to life and Verdell, as a mage, felt the countless mana circuits within springing to life as they began analyzing him from head to toe for a few seconds before the buzzing sound stopped and the small screen displayed his status for the three of them to see.

[Race: Dwarf]

[Class: Dragon Flame Mage]

[Level: 134]

[Current Rank: A]

[Recommended Rank: S]

[Press the button below to view more detailed information.]

"Wha... Level 134!? And you only came to register as an S Rank Adventurer now!?"

"Wow, amazing! As expected of you, Verdell! Strong just as I suspected!"

And along with the surprised exclamations of the two spectators, Verdell similarly wore a look of surprise on his face upon seeing the level displayed before his eyes. Never having expected to have managed to advance so much that he was essentially only a short distance away from reaching the top of the S Rank.

In fact, he could already be considered to have entered the upper ranks among S Rank Adventurers with his current level- and along with his unique class and current strength, he felt confident that few in the S Rank would be his match.

"Ehm, I haven’t been to a guild branch for quite some time and happened to have spent a long time inside a dungeon killing monsters before I made my way to the north." Still, though he himself was surprised at just how far his level had advanced, he still made sure to keep a calm appearance before the two surprised observers. Feeling their clear look of awe while he handed the guild receptionist his card and watched the other party process it.

Removing the A Rank on the card before replacing it with a gleaming S Rank that looked to be of far higher quality compared to before.

"There is a reward to be processed within the card from another guild branch. Do you want me to process it now?"

"Huh? Ah! No, no need." But as he was feeling over the moon following his advancement, he quickly jumped forward and grabbed his card before stuffing it back into his pocket upon hearing the next words of the receptionist. Knowing very well what the reward contained within his card was about.

Sure, he wouldn’t encounter any problems even if he ended up redeeming the reward, but he was sure to attract unwanted attention, something he wanted to avoid, if possible, given how his current strength was still far from qualified to claim that kind of reward.

With Scaly around, it would be fine, but if those adventurers he and Scaly had saved ended up coming to him to express their thanks, it would be a bit awkward when they realized he wasn’t as strong as they had believed him to be.

Not to mention, the curious young woman staring at him filled with curiosity the second he had snatched his guild card back would undoubtedly be most annoying one to deal with.

"Ehm, I would like to inspect my status more in depth on my own." And with no other way to push away the young woman who was now immensely curious about the reward he had refused to claim on the spot for some reason, Verdell came up with an understandable reason to make them leave.

"Suspicious..." Not that Valerie gave up on finding out what the reward was all about, as she narrowed her eyes slightly while muttering to herself before following the receptionist out of the small room. Knowing it would indeed be rude for her to stand around while he went over his personal status.

Not to mention, even though he could avoid her for a bit, he would still have to leave the room in another few minutes. Waiting a few minutes was something she was more than willing to do. Especially knowing she might find out something interesting afterwards that this friend of hers had been up to while they hadn’t seen each other.

After all, in her eyes, the reason why Verdell didn’t want to claim the reward issued to him by another branch had to, in her eyes, be because it involved something embarrassing, he didn’t want others to know about.

In her eyes, though her main interest remained combat, she was still very much interested in this kind of interesting information. Especially when it pertained to someone she knew.

"..."

Knowing the thoughts of this easy-to-read woman from a glance, Verdell could only silently sigh to himself as he watched her slip out of the room. Knowing he would soon end up having to explain his recent friendship with Scaly and what he had gone through along with her over the past few days- or rather weeks by now.

Still, that was for later, first he had to get a proper look at his status after his recent class advancement and at the same time also see if there was any unique skill he hadn’t known about beforehand. After all, one normally wouldn’t know if any new skill emerged without using this kind of machine to properly examine one’s status after advancing, something that had led to quiet a few mages that just advanced to remain unaware that they had the ability to use an entirely new kind of magic before properly examining their status.