Time: Morning, 8th Era, Year 431, Sixth Month
Location: Calderra Village, Adventurer's Guild Building.
It's been a few weeks after the mission with the cave spiders. Since then, Gabriel had took on many more missions such as, slaying dire wolves from eating a livestock farmer's sheep, found Mrs Hobbs' cat, killed some bandits, etc.
Today, Gabriel seeks out the mission board for any easy missions as his tenth mission. As you know, Gabriel is an F-rank Adventurer.
Though he's earning a decent living at the lowest rank, he wants to move higher to only earn more but to also have higher benefits and status.
Now how does one go up higher in rank?
By doing missions of course. However, there is a requirement for every rank up.
To move up to E-rank Adventurer, one must complete 10 Missions.
To move up to D-rank Adventurer, one must complete 15 Missions.
To C-rank is 25 Missions, B-rank is 50 Missions, and A-rank is 100 Missions.
However, there is an additional requirement when one wants to rank up to C, B, and A. These are called "Tests", where adventurers who wants to rank up must complete a special mission to prove that they are worthy to rank up. These special missions go from slaying village-level monsters to town-level monsters and etc.
The last rank to be talked about which is the highest rank is S-rank.
However, the requirement to move up to S-rank is different. In order to rank up to S-rank, one must complete a very special mission called "Trials" . These special mission are very diverse, from slaying dragons, achieve significant contributions in wartime, basically about kingdom-level feats has to be completed.
Also, whenever you rank up, the missions you've completed from your previous rank will not stack with your current rank. So if you completed 10 Missions and moved up to E-rank, then you will have to 15 Missions and so on.
"Let's see here.....slay a hobgoblin.....why is it still there....no i'm not gonna take it....i'm just a bloody F-rank Adventurer.....why is thks mission even in the F-rank mission board, isn't this supposed to be at the E-rank or D-rank mission board?"
"Slay a small horde of mutated boar that's been terrorizing Enkidu Forest...maybe i can do that....but i'll check the other missions first....."
"Slay the Dark Mage that's hiding in Blackwood Mountains....oh so it wasn't cultists back then it was a Dark Mage....oh hell no i am not fighting no Dark Mage.....
....F-rank...i can't do sh*t to that...."
[A/T: a little throwback from one of the missions in Ch 3 :) ]
"no.....no again.....maybe.....OH HELL NO!?!?...ahhh f*ck it...the only mission i can confidently do is the mutated boar one....i'll take it"
Gabriel takes the mission notice and goes to Alina the receptionist to hand it over.
"Good morning Gabriel, what can i do for you today?" asked Alina
"I'm here to take this mission as my rank up mission" said Gabriel as he hands over the mission notice
Alina takes it and examines it for a while before handing it back to Gabriel. "Mutated boars at Enkidu Forest....not bad for your rank up mission i will say...but do be careful as a lot of strange things happen at Enkidu Forest...."
("Surely it'll be alright.....i mean....it's just boars.....right?")
"I'll do my best to be careful" said Gabriel
Gabriel waved goodbye to Alina and left the building. "I don't think i need to buy anything just yet, my current supplies should be enough for this mission, i can just resupply after."
"Okay....let's head to Enkidu Forest then....."
An hour later.....
Gabriel stands in front of the entrance at Enkidu Forest, with a slight of nervousness and a heavy confidence in oneself, Gabriel entered with sword in hand.
"According to the mission details, the mutated boars live at the center of the forest." said Gabriel as he trekked on the forest path "as long as i follow this path, i should be able to reach the center under minimal complication....."
A few minutes of walking deeper into the forest, Gabriel began hearing rustling leaf noises from the surroundings.
He tightened the grip on his sword and trekked deeper, now with a sense of vigilance and cautiousness.
After a few more minutes of walking, Gabriel finally arrived at the center..... i mean....a safe distance from the center.
Gabriel examines the center from afar. "Bloody hell...they're all bigger than one another like matryoshka dolls.....some are the size of a regular boar while some are as large as 2/3 of a door!?!?...the f*ck do i do against them!?!?."
"And what's with the statue at the center? It looks like it's out of this world...no matter....i already accepted the mission so i need to kill boars if i want to rank up....it's time to work harder not smarter today....."
With a deep breath, Gabriel walks closer to the center to meet with the mutated boars.
Quickly they noticed him and growled so loudly, Gabriel had ringing noises in his ear. "I'm going to say this straight.....i know you can't understand me.....but i think you f*ckers know what i'm about to with this sword here in my hand....so....let's dance....matryoshka doll sized bastards..."
As soon as he finished speaking, the mutated boards charged Gabriel with unrelenting force.
Boars have a particular attack pattern, they're primary attack is to charge in a straight line. Gabriel knows this and uses it to his advantage.
As the mutated boars charged at him, Gabriel stands behind a tree and dodges at the right moment so that the boars hit themselves, he also takes the opportunity to stab them with his sword when possible.
After succesfully killing 3 small mutated boars without being hit, Gabriel was oozing with confidence.
However, these weren't mutated boars for no reason. Quickly, they organized and circled him which slowly closed around him.
"Sh*t this is bad" said Gabriel as he vigilantly looks around to look for any incoming attack.
Suddenly one of the bigger boars rammed him behind, sending him a few meters away with a small stab from its tusk.
Then another one rammed him, this time in his side...then the other side...then the back again.....then the front....Gabriel was being attacked at all sides.....
Gabriwl tried to fight back but though he manage to kill two more boars, one of the boars who charged at him made him drop his sword.
"....ughhhhh...f*ck....." weakly uttered Gabriel as he coughs up blood from all the boars' attacks. "t-this...is some BULLSH--"
All of a sudden, the biggest boar charged at him with full force, sending him flying to the statue at the center.
"...t-to...all.....of....the.....f-f*cking.....ways...i could.....die....by f*cking boars....." said Gabriel as he slowly loses his life, becoming unconscious.
As the mutated boars started closing on the dying Gabriel...something happened....the blood of Gabriel that was stained in the statue....dissapeared like it was absorbed....and all of a sudden.....the statue glowed darked red.....
[Protocol Genesis Initiated...]
[Warning!! Warning!!
Threat to Flamebearer Candidate Detected!!!...
Initiate Self-Defense System.....]
In the blink of an eye...all the boars exploded into a bloody mist....then.....an unknown gelatinous material covered Gabriel's body entirely and was absorbed into the statue.....
[Protocol Genesis in Enactment.....]
[Bloodlock Activated.....]
Blood Acknowledged.....]
Enacting Ownership of the Flame.....]
...Completed.]
[Welcome.....Flamebearer Gabriel.....]
End of Chapter