NOVEL WEB Chapter 21: The Hunter Ranks
Sherine and Zephyr returned to their room after sending off the siblings. He couldn’t get much from Achmea because of her quiet nature. She spoke no more than five words during the entire conversation while her brother wouldn’t stop.
Sherine’s rising heartbeat made her aware of the man sitting within arm’s reach. He grabbed the books he got from the Hunters Guild and began reading them.
He finally glanced at her. “Wanna read together?”
“Yes.”
She was curious about the books. It will also keep her head clear from thoughts which were unnecessary for the time being.
Zephyr moved closer until their shoulders touched and flipped back to the first page. Sherine hardly focused on the book. Recalling Achmea’s calm and collected behavior, she pushed out the obscene thoughts brewing in her mind.
The guidebook about the Hunters Guild showed many insights into behind-the-scenes work. The Richfield Family of Altissia City owned the majority of the Hunters Guild and other noble families helped in expansion to most of the continent.
The thin guidebook detailed general rules to follow when hunting magic beasts as well as courtesies in the Hunters communication area.
There was a section explaining the ranks.
The Wolf rank belonged to the beginner hunters. Once the hunter slays a D-rank or stronger monster, their rank is bumped to the Hawk rank. The rank up process remained the same until the last hunter rank.
The most interesting part had to be this small table included in the book.
Monster level 1-9 / Assigned Monster Rank E / Recommended hunter rank Wolf
Level 10-19 / Monster Rank D / Hawk
Level 20-29 / Monster Rank C / Wyvern
Level 30-49 / Monster Rank B / Griffin
[If you encounter a monster above Level 49, we advise you to flee and inform the Hunters Society at once. They are disasters capable of bringing down a city on their own!]
“This is what I needed.”
According to the book, Zephyr was qualified for Hawk rank. He had no hurry to rush through the ranks, though.
Even though the book got boring after that, Sherine stuck to reading it until the end. They moved on to the Secrets of the Realm book which showed brief information on the current and past kingdoms.
Theranhad Kingdom had the blessing of Goddess of Magic Hecate. The king proclaimed to be Hecate’s apostle, having the powerful magic out of all sorcerers. He was the reason Therandhad Academy remained a safe haven for magicians to learn and grow.
Savara Theocracy was blessed by Goddess Ishgard, thus giving them the holy power. They nurtured priests and paladins.
Lastly, the Nohr Sværd Realm took pride in raising warriors with God of War Sverre’s blessing.
‘Mages, paladins, priestesses, and swordsmen. A great lineup.’
It was obvious why they survived the brutal war against the Brood Queen Olgath.
He found an interesting place in the book. Well, they were many but cut out of the same cloth.
The Blessing Towers.
They offered trials for people to hone their skills against monsters. The rewards for clearing these trials came in the form of blessings from gods. Some even offered special classes.
There were five in total but only three remained in the land under human control.
The nearest one was in Altissia City—Zephyr’s next destination. Orsik Tower of Blessings.
‘This is the Osrik Xander and Eric mentioned.’
He saved the last book to read in Laura’s presence, or the receptionist will be sad and more depressed.
“That was a fun time,” he said as he shut down the book and smiled at his new lover. “What about you?”
Sherine frowned as she contemplated on her reading experience. “I feel like it’s missing something crucial. For an introduction to the source of powers for hunters, it’s very basic.”
“Well, they are of Bronze-rank. If they are based on skill ranks, there should be more editions of them.” He rolled his shoulder. “Speaking of skills, my Dragon Touch blessing went up to Gold-rank.”
“Ohhh. I-Is that because of… me?”
He sneakily rested his head on her lap. The soft flesh of her thighs doubled as a pillow for him. And the underview of her peaks was arousing.
“No other dragon has deep feelings for me. On the bright side, I don’t feel any discomfort when you go into heat with strong fire resistance. Pretty useful for certain things, right?”
If the Dragon Touch remained Bronze-rank, he doubted he could hold her hand, much less hugging her.
Sherine felt glad that her blessing would help her get together with her love. “Should we go out to kill some monsters?”
She flipped the topic, unwilling to go deeper into her mating issues.
He glanced outside. The bright orange horizon informed him about the looming night. “Let’s head out early tomorrow. We’ll go shopping in a bit. I just wanna rest now.”
He had slain quite a bit of weak fools on his way to the town, reaching Level 6 in the process. With the knowledge from the guidebook, they will have an easier time in the forest.
“I’ll bring some things over from the Soul Keeper House.” Sherine looked down and stroked his hair with a smile. “The name Soul Keeper House is a big one for everyday use. Let’s shrink it down.”
“Lover’s nest?”
Sherine immediately blushed, realizing how well it fitted the Soul Keeper House.
Zephyr laughed. “Your blushing face is seriously adorable.”
Sherine pouted and sulked. “Why do you keep teasing me?”
“Because you’re my lover.”
After coaxing the half dragoness and some debate over the name, they settled on Sherine’s suggestion. Sheze home, which used the initials of their first name.
After dinner, the duo set out to find a weapon shop or anything similar. After traveling through the whole town, which took less than thirty minutes, they couldn’t find any. He inquired about it from a passerby and found out that the only blacksmith left after he couldn’t make a living here.
“This town is such a sorry place to be in,” he whispered and glanced at the tower. “We’ll buy potions tomorrow.”
“Umm.”
