Chapter 415 - Melee fighter Noname (Patreon)

I have gained as much as I could from Duncan, and he even pointed me to an area where people often look for expedition members.

Such things usually happen to smaller guilds, as bigger ones mostly form groups of their own members. They also have ways to communicate with each other in case they need a member from some highly specialized guild, for example, a healer.

The information I got from Duncan is a lot, and I’m still sorting it out in my mind. Things about rankings, a bit more about guilds, trading, Beyonders, and Beyond itself. It all feels like one big info dump. Costly but well worth it.

Checking my timer, only a few hours have passed, but I head towards the place Duncan mentioned right away.

As I pass between the buildings, I watch people. This time, it’s a demon that catches my interest. He looks almost like a human, just his eyes are red, and there are horns growing from his forehead and curling with the tip pointing towards the back of his head. They are probably as long as my forearm and black in color.

What I find curious is that the demons I saw in the crowd before had different types of horns. Some demons have shorter ones, some have one horn long and the other one shorter. Even the bends and lengths differ without seemingly any connection to their strength.

But the demon I see right now doesn’t care. He bears that confident, crazed expression on his face, and there are lines like tattoos drawn all over his body. These lines pulse in sync with his heart, a red color spreading through them.

The demon’s movements are nimble, each step like that of a predator. He wears no armor, but there is a hilt on his waist. From that hilt, no weapon extends.

Thankfully, his senses don’t touch me, as I’m sure he could then feel my heart. Demons seem to be good at that even with all the blocking I do.

According to Duncan, the place I’m in is one of the smaller outposts of the Entrance floor. There are dozens of these outposts, and it’s possible to travel between them. It’s just that such traveling is expensive as you need to pay the guild keeping up the arrays.

Obviously.

Some of the biggest outposts have headquarters of the top guilds, and you can meet the oldest and most powerful locals. There and very rarely even handlers that seem to be top dogs in the Beyond.

Following Duncan’s instructions, I reach the building he recommended I enter first. It’s a smaller white building made out of stone. It isn’t guarded, and its big doors are wide open. Entering it, I see multiple people similar to me. Most of them seem to be in the same situation as well. Newbies just entering Beyond.

It’s funny to think of it. Each of us is top 100 of the first generation of our planet, yet here we are - currently, just newbies.

There is a hungry look in their eyes, though some of these guys are nervous. No one among them came here to stay at the bottom.

I find a spot in the corner and sit there. To not waste my time, I continue to more intentionally focus on improved Mana Cycling that helps me to hide my mana and keep it all from seeping into the area.

Gradually, each of the people waiting enters one of the small rooms, and upon returning, they exit the building. When it’s my turn, I follow the instructions of a local and enter a room.

It is simple, with a red carpet on the ground and two seats opposite each other and a small table in between. A window offers a view to the back side of the building where a small garden is.

A woman who waits there gestures me to sit, and when I do, she starts explaining in a way that makes it obvious it’s something she has done plenty of times.

“As you know, you will be able to visit and explore Beyond until the end of your tutorial. Your handler will be helping you, but as always, most of the work is up to you and your decisions. There are a lot of dangers but also a lot of opportunities.”

I decide to stay quiet and listen to her first before asking anything.

She seems to notice that and hums in satisfaction, “Something I can tell you is that the surface is usually much more dangerous than the 1st and 2nd floors of the First Dungeon, so take that into consideration.”

I nod to acknowledge it, and she continues, “Beyond explorers are separated into five ranks, D, C, B, A, and S, with S being the highest. These rankings serve only here in Beyond and have no effect on your status. They are used to ease creating expeditions or entering guilds, as some of them look for certain ranks only. You will be given an identification emblem that will contain information about your Beyond rank. It’s the work of one of the Rulers, so it will update when you reach a higher one, and it’s calculated according to your performance only here in Beyond.”

“Sounds clear so far.”

“Good. You can hide your emblem or make it appear as you prefer. With some practice, you can decide to share some information from your status through that emblem. There is no lying possible with what you share, and you can imagine situations where it will be useful. That’s mostly all. Any questions?”

“How many people have S rank emblems, and what year of tutorial is usually what rank?”

“Typical,” she smiles, “most of you attendees ask about the S rank. For now, don’t let it bother you. There are usually only around 10 S ranks at a time. It’s not a limited number, but that’s the average. They are the most talented of all attendees, each of them almost with absolute certainty to become a Absolute or very powerful Champion in the future. There I would like to remind you that these ranks serve for Beyond only and aren’t a clear indication of a person’s talent. Plenty of A ranks later become Absolutes or Champions. So I can’t really answer your other question.”

“That makes sense. Then what level are attendees usually before leaving the tutorial and Beyond? Any Champions?”

“This will be the last one I answer. And no, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone becoming a Champion within the tutorial. It is a rank not to be taken lightly and not something you can reach within only 5 years. Now, show me the back of your hand.” As she says so, she takes a small item looking like a stamp from her pocket.

I offer her my pale left hand, and she stamps the back of it, leaving a black circle on my skin.

That then circle starts fading off, but I send a bit of my mana into it, which makes it regain its color, and a simple but beautifully ornamented letter D appears in the middle of the circle.

“Obsidian Black for D rank, Ivory White for C rank, Royal Blue for B rank, Shimmering Silver for A rank, and Radiant Gold for S rank. It will be a thousand shards for the identification emblem.”

That sounds cool, but what was the last sentence?

The woman does a small quick gesture, and a notification pops up.

Request to transfer -1000 shards. Confirm?

Yes/No

Yooo, what the fuck.

I hesitate, my eyes flicking between the window and the woman in front of me. Should I run? Is this place full of scammers? Would they try to hunt me for a measly 1k shards?

“Is there any problem? If you don’t have enough shards, I will have to ask you to wait so I can remove the identification emblem.”

Damn it.

“It’s fine,” I answer and confirm the trade, “but can you answer more of my questions?”

The woman leans back in her chair, “I don’t mind answering some within the limit allowed by the system. What would you like to know?”

“Before I ask my question, will you be asking for shards for answering them?”

She tilts her head in a confused manner, “Obviously, I will.”

Maybe my handler wasn’t that bad after all, and I should adventure more and learn the answers on my own.

With as polite a goodbye as I can muster, I quickly leave the place.

***

A few minutes later, I find myself in a huge hall that is near the dead center of this outpost. Even more than before, there are tens, hundreds of people rushing in and out, and I already feel my energy being drained just from the sheer proximity of that many people.

Most of the people here seem somewhat new to Beyond, if I had to guess, and I often see identification emblems activated, an obsidian black showing on the backs of the hands.

I follow their example and move from bulletin board to bulletin board.

There are some boards meant for the 2nd floor of Beyond, some even for the 3rd, but with very few papers pinned on them. The most occupied is the board for the 1st floor of the First dungeons, with hundreds of papers pinned on it.

Before checking it, I move around, noticing some other boards for crafting and training or even information. There is stuff for nearly everything together with information about the way of contact written on the papers. Some direct people to inns, others ask to be at a certain time at a certain place to ask for more information.

I also notice that once in a while, some papers burn and disappear.

Could it be these offers have some sort of timer set and then disappear to not occupy the space with old offers?

Interesting and cool. It immediately makes me think of inscriptions I could create to set this kind of effect, and I come to the realization that I should be able to do it.

Another thing I find fascinating is that some papers are looking for people from certain planets. Aetherion, Grimhold, Orynthia, Pyronix, Eldros… and many more. Most likely someone from one round looking for people from other rounds, and they can’t communicate with them through Community.

I spend the next 30 minutes going through all the papers, searching for something similar for Earth, but in the end, find nothing. Either no one from Earth had such an idea or no one is in this outpost. It’s highly possible others appeared somewhere else.

In the end, I just pick one of the papers where a group is looking for more people for an expedition to the 1st floor of the dungeon that will happen in 2 days. Out of multiple offers I went through, this one seems to fit the best with my timing.

The only problem is they are looking for a melee attacker capable of resisting disruption and able to quickly reach and face mostly ranged attackers.

Well, it’s not too big of a problem, and I shift Flamebearer on my back. Having this weapon should give me some advantage as just from looking at it you can tell its high rarity even though damaged.

Then I change some settings and focus more on the use of kinetic energy that I now let slightly reach out of my body while still keeping thermal stored in my core.

None of these people can be trusted, so for now, I will lie low but not too much to avoid becoming someone not worth teaming up with. Skilled, but not too much. I got plenty of warnings before.

Until I become stronger and more confident in my place here, I’m Noname, a melee fighter with a damaged arcane ax. No shards in the bank and possessing one of 5 well-known primordial energies, kinetic energy. Plus with an asshole handler.

Like that, an hour later, I approach the group I have picked for myself at the place and time they have set. There are a few more people looking to join the group, and they take some while sending others away.

The core of that group seems to be 7 people and an additional 13 picked from people searching for group.

When it’s my turn, I get asked a few simple questions by what seems to be the right hand of the leader, a woman wearing armor of a Fallen Hero from the 4th floor.

“Do you have experience with the 1st floor?”

“No experience. This is my second time in Beyond, and I spent a 3-day Stay token I first got to collect information and learn about the place.”

The woman nods, “Smart. Plenty of rookies are overconfident and die off on their first expedition. How much time do you have currently left?”

“Two days and 14 hours.”

“Hmm, that’s little but enough for us to reach a safe zone where we won’t need you anymore. Abilities?”

“Primordial kinetic energy and a lot of experience with close-range combat, and this is a damaged arcane ax from the 5th floor.”

“That’s what caught my interest. Flamebearer is extremely rare, and barely anyone was able to get it. You must have some skill or luck. Okay, go and talk to that man over there; he will ask you more.” She decisively points at a scrawny man who holds some items and talks to other people and calls, “Next! Hurry up!”

I quickly leave and start heading towards him.

Well, that was simple. Simpler than I thought and quicker than it should be.

Someone is hurrying too much.

This expedition smells, it smells so much, and everyone here seems to know it. New recruits, the core seven members, both. Newcomers are already making smaller groups and other deals. If it comes to it, I’m sure newbies would be ready to fight the core group.

Yet no one seems to be backing out, and as dumb as it is, it also makes sense. You won’t get into Beyond without being daring and trusting in your abilities.

And then, while I wait for the scrawny man to deal with a woman with small wings on her back and hair changing color, I think of the name of the 1st floor of Beyond’s dungeon.

The floor that attendees call The Corpseyard.