Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Fifth Floor of the Guilds Association.

A rather formal space with one large desk near the entrance which was open, on both its sides a beautiful door with an arch where it peaked could be seen.

A pretty woman with caramel hair that fell to her shoulders could be seen writing on a clean sheet of paper on an elegant, curved desk, a thick, beautiful glass in the shape of a cube surrounding it.

Further into the floor were numerous individuals walking about, going in and out or speaking to the variety of ladies who served them from these cubes.

Skullius and Silrat sat on the other end of the First desk one would see when entering this floor, with the Hybrid Luman receiving the basics of knowledge of what he was about to be signed into, as Silrat had promised before.

"Your showcase earns you quite a bit of merits. Assuming your Rank is finalised as Alaris said, you will get a payment of 100 Plasma coins in an addition to getting to choose anything from the first treasury as a gracious welcome. After that, you will earn a consistent flow of 60 Plasma coins each month," Silrat said while sipping on the cool refreshments that were set on the nice table before the two.

"Plasma coins?" Skullius asked while sipping away at his drink too, his eyes showing a pleased look. The sweet taste was still new to him.

"They are coins more valuable than gold ones. Each is worth a 100 gold. They are made from high level beast dead cores."

"I see," Skullius said recalling the coins he had seen that one man from the foyer carrying. Those must've been Plasma coins. "That's pretty good. And the first treasury?"

"It's one of three treasure caches of the Association. The one ranked least among all of them."

"Oh. Hmmm. I'm not getting all this for free right?"

"Ha. Of course not. As an exclusive mercenary, you get permissions into claimed jurisdictions and get the support of the Association in tough situations. To continue earning this, you'll be given one mandatory high ranking mission every month which will have an equivalent rank of rewards. You may also receive other missions but you can choose to ignore. So no. It's not for free," Silrat said.

"High ranking missions, huh?"

"Among these missions may come the call to act as a Designated mercenary. You'll be dispatched to other regions to take care of threats that no one there can. Tulnas was gambling on the effort of such mercenaries when he withheld the detail of how to deal with mass Cluster incident from the Capital Service back then."

(A/N: Refer to Ch.237).

"I see," Skullius said while stroking his chin.

He truly did see.

This was a pretty good deal.

"Can I get Legendary weapons as well among these rewards?" he asked.

"Legendary? Those are the standard for any true powerhouse in Aigas. Legendary items aren't that rare and frankly, they aren't too valued. Blue Clusters and above are guaranteed to have one or more of those and more as natural treasures. It's Mythical and Transcendent items that are rare and dangerous. They can shift the scale of a battle instantly," Silrat explained with a scoff. "They are practically illegal to use without a licence or special permission."

Skullius raised a brow at this.

They were that dangerous huh?

He had yet to come across such, or rather he hadn't seen such a title on any item yet.

Silrat's explanation explained a lot.

His first Legendary item was handed to him pretty early on this new journey of his.

The All Eater Scroll.

Though he hadn't come across a lot of Legendary items, they didn't seem as sacred as one would expect them to be, though their usefulness couldn't be debated.

"So what do you get out of all this? You said something about it being a long time since you've been here," Skullius asked with a hint of suspicion.

The perks and benefits for him were more or less clear but those for Silrat were not apparent yet.

Silrat sighed and leaned back on the comfortable seat.

"Well, I guess this does help with our relationship moving forward," Silrat said, looking reluctant to share. "My father was one of the executives in the Guilds Association Headquarters. His...methods, when raising me were unusual. He wanted me to follow in his footsteps. 'Focus on the strong. No one with enough power and potential to stand at top of the whole of Aigas will hide themselves. They are all selfish bastards who will demand respect. Leech off of them and rise alongside them,' he would say."

"I disagreed. Since he raised me in the Guilds Association, I got to see a lot of people. Those considered strong, those considered weak. I thought there was a fine line between the two. My father didn't see it that way. He insisted that I stay and learn instead of going home to see my mother on most occasions. Slowly I got used to it, and thus came my ideology that differed from his."

Skullius listened silently, trying to empathise. This half of the story explained a part of Silrat's personality at least.

He was also surprised that Silrat didn't even seem to come from a wealthy background. He didn't act like it.

He seemed more like a sneaky rat.

Was it simply humility?

Did anyone else know?

"What finally drove us apart was me wagering that I could recognise buried talent even from the most remote and unimpressive area in Aigas and well... he took it more seriously than I thought, throwing me away from the luxuries that I was used to. In the end, I couldn't prove him right or wrong. He passed on a few years ago before I could have a chat with him."

"Must've been difficult..." Skullius scrounged out words of comfort from his cache of stolen knowledge through [Basic Evil Sanction].

He did feel a bit sorry for Silrat but much of it didn't even mean anything.

"Yeah it was. Bastard didn't give me a chance to prove myself," Silrat said as he exhaled a slightly frustrated sigh. "As for what I get from all this, it's the chance to build myself to his level and try out my ambitions."

"That much is obvious, bro," Skullius said with a smirk. "You're very greedy."

Silrat laughed at this.

At that moment, from the door to this formal space, a fine gentleman in expensive formal wear entered.

Behind him was Alaris and the woman sitting at the desk stood and gave a short bow when the two entered.

This man reached where Skullius and Silrat were, his eyes scanning over them.

"Festos and Silrat, I trust?" the man in the formal wear inquired.

Silrat promptly stood while Skullius relaxedly did the same.

"Indeed," the former Branch Head replied as he quickly appraised the man.

He had fine vanilla coloured hair and large bottle green coloured eyes. He had a rather tall frame and his demeanour reeked of experience and seriousness.

"I see. Let's get to business," he said. "Silrat, I hear you were involved in the operation and intel verification process to solve the... mass Cluster incident as it has come to be known?"

"That's right," Silrat replied with a serious expression. "However, I had that achievement stripped from the Capital Service record, so it's value is practically non-existent on my part."

"Is that so? I suppose that is problematic. However, it was merely a detail of note," the man said as he then turned to Skullius. "You were involved too, were you not?"

"I was," Skullius replied.

"Hmmm," the man hummed as he gauged Skullius in his own way. "Alaris tells me that you are combat Mage. A unique one."

"I suppose," Skullius said, his blank eyes narrowing.

Alaris smirked under his moustache. Mages were all so arrogant. Did this young man know who he was talking to?

The green eyed man didn't seem to mind Skullius' relaxed attitude however.

"I trust Alaris' evaluation along with Lemorine's confirmation of it. You have joined the ranks of exclusive mercenaries as a Rank 4. You may learn all the corresponding benefits and perks from any one of the officers along with meeting your mates. Sadly, most of them aren't present."

"I will have Alaris handle your introductory remuneration if he doesn't mind..." the formally dressed man said as he glanced at Alaris.

"Of course," the evaluation officer said.

"Good. Your identification should be ready in a few minutes. Rist will hand it to you on your way out."

With that, the tall man briskly but stylishly walked out, taking his strict atmosphere with him.

Alaris watched him leave before he turned to Skullius and Silrat who were obviously wondering about what this man's deal was.

"Forgive his attitude. He values his time. If you were Ranked 2 or 1, he would have been more polite," Alaris said with a chuckle. "Shall we handle your remuneration now?"