Is that a Wisp?

Back at the branch beside Katiu Forest, Krune was still waiting for his ID to be processed. He was left alone after the attendant finished telling him the benefits of being a Three Star Mercenary. The problem was, he was told that the process would only take at most one hour, but it had already been over two hours since he was told that. Krune had a good temper, so he didn't really mind having to wait longer, but they could have at least told him that something happened.

Krune was pondering whether or not to ask what was happening, only to see that the door to the office was opened. He was relieved since it seemed like the process was finished. He looked at the person who appeared, but to his surprise, it wasn't the middle-aged woman from before, but someone he had never seen before. It was Marcin, the supervisor of the branch Krune was in.

"Hello, Krune. I'm Marcin, this branch's supervisor. I came to personally congratulate you."

Krune didn't think about those words that much, but since the guy came to personally congratulate him, he would accept those words. He heard the middle-aged woman tell him before that it had been a very long time since a Three Star Mercenary appeared in this branch. With that, he could understand the reason why the supervisor personally appeared.

"It wasn't much. I should be apologizing instead for the training room since it was me who broke it down after all."

Marcin was all smiles while listening to Krune's words. It seemed like he didn't care the least bit.

"Not a problem, not a problem. We told everyone before the test that they could go all out, so the formation not being able to endure it was purely our fault."

Marcin's expression then turned solemn as he continued.

"Krune, usually the process to register a Three Star Mercenary badge would take at most one hour. Surprisingly, the headquarters have made an exception due to your amazing performance during the test. With that, they've decided to reward you with a Four Star Mercenary badge and ID. This was why it took so long for the process to be finished."

Krune was slightly confused at first, but then his eyes lit up! A thought popped up in his mind as he asked.

"Does it mean that I'll get a better discount when buying something from the guild?"

After hearing that comment, Marcin almost fainted from shock! It was obvious that the guy in front of him had no idea what it meant to receive a Four Star badge at his cultivation level at all!

"Ehem. Well, you're not wrong to think like that since there is a better discount for Four Star Mercenaries."

He felt like crying while uttering those words, but he endured it as he added.

"But that's not the most important part about it. The thing is, only cultivators at the Core Formation Realm can apply for a test to acquire a Four Star badge and ID. Even so, the headquarters made a special exception for you. You must understand that by becoming a Four Star Mercenary, you also turned into a symbol of the Mercenary Guild. You also have the right to represent the guild when necessary. Four Star badges are hard to obtain, even for Core Formation Realm cultivators. This is how the guild shows how highly they think of you."

Krune was quite surprised to hear that, prompting him to ask.

"Don't you think that's a bit too exaggerated?"

Marcin replied with a shake of his head.

"Not at all! You will receive special treatment in all cities with Mercenary Guilds in them. Though, you must understand that this level of membership represents one's status in our continent. Countless sects and clans will be willing to pay high prices for you to join them! Be glad, young man! You're going to be famous!

Krune's mouth twitched when he heard the word 'famous.' Soon, he asked.

"Err...what do you mean by famous?"

He didn't want to become famous in the first place. He didn't even want people to pay attention to him at all!

On the other hand, Marcin heard him ask about being famous and thought that Krune was more interested in prestige instead of benefits. Poor Krune would be crying if he could read Marcin's thoughts.

Thinking like that, Marcin continued.

"I'm glad you asked. Your picture has already been sent to all Mercenary Guild branches in our continent. The guild has also announced that a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator performed amazingly during the Mercenary Guild test! The news being spread now states that the Katiu Forest outer branch has given birth to a 1st Stage Foundation Establishment cultivator capable of using two or more elements at once and even do Skill Merge! It also says that you were successful in building a 'Universe Foundation'! And it's exactly because of your Universe Foundation, which is extremely rare in our Yule Continent, that you can use more elements at once while at your current cultivation."

Marcin became more excited the more he spoke.

"Jump for joy, young man! In at most a few weeks, there won't be a single cultivator in our continent that doesn't know about you. Especially because of your eccentric hair, that hair of yours will be your trademark! Impressive, right? Right?! As for our outer branch guild at the Katiu Forest, we will be able to bask in the limelight as well."

Marcin then laughed out loud after that. Like...really loud!

As for Krune? He had already fallen on his knees. Back then, Krune wanted to cry so hard, but only had his wisp energy form. Now that he had a human form, which could shed tears, he was definitely crying at this moment. Marcin looked at that and thought that Krune was so happy that he was crying.

"Haha! No need to cry, Krune. This is what you deserve. You can take your time to enjoy this moment."

Krune looked at him as if Marcin was a demon! Then again, who asked him to act so extravagantly during the Mercenary Guild exam? He could only blame himself for that!

After some time, Krune then received his Four Star Mercenary badge and ID. After that, he left the office with a gloomy face. The world seemed to be crumbling down around him. It wasn't time for him to show his prowess yet. He wasn't even strong enough to protect himself from prying eyes.

As soon as he reached the entrance hall, everyone immediately spotted him. As the place that gave birth to the Four Star Mercenary at the Foundation Establishment Realm, it was the very first place to spread the news to everyone. The entire village already knew of him.

After feeling gloomy for a little while, Krune finally composed himself. Since it was already like this, there was no meaning in continuing to curse his luck.

'So be it! Even if I'm famous now, as long as I keep myself in check, the news will become old, and people will eventually forget about me. I just need to stay low for a while, and everything should be okay.'

His mood improved a bit after thinking about that. He soon remembered not long after that Yusa was waiting for him in the hotel restaurant, so he headed there.

After arriving at the restaurant, he soon noticed Yusa at a table near the corner. He was just about to head there when a crowd of people and demon beasts in human form blocked him from continuing any further. They all wanted to see this new rising star. With that, Krune had to squeeze quite a lot to arrive at the table.

Yusa was laughing at that scene. When he finally arrived, she welcomed him in a friendly way.

"Yo! Mister Rising Star! The extremely rare and special Foundation Establishment cultivator with a Four Star Mer. I'm happy that you could take a little of your time to talk with someone as unimportant as me."

She said all that while laughing. She could totally see that Krune wasn't happy with this situation at all.

Krune smiled bitterly in response. Every word was a sharp knife piercing through his heart. If one were to sum up the damage caused, it would have been enough to kill him multiple times over.

"Let me off just this once, Miss Yusa, okay? I don't want this at all! I'm suffering here at the moment."

Yusa was smiling from ear to ear as she listened. She had already known back then, even before the test started, that Krune was a demon beast that left the forest for the first time. It felt really good to tease him with that in mind. After laughing a bit more, she finally entered the topic at hand.

"Alright, the thing I wanted to talk with you about is related to the ranked mercenary teams. Are you interested in forming one?"

Krune was slightly confused. Ranked mercenary teams? What's that?

"Could you explain what this ranked mercenary team thing is?"

Yusa was already expecting that he didn't know, so she was prepared to explain, taking in a deep breath before opening her mouth.

"It's like this. The Mercenary Guilds scattered around the world have a team rank for accomplished teams. There are three ranks according to cultivation level."

The Earth Rank is for Qi Condensation Realm mercenary teams. Although not many people pay attention to this rank, it still exists as a form of making new recruits who joined the guild as Qi Condensation cultivators put in more effort."

"The next rank is the Sky Rank. As you can probably imagine, this is the rank for those teams with members at the Foundation Establishment Realm. In this rank, your team can also have Qi Condensation Realm cultivators. But since there are Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators in the team, the team is still considered Sky Rank. Of course, teams at the Sky Rank would usually only accept Qi Condensation Realm cultivators that have peculiar or amazing abilities."

"The last rank is the Heaven Rank. This is a rank where the group has to have at least one Core Formation Realm cultivator. Of course, this rank means little for us at the moment. It doesn't matter how famous you or I am. A Core Formation Realm cultivator wouldn't join us anyway. The missions available for the Sky Rank aren't things that Core Formation Realm cultivators are interested in either, especially for early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator like us."

Krune then understood how the rank system worked. Following his train of thought, he then asked.

"Why do you want to enter the rank system? Is there anything that makes it worth the effort?"

Yusa nodded, answering Krune's question.

"Yes. For those on the path of cultivation, cultivation resources are of paramount importance! It's not just spirit stones. There are also alchemist pills, rare materials, spirit pastes, and so on. Naturally, they're hard to obtain. Even if you have the money, there are just things that you can't simply buy. You need connections! And that's where the team rank system comes about."

"If you head to the Mercenary Guild right now and check the list of items for sale, you will find out that the best quality items are only available for those in the rank system. It's a way of ensuring that everyone will put the necessary effort to uphold the Mercenary Guild's name."

Krune was enlightened after hearing that. It's indeed an excellent strategy to use cultivation resources to force mercenaries to put their best efforts into the tasks. It was no wonder why the Mercenary Guild was regarded so well in the field of missions.

"It looks good and all, but why me?"

Yusa then flashed a bright smile as she pointed at his Four Star Mercenary badge, replying.

"What else could it be? 25% discount! Your Four Star Mercenary badge allows you to have a 25% discount on all products available for sale. On top of that, we can also enter any country free of charge. Not to mention the ability to use teleport formations just by paying the cost for its activation. Tell me, is there anything better in this world than saving money?"

With that, Yusa had finally shown her true colors! She was a money-grubber through and through, and she had no intention of hiding it!

Krune was left at a loss for words. He thought she would say that it had something to do with his strength, or because of his Universe Foundation, or because he could use two elements at once. But in the end, it was purely money! On top of that, it didn't seem like she was lying at all.

Krune started to wonder if it would be a good idea to create a ranked team or not. On the one hand, if he went up in rank, he would catch more attention. Though, on the other, he was bound to obtain a lot of cultivation resources that would help him greatly in the future.

Noticing Krune's dilemma, Yusa grinned and struck while the iron was hot. She knows very well what he was concerned about.

"Oh, I also forgot to tell you that the teams can opt to have their members' names hidden. Only the team name appears, and any other information can be kept a secret by the guild until they decide to do the opposite. Well, that or the Heaven Rank. Only the Heaven Rank teams can't hide their information."

Krune's eyes immediately lit up!

'Low key! There is finally a low-key event happening in my life!'

He looked at Yusa and instantly said.

"Alright, I accept. I also remember that they said that only a few participants can pass the test, even at the lowest grade. Even with that, you were able to pass it directly with a Two Star badge and ID, so I believe you are quite strong. It would do no good if only I was the one putting effort after all."

Yusa was left speechless by his answer. Could it be that he thought she would slack off if she had passed the exam with the lowest grade? In the end, it didn't matter to her. What mattered was that she got Krune, the one who could get several benefits and, most importantly, a 25% discount on everything!

"Great. Ah, right. We need to find at least one more cultivator or demon beast. The rank system doesn't allow teams with less than three members."

Krune nodded as he asked.

"Should we head back to the guild to register first?"

Yusa shook her head, replying.

"The outer branches can't register a team, only main branches or the headquarters. We will need to go to Kaley City's main branch to have our team registered. Let's do it this way. I don't have anything else to do here anymore. So, if you're also free, we can depart tomorrow."

Krune agreed with those words. The main reason why he wanted to apply for the Mercenary Guild in the first place was to get a badge, which would help him find a mercenary group heading to Kaley City.

"Very well. Let's do it as you said."

They talked a little more about other details and decided to leave. But just as Krune started moving, another crowd that had been waiting for him appeared once more. This time, Krune snapped, and soon after, he began changing his clothes...

Yusa was almost frightened to death, her face as red as a tomato! Just as Krune was about to remove his underpants, she hastily stopped him as she asked.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Krune was slightly confused by her actions, but then he explained.

"I heard that you humans find it disrespectful to change clothes in front of others, so I'm doing it to show how angry I am. Look, a lot of people immediately left. As expected, it's incredibly effective!"

If she could die right now, Yusa would have done so!