Joshua was discharged from the hospital, now making his way to the Venerator Union. Seeing the many stat screens that popped up in front of him. The highest among them was level 1000 but even then... The stats? Joshua had expected a huge difference between them and him but... From where he was standing, he might be at the top even before starting. At the very least, the machine will show that his stats are basic and he has the fighter class.

The fighter class was known to be a mixed of things. Generally just meatheads that use their swords. Though Joshua looked at his inventory, most of these items were at least 9 star rarity. What was interesting for Joshua was that he learned that all items have rarities. The ones he had acquired as a Thorn...The weapons with the names of his family were dubbed as Thorn Weapons which are different. More powerful than the average counterpart. The other weapons? Yeah, how about no. They were 9 star rarity items. From the Manticore Fangs he made, to the North Core saber. Those were just... Absurd. Joshua was thinking about selling the items to make some quick cash but the dozens of questions from the black spire and his name being revealed is something that he did not like.

The Venerator test was a journey to a new spire. Where Joshua merely took some simple equipment from the shop thanks to the funds that he had received for clearing a 'Black Spire'. Joshua made his registration to the counter.

"Please touch this sphere." The clerk instructed as Joshua put his hand on it.

"Class : FIghter.." The system displayed the stats.

"Congratulations, from this day onward you are a Rank G Venerator. You've been assigned to do a Venerator Mission at a G ranked White Spire. The team that is entering is over there." She pointed to a dozen of people. One of them was a Paladdin that was clad in gold and iron armor. The others? Their equipment was basic for their class.

"Thank you." Joshua headed to join them.

"Ah, so you're the last one. Heard you got hospitalized when they found you. You going to be alright?" The Paladdin asked Joshua.

"Sorry about being late. I will be alright. Thanks." The Paladin nodded to Joshua's words, but he could see there were other people that were skeptical. Perhaps because of Joshua's class as a fighter but he was lanky. Joshua bought a few things.

"Alright come on, we'll take the truck to the area. Don't worry, a few C-Ranks will be present. We'll give you combat tips." The Paladin said. Joshua could see his level in the 500s and his stats were somewhat decent but to compare it with himself. Joshua felt it was like comparing the sky and the ground itself. Joshua noticed one of the girls, the mage was staring at him intently. She did look familiar but Joshua was unsure to who she was. Perhaps being in the Black Spire has caused him to be far too tired than normal.

Everyone prepared their gear while Joshua had only put on a black hooded sweatshirt, with slots to slip in armor platings inside. A tactical vest. Joshua then had a pistol that he placed to his thigh holster. Pistol magazines strapped to the belt. A pair of combat knives to his chest and the gauntlets.

"A pistol?" The Paladin asked Joshua, and everyone else is surprised.

"I like having options in combat. Having a pistol in case of anything is a blessing." Joshua said as they watched him perform a press check with his right hand only. His thumb and index finger pulled the slide back a little bit to see the brass in the chamber. Letting go off the slide and reholstering it.

"Understandable, but remember. As a fighter you do more damage with melee weapons more." Joshua nodded. Though why would he be surprised, he did change what his class would look like to others. Stepping into the truck as they boarded in. Joshua put on his Mask of Thorns, but disguising it as a black mask instead.

"It's rude to stare." Joshua said as they watched him pull out a rifle from his storage, semi-automatic AR-10. This was meant for long range since Joshua took notice they did not have anyone with a bow or even long range equipment. This entire team was filled with close range combatants as the majority, with two mages and two healers.

"You seem to have a lot of weapons..." The Paladin spoke, clearly suspicious.

"I like having options." Joshua responded again as the rifle faded from his hands. Then unveiling a pair of tomahawks to his hand.

"Alright, I'll give you guys the briefing. This is Rank G White Spire. So it's going to be a cakewalk. Provided that you all work together, just because this place is a White Spire, doesn't mean you can underestimate it. Some of you will pass with flying colours here, some of you will have to retake this again. The White Spire has been identified to be an Extermination Type. Even if you pass this spire, you will have to do a Quest type and a Puzzle type to get you ready for anything. Passing this type means that on the next ones you can do it as a party or as a group." The Paladin explained.

"I'm sure most of you don't have experience with Spires right?" The Paladin's question was met with shaking heads but Joshua was the only one who was busy with prepping his gear. He was looking at the Paladin as he strapped magazines to his chest.

"You've had experience?"

"Yes. But I'd rather not talk about it." Joshua said to the paladin, who did not go any deeper. The others did not seem to want to ask, perhaps they could see the mask showing Joshua's expression. The mask turned white as a frown showed itself.

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"Spires can be confusing, it's like a whole new world and the access to them is usually in a form of a door." The paladin continued his explanation. To sum it up, the Spires can be accessed by doors and generally they don't mess with people or human population. However, spires above a certain colour, are much more devastating. Black, is the most dangerous spire as it can drag people within the area into it. White, blue, indigo, red,burgundy, gray and black. Those are the colours that Spires are ranked at from lowest to dangerous. White and blues are for those in the Ranks of G,F and E. Black is only meant for S, SS and SSS ranks. Now that was interesting for Joshua to hear, he never heard of the SSS ranks. Their stats may be around him and may be far more different than everyone else.

The truck stopped to their location, as Joshua stepped out with the others. Three more C ranks stepped out, one archer, one marksman and another was a warrior with a pair of axes.

"Hey, Ron. How's it hanging!" The archer greeted the paladin.

"Heya Yuki. How's the Spire? All good?" the paladin greeted back as he readied his shield.

"All clear, paladin. I've already scoped it out. No crazy targets. Just your typical low ranked enemies. So we'll see how our little chicks fair out in this kind of fight." The marksman said as she fixed the scope of her rifle.

"Now, I think most of you know each other right? Except for the fighter with the guns." Ron said to the others.

"Yeah we're all high school mates..." One of the swordsman said then they turned to Joshua.

"My name's Joshua Gates." Joshua introduced himself as he pulled out the AR-10 from his inventory. Putting a scope at the top with a canted sight to the right. This was to give him more options in a fight. Loaded for the 308 Remington.

"Joshua? From Mulligan?" The mage that was staring at him earlier asked.

"Do we know each other?" Her face seemed to stiffen a bit, perhaps because Joshua does not recognize her. She may have been hurt by that but then again. Most of Joshua's memories were messed up anyway.

"It's me... Cathy? Priest Alex's grand daughter?" She raised the question with a hopeful pair of eyes, yet Joshua was debating if he should just tell her the truth or simply feing ignorance?

"Do you remember the Black Spire that appeared at Mulligan?" Joshua asked and immediately their eyes widened. Cathy covered her mouth. Joshua pulled out Priest Alex's Blessing from his inventory, flipping it.

"Touch it." Cathy held it in her hand and fell to her knees, then he saw something pop up in front of him.

Lord of Thorns Duty

Give Peace to a family member of a deceased.

Reward : Priest Alex's Blessing will now have increased damage of 75.

When Joshua read that, it made him realize that he should do it for his siblings as well. Rayland, Cass and Barton had partners in other places. Seems that one of the duty for the Lord of Thorns is to bring things to the deceased. Bringing them peace and closure. After Cathy finished crying, Joshua pulled out a handkerchief and passed it to her. She wiped her tears and passed the pistol back to him.

"Thank you." Cathy said, as the others comforted her.

"I'll stick to long range for now. We need someone to deal with ranged matters since everyone's geared for magic and close combat. "Joshua said to them, his voice was cold but the paladin nodded to what he said. They got ready to the door that leads to the spire, Joshua stepped in first.

White Spire

Extermination Mission

Eliminate all 'Elemental Wolves' in the area.

'Great Jewel Wolves' - 5 bosses.

Defeat Condition : Venerators defeated and unable to continue fighting. (excluding Observers)

The others joined in, as they watched Joshua look around. He was mapping the current area in his head, keeping the rifle up to take a look at things on the right and left. There was nothing here.

"Alright, so we'll make this our campsite." the marksman said as she pitched a tent.

"Campsite?" Joshua asked, he was surprised about that term. The others were following suit, pitching up tents while Joshua didn't.

"You didn't prepare camping gear?" Ron asked where Joshua shook his head.

"I'll go on and scout ahead." Joshua said as he moved ahead, the C ranks didn't stop him but the marksman seemed a bit nervous when their eyes met.

"Why aren't you stopping him?" Ron asked the marksman where she they see her sweat bullets.

"Just let... Let him be." The marksman spoke as she gasped for air. The archer fell to her knees and so did the warrior.

"What's going on?!" Ron went to check on his allies, using his skills to return their morales back.

"There's something about him. That guy's not normal. When our eyes met I felt my body scream run." The warrior said, they did not hear gunfire. Nor did they hear anything. The others were doing final preparations to their gear. Then they heard footsteps. Seeing the paws of a creature known as a Jewel Wolf, but the HP was zero. Then it was thrown in front of them.

They could see it was Joshua who had been covered in blood.

"That's one... Oh, I'm sorry if my eyes caused you trouble." Joshua spoke to the C ranked Venerators.

"Your eyes?" The marksman questioned as their eyes met but there was no fear in her bones or any sort of danger sense to her body.

"My eyes are... Cursed after the events of the Black Spire. Which is why I need to wear this mask. I realized that I didn't wear the mask and it caused you to feel all that effect. The eye only works when I'm in a state of caution and preparing for a fight. I'll stay at the camp, I'm going to skin this Jewel wolf first then I'll join you. Let me share the map." Joshua said as they watched his map screen enlarge itself for them.

"There's 5 tunnels in the first area, and then they lead to 3 tunnels. Don't take the ones on the right and left. They are traps. I went there and observed that there were Greater Elemental Wolves in them. The other 4 Wolves are expecting us at the end of the middle tunnel.They had been resting for most of the time. I've cleared the first tunnel and found this Jewel Wolf just moving out, it might be patrolling since it was able to sniff us out." Joshua explained to them.

"You... You went to the boss?" A warrior from Cathy's party asked.

"No. This one was just patrolling. I just decided to kill it. Because if I left it alone. It would have attacked our camp in full force." Joshua answered as he took out a knife and began to skin the Jewel Wolf.

"Alright. Let's go then." Ron said as they proceeded on ahead first, Joshua brought the bottles he needed to preserve the pelt. Even taking the chunks of its meat and organs, might be good to sell it later. He did kill it with a strike to the heart. The extra bits of flesh was put in a pot, with some spices and herbs. Placing the pot over the fire and leaving it. Joshua stretched his limbs as he readied his rifle.

It was time to join the ones on the front line.