Markus woke up with a start, his head throbbing, and he was not in his bed.
‘I fell asleep on my table again.’ he groaned.
He collected himself from his groggy state and saw the drool marks on the book that his face had been on. ‘That’s gonna stain the book’. Stretching himself to get his sleepiness away, he checked the clock. ‘I slept through the morning today also.’
Wiping away the drool, he tidied his table a little bit. He wish he could have someone else clean all these for him, but with all the dangerous stuff in his room, it wasn’t a good idea.
Finish tidying the table, he went out of the room. There wasn’t much noise in the house even though there were many people working here. If he wasn’t living here, he would have thought it was a ghost house. He didn’t dislike it, this quietness. On the contrary, he very much welcomed it, this peace and quiet, this feeling of lonesomeness.
All cleaned up, he went downstairs. As he went to the dining room, the smell of countless cuisines assaulted his nose. ‘Steak and chicken both! They really know my taste now. I have to thank uncle Lewis for all his hard work.’ Without noticing the grin on his face Markus dug in.
‘New bread? I never tasted this. But it tastes really good. I wonder where they found this from? I’m pretty sure I have already to tasted most of the bread here. Maybe from out of town?’.
Letting out a satisfied blurp after finishing, he got up from his chair. It was time to start his day as usual, do some magical training, maybe some magical experiments, read some magical books, walk around the market searching for anything magical related etc. He would and could do anything he set his mind to.
“Young master Markus, today it’s Young Miss Ada’s Class Ascension ceremony. She already left in the morning and asked me to remind you of the affair. If you are going, shall I get the carriage ready?” asked the head of housekeepers, who just entered the dining room.
“It’s today? Then I have to go, I already promised sis I will be there. What about Father, did he say anything about going?”
“Master Theon still has not returned from his…. uh…. duties, young master” answered the head housekeeper hesitantly.
‘Typical, but then I will have to change my schedule today, not that I had a schedule in the first place. Sis will have her class ascension ceremony at Master Lambert’s place, I’ll need about half an hour to get there on foot. It will be at noon and since it’s already close to noon, I don't have much time to do anything else.’
“It’s alright uncle Lewis, I’ll just walk, no need for a carriage. Have any deliveries come for me?”
“No deliveries for you young master. But are sure you want to walk alone, these days streets are a little bit unsafe, the word is getting around about some kidnappings. Maybe have Ramen accompany you. Just to be safe”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll go alone, it will be a nice change of scenery for me” Markus said as he went upstairs to get ready.
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Sometime later Markus was on the road, trotting along the stone road. His house was on the hillside of the city, it was where all the upper-level people of the society lived in the city, so the area around was neat and clean, also less busy with few people out in the open except for the occasional patrol guards lurking around the area.
Markus was dressed casually, trousers in black with leather boots in brown and white a shirt with long sleeves tucked under his belt, and finally a black newsboy hat, coming down on his forehead, blocking anyone’s view of his eyes, his line of sight.
Master Lambert’s place was on the south side of the city, while the hillside was to the west. There were some busy streets to pass to get there, so as Markus walked he enjoyed the sights. On both sides of the road, sizeable shops of various architectural designs and small stalls offering food and other interesting stuff looked lively.
With streets becoming busy, races of many different kinds were walking on the road and going about their businesses. It pictured a harmonious flow as if every race is getting along and becoming prosperous together. Humans, elves, dwarves were more prominently seen as compared to orcs, eldritch, ogres, halflings etc.
Slowly taking in the sights, Markus neared a two-story building on the side of the road. There were not any signs stating what kind of establishment this was but almost everyone in Ravendel city knew this was master Lambert’s residence.
Markus just walked inside into a big hall through the main doors, some kids were doing different kinds of training in the hall. Asking directions, Markus found the place where his sister was and went to find her.
When Markus walked into a back room, there were already some people there, not people per se, only some kids, in groups of twos and threes talking loudly filling the room with buzz. The eldest is around 15 years old and the youngest around 10 years. The only adult in the room was with his sister, and another girl, talking among themselves.
Master Lambert was a man well into his sixties. He may be an old man in Markus’ previous world but here where a ranker could easily live up to his nineties, he looked like a middle-aged man.
When Markus walked to them, the first to notice him was the other girl with his sister. Elena, Markus knew her, she was kind of a celebrity in the city, she had multiple affinities and probably got a good class to go with it too and to top it off she was a beauty. There were already some teenage boys here eyeing her.
“Oh! Markus, you decided to grace us with your presence” Elena remarked sarcastically seeing him. Markus was infamous in the city as the reclusive Weizmann boy in the higher circle of society. Not that it wasn’t true, Markus really acted like a shut-in, without any noteworthy public appearances. Hence the infamy.
“Miss Elena, Master Lambert, it’s good to see you again. And thank you Master Lambert for helping my sister with all of this.” Markus tactfully ignored the comment by Elena and simply greeted the two of them.
“Ah! Young Markus you are already here, we were getting ready to start. It is good that you are here, Ada needs a close family member on a day like this. Alright, let’s get started.” Lambert said while patting Markus’ back.
“There’s a lot of people here, I didn’t know picking a class was a…. A ceremony I guess. I thought people just do it on their own, nothing complicated” Asked Markus.
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“This is all Elena’s fault, she invited everyone here saying there is a ‘huge ceremony’, I also didn’t know anything about this until coming here. What happens if I fail the ascension, it’s gonna be so embarrassing.” said Ada.
“Don’t worry Ada, you’re gonna do fine. Don’t think about people being here and just do your best.” said Elena.
“Good luck sister!” Markus too cheered his sister on to alleviate her nervousness.
Nodding at Elena, taking a deep breath in, Ada in a fully white dress went to the centre of the room, with an elevated platform. There she sat down cross-legged and held out a white crystal in hand. Closing her eyes she started concentrating. Slowly Ada started glowing, illuminating the room. The white colour of the crystal faded and it became transparent little by little. As this process started, everyone there started to quieten down.
“Little Markus, did you know that your sister has been depressed these days? Don’t say no okay, I know you’re way smarter for your age, I’m sure you noticed her mood these days.” while staring at the sitting figure Elena said to Markus.
“Look, I don’t know what happens at your house but I talked to her, she’s been pretty depressed about not having anyone at home to help her with this class ascension and generally any help with anything at all, she said it doesn’t feel like a house there anymore for her. Families have to be there for each other right? I’m not looking to blame anyone, just spend some time with her”
Markus just nodded as a response while holding in a sigh of his own. He knew his household wasn’t the most functional one. His eldest sister wasn’t at home now. His father is practically a drunkard now. While his second sister and his mother were sadly not in this world. And their family’s pillar, his grandfather, he didn’t even know if he was still alive or not, he hadn't heard from him in a long time.
As time went on, Ada was covered in a fuzzy layer of white light that became blinding that nobody could keep their eyes open. This went on for some time, but as time went on little by little the brightness slowly receded.
When the blinding light cleared up, Ada still sat there the same as before, no different. The only difference now was that the crystal she had been holding had become fully transparent.
She opened her eyes slowly, a smile blossoming on her lips. Seeing the smile everyone knew she had succeeded. Ada has finally gotten a class and has become a Ranker at Iron level. An Iron Level Ranker!
“Congratulations Ada! You have done it, you have become a Ranker. You have now joined an elite group of people who have a different purpose and different outlook on life. From now on young Ada you can get stronger and protect this world from the threat of dungeons.” congratulated master Lambert loudly.
Seeing this, everyone started going toward Ada to congratulate her. Elena practically ran to hug her and squeeze her. Markus also went forward to congratulate her sister.
“Everyone come, let us all together celebrate the birth of a new hero.” shouted Elena loudly.
“Elena, please you're making me embarrassed. Don’t shout like that over nothing. I’m pretty sure almost everyone here already has a class.” Protested Ada.
“Ha Ha Ha! Don’t sell yourself short young Ada, these young ones can all have classes because they have been training since young. Not everyone has the resources, talent or the ability to overcome this hurdle in life and become a Ranker. ”
“Master Lambert is right, Miss Ada. Just the process of class ascension could have been dangerous. There have been many who have failed to control the energy crystals and have themselves blown up” said a little fat boy on the side.
“Alright Conrad, you don’t need to dampen the atmosphere here by saying those things.” said Elena.
“I’m sorry my lady. I didn’t mean to do that. You have my apologies. I just said that to encourage Miss Ada and that her feasts are by no means simple.” replied the little fat boy.
“Okay okay! Let’s all go out to celebrate today.” said Elena while dragging Ada out of the room and heading out.
Seeing that everyone else was heading out, Markus went to Master Lambert. “Master Lambert, thank you for everything you did for my sister. She could easily pass this hurdle because of your efforts master Lambert.”
“It’s quite alright young Markus, your sister is already talented. Besides, I get paid to teach these young ones. So there’s no need for any thanks. It was a transaction of both ways”
Although Lambert said that, Markus knew he helped his sister by going the extra mile because of the situation at home. Otherwise, even if Ada had the talent, she couldn’t have been able to become a ranker so quickly without the necessary dedication, hard work and guidance. And Master Lambert had provided all these factors for Ada.
Keeping this favour in his heart, Markus followed the crowd to a place to celebrate. While following the crowd he started to wonder what kind of class her sister got. It is normal practice to keep these things a secret because no one wants to spill their class skills and traits. That was a taboo here. Because claiming one’s class specifications can affect other people with the same class.
Ada has an affinity for air, and she will not go for a pure mage class or pure warrior class from the training Markus has seen her undergo. She will take a hybrid class of mage plus warrior. At the iron rank there are so many classes for hybrid types with an affinity for air, and with Ada’s level of skill, she must have gotten quite a bit of classes to choose from. So trying to guess what kind of class she got is nearly impossible.
‘I wonder whether she got a common or uncommon class, maybe even a rare one. I doubt it though, but I hope she at least got an uncommon class, she trained hard these days. I’m curious as hell, wish I could go there and just ask what class she got.’
While musing to himself Markus went with the flow to the place of the party, it was nothing fancy, well the place was fancy enough, just what they did at the party was just eating and drinking, nothing alcoholic. Markus had a blast there eating, which earned him a few weird looks. A five-year-old, though he looked older with his height, stuffing that much into his stomach, some people would have wondered, where the hell did all of it go.
It was a neat trick Markus did with magic, to increase the rate of metabolism in his body. Nothing fancy. But it allowed him to taste anything he wanted without any worries, health-wise, and that’s what mattered to him.
The party went on to late in the evening, by now pretty much everyone was on the dance floor, dancing to a tune being played by the band here. Those who were not dancing were sitting around tables in groups talking about whatever teenagers talk about these days highlighting Markus, who was in a corner in the hall, eyes closed as if he was dozed off. However, in fact he was doing a session of meditation.
He wanted to leave without spending much time after congratulating his sister. However, every time he thought of that he was reminded of what Elena told him earlier today and stayed. So he thought might as well get some use out of the time and started meditating.
Meditating in this loud noise was nothing difficult for him. Meditation was already like breathing to him. He picked it up while in the womb of his mother, an unforgettable 5 months that was, with only touch as his sensory organ, in complete and utter darkness.
The only reason he didn’t lose his mind was because of meditation. It helped him keep his sanity, to keep his mind in focus and not think about his solitary experience. Otherwise, anyone else who spends 5 or so months alone in darkness would have lost his mind already.
It wasn’t without any merits, for his trouble he had gotten a skill for it [spirit meditation]. At least that’s how he consoles himself because he wouldn’t want to experience it again.
“Markus we're gonna leave now. I'm gonna go with Elena and stay the night there, are you going now?” came the voice of his sister.
“Oh, ok. I’m also going home then, why are staying with Elena tonight?” Getting out of his meditation session asked Markus.
“She’s going to the dungeons to train the day after tomorrow, and she won’t be here for some time. So she asked me to come with her because we won’t be seeing each other for a month or so”
“I see, okay Ada. Have fun. Congratulations again for getting a class. We’ll have a spar once you return. I wanna see what your class can do?”
“I’ll beat your ass you brat.” Ada laughed with hands on her hips trying to look fierce.
After saying their goodbyes they parted. Outside, looking at the night sky Markus looked for an alley. Once out of sight, he manipulated the gravitational energy affecting him and jumped high onto the roof of the building next to him. Without being seen by anyone he went home, jumping from roof to roof very quickly.