Just another typical day at Beans Village in the Western region of Volunterra, I woke up to the sound of the neighbor's "Wily Scorch Rooster" just as the sun started to rise.
I wasn’t looking forward to the day, as today we had to move, town celebrity, Mr. Recondos’ stuff, from the center of town to his outskirt warehouse.
The fact that we're going to the outskirts of the Village means I’ll bump into all sorts of danger; from starved lowly Adventurers, rude Prospects, or even worst, Criminals of the Underworld.
Not to mention if I’m unlucky, I could run the risk of meeting wild beasts from the Wilderness our Village is right next to.
It’s not something impossible, I’ve heard some horror stories before.
After waking up and doing my normal morning ritual getting my things ready and doing a light workout I get to preparing myself some breakfast.
As I look out the window I see the same sort of activity I witness almost every morning in my mostly peaceful neighborhood.
The old couple, the Hillnighs, tend to their garden of rare flowers and herbs as they always do peacefully and with joy.
In my head, I wondered why I didn't follow their lead and do the same, instead of stressing and grinding every day for ways to get stronger despite my innate fear of actual danger.
I should be excited about my journey to the outskirts, ultimately that is my dream, to become an Expert that isn’t afraid of any of these things, but sadly right now I’m too weak.
All I can do when I encounter these situations is lower my head, and hope they don't notice me or are too disinterested in me to give a damn.
For that reason I train every day, I train both my physique and mind to be prepared in case I ever do need to protect myself.
The result I’m about as strong as your average foot soldier.
It’s sad really, the bar I started at was very low, I weighed in at around 120 pounds, and it was only when I joined the military reserves when I was 16, that I reached my desired weight of 150.
And that’s the weight I've stayed at up until now.
I walk over to my drawer and pull out my most prized possessions, the weapons I had worked hard to obtain.
The best option for protection I have is to rely on a weapon.
That is the philosophy most of the commoners in Volunterra have.
The weapons I own are a military-grade combat knife, a hunting blade, and a high-end Elemental Slingshot I bought at an illegal market.
But the ammo for the thing is damn expensive and I don’t know who else carries such ammo type.
The military-grade hunting knife was the fruit of all my wasted time trying to join Volunterra’s armed forces.
Even though I technically did join the Military, I'm only part of the reserves, so therefore I’m not allowed to carry a firearm in public, despite my dissatisfaction I had no choice but to make do with a quality knife.
A firearm would've been extremely helpful too.
A firearm is about the only thing that evens out the odds for a common guy like me when facing low-level Experts and even Ranker beings and therefore the easiest way to enter the Ranker list.
It has happened before, killing a Ranker, the dream!
Although I heard that even if that happens individuals who achieve success through that means tend to not last long as Rankers, or dwell at the bottom of the barrel for life, they also get the least respect.
Still, it’s better than being a loser.
I watch as the day laborers, mailmen, and field workers head towards their daily duties, fully aware they're at the bottom of the food chain but hopeful that civilization and society will do its job of keeping the monster and titans outside the gate at bay.
Shit, I don’t want to be a common job-working loser!
Maybe I should call out and train?
Never mind Mr. Recondos is the most important person in the Village so there is no way my boss Mr. Reyas will let me call out.
Mr. Recondo himself is an interesting person.
He’s the highest Ranker in the village, a Rank B Ranker.
That is pretty up there. What was a Ranker you might ask?
Rankers are the top existences of this world.
Since long ago Potestera’s power dynamics have been dominated by the Ranker Power Rankings.
Potestera’s Power Rankings go from F to triple S Rank, with each rank letter reaching up to three letters before Ascending to the next rank.
Being at B rank means Mr. Recondos has surpassed F, D, and C ranks, and all their sub-ranks, a total of which there are nine, that is quite an outstanding feat since not many get to that realm.
In addition to the additional letter sub-ranks, there are prestige marks "+" given for outstanding feats up to 3 and negative marks "- "either for newbies or a horrible battle record, those are only given once, what follows is a demotion.
These are all things most common citizens of Volunterra knew of, as following the shifts of popular Volunterra Patriot Rankers through official state-provided media was a tradition.
It’s honestly very puzzling that this village has such a high Ranker living in it.
But a lot of weird stuff has been happening in Beans Village as of late.
Beans Village isn't your typical Village it’s more like a pseudo-small City.
Since I was small until now that I’m 19 the Village has grown by at least five times its original size.
There are many reasons for this circumstance, the primary of which is that many Rankers in recent years emerged from this village.
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Other than Mr. Recondos, a very talented Swordsman, a spectacular Marksman, a Chemist, a Naturalist, and even a Magon have roots in this Village.
They weren’t crazy-level Experts but Rankers nonetheless.
This in turn attracted more people to the Village because of the Government benefits and attention, specially to Prospect Nurturing Centers, which increased the amount of labor available for the Bean fields which was our main source of income.
As I finished getting ready from afar I saw a crowd of young armed men walking about in their normal arrogant demeanor.
The Village becoming as big as it had was not all good news, it brought a lot of trouble attracting more bandits, villains, and overly eager "Prospect Challengers"; those whom the Government recognizes to have a good chance to be a Ranker and aids in their growth through the Nurturing Centers.
Since our village was next to a vast wilderness, for as long as the fields have existed, numerous Feral, Magical, and Spirit Beasts come to raid them, some of which are quite powerful.
And so lowly Adventurers and Prospects, who know they'll have an extended stay, work as field guards since it's good pay and even have a chance they can come upon a rare beast and accumulate experience.
Perhaps they can even be noticed by "HIM".
I heard the loud noises of my other neighbor Mr. Linan as he tended to the many animals he owns.
Several Blue FlockHounds, Yellow Coarse Goats, Purple Fuzz Sheep, and Volunterra Llamas; you would think he was a farmer, but those were just all his pets.
I stared at the animals intently as several thoughts passed through my head.
Potestera is a crazy land, everything about it is ridiculous.
In my mind, normal wild animals are dangerous enough, but here in this world, it’s not enough to have to worry about those, there are more dangerous creatures that lurk in the shadows.
It’s more sensible to be prepared in case you meet "Feral Beasts", crazy strong beasts created by generations of breeding or experimenting by mad scientists who escaped into the wilderness.
Or the rarer "Magical Beasts", beasts who have learned to sense the mysterious energy called "Mana" and harvest it to strengthen their bodies.
And finally the even rarer "Spirit Beasts", I hear they’re similar to Magic Beasts, except they tend to be smarter and more elusive, which makes them even more dangerous; they also seem to possess strange abilities.
I won’t even get into "Fiend Beasts" and "Monsters" since those were supposed to have been exterminated from Volunterra a long time ago, even though I've heard rumors here and there.
As I watched Mr. Linans’ precious and harmless beasts bark and hum in joy in response to his caringness; I found it difficult to imagine their more vicious and dangerous wild counterparts.
Supposedly sometimes people who have defeated certain Wild Beasts have become Rankers in that manner.
But in reality, none of the Rankers that have come out of this Village have become Rankers like that so it’s probably a bunch of Turkey crap.
I opened one of the town newspapers I had gotten from the prior day with an interesting story.
“A Ranked Battle levels small Fragrant Hills City, angry civilians demand restitution.”
Nobody knows what are "The Seeiers" criteria for giving and assigning each Rank was, but most assume it’s the amount of destruction one can incur, as well as the number of enemies one can take down, with a C rank averaging out at about 1000 enemies.
As I continued reading the newspaper I read another headline, “Rise of new Expert fringe groups fuel the rumors of War and Revolt!”
I once heard Mr. Recondo was once a Soldier of Volunterra and even participated in a War.
I've heard of him from people that say that his "Combat Class" is that of a mighty "Wielder" and that his weapon is some sort of crazy technological/biological amalgamation.
How freaking cool!
A Wielder!
To be honest in my mind that is my only true hope for becoming a powerful Ranker.
To be a Wielder is to be the master of an extraordinary weapon.
And it can't just be any old standard weapon, it has to be one unique to oneself as far as I understood it.
Getting a weapon to become a Wielder was easier said than done.
I've heard people say that most Wielder’s weapons have a mind of their own or are extremely difficult to wield and are also said to be more difficult to discover than an actual Ancient Treasure.
Still, I hold on to that hope, those who have acquired a Wielder’s weapon have become Rankers without exception even if it’s of the lowest kind.
In the distance, I see a coworker of mine running past my house in a hurry, but despite that, he annoyingly managed to catch a glance of me through the window.
“Hurry up Guso we're going to be late for work! Mr. Reyas already chews you out enough as it is!”
And just like that, my morning daydreaming came to an end.
For now, at least I was stuck working a normal job and living a normal life, forget about being a Wielder; I didn’t even know if I could take on those bum Adventurers at the edge of town, no even worse I didn’t even know if I could afford my monthly living expenses.
Well, there’s no helping it, it was time to get going if I were late one more time Mr. Reyas would no doubt kill me after cussing me out.