While the general populace slowly devolved into chaos, Sela Amstel couldn’t care less. Within her arms was her long-lost charge that had seemingly disappeared for the better part of a day.

All of the worry and exhaustion that had built up within her evaporated as she clutched onto the disguised boy in front of her.

“Miss Sela?”

Jun hadn’t even detected a body rushing toward him before being trapped in this situation, which only showcased how extreme her speed could be.

“Where have you been? Are you okay?”

Sela released him, staring intently in his eyes. She grasped his cheeks with the palms of her hands.

“Y-yush. I’m ookay.”

He spoke with a smooshed face.

“You had me so worried!”

Sela finally let go of the helpless boy and in that same moment, she noticed the havoc being spread about.

“What is going on here?”

She pointed toward the class selection hall, where fights broke out amongst the bewildered crowd.

“When I was leaving the class selection hall, I heard something about the formation resetting. I was going to ask you about it the next time we met.”

Jun spoke up. Sela cocked her head with renewed concern.

“The class selection hall is resetting? I’ve never heard of this happening. Let’s find somewhere quiet, this place is getting too loud.”

Sela then dragged him off into the distance by his hand. She didn’t stop until relatively few people could be seen in any direction.

They stood within the shadow of a massive building, while a nearby mission board could be seen bobbing up and down in place.

“Tell me everything.”

Her tone demanded respect and her gaze was somehow even more terrifying than Acaria’s visit.

“O-okay. When I walked inside it was very dark, and eventually I stood inside a circle…”

What bullshit do I come up with to get out of this?

“Since the room was so dark it made me super tired, and I suddenly fell asleep!”

Jun mentally facepalmed as he weaved together a tale of garbage.

“You… fell asleep?”

“Y-yea, sorry.”

He nodded his head and looked as apologetic as he could.

“Tut... You poor thing!”

Jun soon found himself being strangled in Sela’s embrace once again.

“I should have noticed you were so exhausted before sending you in! This is all my fault.”

“Miss Sela it’s really okay! It’s my fault more than anything.”

Sela shook her head dismissively.

“Nonsense. I won’t hear any more of that. How about I make this up to you? Let’s go on a guided mission. Just you and me!”

“Right now?”

Jun was slightly taken aback on hearing this.

Despite saying that he had slept inside the class selection hall, he hadn’t really. At this point a nap sounded excellent, but he was fully rested from Sela’s point of view.

“Of course! You must be full of energy, and I have time to spare. Plus you’re behind the others by a long shot.”

“I guess I can’t say no. Oh, where are the others?”

Jun looked around as if he were trying to find them sneaking up on them.

“Those mischief makers have already signed off for the day. Do you recall my younger sister, Lulu?”

Jun nodded as he thought about Lulu and the overly energetic atmosphere she tended to create.

“If you remember; Tiana, Nelath, and Shireen are all classmates of my younger sister. They’re in an elite academy for formation design so they have studies most days of the week along with some free time.”

Sela smiled a little as she said this. It was easy to see that her younger sister was a source of pride for herself.

“Does that mean they’re all acolytes?

“Not quite. Lulu is an acolyte, but the other three are not. Nelath chose to be a scout, while both Tiana and Shireen ended up as fighters. Despite the differences in starting classes, their love for designing and creating formations is the same and I have no doubt that it’ll help shape their futures.”

Jun nodded his head as he thought to himself.

This follows the same idea that even if they don’t pursue being an acolyte, they can still choose to learn formations on their own. They’ll truly go far as a group if they continue down this path.

“They seem really happy together. How long have they known each other?”

Sela laughed before responding.

“Practically their whole lives! They grew up together in the same neighborhood even though they live apart from each other now. Those brats were always giving me and my parents a headache, and now they’re all grown up. They’re still annoying though.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Jun gave a half-smile as he thought about his childhood with his older brother, Merdan.

I miss the old Merdan. Unfortunately… tsk.

“Enough about them, let’s get you on a mission. Choosing your class automatically gives you level 1. So if we visit the mission board, we should see a lot of missions available for you.”

Jun cast his attention toward the scarlet prism that was beside them.

So this is why we stopped here. It was for the mission board.

He opened up the system display, and with his thoughts he navigated to the mission board selection.

“Whoa, that’s really is lot more missions available.”

A quick glance at the list told him that he wouldn’t lack in activities for a while, even though there was still a great majority of the missions that were block off in red.

“Mhm, it’s worth noting that these missions go based off your tutorial rank. After collecting a certain amount of points, you’ll move to the next rank. You start off at the lowest rank, F rank.”

Jun looked again at his list of missions and noticed that all of the blocked ones were either D rank or higher. However, he quickly noticed something odd about his available missions.

“Why is it that I can sign up for a E rank mission if I’m only an F rank?”

“You have a good eye, but that’s because you’re able to accept missions that are either one above or two below your current rank. So a B rank would be able to accept D, C, B, and A rank missions.”

“So because I’m F rank, I can accept either unranked, F, or E ranked missions.”

Sela confirmed his statement with a nod before continuing.

“Also keep in mind that missions can have a level requirement as well, but that will only be relevant once you’re doing A rank missions. B rank missions and below won’t have any such requirement. Now, filter through the available E rank missions and find a guided mission.”

Jun looked through the different filter options as she mentioned it. A user could filter based on the rank, level, objective, environment, and many other things. He finally chose a combat-oriented E rank mission that was labeled as guided.

“Found one, slay 20 monsters threatening a merchant path, suggested group size of six. Is this one okay? How do I share the mission with you?”

Jun looked at Sela who was smiling at him.

“A perfect mission for us! Also, there’s no need for you to share the mission with me because I can see every mission that you accept while under contract. However, if you want to share a mission with a stranger, maybe to form a party, you have two options.”

She held out a single finger in front of her.

“First, if you’re within the same vicinity then you can share the mission locally or through their username. This is the most common option as you don’t need to request any additional personal information.”

She then raised another finger.

“Second, you could choose to add the user as a friend, which the system will then store in your display. You can then select to share your mission with these users regardless of where they are in Tutorial City.”

Sela thought to herself for a moment before adding on.

“Just remember that at least one of you will still need to visit the mission board to accept the mission, unless you’re high enough rank to ignore that requirement.”

Jun continued nodding his head like a robot. He then paused as he had a thought.

“What rank do you need to be to ignore the requirement?”

Sela merely chuckled and shook her head.

“Don’t worry about that Little Xin. It’s pretty difficult for most people to approach that rank.”

“Oh, well what rank are Lulu and the others?”

Sela smiled and stood tall in a power stance.

“They’re all B rank! My goal is to get them all to A rank before they leave Tutorial City, but we can talk more about that later.”

“Is A rank good?”

He gave her a curious gaze.

Although these ranks might be common knowledge for other people, they were a new concept for Jun. At this time, he had no idea what was considered average or exceptional.

“A rank is quite good yes, few people are able to achieve A rank during the tutorial. There’s two big reasons to try for A rank during the tutorial, but we can talk about that during the mission. When you’re ready, start the mission!”

Jun nodded his head and reread the mission text one last time.

Okay, I’m not missing anything. Let’s start the mission.

With a mere thought, both Jun and Sela disappeared into thin air.

----------------------------------------

Meanwhile, on a certain floating island located in the Ancestral plane, a young girl happily hummed a tune to herself while listening to a song.

One of the many benefits of being a formation specialist was the ability to create formations that suited personal needs. In this case, the girl had created a simple formation that would play her favorite songs directly into her ears.

“And wherever you go, I’ll goooo…”

“Hum hummm…”

A harsh ringing noise paused her song.

Interrupting her mid tune was an incoming call, which she promptly answered after noticing who it was.

“Oh! Hello?”

Her vibrant voice chimed out loud like a canary as she smiled brightly.

“Hey Lulu, how goes the search?”

A lovely and mature voice poured out from the other side of the call.

“Mmm, I haven’t noticed anything yet. Is it as they say, teacher? Could someone really be that incredible?”

Lulu responded while fiddling with a wooden board in front of her. Formation schematics could be seen on the surface of the board, which were constantly shifting about as she waved her hands across.

“If the rumors are true, then yes, and don’t call me teacher outside of academy! I’ll have you remember that I hold the 33rd seat, and you would do well to call me Legion Commander you cheeky girl.”

“Sorry, I’m still not used to the hierarchy, but tell me more about the rumors. A man so handsome that even the slightest look can cause a girl to blush. A man so talented that he stands out above all others. Is this really true? And did he really join Legion?”

Lulu eyes turned starry as she thought about the various things she heard from the members higher up.

“I don’t actually know, but just understand that this order comes from the highest of command, it comes directly from First Seat Baal.”

Lulu sucked in a gasp of air.

“F-First Seat Baal?! The same person that has never made a public appearance!? The one who organized the entire Legion organization and built it from the ground up?”

“Yes Lulu, the very same first seat. Only the top ten seats have the capability of meeting First Seat Baal in person. Other than those nine individuals, no one knows anything about the first seat.”

“Wow!”

Lulu couldn’t help but fawn whenever the topic pertained to the upper echelons of the organization.

“Not only that, but it’s also rumored that the first seat is always keeping tabs on operations while under cover. Who knows, maybe you’ve already met the first seat and didn’t even know it!”

“Teacher stop teasing me! You know that hasn’t happened!”

A soft chuckle came from the other end.

“Who knows! Moving on…”

Lulu let out a sigh before thinking about her day.

“Humm. Nope! I definitely haven’t met any amazing guy that you talk about. Although, it might be a little hard for any guy to stand out with my sister around. You know how Sela is…”

“Hmm…”

A small silence hung in the air as the legion commander thought to herself.

“Actually, your sister might play a key role in the search. Keep an eye on Sela. That little girl might hate men, but she will certainly be able to recognize talent. Keep note of any man that Sela recognizes as talented, okay?”

Lulu froze in shock as she processed her teacher’s words.

“Wait, you think that Sela will recognize the talent of a man? That’s impossible! Let alone that we’re in the tutorial, but her fiancé is already known as one the most talented men in the world! Her standards are way too high!”

“Lulu, don’t forget, but the person we’re looking for is not ordinary. This person was able to grasp the attention of the first seat. I can’t say too much, but who in the world could possible garner such attention for First Seat Baal?”

Lulu looked toward the heavens with a pondering expression.

“Someone so incredible that First Seat notices them? Hmm…”

She then thought to herself hard with her brow furrowed. Finally, she clenched her eyes shut and steam whistled out of her ears in the most exaggerated way possible.

“Bah! I can’t think of anyone… except… no way…”

Lulu’s eyes went wide as she made a certain connection.

“Teacher, could it be?”

“Lulu, I don’t know. None of us know, but if it’s true…”

“…”

“Lulu? Hey Lulu?? Remember to breathe.”

The innocent girl sucked in a massive lungful of air at the reminder.

“Okay, so keep an eye out! I’ll see you in school tomorrow, good night Lulu!”

The woman ended the call with a click as quickly as possible, almost as if she had predicted that a scream of excitement that would have soon attacked her through the device.

“Eeeee!!!!!!”

Lulu made a high pitch squeal of delight before burying her face in a pillow. Fortunately, no one else was in the house to suffer ear damage.