“Are you sure you're alright? I don't mind carrying you untill we enter the building. We wouldn't want you collapsing due to exhaustion." Shelly looked better, but Joe was still a little worried about his friend.

“I'm fine.” She said, brushing Joe's concern to the side.

Her eyes were fully awake and she had finished stretching her limbs. She seemed to have recovered and Joe could see her mana signature was bright and lively.

“Alright then.” He said, turning his eyes back to the Silver Phoenix Guild. “Let's go,”

They both took steady steps up the stairs and they reached the summit In seconds. The flat surface they stood on was crafted using cement and bricks making for a solid platform. Joe's eyes landed on the looming door before him, he took a step closer as his eyes glided up its length.

He searched for the handle but failed to locate it. The only thing on the door was a piece of paper attached at the center. It was cut In the shape of a rectangle and had intricate black lines running through it. Joe could not make out what was written or drawn, but he could see symbols that were eerily similar to the rune Joe had seen on the Black Blade. So he guessed it must've been some kind of seal.

Looking to push the door open, he placed his left palm on the smooth piece of wood. And instantly, his body was catapulted backwards. He flew off the platform and rolled down the stairs. He landed hard on the earth below and a cloud of dust smothered his figure.

Joe wasn't badly hurt, his shoulders and palms stung a little but it wasn't too bad. He coughed as the dust infiltrated his nose. He shot up to his feet and the dust around him cleared with Joe dusting himself off.

He cleared his throat before looking at Shelly. Although she didn't say anything at first, Joe could tell from her eyes that she wasn't impressed. “What are you doing? Are you crazy?”

Joe gave her a forced smile as he scratched the back of his head. He raced up the stairs and stood next to her with an awkward look on his face.

“That's not how you open sealed a sealed door. Seriously Joe do you not know how to open them? Are you from the Lost Kingdoms or something?”

Sealed door? Joe glanced at that piece of paper again. His intuition was correct. That piece of paper was a seal. He knew something wss up when he saw it, but he didn't really know why it was there. He should've probably consulted Shelly about it before touching a door he didn't understand.

Joe felt things would be so much easier if he could just tell Shelly he was an Outsider. She would probably be more understanding about his lack of knowledge on how everything worked in Grisha. Plus, friends were supposed to trust each other, right? It's not like she would treat him differently just because he had a strange class. Keeping secrets from someone you wanted to join your party didn't feel right.

But Joe remembered Syr's warning about blending in and keeping that information to himself. Still, Joe felt he could trust Shelly with this information. But utimately he decided not to tell her, Syr must've had a reason for telling him to stay quiet. And he didn't want to mess up his friendship with Shelly, if revealing his class would jeopardize their relationship, he'd rather keep his lips seated.

Shelly sighed at his silence, she pointed to the seal on the door. “You see that piece of paper over there? You have to touch it with one of your fingers and the door will open on its own.”

Joe turned his attention to the seal, he took a step and reached out his hand. He touched the paper with his right index finger and almost instantly he could feel something. His mana flowed out of his body and gathered around his finger tip. It then poured into the seal and was immediately sucked into the paper. Joe could feel his mana trickle out slowly before a sharp pain stung his finger.

He yanked it back shouting, “Ouch!” He could see a black ink smeared on his fingerprint.

[-100 Mana Pool Points]

[Current Mana Pool: 295]

The paper started to sizzle, and burn. Joe's mana ate away at the seal rapidly untill it was nothing more than dust. It didn't stop there. It smothered the entire door and painted it in black charcoal. The door cracked as fractures tainted its surface. Seconds later it came crumbling down, and was reduced to nothing but a pile of ash.

Shelly looked at Joe with widened eyes, “what did you do?”

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Joe tried to explain, “I don't know!” he said, hastily. “I placed my finger on the seal like you said, it started absorbing my mana and then that happened.”

Shelly slowly tilted her head to face the open entrance and Joe followed her gaze.

Inside the building all the eyes were on them. More than 50 adventures were looking at them with different expressions. With the dominant one being shock.

Joe gulped and he knew immediately, he had just done something horrible.

He put up an awkward smile as he and Shelly entered the establishment. The intense gazes on them were suffocating and Joe tried his best to avoid eye contact. He instead focused on the different sections of the room.

The guild was even larger on the inside than it was on the outside. It was littered with tables and chairs and many of the adventures who were lounging on the chairs seemed to have been eating and drinking before Joe destroyed the entrance.

There were two sets of stairs further down the room, the one on the left led downwards to what looked like some kind of basement. The one on the right led to the upper floor of the building.

The ceiling was littered with shining purple stones that resembled crystals. They illuminated the room bathing it in a purple glow.

The walls had 2 glowing blue screens on either side. These screens where identical to how Syr's screen looked, with the only difference being the weird charts they displayed. Joe was too far away to make out what was really written.

He bumped into something and immediately stumbled back. When he looked up, he found a man that towered him effortlessly. Clad in a blue jacket and pants, the man had bushy eyebrows and a black chevron mustache. On his cloak there was a badge, it had what looked like a kind of fish but Joe wasn't one hundred percent sure what he was looking at.

“Are you guys here to pick a fight?” The man cracked his knuckles and tilted his neck from side to side. The stern look on his face enough to make a kid shit themselves.

His mana signature wasn't too bad but it wasn't that great either. Joe was confident that even in his current state he could take him on in a fight no problem. So his intimidating act wasn't really that effective. But that was not the reason they were here, picking a fight in a room full of adventures could be messy.

Instead Joe shook his head and bowed before the man. “Please forgive me, it was an accident, I didn't mean to destroy the door.” He straightned but the man's facial expression was still bitter.

“You destroyed the Guild's door and you expect me to belive you don't want a fight?”

“Yes, I really didn't mean to do it?”

“Give the kid a break Adam.” The voice came from behind the man.

“But Sophia, he just destroyed a piece of the Guild. He needs to be taught a lesson.” Adam said, his body turned to meet Sophia.

Joe and Shelly moved to the side to get a clear look at who was taking.

“It's my fault. That seal has been there for a while, I’ve been meaning to replace it but I must've forgotten. It's a common seal so it was bound to give in at some point. I don't think the kid did anything wrong.,”

Adam turned and glared at both of them, he clenched his fists before walking away.

Joe and Shelly exchanged glances before they walked towards Sophia. She was located behind a wooden counter, with a towering shelf behind her.

Shelly leaned in to whisper something in his ear, “seriously Joe, what happened? How much mana did you put on that seal?”

“It's 100?”

“Just a hundred? That's impossible. A seal couldn't have broke from mana that small. That lady must be right. The seal must've been already worn down.”.

Joe breathed a sigh of relief knowing it wasn't his fault. But that didn't stop murmurs and whispers from breaking out.

“Who is that kid?”

“Just how much mana did he place in there to destroy a guild entrance?”

“I know right, I don't buy the old seal story Sophia's telling us. That seal has been up for months and hasn't had a problem. That kid must've destroyed it with his mana.”

“I don't sense much mana coming from him, destroying that door must've drained him.”

“I don't care if it drained him, being able to destroy a guild entrance is still very impressive. I want that boy to join my party, I know potential when I see it.

“No, I had my eyes on him first!"

The whispers were growing louder as many of the adventures bickered with each other

“Guys, could that brat be a member of the Great Families? It would explain the large mana pool to destroy a guild entrance” Another spoke.

“No look at him, he doesn't have the sigil of any of the Great Families. I don't think he even has a party judging by his outfit."

“Yeah you're right. We have to get that kid to join us”

Joe and Shelly reached the counter. They took their seats with all the whispers still continuing in the background.

Sophia was wiping a glass with a pice of cloth as she looked at them. She wore a black dress and a white apron over it.

Her ears were pointy and covered with brown fur. Sophia's eyes resembled a wild mana beast. Her mana signature was mixed similar to Ben, mimicking both mana beat and human. But unlike Ben, she had no mana coming out of her and didn't look like she was using some kind of skill. Joe came to one conclusion, she was not human.

Not that Joe cared for that because she wasn't bad looking, the only thing affecting her beauty were the scars on her forehead. They looked like initials with the letters. “M.Y”

Sophia was deep In thought. “That seal wasn't old. It should've had enough to last for a few months at least. I can tell this boy hasn't even reached lvl 50. Even if he poured all his mana into it, there's no way he should've destroyed it. He's not even a member of the Great Families…”

“So what can i do for you?” Sophia finally asked.

It took a moment before Joe could form his words. “I'm here to get registered as an adventurer.”

“Impossible, this boy isn't even registered? An unregistered kid with mana that can destroy a Guild seal. Not to mention he hasn't even reached lvl 50. This boy has to be an Outsider.

It wouldn't matter how small his mana was. An Outsider's mana can destroy seals like that with ease. But then why? Why would an Outsider waltz into an Adventure's Guild like this? Does he have a death wish? Just who is this kid?"

With Sophia's silence and the expression on her face. Joe could tell something was wrong.