Eldritch Creature's Guide

While Krasimir Holdermann, the Branch Manager of the Guild, wasn't terribly surprised by their identity because, from time to time, many people with prestigious backgrounds would register with the Guild here and there. Even though it was certainly something new for him to see the current Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath here.

This was the first time he encountered someone of this status enter, especially on the lower Floors of the Tower. Usually, people from very high social status would register within the Guild only on the higher Floors.

The two of them introduced themselves to each other with their real names, and because The Guild was known for its discrete approach to everything, it didn't pose a problem for them to do this, and so they went on to take care of another matter.

"As the first thing, both of you will undergo a comprehensive test about your capabilities so that we can assign you an adequate Rank within the Guild's Ranking System."

The Branch Manager Holdermann stated to them, as both of them awaited something like this. The members of the Guild were divided into several Ranks based on their capabilities, Tier, destructive prowess, and other aspects.

It should also be noted that when someone was ranking up, some things, such as the completed mission count and other things, were taken into account. This was very different from the other Mercenary and Adventurer organizations, where these things would not be taken into account.

From the lowest to highest, The Guild's Ranks were:

F-Rank, were the lowest members of The Guild and were considered as cannon fodder, taking the easiest missions and quests within the Guild. Mostly they were at the Bronze-Tier or had Bronze-Tier combat prowess. Though, if there was one distinction between them and similar organizations, then even if they were Bronze-Tier at the F-Rank within The Guild, they were elites of elites.

The second one came to the E-Rank; these were usually full-fledged members of The Guild, with a few tens missions completed under their belt. While most of them, if not all, were already Silver-Tier, just showcasing the elite forces of The Guild. A place where even the weakest Mercenary was Bronze-Tier.

D-Rank Mercenaries of The Guild were Senior ones, those who were members for decades, if not centuries, and had completed plenty of missions. The minimal Tier requirement was the Gold-Tier.

C-Rank Mercenaries of The Guild were already Veterans and were the Peak Gold-Tiers, mostly those who were at the limits of the Tier and attained Masteries, often ready to reach the Legendary Level or those who were stuck at the Tier till the end of their lifespans.

B-Rank Mercenaries of The Guild were basically Legendaries, A-Rank was reserved for the powerful Legendaries, S-Rank was Perfect Legendaries, and EX-Rank was for the Holies. Basically, from the B-Rank and above, they were the true elites of The Guild, and especially the S-Ranks and EX-Ranks, who were nicknamed the Elders of the Guild.

"Now, we will start the basic evaluation; of course, everything that has been said or done here befalls under the strictest confidentiality within The Guild's Founding Charter."

The Branch Manager Holdermann took them to an empty room, where there were only several magetech devices that were used to measure the capabilities and abilities of the new members. Of course, as The Guild was an elitist organization, so even the devices present were top-notch in terms of quality.

​ Samiel and Yvraine looked at each other before Yvraine motioned him to go first, and he shrugged his shoulders and did so. Evidently, she didn't want to go first in the tests, so she let Samiel to had the honors.

"The first is the Mana Test... please put your hand on the Crystal Ball and pour into it as much Mana as you can to determine your Tier."

The Branch Manager Holdermann motioned Samiel on what to do, to which he did exactly what he was instructed. This one test was relatively simple because the thing would just evaluate his Mana and determine its potency and other aspects.

Samiel continued injecting the crystal ball with his Mana as Branch Manager Holdermann squinted his eyes in a mixture of surprise and shock when he saw the results.

"Level 25 Steel-Tier, Mana Density: Limit Silver-Tier, Mana Quality: Limit Silver-Tier."

Samiel did not say anything, but Yvraine was mildly surprised at the results since she knew it was going to be something like this, but Krasimir Holdermann was equally stunned by the results since it was just so overwhelming.

Not even the Pale Bloods living in the Holy City of Blood would achieve something like this; basically, attaining the Mana Density and Quality two Tiers above their actual Tier was considered impossible. This was something absolutely unheard of, but for some unique heaven-defying individuals, it was reality.

But as an experienced Branch Managed, he quickly collected himself because slight misconduct could be considered offensive, and in truth, in the hierarchy of The Guild, he wasn't that high or important.

High-ranking people or those important ones, wouldn't be sent to be Branch Manager on the lower Floors; that was the same if someone was sent to Lower World or Middle World, meaning his position was somewhere in the middle at best.

If the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath had a suspicion about him, that he had some backside intentions like, for example, selling the information about him, he would not leave past the next ten minutes. That was because The Guild was taking their reputation extremely seriously, and there had been no leaks of information about its member since its founding.

Not like there weren't people who attempted such, but typically, their end was beyond terrible in all cases. Such was the price for attempting to betray The Guild.

After Samiel, it was Yvraine's turn as she just repeated what Samiel did on the Crystal Ball by touching the Crystal Ball and ingesting some Mana into the ball. Soon enough, she stopped as the process was completed when The Branch Manager, Krasimir Holdermann read out the results.

"Level 26 Bronze-Tier, Mana Density: Limit Bronze-Tier, Mana Quality: Limit Bronze-Tier."

Even though the results seemed way worse compared to that of Samiel, in fact, they were very good; one could say excellent because Yvraine, as a newly advanced Bronze-Tier, had Mana on levels people who were already nearing the Silver-Tier.

For a Silvermoon Elf, this could be considered as a very good result, though, not talking about the fact that if she was given some time, she would naturally obtain Silver-Tier Mana qualities around Level 30.

"The next test would be of physical capabilities; the real combat test would not be necessary, mainly because the person who was tasked with carrying it out is already dead."

Krasimir Holdermann stated as he looked at Samiel; so apparently, the Vampire receptionist was the one who was in charge of the combat examination, but she was dead. And in truth, even if she wasn't killed by Krasimir, then with the damage on her soul done by Samiel, she would need a long time to recuperate.

The physical test was basically a bunch of random examinations focusing on physical attributes like strength, agility and vitality. Of course, this was nothing to Samiel, as he achieved and excellent results in the strength department and vitality one, and while his speed was highly above average, it wasn't that eye-catching.

Contrary to him, Yvraine also had excellent results, as she improved drastically in the strength department, and her speed eclipsed out Samiel several times all over.

"With all of this, Lord Zentaur, you will be awarded the E-Rank, because of your combat prowess, and everything is comparable to an average Silver-Tier Professional. Lady Silvermoon, you will start with the F-Rank, unfortunately, even though some of the examined aspects befell onto the E-Rank, but not as much to be considered a full-fledged E-Rank."

The Branch Manager Holdermann stated to both of them, as he passed them their Mercenary Cards, Samiel's silver colored with the big letter of "E-Rank" while Yvraine's was bronze colored with "F-Rank".

"What about promoting to the next Ranks and Mission? How do those things work?"

Samiel then asked because he hoped to increase his Rank in the future as much as possible to get better access to missions and so on.

"When it comes to promoting from F-Rank to E-Rank requires only competition of some mission and reaching the star power of the Silver-Tier. From there on, we have another requirement aside from ascending in Tiers and completing the ordinary mission, but there is a requirement of competition of special mission."

The Branch Manager Krasimir started explaining all about the missions issued through The Guild; basically they were the same as the Ranks in the Guild. Meaning, for example, A-Rank Mission would require corresponding power to complete.

And then there were the special missions, which started at the Pseudo-Hazard up to the Apocalypse. They were special because of their threat, which could create unprecedented calamity across countless Worlds or even the Cosmos.

"To be promoted to the D-Rank, one needed to complete at least one Pseudo-Hazard Grade Mission. For the C-Rank one need complete several Pseudo-Hazard Grade Mission and one Hazard-Grade Mission. For the B-Rank it is the same just with the Calamity-Grade Mission; for the A-Rank it is Disaster-Grade Mission; for the S-Rank it is Catastrophe-Grade Mission and for the EX-Rank it is an Apocalypse-Grade Mission."

Samiel understood the concept, basically, to be promoted one needed to complete several suicidal night impossible-to-complete missions. In this way, The Guild cultivated its powerful and elite Mercenaries.

Hazard-Grade Mission were the threats that could destroy the entire Lower World or be considered as a grave threat in the Middle World. Calamity-Grade Mission represented the threat that could endanger large parts of the Middle Worlds; Disaster-grade could endanger the existence of the entire Middle World.

Catastrophe-Grade Mission represented a threat in the High World large enough to destabilize large parts of the High World, and finally, the Apocalypse-Grade Mission represented a world-ending threat to High World.

"What about the Missions we could take?"

Samiel was curious if they could take a Quest above their actual Rank or if they needed to adhere to the Ranks they were given. Meaning that he, as an E-Ranked Mercenary of The Guild, could take D-Ranked Quest.

Not like he planned to do right now because the Quest would be out of his capabilities, but in the future, that may not be the same.

"Technically, it is possible, but that would need a special permit. In many other similar organizations, such an option is a possibility, but that one typically results in a high death rate and unfinished missions. For that, we have special revelation if the Mercenary is capable of handling the Quest."

Samiel nodded, thinking that such an outcome was acceptable if not outright logical. Many people tended to overestimate their own capabilities, which in turn led to their demise.

"Then the last one thing is to set out the Code Name in case you wish for your identities to remain hidden."

Branch Manager Krasimir Holdermann stated as Samiel wished to take up the Code Name, he didn't need to add more oil to the flames of his newfound fame.

"Then, for me, set the Code Name: The Eversor."

After a short thought, Samiel stated that to Branch Manager Krasimir as he wrote it down onto his card through some Magetech Device; similarly, Yvraine was thinking about her Code Name because, simiarly to Samiel, she chose this method of hiding her identity.

"Write down her as Vindicare."

If there was one thing that Samiel was excellent at aside from killing and cooking, it was coming up with intimidating and powerful-sounding names, even though they may seem a bit silly, like something only someone with chuunibyou syndrome would come up with.

"That sounds... good, I think?"

Yvraine sounded a bit unsure if she liked it or now, but nevertheless, it was way better than anything she managed to come up with.

After the Branch Manager Krasimir recorded the Code Name onto Yvraine's membership card, the entire process of registration was complete and they could go and choose some Mission to complete.