Summoned and Unwanted

“Everyone trusts our ranking system. The quest providers who give jobs such as transport or bodyguard jobs will easily assume they are in safe hands with our trustworthy identification enchanted metal cards.”

“However, as you can guess, a few adventurers become freelancers for certain wealthy quest providers. A few others decide to retire as an adventurer and work for said quest givers. Some are even offered a good deal by Kingdoms and join the army, but they must retire, or it will violate the contract.”

“Ahem... I babbled too much. Let me fill you in about the ranks. There are seven ranks in our system ranking, ranging from F to S. Rank S is the strongest. However, the Rank S has no maximum scaling because we can’t rank people higher than S. They are rare and difficult to compare.”

“There are few S Rankers on this continent as adventurers because only Demonic Beasts make it worth their time to hunt. Sometimes an Ancient Magical Beast. But they are rarer than a four leaf clover multiplied by a dozen times.”

“S Ranked adventurers leave to hunt in the Northern Continent for the thrill of battle or money. Others accept offers to serve kings as their protectors. There is such case in this Kingdom.”

“Uno was an S Ranked adventurer before retiring and started serving the Lusterfall Kingdom as a Royal Guard. He protects the upper echelon of the royal family, and the king personally made him a Marquess Noble.”

.....

“However, remember this. The Adventurers Guild doesn’t participate in wars. That’s because the guild is one huge organization that has its branches across every State and a few large independent cities.”

“It’s as if the guild sends its members to kill each other. Everyone would think the Adventurers Guild is a company of spies and death instead of a job center.”

“As for the application cost, Ben has already paid the application fee. I gave him a discount, so you don’t need to worry. The price covers the fee for the application, test, lifetime membership, and personal enchanted metal card.”

“It will act as your identity, and it will give you access to any State that has an Adventurers Guild Branch for free. However, remember that we will collect your identification card upon retiring. A returner fee and a few questions will be needed if you ever decide to restart the adventurer career.”

Gevan grabbed the third cup of water and gulped it down. He felt as if returning to his receptionist days before he Awakened into an Earth Wizard and instantly became an A Ranker. Recalling such days made him smile.

“Ahh, good water. Now, who wants to go first? Simply touch the Inspection Gemstone and imagine you are looking at a mirror. Or imagine you want to look at a mirror and want to see yourself.” Gevan explained with a smile. His gaze secretly locked on the three as if he was interested to know about their power.

Kazumi tried to reassure Vincent by saying.

[There should be no need for worry. I don’t think the Soul Hero Class will appear. But we should be cautious in case a better quality Inspection Gemstone can reveal what the low version can not.]

-Thank you for reminding me. I am so excited to know what my stats have become that I forgot about the important part. I guess the girls should go first. If the Soul Synch stat is not displayed, it should be safe.-

Vincent was about to ask the girls to go before him, but Lupa showed interest in going first and wagged her tail filled with curiosity.

Vincent noticed the breeze of wind and asked with a smile, “Lupa, it seems you want to go first.”

Lupa energetically nodded and placed her hand on the Inspection Gemstone. She closed her eyes and did her best to follow Gevan’s instructions. It was a few days ago that she learned what a mirror was.

Lupa succeeded, and the Inspection Gemstone shone brightly. Then, a hologram with words started to form a bit differently than the Blood Stone blood information hologram.

After a few seconds of the light particles moving and changing, they soon stopped and composed Lupa’s stats.

.

[Name] Lupa

[Race] White Wolf Beastman

[Age] 22

[Condition] Healthy

[Traits] Shapeshift Control, Enhanced Senses

[Class] Beast Shapeshifter

[Stats] Strength 13 || Agility 20 || Perception 37 || Mana 0

.

[Class Beast Shapeshifter]

*White Wolf Shapeshift

*White Wolf Beastman Shapeshift

*Primal Insight

.

[The user has never used the inspection system and ranked. Therefore, a rank will be given.]

[Rank Computing...]

[Assessing overall rating...]

[Rank for Lupa created. Rank E 8 Star is the overall grade.]

.

Gevan kept staring at the hologram, and his eyes moved on every line the hologram finished revealing. He looked surprised for some reason, but the Soul Synch stat didn’t get discovered. Instead, something else caught his attention.

Fortunately, both sides could see the hologram. Vincent, Ester, and Kazumi secretly sighed in relief while Lupa kept looking at her age.

Lupa never knew she was twenty-two years old. She lived for five years as a wolf, but Lupa didn’t know the difference between human and wolf aging.

In one year, wolves age about four-point forty-four years while humans age only one year. This is why she didn’t shapeshift into a child. Furthermore, she might have gained her new age after transitioning from a wolf to a beastman.

Lupa, “Didn’t I live only five years?”

Ester, “You’re twenty-two years old?”

Vincent, “I wonder if it’s because wolves age more than four years in a year?”

Lupa, “No fair! I want to be the big sister! My mate, can Ester lose three years and become younger?”

Vincent, “That’s impossible, Lupa. But, who wouldn’t want to become younger? Hahaha.”

Ester, “...”

Gevan felt a bit confused about their discussion regarding animal versus human aging. It was as if not even the person in question knew about her age. It was quite strange and puzzling.

Kazumi recounted the number of the years with the wolf versus human aging found from Vincent’s past memories. Vincent once wanted to know the difference between animal aging versus humans. He wanted to know how long Kevin’s dog could live.

[This is surprising, yet it’s a great outcome. What if the information revealed Lupa as a five-year-old with a voluptuous body? Imagine Lupa being a loli.]

-I’m not into young girls.-

Vincent rebutted with a frown.

“I... I have never seen a beastman possess this kind of race. Normally, beastman, even the rare chimera species, don’t have an animal race before being labeled as a beastman or a chimera. Only their Traits would be different because of genetics.” Gevan was stunned. He kept staring at Lupa but couldn’t figure out what it meant.

Not only Lupa didn’t look fit for combat in her current harmless cute wolf girl form, but her perception was higher than an average beastman that didn’t train to become strong.

Vincent felt it was better to change the subject. He didn’t want Gevan to discover how Lupa was an actual animal before the retainer bond turned her into a beastman by unexplainable magic.

“Can you explain the stat numbers? I’m rather interested in knowing the power value they represent.” Vincent smiled wryly.

Gevan took a few seconds to compose himself, then looked back at Vincent and cleared his throat.

“We usually associate the number ten to be equal to an active and healthy adult. Adults that are in good shape with training or specific activities. The strength of a builder, the agility of a foot messenger, and the perception of an onsite tactician.”

“Well, this is a simple comparison of how you can imagine the ten stat mark equals the power of one human. With this kind of reasoning, Lupa has the strength of a little bit more than one human, the agility of two humans, and the perception of almost four humans.” Gevan tried to explain.

However, it seemed to be a flawed measurement system. If the people became stronger or weaker in the future, the comparison has the possibility to change.

[Hahaha.]

-What’s funny?-

[I think you had the strength of a boy when you arrived in this world. How you beat, the Great Gray Wolf is a bit hard to believe. ]

[But it’s ironic, really. The mutation gave you so many hardships, but now it’s the thing keeping you alive. It gave you nothing but suffering, yet now it’s giving you salvation. The thing inside you that you hate so much is now the thing you depend on.]

[As per Gevan’s words, you might reach D Rank when using Overheat. The stat boost the ability provides is quite astonishing.]

-I need to become stronger on my own. But...-

“Lupa is this strong, and she is Rank E eight star?” Vincent asked with a puzzled frown after realizing something. ‘Just how much power do I need to increase to protect my family if we ever get discovered?’ Vincent pondered.

“Ye, ye. I’m not weak!” Lupa protested.

Ester thought of something Vincent and Kazumi glossed over and decided to ask, “Is it perhaps that power-increasing abilities are not counted in the assessment?”

“You are correct.” Gevan nodded. Then he pointed at Lupa’s Strength stat and continued, “This is the primary problem. Because strength and agility stats are the most used and easiest to increase, the perception stat will give less value after a certain threshold is reached.”

“But what about her speed?” Vincent asked. He thought being quick is better sometimes. To attack faster or run quicker.

“It seems you don’t know about the entire value of stats. Let me explain in the easiest terms possible. Strength and Agility stats are accumulative.”

“Similar to the maximum power you can place in your strike or the maximum speed you can run. That means if, for example, you have the strength of fifty people. If you tap on a table, it won’t break unless you decide to place force on your tap. However, it could be a problem for new Awakeners since they need to get used to their new power.”

“Perception is diffrent. It can instantly reach the limit and can even exceed the limit, but with harmful side effects. Some say the stat helps best when you are focused. Some say when in danger. Some say when fighting. Some even say that with enough perception, it would make the brain work faster and perceive the world in a slower time.”

“Story short, Strength and Agility have a maximum force and top speed but start at low values if inexperienced. Perception could be used instantaneously, helping in a fight against many most of the time. It also can help in scouting the surroundings.”

.....