Chapter 126 - Duel (2)

Ashton woke up a couple of minutes later, surrounded by medics who were checking if he had sustained a concussion or something. Even though Jonathan had withdrawn his aura, Ashton could still feel it looming over his head. It wasn't an experience he would ever want to go again.

'I knew I was going to lose even before we started... But I didn't think I would lose without even touching his sword.' Ashton squinted his eyes as he got back to his feet, 'That sounded so... wrong.'

The medics still wanted to check him but Ashton shrugged them off. After the stunt those hospital staff pulled, he couldn't bring himself to trust anyone meddling with his body. Hell, he was ready to fight these medics off when they kept pestering him until Jonathan made an appearance again.

"You're awake, good. I had the medics on standby in case things went south but I guess it wasn't needed." he said with a smile before patting Ashton on the shoulder, "You exceeded my expectations, but you're still too inexperienced to be of any use to me. We gotta take care of that first. Then you can go killing whoever you want."

"But I lost-"

"I'm not someone who fights battles he knows he's gonna lose." Jonathan's smile got wider, "I didn't expect you to win in the first place. It was all to test your willpower and well, let's just say it's better than most of the soldiers under my command."

Ashton nodded and scanned the soldiers standing behind Jonathan. Just a couple of minutes ago, there was no one in the room, Ashton was sure of it as neither of his skills informed him of any other presence. But now he was surrounded by more than a hundred people.

All of them must have been well above level 30 as he could not detect any of their information. Apart from their basic information like name and age. These people were members of the royal guards. The same group the king wanted Ashton to join.

'I know I have rare skills and stuff, but why would he want a level 13 werewolf like me to join them? Ain't I too weak in comparison?'

"You are not joining them just yet." Jonathan said while looking Ashton straight in the eyes, "But you will soon."

"Can you read my mind or something?" Ashton asked Jonathan, expecting him to say yes, but he didn't.

"I don't need to be a mind reader to read your facial expressions kiddo."

"So... what's next-"

"Mind your tongue in front of his highness!" Suddenly a knight pulled his sword out and the rest of the knights followed his lead.

Ashton immediately jumped back. Their swords were laced with poison, Ashton could smell it even from the distance between them. While he was jumping back, he also tried to get a look at the knights' faces, but since they were covered in weird bronze and silver armour from head to toe, he could not get a read on them.

"Micheal, I don't think I gave my permission for you to intervene, did I?" Jonathan looked calm but Ashton knew he was pissed, "This is the last time I am warning you. Do not act before I say so or I'm harmed in any way. Is that clear?"

"Yes... your highness." Micheal put his sword back inside the scabbard and just like before, the rest of the knights followed him in unison.

"You can leave now. We'll carry on with our discussion later."

"As you please."

With that, Ashton and Jonathan were left alone once again. Once everyone was out, Jonathan spoke once again.

"So as I was saying, you know how to fight but you lack the experience. Thankfully, there is a way for you to gain the said battle experience quickly. The dungeons. Before you can join the royal guards, I would need you to fulfil some criterion one which is getting a class."

He continued, "Since people are given the choice to select a class based on the skills they have earned so far, it would be difficult even for me to predict what kind of classes you would be offered. Considering that [Aggravate] skill of yours is a unique skill the class would also be a unique class."

"So I would need to go and get registered as an adventurer in the guild..." Ashton mumbled slowly, "I mean, that's the only way since returning to the academy so soon for the dungeon trip is out of the question."

"Precisely," Jonathan nodded, "Are you aware of the ranking system of the adventurer's guild?"

Ashton shook his head. He only knew a bit about the adventurer's guild and their work. That too he had to pester the mistress into telling him because she did not want him to join the guild and put himself into unnecessary danger. But Ashton was pretty sure she did it because she wanted to monopolize him and his skills for herself.

"This is turning out to be too much work for me... but it's fine." Jonathan sighed and proceeded to tell Ashton about the ranking system.

Unlike the academy, the guild had an entirely different ranking system. The ranking of an adventurer did not count their levels but the level of threats they had subdued or the number of jobs they had completed.

Based on this, the rankings were classified into seven different ranks, namely: Copper, Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond. Copper what the lowest tier while Diamond was the highest.

At the moment, there were only 5 Diamond ranked adventurers in the entire world... or at least in the continents where the Vampires and werewolves ruled. Because the guild had branches in both werewolf kingdoms as well as vampire kingdoms.

There was a further six sub-division between the grade, E, D, C, B, A and S. Everyone had to do a quest based on their subdivision grades to climb higher.

For example, if someone wanted to upgrade their rank from copper to iron, they would have to do complete one mission from E, D, C, B, A and S grade under their ranks. Only then they would be promoted to a higher rank.

"So here's your first test. You have two months to show me how sincere you are." Jonathan said with a serious tone, "Get your rank up to Gold in these two months or else forget about our deal. I'll have someone guide you to get tested in the guild.. May Lycaon's blessing be with you."