Chapter 7: D rank Mana Stone
"Sorry for the wait." The lady called out as she walked over.
"Since Miss Shiro doesn't have an identity right now, the superiors have asked me to create one for you. As you are also unable to read or write, you are eligible to enter the school and learn from there." The lady said as Shiro thought about it.
'Since I don't have an identity, travelling from place to place would probably be difficult. I can also learn more about this world in the school.'
She nodded her head eagerly and flashed a happy smile.
'How cute.' Both the lady and Liam thought seeing her smile.
"We'll just need you to take the rank examination and we'll send you to the school. Lodging and other services will be provided free of charge as apart of the current education scheme." The lady said as they followed behind her.
This time they entered what seems to be like a combat room as there was a stage in the centre.
"The examination is simple. We'll first check your mana density. Then we'll test your combat prowess to see your rank." The lady smiled as Shiro nodded.
"Since we've already scanned your mana, we just need to do the combat test." She said walking up onto the stage. She rolled her sleeves up and gestured to Shiro.
[Emilia LVL50 – Berserker]
'You want me to fight you?!' Shiro thought as it showed on her face.
"Hahaha, I'm not going to fight you seriously. Rather you attack me and I evaluate your performance." Emilia giggled slightly.
Shiro nodded and walked onto the stage.
Her concentrated peaked as this was a good chance to see how she fares against a LVL 50 D rank adventurer.
Emilia's smile faded slightly as she was surprised at the concentration and pressure Shiro was emitting.
"Whenever you're ready." Emilia said and Shiro nodded.
Ice started to spread outwards from her feet as the entire stage became coated with a layer of Ice.
Emilia smiled before stamping downwards and cracked the Ice.
In the time she took to stamp down, Shiro was already near her.
'Fast.' Emilia thought.
Shiro punched towards her as Emilia hit the side of Shiro's hand and deflected the punch.
She followed along with the momentum and punched with her other hand. Ducking quickly, Emilia tripped Shiro's legs as her body was suspended slightly.
Emilia quickly pulled back as Shiro created Ice around her and slid backwards.
She raised her hands as Ice Spears formed next to her.
*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Emilia dodged and punched the sides of the three Ice Spears shattering them easily.
By the time she retracted her punch, Shiro was back in her reach.
Shiro punched towards her stomach as Emilia tried to dodge backwards.
Her movement was suddenly stopped as an Ice block was preventing her from moving.
*BOOM!
She managed to catch Shiro's punch before it hit her stomach while her other hand was aimed at Shiro's face. Similar to how Emilia blocked her punch, Shiro had already created a piece of Ice to link her spare hand and Emilia's hand together stopping her to exerting force.
Sensing danger, Emilia quickly jumped backwards as Ice exploded out from Shiro.
Not giving her a moment's rest, Shiro flicked her wrist as ice wrapped around Emilia's legs to stop her from moving.
Shiro dashed towards Emilia as she twisted her body and threw an ice spear with increased momentum.
Emilia's face became serious as she punched downwards. Her hands glowed for a moment before that glow disappeared.
The punch shattered the ice as Emilia flipped backwards avoiding the spear.
"Alright you pass. Combat experience is definitely above a E rank. Mana is above E rank. However, you haven't Classed Up yet so we'll leave you with a E+ Rank. Would that be fine?" Emilia said stopping the examination.
Shiro nodded.
'That last move was definitely the move [Ground Pound].' Shiro thought as it would have damaged her quite a lot considering Emilia's stats.
"Please head to the lobby while I set up your identity." Emilia smiled.
Seeing Shiro leave, Emilia sat down and took a deep breath.
"Who is she really?" Emilia muttered.
Looking at her hands, Emilia clenched her fists.
'It was like I was fighting a senior adventurer just without the strength. The pressure she emitted and her instincts didn't match her current strength. I almost made use of my skills against her. No normal E rank nor D rank can force me to do this.' Emilia thought.
Most people in the city knew about the D rank Ex adventurer Emilia. Though they don't know the exact reason of why she quit to become a guild staff. What they did know was that her combat prowess and skills allowed her to face off against low C ranked adventurers. For her to be forced to almost use her skills against a E rank LVL20 was unbelievable. The enemy was an Ice mage at that too.
###
As they walked away from the scene, Liam couldn't help but glance over at Shiro.
"Miss Shiro, where did you learn to fight like that? Aren't you supposed to be a mage?" He asked as she turned to him.
'Is he being serious?' She thought hearing him ask her that question.
Shiro pointed at her throat then her mouth as Liam facepalmed.
"Ah right. Can't talk." He muttered.
Sitting back down, Liam brought out the sandwich he bought before.
"Hungry?" He asked as Shiro nodded.
Taking the sandwich into her hand, Shiro took a bite.
'Tasteless.' Shiro thought with a slight frown but made sure he couldn't see it.
"How is it?" Liam asked.
Shiro smiled as took another bite. This time, she hid a mana stone in between as she ate with a happy smile.
Liam sighed in relief. He was hoping the sandwich was to her liking.
Shiro finished the sandwich as she saw Emilia walking towards them with a smile.
Sitting down, she put a few things on the table.
"First is your ID. You can always apply for a new one if you lose your old one." She said pointing at the card.
When making her ID, she did see another similar entry as it was a record about an escaped monster.
However, the system clearly showed Shiro being a human Ice Mage. Not to mention, the monster was called Shino, not Shiro.
[Name: Shiro
Estimated Age: 13
Rank: E+
Class: Ice Mage
LVL: 20]
"This book is a guide on all the facilities in the city. You can also find a map of the whole city in this guide." Emilia said opening up the book.
Shiro could see the guide written in an unfamiliar language as she tilted her head.
"If you can't read don't worry. I let them know about this so you can press on a location you're curious about and it'll explain it to you." Emilia smiled and pressed on the Blacksmith Association.
-The Blacksmith's Association is the gathering point of people aspiring to craft weapons and armour. You may commission a custom-made armour/weapon or check out an artisan's wares. –
"See." Emilia smiled as Shiro nodded hearing the audio cue.
"In this file are the documents needed for the school transfer. Everything you need to know is in there and once again, audio cued. Instructions are inside and it will tell you what to do." Emilia said handing her a file with paperwork inside.
"When you find the reception, just give this file to the receptionist and she'll sort things out." Emilia singled out a file as Shiro nodded.
Shiro then pointed at the two stones as she looked at them in surprise.
[Artificial Skill Stone – Mini Map]
Mini map – Displays a map of your surroundings as well as the general location of monsters nearby.
[Artificial Skill Stone – Inspection]
Inspection – Shows the name, level, class, HP and MP of a monster.
'Artificial Skill Stone?! They can make those?!' Shiro thought in shock. She heard about the Skill Stones being dropped but never being made.
"These two stones are what is given to every adventurer. These help tremendously out in the field and the creator made it a requirement for everyone to have one of each." Emilia chuckled slightly seeing Shiro's surprise. It reminded her of a little kid when they're given a new toy.
Shiro grabbed the two stones and looked at Emilia just to make sure she wasn't high or something.
"Go on." Emilia gestured as Shiro learned the skills.
[Passive Skill Gained – Mini map]
[Skill Gained – Inspection]
As the passive skill suggested, a Mini Map could be seen on the top right corner of her vision. It allowed her to see the surroundings as well as white dots to represent humans.
Her icon was the shape of an arrow as it was also white. This was due to her [Disguise] Skill changing her displayed race to human with the addition of changing her class from Snow Girl to Ice Mage.
Going through a few more formalities with the help of Liam, Shiro had her identity completed and was ready for school.
They settled with her being around 13 due to her features being still quite immature.
'Let's see… Found it.' Shiro smiled as she pressed on the images with a hammer and coins.
-Auction Building – Find the items you want and either bid or buy them. –
For her Class Up, she needed a D rank mana stone. The stone shouldn't be too hard to procure as both Blacksmiths and Pharmacist need it in their respective crafts.
Considering the fact that this city is a place where E to D ranks hang out, there should be quite a few pieces of D rank mana stone.
Making her way to the building, she entered it and was greeted by a well-decorated room. The main hub had electronic displays showing you what items were on sale as well as the auction rooms the items were being sold in.
'This is just like the Terminal back in Aria. It shouldn't be too hard to use.' Shiro thought as she tapped the screen.
The layout was simple as it showed items that were popular, recommended and suitable for newcomers.
Above this, there was a bar that shows 'Write what you need' and a search button next to it.
'…. This missy can't talk, read or write. What the hell does any of this mean?!' Shiro thought as her face was frustrated. She thought they would have pictures to show which item was on sale and the price. Yet she didn't think that there were so many miscellaneous items that it covered the entire page. The categories were written instead of pictures so she couldn't look for mana stones that way either.
'Maybe someone can help me.' Shiro thought as she looked around and walked to the closest person near her.
She couldn't speak so she tapped his arm to get his attention.
"Che, don't bother me." The man said glaring at her.
'…'
She decided to look for people that seemed to be working here instead.
"Hello, how may I help?" A man asked as she walked over to the reception.
Shiro took out a mana stone as she pointed at it.
"You wish to put a mana stone on sale?" He asked but she shook her head.
"You want to buy mana stones?"
Shiro gave him a nod.
"You can find mana stones on those terminals." The man said pointing over at the terminals.
She shook her head.
Going through the constant back and forth of not knowing what Shiro want to convey, the man became annoyed.
"You need help but won't tell me what you need help with. Is this a joke?" He said with a frown.
'Joke my ass! If this missy could speak, I wouldn't even be asking you would I?!' Shiro thought in her head with frustration.
Gesturing towards her throat and mouth, she made an X sign showing him she couldn't speak.
"You can't speak?" He asked as she nodded with a roll of her eyes.
"Alright, so you want to buy a mana stone right?" The man asked feeling a little guilty.
Shiro nodded as he tapped away at his computer.
"What rank do you need?" He asked.
'Why are you still asking that question? Did you forget that this missy here can't speak?' Shiro thought as she looked at him with a blank expression.
"Oh right erm. Put 1 finger up for E rank and 2 fingers up for D rank. For C rank and higher, you would need to look for it in a bigger city." The man said as Shiro held two fingers up.
"D rank, ok. The lowest price for a D rank Mana Stone is 25,000 USD and is currently under bid in room 6." The man said as Shiro nodded.
"You'll have to use a terminal if you want to bid." The man continued.
"Since you don't know how to use one, I can do it for you. Place you hand onto this crystal and it'll subtract the required USD from your account." The man said showing her the bidding page and the crystal.
Shiro nodded as she touched the crystal.
[Transfer 26,000 USD?]
She saw this on her interface as confirmed. The number on the bidding page jumped up to 26,000USD as the man was slightly surprised.
Even though the young girl in front of him was a LVL 20 adventurer, he didn't think she'll hold that much money.
The bid finally ended with the final cost being 30,000USD.
Shiro waited patiently as the man went to retrieve the item.
"Please double check that you have the right item before you leave." He said handing her the mana stone.
[D rank mana stone]
-A D ranked mana stone taken from the corpse of a Hobgoblin.
Shiro nodded as she jogged out of the auction house.
'She can afford a 30,000USD mana stone but no shoes or socks?' The man thought watching her leave.
Shiro sat down near a fountain as she looked at her interface.
[Class Up requirements met. Would you like to Class Up into Snow Girl ★?]