Sora, The Man For The Job

"What? Only at Gold? Then why are there so many ranks?"

"It's a bit long to explain, but if you want, I can try to tell you as much as I know."

"Of course, I'd love that."

"Alright, as I just told you, there are 15 different ranks. And among these 15, no matter which floor you are on in the Tower, in every Mercenary Order, you'll always find the eight lower ranks, which are: Leather, Obsidian, Iron, Steel, Copper, Bronze, Silver, and Gold. But as you can see on your badge, there's the material, so that your rank is recognized at first glance, but it also has the floor you belong to engraved on it—in your case, Floor -5. Thanks to this second indication, we can recognize your true strength. Because as you might guess, a Leather rank from Floor -5 will be much weaker than a Leather rank from Floor 20. That’s why, for example, a Copper rank from Floor -5 would be downgraded to Leather if they decided to register in the Mercenary Order on Floor -4. To put it simply, every time you move up a floor, you lose a total of four ranks."

"I see, so that’s why you told me earlier that you couldn’t go beyond Floor -4?"

"Exactly, you got it. Now, let me tell you the little I know about the seven upper ranks. First, you should know that those who have obtained one of these ranks received it either from the King himself or from one of the Governors of a floor. Which means you’ll only find them on the positive floors."

"Oh? Why don’t they come to the negative floors?"

"It’s simple—because we’re too weak and insignificant to them. What could we possibly offer in exchange for their services? Once every few decades, one of them might decide to descend to Floor -1, but never as far as ours. It’s been over 5,000 years since anyone of such rank has visited the inhabitants of this floor."

"Oh, I see. And what’s their role in this Tower?"

"Mainly, settling conflicts within the floors. And for some, ruling over a floor."

"Alright, so basically, they’re useless."

"You could see it that way. But if possible, avoid any trouble with one of them at all costs. Their power is such that just one of them could subdue our entire floor in less than a day."

"Let’s avoid talking about that for now. Let’s get back to my reward instead."

"Oh, right. After completing this quest, you’re entitled to your two leather coins. Ahah… You won’t get very far with that."

"Yeah, I kind of figured that. Anyway, this might sound like a weird question, but does the Order rent out rooms?"

"What? You have nowhere to sleep? You really came out of nowhere."

"That’s pretty much the case, so yeah, I don’t have anywhere to sleep."

"You’re really lucky—there should still be one room left. But it’s far from luxury. Just the bare minimum."

"And the price?"

"Two leather coins."

...

"I see. Really, just the bare minimum—she wasn’t lying. But now, I’m completely broke. I’ll have to take on more quests tomorrow, and if it’s two coins per night, I’ll need to complete at least two quests to make a small profit. Having a place to sleep is nice and all, but tomorrow, I’ll have to find food. I can go one day without eating, but two days? That’s going to be rough."

...

"Oh, you’re back. Did you sleep well?"

"I really hope that was sarcasm because I just had the worst night of my life. That wasn’t a bed, that was a slab of stone."

"Ah well, that’s normal. You took the cheapest room in the entire Order, so you can’t expect luxury. Anyway, are you ready to take on more missions?"

"Yeah, I don’t really have a choice."

"Oh, by the way, hold on. Considering the difficulty of the mission you did yesterday, your reward has been adjusted."

"Really? That’s awesome!"

"Yeah, we went to see the client who issued your mission, and your report matched what she witnessed. So we reevaluated its rank. In the end, it should have been an Obsidian-class mission. So your reward has been increased from 2 leather coins to 13."

"That’s amazing! I’m rich!"

"Calm down, you’re not getting far with just 13 coins."

"Let me be happy, please. My reward just got multiplied by six, I have every right to celebrate."

"Yeah, yeah, go ahead and bask in it."

"Anyway, among the remaining Leather-class missions, are there any more about Assassin’s Nettle?"

"Oh, I see you’re getting addicted to those plants."

"Absolutely not. I just want to test a new technique."

"I see. But unfortunately for you, there aren’t any in the Leather class. However, there are two in the Obsidian class."

"Oh, great! Can I take them?"

"Your rank doesn’t allow you to take on those missions."

"I know, but I still managed to complete yesterday’s mission, which was supposed to be Obsidian class."

"Yeah, you’re right. Alright, I’ll be nice and make you a deal. If you manage to complete two Leather-rank missions today, I’ll promote you to Obsidian class."

"Really?"

"Absolutely."

"Alright then, I’m on it!"

...

"Weeding. You should be able to do it without too much trouble. They're only Alfa of Oblivion after all."

"Yes, I took this mission, as it will be quick to complete."

"Good luck then."

...

"This is going to be too easy. All I have to do is snatch some Alfa of Oblivion, and as long as I don't breathe their blue powder, nothing's going to happen to me, so I should be done with this mission in 10 minutes, barely. And if, on top of that, it earns me EXP, then that's all to the good."

...

"Hello, are you the one who posted a mission with the Mercenaries' Order?"

"Yes, yes, that’s us. I’m the mayor of this village, and as you can see, this massive field is preventing us from reaching our crops, which are just behind it."

"Because of the memory loss?"

"Exactly. Every time someone tries to get close, they come back a few seconds later, having completely forgotten what just happened. That’s why we put out this request to the Order, hoping someone would come to our aid."

"I see. Well, don’t worry, I’m the right man for the job. In just ten minutes, these plants will be gone. But before I start removing them, I need you to step back at least twenty meters and make sure no one gets within thirty meters of this field."

"Understood. If you need anything else, don’t hesitate to ask. We’ll do our best to help you."

"Got it."

Before starting the eradication, Sora made sure to take precautions. He wrapped his t-shirt around his nose and mouth, drew his sword, and stepped toward the plants. At a glance, he estimated that around a hundred Alfa of Oblivion were growing there.

"Alright, if System0 wasn’t talking nonsense, I should be gaining about ten EXP from this. That’d be pretty sweet."

Taking a deep breath and holding it, Sora entered the Alfa of Oblivion field and got to work, slicing through them. With each wide swing of his sword, nearly ten plants were cut down. After three swings, having taken down more than twenty plants, Sora stepped back far enough to catch his breath.

"Do you need any help?"

"No, don’t worry, I just came back to take a breath."

"You were holding your breath?"

"Well, yeah. Otherwise, it’d be impossible to cut down that many."

"I don’t really get it, but okay. Just don’t overdo it."

"Don’t worry about me."

...

"Well, mercenary, you were right. It didn’t even take you ten minutes to eradicate them all."

"That’s normal. It wasn’t very difficult."

"For a mercenary like you, I don’t doubt it, but for simple humans like us, it’s far too complicated."

"I’m not that strong. And as for these plants, anyone can deal with them. You just need to avoid inhaling the blue powder they release, and you won’t suffer from memory loss."

"I see, so that’s why you kept coming back to catch your breath."

"Yes, and it’s also why I asked you to step back and ensure no one entered a certain area."

"You truly thought of everything. As a representative of all the villagers, I sincerely thank you. And if you ever feel like passing through again, we’d be happy to give you a tour of our beautiful city."

"Thank you very much. I’ll remember that, and I’ll be sure to come back."