623 Waiting [2]

Amanda sat in her office and looked through a series of documents.

Her focus was largely diverted by the significant materials in front of her. They detailed important information for her guild. 

"This won't do…"

Her fine brows knit as she set one of the papers aside. She carefully took a document from her drawer, sat back in her chair, and muttered.

"This many?"

The data in front of her didn't make sense if compared to the document in her hand. The difference between the numbers she was seeing from the previous files with the ones that came from the document in her hands was staggering. 

The number difference wasn't actually bad news, rather, it was fantastic news. The only problem was that she found it hard to believe.

"There's something I'm missing."

No matter how much she looked at the data, she couldn't make heads or tails of how it was possible for the numbers to differ so greatly. 

In the end, she was forced to call her secretary, Maxwell.

"Maxwell, come to my office." 

Within the span of a single minute of her calling him, he came knocking on her door.

Knock—! 

"Come in."

"You called, young miss?"

"Yes, here."

She slid the paper across the table and asked. 

"What's going on with this?"

"With what?"

Walking over to her desk, Maxwell politely smiled and looked at the paper Amanda was pointing at.

"Oh, this looks like the guild's status report. What's wrong with this?"

"Over here."

Amanda pointed toward a certain area on the paper with her finger.

"This doesn't make sense. It says that our guild has over 400 members in the <S> rank range. How come I'm only being made aware of it now? …and if I don't remember wrongly, we only had about 100 when I was in charge."

How could the number increase so much in the span of a single year?

Her father, perhaps? He may have contributed by recently breaking through to <SS->, but Amanda didn't believe this was enough to attract over three hundred <S> rankers. 

There was definitely something suspicious about the situation.

"Can you please tell me what's going on?"

"Eh…"

Maxwell's face hardened a little.

With his eyes daring all over the figures, he lightly coughed and replied.

"…About this, you must ask your father. Not too long ago, he secured several big things which he made confidential. I'm afraid he's the only person that can answer this question. I don't think anyone else within the guild apart from a select few know." 

"I see…"

Amanda's eyes narrowed for a moment. The distress on Maxwell's face was obvious to her, but she chose not to press the issue because he appeared adamant about keeping quiet.

'Something is wrong.' 

"Alright, that will be all for today."

"T..thank you."

Maxwell stuttered slightly. He then bowed his head and left the room.

'There's something I'm missing.'

Amanda thought to herself as she fixed her sight on the door. The way Maxwell behaved was very suspicious. He was most likely forced to stay quiet due to her father. 

But what exactly did he tell him...

"Ugh."

Suddenly groaning, Amanda hurriedly took off the chain around her neck. As soon as she did it, the mana in the space changed.

The mana only stabilized after a couple of minutes had passed, and only then was Amanda finally able to relax. 

She looked at the jewelry set on the table next to her and murmured.

"That felt stuffy." 

The reason why she felt so stuffy primarily had to do with the necklace which forcibly lowered her rank. On the outside, she was <A> rank, while secretly, she was already <S-> rank.

With her father now back, she was able to devote all of her time to increasing her rank, and this was the result.

At the moment, no one knew about her actual rank. Not even Ren.

There was a motive for her actions.

Amanda was a well-known person.  She had exceptional talent, but she was also poised to lead the most successful guild in the human domain in the future. There were many people who harbored malicious thoughts against her. 

Fully aware of how perilous her position was. she made the conscious decision to conceal her true rank from the public in order to surprise her opponents when incidents did occur.

There was only one problem with this. 

"This might stay for a while…"

Raising her shirt and staring at the small red imprint on her skin, she sighed.

The artifact's use to stifle her rank came at a price; gradual heating. Nonetheless, there was a valid rationale for it and it did not simply heat up for no reason. 

The object possessed great power. powerful enough to elude even the world's most powerful individuals. She didn't have to be concerned about anyone finding out that her rank was being held in check. Malik and Ren were the ideal examples of this because they both failed to notice the fact that her real rank was hidden. 

"It's a small price to pay for safety." 

She murmured as she extended her hand to grasp the necklace and gripped it in her palm.

***

"You may not know this but I've also graduated from the Lock, and I'm currently on my way to entering my second year in my guild. My father…"

A high-rise restaurant's ceiling was adorned with a brilliant chandelier that was covered in gold.  Only a few people were sat across a few small, round tables that were covered in white linens, leaving the restaurant largely vacant.

Tranquil and melodic music played in the background while the tall glass cups shimmered in the chandelier's light.

The visitors could see the entire city of Ashton from above thanks to the large glass windows that stood on the exterior of the building.

'I want to go train.'

Jin thought to himself as he played with the napkin in his lap.

"I might be able to reach the same levels as you, but I don't think reaching the <S> rank level isn't impossible. Especially with the mana density increasing. There are many…"

A lovely girl was seated across from him. She garnered discreet attention from the servers and customers in the restaurant while wearing an exquisite blue dress that wonderfully highlighted her curved figure and gorgeous golden hair and crystal blue eyes.

Jin didn't feel repulsed when he looked at her, however, he also didn't feel attracted to her.

The only reason he was here was because his grandfather had forced him to be here. 

Now already at the age of 24, his grandfather deemed it inappropriate for him to still remain single, and thus started setting up random blind dates for him.

That wasn't the only reason, however. Being the number two guild in the human domain, they obviously had information that wasn't known to the general population.

Of these information, they knew about the incoming war with the Monolith. And it was this piece of news that pushed his grandfather to set him up with dates.

In short, he was trying to sell his grandson out in exchange for allying with other guilds. 

'I don't even know if I should be mad or disappointed at this.'

Jin thought while taking a sip of the wine in front of him. 

All of the dates turned out to be beautiful women with amazing talents. Basically, one a million type of woman.

Unfortunately, Jin was not once ever impressed. It wasn't that he was impotent or that he didn't like girls, it mainly had to do with the fact that his priorities lay elsewhere.

He cared more about improving himself and the guild than actually going out on dates.

'Getting a girlfriend will only make me lose valuable time which I can use to train.'

He secretly clenched the cloth under his lap and put on a fake smile.

"Oh, is that so? That sounds so interesting."

"What does?"

The girl tilted her head, and Jin's face hardened.

"What you were talking about, of course."

Jin replied, trying to salvage the situation. 

But it didn't seem to have worked as she tilted her head and asked. 

"I've talked about a lot of things, which part exactly are you referring to."

'Well, shit.'

"Ehm…the part about you ranking twentieth is the Lock."

"Alright, I'm done."

The girl suddenly stood up much to Jin's confusion.

She then threw the napkin that sat on her lap on the table. 

"Next time you want to go on a date with someone, at least have the courtesy of telling them that you don't want to attend. It will save everyone's time."

Finished with what she was saying, she reached out for the glass cup on the table. 

"!"

When she went for the glass cup on the table, Jin reacted before she could. He quickly took hold of the cup and moved it away from her.

"Hmph!"

This resulted in her glaring at him before she stormed off.

Jin signed in relief when he saw this.

"Looks like you've learned your lessons from all the previous times, haven't you?"

An aged voice sounded from behind him.

Jin bitterly smiled as he turned to face the head waiter.

"After getting a drink thrown at me four times in a row, I'm bound to learn from my lessons."

"Hahaha."

The waiter laughed before he started to clean up the table.

"I'll relay to your grandfather that the date didn't work out."

"Please do so."

Jin stood up and sighed. 

Fixing his clothes he turned his head to stare at the beautiful city below.

"…If only I didn't have to attend this crap." 

***

Boom—!

A tremendous explosion that caused the entire structure to violently shake woke me up. 

"...Looks like it started."

I muttered as I opened my eyes. Then, with a loud yawn, I got out of bed.

My back ached terribly at the moment. 

'Damned bed.'

It'd be an insult to call it a bed.

Boom—!

The surroundings shook once more.

With my feet planted on the ground, I was able to remain composed. Changing my clothes, I got out of the small room I was staying in.

The room's wooden door seemed a bit shabby and fragile. I could tell with just a touch that anyone could enter the room with a light punch.

Secretly shaking my head, I opened the door and got out.

What met my sight upon going out of the room was a long and empty dark corridor. 

'If I'm not wrong, the stairs are on this side…'

I was given a rough rundown of the general structure of the castle before being sent to my room. Hence, I knew approximately where to go at the moment.

"Hey, can you guys hear me?"

I brought my watch next to my mouth and spoke.

It wasn't long before I received a message back. It was from Ryan. 

[Yes, we're all upstairs at the moment.]

"Everyone?"

[Yes, you're the only one that is missing.]

"That fast?"'

…and here I thought someone would get lost.

Prior to entering our rooms, I told everyone to head upstairs if anything happened. Who would've thought that they'd be this fast?

"Well, okay, I'll be there soon."

Tapping onto the watch and terminating the communication, I hastened my steps and headed upstairs.

A good show was about to ensue.

Couldn't for the love of god miss it.