Promotion to Rank C was less about proving skill and more about gaining clearance. The initial wave of difficult missions was replaced by monotonous, repetitive tasks designed for established small teams: clearing territorial monsters from farming routes, securing specific resource sites, and maintaining order along the city walls.
For the typical Rank C hunter, these were demanding, day-long endeavors. For me, they were a perfectly predictable source of income, low-risk combat experience, and the final opportunity to polish my new utility cards before initiating the next phase of the plan.
The Guild Master, still wary, watched my mission logs like a hawk. I understood his psychology: I had to maintain the image of the ruthlessly efficient hunter who was simply too skilled for the current bracket, not a hidden monster with a forbidden artifact.
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My routine became a model of calculated dominance:
I selected missions focused on clearing Rockspine Boars (Uncommon Rank) that ravaged the nearby Datu Farms. These monsters were known for their resilience and erratic charges, requiring coordinated attacks from typical hunters.
I didn't use brute force. I tested my new Silent Form card. Activating the ability, I would move through the dense farmlands with absolute silence, bypassing the boars' strong sense of hearing. I would then use a minimal kinetic burst from my Rare Gauntlet—just enough to crush the target's spine—before it even registered my presence. The battles lasted less than a second.
The result: Flawless Efficiency. I would complete a mission designed for a team of four in under an hour, the resulting corpses showing no external burns or lacerations, only precise, catastrophic internal damage. The Guild clerks simply logged the abnormal speed and efficiency, further fueling the rumors of my 'innate monster-killing talent.'
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Next, I took on missions to secure the Iron Ore Quarry from periodic incursions by Rust-Eaters (Common/Uncommon Rank). These insectoid monsters were weak individually but attacked in overwhelming swarms, capable of corroding common armor and weapons.
This was the perfect test for my new Shadow Step card.
As a swarm emerged from the cavern, instead of fighting, I activated Shadow Step. In a momentary, near-instantaneous flash of movement, I would not engage, but rather reposition myself behind the entire swarm, near their nest entrance. I would then use the Echo Rune card, projecting the sound of a massive falling boulder at the opposite end of the quarry.
The Rust-Eaters, disorganized and reactive, would momentarily break their formation and rush toward the illusory sound. In that split second, I would deploy a kinetic shockwave into the ground near their nest, collapsing the soft quarry earth and burying the entire swarm alive.
The result: Tactical Evasion. The mission was cleared without a single conventional strike. I bypassed the fight entirely, eliminating the threat with environmental control and pure misdirection. The Guild received the objective (a secured quarry) with zero damage to my gear and a log entry listing only "Environmental Clear," further cementing my image as a highly adaptable, unpredictable hunter.
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While I was blazing through these missions, I kept Juts busy with legitimate Rank E tasks—clearing rats from the marketplace, or escorting supply wagons. He used his new Thorn Whip and Hardened Scale cards, becoming a genuinely competent, albeit low-level, hunter.
This ensured two things:
Credibility: The Guild saw both of us actively working, preventing suspicion from concentrating solely on my meteoric rise.
Alibi: Juts served as my public alibi. While I was secretly clearing five missions, he was visibly struggling with one, reinforcing the narrative that I was the rare genius, and he was the reliable brother, distracting any hunter who might suspect a conspiracy.
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By the end of the first week at Rank C, I had depleted the entire accessible pool of Rank C missions. The challenge was nonexistent. The monsters were too slow, the resistance too weak, and the tactical solutions too obvious.
"The Polaris Ursus was an anomaly, Juts," I stated, leaning back on my bunk in the sparsely furnished Rank C barracks. "The rest of the Rare bracket is composed of predictable brutes. The true challenge isn't the monster; it's the system designed to slow us down."
I pulled out the smuggling route map I had taken from Aaliyah's body, smoothing the creases. The map detailed the Guild Master's network: specific tunnel systems, secret storage rooms, and, most importantly, the precise delivery schedules.
"We have the speed, the silence, and the leverage," I muttered, the obsidian gauntlet now pulsating faintly with the accumulated energy of dozens of effortless kills. "It's time to stop killing low-grade targets for scrip. We are going to stop being hunters and start being thieves. The Guild Master's operation is our next dungeon."
The time for simple missions was over. It was time to strike at the heart of the Vigan Guild.