*** Proof of valor
After getting my fill of flying, I head back to the NAA building to inspect the necklace. Naturally, I'm going in as Jax. Violet's become too popular thanks to all my solo clears, and I'd prefer not to get mobbed by fans.
"Hello, how may I help you?" asks the appraisal mage on duty—a professional-looking woman.
"I'd like to have an item appraised," I say, pulling the talisman from my inventory and placing it on the counter.
She picks it up and starts casting appraisal magic… Then her eyes go huge.
"T—this is… Proof of Valor," she blurts out, completely losing her composure. "Where did you get this?"
"Bloody Valley," I answer. "Is that a problem?"
"N—no, not a problem. I… I need to speak with my superiors." And she bolts out.
Alright… That's not concerning at all. What got her so freaked out?
She returns with Nolan, good—he'll explain whatever this is.
"Ha! Jax! Of course it's you. Always the overachiever," he booms.
"Overachiever? What are you talking about?" I ask.
He gestures at the talisman. "This. First time we've ever seen a Proof of Valor."
That can't be right. I got it from an elite orc. Surely someone else has beaten one before.
"Usually, we only get broken ones," Nolan explains.
"Broken?"
"Yeah. Some loot require meeting special conditions, or they come out broken," he explains. "How in the world did you get this one intact?"
"Won it in a duel," I say with a shrug.
Nolan stares at me. "A duel? As in one-on-one? With an orc?"
I nod.
He bursts out laughing. "No wonder no one ever found the requirements! Who's crazy enough to fight an orc alone?"
Did he just indirectly call me crazy?
Then again, that stunt I did, challenging that huge orc to a duel in the middle of their fortress… Yeah, okay. I'll admit. Pretty reckless.
"Right, so what does the necklace actually do?" I ask, moving the conversation along.
Nolan turns his head to the appraisal mage.
"It allows the user to share one of his traits with up to six targets." She explains.
Share a trait? Like my night vision or poison resistance? Uh. That's pretty good. I'm sure many people would love to have a party member that provides an extra advantage by just being in the team.
I could definitely sell this for a lot—
Oh no. Nolan has that scheming look again. He better not—
"Jax…" He begins.
"No! Let me cut you off. Whatever you're thinking, I am not doing it."
"Oh come on, you'll love it." He insists.
Yeah, sure. Like the last time, when I got roped into wearing a dress. Hard pass.
"You'll get to enter tier three realms." Nolan adds.
…Okay, damn it, that caught my interest. Tier three. I've never been in one. They're sure to be quite a challenge.
Ugh. I hate him. He always knows exactly how to bait me.
"Fine. Let's hear it," I sigh.
Nolan grins. "Let's talk in private."
I follow him into a private room.
Once we're alone, Nolan lays everything out. Turns out the charm case isn't actually resolved. The guy we caught at the ball? Just a grunt. There are more going around still casting charm on people.
Nolan thinks he knows who the mastermind is: Victor, the leader of the Saviors.
Victor? Yeah, I remember him—the guy at the party surrounded by beauties.
Nolan suspects he's charming women to recruit them into his guild. There's no solid proof, but the fact that every member of the Saviors has appraisal protection is pretty sus.
"Okay, but… How does any of that get me into tier-three realms?" I ask.
Nolan grins.
Oh, I am definitely not going to like this.
"You're going to infiltrate the Saviors," he says.
Yup. Called it.
"Wait—just hear me out!" Nolan blurts before I can turn around and leave.
Out of morbid curiosity, I stay and listen.
The plan is simple enough: I form a team, use the Proof of Valor to give them my mind-magic resistance so they don't get charmed, then we join the Saviors and gather evidence of Victor's wrongdoing.
But there are some obvious issues—starting with whether the Saviors would even want to recruit a brand-new team.
"Oh, don't worry. I've got just the team to catch their eyes," Nolan assures me.
"A high-level team?" I can't help but ask.
"They've already raided a tier-four realm," he says proudly.
Tier four? …Okay, maybe this plan isn't so bad.
*** The new team
The next day, I meet Nolan at the NAA center so he can introduce me to the team he promised. He leads me into a private room where three people are already seated at a table.
All women. That part doesn't surprise me. What it does is that I recognize them.
Not personally, but… I've seen them on TV more than enough to know who they are. The Happy Go-Getters. A famous awakener team, practically idolized by the public. How in the world did Nolan rope people this high-profile into his insane plan?
Nolan seems pleased with my reaction. Okay, sure, have your fun, but you better explain soon.
"They're actually NAA members," Nolan says. "Assigned to keep an eye on things during large-scale raids."
So something like a secret police. That makes sense. You'd need to have eyes inside such big events to maintain some public order. I'm guessing one of them must have a recording skill like the appraisal mages.
"Well then, I'll let you ladies introduce yourselves," Nolan adds.
I shoot him a glare at the word ladies. Sure, I'm in my succubus form, so he's technically not wrong—but still. I'm just about to give him a piece of my mind when he slips out and shuts the door behind him.
That bastard.
I focus back on the trio. They're all beauties.
The shortest one has glowing red hair, like it's made of living fire, and is wearing a hoodie with cat ears. No idea why.
The tallest has long, feathered ears that peek out from beneath her golden hair, and she's clad in polished armor. Some kind of knight, clearly—but I've never seen a class with such features.
The last one looks almost like a porcelain doll—snow-white skin, long silver hair, piercing golden eyes, and a flowing white robe that screams mage.
"So you're the new team member?" the short one asks.
"Uh… yeah—"
"No way! You're so tiny!" she blurts out, practically hopping onto the table. "Are you even old enough to be an awakener? Oh, but your boobs are huge! And OMG, is that a tail? What's your class?"
She doesn't give me a second to answer.
"Val, calm down. You're scaring our guest," the tall one says, grabbing the cat ears on the hoodie and tugging her back.
"Please forgive her," the blond woman adds with a sigh. "She… lacks any form of self-restraint. My alias is Jess, by the way. And my class is Valkyrie."
Valkyrie? Is that some rare variant of the knight class?
"And I'm Extreme Murder Volcano! The fire witch!" the red-haired one declares proudly.
Extreme what?
I glance at the other two.
"Unfortunately, that is indeed her alias," Jess says, shaking her head. "She even had it printed on her awakener ID."
"We just call her Val," the silver-haired woman offers helpfully.
I look back at Val, who's standing there looking absurdly proud despite the ridiculous name.
Yeah… no self-restraint is right. This one's going to be a handful.
"And I'm Fie, the healer," the white one says.
"Fie's actually a dual-class holder," Jess adds.
A dual class? That's the first I've ever heard of that—must be incredibly rare.
"Yup. White mage and appraisal mage," Val chimes in. "But in the field, we just say she's a white mage."
So she's the one quietly keeping tabs on people in the realms.
"Nice to meet you all. I'm Violet…" I hesitate before adding the next part. "Succubus class."
All three of them stare at me, clearly processing that.
Ugh. This is so embarrassing.
"So that's why you have a tail! That's awesome! Can I touch it?" Val blurts out, breaking the silence.
The moment she says touch, Jess grabs her by the hoodie's cat ears before she can lunge.
"No. You stay right there," Jess orders.
Val whines but doesn't resist.
"Can we maybe focus on why we're here?" Fie cuts in, trying to defuse things. "Nolan said you have an ability that would let us infiltrate the Saviors safely."
Right. That.
I pull the Proof of Valor from my inventory, set the necklace on the table, and explain how it lets me share my resistance to mind magic.
"Mind-magic resistance… That's essential if we're dealing with charm users," Jess says. "How does it work?"
That part's simple. Just equipping the talisman gave me the instinctive knowledge to use it—touch the target and focus on my trait.
Jess volunteers first. We shake hands, and the necklace glows briefly before going still.
"I don't feel any different," Jess says. "Fie?"
"I see a Blessing of Valor in your status," Fie replies, eyes glowing from appraisal.
"Good. Then let's test it."
Before I can ask what she means, Jess pulls a small box from her inventory and opens it. Inside is a plain ring.
"One of the confiscated cursed rings that casts charm magic," she explains.
Yeah. I remember those. Touch it, and the charm triggers automatically. Nasty thing.
Jess picks it up.
"…I don't feel charmed."
"And you aren't," Fie confirms, clapping her hands.
"Maybe the ring's broken—"
Before anyone can stop her, Val snatches the ring from Jess's hand. Immediately, her eyes lose focus like she's drunk.
"Ugh. Val. How many times is that now?" Jess groans.
This has happened before?
"I'll dispel it," Fie says, already casting.
Well, at least we're now sure that the Proof of Valor works.
Once Val's back to normal, I share my trait with the rest of the team, and we move on to planning.
"We'll need to raise your level first so you can keep up with us in higher-tier realms and attract the Saviors' attention," Jess says. "You're tier one, right?"
"Actually, I'm tier two," I correct her. "I tiered up not long ago."
"Tier two, huh… that helps," Jess murmurs. "How many skills do you have?"
"Three skills, plus one original," I answer.
They all freeze.
"You tiered up with only three skills?" Jess asks, genuinely baffled.
"Three plus one original," Fie amends, though she looks just as confused.
"How did you even manage that?" Val asks. "I had, like, ten skills before my first tier-up."
"Solo slayer titles helped," I admit.
"Solo slayer?" Jess repeats.
"You get them for defeating realm bosses alone," I explain. "They make you stand out more to the evaluator."
I still remember how impressed the Queen of Darkness had been by my solo titles.
"That's so cool! How come I've never heard of this?" Val asks.
"Because no one is crazy enough to solo a realm boss," Jess says flatly.
…Hey. Was that a jab at me?
"Well, if you're strong enough to solo a boss, then we're lucky to have you." Fie says.
"That's for sure," Val chimes in. "So, what role are you taking?"
Role? I arch a brow, confused.
"She's talking game terms," Jess explains with an eye roll.
"Exactly!" Val beams. "Jess is the vanguard, Fie's support, and I'm the main DPS!"
I'm not much of a gamer, but if I had to choose…
"I'd go with tank."
All three stare at me like I just said something absurd. And honestly, I get it—I'm shorter than Val and look even more delicate than Fie. Tanking isn't exactly what my appearance suggests.
"It'll be easier if I just show you," I say.
"Y—yeah, that would probably be best," Jess agrees. "How about I take you to my realm? The tier-three Draconic Desert."
Draconic Desert? I have no idea what that is, but… tier three Yeah. That sounds like fun.