The white-haired girl rushed to the counter, her breath coming in ragged gasps. She leaned in, her voice trembling but urgent. "That party... the one that just left... Rei and Nakamu's group. They are heading straight into a trap set by the Dragon Party. That A-Rank task was a setup. The location doesn't have A-Rank monsters—it's an SS-Level threat zone."
The receptionist's face turned paper-white.
In this world, the power scaling was absolute. If you were F-Rank, you took E-Rank tasks to grow. But once you hit the high tiers, the rules changed. An A-Rank task required a party of four, usually led by at least one S-Rank. To face an S-Rank task, you needed a full squad of S-Rank hunters. An SS-Rank threat? That usually required an SSS-Rank leader.
Currently, the world relied on a fragile balance: SSS-Rank hunters mostly hunted alone, but for anything SSS+, you needed the one and only SSS+ legend backed by three SSS-Rank elites—of which only a handful existed in history. Sending an A-Rank party into an SS-Rank zone was a death sentence.
"What do we do?" the receptionist stammered, panic rising. "Every high-level hunter is already out on a mission!" She looked around the hall, her eyes landing on the empty seats where we had just been sitting. A crazy, desperate thought crossed her mind. "Maybe... maybe those three rookies are the only ones left."
Meanwhile, Vikas arrived at the old lady's manor. The woman was ancient, her eyes squinting at him through thick layers of dust.
"You from the Guild, sonny?" she wheezed.
Vikas nodded, trying to look professional. "Yes, ma'am. Specialist Vikas, at your service."
She led him to the cellar. Vikas didn't take any chances. He donned his Light Obsidian Armour and unsheathed his sword, looking like a legendary warrior... only to use the edge of the blade to carefully scrape a cobweb.
"Is this really my life now?" he muttered, poking at a spider that looked bored of his presence."The disrespect is real."
Across town, Aryan was staring at a mission scroll with a look of pure exhaustion.
Mission: Find the white cat with red eyes and black spots.
"I have zero tracking skills," Aryan thought, rubbing his temples. "I'm a thief, not a bloodhound."
He realized he needed a workaround. He headed toward the city gates where the Royal Guards stood watch. These guards possessed a specific Scout Skill: Eagle Eye, allowing them to zoom in on any movement within miles to monitor incoming travelers.
Aryan loitered near a guard, acting like a confused tourist.
[ SYSTEM: Skill 'Enhanced Zoom/Scout' successfully copied. ]
"Perfect," Aryan smirked. "Now, let's find this over-glorified kitten."
In the outskirts, Ayush was actually having a peaceful time for once. He had found the medicinal plants near the Goblin territory and was packing them away.
"Easy money," Ayush hummed, feeling productive. "No monsters, no drama, just me and some expensive grass."
Aryan was just about to activate his new zoom skill when suddenly, a loud, distorted ringing echoed in the ears of all three boys. A holographic System Call forced itself open in front of their faces. It was the receptionist, and she looked terrified.
"Aryan! Ayush! Vikas! You need to get back to the Guild immediately!" she screamed through the interface. "The party you saw earlier—Rei and the others—they've been lured into a massacre. They're in extreme danger, and you're the only ones close enough to intercept the backup route!"
The three of us didn't even stop to argue. Dropping our herbs, cats, and cleaning rags, we bolted through the streets of the massive kingdom, weaving through the crowds toward the Guild. The 'chill' vibes were officially over. It was time to see if our glitched powers could actually handle a real-world disaster.