Chapter 261 261. BLAZING ROSES

"So what do you say?" A brown-haired man no older than 25 said to pensive Noah, and he could only furrow his brows as he fell into thought.

Just as he planned, he had arrived at the establishment that dealt in the buying and selling of dead magical beasts, but an obstacle existed in his way. 'I have to be higher than a rank F to patronize him,' Noah sighed inwardly. However, the young-looking man, who by nature wasn't exactly part of the guild but bore an oath by the guild, decided to make a compromise.

For the chance to patronize him, both would duel, and if Noah came out victorious the young man would have to allow him to buy whatever he wanted with a 5% discount.

A quick inspection of the man's power was all Noah needed to understand that the young-looking individual stood at the peak of the middle-stage.

Noah honestly considered it, but when the man stated the rules of no spells or empowerment, only their weapons, and possible martial arts, he could only back off. After all, the reward for Noah losing was that he would have to tell the man his secret to his extraordinary power.

"No thank you," Noah voiced his thoughts, resolve in his tone, but also a bit of sadness.

"Too bad, but there's no pressure. When you advance to Rank E you can come back, my five percent discount offer is still on," the man reassured.

A smile beamed on Noah's face at that point, and he quickly turned to leave. The shop was mostly dark but featured large glass windows allowing the light coming from the city to further illuminate its dimly lit insides.

Noah had arrived inside the reception and found it empty. But it looked able to fit around thirty people, as seats were strategically positioned to maximize the relatively small space.

Pushing the glass door, Noah ignored the bell hung at its top to exit that place. The city's soft breeze caressed his face at that point, and he found himself blankly staring at the raging thunderclouds in the distance. No sounds reached the city but the flashes of the lightning bolts within the wall of thick dark clouds could be seen from anywhere.

The sight felt both magical and dark at the same time. Noah felt curious about what the true purpose of the clouds was.

A pinhole of sunlight broke through from the small space at the peak of the conical-shaped formation of clouds. That sight allowed the experts measure what time of the day it was, but only if you glanced at it would you be able to spot the light. That's how tiny it was.

The clouds visibly spun around the island, but never went past a certain point.

"What do I do now?" Noah muttered walking down the illuminated streets of the city. The situation had quickly changed; making advancing in the Guilds' rank necessary.

With the invitation to the central region still at the back of his mind, Noah had to be careful of time, and seeing as missions took them out of the city he didn't want to risk getting stuck outside for days, unable to answer the call.

The dark-clothed figures of his guild mates passed by him, some spotting him, but only raising their eyebrows. While others tried to communicate with him. Noah feigned ignorance. He wasn't in the mood.

Honestly, he wondered how many members the guild had, seeing as their region was more than 6sqmi. The book gave an estimate of the total number of experts the guild housed and it stood somewhere around Seventy-thousand!

'No wonder they are one of the more influential guilds,' Noah thought recalling the incredible figure. That wasn't even all. The guild also had non-guild members who lived in the city. Like the man whom Noah just departed from.

"I forgot to get his name," he muttered taking a left into a street almost completely identical to the one he traversed, only that at the end of the street stood the grand tower that was their guild hall.

Its structure remained breathtaking, most especially due to the golden lights it beamed into the environment.

With the obstruction of getting his desired commodities being his rank, Noah planned to quickly eradicate the issue. However, he would stop if he found that he would be unable to answer the call in time. Since such a scenario meant courting death.

Placing his hand on the metallic handle of the guild hall's massive door, Noah found that a light scanned his body faster than he could react, and the formerly unmovable door gave way to his push.

The familiar sight of many experts moving up and down the hall appeared in front of Noah, but he directly discarded that scene to walk towards the bar. Having only left about two hours ago, Noah's presence surprised the experts that had sighted him then.

"Hello," Noah started, directing his greeting to the lady that had spoken with Lady Yevette.

An eyebrow rose on the lady's face, but she quickly got rid of that reaction to reply to him.

"How may I help you?" she asked.

"I am Aiden, and I'd like to take a job," Noah announced, and his words inevitably brought surprise to the lady's face, and even those eavesdropping. However, she got rid of it as brisk as it appeared.

"As a new member you are to start from the bottom rank which is rank F," she explained. Although he knew the information, Noah let her explain in case there were bits of information the book left out.

"I believe you plan to advance to E rank. For that you'll need to be successful in 5 F rank missions," she continued.

"Yes," Noah replied allowing his gaze to fall on the large board beside the bar.

The lady immediately noticed his gaze and quickly opened her mouth to speak.

"New members aren't allowed to choose from the board until they succeed in the first one made available to them by the guild," she explained.

"First one?" Noah asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, The first F rank mission is provided by the guild," she affirmed, searching the desk before her to reveal a brown sheet of paper.

Handing it over to a curious Noah. She calmly watched him sweep his gaze on the brown paper. She found herself wondering how a man could attain such looks.

"Gather 100 blazing roses in the central garden," Noah read in a mutter. "Reward 10 small silvers."