Kapitel 34: Edgelord

Close by the ever-so-familiar blue vortex of mana stood Mark in his robes looking around the site, waiting. He decided to try out his luck with Ashton. 'How hard could it be to persuade him to join the Raiders guild?' Mark thought the previous day.

This gate was located in a park. It was a D-rank one so the highest rank Ashton could raid solo without being a part of a guild. There was also an employee stationed in a nearby cabin, but he was completely unaware of Mark.

On the horizon, a man showed up, walking towards the gate. Mark zoomed in with his 13th spell, magician´s eyes. The man was in his late twenties. His hair was white and almost long enough to cover his eyes. He wore a dark trench coat with a grey shirt underneath.

'Yeah, that´s to be expected. He´s just missing the red contact lenses.'

As Ashton approached the gate he walked past Mark.

"Ashton Shadowblade, am I right?" Mark addressed the man, trying not to laugh while pronouncing his name.

"Not interested." he replied, without batting an eye. He continued his stride towards the gate.

Mark walked behind, following him into the dungeon. He was already expecting this kind of response from this type of man.

They both stepped through the gate and appeared inside the dungeon.

"I am here to offer you a membership in my guild. I think this offer would benefit both parties equally." said Mark, continuing the conversation.

Ashton meanwhile unsheathed his dagger and walked deeper into the dungeon, seemingly ignoring the offer.

"We as the raiders guild would provide you with the opportunity for clearing higher ranking gates solo the way you do currently."

A pack of wolves appeared in their path however they were taken care of pretty much instantly by Ashton. He jumped around the cave with his dagger in hand beheading every enemy in a second.

'This guy has quite the potential. He should be able to clear C-rank gates alone for sure.' thought Mark after watching him fight.

"We would also give you equipment befitting your rank and abilities to make your hunter activity easier."

Ashton still appeared very much disinterested. Whatever Mark was trying to say didn´t seem to be acknowledged.

"As an experienced hunter, you surely understand the annoyance of reserving gates and selling of the resources. If you are to join us this issue wouldn´t bother you anymore. It would be taken care of by the guild staff."

Mark tried his best to convince the solo hunter, through the course of clearing the gate. However, it seemed to be useless.

After easily one-shotting the boss Ashton probably became irritated by the insistence Mark possessed and couldn´t help but retort.

"How many such offers do you think I already received? You obviously looked up my history as a hunter so you should know I already heard most of your points." said the fed-up Ashton.

"I understand your history, but not your negative stance. This offer is profitable for both sides. Not only does this deal preserve your freedom and your style of clearing gates it also gives you the support of an organization, the opportunity to clear higher ranking gates, and top-notch equipment you won´t get anywhere else."

Mark was ready to give up his plan at this point. He tried his best and failed. He can try again with a different person and if that doesn´t work out as well then he wasted a day or two. No big deal. "One learns through their mistakes." as his father would say.

"Oh, please? What top-notch equipment could you give me? You´re barely out of high school." Ashton retorted.

'You´re not wrong, but I´m starting to have the urge to trap you in a barrier for a day or two.'

"I actually have a prototype on myself for this situation." said Mark pulling a sheathed knife from his pocket.

He handed it to Ashton and said. "It creates electricity and paralyzes the target whenever in contact."

Ashton was analyzing the dagger with a disappointed look. "You´re really just a stupid child, huh." he muttered.

'Rude, but okay.'

"You gave me a weapon this powerful inside a dungeon. What would you do if I were to attack you?" asked Ashton.

"I would probably defend myself, but to be honest I like to assume that I´m not talking to murderers most of the time."

"Don´t make me laugh. You are a magician, probably A or B-rank from the amount of mana you possess. You would be dead before casting a single spell."

"Isn´t it a bit silly to judge someone based on how strong you deduce them to be?" asked Mark.

"I simply don´t want to work under some weak kid that hasn´t even experienced life and wants to act like hot shit just because they awakened with a good rank."

'Yeah, I´m the one acting like hot shit.' Mark thought to himself.

"If your condition was to get beaten up then you should´ve said that at the beginning. I wasted half an hour because of this." said Mark a bit annoyed.

"Go home, kid. You don´t want to get hurt."

The floating grimoire turned a few pages as Mark asked. "Would you be willing to join the guild if I beat you in battle? You seem to be extremely confident to the point of arrogance."

"Of course." Ashton said as if that was obvious.

"Alright, then I suggest a duel. If I lose you can keep that dagger I gave you and if you lose you will join my guild. How about it?"

"Let´s get this over with." said Ashton, tossing away both of the daggers he was holding.

[Death Shroud]

The cave was filled with dark fog obstructing Mark´s vision as Ashton turned into an ethereal form. Half of his body seemed to turn into smoke.

'This guy 100% named the skill himself.'

Mark was very confident in himself. The Last time he upgraded the magic book spell he made it permanent. This was a countermeasure against sneak attacks. If something with enough momentum neared his body a barrier would be deployed automatically.

'Page 13, Magician´s eyes'

Ashton´s position was instantly revealed. He was hopping around the cave, to find the perfect position in order to knock Mark out with his fist. He was surely a weirdo, but not a killer.

'Page 11, Waterjet, mode: push, locator: aim assist'

In spite of the spell being meant for dismembering tough monsters, by increasing the amount of water and decreasing the pressure, it could be used just to push someone around.

When Ashton neared Mark ready to knock him out he was intercepted by a massive amount of water. The jet threw him at the dungeon wall. Which was a bigger hit to his confidence than to his body.

Mark walked over to the drenched assassin in the dark fog and asked with satisfaction. "Let´s go write the contract, okay?"