Capítulo 53: Rank
Kim and Momo's eyes went wide the moment they entered the city. From outside it wasn't possible to see how the city looked like from the outside due to the giant wall covering every sides and corner of the city.
Despite the fact that most civilizations have perished during the calamity, humanity never did. It's more like people has been reborn. Within the brink of extinction, humans have reconstructed civilizations from scratch.
At first, he felt overwhelmed with the amount of crowd walking around. People were moving everywhere. Living with only two people for many years has only made him less comfortable with other people. Kim wasn't that social, but he had his friends and family. Even the little time he spent with the warriors didn't help much.
Left and right buildings were everywhere. It's a city after all. They weren't any tall looking skyscrapers. Even large buildings like a shopping mall seem to be non-existing. Nowadays, with the scarce of food and resources people have been living efficiently more than luxuriously. Also with the drastic decrease in population, there were no necessities to build large.
Interestingly, Kim could sense that beneath the base of buildings are equipped with mana stones which circulate mana through the wall as a power source. It feels like mana has been replacing all sort of energy and work like the electricities.
There were no cars or any other vehicles on the bricked road except for railways for self-driving buses to carry people around the city. The bus is fully automated with no driver. The railway provides mana directly which enable it to work without utilizing any fuel. Most transport nowadays produces non-pollutant waste.
Having a car was not important nowadays as they attract too many monsters within the vicinity of driving it. Since cars were not manufactured anymore, ordinary people could ride bicycles or scooters instead. Richer people would ride hoverboards that levitate in the air.
Most mana user, however, would prefer their foot because it would be more efficient to walk outside with the lack of proper roads. The moment a person steps outside the city they will be in danger of monsters. It would be better to move however a person want rather than being fast.
A more efficient way is to actually ride a monster that can even help a person in a fight. But that kind of thing is an extremely rare sight. Only the elite rich people would be able to do that as not many mana users has the ability to tame monsters.
With the same mechanism as the bus, people could also ride the monorail which travels from one building to another. Tourist could enjoy a cheap city tour from the top.
"It's the first time you have been in the city right? Let's take the monorail"
Wong and the others promised to be Kim and Momo guide while in the city. It's the least they could do to repay their saviour. They went to where the people lining up. Teng brought Kim and Momo to buy tickets since they don't have ic yet.
Teng scanned his ic at the ticket machine and two cards pop out.
"There you go. Let's line up with others"
IC work like wonder in the city. They use could use to pay for anything. Taking rides, like buses and taxis, or buying groceries in the mart and even paying bills.
Kim noticed that each ticket cost around 5 points. 'Is it some kind of new currency in this world?' Kim wanted to ask but it may make him more suspicious. He didn't want to expose his Borneo origin. His plan was to stay low until he understands the current power situations in this new world.
"Here is the marketplace. You can find various types of equipment, items and materials you need for your travel"
'They must be talking about the things they are carrying with them'
Whether it was Borneo or Malaysia... or even the rest of the world, everyone needs to kill to survive. Both human...and monsters. Earthen or Otherworlder. Having strong weapons and sturdy armour would help to increase the chance of survival.
"And over there is where you can grab some food. Hmm?"
Ling was confused with the sudden change of expression from both Kim and Momo. Usually, mana user was more interested in the marketplace since it's essential for their jobs. But when he introduced them the street market the sparkling eyes of excitement were unmistakably obvious.
And he was right. At this point, Kim and Momo had the same thought. 'I will remember this place even if I'm dead'
There were no monorails anywhere in Borneo before. In fact, monorails were only available in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. It may not be like standing on a tower but with his enhanced vision, Kim could get the full grasp of the city plan and architectures.
'This is so modern and people are so lively...if people on Borneo survived. Will these how we would live? Can I and Momo live like this? No...nothing worth it if people lives are in danger...I'm sure each and one of them has lost a precious someone in their past. Even these three...'
Ding!
"Next station, mana user guild. Next station, mana user guild. Please exit at the left door"
Each time they almost reach the next stop there will be an announcement along with the station name written in the screens that are installed in every cabin. Their first destination was the mana user guild. It would be convenient to have their own ic after Kim and Momo registered under the guild.
After Kim analysed what he gained so far from conversing with others and observing his surrounding, he now had a clear understanding of the power weightage within the system. Social status is dependant on how a person is able to utilize one's own mana. The stronger or more useful they are the more respect they would get.
What's more terrifying is the one who could gather these strong mana users in one place and issue orders to them. That's the guild! Even the defence mechanism of the two-storey guild building is several times more powerful than the one defending the cities. Having mana users in loitering around the guild for 24 hours around the clock would make this the place the safest and the most dangerous place in this city.
While Wong and his team were walking ahead of them, Kim managed to slip some words to Momo without them noticing.
"Stay low while in the guild. We don't know who's watching"
Momo nodded and grabbed Kim hand to walk beside him.
Wong turned around towards Kim and Momo. He waved his hand to signal them to come so they could get inside together.
"It could get rowdy inside. I know young master won't lose to anyone in our city. But, no matter how strong you are it's wiser to not cause any trouble within the guild. Especially against an Otherworlder"
Wong then looked toward Momo with a worried face.
"I think miss Momo should hide her hair while we are inside"
Kim and Momo were wearing the hooded robe this whole time so she put up her hood and covered half of her face with a scarf.
"Thank you for taking my warning as considerations. Let's go"
Wong was right about the rowdiness of the place. As soon as they were near the entrance loud voices of people shouting and screaming could be heard. But the moment they entered the building everyone was quiet. Their eyes were onlooking towards them... not at Kim and Momo but the Wong's team.
"Isn't that Wong and his guy"
"A real B-rank in front of me~kyaaa"
"Wow, to have even two C-rank in his team. They might be one of the strongest
"Oh it's only some few earthens"
"Just because he's a B-rank he thinks he's a big shot"
"An earthen dares to steal attention from us"
Kim wouldn't even imagine if he didn't listen to their small conversations. It seems that unexpectedly, Wong and his team are famous and infamous among mana users in this city. Kim was about to say something to Momo when he saw the disbelief face of her.
'Hey don't be too obvious!'
Kim was thinking about that but he didn't realize he was making the same doubtful face as Momo. Even though Kim and Momo were behind them, somehow the three could sense that both of them are staring with a piercing gaze right now. They wipe off the cold sweat from their foreheads and let the thought go. Instinctively move forward with a faster pace.
"Are you here to report your job request, Mr. Wong?"
"No. It's still ongoing. Actually, we are here for these two. They would like to register as mana users to get their ic"
"It would be delightful for us to provide you with our service. Would the two of you come forward, please"
The woman at the service counter has a small figure but her mana was outstanding. It's quite clear to Kim that she has a high proficiency with mana. She seems to had been training using her mana for many years. However, the feature that caught Kim's interest was her hair and eyes colour. It was light blue! Not black like a Malaysians would have. Even her look was not a typical south-eastern Asian.
Kim then took a glance at the dining hall where the mana users were gathered and saw that there were also some people who had similar features with the woman in front of him. He thought that it was natural to have different hair colour and eyes since Momo's used to be black like a typical Malaysian.
He thought that her hair and eyes colour was influenced by the evergrowing mana from the earth. But he was wrong. Something else happened to Momo that changed her because everyone who looks like Malaysian still had their black hair dan dark colour eyes. But those who don't look like one would have different colours. 'Is that why they were confused when they knew Momo was actually a Malaysian like me?'
"Young man? It's bad to have your mind wander off somewhere while talking to a pretty girl like me you know?"
Kim was a bit flustered when the woman gave that remark with a wink. Not only was the woman well trained with her mana, but even her temperament should no be underestimated. He could feel that Momo was holding his hand tighter until he could feel slight pain.
"Y-yes. Umm, we would like to register"
"Hmm? Not even an apology? I guess only your face is cute"
Kim was startled as the pain in his hand shockingly increased by several-fold. He felt like a heavy boulder was crushing his hand. Unknowingly he shouted.
"Sorry!" He didn't know whether he was apologizing toward the woman or Momo. In his mind, he could only think about how scary a woman could be. Kim never felt this kind of fear for a long time. Even fighting the Lord of Chimera couldn't be compare when handling these two at the same time.
"Leila, please be kind. We are in debt to both of them"
"Fufufu, to be in debt with someone as cute as this boy, I wouldn't mind switching with your place"
The pain in his hand came back instantly.
"Joke aside, since a B-rank actually said he was in debt then I would not mind helping with your registration"
'Joke?! Didn't you say you were delightful to give your service? Is your delight mean playing with me?'
Kim managed to keep his thought to himself and calm himself down.
"So how do we register?"
Leila took out two pieces of blank paper on put it on the desk.
"Flow your mana into these papers and it will automatically show all your personal information"
"What kind of information?"
"Your personal information like your name and age. Even your birthplace and your hometown. This was a combined effort from our world expertise in mana and your world advance technology to identify people who have lost their home and family. Especially children who don't have much memory of their past"
Looking at Kim's doubtful face, Leila continued.
"Don't worry. The guild will never disclose your information to a third person. Unless you committed a serious and heavy crime"
"Teng, can you keep a distance between us"
Wong and Ling both grabbed Teng and dragged him away from Kim and Momo. Once Kim confirmed that Teng wouldn't be able to see any particular details from his position he nodded to Momo to flow their mana into the paper. Once, they did the information about them appeared one-by-one, starting by their name as well as their parents' information. That included their hometown. Kim doesn't know how much people remember about places in Borneo but he wouldn't let any risk of people knowing where they come from.
"It's done. Could you please hand it over so we could process it into your ic?"
Instead of waiting for Kim and Momo to hand her the paper she swiftly took it from them. She circulated her mana and at the paper making it brimming with light. The light slowly reduced in size and changed its shape. Slowly it finally finished its morphing and become a hand size card.
"I just finished making your ic. Would you please follow me to that room please"
Leila was pointing to a door which has an evaluation sign written on it. Every mana users would recognize that door because that is where all their rank were evaluated. That time, Teng couldn't help but insisting to let them join.
"We are here to overseer their registration, so couldn't we join the evaluation as well? Rank is not necessarily a disclosed matter since others will know your rank eventually, right?"
Wong and Ling give themself a face slap listening to what Teng has said. They wish they would never meet in the first.
"That is true. I could only allow it if the one who is getting the evaluation agree"
Wong and Ling already dragged Teng away when Kim gave an unexpected nod.
"Sure. They did promise to guide us and all"
Teng hurriedly let himself loose and excitedly join them to the evaluation. Wong and Ling could only sigh and eventually joined them as well.
Inside the room, there was a transparent sphere floating about. It seems to be a mana stone but Kim couldn't sense any mana flowing around it. Not saying that it was empty of mana. The mana felt clean. In front of the sphere, there was a hand mark and a slot that could fit and ic in.
"This is a mana detector. It directly detects the quality and amount of mana you possess within your mana core and shows you an accurate estimation of your rank. Mr. Teng. Would you kindly put your ic in the slot and lay your hand on the mark?
For demonstration purpose, Leila asked Teng to evaluate his rank. He did what Leila asked him to and the sphere changed its colour into green.
"Different colours correspond to each rank. Starting from white, yellow, green, blue, red and gold, it would show you from rank-E to rank S. Since Mr. Teng is a C-rank the sphere showed green colour. If it was Mr. Wong, it will be blue"
Teng then released his hand and sphere changed back into a colourless sphere like it is made of glass.
"Mr. Kim and Ms. Momo, if you may? Please do the same thing"
Leila put Momo's card in the slot and ask her to place her hand. Although Teng showed the most excitement, not even Wong and Ling could resist themselves from checking both of their ranks. Especially Momo since they never see her fight before. Momo put her hand and circulated her mana. Then...the sphere didn't turn to any colour. Everyone including Leila was confused. That would only happen if the person is not a mana user. She was about to ask something when she heard a cracking sound coming from the sphere.
*crack*
Eventually, the mana detector was full of cracks and broke into pieces!
"!!!"
Everyone was shocked. Even Leila flabbergasted from the scene. She never saw this in her entire life before even when she was in her original world. Kim was also shocked because Momo just broke their detector just like that.
"T-T-That's weird! There must be something wrong with this detector. Hold on I will ask the staff who is in charge of it"
Leila was too shocked that she didn't care less of holding the professional image she had before. After a while, another person comes in and he too had his eyes bulging outward.
"W-what? N-no way!"
"Lavis, Is the detector broken? Don't you do maintenance every week?"
"Yes. In fact, I did it yesterday"
Lavis was scratching his head not knowing what was happening at the moment. He then went toward Kim and Momo to apologize for their mistakes and hurriedly brought a new detector. Kim let out a sigh of relief knowing he doesn't need to pay anything back.
Not even 5 minutes has passed a new mana detector was placed in the room. It was similar to the previous sphere but seem to be more brandished than the older one. Lavis even mentioned that this was the newest version of mana detector which has imported from another country.
Leila looked toward Momo with her innocent smile and hesitated. This time she asked Kim to get the first evaluation instead.
"I'm very sorry for the trouble we caused. Would you please get to the detector?"
When Leila asked Kim instead of Momo, the heart of Wong and his team were beating very fast that it could explode. Leila was not familiar with both of them so of course, she would invite Kim instead since Momo just broke the older detector. But the three of them know that Momo called Kim her master. That could only mean that thing could only get worst.
Every second feel like an hour to them as Kim get closer and closer to the detector. Finally, Kim put his card into the slot and place his hand. This time, there was no change of colour as well. Not even cracking sound could be heard. Instead, there was a large boom!
But both Leila and Lavis have their jaw wide open as they saw the sphere instantly exploded and reduced to ash the moment Kim place his circulate his mana.
Sensing the explosion, the guild master felt alarmed and rushed towards the evaluation room himself.
"Leila... Lavis what has happe- What?!"
The guild master almost had a heart attack as he saw a giant hole that goes deep into the ground in the middle of the room.
Status de energia semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Pedra de
Poder