Is That A Wisp?

Yulian looked at Krune as if he was a monster. That was an entire cultivation realm's worth of difference, you know? Of course, he wasn't the only one. Everyone in the room couldn't help but feel like idiots for their previous thoughts about Krune. If anything, they were the true pieces of trash here. Their cultivations were higher than Krune, but most of them didn't have any confidence whatsoever in defeating a God Core Realm opponent.

Krune sighed as he went down from the arena. However, his expression was terrible. That expression puzzled everyone since they thought he should be happy with his easy victory. Little did they know that a certain law was laughing into his ears.

"Hahaha! So much for still water. Hahahaha! Oh, by the way, nice use of the Rainbow Laws! Hahaha!"

"Balance! It's Balance!"

Krune wanted to die already. The worst thing was that he was powerless against Little Cally. How the hell can one even beat a law? That's not possible. Well, Little Cally was more of an aggregation of all laws, to be more precise. Nonetheless, there was no way to deal with him.

After that, Krune stayed in the room as the other participants went through their fights. In the end, less than one-fifth of them passed. After all, one had to win three times. Unsurprisingly, that condition gave a lot of room for failure. The worst part was when one had to fight the others when one lost their previous one. That person wouldn't get anything, but the test had to be finished.

Eventually, Goken called all the successful participants to come with him to register for the Mercenary Guild. 

As the winners left, the ones who stayed behind began to talk about Krune's combat power. Not to mention those who were not participating but just watching. To them, his combat prowess was just way too heaven-defying. And just like that, word of Krune's strength began to spread in the entire guild. Not only that, the recording of his fight began to be shared everywhere in the network. All the mercenaries present in the guild seemed to be looking into their communicators at this new hot topic.

Back at Krune's side, he and the other participants had to make new IDs and things like that. The process didn't take that long, though. After one hour or so, everyone left the room with their Mercenary Badges. 

However, the moment Krune stepped out of the room, everyone in the Mercenary Hall looked in his direction. Krune might not have been that well-known before. However, his performance definitely fixed that problem.

"Could it be that he's one of those big clans' geniuses?"

"He must be, right? Otherwise, how can he bridge that one realm gap?"

"Still, isn't that way too much? Lotaro must have dropped his guard."

"Ha! So, are you saying that dropping your guard is enough for you to beat someone an entire realm above you in a single strike?"

"This..."

Krune heard all the comments going around and felt helpless once again. Without any choice, he could only make his way out of the guild as fast as possible.

Suddenly, a small group approached him.

"Hello there, brother. I'm Lucida Zian, those two on my side are Hulio and Kava. We're looking for new members for our hunting group. What do you think? Are you interested in joining us? Hulio and Kava are in the 8th and 9th Stages of the God Foundation Realm. As for me, I'm in the 3rd Stage of the God Core Realm. Someone with your strength would be very welcome."

He wasn't the only one, though.

"Hey, hey, hey! Forget what this guy said. Join my group, bro. We have two God Core Realm members. By the way, I'm Falin. Nice to meet you."

"Why would he join such weak teams like yours? You're all in the F Rank at the moment, so to him, it would just be a waste. Brother Krune, we have just been promoted to the E Rank even though we only have a single God Core Realm member, me. The other two are in the God Foundation Realm, just like you. How about you join us? Even though my cultivation is the highest, we'll still share all the rewards equally."

Krune became puzzled as he listened to their offers.

"F Rank? E Rank? What's all of that about?"

Yulian, who was beside him, explained soon after.

"You can create Mercenary Teams and go out on missions together. Look at the Mercenary Network. You will notice that there are tasks marked as Team Missions and Single ones. Many use it to increase their own individual rank in the Mercenary Guild."

Krune remembered that the Mercenary Guild he entered back in Makui Planet also had a ranking system for the mercenaries themselves. 

"Does that mean I can become a One God Foundation Stars Mercenary and things like that?"

Yulian shook his head as he cleared it up.

"No. The individual rankings are the same as the team rankings. For example, you just joined the guild, so you're an F Rank mercenary. However, as long as you do three Rank E Missions, you will be promoted to Rank E as well."

"However, completing Rank E Tasks are easier if you do it in groups. It's just that you will need to finish a lot more Rank E Missions to be individually promoted to Rank E. That's what these guys are doing. As long as more than 50% of your team members become Rank E Mercenaries, your team will also be considered a Rank E Team."

The others then looked at Yulian, feeling somewhat apprehensive. That's because the ones at the God Core Realm could tell that Yulian was at the 9th Stage of the same Realm, far above them. Not only that, but Yulian was also well-known in the Mercenary Guild since he was a Rank D Mercenary. Rank D Mercenaries were usually in the Nascent God Realm. You could still become a Rank D Mercenary if you went on missions with a good enough team. However, Yulian did that alone, which showed that he was far stronger than his realm dictated.

That was also one of the reasons why he was chosen to protect Krune. The payment was good, and he was known for his high rate of success during his missions. 

"Brother Yulian, are you thinking of creating a team?"

Yulian looked at the guy before shaking his head, replying.

"If you want to invite him to your team, go ahead. I have nothing to do with it. I'm just here by coincidence."

Everyone sighed in relief after that. That meant that Krune was still free.

"In that case, join my group, Brother Krune."

"No, join mine! We have greater potential!"

"Ha! What a joke! Forget them, Brother Krune. You definitely want to join mine since we're already a Rank E Team."

Krune scratched the back of his head in helplessness. He wasn't planning to join any group to start with. Instead, he was going to take a few protection missions in the borders of the sectors, just as Taran mentioned. He would purposely join a few smaller caravans, expecting to find some bandits here and there to try his strength out.

It was then that Yulian sent him a Divine Sense message.

'You should really consider entering a team. Even though you're much stronger than your cultivation shows, none of the possible clients know about that. That being said, they will only look at your 1st Stage God Foundation Realm cultivation. Just so you know, contractors can refuse applicants if they think they aren't up to the task. However, if you join a team, especially a Rank E one, they will ignore your presence and accept the team since the rest are strong enough.'

Krune was taken aback for a moment. Indeed. With his cultivation, he would only be accepted for very simple tasks. That would be far from enough to test his own power since he was much stronger than those at his level.

'But... How should I choose a team? There are way too many inviting me right now.'

Yulian then explained.

'Well... First, you can limit your choices based on what you want to do and the rank of the team you wish to join. Do you want to take Rank E missions or Rank F? Where do you want to take your missions? This alone should make your choice a lot easier. Other than that, it's completely up to you.'

Krune was happy to see Yulian helping him this much. After some time, he looked at the teams before saying.

"Ahem... I don't mind joining one of the teams. However, I have a clear target of what I wish to do at the moment. My plan is to head to the four sector's borders and help travelers, merchants, or whatever group fend off bandits. Don't ask me why I want to do it. Just know that this is what I'm going to do. If your teams don't intend to do the same thing, then there's no need for you to invite me."

Suddenly, everyone's expressions changed, with one of them asking Krune.

"Brother... are you sure you want to do such a thing?"

"Krune, you shouldn't let your strength cloud your decisions. The Mercenary Jobs in that place are all Rank D and above."

"Exactly. After all, many goods are transported in those regions. It's very dangerous even if you join a Rank E Team. Even so, those Rank E Teams must be really short on money if they decide to take on such jobs."

Krune was surprised to hear that. He didn't expect that the four sectors' borders were that dangerous. However, that definitely suited his wishes. If he wanted to test his limits, that would be a good place.

It was then that a couple came out.

"The four sectors' borders? In this case, join us, brother. We're only two people. If you join, we can finally have three members."

Everyone snorted when they heard that. This couple was only at the 7th and 8th Stage of the God Foundation Realm. First of all, they weren't even a team since you needed three members to register. Krune would need to be an idiot to join such a weak group with so many better options around him. However...

"Oh! Alright, then."

*Bang!*

Everyone fell with their faces on the ground. Brother, you must be joking, right?