Inverse System

They arrived at the Ranger Academy dormitory and entered the elevator, heading down to a noisy metal-plated room. They heard voices emerging as they descended.

"Hey, Emria! I'm gonna need some Spring support here!"

"Coming!"

"I have finished assembling the exterior piece. Are you both done—"

Suddenly, they heard an explosion as the elevator descended deeper down, eventually reaching the basement floor.

"The hell's happening down here? Isn't this that red-headed chick's workshop?" Quint said as he saw smoke pouring out of the back room.

"Who you callin' a red-head, red-head?" Raxo emerged from the smoke, accompanied by Emria and Sahprilla, all of them charred with smoke.

"What happened back there?" Xenia asked.

"We've been trying to make this gadget for the past 3 days. Even with my Spring inversed, it keeps blowin' up. It's something I'm gonna show my parents, maybe they'll let me come back if they see it," she nervously laughed at herself.

"Sounded like a pretty big explosion, yet you're unscathed. I assume Greeny had a hand in that?" Core guessed.

"That's right!"

"But it's weird though. Maybe the ring is malfunctioning? Here, give it to me for a second," Rein told Raxo, who took off the ring and gave it to him with a confused look on her face.

"I didn't feel any problems with it, but I guess it's better to be safe than sorry."

Rein inspected it for a while, then gave it back to her. Raxo put it back on her finger.

"Yeah, nothing was wrong with it. I guess the thing you're building blows up naturally," Rein concluded.

"Regardless, did you guys need anything?" Saphrilla looked around, patting the dust off of her face.

"Oh yeah, you have a blacksmith back there? Think you could make me a new battle axe?" Quint pointed at the back room, in which there was a smithing table in the corner.

"Oh, I would love to! Just kidding, are you a moron or something? I'm an engineer, not a blacksmith! That smithing table belongs to the smithing club that disbanded last year. They kept their stuff in here, and I'm too lazy to clean it up," she angrily explained.

"Hey! You said she could!" Quint turned around and pouted at Rein, who softly laughed.

"She can, she just hasn't realized it yet," he said, making Raxo confused.

"What? I told you, I've never… made a weapon… in my… life… huh?" She stopped talking and went into a thinking position.

"Here, take these smithing tools. Make Quint a weapon will you?" Rein pulled a bag of heavy smithing tools from behind his back and propped it down on the counter. It was the same bag he had obtained from Folduin, the blacksmith back in the Elven Forest.

"What are you talking about? She just said she can't smith," Quint said, looking at Rein, unimpressed.

"Ahaha… I just remembered that my upperclassmen last year taught me how to smith. Sorry about that," she nervously laughed, talking in a manner opposite to her usual attitude.

"For real?! So you'll make me a new weapon?!" Quint bowed down with an ectatic expression etched on his face, which flustered the girl.

"Y-yeah sure… As long as you're payin'!"

"I am deeply indebted to you," he sternly bowed down.

"I-it's nothin'! You've gotta help me find the materials though! That'll be your payment," she proposed, not used to receiving any gratitude.

"Yeah sure. You guys heard what she said. Sorry, but I can't join you today. Next time though!" Quint happily spoke, his mood greatly increasing.

Emria and Saphrilla both looked at Rein with unsmiling expressions. Rein shook his head to them, to which they furrowed their eyebrows.

"Well then, we'll be taking our leave. Good luck to you guys," Rein waved.

"Bye Raxo! You girls too!" Xenia followed.

Core also waved as they entered the elevator, Xenia slouching down out of disappointment.

"Well, we got absolutely nothing out of that," she discouragingly stated.

"That's not true. This way, Quint can join us on the next commission. We can still get Reggie," Rein said as they reached the ground floor and exited the dormitory.

As they exited, they saw a pink-haired girl running towards the academy.

"Hey, Elaine!" Rein recognized her and called out to her, stopping her in her tracks. She turned around, revealing her green eyes as she approached the group.

"How do you..? Hold on, you're... the guy... Lance was... talking about?" She struggled to speak, heavily breathing between every word..

"That's right. Why are you in such a hurry?" Rein inquired.

"Oh, Lance and my other classmate, Reggie are waiting for me. We're gonna go questing now, I was just buying something from the town before we left," she explained as she continued running in place.

Core and Xenia's eyes widened as they realized what this meant. Xenia enthusiastically approached her, putting her face dangerously close with Elaine.

"Hey! We know your classmate! Do you think we can join you?" She giddily asked as Elaine moved backward, taken aback by her enthusiasm.

"But, you guys are class D, right? I dunno…" She uttered, putting her finger on her chin in a thinking position.

"Last we checked, this was the only request left. And it's a B rank request with a commendable reward. Besides, you're looking at the winner of the entrance tournament right here," Core pointed at the white-haired man beside him, which amazed Elaine.

"Huh?! No way! You won the entrance tournament? How are you so low in rank?" She announced, flabbergasted.

"I did win the entrance tournament, and if you take me to Lance, I'm sure he'll let me join the party," Rein bowed, sincerely asking her.

"Alright…"

As they all ran towards the commission area, they found Lance and Reggie staring at the empty commission board.

"Man, where'd all of these commissions go? I was looking forward to busting loose. We could've even taken an easier commission so we could go as 3 people," Reggie spoke, disappointed.

"Don't worry! I'm sure we'll figure something out!" Lance reassured.

"Hey, guys! I found a group of people with a commission! They need 3 B rank + members as well!" They heard the voice of a girl calling to them from the distance as they looked out, seeing Elaine running towards them with three other people behind them.

"Is that… Rein, Core, and Xenia? I thought they had already left… This is perfect!" Reggie observed as the group approached them.

"Huh? You know Rein too?" Lance reacted, surprised.

When the group arrived, Rein greeted Lance and they began talking.

"We have this B rank commission here. It takes us to Aquifa, in the far west of Econica. At least 3 members of the rank listed are needed to take on commissions, so there shouldn't be a problem with the rest of us joining you guys. So, what do you say?" Rein proposed, putting the paper with the commission on the table they sat at.

Lance picked up the paper and read it with a serious expression.

"Well, you know I'm down," Reggie exclaimed, playfully putting his arm around Rein's neck as Lance continued reading the paper.

"This… Seems really dangerous… I'm not sure…" Lance looked over at Elaine, who then became infuriated.

"Hey! Don't you dare say it'll be too dangerous for me! God, when will you stop being so overprotective?" She said, punching him in the face.

"Ouch! Fine, fine. We'll go with you Rein. But the moment Elaine is put in danger, I'm dropping everything to protect her, alright?"

"Do what you have to do man, I'm not stopping you," Rein smiled at him, which in turn made him smile from ear to ear.

"Sheesh, I'm stronger than you, you know?" Elaine blushed, secretly happy about Lance's devotion.

"Glad to have you in the party buddy!" Lance outstretched his hand.

"Hehe, it's truly an honor." Rein took his hand and shook it, sealing the deal.

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