Ascension: Rune Evolution System

”Hey, have you heard about Eclipse Guild’s new recruits? I heard that they cleared their training in a few days and went into the lesser hunting grounds, though that isn’t too surprising; that place is pretty easy for capable newbies, after all. But a few days ago, they went into the mid-ranking hunting grounds, and they brought back quite the haul! I’m talking nexus coins’ worth of materials!”

The one who had just spoken was a female reptilian humanoid with a thick lizard tail, green, scaly skin, and a flickering tongue that seemed to hiss whenever she spoke.

Her face was somewhere between that of a human and a snake, with reptilian eyes and a pair of holes for nostrils on her round snout, while her neck was unusually long.

Her hind legs remained half bent as she walked, but other than that, the rest of her body was mostly humanoid.

She wore a brown bodysuit with armour plating over her hybrid frame and carried a polearm that looked like a trident.

”Hawk tu!” The person she was speaking to gathered a decent amount of thick phlegm and spat it onto the dirty ground below.

This one was human, and he gave her a doubtful look before speaking. ”Where do you keep getting all this false information, Erzaci? There’s no way a bunch of newbs made it to the mid-ranking hunting grounds that quickly and brought back that much stuff. Just last week, you were telling us that some earthling managed to solve a great problem that our very best scholars haven’t been able to figure out for centuries!”

”I’m telling you, it’s true!” the lizard woman protested, turning towards him as they walked. ”What rabbit hole do you live in!? Everyone has been talking about it!”

A towering figure who had been walking beside the pair suddenly moved between them and slung a furry arm over each of their shoulders. ”I love it when I see you two lovebirds arguing. Why don’t you get married already?” he asked before bursting into laughter.

”Fuck you!” they both said at once, glaring at their companion, but halfway through the curse, their gazes met, and they quickly looked away, blushing.

Another round of laughter followed, except this time, three people were laughing, as a human man and woman who had remained silent until now joined in.

There were five of them walking together, side by side, with a sixth figure trailing behind. The hulking, bear-like man glanced back at him before loosening his hold on the pair.

”Besides,” he said, ”I have a feeling Krazz is right. All earthlings are just as weak and pitiful as our friend back there.”

The lean figure was carrying a heavy pack on his back, and it was clear he was struggling greatly.

With every step, he looked like he would fall on the next one, sweat pouring down his face as a pained frown twisted his features.

His clothes were worn and quite clearly falling apart, clinging to his body beneath the weight of the pack.

Krazz scowled at the sight before kicking the other human man in the backside, making him stumble forward. ”Ow! What was that for, Krazz!?” the man demanded, turning to glare at him.

”You know why! Why the hell did you hire someone with such a weak body to be our porter?” Krazz snapped, gesturing towards the figure behind them. ”This guy will be dead from exhaustion long before we even reach the hunting grounds!”

”What did you want me to do!? The kid literally begged me to take him!” the man protested, rubbing the spot where he had been kicked. ”He said he hadn’t eaten in days!”

”And you fucking listened to him!? Do you think we’re running a charity here?” Krazz demanded, and the pair began to argue, their voices growing louder until they were on the verge of throwing fists.

Luckily, the big guy stepped between them and stopped them before they could go any further.

Of course, the porter, who was already half dead from the unbearable heat and the gargantuan pack on his back, was Frost.

The damned thing could easily have weighed three hundred pounds, and he could barely hear the people ahead of him talking.

He felt like he was breathing through his ears, which made every sound that reached him seem muffled, while his legs felt like jelly, wobbling painfully with each step. He was almost certain that his back was broken, but he kept walking.

His breathing was heavy, each breath coming out as a half-wheeze, and his lungs felt like they were on fire. On top of that, he was terribly dehydrated, and he couldn’t even form a single coherent thought as he struggled to keep up with the group.

Six weeks had passed since they had come to this world, and once the grace period ended, Frost had been left with no choice but to put his pride aside and find a way to earn some money.

No guild had taken him in, after all, even after all this time, but he still hadn’t lost hope...

Why, you might wonder? It was a curious thing, actually. As it turned out, Frost did have an affinity!

He had discovered it when he checked his status, and it was an affinity for the void! Unfortunately, it hadn’t come with any other information, and without learning any runes, he had no way to use it in battle.

With that in mind, one might wonder why he was still unable to find a guild and how he had ended up in such a sorry state.

Well, as one might guess, Frost had been overjoyed when he found that an affinity had suddenly appeared on his status, so he had run straight to Samuel, who had, in turn, taken him to Harod.

The man had given Frost a strange look before running the check again, and that moment had been so embarrassing because nothing came up.

What followed was a reaction one would expect from Harod, who declared that Frost had lost his mind out of denial, either that or he was just straight-up lying.