Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

"Alright, I'm a Novice Rank warrior. My mark is unknown, but estimated to be Lethal Rank." Lucius said in a heartbeat.

"Oh, ho? Lethal, eh? Interesting. Kind of sad that you are Novice though, I mean come on, at your age you should be decently into Beginner by now." Jen stated as she put a strange box on the table. "Alright, now you girl."

"Beginner Rank mage." Rena answered.

"See, kid, that's normal. Alright, each of you put a hand on the box, one at a time though please." Jen said casually.

Rena was the first to comply and reached towards the box and placed her hand on top of it. An opaque white mist formed above the center of the table and showed information about Rena's rank and Compatibilities.

"Alright, no Arts, but you got Water, Wind, Metal, and Light magic. Nice going girl, that's some good shit. Alright, time for the disappointment, go on kid." Jen said with a low whistle, and following up with an insult to Lucius.

Rena retracted her hand and stifled a small giggle seeing Lucius' eye twitch at being bullied by the pretty adventurer. He placed his hand on the box, and waited for the mist to appear. For a few moments nothing happened.

"Uh…"

"Give it a minute, the marks always take a minute for the box to figure out."

"Okay…"

After he acknowledged Jen, the mist started to appear as well and showed Lucius' skills.

"Alright, we got…Oh Thunder magic, that's a rare one." Jen mumbled, reading aloud. "Forsaken Arts, sucks for you but hey if it works…Half-Beastman from a feline lineage, coulda guessed. And for your mark…oh? That's odd…"

"You're right, it isn't showing my mark…I thought this would identify it for me." He said.

"No, not that you idiot. If this could identify unknown marks, we wouldn't be able to afford one. It only identifies known ones. What's odd is that it's showing two sets of question marks instead of the one."

"Oh, that's all? It is an inverse mark. Two abilities. Neither of which I can activate…at least not for the last few years."

Jen stared at the letters projected by the magical mist for a few moments, pondering something. "Welp, that was fun, but looks like you weren't lying about your ranks, so how's about we go and track down a monster for you guys…I'm thinking since you came in together you want to form a party?"

"Yes." They said in unison.

"Cute. Okay then, lets find some…oh! Dire rats. They've been causing problems in the farms outside of town and the current quests aren't really able to keep up with the current population boom. That should be good to see both your skills." Jen said with a grunt as she stood and began to walk away.

Rena grabbed Lucius by the arm and dragged him after Jen. The veteran adventurer had no intentions of slowing down just for them to catch up, but guided them through the streets until they reached the outer walls.

The gates were open with one side allowing travelers inside the gates after inspection, and the other being a simple exit. Jen casually flashed a small, metal plate at the guards on the exit side, who nodded and glanced quickly and uncaringly at Rena and Lucius who had finally caught up with her.

The Dire Rats that Jen requested they hunt were rather weak monsters. In a direct confrontation, they were as weak as fighting a common house dog, which was also about how big they were. However, they were still F-Rank beasts due to their penchant for sneaking up on enemies and their ability to hide.

They also dug burrows into the ground for hiding, storing food, and raising their young. Dire Rats came into being as a mutation of a common rat and still occasionally pop up in towns now and then because of that, though they were also able to proliferate on their own in grasslands, meadows, and lightly wooded areas.

One of the things they were best known for was destroying crops and attacking domesticated livestock like chickens, sheep, pigs, and calves. They were omnivorous and ate basically anything they were able to gnaw on.

Just as normal rats spread disease, Dire Rats also carried several common infections, so it was important to have items, potions, or mages capable of curing poisons and diseases; something Rena was more than capable of doing.

"How far out are we heading?" Lucius asked.

"Only a few minutes, the farm facing some issues right now is just a short walk up the road here. Also, get your asses up here, this is your test, so you should take the lead. Do you know your positions?" Jen shouted back to them. She was walking with both hands behind her head and strolling along as if this were a leisurely trip through the countryside.

"I'm a scout. I can fight pretty well, but don't have the power to truly back it up. With support from at least one other person of Novice rank or better, I can hold up against a Beginner Rank. Thanks to my blood though, no one in the Petra domain hold a candle to my eyes, ears, and nose." Lucius said with a smile.

Rena also grinned along with him, saying, "And I am a midrange mage. Strategy is my forte, and I've trained to cast spells at that range pretty reliably."

Jen gave out a low whistle. It was very uncommon for a mage to fight anywhere but the rear line, something that was as much a result of necessity as it was a result of cowardice. This was something Lucius knew as well, but Rena learned a bit about magic from their shared tutor Lord Wallace Carmichael…rather…Wally.

Thinking about the crazy old man sent slight shivers up his spine because it reminded him of his delirious cackles while forcing Lucius to dodge lightning bolts, fire spears, and giant icicles…sometimes all at once.

Jen gave him a strange look. "Sooo anyway, scout. Get up in front of us and do the scouting thing. Keep an eye and ear out for any Dire Rats. It is possible we make contact with them prior to arriving at the farm since we don't know where their nest is."

"Oh, you don't? It's over there." Lucius said with a cocked head. He thought the guild knew where it was and was just testing them.

He pointed to a lightly wooded divot on the side of the road filled with reeds and muck that had yet to drain from the last rain. He had heard their squeaks, chitters, and gnawing sounds for the last several hundred feet. Once again Jen gave him an incredulous look.

"Right…"

"Oh hey Rena, do the thing. It should flush them out." He suggested casually.

Rena thought for a moment, smiled, then nodded. "[Aqua: Downpour]"

At the Novice Rank, that particular spell was good basically only good for getting someone soaked as a prank. It was basically as effective as stacking a water bucket over a slightly open door. That changed though at the Beginner Rank, where the caster could elongate the casting time. It still provided no damaging force, but it was able to fill a space with water rather quickly.

Since the burrow entrance seemed to be slightly up the side of the gutter off the side of the road, they needed to fill it quickly with a bunch of water. This would cause water to start filling the burrow and flush out the beasts.

"Wait a minute! If you do that, we don't know how many will come rushing out! If they swarm us that could end badly."

"Don't worry, from the sounds of it there are probably five or six, not including the pups. We can eliminate those after though." Lucius said.

"Well alright then…" Jen muttered, mildly impressed, which earned another giggle from Rena after showing yet another person how amazing her 'pet cat' really was.

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