…
As Seoyeon stepped out of the dungeon portal, he found his team waiting for him on the other side.
"Seoyeon! What took you so long! Haha!" Roderick rushed to Seoyeon as he pat him on the back,
"We only cleared the dungeon because of you, Seoyeon. Thanks." Gorou said as he approached him—hands in his pocket.
Seoyeon grinned,
"Hehe, thanks!"
"T-thank you so much for saving them!" The player from earlier bowed down and thanked Gorou and his team.
"Thank him, he's the one who did most of the work." Gorou said, pointing to Seoyeon.
Seoyeon laughed awkwardly as the player took his hands and shook them before waving them goodbye.
…
Alice shouted from afar,
"Hey! Can we go eat now!? I'm starving!"
Seoyeon saw Gorou smile and smiled too,
"Sure, let's go." Gorou replied.
Roderick and Fritz walked behind them as they started talking about what happened in the dungeon, Alice happily skipped across the grass while Seoyeon and Gorou walked besides each other.
"Hey, Seoyeon."
"Hm?" Seoyeon turned to look at Gorou.
"A-are you really…" Gorou was about to continue before pausing,
"Huh? What did you say?"
Gorou shook his head, washing away the unease within his mind, "Ah… It's nothing. Have you gotten your player evaluation yet?"
Seoyeon glanced at him with confused eyes, "Player evaluation? What's that?"
"Well, I guess it makes sense for a beginner like you to not know… It's how you get your rank as a player."
Seoyeon thought to himself,
"I know that players are ranked but this was done automatically back in WIthering Moon, all you had to do was check your menu."
…
Gorou looked at Seoyeon,
"Like skills and characters, players are also ranked with Withering Moon's standard lettering system, F > E > D > C > B > A > S > SR > SSR > SSS. The World Association, you've heard of them, right? Any player can enter a World Association building and ask for an evaluation in which they will test out your skills, stats, and combat capability to give you a rank.
The higher your rank, the more likely you are to get scouted by a big guild or powerful party, you'll also get higher clearance—basically, for example, an S-Rank player can go into most dungeons without prior notice while an F-Rank player needs to get approval from certain groups first as well as be accompanied by other players if it's a particularly difficult dungeon."
Seoyeon nodded,
"Ooooh. I see."
"After we eat lunch, we can take you to a World Association building to get your evaluation."
Seoyeon smiled and nodded again,
"Alright, thank you."
…
Roderick raised his hand up as he called for a taxi on the highway passing through Veilon Hills. Fritz and Gorou had one last look at the entrance to the Marauder's Path dungeon as system interfaces and digital effects surrounded it, the dungeon entrance soon faded away as another entrance appeared.
"I can't tell whether we got lucky or unlucky with that Ambush Dungeon… We all ended up leveling up, didn't we?" Fritz said to the others.
Gorou nodded, Alice grinned from ear to ear and laughed with a belittling tone,
"Haha! I leveled up by two levels!" She said with pure joy in her voice.
"What!? Not fair…" Gorou said jokingly, "I only leveled up by one level."
Roderick let out a prideful chuckle as he crossed his arms,
"Hah! I leveled up by two points! Fritz told me earlier that he only leveled up by one."
Gorou scratched his chin, "I see."
"How about you, Seoyeon?" He said as he turned to look at him.
Seoyeon hesitated, "U-Uhh… I leveled up by two points, like Roderick and Alice."
"I can't tell them for now, I'll tell them later on… In fact, I don't even think they know about my true level just yet, it doesn't matter…" He thought to himself,
Fritz suddenly called out to them, "Get in the taxi, everyone."
A taxi had already pulled up next to them without the rest noticing, they all happily got in.
"To Eginara Grillhouse, Laures City, please." Fritz said to the driver as the car screeched and roared to life.
The taxi passed by scenic views on the way as the others talked about the dungeon or about what to do next, Seoyeon simply leaned into the window as he watched rain drops start falling.
*Crash* Thunder could be heard outside as rain swept through, clouds covering the skies, and a cool, peaceful ambience washed across the lands.
…
Soon enough, the taxi had arrived at a restaurant with a natural, old-fashioned aesthetic, with brick walls, and dim orange lights.
"Eginara Grillhouse" The neon sign above the door lit up as the team rushed to get in, trying not to get wet from the rain.
Once inside, they settled on a table beside the window as droplets of water sprayed onto the foggy window. A cold mist appeared outside, covering the city like a cloudy blanket.
"We'll just get three platters of pork cuts, please." Gorou said to the waiter.
Alice went on her phone, Roderick and Fritz had an arm wrestling competition, and Gorou simply sat in silence.
Seoyeon took notice at this and glanced at him,
"I'm fine, don't worry." Gorou said to him.
"I just miss Earth… I have an older sister, y'know? I'm sure she was brought to this world too… But people often get separated as they're transported to different starter cities."
Seoyeon looked at Gorou with sympathetic eyes,
"I'm sure she's fine." He said to him.
Gorou smiled,
"Yeah… She raised me, after my parents died in a vehicle accident, she worked day and night to provide food on the table… When I eventually got old enough, I started working in a restaurant too to provide for her."
"We weren't well off so I didn't spend any money on this game… As such, my biggest achievement was only reaching Floor 10 of the Moon Tower."
Seoyeon remembered,
"The Moon Tower… One of the two towers—along with the Sun Tower, which needed to be conquered before a player could attempt any raids on the Horizon Tower."
…
Seoyeon smiled at Gorou with empathy, knowing he was once in his situation too as a free to play player,
"Most free to play players give up before they even reach the towers… You did a great job."
…
"Thank you, Seoyeon."
…
"Excuse me! Here's your order of three pork cut platters!" The waiter spoke.
Fritz received the three platters and put them on the table, at the center of the table was a grill, where Fritz started laying the cuts of pork down one-by-one.
Seoyeon thought to himself,
"Hey, this is like Samgyeopsal! Awesome!"
…
The ambience in the restaurant was cozy and homey as laughter spread all around, the team all ate food happily with smiles on their faces,
Roderick looked relieved to be eating such good food after a tiring morning of work.
While everyone was distracted and laughing with each other, Seoyeon opened up his menu and looked at his credits.
[Credits: 4,650]
"That dungeon gave me a lot of Credits, nice."
He closed the menu and continued eating, before glancing at the others sharing laughter and cheers.
Seoyeon smiled,
"I hope they'll continue to smile like this no matter what…" He said to himself,
…
*Click* The grill's flame was turned off by Fritz as Roderick burped loudly.
"Have some manners." Fritz said as Roderick laughed, "Right, right! Sorry about that."
Gorou looked at the others before announcing,
"Everyone, we'll be headed to the World Association building here in Laures!"
Alice leaned forwards,
"What for?"
"..."
"...Because Seoyeon is officially getting his player evaluation! Hurray!" Gorou declared.
The others clapped and cheered, Roderick smiled, "Hey Fritz, I bet you a hundred credits that Seoyeon gets a D-Rank or higher!"
Fritz replied, "They're called "Class," not "Rank," firstly… Secondly, sure, I bet you a hundred credits that he gets lower than that."
Gorou interjected, "Y'know they're interchangeable right? It can be D-Rank or D-Class… It doesn't matter."
…
Seoyeon smiled, "Thanks for the kind words, everyone."
Alice jumped up from her seat and enthusiastically reached out her hand to the rest of them,
"What're you waiting for, guys? Let's go!"
…
"Alright, let's go." Gorou said as they all got up from their seats.
Roderick cheered,
"To Seoyeon's player evaluation!"
*Swing* The door swung open as they left the restaurant.
…
Seoyeon smirked,
…
"I don't really want to reveal my true capabilities just yet…"
…
"Well… I'll just fake it."