"My lord! Wake up! It's 9:00 am!"

"Oh… Good… It's finally time…" Alucard replied in a relaxed voice.

It was now the early morning, and Alucard felt refreshed, fit as a fiddle from the first ounce of sleep he had experienced in many days.

The bustling atmosphere of the hall underneath leaked through the walls of his room, after all, now was the time when the guild would receive and post new missions for the day on the bulletin board, and like many things in life, it was first come first serve.

During his break, Alucard had done his research.

Right now, he was dead bottom as a copper, and in order to obtain the silver plate he strived for, there were many things he could do.

The adventurer ranks were based off minerals around the world and went as follows from least to greatest: Copper, Iron, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Amarium, Zeal, Titanite, and Oblivion.

Each level would be based on both a mixture of the guild evaluation and the amount of money the client would be willing to pay. The danger levels were classified into tiers, ranging from beasts that even armed farmers could stave off to country toppling threats humanity could only dream of facing. They went as follows:

[ Level 1]  : 1-9

[ Level 2]  : 10-19

[ Level 3]  : 20-29

[ Level 4]  : 30-39

[ Level 5]  : 40-49

[ Level 6]  : 50-59

[ Level 7]  : 60-69

[ Level 8]  : 70-79

[ Level 9]  : 80-89

[ Level 10]  : 90-99

[ Level 11]  : 100+

Generally, to progress from copper to iron a total of ten low-end 'Level 1' missions needed to be completed, that or a single mission of 'Level 2' difficulty. And to reach from Iron to silver, ten 'Level 2' missions or a single 'Level 3' mission needed to be completed.

Currently, Alucard's plan was very simple, no need to mix and match, he would take the fastest route to silver by completing a level 2 mission and a level 3 mission back to back, and he felt more than comfortable doing so as long as the requests met his criteria. As such, in order to ensure he found one that did, he would have to race downstairs and enter a crowded guild hall for the first-ever time since his initial arrival.

The first thing he needed to ensure was of course to find a mission suited for a vampire-like him; a dark cave or a request for night-time hunting would be ideal. And, the second was the estimated time he needed to complete it, which was arguably even more important in his eyes. There were three weeks remaining until the event he wanted to attend would officially close. However, when he told Raven about his leave, he only allowed him a maximum of two weeks off from his studies or else he would not only cut off his free tutoring but instead charge him twice the price, and the thought of that made him inwardly shudder.

Alucard fought through the light hindering him through the blinds of his room and prepared all he needed before leaving, Luck firmly in his pocket like normal.

Immediately upon exiting through the creaking doors, the change in atmosphere was clear.

The hallway that he had never seen looking like anything but an empty waste-land was now filled with adventurers conversing along with servants and maids walking through.

Not even a second after he took his first step, he noticed several glances in his direction, ones casual and that did not stand out through the sea of conversations.

Alucard sighed— his presence was unique and undeniable, there was no need to act subtle and conspicuous.

Most looking at him bore different expressions, and Alucard didn't have time to analyze their demeanour as he quickly made his way through with his back straight and head up high as though he had no care in the world.

As expected, the main guildhall was even more crowded than the hallways, yet it was not congested to the point one wouldn't be able to comfortably maneuver.

Many of the people sat in groups around their tables, eating their morning breakfast laughing and cheering, others were at the front desks where the tens of staff workers were busy, yet the bulk of them was towards the back watching from afar as a single man who marched up to a bulletin board with a pile of papers in hand, pinning them as fast as he could.

'Seems like I'm not late at all…' Alucard smirked walking down the stairs, reaching the bulletin board's crowds where he turned several heads as he haphazardly marched towards the front of the group.

Even before the man had finished posting all of the new missions, Alucard was already reading them from afar to preemptively pick one out. Yet, sadly, his reading speed was far too slow to even remotely keep up with the pace that the missions were being posted. And as he did so, he could not help but pick up on the conversations from his side.

"Hey! Did ya hear the news?"

"What news?"

"Look at the sign over there?"

"Does it look like I can read? That shit is written in cursive! What does it say?"

"It says that due to unfortunate circumstances, the 'House of Knowledge' will close in four days."

"For real!? Why?"

"I'm not sure... It doesn't say..."

"Shit! Well, that's a damn fucking shame! I had so many bright ideas to propose… Ain't no way I'm getting to silver rank with even a week!"

"Same… There's always next year though…"

'FOUR DAYS!?' Alucard's eyes nearly dropped out of his mask and rolled off the ground. He could not believe his own ears, so he decided to check himself for the chance that perhaps that this was all some sick joke.

Yet, as he turned his head towards the poster, his eye sockets abruptly dilated into panic and his unbeaten heart lurched down to the deepest depths of his body.

He had planned for two weeks, which was more than manageable but four days sounded damn near impossible, and he had no time to wait for next year.

The only way he could even conceivably accomplish this was if he were to choose a mission of level four difficulty to instantly shoot up in the ranking. However, that was impossible by himself. As a copper rank, the highest request he could accept was that of a level 2.

The only way this would be even possible was if he joined a silver-ranked adventurer group willing to not only embark on a level 4 mission that was recommended for gold ranks but also be willing to take him, a copper rank with no experience in the field along with them, which sounded more ridiculous the more he thought about it.

Alucard stood motionless as though he had malfunctioned. He was a calculated man, yet he had not foreseen such a drastic change in time which ruined everything. The man posting the requests had long finished posting, and the various adventurers were already swarming around ripping papers off the walls.

His brain was spinning in high gear, and the world gradually began to slow down, numb and fade all around him.

And that was when in the mayhem and mental turmoil did he catch a glimpse of shiny gold hung around a man's neck out of the very corner of his eyes…

A glimpse of a single man and his team sat around a table happily eating and drinking their meals. He was a man that Alucard did not think he would see so soon once again, yet his presence rekindled the flame in Alucard's soul and inspired a chuckle from underneath his mask followed by a wide grin from ear to ear.

'Lucky you... Looks like you can now pay your debt sooner than you thought…'

Drip

Hello guys, just wanted to say that I'm posting a poll here to see what you guys think of the art on this novel and if you want me to order more. I posted the same poll on older chapters but I thought that you guys should also have the right to vote (If you guys even exist) It feels odd writing to seemingly no one, I rarely ever even get a comment... I just hope you guys are enjoying the content so far, and if you want to support me, a rating or review would mean the world to me... That's all I wanted to say here, I truely hope you enjoy the novel so far <3

-Drip