Another typical day at Beans village in the Western region of Volunterra, i wake up to the sound of the "Wily Scorch Rooster" just as the sun starts to rise. I'm not looking forward to it, today we have to move Mr. Recondos stuff from the center of town to his outskirt warehouse. Beans village isn't your typical village its more like a pseudo small city. Since i was small all the way until now that i'm 19 the village has grown by at least five times its original size. There are many reasons for this circumstance, primary of which is, that many Rankers in recent years emerged from this village. Not crazy level experts but Rankers nonetheless, this in turn attracted more people to the village because of the government benefits and attention which increased the amount of labor available for the bean-fields which was our main source of income. The Village becoming as big as it had was not all good news it brought a lot of trouble attracting more bandits, villains, and overly eager "prospect challengers", those whom the Government recognizes to have a good chance to be a Ranker. Since our village was next to a vast wilderness, for as long as the fields have existed, numerous Feral,Magical, and Spirit Beasts come to raid them, some of which are quite powerful. And so lowly Adventurers and Prospects, who know they'll have an extended stay, work as field guards since its good pay and even have a chance they can come upon a rare beast and accumulate experience. Perhaps even be noticed by "HIM". Potestera is a crazy land, everything about it is ridiculous, in my mind normal wild animals are dangerous enough but here in this world you not only have to worry about those, its more sensible to be prepared in case you meet, "Feral Beasts", crazy strong beasts created by generations of breeding or experimenting by mad scientists whom escaped into the wilderness, the rarer "Magical Beasts", beasts who have learned to sense the mysterious energy called "Mana" and harvest it to strengthen their bodies and the even rarer "Spirit Beasts", i hear their similar to magic beasts except they tend to be smarter and more illusive, which makes them even more dangerous they also seem to possess strange abilities. I wont even get into "Fiend Beasts" and "Monsters" since those where suppose to have been exterminated from Volunterra a long time ago, even though I've heard rumors here and there. The fact that we're going to the outskirts of the village means ill bump into many of these lowly adventurers, rude prospects, or even worst criminals of the underworld, not to mention the dangers of meeting any of the aforementioned beasts. I should be excited, ultimately that is the world i want to enter, but sadly right now i'm too weak. All i can do when i encounter these situations is lower my head and hope they don't notice me or are too disinterested in me to give a damn. Mr. Recondo himself, whom im working for today, is an interesting person. Hes the highest Ranker in the village, a Rank B ranker. That is pretty up there. Potesteras power rankings are divided from F to triple SSS Rank, with each rank letter reaching up to three letters before Ascending to the next rank. Being at B rank means he surpassed F,D, and C ranks and all their subranks total of which there are nine that is quite the outstanding feat since not many get to that realm. In addition to the additional letter subranks, there are prestige marks "+" given for outstanding feats up to 3 and negative marks "-"either for newbieness or a horrible battle record those are only given once, what follows it is demotion. Nobody knows what are "The Seeiers" criteria for assigning each rank, but most assume its the amount of destruction one can incur as well as the number of enemies one can take down, with a C rank averaging out at about 1000 enemies. I hear Mr. Recondo was once a soldier of Volunterra and even participated in a war. I've heard of him from people that say that his "Combat Class" is that of a mighty "Wielder" and that his weapon is some sort of crazy technological/biological amalgamation. That's so freaking cool! Wielder! to be honest in my mind that is my only hope of becoming a Ranker. To be a Wielder is to be the master of an extraordinary weapon. And it can't just be any ol' standard weapon it has to be one unique to oneself. Getting a weapon to become a Wielder is easier said than done. I've heard people say that most wielders weapons have a mind of their own or are extremely difficult to wield and are also said to be more difficult to discover than an actual ancient treasure. Still i hold on to that hope, those who have acquired a wielders weapon have become Rankers without exception even if its of the lowest kind. For that reason i train every day i train both my physique and mind to be prepared in case it ever happens, the result i'm about as strong as your average foot soldier. Its sad really, the bar i started at was very low, i weighed in at around 120 pounds, it was only when i joined the military reserves when i was 16, that i reached my desired weight of 150. And thats the weight I've stayed at up until now. The weapons i own are a military grade combat knife, a hunting blade and a high end elemental sling i bought at an illegal market. But the ammo for the thing is damn expensive. Even though i joined the military, i'm only part of the reserves so therefore i'm not allowed to carry a firearm in public. That would've been real helpful. A firearm is about the only thing that evens out the odds for a common guy like me, when facing low level Ranker beings and therefore the easiest way to enter the Ranker list. Its happened before, killing a Ranker, the dream, but even if that happens individuals who achieve that through that means tend to not last long as a Ranker or dwell at the bottom of the barrel for life, they also get the least respect. Still its better than being a loser.