Everyone's favorite newbie

My shoes tapped on the white tiles of the office, "Hey, Elise!" I heard someone's familiar voice call my name out causing me to turn and look at them.

"Ah... Siph." I mumbled and waved at him with a smile.

He walked towards me, "You're early, are you trying to go to another mission?" He asked and I nodded along making him sigh.

"You work too hard, you should just play and study!" He nagged making me chuckle as we walk to the bulletin board to look for open missions.

He saw another D rank dungeon and waved me off, saying he'll be registering for that dungeon.

"Oh, hey newbie…!" I heard someone call from a distance, but I paid them no mind, thinking they're talking to someone else, hmm... Should I join the defense operations today?

"Newbie," He called "Are you ignoring your senior?" He scowled at me while gripping my shoulder making me flinch and turn around immediately.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know you're calling for me!" I reasoned out, and he just laughed at me, saying it's just a joke making me sigh out of relief.

"How can you mistake someone else for a newbie? It's like, once in a blue moon when the branch gets a new hunter, you're going to be the junior of the whole branch for quiet a long time." He explained.

"Ah, is that so? If I may ask... Why did you call for me?"

"Ah, that. Newcomers are often made to train first, you should rest off until tomorrow before you go to another mission." He picked out his ID and told me he's a researcher of the branch.

He then pressed a word on his ID and a hologram of the map appeared, "Wow, you could do that?"

"You didn't know?" He looked at me in shock and I just nodded my head.

"The ID will give you the map of any place where you're currently at, as long as it's globally registered as a legit place." He explained and I nodded along.

I pressed the map button of my ID too, and it showed the map of the south branch, he then pointed at a specific room "This is the training room, you should warm up first if you still want to go to a new mission." He advised.

"I see, thank you." I waved at him farewell before heading for that room.

I didn't even know we had a training room... I wondered to myself as I stood in front of the large metal door, beside it is a machine that asks for my ID.

Ah, so only south branch employees can use this... I reached for my ID and tapped it to the machine and the metal doors opened...

...and a whole ecosystem greeted me.

Turns out, the metal door leads to the forest around the south branch which is covered with multiple layers of high abjuration magic to keep unknown people outside.

This is smart, the forest is vast and while it is vast it's also connected to the sea giving a variety of environment where the hunters can train.

"Oh, newbie." I heard someone call, and I turned to look at who it is, ah, he's big! I flinched as I saw a man who is unbelievable big.

"You came here to train?"

"No, just warm up..." I answered shyly, attempting to end the conversation early, so I can go start my mission.

Other people started hoarding around me too, calling me a newbie and all while interrogating me or wanting to spar, "Hey, why are you all slacking off?" someone with a commanding voice asked.

The crowd soon disappeared and the one that asked entered my field of sight, he looks familiar...

That silver hair and that green eyes... Alex?

I furrowed my brows at him, trying to see if they really look alike then buzzers went off and the lights around turned red.

"W-What's happening...?" I slightly panicked at the loud sounds and then our phone all received a notification at the same time.

"Dungeon break near the area! You are ordered by the South Branch to enter the defense force..."

The message came from the south branch number that's why it notified us like an amber alert, the rest of the messages contained the details about the dungeon.

I gulped, rank A10540 dungeon...?

The ranking of the dungeons are simple, starting from the lowest is rank E which ranges from power levels 1 to 10, then rank D ranging from 11 to 100.

Then rank C ranging from 101 to 1,000, rank B from levels 1,001 to 10,000. After that, the real danger comes in, the monsters increased exponentially from this point.

That includes their size, power and intelligence. Rank A ranges from 10,001 to 100,000 while the highest rank is S, it includes all the dungeons above one-hundred-thousand.

So a rank A10540 is like a death wish for those from lower ranks, "What are you waiting for?" the man who looks like Alex shouted and everyone around us prepared to leave.

Wait... He looks like that man from the news... I tried my best to recollect my memories, and then it finally hit, he's Theron Axel Voss, one of this countries only S class hunters.

I gulped, "I'm going to die today, am I?" I smiled to myself before I felt a hand slap my back.

"Don't worry newbie, almost everyone will protect the young blood." He raised his thumbs at me, as if that makes me feel any better, it will just make me feel useless, plus I will not get my salary if that happens!

"No need." I simply replied which caught him off guard, then I turned to look at him and whispered something, asking him to tell the others to bend down.

He looked at me confused first, but he just followed "EVERYONE GET DOWN!" His deep and commanding voice ordered and surprisingly, everyone but Theron followed.

Warm air and the smell of something burning filled the forest after I opened countless portals that leads to the site of the dungeon break.

"YEAH!" Like barbarians, they started running towards the portals and entering them.

Unbeknownst to the woman who created this portal, a man is behind her watching, "So you're the girl my father gave his phone to..." He hummed after he noticed the Keychain attached to the case.

"Let's see if you'll survive." is the last thing he said before his inhuman speed sliced through the air and entered the portal.

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