Ace woke up in his usual old bed.
As he stirred awake he felt his muscles cramping—his whole body was sore from the excessive training he had done.
In spite of that, it wasn't in vain. From someone else's perspective, Ace wouldn't be recognisable compared to his former self.
Thanks to the spirit energy he had been breathing in and the training he had done, his skin had gotten smoother and thicker. The former pale face was now close to stunning. Even Doroth couldn't believe it.
It's as if Ace had gone through a whole transformation—in just a few days for that too!
Though Awakeneds tend to become prettier as they grow stronger. It was an undeniable fact.
Finally, Ace stepped out of the rundown room and confronted Doroth. Standing in front of him, Ace smiled.
"I think I have decided what to do... old man..."
A sudden pause between both of them.
"I already thought about becoming a beast slayer in this third layer until I can become strong enough to leave for the second layer... Thank you for-"
Without giving any time for Ace to express his gratitude, Doroth hugged him tightly. The old man only came up to Ace's chest—considering that Ace wasn't tall by normal standards, it was pretty funny. Though sad at the same time.
Ace could feel the area where Doroth was keeping his face starting to become warm and damp.
'damn it old man! Don't cry! You're going to make me cry like this!'
Without any choice, Ace hugged him back.
"I'll come visit when I have time... Promise... Alright old man?"
Doroth pulled back. His face was ruined.
He quickly adjusted his pose, turning away and wiping his face.
"Whatever brat! Just take care!"
His voice cracked as he tried to finish the sentence.
Abruptly, he dashed towards the blacksmith, his safe haven one might say—and waved his hand, signaling him to leave.
'Typical of you!'
Ace let out a soft chuckle—before grabbing his stuff. He only owned some money: 2 silver coins and 138 copper coins to be exact.
Finally, he looked at the brilliant sword that was gifted to him by Doroth, with a quick breath he grabbed it.
'We're gonna be going on a long journey hehe!'
Finally, Ace had left the blacksmith.
**
Ace found himself in front of a gloomy run-down structure, its doors were ruined, the walls were grooved and the building itself didn't seem steady.
If someone hadn't grown up in the third layer, they would've never recognised that this place was the liveliest premises one could find there.
Ace took a deep breath and entered through the door that was almost about to fall off.
Though, what he saw inside wasn't the exact welcome he had expected.
The people gathered there were terrifying, their eyes represented their gruesome battles and the scars they had were the evidence.
As Ace walked towards the table where the Sealbearer reside and the gazes of those beast slayers followed him.
Although Ace was creeped out, he wasn't really scared. After all, he managed to kill a fearsome beasts himself.
When Ace looked at the Sealbearer, he fought with all that he had to contain his laugh.
'Damn! This old guy puts Doroth's shortness to shame!'
Ace had to tilt his head just to see his face.
Seeing Ace's facial expressions, the Sealbearer scowled.
"What do you want brat!? This isn't a playground!"
His tone was aggressive, as if he had already seen through Ace's thoughts.
Ace nodded, tensing up.
He quickly returned to a respectable stance.
"Well I know, I wanted to register as a beast slayer and get some missions"
Ace said proudly.
"What? Are you trying to seek death you little brat? Do you understand that beasts don't spare lives?!"
"I know. And I'm sure of everything, I know the consequences of what I'm doing, but I'm an ambitious person you see! So let's get this registration over with! I want to make some money by doing missions here!"
The Sealbearer sneered seeing Ace's attitude. Thinking he was a fool seeking his death and not taking his wise advice into account.
"Fine!"
The Sealbearer stepped down from the stool he was standing on, to go get the badge provided to every registered beast slayer.
'What the hell!? He was shorter than what I thought!? Is he actually a gnome??'
As soon as the Sealbearer was out of his sight, Ace threw back his head and laughed. Which caught the gazes of almost all of the beast slayers residing there, chatting, searching missions and feasting in the chamber of this premises after having completed a mission.
Ace quickly tensed, getting back to his former posture, trying to adjust to his surroundings.
The Sealbearer came back with a stamp that seemed like it could burn through the floor and what seemed to be a piece of metal.
'How the hell is he holding that thing!?'
"Name?"
Ace snapped out of his thoughts.
"Uhm! Yes! Ace!"
The Sealbearer didn't respond, but he used some metal letters residing on the table to form his name and engraved it into the scorching stamp.
'His ability might have something to do with flames, I guess...'
Ace thought as he observed what was happening in front of him.
After the Sealbearer was done he placed the stamp over the metal piece and inscribed Ace's name onto it.
After the badge was done cooling off, Ace tried to grab it.
However, his hand was slapped away by the Sealbearer, Ace could feel the roughness of his hand, it had made sense since the way he used that scorching stamp.
"50 bronze coins, kid!"
"What?"
"Money, you idiot!"
"Oh!"
Ace quickly went through his pockets grabbing the pouch that he had stored his coins.
'damn.. I didn't think it would be this expensive...'
50 bronze coins wasn't really a high amount, maybe it would help someone survive for two weeks in the third layer.
Although, with Ace's personality, 50 coins felt like he was giving away a piece of his soul.
After the transaction was made, Ace grabbed his badge and went over to the mission board.
"Well... The decision is final then..."
He talked to himself, while looking through the missions.
When suddenly, now, the familiar voice rang in his head once again.