At the entrance of the Black Cranes building stood Porter and Rean.
"Guess we both made it. A guild of 8, what were the chances it was going to be us two?" Porter said.
"Huh?" Rean replied.
"I don't know about you, but I earned my selection. Oh, and please never make that kind of half-hearted comment around me. I know you know you merited this as much as I do," Rean responded, not cold, just rather emotionless.
"Let's go in," Porter said.
"Yuh, sure," Rean replied.
After stepping in, the two asked for directions. They were sent to a room filled with other new recruits. There were 6 people already there waiting.
"Oh, I get it. This will probably be our new team," Porter said as he took his seat, and Rean followed behind.
Despite already knowing each other, Rean and Porter barely exchanged glances, almost as if to pretend the two were new to each other.
Not too long after, a man stepped into the room.
"Let's get things going. My name is Shom, and you'll address me as Captain. When you prove yourself, then you may speak to me on a first-name basis. However, I don't see any of you proving yourselves anytime soon, so forget about that for now."
"As I just did, I'd like each one of you to introduce yourselves. You tell us your name, rank, and talent," he said.
"Ok, let's start from you, Michael," the captain said.
'Huh, he knows one of us, or maybe he knows all our names. He was probably handed a file with all our information or something,' Rean thought to himself.
"My name is Michael Lush. I am an A-rank with an Earth talent."
"Ok, mine is Zeta Lush. I'm Michael's sister, an A-rank with Earth talent as well."
"I am Rose Heart, a B-rank with Agro talent."
"My name is Charles Hart. Mine is without the e, and no connection to Rose here. I am a B-rank with the thunder talent."
"My name is Lin Salieve. I'm a C-rank with a water talent."
"My name is Miles Mila. D-rank. Ice talent."
"I am Porter Winn, a B-rank with a wind talent."
"Ok, I'm Rean Icaran. I am an agro type and C-rank for now," Rean said, ending the introductions.
"Oh, k. Now that we have that all settled, I'll be explaining the initiative," Shom said, closing off the introductions.
"This party was set up deliberately by the head of this guild for one sole reason: to level the hell up. The results for the mid-year award ceremony are out. Parties are told of their placements beforehand, that way they can prepare speeches and whatnot. The Black Cranes placed 4th. It's an impressive feat, but it's still not enough, especially when you consider all the new recruits we made over the last half year. We still couldn't budge the top 3."
"We placed 9th at the last one. This growth is significant, make no mistake, it's just not the best. The president decided to bring together a group of source awakeners, all noobs in one team. For what purpose? Simple. Evolve to their absolute max."
"I am the strongest A-rank in the guild. None of the S-ranks would take it, so it's my job to bring out the very best in you all. We will only take B-rank gates. Eventually, we'll step this up to strictly A-rank."
"Those of you who fail to keep up will be replaced. It's simple as is. Before I continue, any questions so far?" Shom asked.
The room was silent. No one seemed to want to ask. They were all getting pretty fired up.
'If we all source awakened, that means Porter must be rather impressive. I mean, despite source awakening almost always exclusively producing D-ranks and stuff, he was somehow able to get B-rank right off the bat. Wait, this whole team is impressive. There's a bunch of A and B-ranks on it as well. Damn, damn, damn. I'm feeling that rush again. I want to push myself so bad,' Rean thought to himself.
"Since no one's asking, I'll start. How do you all suggest we choose our vice captain?"
The room was immediately stuffed with tension. Everyone shared glances at each other, scanning their teammates. Before long, someone made a comment.
"We should go by rank," Zeta said.
"No way," Charles responded. "That's not exactly fair."
The others seemed to all agree, even Porter.
Rean and Michael, however, were silent, almost as if they were ahead of all the others. As if they knew something was wrong.
"Well, I can't agree with that logic," Shom said, breaking the argument.
"Huh? But why, sh— I mean, Captain?"
"That's because ranks don't matter, at least not as much as our talents, in our cases at least," Michael responded.
'What the hell does that even mean?' Porter thought to himself.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Charles said.
"It means ranks shouldn't be our concern since this team was made for the sole purpose of ranking up. That means our current standings mean shit. What's important is our ability to produce results and rank higher," Rean said with a commanding tone.
'Huh,' Rean thought. 'I said that all out loud. Damn.'
Everyone had their eyes on Rean. He was definitely right.
With a moment's notice, Michael clapped. He made no comment, just a single clap. What could possibly be going on in that head of his?
"Ok, it seems we're off to a good start. If you can put all that together, then Rean, I should ask, how do you suggest we choose our vice captain?" Shom asked Rean directly, almost as if to ignore and invalidate the opinions of the others.
"Well, I think—" Rean got cut off.
"It's simple. Use our known data and determine the vice. Don't go off something as arbitrary as ranks. You talk about results so much. Why not use that? It's only been a single raid, but that's plenty for me," Michael said.
Shom commended Michael. He didn't even chastise him for stepping on Rean's moment.
"You are correct, or at least halfway there. The vice will be chosen off the first raid's merit. However, that's only how we'll handle things at first," Shom said.
"Since this team was made with the sole purpose of ranking up, that means some of you will have non-linear, exponential, or hell, even explosive growth. In order to make it a system that encourages that hunger to rank higher, the vice captain will be the man (or woman) with the most evolution rate," Shom ended.
"Having said all that, I believe Division Black has almost officially been set up. All that remains is your signature on this document, Michael Lush," Shom said.
That statement left the rest of the room speechless.
Michael stood up. He took the pen and signed the document.
"Try to keep up, Mr. Vice," Shom said, congratulating Michael.
'What the hell is with that guy? Lush, what the hell is up with you?' Rean thought to himself, angry he got sidelined by some other guy.