The B-Rank badge came two days later.
He picked it up at the registration desk without ceremony and pinned it to his coat over the C-Rank badge's position. The B-Rank mark was denser than the C-Rank—the same Guild seal, the same pressed metal, but the path-notation arrangement was more complex, reflecting the wider zone access and the higher output threshold the classification represented.
Soren was at the mission board.
He looked at the new badge when Kai came through. He did not offer a comment on it. He had predicted it. Commenting on something you had predicted accurately was not Soren's style.
He was reading the B-zone contract listings. He turned the board's contract folder so Kai could see.
