[Author Note: Extra Chapter for Arc 2]
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"What!!!!" All of the students of Class 1D simultaneously showed their surprise from their teacher's statement.
It had been a few months since the war between Neon and Obsidian. It was already the end of their First Year in My Caster Academia which had been divided into two sessions of 5 months. They would be in their second and final year the next year.
They were currently in their classroom in My Caster Academia because they had been called by the Academy to come during their holiday which some did not like even if they were coming for just a day.
'We can thank God we didn't have to wear the uniform here." They all shared the same thought and were glad to have come to the Academy wearing their usual clothes.
As for what Kento had just told them, it was that they required Hunter Licenses to be a Second Year, otherwise, they would have to repeat the year.
Hunters were those (from any of the Four Races) that went out on missions which mostly included hunting Drachs and retrieving their Valuable Item which they would sell to Families and their Sub units.
"You have until next year to get them. There are a few places to get a registration." Kento said, giving them papers of different places to register.
Arina looked at one of the places that belonged to the Spair Family. It said it was both a place for them to take the Exam and also a Hunter Hall where people could accept missions to hunt specific Drachs for their Valuable Items in return for money.
"Why don't we go with this one? It says right here it's located not too far from Solike." Arina asked her best friends, Luz and Serena. They already had an unspoken agreement that they would be registering together.
"Why not?" They both replied.
"It says here we're gonna have to take an exam. I'm sure we're going to face against Drachs in order for them to choose our rank." Serena gave her theory for the exam they would have to take.
The Ranks of Hunters went like this:
[E Rank: Lowest]
Those here went against Drachs from between Stage 2-4
[D Rank]
Stages 4-5
[C Rank]
Stages 6 and 7.
[B Rank]
Stages 8 and 9.
[A Rank]
Stages 10-11
[S Rank: Highest]
Only a few reach this rank which mostly included the Great Five and leaders of sub families. They hunted down Stage 12 Drachs.
"You're so analytical, Serena!" Luz complimented her friend which made the other to smile.
"We should try going for C Rank but if we can't, we'll settle for D Rank." Serena said and Arina nodded but Luz' expression changed.
"What's wrong?" They asked her simultaneously.
"We can't settle for a lower rank when we haven't even tried. We're gonna aim for C Rank!" Luz announced, raising her fist into the air, making their classmates to laugh.
Arina after chuckling lightly said, "Let's do it!" Arina said, high five-ing her best friends.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
That same day, Arina, Luz and Serena travelled a little after Solike City and arrived at the Hunter Centre, where they would take the exam to become Hunters. They had decided to travel on foot instead of taking a cab to show no one in particular that they couldn't do a bit of trekking. It took only an hour and ten minutes.
The three girls arrived at the Hunter Centre belonging to the Spair Family by noon. It was large to say the least, made of simple brick and a triangular shaped roof with two floors.
"Let's go." Arina sticked out her hand to Luz and Serena, since she was in the middle of the two. Luz and Serena took her hands and walked into the Centre through the large double doors.
Once inside, they took a view of the place.
The inside was extravagant and very high tech, there were Hunters accepting Missions at stalls, Hunters exchanging Valuable Items and some registering to become Hunters.
"Hey Serena, how come we didn't need licenses to hunt down that Track King for your cousin Renn?" Arina asked.
"Oh, he was owing me a favour so he gave us temporary licenses. They can only be used once." Serena answered her.
The three girls walked up to the stall they were sure people were registering to be Hunters. After standing in line for what felt like the longest two minutes ever, they were finally at the desk where a male receptionist stood.
"Welcome! How can I help you ladies?" He asked with a bright smile that looked to be rehearsed a million times before. He was a bit into his late twenties so his smile was vibrant and full of youth
'Yeah! He's being paid to do that.' Luz and Serena thought, staring at him suspiciously.
'Why are they looking at him like that?" Arina wondered why her friends were giving the receptionist that look.
"We're here to apply for the Hunter Exam." The three of them said simultaneously and the receptionist nodded as he fetched for something under his desk.
He finally pulled out three pieces of parchment which had places for them to fill up which included, their names, age, the rank they wished to get to, their Race and Weapons they had on them.
Luz currently didn't have her Staff which was still being repaired by Kento and Serena and Arina didn't have any Gear on them either so they wrote none. After filling up the empty spaces, they handed the receptionist the documents back to which he directed them to a particular empty room behind his desk to wait.
"Hey, Luz! You have any siblings." Serena asked which made Luz smile.
"Yeah. A few brothers and sisters. What about you two?" She asked them, curious to know their answer. The three of them sat on comfortable red couches, sitting opposite to each other making a triangle.
"I'm an only child." They replied and the three of them laughed again.
The room went silent for a moment so Luz being the extrovert she was, filled it up with a question.
"Do any of you have crushes?" She asked. If Serena and Arina were drinking anything, they would have spit it out.
With flushed faces, they replied, "No!" They denied and that made Luz to laugh.
"Do you?" They asked her but she shaked her head in denial.
"I know who yours is..." Luz pointed towards Arina, then shifted her gaze to Serena, "but not you..."
Arina and Serena's cheek reddened but the former was more surprised by Luz.
"Luz, what do you mean? You can't know I like Yuri?" Arina blurted out by mistake and tried to cover her mouth but it was too late, they heard her loud and clear. She hid her face away in one of the pillows on the couch, trying to mask her embarrassment.
"I didn't know. You just told me." Luz laughed mischievously.
'Arina, everyone knows except the boy himself. So clueless.' Luz kept her thoughts to herself though.
She looked over to see Serena but the blue- haired girl wearing glasses face had a look she didn't expect to see.
Her face was stone cold and emotionless.
"Hey, Luz. Just know you're not gonna be able to pull that on me. I'll never say a word about mine." Serena smirked but that changed to a face of shock due to what she had revealed. She admitted she did have a crush.
"How do you keep doing that?" Her question was met with a burst of laughter.
The Color Caster was laughing on her belly, tears of amusement and joy rolling down her cheeks.
"I can't believe I outsmarted the genius, Serena Akanabe." She said between laughs that made Serena even angrier.
Arina removed her face from her pillow and chuckled, the traces of red on her cheek subsiding.
"It's okay, guys." Arina said softly since it looked like Serena was ready to attack Luz who was still laughing.
Suddenly, a woman strode/strided (TL: I'm not sure which) into the room. She looked to be a respectable woman, wearing white with blue moon patterns on the shirt and skirt. She had brown hair which she kept short, stopping just before her neck and making sure not to cover her ears. She was in her mid twenties and kept an expressionless face.
As she walked in, the three girls stopped lazing around and stood up straight.
"Arina Uzukire, Serena Akanabe and Luz Umibe?" She asked, trying to confirm if those were their names which was just a formality. The three girls nodded once.
"Please follow me as I take you to the Examination hall." She said with a slight monotone voice.
The three Casters followed her out of the room as she took them up to the next floor.