Zephan glanced between us but didn’t speak.
"I need to prepare my toolkit for the mission," I said simply.
When I didn’t elaborate, Mira glared at me again but stayed quiet this time.
Just then, the door swung open hard enough to rattle the hinges.
A young man with short cropped blue hair rushed in.
He was tall and muscular, but his face said he was in his late teens.
His clothes were slightly damp with sweat, and he was breathing heavily like he’d sprinted across the building.
"I... I’m sorry. I had a hard time finding the room," he said, pausing to catch his breath.
"Oh, it’s fine. Come inside. We’ll start the mission briefing," Zephan replied.
The young man remained at the doorway.
He stared at Zephan in confusion.
"Come inside," Zephan repeated, this time more clearly.
"Ah, I’m sorry, I can’t understand what you are trying to say. My English isn’t good. But do you mean I can enter the room?"
This time, he stepped in.
"You can’t understand us?" Zephan asked, noticing the young man’s actions.
"Did you say ’understand’? Yes, I can understand a bit of English. But I can’t speak it."
We could understand his words, even though they were spoken in Danish, but he could not understand our words.
I walked toward him, shifting my voice to match his language.
"Hello. I’m Alan Veritus," I said in Danish.
"You can speak Danish?" Relief broke across his face. "Hello! I’m Lars
He shook my hand with a firm grip and a warm smile.
"It took you a while to get here," I said in Danish as we sat down.
"Haha, I couldn’t understand the people in the lounge, and the room numbers were confusing. My English isn’t great. So it took me while to find the room."
His tone was light, but it confirmed what I suspected.
I turned to Zephan, and spoke in my own language.
"Seems like he hasn’t been infected by [Knowledge], so he can’t understand our words."
"That’s surprising. A person in this day and age who hasn’t been infected by that Anomaly..."
The Rank 6 Anomaly [Knowledge] was everywhere now.
It spread through symbols—texts, newspapers, chat messages.
Once it touched a person, it would infect them.
The strange part was, there wasn’t any clear downside.
It was helpful instead.
Infected supernaturals had better memory, and they could understand any common language, even ones they had never studied.
"I’ll translate for him. I know Danish. We should go ahead with introductions," I said.
Zephan nodded. "Thanks."
I sat next to Lars while Zephan remained standing, facing the rest of the group.
"Alright, once again, I’m Zephan. I’ll be your Guide for this mission. Each team has one Guide. I’m also a Rank 3 Mentalist."
I relayed the explanation to Lars in Danish. His eyes lit up.
"Guide? Those actually exist?" he asked, sounding more like a kid seeing a myth come to life.
I nodded.
The chubby boy stood up next. He scratched his head and gave a short, awkward laugh before speaking.
"Uh, I’m Denny Fultz. A Rank 1 Shield Tamer."
Mira groaned immediately.
"A Rank 1? Why is someone like him even here? He’s going to drag us down—"
"Miss Mira."
Zephan’s voice was soft, but something about it chilled the room.
"This is a team mission. I hope you can act accordingly. If you keep acting like this, you won’t pass, even if the Anomaly hunt is successful."
His pressure bore down on her.
Mira gritted her teeth and looked away with a sharp "Tsk."
After that, the three triplets introduced themselves.
"I’m Selene. I’m a Rank 2 Wind Mage." The first one, who had pinched Mira earlier, spoke with a calm but clear voice.
Mira remained quiet, her arms crossed.
She spoke with a groan only after Selene elbowed her lightly. "Mira. Rank 2. Flame Fencer."
"Ellyn. Rank 2. Blood Siren," spoke the third triplet who had been silent until now.
It was a solid line-up.
The fact that two of them had evolved classes proved they were strong.
Then it was my turn.
"I’m Alan Veritus. A three-star mage."
Mira’s head snapped toward me.
"A three-star mage? That’s just Rank 0! Are you serious?"
She looked at Zephan like he’d lost his mind.
"He is weak and he sounds young on top of that. Why are you accepting kids like him? Is the Underworld Administration stupid? Letting someone like this take a mission... what the hell."
Then she narrowed her eyes at me.
"Hey, how old are you?"
"Sixteen," I replied with the age I registered as Alan Veritus.
Her mouth dropped.
"Sixteen?!"
She rounded on Zephan, fully flaring up now.
"You lunatics! He isn’t even nineteen! Why are you letting him take an Anomaly Hunter license? Are you insane?!
"What are you going to tell his parents if he is harmed or worse, if he dies in mission? Will you answer them? Will you bring him back? You fucking pieces of greedy shits."
She was nearly shaking by the end.
I stared at her behind my mask, confused.
’Wasn’t she just angry because I’m weak? Why does she suddenly sound worried about me?’
Mira was about to lash out again when the sensible triplet—the one who had earlier pinched Mira to shut her up—stopped her.
She looked at Zephan seriously.
"You shouldn’t let Alan take this mission. He is a child."
"I can’t stop him. It’s his choice. If you’re worried about him, then protect him yourself," Zephan said with a shrug and a smile.
Before anyone could argue further, Zephan looked at Lars.
Though Lars couldn’t understand our words, he felt the room’s tension, and he picked up on the fact that it was his turn to introduce himself.
He stood up.
"I’m Lars Møller. Rank 2 Martial Adept," he said.
"Oh? Another Rank 2."
Zephan looked around and smiled.
"We’ve got quite the lineup this time. Four Rank 2s. Two Rank 3s. Why did you all pick this mission? That’s a bit unusual."
The quiet triplet, Ellyn, said nothing.
Mira scoffed and leaned back, arms crossed again.
"Our youngest has strong intuition. She said we should take this one," Selene answered for all three.
Zephan nodded slowly.
It wasn’t the most scientific answer, but Supernaturals believed quite a lot in their intuition.
Zephan turned to Lars, asking for the reason why he chose this mission.
I had already given Lars the gist of Zephan’s question, so Lars responded in Danish.
"I was late arriving at the venue. This was the only mission left with a full seven-person team, so I picked it."
Even though he spoke Danish, all of us infected by [Knowledge] understood him as if he’d spoken in our native tongue.
Zephan chuckled.
"Well, that makes sense," he said, then turned his gaze toward the last person in the room who hadn’t spoken yet.
She had been quiet this entire time, sitting in the corner of the couch nervously.
Her white hair fell to her shoulders, stark against her hoodie, and her crimson eyes were fixed on the floor.
"This is Calliope. A Rank 3 Healer," Zephan explained when she remained silent.
His words landed like a stone dropped into still water.
Mira stiffened. Selene and Ellyn had moderate reaction, but they were also shocked.
Denny Fultz, the chubby Rank 1 Shield Tamer, stared at Calliope with round eyes.
Even Lars straightened his posture a little.
Zephan gave the group a second to digest the information, but no one said anything, so he continued.
"Since she is quite strong, you don’t need to worry about getting injured during this operation."
I looked at Calliope again.
She looked like she was in her late teens, maybe nineteen at most.
’She is Rank 3?’
A 9-star Mage (Rank 2) of Life-element alignment could become a Healer to advance to Rank 3.
’At her age?’
Most supernatural beings took decades to reach Rank 2.
On average, they would be 25+ before becoming a Rank 2, and only a small fraction ever advanced past that rank.
Reaching Rank 2 before you were twenty meant you were talented.
Reaching Rank 3 before the age of twenty put you in the realm of geniuses.
"She’s a Rank 3? Is that a mistake?" Mira asked, not even bothering to hide her disbelief.
"It’s not a mistake. Her identity’s been verified by the administration," Zephan replied with the same smile he always wore.
"I don’t think I can trust your Underworld’s administration."
Zephan ignored her jab.
Denny Fultz, the chubby Rank 1 Shield Tamer, spoke up, "Uhm... I’ve never heard of her before. Someone who reached Rank 3 before twenty should be quite famous."
He was right.
Everyone who reached Rank 3 before the age of twenty could take the test to enter Wageah.
Those who passed would go to that world through special summoning.
Even those who failed became celebrities on earth.
After all, reaching Rank 3 was a pipe dream of most people, and these geniuses reached it during their teenage.
Yet none of us had ever seen or heard of Calliope.
’Is she a defective product?’
I frowned as I stared at her nervous countenance.