F-Rank Certificate Renewal.

  I looked at the dummy in front of me with all the remaining hope still alive in me fading by every second. The burly B-Ranked hunter with a check-board in his barely hid his disdain.

  “I don’t have all day. Please proceed already, Hunter Elara.”

  That man and the damned scar running down his lips. I was already having nightmares of this guy, like nightmare on the elm street or something. He was a demon after my F-Rank certificate, this was already my second attempt failing. One more and it would be over.

  I took in a deep breath.

  My third attempt. If I failed this time again, then I would definitely be kicked out of the guild if nothing else. Definitely. The only thing keeping me on my feet was the guild. I couldn’t afford to lose it.

  “I’ll do it…” I said, moving closer to the dummy. With a simple breath and a touch, my mana activated. The translucent blue system window flashed, only in front of my eyes, and slowly I activated my one and only skill.

  [Skill Activated: Symbiotic Bond (LV 1)]

  [Searching for compatible target...]

  [Target acquired: Combat Dummy XB-7]

  [Analysis: Target is non-biological and non-sentient. Bond cannot be established.]

  [Error! Skill Failed!]

  Nothing happened.

  The damage meter hanging above the dummy on a giant screen remained at zero. So did the buff and debuff and special status sensors. All the things that would make even the slightest difference inside the gates were completely unmoved.

  “Hah…” The proctor laughed. “You still trying to make that cuddle-to-win skill work? Elara, it’s a leech. A parasite’s skill. You are already useless when there’s a host, and you keep trying to use it on a damned dummy?”

  I lowered my head and bit my lips.

  “Sorry. Hunter Elara, your second attempt for your F-Rank Certificate Renewal’s scores are clear. A perfect score in the theory test. A perfect zero on the practicals. Sorry, but you have failed. Your next attempt would be your last.”

  My fist shook. Again. I had failed again.

  “If you do not renew your certificate within 3 weeks, your hunter license will be revoked and you will return to being a citizen. Is that clear?”

  “Ugh…”

  “Clear?”

  “Yeah…” I said.

  It was over for me. My life as a hunter.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  It was over.

  ***

  “Haha… It’s over. Everything’s over.”

  A giant building stood in front of me. The busy blue skies and the glassy skyscrapers all around could not even dent the beautiful air of this royal 30-story behemoth. At the very center on an enormous plaque was the shape of a Gryphon.

  “Hmm… Should I spend the rest of my money on clothes and then kill myself? Ahaha. That would be crazy.”

  The Ashen Gryphons’ headquarters. One of the prime S-Ranked Guilds in the country with a total of four S-Ranked Hunters associated with us.

  And the same place that I worked at.

  “Or maybe I can beat up a hunter then go back to being a citizen? I’ll beat up that motherfucker with the scar, then he won’t be able to hit me back.”

  I slowly entered the building after showing my pass at the scanner up front and walked through the giant glass doors. Tears were threatening to fall off my eyes.

  “Maybe I’ll resign faster than they fire me.”

  All that I knew, all that I was was in this place. I would definitely be kicked out now.

  My bank balance was barely surviving on the payment an F-Ranked Hunter with Ashen Gryphon got, it was extremely rare for F-Ranked Hunters to be contracted in the first place, and even rarer for someone like me.

  All they were useful for was to make sure the Gates with a power-cap could be cleared, but for me? I couldn’t even do that.

  I reached my floor, the third floor, ready to be called over by the supervisor and dismissed after my results reached their desks.

  “I… don’t want to go there.”

  If I climbed up, I would be dismissed. Holding my racing heart tightly, I instead took the stairs from the fire-exit. I thought I’d climb up.

  Or that was the plan.

  Instead… There, in front of me, sitting alone in the stairs that not even the sweepers or security guards of a 30-story tower would pass by, was a woman.

  A woman with beautiful white hair like the snow cascading down her pale, bright skin. Tears glistened on her blue eyes, like falling sapphires.

  Beautiful…

  My heart almost stopped.

  It was the S-Ranked Hunter, the youngest and perhaps the one with the most potential in the Ashen Gryphon. Our pride.

  The Ice Queen, Seraphina Vahn.

  And well… None of my business anymore. I was done. Hunter no longer. If not now, then in two weeks.

  Ahaha… It was over.

  Seraphina looked at me as if she was shocked to spot me here, while I just waved my hands. Instantly, the vulnerability vanished. Her eyes sharpened into the icy glare that terrified high-ranking monsters, but the redness around them betrayed her

  “Don’t mind me,” I said. “Go on, you may cry.”

  “Huh…?”

  I chuckled and stepped up on the stairs. Oh, what was this life.

  “Actually,” I did a double-take to the Ice Queen. My voice was cracking now. “Do you mind if I join you? My life is shit too, man!”

  “Uh…?”

  “This stupid skill. And this stupid fucking Hunter Test. Why… why did I have to be an F-Ranked Hunter…”

  As I reached closer to her, my body started to slip. The ground where her tears had fallen was slowly seeping into ice. Without being able to control myself, I slipped forward and fell on Seraphina Vahn.

  Confused, the S-Rank Hunter with her instincts decided to hold me up. She grabbed me by the shoulders.

  That’s when it happened.

  [Core Skill: Symbiotic Bond (LV 1) – Activated]

  [Skill: Symbiotic Bond has detected the first activation condition to be fulfilled]

  [Symbiotic Bond’s description has been updated]

  [Skill: Symbiotic Bond (LV 1)]

  [Skill Description: Forms a Symbiotic Link with a willing and compatible entity. Allows for the exchange of Life Force between entities. (NEW) Emotional and Physical Resonance between partners increases efficiency sharply and increases ability effects.]

  A jolt, like grabbing a live wire but without the pain, shot through my shoulder where she touched me. A warmth I'd never felt before flooded my freezing cold chest.

  [Skill Symbiotic Bond has detected a highly compatible partner (98.7%). Requesting confirmation from target...]

  “Huh…?”