Ethereal Ascendance: A Journey of Transformation

"Feliciana, can you show me your wings?" This Blanche is just like Vivianne, both so interested in my wings.

"Uh, I can't just reveal them casually now, it would expose my identity." I politely declined.

"Feliciana, did you really lose your memory? Do angels even lose their memories?" Hayden asked.

"It's true, I don't remember anything from before."

I'm sorry, I'm not actually sure if angels can lose memories. But I didn't lose mine, I just can't tell them that, so another poor child has been deceived by me.

"Feliciana, what's your Adventurer's Guild point total? If you can make it back, maybe we can party up sometime..." Eleanora shyly took out her own guild card, and I saw she already had several thousand points.

Wow, this is great! Just what I needed.

But when I went to take out my own card, my hand suddenly froze. Because it clearly showed "Rank: 3" in big letters. Showing that would be so embarrassing.

"Ahaha... I think just over 100." I could only vaguely report a number from memory.

"Oh no, with this latest quest it's probably reset. I'll only get more if I can safely return Selene."

"Huh, where's your card?" As expected, not showing the card made her suspicious.

"Lost... lost it last night when the Face Fly were chasing us." I had to reluctantly lie again.

"It's okay, just remember to report it lost and get a replacement." Eleanora didn't doubt me and even helpfully suggested I report it.

I'm so sorry, my conscience hurts. I'll work hard to quickly reach Rank 4 and then show you.

After Alfreed led the others upstairs to rest, it was just me and Adrian guarding downstairs.

"Adrian, don't you need to rest too?"

I'm energetic all day so couldn't sleep now. But Adrian is just an ordinary human. He should be tired after going out earlier.

"It's fine! If I rest, someone else will have to come down to accompany you. They're all the same anyway. And we can catch up like this."

Adrian shook his head. As the leader, Alfreed had to consider everyone. He wouldn't leave a new member alone on guard duty while the others slept.

"How's Vivianne doing?"

As expected, he immediately asked about Vivianne. I had been a little worried too.

"I'm not really sure..."

I briefly explained about her joining an urgent mission after he and Brennan shipped out, and still not returning.

"No word at all up to now?"

Adrian frowned with concern after hearing it.

"Uh, she did say she would be gone a while. Just no idea how long..."

Seeing his expression, I also started feeling uneasy. It had almost been a month with no contact. Could something really happened?

"Hard to say." Adrian scratched his head and explained.

"Sometimes there are long out-of-town jobs. Brennan and I will be gone for at least a month or two this time. Even as mercenaries."

"So she's probably fine for now?" Hearing that, I finally relaxed.

I wish I knew what her mission was. It would help to know.

"Let's see in another month." Adrian said heavily.

"After two months missing would be rare. Most likely something happened then."

His conclusion made me tense up again.

"How's Brennan doing?" I recalled Blanche mentioning his legion was ambushed with heavy losses. Was the redhead caught up in that?

How tragic if something really happened. From the capital's view, it would be one dead, two missing from their trio.

"Should be fine, I think. Before we transferred here, he was in another squad searching the Kaga Mountains."

Seeing my worried expression, Adrian looked at me strangely, unsure what I was thinking.

"He's the strongest of us three. He'll be alright."

"Oh good!" I wiped my brow. Just overthinking things.

An awkward silence followed as we both sat there, unsure what else to say.

I truly couldn't think of anything. My relationship with Adrian wasn't as close as with Vivianne. Being a girl here, I mainly stuck with other women, growing more distant from men.

It wasn't that I didn't want to get closer. There was just some barrier between us. The communication lacked the casual intimacy of hanging out with guy friends.

Even shameless angel Nicola rarely visited them after getting his apartment.

"You really lost your guild card?" Adrian finally broke the silence.

I was stunned by the unexpected question.

"Um, well..."

He must know I'm only Rank 3. So the question was loaded.

"No!"

I decided to come clean, miserably taking out my card to show him.

"You're still worried about what others think, huh?"

Seeing the Rank 3, Adrian couldn't help laughing.

"What's so funny about that!"

Seeing him laugh put me on edge. My rank was a sore point, being openly mocked felt like a public execution.

"I'll have you know, I'm completely different from before! Much stronger now!"

"Oh really?" He looked skeptical.

"Of course it's true! I'm super powerful now..."

So I enthusiastically recounted my 'heroics' saving the Tethys villagers with Purify, fighting the Face Flies, and kicking the Rank 5 demon Buck. In great detail, leaving out embarrassing bits.

Adrian just listened quietly the whole time, smiling but never interrupting me. Only after finishing the story of kicking Buck did he speak up.

"Why didn't that Buck demon reappear after? You just kicked him and he shouldn't be that much weaker than the succubus. Even drunk, he shouldn't have fallen into the room and not come out."

"You're right, that is weird!" I had been confused too, but shared my theories.

"Maybe he drank too much and just passed out. Or didn't chase us because we left right away."

"I suspect something in that building trapped him."

Adrian suddenly spoke seriously.

"That house?" His mention immediately reminded me of the ominous coffin house Buck fell into.

Could there really be something scary inside? A chill went through me as I recalled Selene wanting to ransack those buildings. Good thing she didn't or there would have been even more trouble.

"We've seen a few buildings like coffin houses while trapped here." Adrian suddenly shared his experience.

"Blanche was very curious about one. She even wanted to go inside and explore. But my instincts said it might be a vampire lair, so I stopped her."

"Vampires?"

Of course! Coffins and dark creatures. I just didn't make the mental leap because the coffin was house-sized. So it didn't seem like an actual coffin.

The building just lacked windows and was oblong. Not very coffin-like. So it was understandable I didn't realize.

"Are vampires that powerful? Able to restrain a Rank 5 demon?"

Lacking combat sense, I had to consult the knowledgeable Adrian.

"Vampires are actually somewhat similar to angels. Polar opposites in attributes though. Angels embody pure light essence in humanoid form, while vampires dark essence. Their original bat forms aren't elemental beings."

Adrian organized his knowledge to lecture me.

"So they aren't that weak usually. Like angels starting around Rank 4 at least. Most are Rank 5 or 6. Exceptionally old ones spanning millenia likely over Rank 7."

"Starting at Rank 4 again?"

I grumbled to myself. Rank 4 minimums always ticked me off. But vampires being so strong makes Buck getting trapped reasonable. Really dodged trouble there.

Seeing my reaction, Adrian instantly grasped my thoughts. He smiled reassuringly.

"That Rank 3 was a month ago already. Your current strength has surely reached Rank 4. Retesting would definitely update your rank. No more embarrassment about that."

"Really? I'm already Rank 4?"