Sword Rankers
The Lack Of My Power

"So I think Ran, your biggest shortcoming is your mana capacity. The amount is very small for the size of your abilities which is very draining of mana!"

"That's obvious, I also know, the problem is there is no quick way to increase mana capacity, that's the problem! Hence I asked what my other flaws were, at least if they were basic flaws, I could deal with them in no time."

"Hey calm down buddy, don't rush like that buddy."

It's 13:00, after lunch. It's been 3 days since Ran joined the Guild, Ran hasn't been able to get along with it all, but at least he's not a "stranger" anymore.

Ran is currently in the basement of the base, where Madison is conducting her research.

Ran consults Madison about the flaws she has. Usually Ran will not be in a hurry until like this, he is quite rational in doing an action, unless there are things that shake his emotions so as to obscure his reasoning power. That's because of what happened yesterday afternoon.

At 14:00, held a meeting held on Rodri's floor, Mr. Bon became the leader of the meeting. At the meeting, Mr. Bon explained that they would start cleaning the Gate Break in 4 more days.

The announcement made Ran feel excited, but when Ran realized that he had not developed even a little since joining, he panicked and hurriedly figured out how to get stronger quickly, to begin with, he figured out what flaws he had and how to fix them.

Last night Ran thought, but because of deadlock idea, finally Ran asked Madison for advice that Mr. Bon said very genius.

"How am I not in a hurry!? 3 More days we will do the Dungeon cleaning, if... If I were still the same as this, I would just be a burden. Because that's! Mr Madison! Please tell me how to be strong and overcome all my weaknesses! I don't want to be a burden to those around me anymore."

Madison thought seriously enough to hear Ran's request, she turned her lips around while putting her right hand on her chin, she let out a "Hmmm...." which is hard enough to make Ran think that Madison is just mocking him.

"It seems that way is best." Madison muttered softly, Ran who heard Madison's murmur was immediately excited.

"What's? What way is that? Can it make me stronger in an instant!? Please tell me!" Ran instantly surged with excitement while forcing Madison to tell him how to become strong quickly.

Madison was so shocked that when she was thinking hard, she almost fell out of her chair.

"Geez Ran, you're too excited, you almost made me fall to the ground."

"Ah, I-I'm sorry, I'm too excited."

"Ahaha... It's okay, honestly I'm no different than you are Ran."

"meaning?"

"Yahhhhhhhhh... I, too, feel very excited when I think of this idea for you." Madison's expression changed in an instant, her calm expression replaced with a terrifying wide grin.

It seems true what Mr. Bon, this Madion, is a little crazy. Ran said in his heart.

"Calm down Ran! Come here again tomorrow, I'll make you a device that will sustain your power!" Madison said excitedly, she immediately took her white robe and ransacked her toolbox.

Ran, who had no other choice, was forced to believe Madison's words. Ran returned to the floor, in the elevator to the floor, Ran had heard the sound of an explosion in the basement, it sounded Madison working quite horribly and messy.

Is it okay to trust him? I don't know why I doubt him a little. Ran thought on his way back to the floor.

The elevator then stopped on the 6th floor, Rodri's floor.

Hm? Is Rodri on the floor? I thought he was gone too.

The elevator stopped on Rodri's floor, when it opened, appeared Rodri who was humming cheerfully by wearing his combat clothes.

"Owh! There's Ran anyway, where did you end up?" Sapa Rodri cheerfully.

"Ah, I'm out of the basement."

"Place Madison? What's up?" Rodri asked as he walked into the elevator.

"Only simple consultation. You're Rodri yourself, where are you going in combat-ready clothes like that."

"well, I'm going to take part in the Gate Break cleanup, there's a Gate Break cleanup done by some other wild Guilds, the cleanup will start in the southern district in 6 hours."

"Well? How can? Don't we have our own schedule? Why follow the Gate Break cleanup that other Guilds did?"

"Hehehehe, of course you can, you don't know because you just joined. I explained from the beginning, you know for yourself that the number of government Rankers is limited while Gate always appears unpredictable, which is why the government allows wild Guild Rankers like us to take over the cleanup, because they themselves are not able to handle it. Hehe, silly, right? They set strict standards for selecting Rankers, but in the end the standards they set made it difficult for themselves."

"Owh yeah, I just found out, at school it's never been discussed about that."

"Of course, the Hyper school was formed by the government, where maybe they would discuss in detail about the wild Rankers, at most just telling the ugly." Rodri said with a slight chuckle.

"Then, is it even possible to participate in the cleanup of other Guilds? Isn't that a problem? I heard that every wild Ranker Guild is vying for the right to clear Gate Break."

"Geez Ran, wild Rankers do form their respective groups, but that doesn't make us enemies. After all a wild Ranker Guild was also the same as a government, always lacking members. Hence they opened recruits for some people in order to fill the shortage of members. And coincidentally, there was an acquaintance of mine who offered me one empty slot that suited me."

"You have acquaintances from other Guilds anyway."

"Of course, that connection is very important, my friend, I always form a connection with anyone in order to get important information like this. And just so you know, the cost of clearing the Gate Break is determined by your constitution, no capitalist intervention squeezes your power with a small fee that makes you their slave!" Rodri suddenly fiery, he looks so excited that it makes Ran a little afraid.

"Ahaha... I see, you guys are great, not like me." Mumbled Ran slowly.

Rodri heard Ran mutter faintly, until he asked what Ran said earlier, "Hmm...? What did you say Ran?"

Ran had intended to hide it, he did not want others to know about the inferiority taste he had to his peers in the Guild knowing that it would ruin the atmosphere. So Ran simply replied with a smile, "It's nothing, not something important."

Yet... It seems that Rodri realized something, Rodri did not ask Ran anything more, he did not ask anything more. Then, he changed the purpose of his elevator, who initially wanted to go to the ground floor, he changed back to his own floor.

Ran was a little confused by Rodri who suddenly changed his goal, then Rodri said, "Hey Ran, don't go back to the room, to where I used to be, there's something I want to show you."

"Eh? Wh why? Don't you want to go to the extermination? Later late, to the northern district need about 2 hours more than here."

"Ahhhhh... It's okay, just canceled, anyway there are many wild Rankers who fight for slots, at least in 10 minutes there is a replacement."

"What's!? Why is it suddenly like that?"

"Because... There's something I want to show you." Said Rodri while grinning widely.

Ran felt hesitant, but he decided to follow Rodri without any more protests.

Ting

The elevator arrives and opens on Rodri's floor, then Rodri takes Ran to the outside of the floor, where they usually hold events together.

Rodri then takes a remote, Ran does not know what the remote is because of the many buttons on the remote.

Rodri pressed a few buttons and in an instant, the room around them instantly changed.

Rodri smiled seeing the changes that had happened to his room.

"What's going on? Why did the room suddenly turn out like this?" Ran asked in confusion.

In a carefree tone, Rodri explained, "Hehe, you must be surprised right Ran? This room is not a simple room that is only used for fun. In particular, I requested that Aurel add a function to organize this room so that it could be changed as needed. It is usually used only for playing, but sometimes... We also use this room to practice."

"What's? Is it okay to use this room to practice? How about it get destroyed?"

"Take it easy, the steel iron used to build this room is not derived from Aurel's ability, but ordered specifically from the metal commonly used to create a protection shelter against Gate Break. So this was not easily destroyed, it could at least withstand the attacks of Rank A."

"Then... What do you want to show me? There's no way you're bothering to cancel the plan to join the Gate Break cleanup just to show me this, right?"

"Of course not, actually this is a hunch anyway, could it be, you ran out of Madison to be asked to make a tool to overcome the shortcomings that you have Ran?"

Deg

Ran was very surprised to hear it, Rodri's words were not entirely true, but not entirely false either.

"Actually I was not asked to make a tool, I just asked Madison for advice on how to be strong in a short time so that it can be useful during the Gate Break cleaning. And Madison offered to make me a tool to overcome my shortcomings."

"Aha, that's so, but it seems you still have doubts about Madison, don't you think Ran? You always seem to doubt anything, even what it feels like, you doubt yourself."

Ran seemed to be shot in the chest Rodri's words were very true, since losing the Ranker test. Ran always hesitated to himself.

"Well how else? I am so weak myself! The ability that I have is not a strong ability, you may have a strong ability to join the Gate Break cleaning right? Unlike me, who has a flawed ability that can't help much."

"Who said? My abilities that I have are also flawed."

"Huh? Whatchu mean?" Ran was very surprised when he heard it, to the point that he thought he heard it wrong.

"As I said, my abilities I have are also flawed. If you don't believe me, then look at this."

Ran was stunned, he could not say anything more and chose to shut up and see whatever Rodri would show.

Rodri raised both hands wearing fingerless gloves forward in a raised position.

Then, flames emerged from both hands of Rodri, Ran was very surprised because the first saw Rodri's ability. However, Ran knew if the fire was very strong, because from a long distance, Ran could feel the heat.

Then very quickly, Rodri used both his hands wrapped in fire to make a circle of fire in the air that was in front of him, his right hand moving from top to bottom, and his right hand was moving from top to bottom, his left hand moved from bottom to top, the two fused into a perfect ring of fire.

And in the blink of an eye movement, Rodri pulled out his right hand, and released a fist right in the middle of the flaming ring of fire.

Buuumm...

Spiral-shaped flames shot out from the ring of fire that Rodri had created, charging towards the corner of the room. Ran felt burned by the heat of the fire that belonged to Rodri, a feeling of amazement and fear emerged simultaneously from Ran's heart.

A few seconds later, Rodri pulled his fist again, the ring of fire before him disappearing afterwards.

Ran was speechless about the sight he had seen just now.

With a smile, Rodri said, "How? Great right?"

"That's great, which part of your ability is flawed? I don't see any defect in your ability."

"Hehehe... So yeah? But you know not? I can do that thanks to Madison's equipment."

"What's? What equipment!?" Ran asked with an expression of disbelief.

Rodri then reached out his right hand, revealing the fingerless gloves he was wearing. On the back of the glove were wires attached to a metal hollow, the wires connected to the long coat Rodri was wearing.

"Here, what does that mean?" Ran asked confused.

"This is the equipment that Madison made to maximize my abilities, in fact, I initially could not control my fire properly, every time I used my abilities, this fire of mine, this fire of mine, it's going to come out of the whole body without my control, even that's why I'm suffering severe burns because I can't control it properly."

"W-what? It's impossible."

"Maybe, that's why I failed the Ranker exam. But thanks to that I was able to meet Madison, he then created this glove and coat, with this, I can set the output of my fire so as not to burn again."

Ran was speechless, he felt ashamed that he had suffered the most here. Ran does not know if Rodri was more suffering because of his own abilities.

"Ahahaha, why is your face like that? Don't feel guilty, I never told you that myself."

Ran could not lift his face, he felt so embarrassed that he could not speak anymore.

Rodri just grinned while crossing his arms around his chest, then he said, "Not to be ashamed, I am also like you Ran, I once felt the most suffering because of my ability."

Hearing Rodri's words, Ran raised his face slightly, as if interested in Rodri's story.

"Yes, I used to think I was the most unfortunate person in the world, but I realized that I wasn't the most miserable person in the world when I met Rose, he taught me not to despair when I first met."

"really?"

"Yes, and not just the two of us, Yamaguchi and Otto used to be just like us too. Wild Ranker Guilds are indeed usually filled with pitiful people like us. However, this is where we will learn to be strong and become our new selves."

Ran stunned to hear the words of Rodri, he did not believe not only he was the only one with a loser's thoughts.

"Well, Ran, then I'll teach you."

"Huh? Teach what?"

"Of course the martial arts I've learned to overcome my lack of ability. Actually there is a tradition here, where the last number member, will train the member who will later enter the thing he knows about how to be strong. Since Otto is lazy, so let me teach you what I know."

"Tu-wait! I'm fighting with a weapon, empty-handed martial arts won't help me too much."

"It's okay! There will be movements that use the legs to attack, surely it will be useful later!" Rodri directly put up the martial horses.

Ran knew he couldn't back down anymore, no matter what he said. In a hurry, Ran joined the horses, but Rodri's attack had already flown before Ran was ready.

Bhuakkkk

With that, it started Rodri's training which was very painful.