Monarchs of Above and Below (On Hiatus)

Chapter XX: Into the Gate

"Wait." Sanri said almost immediately as he raised up a hand.

He continued once everyone's attention was on him. Sanri pointed across the table at Matthew. "I thought we were going to talk about him?"

Suddenly everyone's eyes shifted to Matthew.

"What? Is he finally out of the squad?" Cereiana asked with a smirk.

"Cere." Audri scorned.

Cereiana just threw up a hand. "I'm joking." She turned back to Matthew. "But seriously, what does he mean."

"Him and Sanri had spared earlier on the mats and-" Berret began.

"He kicked my ass." Sanri said with much more joy would when saying such a thing.

"What?!" Audri shouted as her head shot towards Matthew.

"I wouldn't say that. The fight was pretty even." Matthew began.

"Is that how you got that wound on your shoulder?" Valine asked Sanri.

"Pfft, how much did he pay you for that, Sanny?" Tyler asked Sanri, mispronouncing his name. Matthew never knew if Tyler did it intentionally, or if it was mere force of habit.

"Guys, let Mat speak." Berret ordered, his voice echoing through the small room ending everyone's banter.

Matthew felt his face grow hot as everyone's head shifted to him once again.

"I'm... uh... about as strong as a C-rank now." Matthew stated quietly, almost surprised the hunters on the other side of the room could hear him.

The room fell silent for a moment until the tension broke by a laugh from Tyler.

He soon stopped when he noticed the lack of amusement on everyone's face. "Wait you aren't joking?"

Matthew shook his head. "It's like Sanri said. We fought earlier on the mats. Although it was much closer then he says." Matthew shot a glance towards Sanri who lightly rolled his eyes.

"Wait wait, so how exactly? Did you reawaken? If that's the case we need to get you reevaluated, ASAP." Valine said, standing up from her chair and setting her hands on the table.

"I... well I already did that." Matthew said with a light sigh as he produced his new hunting license from his wallet and set it on the table.

In unison the other hunters leaned forward to investigate the license.

"It still says you're E-rank. But why is the letter golden?" Audri asked, looking over to Matthew, who'd stayed seated.

"Because... I was still an E-rank when I went in for my reevaluation. As for the whole gold thing, it sorta' just turned out that way." Matthew explained.

"So," Ceriana began. "Your an E-rank whose as strong as a C-rank? How does that work? Do you just have a really low mana storage or something?"

"Um... not really. My mana is fine... I think." Matthew rubbed the back of his head. "How do I explain this-" he mumbled.

"Oh, tell them about that spear skill you have now." Sanri stated.

"You have a new skill too?" Audri turned to Matthew again as he stood up and set a hand at the center of the table.

"I have a few." Matthew mumbled as he dumped a single point of mana onto the surface of the table, making a small golden blot on it.

Matthew removed his hand. A second later a spear made of gold jutted up from the surface of the table. Although notably, it wasn't just the spearhead, but an entire spear whose tip nearly touched touched ceiling.