Seb's mother surprisingly helped him pack. Maybe it was knowing that her son had been in constant danger for five years that led her to accept the fact that he was leaving, to accept the fact that he would no longer need to be in danger if he left to the training facility. She packed him his clothes and prepared a bag for him to carry his tune-pod, headphones and his favourite games and books.

Their fairwell was a teary one. Mrs. Florence cried again. She kept on hugging him and touching his face, as if she was afraid that she would forget what he looks like the moment he left. Deputy Kendell and Seb exchanged a stiff nod with each other.

Seb had to be dragged into an SUV by the representatives. He watched as his mother and Deputy Kendall waved him goodbye from the porch.

He then fell asleep in the car.

When he woke up, all he saw was water. An endless stretch of water that extended towards the horizon. It took him a while to realize that the SUV was driving on top of a bridge.

Not just any bridge, the Silver Guardian bridge.

It was the only path through which a land vehicle could reach Crow's Island from the mainland and it was where almost all of the Wielders lived. The Silver Guardian bridge was six miles long, held in place by pillars fixed to the ocean floor and suspension cables strong enough to withstand any weather condition. On to the left, Seb could see the remnants of the Black Iron Maiden Bridge, which connected the Island Port town to the mainland. What remained of the bridge was its two entrances fr both sides, the center part fallen off and sunken into the waters below, cutting the only path towards the once populated island. It was a island one quarter the size of H city and ten times bigger than Crow's island. It used to be a bustling metropolis on its own. But it didn't matter as the island port town was a deserted city anyways, long ago raveged by monsters.

The beam of light that shot up to the sky from the center of the city was clear even in bright daylight. It was the place where the inter-dimentional pathway was opened thirty years ago and yet still remained intact. It was a constant reminder of mankind's mistake. That it was foolish for humans to dwelge into things they do not fully understand. The beam was quite visible during the day, but it was highlighted during the night. Anyone in H city who looked at the northeast direction after nightfall could always find the Beam. It attracted alot of monsters, as whatever that separated the two dimensions was much weaker around the beam. Hence why the island port city was dubbed by the media as "The Monster Den."

Ever since the day The Beam was created, named as the "The Rifting", scientists, business tycoons and tech companies had been attracted to H city from all over the world in order to be in the front lines of all the technological advancements that came with the discovery of "Magic".

Still, the Rifting, which earned H city it's fame overnight, didn't stop people from continuing living and even visiting H city. It even became a tourist attraction for daredevils. Most Wielder's all around the world were transferred to H city, since it's where the monster attacks were mostly concentrated. Monster attacks in other parts of the world were not impossible, but they were rare. Scientists were sure it was due to the Beam, which could not be turned off even if the equipment that created it was bombed by a missile.

The SUV swerved into an underground parking lot right at the end of the bridge. Sebastian was hasty dragged out of the car and rushed towards a flight of stairs that led towards a hallway and straight into what seemed like a laboratory. He was striped off his shirt by men in white coats and laid on top of a glowing table with electrodes plastered to his chest and forehead. A glowing ring passed around his body from head to toe as he laid on the table. The light was so bright that he closed his eyes.

He was called out of the scanner and plugged into a treadmill where he was told to run, again with the electrodes.

Then he was led into a room that was tiled on all six sides save for an observation deck and was told to manifest his weapon. He did so. He simply swept his hand over the air and the sword appeared, starting from its hilt and then its point as it floated horizontally in mid air. By the time he realised his mistake, it was too late. He had drawn his sword out of instinct and forgot that he was supposed to lie low. Levitating his sword was something he discovered he could do when he was twelve and it made fighting alot easier as he didn't need to hold the sword to attack. He then decided that it didn't matter much. Levitation was a simple magic trick not much worth noting. Also, his already used his levitation spell during the fight with the troll when summoning his sword towards him, so they might already know that it's a spell the sword allowed.

He was then  asked to fill an IQ questionnaire on a tablet computer while wearing some weird cap with wires attached to it. His blood was drawn, his reflexes examined and his eye sight and hearing checked before be was told that he could leave.

The black suit with the military cut led him upstairs, away from the laboratory and out of the dark and gloomy building to an open space outside.

It was really sunny. Seb found himself standing on concrete ground surrounded by a neatly maintained grassy field and sandy footpaths. A few buildings were littered here and there with an occasional tree. From far off, probably nearer to the coast, he noticed palm trees and sea gulls.

"My things?" said Seb to the black suit.

"They will be sent to your resigned room after the security clearance."

Seb didn't like that fact that someone was probably going through his bags at he moment, even if he didn't have anything to hide.

"My phone?"

"You'll get it back eventually."

Seb frowned. He had nothing to hide in his phone either, but it was rather comfortable to know that they were going through it too.

"Let's go to the cafeteria."

The cafeteria turned out to be the bottom floor of a large two stories building. It looked like a fast food restaurant with a long counter at one side with boards displaying the food items while tables and chairs were arranged neatly in the open space of the floor. There were no walls. It was all open, save for the few pillars which supported the ceiling above.

"Take your pick," the black suit said. "It's all on me."

Seb stood in silence. He was honestly hungry, but felt like he couldn't exactly take a pick when someone else was paying. Also, he didn't have much money on his to pay anyway.

The black suit sighed and ordered a few sandwiches, a slice of chocolate mousse topped cheesecake and a bubble tea for Seb while he ordered a steaming bowl of ramen for himself. He paid using a black card which the cashier swiped over a machine. The food was brought to them as they sat down on a table.

"I don't know your name," said Seb as he gingerly pealed the cellophane wrapping of his sandwich.

"Henry Bullford," the black suit replied.

The name suited him, Seb thought. Henry Bullford was a large broad shouldered man. Seb wouldn't be surprised if he was from the military and maybe even worked for the special forces before joining the Wielder Guardian Force's staff.

"What can I call you?" Seb asked again.

"Mr. Bullford would be fine."

Sen nodded and bit into the sandwich. It was filled with tuna, egg, myoenesse and a salad leaf. The bubble tea was fine too. But he found out that he enjoyed the chocolate mousse cheesecake the best.

"They will inform you of your rank, the class you will belong and assign you a room after your biodata has been processed," Mr. Bullford said when both of them were done with their meals.

Both sat in the cafeteria for a while and simply waited. A waitress even brought Seb a glass of cool lemonade soft drink. After about an hour, Mr. Bullford received a call and they walked back towards the white building that looked like a cuboid. Correction, it was a cuboid. There were no balconies and windows in the building, save for the wide entrance that looked like a garage.

Seb had to climb a few flights of stairs lighted above by sets of bright fluorescent lights and was led down a hallway. It almost looked like a haunted hospital. Mr. Bullford pushed a set of metalic double doors which led to hallway what looked like a waiting room, without a receptionist but only with a couch set and a few steel chair lined along the walls. Behind another set of double doors at the end of the hallway was a tilled room with a table at the center. Behind the table was a large LED screen with Seb's biodata flashing on it while five serious faces with files and tablets in their hands sat grimly behind the table.

"Sebastian Florence," the man in the middle with the square spectacles said. His voice reverberated throughout the room. "Your presentation has put us in quite a delimma."

Seb felt Mr. Bullford leave the room.

"Your manifested when you where ten years old and managed to stay alive for five years without any external help. We always throught that the area around Lake Flamingo might be a portal-null zone. But that doesn't seem to be the case, has it?"

Seb didn't say a word.

"Tell me, Sebastian. How did you manage to survive all these years?"

"That isn't the biggest matter at the moment, Mr. Porlove. The matter is assigning him a suitable rank," the lady in a office suit said from next to him.

"Ah yes," said Mr. Porlove.

Porlove, Seb thought. Sounds Russian. It explained the accent.

Mr. Porlove continued, "You see Master Florence, your weapon is classified as a Grade One. But your mana is, as you can see in the screen_"

Seb lifted his head to look at the screen. His mana levels showed a number with maybe seven digits staring with a four. Even he was surprised. He knew he had gathered quite a lot of mana over the years. He couldn't guess it was that much.

"The only ways for a person to obtain that much mana is by practicing and expanding ones mana reserves. Your mana reserves are quite astounding with the ability to store up to six billion mega mana-jules. Only Wielders with years of experience reach levels like that."

Seb gulped.

"Also there is a concern about you hiding your status for five years. It's almost a crime, you know. You put yourself and alot of people at risk, even if you do claim that no one got fataly wounded."

Then the large plump man at the left end of the table raised his voice, "We decided your as punishment, you will be immediately assigned to missions after a week of introductory period without pay for six months."

Seb felt his mouth fall open. He forgot that Wielders got paid for carrying out missions. But that was only after they were all properly trained.

The plump man continued, "Since you have been in the field already for five years, I think it might not be much of an issue."

Poor Seb couldn't tell whether they were mocking him or not. He thought that maybe after entering the Wielder Guardian Force, he won't actually need to fight monsters for a while and actually considered it somewhat of a good thing. Now he they were telling him that he would need to go to missions, and that he won't be paid either! Also, he wasn't trained. He doubted that his street and backyard scruffles could make him a professional.

"Of course, you will receive training while you attend to your missions, and your meals and accomodation along with your daily necessities will be provided the same as our usual trainees."

Well, Seb thought, at least money won't be a big issue. Even if he wasn't payed for work.

"Consider your punishment to be like community service."

Next, it was the lady who spoke. "Your academic class will be with your peers of the same age. You will continue your regular final year middle school curriculum with us. Your combat training class, is the biggest issue we have at the moment... Usually those with Grade One weapons are classified as Rank C warriors. But in your case.... Our algorithms have classified you as a Rank Zero."

Seb froze. Rank Zero was bad. Rank Zero was the highest rank there was. They were always the first to face the biggest and strongest monsters. They were the most famous among the Wielders. Also, they were the ones with the most limited lifespan if you think about it properly. Being Rank Zero came with alot of glory, also with alot of unwanted publicity and pressure to slay as many monsters as one can. But most Rank Zero's had at least a Grade Three weapon.

"I think... Your computer might be broken," Seb said.

The lady frowned. "We triple checked. Your weapon is old, which means it's a primitive edition so the magic spells embedded in it are also probably primitive. A levitation spell I presume? And maybe a weapon strength enhancement?"

Seb nodded.

"Those are basic level one spells. We don't know if there are other spells, but they are most probably going to be low level ones. You would have been classified as a Rank C. But your mana levels and  body constitute  says otherwise. We rank warriors taking every aspect needed to be a warrior. Your potential shows that you are a Rank Zero. Don't disappoint us. Understood?"

"Yes... Ma'am."

"Good. Now go. Bullford will show you to your room. Your schedule will be delivered to you today."