“You will need to keep in mind that your task, at all times, isn’t necessarily to complete the quest. It’s to show the System your ingenuity, your strength, and your dedication. Ruthlessness, for better or for worse, is what seems to be recognized by the System,” I said aloud, watching as Richard practiced with the sword in his hands.
“If I don’t complete the quest, don’t I fail?”
“Tutorial Rifts don’t seem to have a fail condition like the Common Dungeon Rifts. They are tailored to test you, not necessarily to kill you.”
“Then why did so many die?” He scoffed.
I paused at that, noting he had a bit of a point. The System Tutorials were not as brutal as the Common Dungeons, but they certainly weren’t easy. It was like a culling field, cutting away the people that it deemed unworthy.
“Because sometimes, you cut away the atrophied flesh to make sure the organism survives.”
“Sounds like what the military would say,” Richard lowered his sword to look at me, his brows furrowed.
“A broken clock…” I waved my hand. “Gerard is right as well, power is corruption at its finest, and humanity will kill itself over it. Barry is also right, humans need to work together to overcome this. But nothing is ever so damn simple.” My own sword appeared in my hand and I stepped forward, positioning myself across from him. “Humanity is strongest when working together, but its flaws need to be culled, and its edge tempered. Sometimes, people wanting to help in the fight are more detrimental than they are helpful. It would be great if that wasn’t true, if the world worked as we think it
should,
but just as Death doesn’t care if you are a king or a peasant, neither does Life.”
Richard only stared at me for a moment, his expression cycling through confusion, disappointment, to understanding, and resolve. “Can’t we change things, then?”
“Yes,” I brought my sword up and waved him at me. “But only if you’re strong enough to enact that change.”
Richard nodded and ran at me, his sword clattering against mine with barely any force. I moved slowly, carefully, as I trained him to use the blade. It had been nearly a week since this started, and he was already showing a lot of promise.
I really hoped it would be enough.
***
“So you decided to join us after all? Excellent, I’d hate to see the party split up.” Francis called out to me from across the lobby.
I stood in the center of the ground floor to the corporate office-building for the Paragon Guild Headquarters. It was like being in a high-class hotel. Couches, potted plants, lush carpets accenting the marbled flooring, the whole nine yards.
“Well, I couldn’t let you all be facing monsters without me, could I? You’d all end up dead after the first Dungeon.” We clasped hands as he reached me, and gave the standard manly half hug required of males afraid to truly share their feelings.
“Barry will be ecstatic. He’s in a meeting right now, but he’ll be down in a moment.”
“I hope he isn’t rushing on my account, it’s not like I have anywhere to be. Unemployed, remember?”
“Not for long, though.”
“True that,” I smiled and made a show of looking around. “Quite the set-up you all got going on here. I’m guessing the investors Barry was talking about are some big hitters.”
“Things are truly moving, yeah. We got three rift contracts squared away already, and half a dozen more in the works. There are already four hundred applicants for the guild, and we are having a hell of a time trying to screen them all. Barry doesn’t want people looking for glory, or wealth, but the ones that meet our vision.”
Then why the hell does he want me?
I thought, though refused to say out loud. I gave an understanding nod instead.
“Sounds like Barry, already got a plan and all.”
“I just happen to have good people helping me out.”
I looked up to see Barry walking towards us, and elevator doors closing behind him. I was surprised to see he wasn’t alone. A brunette woman in a smartly tailored blazer and pencil skirt walked alongside him. I recognized her immediately, Clara Reedtz, the congresswoman.
Things made more sense to me at that moment, in more ways than one.
Having the political support leveraged by a political official meant a lot for Paragon, and explained how they had made such progress in such little time. Not to mention the high budget they seemed to enjoy.
But more than that, I noticed the powerful aura that Clara was giving off next to Barry. The Paladin was like a raging golden inferno, a force of nature harnessed in an amiable smile and kind heart. Clara, on the other hand, was a wildfire, sweeping and powerful, but controlled and directed for a purpose. Next to each other, their comparative strengths were clear in my [Aura Mastery]
She is Mythic Class, has to be.
It wasn’t really fair to compare someone to Barry, it would always be an impossible bar to reach for almost anyone, besides other Legendary Hunter, or myself. But Clara still gave a good effort, even if she didn’t realize she was.
More than likely, she was subconsciously flexing her Aura just to be able to stand so close to the man without losing her breath. And she walked seemingly casually, even if her instincts might be screaming at her.
Or maybe it’s me?
I checked my own Aura, making sure I was holding it back. With my skill, I had enough practice to contain my power and hide it, making even people’s natural instincts unable to truly gauge my strength. Before the skill, I’m sure I had been a walking nightmare for everyone for weeks. Which might have been why Lucilla hadn’t been completely fooled by my lies, and why Barry was so insistent I was more powerful than I seemed.
There was so much I didn’t know I had to hide. But I was doing better.
“Hey Barry!” I called out cheerfully, a smile on my face doing its best to match the Paladin’s.
“Sorry we kept you waiting, there’s a lot of logistics that goes into running a Guild that I hadn’t really thought about. Ms. Reedtz has been helping us.” He turned to Clara. “This is Adam Pierce, he’s one of the other Hunters that were in the Missouri facility with us. Adam, this is—”
“Clara Reedtz,” I held out my hand. “I’m aware of you, and your outspoken support for the Rift Hunters. Thank you for that.”
“Good to meet you Mr. Pierce,” she accepted my hand, squeezing with a delicate care that hid her ability. “Please accept my condolences for your brother.”
The corner of my lips twitched slightly, almost making me lose my face. I recovered almost instantly, but I doubted that I had managed to hide it from her as she pulled her hand away quickly and offered a well practiced political smile.
“Thank you,” I said flatly.
“Of course.”
There was a pause, everyone looking at each other for a moment until Barry once again stepped in to keep things moving smoothly.
“So, if you are planning to join up with us, you arrived at a great time. We were about to do the classification tests for the new admissions.”
“Classification tests?”
“Yeah, you wouldn’t know about that huh? Come on, I’ll explain on the way,” he turned back to the elevators, punching the button marked “B2”.
The four of us entered the elevator and it began to lower slowly. I checked my phone as we moved, making sure I still had a signal as we went deeper.
Three bars, that was good. I was expecting a text message rather soon. I tapped on my texts, checking the messages from Richard. Nothing, yet. I slipped my phone back into my pocket without a word.
We exited out into another lobby, this one filled with people. It was a complete mishmash of individuals. Some were rippling with muscles, like Francis, others lean and agile like Huwett. Of course there were those clad in robes of various kinds, either healers or mages, many others besides.
A man leaning against a wall off to my right caught my eye. He was tall, with short dark brown hair, and wearing cargo pants and a t-shirt bearing a logo to some band I didn’t recognize. But what caught my attention was the small lizard that was perched on his shoulder.
It wasn’t like any animal I had seen before, as it had six legs, and there were frills along its back that looked a sickly yellow, the spines at the top periodically crackled with static.
Companion pet?
It wasn’t too hard to figure out what the creature was, some kind of monster tamed by the Hunter. More than likely he had got a companion egg just as I had. Which meant he was one to keep my eye on.
As it turned out, in the following months, companions weren’t terribly rare. But they usually were only rewards given to rather powerful Hunters, and they could be used as partners to bolster someone’s skills or abilities with synergy. Or have powers that cover a Hunter’s weaknesses.
Exactly how powerful a companion became started with what energy they were fed as an egg. Most people used a skill or ability to feed an egg energy that matched them. A lightning mage feeding lightning energy to an egg, or a Blood Knight feeding vitality.
So far, mine seemed to take a liking to Soul Essence. But, it wasn’t like I had a constant regenerating source of it to feed my companion egg. Unless I wanted to give it my own soul essence, which I wasn’t.
Barry led me through the lobby, past the many individuals already waiting, and to the desk at the back which was positioned a few feet in front of a large metal door.
“Natalya, here takes everyone’s profile and inputs them into the database we have. Then we can curate a test to each Hunter’s abilities.” Barry explained.
“Okay… but how do you actually test them? The military tried doing that before, remember? Wasn’t exactly easy, given how the System works, magic and all that.”
“Very true,” Clara said. “That facility's records became public knowledge after its closure, for the sake of transparency. We learned a lot from them though, which gave us a foundation of something to build off of.”
“And?”
“And, we learned that what we were missing was part of the System itself. Another Hunter. Which is where Natalya comes in once again,” Clara nodded to the person behind the counter.
I looked back at the woman, this time peering at her through my [Aura Mastery]. Her aura was a small bonfire, neatly built and stacked, a constant flame standing tall. She was a Rare Class Hunter, maybe weaker Epic Class.
The woman stood then facing me fully, “Hello Adam, I’ve heard a lot from Barry already, but it’s nice to meet you.” She dipped her head, almost giving a bow.
“Nice to meet you too, Natalya,” I looked her over. She wore basic office attire, black slacks and a white blouse. Her caramel brown skill accented well with her hazel eyes, and her gaze didn’t feel threatening.
“So how do you fit into this?”
“My class is called Arbiter,” she said. “By observing another Hunter with my ability, I can get an assessment of their capabilities and be shown an alphanumeric grade of their power.”
I raised both brows at that. If what she said was true, it was a massively powerful ability and class. Information was always worth much more than any pure offensive power, especially in such a time as a magic apocalypse.
“What does it say about me?” I asked, making sure to reign in my aura just a bit more.
“It doesn’t work like that,” she shook her head. “I need to see a Hunter in action. Using their skills and abilities. It doesn’t give me any information on the skills themselves, only a grading, of course. But I can gauge almost anything, melee power, strength, magical potency, even healing ability.”
I looked to Barry, somehow my eyebrows climbing even higher up my forehead, as if they wanted to escape my face entirely.
“I know, right?” He clapped a hand on my shoulder and chuckled. “She’s probably the most valuable recruit we have.”
“What does your ability say about Barry here?” I grinned at Natalya.
“Well, we aren’t assessing me right n—”
“A-Grade, scaled for his current level,” Natalya said quickly. “He shows in top marks for Offensive Power and Durability, but he has room for growth in—”
“Natalya!” Barry and Clara yelled simultaneously. The woman stopped, blinking rapidly for a moment before she seemed to understand that she had made a faux pa.
“Apologies,” she nod-bowed once more. “Forgive me for the oversight.”
I laughed, seeing the frustration on Barry and Clara’s face. It looks like she wasn’t supposed to be blurting out that information. She was apparently analytical to a fault, once again, the System finding a class rather suited for the individual.
“Anyway,” Barry recovered quickly, he gave me a new type of smile I hadn’t seen on him before, duplicitous, “that’s how it all works. So are you ready?”
“Ready for what?”
“Ready to finally see how you stack up?” Barry grinned.
1.21 Am I an SS-Rank Hunter?