“The Pioneer had changed the class system, made it so that our people could surpass others. Not just the monsters that had come to our world, but the invaders as well. You have seen firsthand the power of some of those other worlds. Those demons almost destroyed a city. The demon’s world is large, and what you had fought amounted to little more than a scouting party.”

Fifty-One sounded proud of his organization, but at the same time his praise this time felt a little flat compared to his braggadocios claims earlier. Mash ignored all of that and asked the question that had pushed aside everything else in his mind.

“Changed? Then who created the class system?”

“Oh, you finally asked something I simply cannot answer for you. I am sorry for the inconvenience, but even I have rules that I need to follow. Either way, we are out of time.”

Mash was a little annoyed by the response but was distracted by the building that was in front of him. It was a street or two away, but he was close enough now to get a good look at the enormous structure. He had known it was tall. That much had been obvious even at a distance. What he didn’t realize was how wide it was going to be. The base of the building could easily have encompassed a village in itself. Maybe not a large village, but that was still ridiculous. Not to mention it was still an expensive combination of smooth metal and glass. He didn’t see a speck of stone, wood, or even pain on the outside. It was simply made of a silvery metal and clear glass.

“How many people could live here?”

Luke spoke aloud, although he was surprised by his own question. Luke wasn’t looking for a real answer, and none had one to give. Mash shrugged his shoulders. He wouldn’t even know where to start with an answer to that question. This building alone could house thousands of people. An entire city could fit in here and there would still be more space for others.

They approached the building, and Mash's gaze drifted down to the set of doors that were in front of him. The doors were entirely made of glass but had metal hinges and handles. The door actually had three handles on each door, each located at a different height. That was strange on its own, but it was Fifty-One’s next words that really surprised him.

“What, live here? No one lives in this building. It serves as a testing and training area for members such as myself. Admittingly there are rooms to live nearer to the top. You can only live there after proving yourself though. I live there, by the way. Please enter and take the test. Whether you succeed or fail, it should prove educational if you have even a modicum of insight.”

That was a backhanded way of phrasing that. Jill snapped back, but he didn’t pay any attention to her as Fifty-One opened the door. The inside of the building left them all speechless. The separation layers of windows each represented a floor of the building. The bottom floor was a large empty space, but the ground was made entirely of the smooth metal that had been used for the building’s walls. It was silvery and reflected the lights in a slightly bothersome manner. The lights themselves were rather beautiful though. They were embedded into the ceiling into some kind of dome, and a bright white radiated from them filling the dome completely. The lights were enough to make the whole room visible, and Mash realized that this couldn’t be all there was. This room was bigger on the outside. Significantly bigger, and Mash could barely make out some indentations at one end of the room. Those were probably doors, though he couldn’t see any handles on them.

Only after taking in the whole building, did he notice that two more people were in the room. Mash looked at them carefully. Neither was wearing a mask like Fifty-One, and Mash could tell that they were foreigners. He didn’t know from which region, but their strange hair and skin color gave away their identities. Although for one of them it was their height that revealed their origins.

One had copper brown skin and narrow eyes, that made it hard to see the man’s uniquely orange eyes. Mash wasn’t the greatest at geography, but he believed that those features belonged to those who lived on the southern continent. He wore clothes that matched the image Mash had in his mind too. He wore white clothing that seemed too large, and it billowed out from his body. There were no designs, or anything fancy on the clothing either. However, Mash could feel the mana on them with his domain. They were definitely enchanted. The man was more pretty than handsome, and he had long black hair that was tied into a ponytail too.

The other person was notable because of his height. He was tall, probably around 10 feet by Mash’s estimation. He had gray skin and long slender limbs. All of that told Mash that he was from the distant north. The Mountain Kingdom was probably this man’s home. They were a reasonably isolated kingdom, and Mash had never seen someone from there before. The man had muscle, but his body didn’t bulge in any significant way. He could almost be misconstrued as skinny with how his clothes hung on his body. Unlike the other man, this person’s clothes weren’t designed to be loose, they were just far too big for him. Did he lose weight or something? Other than his discolored skin and height, he looked otherwise human. And other than his big nose, he seemed very normal.

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Neither of them had a mask like Fifty-One, and Mash could see no symbol on them. It took only a second for him to make the connection. These were other recruits. It seemed like the recruitment method wasn’t limited to just his kingdom, which made a lot of sense. There would be plenty of people growing quickly if the dungeons had appeared all over the world. There was no chance that his group was the only one to be approached in such an away. As if to confirm his thoughts, Fifty-One spoke again.

“We are still waiting on one more, but they seem to be rather stuck with the given puzzle. You six will just be given the test now if you are all prepared.”

Mash nodded, and so did most of the people in the room. All but the northerner, who decided to make his opinion known another way.

“Then why did I have to wait for those four.”

The man’s voice was rough and deep, although he also didn’t look that much older than Mash. He was probably annoyed at the situation, and Mash couldn’t blame him for that. Anyone who had to deal with Fifty-One would be at the edge of patience.

“They had simply arrived ahead of schedule, so I believed it would be easier to grab them and avoid needing to make the same explanations multiple times. Normally, they would only arrive after your test had ended, but we were operating under specific time constraints. If you feel inconvenienced or disappointed, you are free to leave.”

That was all Fifty-One had said on the matter, and Mash got the feeling that he didn’t like the northerner very much. There was little hostility in his voice as he finished speaking. The northerner just frowned and nodded begrudgingly. Fifty-One walked across the room and past the two men. He stopped at a door and touched it with his hand. The door slid sideways. Mash didn’t feel any mana which meant that the door was operated by something else. Who could make something like this? He tried to think about which nation could produce something of this scale but didn’t think that there were any.

Fifty-One walked into the room, and the two who had been standing near the door quickly followed him inside. Mash and his friends did the same, though they carefully examined the room before entering. The room wasn’t anything special though. It was a large semi-circular room. There was a hallway around the outside of the circle, and Mash noticed several more doors along the walkway. The center of the circle was on a lower level though and had a dirt floor rather than the metal one of the hallways. It was an arena and was similar to the one Mash had fought in before.

“If you expect me to fight with strangers, I will not.”

This came from the copper-skinned man, who was looking around with upturned eyes. His gaze dismissed the room and everyone in it as if it was nothing impressive. It was surprisingly easy to track the movement of his eyes despite how narrow they were. The man didn’t want to fight, but Mash already had a different opinion. That dismissive glance had not just been at the lackluster training area. It was directed at every person in the room, him included, and Mash’s patience was already at its limit. He was fairly confident he could beat the man. His domain gives him a good idea of just how strong the man was. He could even see more than just mana now.

“No, you will not need to fight each other unless you wish to. As for the test itself, I will begin my explanation now. You six will be required to either level or upgrade a skill. There are several pieces of information as well as items I am allowed to grant you, although you must ask for them specifically. You will have one day to accomplish this task.”

He raised one hand and opened his palm toward the space on the ground.

“If you wish to test something destructive, I ask that you do it within the arena. There are several powerful protections in place to avoid external damage. Any questions, no, good. You may begin.”

Everyone just stared at Fifty-One with disbelief, but Mash was the first to speak. He already knew what to ask for.

“Do you have monster corpses? I want them, and unique ones at that. Oh, and tell me what their abilities were.”

Mash didn’t need to plan out that wish. He knew what he wanted. It was something he had thought about a lot. It was why they had gone to the frost lands in the north. Now that he thought about it, if they had gone a little further, they would have seen the Mountain Kingdom. That got him to glance at the grey-skinned man, though he kept his thoughts to himself.

“No. I have a few prepared, though I will not be giving to them you like that. I expect some rationale for the items you request. And before any of you try and ask for something new, I will give you nothing for the next hour at the very least.”

It was a little disappointing to hear, but Mash hadn’t really been expecting it to work. That would’ve been too easy. He would try again after an hour. He was fairly certain that he could upgrade a skill if he had a powerful enough monster to devour. Other thoughts started filling his mind.

“How are we supposed to level without killing someone?”

Red was the one to speak. That startled Mash a little, and he realized that everyone was listening to that question.

“Classes do not level purely through killing.”