Lisette had Jaeger practice with the chains after a few more moments of discussion. Summoning them was relatively easy, he just had to focus on them like with the analysis card. It felt strange the first time they appeared, rising from his wrist to his elbow. At first, they just appeared, then dropped limply, hanging from his arms. But slowly he figured out how to manipulate them.
After a few hours, he had a good understanding of how they worked. The chains had a physical presence once summoned and could be used as a weapon, but they excelled at catching and holding things. When he whipped them at a dummy, they wrapped around it, gaining more length, and soon he had five feet of chain wrapped around the dummy and at least that in chain from his arm to the dummy. Figuring out how to unwrap things was harder but doable; the real problem was in detaching them. He spent most of the training time trying to do that.
Finally, in a moment of frustration, Jaeger had the chains around his arms and angrily threw his arms out. The chain flew off and wrapped around poor Lisette. The chain had hit her and completely wrapped her body, tying her in five lines of chain from her chest to her feet.
“Jaeger get these off me.”
He rushed to help, not quite sure how. The chains had no conventional beginning or end, they looked like a single piece of chain. As the two of them tried to figure out how to get it off, a headache began to build in Jaeger's head. Slowly it grew until he had to take a step back. As he did that seemed to be a breaking point as the chains around Lisette broke and the headache in Jaeger's head exploded.
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“Up. Wake up. Oh, please don't be dead. You have so much potential for this world, don't die yet, Jaeger. Dammit Lisette, you've really messed this up. Maybe people were right, you're a princess.” Barely audible. “Maybe I shouldn't be training people.”
Jaeger slowly came to, his head aching terribly. And it was not helped by the constant shaking and loud talking above him. He opened his eyes to find Lisette pacing around him, talking to herself? Turning his head, he confirmed it. Yes, she was talking to herself. He moved to a sitting position, his vision swimming as he moved too quickly.
“You’re awake! That’s great, I knew you weren’t dead.”
Lisette hurried over to him, relief written all over her face. She knelt down beside him and began to examine him, asking if anything was wrong, different, or injured.
“Yes, I have a headache and I'm exhausted.”
She nodded sagely before wiping her hands on her trousers and standing up.
“Well, now we know what a contest of Will looks like and the aftermath of your loss. From my side I was pushing against the chains both physically and mentally. One moment I was struggling, the next I was free and you went down.”
“I didn't feel any of that, I just got a headache that slowly grew until it exploded. It seemed to get worse when I was distracted trying to help you. As I began to focus on you and not the chains, the headache began to build more and more.”
“Helping me was a distraction for you, that's fair. While it's not too clear what Will is, it's clear that distractions and loss of focus can cause it to go down. At least in relation to these contests.”
The headache began to ease as Jaeger pushed himself to his feet.
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“When a test of Will is called for, I better not lose focus. This has been a good practice; pain is the best trainer for this kind of thing. Thank you, Lisette.”
He walked over to the counter where his equipment was stored. He donned his armor and holstered his weapons. With that done, he began to do some small exercises to get used to them again; to adjust to the magical transformation of the firearms. When he was satisfied, Jaeger turned to Lisette.
“Well I think I’m all done here right? If so, I’d like to get my badge, certificate or whatever.”
“Okay, follow me.”
With a smile on her face, Lisette took Jaeger back to the room they'd started in. She sat him down, then went back to a cabinet. Moments later she returned with a small plaque and a badge.
“We have two options for you. You can have a plaque or a badge; they do the same thing, it's more of a vanity choice. Pick one and we'll move on.”
They were both blank, in fact the only difference was in size and shape. The plaque was a rectangle and slightly larger than the vaguely circular badge, but the badge looked like something he could pin to his coat. Jaeger thought about it before he picked it up, he didn't want to risk losing the plaque in his backpack or pockets. As he picked it up, it changed in his hands. From a blank space it slowly filled with his name, his class, and then a symbol. The symbol was a sword, a spear and an axe crossing each other on a shield. Once it was filled in, his status appeared.
Name
Jaeger ‘The Hunter’ Darkblade
Class
Bounty Hunter
Adventurer Rank
Novice
Level
7
Health Points
230
Magic Points
180
Physical
23
Mental
18
Social
15
Luck
17
Reputation
Adventuring Outworlder
It also had a small portrait of his face on it. He frowned.
“I don't feel comfortable with all of this information just sitting out there in the open.”
“No one does, but it is important because how else are you going to check your stats? This is one of the advantages of guilds. This little beauty will keep track of your status and rank. Channel magic into it if you wish to hide your stats.”
Jaeger did just that, and the badge stopped projecting his full status. The base badge showed only his name, class, rank, reputation, and emblem.
“Why is my reputation still visible? And what’s this emblem?”
“A reputation is an indicator of your standing in the world. If you do something heinous or something beyond heroic, it will reflect that. The Adventurers' Guild keeps track of that, because if your reputation is negative, we offer ways to fix it, unless it's really bad, in which case we offer a quick exit from the guild. If it's very positive, that's good too. Your class also seems to affect or be affected by your reputation, I'm sorry I don't know enough about Bounty Hunters to say more than that.”
Lisette motioned with her hand to see his badge, and after a moment of thought, Jaeger handed it to her. She read it before handing it back.
“Adventuring Outworlder is a nice neutral reputation, it's just a clear description of what you are. Do a few more good, bad, or neutral things and it will fill out. The emblem represents the Adventurer's Guild, now everyone will know you're a part of us. No questions asked. You'll have access to most towns and benefits. The last thing you need to do is hold the badge to your heart.”
She motioned with her hands, bringing them to her chest. Jaeger furrowed his brow, but after a few 'get on with it' motions from her, he brought the badge to his heart. Where it flowed into his body with a slight tingle.
“And that's how you put your badge away, after you get used to it, you can call it right into your hand and put it away the same way. But this way will always work, no matter what clothes or armor are in the way. I suggest you practice a few times, and when you're ready, I'll take you downstairs and we'll get you started on the bounty hunt.”