The 5 top guilds in Cesnax, The Jesters, Guardians, Demoniacs, Heaven's Blade and the Predators. All 5 Guild leaders were present with their vice. Which Silas finally understood the other S-Ranked members were hiding their pressence, it took a while to detect them because they were in plain clothes but they were able to even avoid the Lord of Thorn's Knowledge ability.

"Silas Ryan. Out of everyone here. You're the only one who has experience. Would you care to participate in a training match against one of our F-Ranks?" Silas was thinking about it. In terms of stats alone, it was different. This particular F-Rank had an average of 100 in Stats. Wielding a sword and shield, a Paladin Apprentice.

"Sure." Silas was invited as the students who became Hunters cleared the halls, moving to the side as Silas was now facing an F-Rank from the Predators. An F-Rank with Rare equipment. Silas held the Gates bat, but he was also considering his options, but also knows that there was a possibility that the Guild Leaders wanted to observe the spirit and powers of the newly inducted Hunters.

The F-Rank Silas was going to duel was known as Pierre who was ready to go. Taller than Silas and his physique suited the use of a sword and shield. A heavy hitter and tank class who was able to take the brunt of all the assaults in F-Rank class dungeons. They might level up. The S-Rank leader of the Jesters, Margen walked on over to Silas, putting a pin on his chest. A spectacled man who wore a furcoat over his shoulders, looking into Silas's eyes.

"Don't be intimidated. This is just a standard duel, this pin will stop the fight if there's any danger. Just fight the best you can. We want to show a difference between an experienced F-Rank and an inexperienced F-Rank."

"I'll keep that in mind." Margen patted Silas's shoulder as he walked back to join the other Guild Leaders.

"Begin!" Silas took a deep breath as he looked at Pierre who held his shield forward. Silas took the first step, dashing straight at Pierre. Pierre had used a skill 'Noblesse Oblige'.

'Status: Speed Debuff 20%.' That threw Silas's plan out the window of going in with a frontal assault. He had other weapons at his disposal but would it be alright? It would be safer to keep using the Gates set but it's not a weapon set he'd like to use unless he needs to.

Pierre took initiative, swinging his sword in a flurry of fast and hard hitting attacks. Silas could only dodge it, when he took the first blow it was enough to remind him that a frontal assault was a horrible idea.. His only strategy was to go for attacks from the back when Pierre had swung his sword downwards. He can't recover that fast to evade a strike.

Silas attempted his plan, only to be stopped by a barrier that was layered in Pierre's armor. The attack bounced off, as Pierre swung his blade upwards. Grazing Silas's cheeks.It made sense why Pierre was a tank. He also had another barrier in place. That was brilliantly executed. He first needed to break that barrier, but he doesn't have a lot in magic to use. His options were far more limited now than they were before. Yet, Silas was enjoying this fight.

The S-Ranks were observing Margen could see the uneasiness on the Guardian's Guild Leader's face. The Paladin who wielded a halberd in scarlet and orange armor was glaring at Pierre.

"What's wrong, Loren?" Margen wanted to see why.

"Pierre's a tank and he's fighting against a Grunt. He's even struggling, the barrier that Pierre had was discovered too quickly. It's not a barrier that works all the time, it was a barrier that stops heavy blows from striking him."

"Ah. So you're saying that Silas kid is experienced? The Association said he was in his first dungeon yesterday."

"He's a lot stronger than that. I had the pleasure to meet with his group. Bradley from Nelson's orphanage. They told me that they faced a Decaying Minotaur and he was beating its bones. Leaping to the head, beating it up and pulling its eye out. He kept beating the minotaur until it was staggered. Even picking up that the Decaying Minotaur's bones could stop blades at a certain sharpness." Loren had a point, Margen turned to the other Guild Leaders who were discussing about the fight. They were clearly sharing the same sentiment.

Silas waited for an opportunity where he used a magic skill to combine fire and ice. Creating a misty explosion that caused Pierre to focus on clearing his senses. The close range explosion was not meant to damage Pierre, it was meant as a deterrent to stop Pierre from keeping track of his position. The mist cleared within the next second, where Silas was on top of Pierre, swinging the bat to the helmet a couple of times. Pierre was trying to wrestle Silas off, but the weight of his armor and the lack of flexibility meant that he was taking the blows without any chance to put Silas away. Silas then stopped, where he got off Pierre, who noticed his pin had activated.

He heard a clap from the 5 Guild Leaders, then the rest of the crowd began to clap for his performance. A shower of praises came to his path, where Silas took a moment to enjoy a brief reprieve. The entire ferocity that was shown was far more dangerous than anything he had seen.

"It seems I need more training."

"Try practicing with assassins. They can climb on your back and attempt to attack you at the slits of your neck. If I had a knife I would have used that instead, but I only use a bat for now.."

"Hmm... I never thought about that. Why would you suggest that?" Pierre was not offended, instead wanting to understand the strategy.

"It's something I read about nimble enemies. I have read about Hunters who were tanks take damage because of strikes from nimble enemies that climb on the armor to strike the gaps in the neck. Or an arrow that can make it through the gap. So I thought I'd try that." Pierre turned to Loren who gave him a nod. The audience's attention turned elsewhere as the sight of an S-Rank walking over to the field was seen.

Margen then stepped to the field, putting on his pair of gloves as a pair of grimoire's float by his side. Was Silas going to be ready for this fight?

"Silas Ryan. How about a match with me?" That caught the attention of the media who reporters who were broadcasting the fights.

"Is it fine if I pass?"

"I believe that you're stronger than your rank suggests. Now I'd like to see you fare against a magic user like myself." Silas scratched the back of his head. This was going to be difficult and it was going to be trickier because Margen's stats were at the thousands, and the amount of power that Margen had was higher than Chairwoman Maya Lee's stats. His options were already limited and he felt his stamina wavering bit by bit.

"Margen!? What's the meaning of this?" Loren raised his voice.

"I'm sure you know, Loren. There's something about him that bothers me and the fact that an F-Rank who has Pierre's stats, losing to him that easily. What we wanted as a means to show difference has clearly turned to a mistake." Margen said as he put on a pin for himself.

Silas was trying to get away, but Margen was serious about it. That glare was of a man searching for answers. There's no point in running. Well, Silas can humor Margen for a bit. He would prefer to fight as his other self, the Lord of Thorns and not as Silas Glenn but that's not a bad thing.

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"Midnight Squall." Silas said as they see a black metal coffin appear, a skeleton that crossed its arms over to the shoulders was seen. Silas put the bat in front of the skeleton where it grabbed the bat and sucked it into the coffin. Silas scratched his head for a moment, thinking about what would work against Margen to force Margen to back away. Midnight Squall was a weapon coffin, but it was mainly used as a means for Silas to swap weapons without his alter ego being detected. He can't win with his current stats, and if he did. It would be too much attention on him. Just planning to focus on a normal life. Then again, perhaps this is the norms of this world.

Silas looked at the eyes of the skeleton of Midnight Squall glowing brightly, the jaws began to chatter away. Unveiling a large pistol, one modeled after the Preaching Magnums that belonged to Coffin Dancer. Silas loaded the 15 round magazine, slotting it beneath the barrel.

"You won't mind if I use this as a shield right?"

"Of course not. It is an interesting weapon set. Now are you ready?"

"Don't expect much.I doubt this gun can even damage you at all." Silas said as he stood behind Midnight Squall.

"Begin!" Silas was peeking out with the pistol, then he hid right back as an intense flame was burning through to his position. The flames were deadly, the high heat was draining Silas's magic completely because of the effect of these flames. It was not damaging him but the heat was sucking away bits of Silas's stamina.

'Status : Mana Burns - Attacks of this type damages mana instead of health, withering down opponents first.' A tedious attack, as Silas was being struck by multiple flames. He was going to risk it, peeking from above. Firing a couple of shots that Margen evaded with ease. He was holding back, which Silas was not surprised. If the flames were already this fierce, there could be more but if it was used the people in the hall would be burning up.

The few shots grazed Margen's cheeks but he was unfazed. Calm and collector. The title of Super Computer Magus was no joke. Near instantaneous spell casting and he was able to use multiple spells at once. Unleashing ice to the floor which was slowly creeping up to his body, Silas then climbed up Midnight Squall. Firing off a few shots, then he leaped into the air as Midnight Squall launched a magazine to Silas's hand. Loading another one as he tried to close the distance. Blasting off an intense flame that was going to swallow Silas whole. The large smoke blanketed the ceiling.It did but not enough to force the pin to push Silas back, crashing to the ground, Silas then pointed his pistol at Margen who smirked. The barrel was glowing with a white aura, Silas pulled the trigger. Where the bullet was stopped by Margen's grimoire.

"I will take it as my loss. You've exceeded my expectations, Silas. You have intuition and creativity. Always thinking outside the box. It's not easy to catch me off guard. How would you like to join the Jesters?" Margen offered his hand to help Silas up.

"I'll pass. Thanks for the offer though." Silas said as he dusted off the soot from his body, even wiping the dirt over his face.

"No need for that. I apologize if I was a bit rough with you but it confirmed to me that you'll be a splendid Hunter." The dirt and the damage from the fights had vanished from Silas's body.

"Thanks." Silas said to Margen who nodded to him then heading back to join the other Guild Leaders.

"You're crazy, Margen. He's just a kid!" Loren's criticisms were fair but Margen did not seem to mind it.

"But I was right. He's a fighter who thinks outside the box and that pistol? It left a crack in a Divine Grimoire." They looked at the damaged grimoire floating to Margen's side. The cover had cracked and even the spine of the grimoire suffered damage.

"His equipment isn't normal. That's for sure. That's no simple bat and that's no simple gun. we'll need to keep an eye on him and even though I offered him to join us, he just didn't think about it. We'll have to talk to Master. He'll want to hear about this. So how's your raid Loren? You sending the new team of A Ranks to a new dungeon right?" Margen asked.

"Yeah. I hope they'll be fine. I might be worrying too much but I trained them myself and I get all emotional if things go wrong." Loren's woes were heard by the others, Silas was hearing all this by an earshot. The exhibition battles continued where Silas watched Loren and Margen face off against one another.

Two titans of the country facing one another. A mage against a Paladin. Two highly profficient magic users, Loren's weapon was that of a metal fan. He wasn't a combat type like the others, but a buffer and debuffer whose power relies on faith. Faith in one's self and faith in allies. Faith in achieving Victory. Yet, Silas could not help but see that if his Servants of Thorns faced them. The Servants would win without much effort because of how amplified their powers were.

The fight began with Loren swinging the fan at Margen's direction, debuffing the efficiency of Margen's attack. Doubling mana cost for spells and another debuff to lower Margen's attack power by 50%. A mage's weapon is mainly magic, but that didn't mean that Margen was out of options. The grimoires themselves began unleashing magic missiles. They don't count as magic attacks despite the name. Silas could see the power that was present, there was no debuffs to it.

Loren swung his metal fan to break the magic missile attack. Then closing in, a few swings of the metal fan had Margen on defense as the grimoire erected barriers. The fight between the two titan's were much more different than what Silas had seen. Both of them were grinning beneath their masks. The fight was stopped by the other 3 S-Ranks, Silas could see why. The intensity of the fight was already damaging the floor, leaving large cracks in them. The audience paraded them with a wave of claps that were akin to actors receiving awards on stage.

The Training Grounds explanation was underway, to explain the different types of Hunters and to establish multiple variations of Hunters with varying classes. The 5 Guild Leaders and their Vice Leaders will act as lecturers on their offtime. Surprisingly the university found it shocking that the Dean of the Faculty of Business was a member of the Jesters. The Vice Leader, Associate Professor Emerich. He always wore a mask during his dungeons that earned the nickname 'Laughing Clown' which when he used his powers he would be laughing in combat. An odd gimmick but the laughter debuffs enemies and puts them in a state of confusion.

For the Guardian's gate, Silas thought of something. The 5 Guild Leaders were surprisingly welcoming and they gave an in depth explanation to the classes. Everyone starts out as different things according to base stats. Grunts are the weakest by default, but Margen gave a lecture on understanding what a class excels and what a class fails to do.

"I was never a mage at the start. I was a ranger. I sucked at using bows and slowly when my master suggested I take magic. I spent leveling up to add more points into my INT. So I managed to start out as a mage. Then slowly building up the stats I need. I may be a Magus but my speed is similar to an assassin when I'm running or moving about. Don't think strength is everything, as you've all seen before. Silas who is a Grunt was able to dodge my attacks and strategized his way through the fights. When you fight always have a strategy, always understand your opponents. In fights when the opponent is not known. You will need to learn their weaknesses by doing all that you have. Every enemy has a set of buffs and debuffs, debuff them enough or break their resistances and you will be fine." Margen explained to the newly inducted Hunters.

At this point, Silas's popularity was soaring as he was the first in the Hunter Training Classes to be called out. To answer questions on weaknesses of enemy types, what's his strategy against a certain type of enemy. Though there was another person who showed promise.

Caroline Lee, who was known in campus as the princess of the campus grounds. Fashion was one of her strong suits. The trend setter and her class was Songstress, something that suited her considering of her career as a cover artist that has gained hundred thousands of fans world wide. Now being a Hunter. Cheerful and no matter who it was, she'd never scorn or shoo them away.

Silas could not help but see the bits of resemblance to Joshua's innocent side. A faint resemblance, was she naive? Was she someone who was sheltered all her life? Perhaps. Silas brushed away those thoughts as he went for his next class. Ending up sitting next to Caroline. They were in the same course after all. Silas could see the glares from everyone else as he took his seat.

Jotting down notes, Caroline was focused in class. Even the circular framed glasses were cute on her, silky hazel hair that occasionally due to the fan blowing from the right side. Would blow some of her hair on Silas's face. When looking at hair that seems to be smooth as silk, one would expect that it would be like that.

Alas, reality is cruel. It felt like Caroline's hair was just slapping his face a couple of times. It felt like a light tap and Silas put on a pair of sunglasses to stop it from poking his eye. It seems that despite his strenght, anything poking the eyes still hurts. Especially when eyelashes decide to jump into the eye like a cannonball in a swimming pool.

Silas was thinking about Loren's team. Well, if that's an issue. then why not solve it?

"Ace. Get your team ready. I need the Crimson Reapers at their best. Have you gotten your updated weapons from Bellwitch?"

"Yes, Lord. Crimson Reapers are standing by. What do you need?"

"There's an A Rank team of Hunters. Stay in observation until it is necessary to help them. I've pinpointed the location based on Loren's Paladins that match the profiles of A-Ranks. Team of 15. Void Dancers, Daemon Punishers. I'm sending you to aid another A-Rank Hunter team. Stay in the shadows until it is necessary to make your appearance."

"Understood." Silas used telepathy to reach them. Now to just wait for the next phase.