Hundreds of zealous shouts rang throughout the altar at the end of the speech. It was like that every year, and each generation Pearl resident has to go through it. They have been taught to fight all their lives, and starting from this day some of them get to face the real thing. Of course, not all of them will be Warriors, but when the need arises, they should all be able to fight.

So each year, a generation has to go to the Golden Altar to choose their career in front of the holy Kami statue and every Royal.

And I knew just what to choose.

Most wanted to become soldiers. Soldiers stood as Garrison or rode at as military patrols who swim around our city, Pearl, looking out for enemy waves, and sometimes distract them to give the garrison enough time to prepare, or to finish up with some other wave. That was the basic strategy. The garrison, though, uses all sorts of weaponry available, including numerous animal species.

Some however, preferred craftsmanship. Blacksmiths were the second most popular career choice, as all the weapons needed to be forged by a special kind of steel that can be later enhanced with the Mother tree light. Only those weapons can hope to damage a demon.

And, lastly, there was the adventurers. They are highly trained in all kinds of arts and masters of survival. As an adventurer, you would explore all the corners of the sea looking for places suitable for settling, you look for demon nests and report the places where demon activity is unusual. Your duty also includes delivering forged weapons to the Mother tree city and back. In your free time you could look for artifacts and any kind of object/species that can be used to win the war.

That was what I dreamed to be since my birth.

You can never be refused to choose a career, however, a bad blacksmith can't expect to be handed out good projects which would result in becoming poor, and so on.

"And so, we shall finally commence the choosing, each Siren will swim up to stand facing his majesty the King, and state the career he wishes to join. He or she will then go to the career's representative on the right"~said the Cleric with his deep elderly voice.

You can sense the excitement and anxiety in the room, as close to 100 youth had to decide their whole future on a decision they would now make.

As I floated there next to my friends waiting for my name to come up, I started to observe the Altar. It was really breathtaking, that something so grand would be made entirely of gold. You could see the vast ceiling decorated in crystal chandeliers and banners. The King, at the far side of the room looking and nodding as each youth stated stood in front of him in turn. He was wearing a gold plated armour, no doubt enhanced by Tree light, and had a silver glowing tail, which was a sign of great power. I awoke from my though when I heard my name being called out by the cleric

"Allen Helkeizer"

I hurried up front, bumping into a couple people on the way. I stood facing the King, and declared my choice loudly, hoping to sound more confident than I felt.

"The adventurers Guild"

I just stood there for a while, staring into the King's eyes, until the clerics' voice broke me out of my trance.

"Kelvin sanders"

I hurried out of the way, standing beside the other soon-to-be adventurers. 

"We have to wait here till all of them are done, don't we?"~I said as one of them sighted, and he seemed even more bored than me, as the excitement faded off.

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"Well since we obviously have nothing better to do, what weapon will you choose? I'm going for a bow"~said a blond guy with a long blue tail. He seemed to be happy most of the time, as he was sending smiles to hot girls all through the ceremony.

"Spear, definitely a spear"~ I said, hoping to pass time with a conversation. And I knew I would be meeting with these guys quite a lot now, so might as well be on good terms.

"Going for reach and precision, huh? I'm still not sure what to choose, I'm stuck between a sword and a hammer" ~said a black haired guy, with a serious look on his face and a dark tail. He seemed alright, but just a little too serious.

"I'm Allen, nice to meet ya"

"Kilroy, same here"~blonde guy

"Trevor"~ black haired-serious dude

At that, we were finally relieved of the ceremony, and we got out of the Altar to meet our new homes.

There was 14 new adventurer this year, the normal amount. Not a lot of people liked to go adventuring, mostly because they would be alone most of the time, and away from their families/friends.

We met up at the Guild, and were asked to bring our weapon with us. I stoop next to trevor, noticing be decided to bring a huge warhammer.

"Alright recruits, I'll make this quick, we need to measure your abilities, skills, potential so we can assign you to your units. Any recruit that gets less than 5/10 on any field will have to stay a year to train until he can pass the test"~ said the Guild master. He looked immensely bored and wanted to get out ASAP

Me and trevor eyed each other, if we failed this, we had to join the leftovers. The ones who worked at farms and mines.

We were all ready after all that waiting. Time to get some action.

We stood at the start of the drill, gripping our weapons, and waiting impatiently to start.

"Every recruit take a trainer. Any serious injury happens and you're out. Call out if you want to escape. That's all, and good luck. GO!"

They appeared, 14 professional adventurers, they held a variety of weapons, and stood with a defensive position.

We launched, each targeting a trainer. Soon I lost track of what was going on around me. It was just me and the trainer.

I thrust, using the monument of my speed, aiming at his chest.

He dodged it, as I knew he would, and I immediately spun around, slicing him with my tail. Turns out, I sliced only empty water. He was already behind me.

He swung his sword at me, and I barely reached my spear in time to block it. I did feel a light cut on my shoulder, but I didn't let it affect me.

I thrust again, lightly so I can recover faster.

He parried it, and I swam underneath him, swinging my spear at his tail.

It hit. It barely hurt, I'm sure, but it hit.

I swam down, expecting a counter. Looking over my shoulder, I saw him gliding at me, and I knew I had no time to dodge or block. I thrust, and hit him just as he hit me. My strength seemed so feeble conpared to his, and I was knocked out cold.

And that was definitely the most embarrassing experience I had, being knocked unconscious on the day that I had been waiting for my entire life.