I paid a few places like YouTube and Pandora to place ads asking for anyone who had awakened special powers in Michigan to apply to my guild. Of course I wasn’t going to just accept everyone but I was more than willing to give everyone a chance.

I used simple tests to see everyone’s ranks along with a personal test of mine using a bit of a special power I obtained toward the end of my life in Iddabus. Holy power.

This allowed me to read a persons alignment and personal beliefs. I was able to see how someone thought about their power and responsibility without worrying about them lying to me. Originally I thought this power would be useless back on Iddabus, but on earth it’s indispensable.

The government at that point had tested a good hundred thousand or so hunters and had a relative baseline for rankings. So far America had eleven S rank hunters not including me. Several hundred A ranks, thousands of B and C ranks, and many people have awakened as simple D, E, and F ranks.

There weren’t too many people who hadn’t awakened in one form or another. But I was still able to sense mana from every person. Perhaps they just couldn’t utilize their power? That gave me a good idea, but that will be for after I get my initial force up and running.

The president had gotten my abilities tested in secret and had assigned me as a National rank hunter, this ranking may change due to how new the system is but this was a tentative rank. Essentially I was given something akin to a SSSS rank. I either maxed out the tests or straight up broke the devices.

They were rudimentary compared to Iddabus’s machines for testing but I didn’t think they were unable to test my ability. As things stand, America sees me as an ally and not a citizen. My powers allow me to compare in might to their whole military, or so they claim.

I personally know I have great strength, but I’m still not sure if I can take on an entire nation by myself. Regardless my power and influence would continue to grow.

With my advertisements out there, I managed to have over a thousand people apply on the first day of applications alone. I hired personnel to run tests, though I had to demonstrate how to do them first.

Testing for my guild was intricate to say the least. Many tests were required, mana, aura, strength, speed, combat, IQ, EQ, and two interviews. Firstly each applicant would need to use the devices I created to see their current output for mana and aura. Next they were expected to go through a gauntlet of lifting exercises from bench press, to dead lift, to squats, and dozens of other strength exercises to test their physical limits.

After all of that they were expected to run five miles wearing some special equipment designed to read their vitals. This would allow us to see how their endurance stacks up. They were also expected to run a one hundred yard dash to show their speed.

Once most of the physical activities were out of the way, they were to take intelligence quotient tests, then immediately after that an emotional quotient test. This allowed me to see if the individual was smart and had situational awareness.

Finally they had an interview with someone I hired to see how they performed with someone that was deemed unimportant, and then they were handed over to me.

The final phase of testing included them fighting summoned monsters. I had mastered many forms of magic, one of them being summoning. I started with weak animals and slowly summoned stronger ones. This allowed me to gauge where they could be expected to perform against real enemies.

After they finished their combat test I would simply ask them what they thought of their entrance test and shake their hand. The handshake wasn’t just a sign of good faith but also the way I initiated the personality test.

I would inject holy power into their body and extract it within one second. They never noticed, it and this allowed me to essentially read their personality. Those with bad personalities that rated over E rank were noted and passed off to the government to keep an eye on. Literally everyone else that wanted to work for me was accepted.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

After only a month of tests I had built up over five thousand awakened to work for me. How could I pay all of them with the meager money I had? Good question.

I had them work for commission. Initially this came with some pushback but I explained how things worked. If you were a combat class you would be paid a flat rate for whatever job you did. Rift clears got paid based on its rank and body guard jobs depended on the client.

If you were a production class then you would get paid a flat rate for each item you produced. While it’s worth is under market price you would have a stable income and wouldn’t have to fight my guild as well as anyone else out there for sales.

Healer class would get paid per patient or rift, tank classes would be paid per job as if they were combat class, and utility class which was the lowest class you could get, would get paid per job based on the client. Utility classes were people who had only learned how to utilize their abilities in very specific ways. Some only managed to create rope out of mana, some only managed to create a sub space for storage. While each of these hunters could be useful, they were generally regarded as trash tier hunters.

The way I ran things was what kept the hunters happy. Clients were just that, clients. The “customer” wasn’t always right, but the hunters weren’t allowed to be unprofessional either. I ran the guild in a military manner. You would respect those above you, and protect and guide those below you.

While the utility classes were seen as trash tier, they weren’t disrespected. They were asked for help on a regular basis and were seen as irreplaceable specialists. The people who saw the utility classes as trash tier were actually the utility classes themselves.

I mean think about it, the world suddenly has superhumans, you awaken your abilities and TADA! You can make magic rope, or you can use a sub space skill. You’re a one trick pony or a pack mule. While your guild mates don’t treat you that easy there’s always that little voice in the back of your head saying “you are a waste of a hunter”.

This along with the growing depression of the unawakened lead to me opening free classes to initiate awakening or even to raise a level. These classes were for the unawakened or the F rank and utility hunters. If everyone had mana, it was a simple matter of learning to manipulate it to become “awakened”.

Damn, I had really packed my schedule full. I had to clear high rank gates at least a few times a week, I had to keep an eye on the guild and a whole, and I had to teach people how to utilize their mana. This wasn’t counting the new classes that were paid for by anyone of E rank and above that claimed to allow you to raise your rank. This may have been too much to take on all at once but I had a semi solution to that problem.

Magic. Magic could solve everything. I could create a clone of myself and split my consciousness between the two. This allowed me to clear dungeons and teach classes at the same time. A small side effect of this was slower response times so sometimes it would take a few seconds before I responded to a question.

Within half a year I had rank one in national guild rankings and most people in Michigan were awakened of one type or another. I was nearing a total takeover of the state of Michigan but I wasn’t sure if that’s quite what I wanted. I just wanted to keep people safe.

All of this was to bring you up to speed on how I became as established as I am and show how the world got to where it is. While Michigan was safe because of my hard work, other states weren’t so lucky. Ohio was turned into a massive monster field due to a large rift break that happened while I was busy clearing a large rift in DC. Many people died but most managed to evacuate to surrounding states.

I’d say it’s a tragedy but I mean, come on, it’s just Ohio. All jokes aside it makes for the perfect location to train my recruits and that’s were I am today. Standing outside the Great Wall that my guild erected around the state of Ohio. With the governments permission we secluded the state and it’s monsters so nobody could get in or out. If we found survivors we would offer them a safe escort out of the state free of charge and help get the settled somewhere else.

Today I had some new recruits as well as a special guest, Sabrina Richman. She was the guild master of “The Immortals” the rank three guild in America and a damn hood mage, all things considered. She was only an A rank mage but held enough firepower to rival S ranks. The mana at her disposal was the only thing holding her back. Why was she with us you might ask? I had agreed that she could see about taking some of my newbies for her guild.

Why would I willingly give up my people? Because I have so many already. There’s only so much we can do in one state and she is stationed in New York. So if new hunters wish to move we have an agreement to allow her to recruit anyone she finds interesting enough. Seems a little one sided but I like her company so I don’t really mind.

“Alright!” I call out to the new recruits, “we’re heading into the monster field. I’m sure many of you remember this place is a hell scape filled with the most depraved beings you can find. But now it’s not so bad seeing as it’s just monsters.”

This got a few chuckles from the nervous hunters, “jokes aside this is Sabrina” I gesture to the short brown haired woman next to me, “for those of you who don’t know she is the guild master of the immortals and is here to recruit you.”

A few murmured questions I intended to answer, “if you wish to move to New York I have no issues with that. My guild is called The Freedom guild for a reason. Go if you wish and I hope you have a blessed time with her and her guild. That is if you get scouted. Now as for what you can expect inside the field is a variety of beasts. Goblins, Orcs, Wolves, and even a few golems. If we were to go all the way to the broken rift you would even get to see an earth dragon but we won’t be going that far.”

A mix of excitement and fear washed over the new recruits as I opened the gate and led them through. The inside at first glance didn’t seem much different than the outside, except for the odd goblin here and there. In the distance you could see small camps of goblins and even the occasional Orc. The new recruits were stiff with anxiety but I smacked the closest one on the back.

“Ow!” They exclaimed.

“Calm down guys, you all can easily candle the enemies we’ll be seeing today.” I assured them, “and just in case things get out of hand i and miss Sabrina are here to protect you.”

The group seemed to resolve themselves and we began to march toward the nearest goblin camp.