Splash

I awoke to a bucket of cold water poured onto me.

"WHA-" I screamed as I jumped off the floor, shivering. "Who the fuck just did that I swe-" I cut myself off once I saw who was holding the bucket. "Of course it is...what do you want?" I said coldly.

"Well first, I'd like you to lose the attitude" Adira scolded me. "Second, you've rested long enough, everyones gone home, clean yourself up and take the rest of the day off." she said while smiling gently.

"Oh, I see. Sorry, but did you really need the bucket of water?" I asked.

"Well, I tried pinching your arm, then punching...then kicking, it's been like twenty minutes, I got tired." she smirked.

"Ha~ Okay, my bad. I'll go home for the day, should I come here same time tomorrow?" I asked while looking away, ashamed.

"No, starting tomorrow you'll be training with someone else, but don't worry I'm sure we'll be seeing each other around." she said as her smile became bitter.

"Oh...I see, well, thanks for everything so far, Adira. I'm going to keep getting stronger and make you proud." I told her.

"Pfft~" she busted out laughing, "Stronger, haha, yeah keep getting stronger. I won't recognize you until you can beat him." she points to a wall with pictures of famous guardians.

"Beat him huh? Well, I guess I'll have to do that then!" I exclaimed while turning around and walking away. I did not want to stay any longer and hear her make fun of me, so I quickly escaped the Arena.

***

KANG KANG KANG KANG

I woke up the following morning to knocking at my door. "Ugh~ why can't I sleep normally for once..." I sighed as I got out of my bed.

"Who is it!?" I screamed while putting on my pants. There was no answer. "Huh? That's suspicious." I thought to myself. I grabbed one of my swords just in case and went to open the door. "Who is i-" I cut myself off as I opened the door and saw who was on the other side. "Stalker..." I muttered under my breath.

"S-stalker? Did you just call me a stalker?" the man on the other side of the door questioned.

"Yeah I did! Stalker!" I pointed my sword at him.

SLAM

Within three seconds the man grabbed onto my collar, twisted the sword out of my hand, and slammed me onto the ground.

"It seems we have to make the heirarchy clear from the get go!" he smirked as he pinned me to the ground.

"HELP POLICE! ADIRA! SOMEBODY!" I screamed in pain.

"H-hey calm down, wait a minute I'm not some sort of weirdo!" he cried as he let me go.

"Let's calm down now everybody!" I felt a firm hand grasp my shoulder, and an unbearable pressure behind it.

"Vernon, you seem energetic this morning, let me introduce you." Gerard said calmly. "This is Jason Locke, he'll be training you for the forseeable future. Treat him kindly."

"Howdy~" Jason said with a devilish smirk.

"H-howdy..." I said back to him.

"Jason Locke," I thought to myself. "He's one of the leaders of the Lyon guild, and one of the top ranking guardians. He looks a lot different than the pictures in the arena." I continued to ponder.

"Sorry about earlier, I may have misunderstood a few things." I said to him. "I didn't recognize you from your photo, so I thought you were some creep that kept popping up. Haha~" I joked.

"I...I see. Well, anyways, let's get past that. Starting today you're training with me. It'll be a bit different than with Adira, so prepare yourself thoroughly." he said in a serious manner.

With those words I began to prepare myself. I grabbed my two swords, as I have not decided which one I prefer to use yet, and I put on my training gear.

"Alright, I am ready to go." I said sternly.

"Maybe I should have been a bit more clear, we're going out to the fields today, so you're gonna need to put on your best armor. Can't have you dying on me on the first day." Jason said in a joking manner.

"Fields? Armor? I don't have any armor..." I said to him.

"Ugh...Adira really?" he said to himself while rubbing the side of his head. "Okay, first things first then, lets go get you some armor." he said to me.

We headed out to the Dome once again, this time we would be staying on the outer rim of the Dome where the shops were. Jason brought me to a shop at the furthest end of the shopping district.

There was a small sign at the front that read "Below Earth".

Woosh

The first thing that greeted us when we entered the shop was a wave of extreme heat, and the clanging of metal.

Bang Bang

Jason knocked a metal door as hard as he could. "Oi~ Old man, you have guests, don't you think you're being a bit rude." He said towards the door.

Slam!

The door swung open and hit the wall.

"Which one of you young sacks of- Oh...it's you." the older gentleman said to Jason.

"Sup~" he said back to the man.

"What are you doing here so early, don't you see I'm busy?" he replied. "And who is this?" he questioned.

"I'm here to help this kid get his first set of armor, it's his first time out on the field, so bring out something decent." Jason said to the man. "Ah, and this here's Vernon." he said.

"Sup~" I said.

"Hah! Sup? Show some respect to the elderly!" the older gentleman yelled, with veins bulging out of his muscles.

"Vernon, this old geezer here's name is Borear Strongthane, the greatest blacksmith you'll ever meet!" Jason exclaimed.

"Ugh. Yes that's me, Borear. So you need a new set of armor, come here so I can take your measurements." he says, then he looks at Jason. "And it won't be cheap." he said proudly.

"It never is old man, it never is." Jason joked.

After this brief exchange, Borear took my measurements. Borear was an older gentleman, on the shorter side, he had a long black and grey beard, with long, braided, black hair. He also had very large muscles from a lifetime of smithing.

"Alright, measurements complete. I have a set of armor that should fit him with some adjustments, give me an hour and it will be ready." Borear said to us.

"Alright pops, see ya in a bit!" Jason said as he dragged me by the arm.

"Hey, I'm not sure if this is rude or not, but...is he, well you know, human?" I asked him.

"Haha, so you could tell huh?" he said as if not surprised. "Borear is a bit of a special case. He came from the fissure many years ago, he's what we would call a dwarve, of the dwarven race." Jason continued to explain. "You see, things right now aren't as black and white as they seem. Not everything or everyone that comes from the fissure is deemed a threat. Borear is an exception, when he came to our world he vowed to fight alongside us, there are many like him." he finished.

"I see, I kind of had a feeling it was like that but I didn't want to make things awkward, thanks for the info~" I replied.

"Yeah, trust me as you go out into the field, and outside of the human realm, you'll realize how things really are." he said solemnly.

"Gotcha..." I replied. "So what do we do now that we have to wait?" I asked him.

"What else?" he said as we entered the inner rings of the Dome.

"Let's spar a bit." he smirked.

"All of a sudden I have to use the restroom! Haha!" I said as he grabbed me from the collar of my shirt.

"Not so fast, if you gotta go to the bathroom I'll just beat the shit out of you." Jason said ominously. Gulp

The sound of me gulping for my life could probably be heard throughout the Dome, probably. Either way, I was now getting ready to spar against Jason. The spar is without weapons, hand to hand only, no mana abilities. You could say I was at an extreme disadvantage.

"You ready?" Jason asked.

"As ready as I can be." I replied.

"Hah!" he shouted as he rushed towards me. He dove towards me when he got close and speared me to the ground. As we hit the ground he spun with his left arm on the ground and his legs in the air like a windmill to get to my right arm. He immediately put me into an armbar and forced me to tap out.

"1-0." he said out loud.

I lay on the ground gasping for air as he prepares for the next round. I pull myself back up and get into a defensive stance.

"Ready?" he said once again.

"Ready!" I scream. "Hah!" I dashed towards him and immediately jumped when I was in range, using all my force I pointed both legs towards the pit of his stomach. He spun to my right, easily dodging my drop kick. In one swift motion he grabbed me from my collar and threw me to the ground. I instantly felt all the air leave my lungs.

"2-0, you have a long way to go." he smirked.

"Hah, hah...Again." I said while gasping for air.

"Hm? Interesting...Okay, get up." he replied.

I struggled as I stood up, and once again was in my defensive stance. This time it wouldn't be a faint, I have to play this smarter if I want a chance at victory.

"Hah!" he yelled, signifying the start of the third round.

Jason shifted his legs foward, closing the distance between us. He jabbed using his right hand three times while blocking his face with his left hand. I blocked his punches using my forearms. Jason then tried to use his left leg to sweep my legs, but I dodged backwards and hunched down. I then dove forwards using all my weight to bring him to the ground. To my surprise he held me in place while struggling to stop from hitting the ground. He then tried to pick me up wrapping his arms around my back, while I was still at his chest with my arms wrapped around him to push him down. As he began to pick me up, I shifted my weight to pull myself back down. I then grabbed his collar as I dropped down, using the momentum to drop him to the ground with me. Finally, I pinned him to the ground from behind, and locked his right arm behind his back. After a minute of struggling he tapped out.

"Hah- 1-2, Hah, hah." I said while catching my breath. To my surprise, he hadn't even broken a sweat. "This guy...He was going easy on me." I thought to myself.

"Okay, it has been about an hour so lets start heading back to the shop." He said while gathering his things.

We then made our way back to the shopping district and into the "Below Earth".

"Yo!" Jason belted.

"Ah, back so soon. I'm almost done, need one more thing. Kid, what's your affinity like?" Borear asked me.

"My mana affinity? It seems to be light with a bit of fire. At least, that's what the analysis told me." I told him.

"Oh! I see. What an interesting fellow. If that's the case, then how about I attune this armor with a magic core. It's hard to find mana cores with light mana since most creatures aren't attuned with it. So, how about a fire attuned mana core?" he asked me.

"Well, I'm not sure since I'm new to this, what should I do Jason?" I asked.

"Eh, the F.C.F. is paying for it so you might as well, and a fire core imbued armor will make you stronger anyways. I'm sure they'll be fine with it, probably." he said while looking aloof.

"Okay, then I guess we can do that. Thank you!" I said to Borear.

"Hoh! So you do have some manners. Well give me a moment." He said as he took out a small monster core. Light began to shine as he imbued his own mana into the armor, created a link between it and the core. He then placed the core into a socket at the chest of the armor, it shone for a moment and then set in place. A warm breeze could be felt from the mana coming from the armor momentarily.

"When you wear this armor, imbue your mana into it to create a link between yourself and the core. Once you do this any time you spend mana the core will activate, which will empower any of your attacks. The armor will also release a warm aura, which will be good for you if you're ever fighting in a colder climate. Since it's linked to you it won't ever increase your body temperature past the normal degree. And with that longwinded explanation, my job here is done! Hoho!" he laughed heartily.

"Thank you once again, I'll wear it with pride!" I exclaimed while holding my new armor. It fit perfectly and allowed me to move freely. It was a dark, almost obsidian black, with a fiery red gloss. It covered my chest with a hard-plated material, and the abdomen had a chainmail like material. Jason also got me a pair of plated boots of the same color, they were comfortable to wear, but didn't have any notable properties.

I waved goodbye one last time as we left to the fields. We got into Jason's car, an SUV with a cream white exterior and a beige interior.

"So before we get to the fields I'm going to brief you on a few things. First, never leave my sight, these fields are some of the weaker ones, but things don't always work out." he explained.

"Second, always be aware and alert of potential monster attacks. Our goal here is simply to help clear the field on the way to the dungeon. This field is a D ranked field, it's a bit above your level but since I'm here it will be fine. Lastly, if for some reason things go bad, which they won't, run. Don't worry about me, I'm strong." he proclaimed.

I had an ominous feeling once he said that, but I got over it and replied. "Got it, I won't slow you down or get in your way."

And with that we arrived at the D ranked field, "The Forest of Greed".

***