While waiting for Jameson’s call, I practically trained my heart out. There was a certain amount of pressure I was feeling but it lessened as I threw my focus into Penelope’s Dance. I was both joyful and a bit dejected when I felt I had reached a bottleneck so to speak. I felt the only way to get past it would be to experience real combat so I patiently refined the moves I learned so far.

For every few hours of training, I would also practice my rune inscription on paper. Of course, I didn’t use my blood each time, I just dipped my finger into a bit of paint and wrote out the signs until they were steady.

And, because I couldn’t help myself, I planned ahead of time what I would purchase from the nameless book. I know it was counting my cards before the game was over, or however that figure of speech went, but I really couldn’t stop myself.

As of now, I would purchase Bone Mending and then upgrade my Rune Inscription after. From there on, I had to decide whether I should continue grabbing more abilities or advance the Death Bringer path.

I rotated the halberd, letting it roll over my shoulders before transitioning from using two hands to one hand with a few spins. The entire time, I moved my feet subconsciously, easily maneuvering around my narrow living room.

My appreciation of martial artists and fighters grew immensely as I discovered the difficulty of striking and moving simultaneously. I had to memorize the moves of Penelope’s Dance in order to perform them without thinking which gave me a sense of accomplishment when I finally could.

Another thing I had to think about was the Bone Restructuring, I knew firsthand that my skeleton had been altered but I’m sure that my tendons were strengthened with it as well.

I stopped everything as my phone began ringing. It was a number I had never seen before but I answered it anyway with high expectations.

“Hello?”

[Casper? It’s me, Jameson.]

“Yes?” I replied while suppressing my smile.

[...Well, things have changed a bit. Originally, I would’ve been calling you to tell you we’re on for tomorrow but we’ve been bumped up the list for Ruin Clearing. I was a bit against it but everyone voted to go for today. Are you up for it?]

“Yeah, no problem.”

[Okay, hold on, I’m sending the location. See you there.]

Jameson ended the call with that while I quickly searched up the address. It wasn’t very close, but it wouldn’t even take an hour to get there.

I quickly got ready before packing my weapon and combat suit into their cases. I called for a taxi as I made sure everything was accounted for before heading out.

…

Elsewhere, in a very, dim, business-like conference room, a group of men and women in suits directed their attention toward a screen that took up an entire wall where an almost exact image was replicated on three different screens. The only difference between the people shown beside their looks were the different colored banners that hung in the background.

It was a meeting between some of the most powerful guilds in the world and the one hosting it was none other than the Sleeping Lion guild.

“Our joint exercise resulted in a complete annihilation of our members due to the sudden change in the Ruin. Since my Sleeping Lion guild was the one who suggested it, we will compensate everyone fairly for the people that were lost that day.” The head of the Sleeping Lion guild spoke, his appearance was barely discernible due to the low-light, but his voice commanded respect and obedience.

“You of all people should understand that compensation is meaningless to all of us. People can be replaced but a loss of reputation is not so easily handled.” The leader of the Eternal Sword guild, a woman spoke. As a guild only second to Sleeping Lion, she had more than enough qualifications to press for more answers.

The other guilds, Red Owl and Faithful Arrow, simply sat on the sidelines.

“I’m aware of that and that is why I ask for more patience as our investigation comes to a close.” The Sleeping Lion guild leader replied.

“You mean to say you haven’t found anything out about the Gifted who worked with the corpse recovery team?”

“We are very aware of Casper Clay, but it is extremely unlikely that he recovered some mysterious artifact that our teams could not. We’ve thoroughly gone through his background and monitored his activity. Other than searching for information about ruins and known gifts, he hasn’t shown signs of attempting to sell or find out more about an artifact.”

“Oh? Is that really all?” The Eternal Sword guild leader let her doubt be known.

“It seems that he has shown signs of having a gift since adolescence but it was misinterpreted as a mental illness and a result, he had been taking a very strong anti-psychotic which suppressed it. His awakening coincidentally matched up with the timing of the Ruin because he apparently stopped taking his medication.”

“And what exactly is the nature of his gift? I’m sure that the Emerian Government was more than happy to cooperate in order to resolve it.”

“Apparently, his gift deals with Necromancy, judging by his own words in the report. Before you ask, his RES is only class two so it is very unlikely he can raise the dead.”

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“Necromancy?”

Along with Eternal Sword, the other guilds began whispering upon hearing about a gift that was one of a kind. As expected of people who basically owned a corporate army of superhumans, they began calculating all types of usage for someone with a gift relating to necromancy.

“Since all of you will be keen on investigating him, some of my analysts expect him to have an evolving gift. As you know, those who show signs of having gifts in their adolescence usually produce astounding gifts. In addition, he seems to be a close-range fighter based on his own description, so I do not believe he'll have an army of undead at his command.”

“But, as you’ve said, his gift was suppressed by medicine. Do you think he still would have the same potential?”

“If you’re asking for my personal opinion, I can’t say for certain but he is definitely worth keeping an eye on. We’ll monitor his progress during the coming months and update you all with information. As a sign of good faith, if he is indeed someone worth scouting, we will be the very last to make a proposal.”

No guild appeared to be dissatisfied with the arrangement, especially since evolving gifts were one in a million.

“Now moving on…”

The guilds shifted discussions onto a variety of topics and their interest in Casper became nothing but an incredibly small detail to keep an eye on. He was one of the thousands of people the guilds actively sifted through each day and if he failed to become exceptional, there would be no real surprise or disappointment.

…

I thought about my personal experience with ruins while on my way to meet with Jameson’s group. Even when I worked as a Corpse Collector and retrieved the remains of the dead, there were some places I wasn’t allowed to go since I was an ordinary person. I had never entered a ruin above class two. From class three and on, the ruin became its own confined space. There was even a theory that class five ruins and above were like different worlds due to time dilation and the peculiar nature of the space inside.

Speaking of, once you were in a class three ruin, you could not exit as you pleased as all hostile life needed to be cleared. As a result, there were many missing people who were assumed to be dead.

“This your stop?” The driver interrupted my thoughts.

“Ah, yeah.” I handed him the money I owed him before climbing out of the car and retrieving my cases from the trunk.

As soon as I shut the trunk, he wasted no time in leaving which was understandable. Not many people wanted to be near ruins in case it suddenly spewed a tide of monsters out.

I took a deep breath and approached the perimeter, showing a guard my ID and entering.

“It almost feels like the first day of primary school,” I mumbled as I spotted a group of men and women sitting in an open lounge area.

“There he is!” Jameson waved me over with clear enthusiasm.

Having three other people stare at me made me a bit anxious as I didn’t want to make the wrong impression.

“I hope I’m not late.” I grinned.

“Not at all, we only just arrived,” Jameson replied before anyone else could speak.

Excluding Jameson, there was a young woman with blonde hair who held an air of self-importance around herself, I guess she was the class three mage. Then, there was a short-haired man with the physique of a bodybuilder. His shirt almost threatened to rip if he flexed his muscles too much.

Lastly, there was a girl with brown hair tied in a ponytail that seemed to be the calmest of the group.

“Ooh, he has a nice face,” She said, instantly causing me to take back what I was thinking.

“Okay, everyone already knows about you, Casper, I’ll introduce them,” Jameson said, pointing toward everyone one at a time, “Sophia there is the only class three here, and she’s a mage on top of that.”

The blonde woman with an unwelcoming attitude was a class three, just like I assumed.

“Grant is going to be protecting Sophia along with you.”

The guy who was more muscle than man was Grant, check.

“And Emma is a frontline attacker, along with me.”

“Nice to meet all of you,” I said as introductions finished.

“If we’re done with all of that, could we get started?” Sophia asked impatiently.

“Sure, let’s get changed.” Jameson gestured toward the equipment station where we would put on our gear.

Under normal circumstances, Gifted didn’t walk around in combat gear with swords or shields. Unless a ruin overflowed, it was common practice to bring your gear to the ruin site and equip it there.

I entered the room and zipped up my basic combat suit before strapping the leather armor over it. And after assembling my halberd, I stepped out.

Maybe because I had been practicing putting my equipment on for the past few days, I was the first out followed by Sophia who wore a dark green robe.

“You’re with a guild?” I asked aloud.

I thought it would be awkward to just stand around silently so I made an attempt to build some camaraderie.

“Yes, The Sacred Branch guild.” She pointed to a brooch pinned to her chest that depicted a small tree of some kind. “And, unless, you have a magic gift that is class two or above, we aren’t recruiting.”

“That’s not why I asked...I was just curious, that’s all,” I replied, suppressing my annoyance.

Did she think of me like a leech who only wanted benefits? That would explain her hostile attitude toward me and her assumption that I was searching for a way to join her guild. I mean, I guess the way I met Jameson was a bit iffy, but I didn’t intend to just latch on.

And besides, I didn’t even contemplate joining a guild until my gift had grown far enough to allow me to negotiate for better terms.

“I guess we’re all done.” Jameson and the others emerged from their separate changing rooms.

“Then let’s go! I have a date later.” Grant stretched his arms with enthusiasm.

Jameson seemed to be a standard frontline attacker who carried sword and shield. Most gifts were common, only offering an enhancement of physical and mental abilities, so it wasn’t surprising to see. To contrast, Emma carried a short spear and buckler and Grant held a shield almost half the size of his body with a vicious looking mace in his alternate hand.

We approached the entrance of the ruin and stopped at a large vending machine. Of course, it wasn’t actually a vending machine but a medical dispensary station where you could purchase a few emergency healing items, courtesy of Morgan Pharmaceuticals.

“Make sure you grab two vials of antivenom, a blood clotting serum, and maybe an emergency healing pill.”

I stood behind as everyone purchased their medical supplies, tucking them away into nifty pouches before it was my turn. First, I scanned my ID card and then quickly navigated the digital interface, grabbing the necessary items. As I went to press “purchase” I nearly fell down after seeing the balance. These weren’t even the best items available and it would cost me four thousand dollars. I sucked in my regret and purchased it anyway, hoping I wouldn’t have to use it in the first place.

With all preparations made, we entered the ruin without any more stops.