I am shocked awake by the sudden knocking on the door. Apparently we did fall asleep eventually. It is long past dawn. My first sleep-in. The knocking intensifies. I slip out of my covers to get the door. "Wait!" Lawra is awake throwing me a piece of cloth. I realize I am completely naked, and I was about to open to door to the serving maid on the other side of the door. I can hear her asking if it is ok to come in. Though I am curious as to how inappropriate it is to open the door naked, I relent and wrap the cloth around my waist. I guess some common sense is applicable in this world as well.
I ask the maid for a bit more time to get ready. Shortly after we join the others for a very late breakfast in the common area of the inn. "What do you all want to do today?" I get the same response from everyone. They want to come with me for my tests at the guild. Afterwards Lawra has somewhere she wants to take me. She doesn't want to say where, but the other girls seem to know. I guess the danger of becoming a doormat increases with the number of wives.
At the guild I am met by Marka's cold professional smile. She introduces me to an aging old hunter named Karil. He is the first genuinely old looking person I have met. Using analyze I get his age. 102 years old! He looks old, but not that old. Analyze also tells me something I had not expected. He is releasing lifeforce. It would probably be more accurate to say he is leaking lifeforce. I need to ask the girls about this. It might be something perfectly natural, and I might end up looking like an idiot if I comment on it. Not the best start on a test.
Karil takes me out back onto the guild training grounds. He brings me to an armory of training weapons, dulled and none lethal. "Arm yourself with spear and bow, as these are the skill we want to test." I grab a few training spears, a bow and a number of arrows. All but one spear is stored in my soul space. "You do know you have to return them after we are done right?" Karil seems surprised by my actions. "Because I can summon weapons and arrows from my soul storage, I tend to use a lot during a fight." Karil just waves me on.
At the archery field I am given three normal arrows and asked to try to hit the bull's-eye in the middle target. I put two arrows in my storage and get ready. Hitting the target in front of me would be too easy. I need to impress. I also want to show off my quick shooting. In less than a second I put three arrows in three different bull's-eyes. Karil looks unimpressed. "Not what I asked you to do, but I guess we will increase the difficulty." He gives me three more arrows and show me a wooden target the size of a small potato. "When I tell you to, I want you to hit it with an arrow."
Karil throws the two targets in the air, and tell me to hit them. I hit both long before they reach the ground. Next he goes to one of the targets and attaches a blade to it, sharp end facing the archer. "Take out one of your blunt arrows and split it on this knife." Karil stays next to the target and watches my arrow split on the blade. These tests are getting really hard, but the next request takes me completely by surprise.
Summoning his own bow from storage along with a sharp looking arrow. "Take your last sharp arrow and shoot down the arrow I am going to shoot at you." Giving me no time to object, he releases his arrow at me. In a split second I anticipate its trajectory, summon the last sharp arrow and fire to intercept. For good measure, I prepare to dodge. My arrow splits Karil's arrow and both goes spinning out of control.
Relaxing my nerves from the last test, I await the next ridiculous request from Karil. What on earth is considered normal archery in this world. Karil faces me holding his bow in his left hand and a stick in his right hand. "Use as many dull arrows as you like, and try to hit me." Finally something I anticipated. Arrows are not bullets, they can be dodged or deflected. Hitting a fast and perceptive opponent in a one on one fight is not as easy as it might seem.
I fire off a volley of 7 arrows in quick succession. The first aimed at his crotch. That should get his attention, the second his forehead, the third his right ankle and the remaining four straight at his chest. He deflects the first one with a yelp, dodges the second, but the third hits his ankle, breaks his concentration and let the remaining arrows knock him to the ground. Now, give me your approval old man.
After getting up Karil gives me not the slightest bit of comment, but leads me over to another training field where a party of 6 young hunters are waiting. Three boys and three girls. The boys carry various close quarter weapons, all guild training weapons. The girls, look like long distance support. One carry a bow, and the other two carry staves. Unless they plan to fight with those sticks, they are likely mages.
"Next I want you to fight all six. You will keep hitting them until I say they are dead." This is just unfair. He probably wants to get back at me for hitting him in the last test. This is like telling me to beat them all up until they don't dare to stand up again. A tough task against a bunch of energetic teenagers. As we face each other on the field, they form two lines, the three boys at the front and the three girls at the back.
If I take too long fighting the three boys, I will have to deal with the magic and arrows from the girls. Two of the boys carry shields, making it even harder to take them out with arrows. I would have to land a lot of arrows to actually knock them down, unless I get a lucky shot. I guess Karil also wants to see me use a spear. I single opponent would have done the trick though.
Charging towards the boys I decide on a very unorthodox strategy. Using the strength and agility only possible in this world I summon a long spear with the but end facing forward. Ramming it into the ground a few meters ahead of the boys, I use it as a vaulting pole, but instead of going straight up I aim for an angle to get the range.
As I sail over the boys, well out of their reach I summon my bow and send three dull arrows straight at their head. I both feel and hear the satisfying chuck, as they hit their mark. That should keep them distracted while I deal with the girls. As I land an arrow comes at me. The female archer had the wits to fire at the spot I would land and timing it to make a dodge almost impossible. I don't need to dodge though.
Grapping the arrow in the air I string it to my bow and fire it back at her. I fire at the other girls too, but they manage to use some kind of mana shield to block the arrows. The archer is on the ground and I charge the remaining girls with a second spear. The blunt spear takes one of the girls in the stomach practically folding her over the spear. My consciousness stings badly, no one should hit a girl that hard, even in a fight. I swing the end of the spear around and hit the next girl far more lightly with the end of the spear. She also buckles over holding her stomach. I still feel rotten.
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I turn to the archer girl that is about to get back on her feet, but seeing me she holds her hands up "I give! I give!" I can't bring myself to knock her out, so I take the risk and turn my back on her to confront the three boys, who should be fully recovered by now. To my surprise I find Karil standing over the boys hitting them with a stick telling them to stay down, since they are dead. Maybe Karil isn't so bad. I realize the fight is over and turn to the first girl I practically skewered. Bending down, I ask if the girl is ok, and offer to heal her. While healing her, I am joined by the other mage girl. She seems to know healing as well. "Sorry, I hit you so hard. I wasn't sure what to expect."
When I walk over to the guys, Karil turns to me. "I still haven't seen much of your spear skill. Wait here I will be right back." While I wait my girls join us. Everyone seem to be up and about, no serious injuries. One of the boy break the silence; "That attack really surprised me." The others agree. The female healer makes her own comment. "You were so scary when you charged us that I almost peed my panties." "Don't remind me." The other female mage seem embarrassed. "You can't pee your panties, because you're not wearing any." The female archer breaks the serious mood completely. They seem like good kids.
Speaking to the guys I ask; "Why do you think he pitted me against you guys? I thought he was trying to punish me for knocking him over with my arrows earlier." "Punish you! I was sure he wanted to punish us for being cocky." The response comes from the strongest looking guy. The way the others defer to him, indicates that he leads the group.
Karil appears interrupting our chat. With him is a big rough looking guy with a practice spear. Unlike Karil, this guy looks like he is in his prime, and every instinct is telling me that he will be a dangerous opponent. "Your next opponent. You kids can take a break." Karil is short and to the point as always. His face betrays no emotions. Looking at the teenagers, I get a look back saying; he is punishing you not us.
The new guy introduces himself as Brute. What an apt name. Using my skills to the best of my ability I analyze the new opponent. His level is more than twice mine. He has body skills similar to mine, and spear skill level 7. I guess this is why Karil picked him as my opponent. I am still not sure if he is testing my skills or if he is trying to give me a hard time.
As the fight starts, Brute stands very loosely, not taking any particular stance. It leaves him very open to attack. It almost looks fake. Could be a trap or he could be taking me too lightly. Simulating a faint, I immediately follow with an accurate thrust for his solar plexus. With impressive accuracy Brute deflects the thrust last second and ripostes. Though this isn't fencing the word riposte seems the most accurate way to describe his attack. I am only saved by the fact that I only committed 50% in my initial attack, giving me just enough time to deflect and retreat. The fight has just started and I already feel pressured.
Brute continues with some elegant swinging motions as if he is goading me into attacking again. He deftly flows into a flurry of sharp thrusts. I would be impressed if I wasn't on the receiving end. Since I have never had to duel with a spear before these moves are all new to me, but with my skill level, I should be able to copy them. It feels like I should hide this trump card. I continue using normal thrusts and moves, picking up all the elegant moves that Brute throws at me. I seem to learn how to deflect the moves just in to time avoid the fight ending. I might be only one skill level below this guy, but he has a lot more experience than I do.
I pick up a couple of spear related skills while fighting him, but nothing I can use to get the upper hand. He seems to intensify his attacks and I sense the moment has come to use all the new attacks he has taught me. The first attack seems to surprise him, but not enough. As he is increasingly being put on the back foot by his own moves, I sense that I am loosing the momentum by his accurate deflections. Just as I am about to run out of momentum my skill level increases to 7. The edge that he always seemed to have over me technically, narrows.
The fight continues to intensify. Brute makes a mistake. I hope it is a genuine mistake as I commit 100% to the attack and break through his technical defense. Just as I am about to land my hit I feel a strong force hit my spear and it almost goes flying. Both me and Brute step back. I am confused as to what hit my spear. The only thing I can think of is Brute's spear but it was just suddenly too fast and too strong. Then it hits me. Brute has been going easy on me the whole time.
Brute has stopped fighting, and is now addressing me. "I am impressed, you seem to lack some experience, but you skill is really high. In fact, I think it broke through a level when we fought. At the very end I had stop holding back as your technique seemed to equal mine." Brute was on purpose slowing down and holding back his higher strength throughout the fight to test my skill. In a real fight I would never have stood a chance. The difference between a level 9 and a level 21 is massive.
Heading back inside, Marka brings me a badge. "Your test and registration is over. Here is your guild badge. I need you to smear your blood on the inside of the badge to activate it." I do as I am told and the badge light up. It must be magic. "As you can see now that the badge is linked to you all you need to do it hold it up, and the light will prove to anyone that you are an active member. You will need to report at the guild at least every three months to charge the badge. If you don't, you could be accused of faking guild membership."
"What does the sign on the badge mean?" Marka looks at me. "Fair point. When you learn to read and write, and I strongly recommend that, you will learn the alphabet. That sign is the letter E. It is fifth in the alphabet and is followed by F." I think I get what she is saying. "So, it is the rank?" Marka almost looks impressed.
"We use 6 power rankings in this guild. There are other ranks used by dragon slayers in the northern guilds. Everyone either starts on an E or an F. F rank designates you as a non-combatant. On your own you will not be able to take requests that include danger. E is the next step. To be honest your combat skill is much higher than E, but it is not good to have high power ranking without an adequate trust ranking." Well this is new to me. In fact there is a lot more for me to think about, but first I need to know what trust ranking is.
As a senior guild member, Marka know what I need and promptly explain about trust ranking. There are 5 rankings, going from 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest. Each have a designation name. These are from 1 to 5: Untrustworthy, Unknown, Reliable, Trustworthy, Veteran. Only hunters in trouble with the guild are classed as Untrustworthy. If not rectified, it could merit an expulsion or more. Everyone starts at Unknown, as you are an unknown factor to us. Based on your reliability, success rating, and most importantly feedback, your trust ranking will go up. With higher trust ranking I can recommend a higher power ranking."
"There seems to be no sign on the badge for the trust ranking?" It is the only related question I can think of. Marka's response is a well rehearsed and informative as always. "The trust ranking is for internal use only. It gives the guild the confidence that it can recommend its members for the tasks given. We do not consider it appropriate to share this with outsiders unless the hunter has been expelled. Expelled hunters are considered pariah and often default to lawlessness." Ouch, going against the guild seems like a bad thing. "What about rankings for dragon slayer?" "Don't ask, it is pointless for you to know at this point."