“Grah ha ha ha! Sorry about these fools, they can get rather overzealous at times. So your name was Lua, huh? Welcome to the Steadfast Shield Clan!”
The big bear-like man laughs as he scratches at his braided beard that makes its way down to his chest.
After explaining the whole situation to the clan leader he reprimanded the three adventurers for not understanding the meaning of “no” and then helped me get settled in the clan.
Leaving the dejected Rose, who was scolded the hardest of them all, behind. I followed the clan leader Kuma through the building towards the training hall located pretty deep in their facility. I am amazed at how much money this clan must make to afford such a building. While nowhere near as massive as the guild hall it is still bigger than the mansion I grew up in.
“Now, I am sure you would rather get to leveling rather than stick around here twiddling your thumbs. So let's figure out what you can do so we can assign you some jobs.”
I heave an internal sigh of relief at the fact that those three are an exception and not the rule here. This clan leader can actually tell what I want and is not smothering me.
Stepping into the room from behind the towering 7 ft tall bear I find a training ground similar to the one I had seen at the guild. Only much larger as it is a public training space instead of a private one. There are about a dozen people testing new skills and sparring against each other, none of whom pay any attention to us entering the room.
“Yo, Agera! Can you fight against this girl here? She is new and I want an idea of her capabilities.”
Looking over I see a young man, about 20 years old, fighting against a training dummy. He launches a spear of silver metal into the dummy which fails to leave more than a scratch but makes the dummy light up a greenish yellow color instead of the dark green I had managed with my Class 1 golem.
He turns around and wipes the sweat off as he ruffles his short blonde hair filled with streaks of silver.
“Hm? Yeah sure boss!”
Running over to us he looks me up and down, sizing me up.
I can feel a small pulse of mana probe me from the identification. The ring of wood and crystal on my right hand taking over the response tricking the system.
“Damn, you are already Class 2 kid? Impressive. My name’s Agera, Silver Rank.”
Holding up his badge I can see all his information appear as he pushes some mana into the silver shield in his hand.
Agera, Class 2, Metal Magic, 4 Stars
Metal magic is a more uncommon type of magic and usually leads to plenty of job offers. I am surprised he chose to work for a clan instead of a country. Though clans offer a lot more freedom.
“Nice to meet you, I’m Lua and I would really appreciate it if people stopped calling me kid.”
Holding up my badge in reply I pour some of my mana into it.
Lua Knight, Class 2, Golemancy, -/- Stars
“My bad. Golemancy huh? Never heard of that one.”
Not commenting at all on my status as nobility, Agera walks over to one of the raised platforms in the training hall.
“It is similar to necromancy but without the corpses. I make bodies around mana cores using earth aligned materials.”
“Oh ho? Now that sounds like fun. I have fought a necromancer before and the smell really gets to you, so it is nice to try something like that again but more hygienic.”
Kuma motions for me to enter the ring alongside Agera and stand at opposite ends. I lay my backpack which has Alice hiding inside of it on the outside of the ring. No need to open the bag though, as she can project her vision like me, albeit in a much smaller range.
“Now I want you to fight to the best of your abilities. Agera, start slow and build up so we can get a baseline.”
Turning a switch on the metal post next to the small arena a thin but powerful barrier becomes visible around us.
“This is a barrier to protect from fatal damage. It will heal and repair your gear after one of you deals what would be a lethal blow. Let me know when you are both ready.”
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I am very interested in the barrier and how it works, tracing the mana for a second before stopping myself from getting distracted. I can’t space out on day one.
Agera has already indicated that he is ready for the fight so I pull out two Class 2 and five Class 1 cores and toss them on to the ground. The dirt platform getting eaten up by my cores and then repairing itself using whatever enchantments were placed on it. I station my monkey soldiers in front of me in an arrow formation with the two Class 2s flanking a single Class 1 in the center and hold up my own spear and give the clan leader the OK.
The front most monkey golem rushes forwards as the 2 back most move to circle around my opponent.
I have the remaining Class 2s and Class 1s move back and protect me as a dozen spikes of silver metal fly out of the man's finger tips towards me. My Class 2 golems knock them away easily but the Class 1s can’t react quick enough and can only get in the way to block with their bodies.
The Class 1 golems fall to the floor and stop moving while I knock away several of the spikes with my wooden spear.
Just as the Class 1 golems that were sprinting ahead get within a few feet of Agera, he makes a sword of his signature silver metal and slashes them in half making them crumble to the ground.
“Hmm, they are stronger than I expected. But you will have to do more than that if you want to score a hit in.”
Smirking at me with a challenging provocation, Agera spreads his arms that have silver lines running down them like wires. These wires break off from his arms and whip towards me as I dodge out of the way, not giving in to the obvious attempt at taunting me.
“And your metal is rather fragile if a bit of dirt is enough to block it.”
Tossing in my own taunt I throw my spear as hard as I can at the guy. He immediately makes a rather thick shield of metal to block it.
However my spear is made of wood from the second ring of The Sea of Trees and manages to cut through it with some resistance. The tip just barely stopping before his chest.
“Damn, that is one crazy spear you got there. But my metal is- ”
I take that opportunity and order the broken golem at his feet to reform into hands that wrap around his ankles and the two flanking golems into two large spikes attacking from right behind him. The spikes pierce right through the gaps in his armor and into his sides.
He bites back a shout as blood flows down the spikes.
Before he can react further I order my spear to use its position in the shield as a brace and shoot forwards into the guy's chest. The barrier around us flashes and he is booted out of the ring, fully healed and not a drop of blood on him.
“Damn, good game. I had no idea you could mess with them after I broke them.”
Sitting on the ground with a hand over his chest Agera breathes deeply, reorienting himself after taking several serious wounds.
“Grah ha ha! Wonderful work. I am not surprised you were able to beat someone over 20 levels above you if you managed to survive in the second ring for a year. I just didn’t expect it to be so easy for you.”
I shrug at that as Agera looks on in shock.
“You survived in the second ring for a year?!”
“I was still under level 10 when I got tossed in.”
I throw in a bit of a smug brag at the trauma inducing situation I managed to survive. That just makes the guy’s mouth hang even wider open.
“Well now that I know what you can do I can assign you some jobs. You seem suited for commanding, fighting large crows, and defeating high level opponents.” Taking notes on a clipboard that looks tiny in the big guy's hands, the clan leader lists off several types of jobs I could take right away and the pay for such jobs.
What I am very interested in is the pay. I will be making quite a bit of gold for many of the jobs. Well at least I think it is a lot, I never learned much about money or the prices of things growing up. Any money is a lot of money to someone who is currently flat broke.
Nodding my head as I make my way out of the ring I shake Agera’s hand for the match then follow Kuma back to his office.
“Now since you are new I will need you to work as part of a team for a while before I can consider sending you on any solo missions. I am sure you understand.”
The big guy states as he sits down in what must be an incredibly sturdy chair.
“That is fine with me, but…”
The clan leader holds up a hand, catching what I was about to say.
“Don’t worry your little head, I am not going to assign you to work with those three.”
I smile at that. This guy really gets me.
“I have a few Class 2 teams missing someone like you that I think you could work well with. For now though the main one is out on a request so it may be a few days before I can introduce you. I recommend you get to know the city a bit and maybe buy some of the things you will need in the future as I am sure living in the woods for so long must have been harsh.”
I can feel myself nodding heavily at that. Even with Lucadon’s plant house it was missing a lot of things, like running water and proper meals. I can’t wait to eat at a restaurant for the first time!
Though there is one small problem with that.
“I will give you an advance on your pay and a guard just in case.”
I smile rather broadly like a kid getting her allowance from her dad.
I really am starting to like it here. I just have to keep that 5 foot restraining order with Rose and everything will be peachy.
“Thanks!”
Taking the small pouch of thin square coins I put my unneeded things away in my room, tighten my backpack, and morph my spear into an arm bracer for safe keeping.
Time to see what a fantasy civilization has to offer in terms of recreation! I hope I can get something interesting for Alice.