He walked into the room. It stretched further than one would have reasonably thought, tables filling the expansive room to the brim, each entirely encircled by large groups. They all talked and laughed, many chugging down beers. Laying about them were weapons, bags, and backpacks, although some still wore them. Most groups had an individual wearing a long cloak, and sitting beside a staff. They also had a people or two with shields, a fair number of what seemed to be melee fighters, and somewhat rarely someone… different, with a staff.
He walked carefully, making sure not to get too close to any table as he headed to the counter on the opposite side of the room. He was donning a clearly cheap suit of leather armor, a scabbard likely holding a similarly cheap sword lying on his waist, and a small leather backpack. Some stared at him as he walked carefully, scanning the floor between every step, making sure to touch nothing as he slipped through the tightly packed room.
Of those watching him, they could be divided into three groups. The biggest, and most benign, were those curious about them. Would they get a new colleague? Would they get a new request?
The next group were predators. They didn’t see a possible colleague, nor did they see a potential employer. All they saw was someone to crush, someone to lord their power over.
The final, and by far the smallest group, was the talent seekers. They watched, and they jotted down notes. Poor, careful, strong attention, not stopped by the magical pressure and many other details were printed onto their small notepads.
Reaching the end of their journey, they stood in front of the counter. The receptionist behind it smiled and asked, “What brings you to the Adventurers Guild today?”
“I’ve come to register.”
Keeping a professional smile, they quickly fished out some documents and laid them on the desk.
“Then please fill out this document.”
He looked around, unable to see anything to write with.
“Here,” a nearby adventurer offered a quill and ink, and after thanking them, he got to writing immediately, passing back the paper. The receptionist picked up the paper and scrutinised every line.
“Looks like everything is in order. Then, take and read this,” they lifted and held out a somewhat thin book titled: “The Adventurer Guilds rules”. “Since you’ve turned of age, you can head into the Awakening Room when you’re ready.”
Nodding, he returned the quill and ink to the adventurer, slipped the book into his backpack, and, after taking a deep breath, walked over and entered the Awakening Room.
His eyes briefly scanned the room, noting the straw dummy and pedestal. He held his right hand over his heart and took a deep breath. He approached the pedestal, took another deep breath, and laid his hand on the stone top. He continued to breathe deeply, eyes closed to focus better.
As his hand lay upon the pedestal, he felt something within him… shift. The feeling was foreign, like someone else moved his blood. He quickly stepped back, but the feeling remained, although it slowly faded away. He took a deep breath in, and let it out. As the feeling faded, he noticed something. The “blood” that was rearranged, he still felt it. Tentatively, he tried to control it, to make it flow out. With a push it began to flow, cycling around his body. He was excited, interested in what else he could do. He sped it up, stopped parts of it, forced it into just his hand, and spread it back out.
Awakening Complete:
Name: Platar
Class: (None)
Level: 1
Species: Human
Stats:
Body: 10
Mind: 12
Skill: 10
Spells: (None)
Traits:
The Company of Myself (Gain a second self)
Mana Manipulation (Control over mana)
Flaws: (None)
Platar was surprised, that easy? He shook his head, it didn’t matter. Taking a few deep breaths, he moved over to the dummy and drew his sword. He struck, scratching the dummy with his strikes. He continued, speeding up. Slash, and stab. As he continued to attack, he empowered his body with the mana, making his slashes deeper and faster. He kept striking, in the end destroying the dummy.
With the destruction of the dummy, he calmed down, before collapsing from exhaustion.
_-_-_-_
A while later, with Platar well rested, he left. The receptionist asked, “Have you successfully awakened?” Nodding in response, the receptionist stood up, and went into the back.
“Hey!” an adventurer, different from the one who lent him the ink, called to Platar. “You saw the other trait besides Mana Manipulation?” Nodding, they continued, “Keep it a secret. If you have more than one, keep that a secret too. Just some advice. Most adventurer's lives depend on their trait, and the security the unknown provides. Keep it a secret.”
A couple of minutes later, the receptionist returned with a metal card.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
“Put a drop of your blood on the card,” the receptionist asked, providing a sterilized nettle to prick his finger with. Lightly nicking his fingertip, and wincing a little in pain, a drop of blood fell onto the plate, lightly shining as writing began to appear on the page.
Name: Platar
Party: (None)
Rank: F
Platar’s eyes widened, a sparkle appearing in his eyes. But his energy soon vanished, and he checked his wallet. Finding only 10 Cryst inside, Platar dragged his still-tired body to the quest board. He had barely enough to buy 2 pieces of bread, nowhere near enough to spend the night in an inn. To get a room, he needed at least 100.
Several minutes later, Platar brought two quests to the counter.
“Are you sure? Taking two quests, even if they’re beginner quests, is a lot for a first day.”
“I’m too broke to get a room at an inn.”
Ah, the receptionist's face spoke, before they stamped the two quests and returned the papers to Platar. Thanking them, Platar pocketed the papers and headed out.
Platar headed East, and soon arrived at the East Gate. Taking a deep breath, he pulled out the quests and checked over them.
“Hunt 10 goblins (F-Rank)” and “Gather 10 Health Herbs [Lowest Rank or Higher] (F-Rank)”.
Pocketing the requests once again, he headed into the Beginners Forest.
He drew his sword and held it close, keeping his eyes and ears peeled, making sure no goblins were creeping up on him. Every now and again, he’d scour the ground to search for herbs. He continued for a long while, occasionally collecting a herb, until finally getting all 10.
With one quest down, Platar began to sneak through the woods, looking for small groups of goblins. Soon finding a pair of goblins, Platar empowered himself with mana, cutting down both in seconds. Keeping his ears open wide, and quickly cutting out their mana cores, he slipped back into the woods and kept a close eye on the bodies.
After a short while, a trio appeared and panicked. Taking the opportunity, Platar struck again, cutting two in a moment before the third blocked the strike, but they fell under a few more strikes. Harvesting their cores, Platar hid in the bushes again.
However, this time, 10 goblins arrived. Platar debated whether to attack or not. Taking another deep breath, Platar opened his eyes and charged himself and his sword with mana, before rushing forward and cutting down the closest four goblins. The other 6 quickly regrouped, two shielders protecting a healer and mage, with a swordsman and rogue close by.
Platar swung experimentally, and a shielder easily parried the strike. The other swung at him, forcing Platar on the back foot, where both the swordsman and rogue struck from the sides. Blocking the swordsman, Platar catches the rogue's blade on his armor before piercing his throat. With 5 left, Platar regains his footing.
The Swordsman jumped at Platar, who parried to the side, swinging back and bisecting them at the waist. Taking another breath, Platar stared at the 4 remaining.
They were clearly scared, having seen so many of their allies killed so quickly. Not letting them calm, Platar charged at their shielders, who quickly braced for impact. But Platar didn’t strike from the front, instead dashing to the side and cutting back, ending up behind them and slashing them both. With 2 more down, Platar swung his sword in a horizontal arc, releasing the mana stored within in a magic wave, killing the mage. Platar then walked to the healer and finished them in one final swing.
With the adrenaline fading, Platar hurriedly extracted the cores and grabbed the two staves. Getting up, he checked the two shields and grabbed what looked like the better one before running to town.
_-_-_-_
Managing to return without incident, Platar dragged his exhausted body to the guild. Barely walking upright, Platar managed to reach the counter, much to the shock of the receptionist.
“Gi- give me a sec. I- I have the herbs. And the cores,” Platar panted, sliding down his backpack and setting down 10 of each, keeping the spare 5.
“We also need the request forms. Are you alright?”
Platar handed over the forms and took a deep breath.
“Yes, just mana exhaustion. I really should know my limits.”
The receptionist verified the cores and herbs, before stamping the forms and handing over 200 Cryst.
“Out of curiosity, did you fight a lot at once, or 1 on 1 10 times in a row?”
“I killed two, waited for more goblins, killed them, then 10 arrived, and decided to fight them. I had to use a lot of mana to beat them and nearly got injured when the rogue,” Platar showed the deep cut in his arm brace, “struck me. Terrible decision, I will not be doing that again.”
Turning and leaving, he missed the shock on the receptionist's face, hearing of a fool who tried fighting 10 goblins on his first day with no prior training.
_-_-_-_
Booking an overnight room at a cheap nearby hotel, Platar lay on the bed, soon falling deep into sleep. While he slept, his mana replenished much faster, and his experiences began to change his body.
Status Updated:
Level: 1 -> 2
Body: 10 -> 12
Mind: 10 -> 12
Skill: 10 -> 12
Traits Improved:
Mana Manipulation (F-Rank) -> Mana Manipulation (F+-Rank)
Traits Gained:
Swordsmanship (Ability to use a sword) (F-Rank)
Mana Infusement (Ability to fill something with mana) (F-Rank)
Determination (Ability to continue despite anything) (F-Rank)
_-_-_-_
Platar awoke at the beginning of sunrise, far earlier than the rest of the town, and began to stretch, he checked his status and noted the changes, before promptly ignoring them.
Well-rested, and with a clear head, Platar began to focus on his mana. He made sure he was full, before focusing on the trait, The Company of Myself. The mana rushed from his body, forming a new body in front of his eyes. A beautiful woman appeared, stark naked.
Platar was frozen for a few seconds, incredibly confused. The woman was clearly also confused, similarly frozen. But, as the clock ticked past, Platar began to rip open the dresser drawers, seeking anything to cover the naked woman. Finding nothing, he grabbed his money and hurried to a thrift store and searched for something. All of the full clothes were too expensive, being in the 1000s of Crysts, so he settled for a full body cloak, costing him all 110 Crysts remaining. Running back, he threw it to the woman who immediately wore it. They sighed in relief, before sitting on the ground to talk.
“Do you have a name?”
“No.”
“Aurum.”
“Good enough.”
“So, does Company make a distorted copy?”
“I think more a different version. If we were identical, how would we tell?”
“Or having differing versions would be much easier for making a good party. Differing Specializations and all that.”
They both pondered the situation, before both giving up. After making sure the cloak would successfully hide the fact she was still naked underneath, Platar handed the mage's staff over and they both headed to the guild.
Aurum kept the cloak tightly wrapped around herself, as they headed to the guild. Once inside, Platar was shocked that there weren’t any tables.
Shrugging it off, they headed down to the counter.
“I’ve come to register,” Aurum asked, who was quickly handed the same documents as Platar was yesterday morning. Upon realising they didn’t have any ink or a pen, Aurum asked the receptionist if they could borrow some. They grabbed some from inside their desk and set it on top, where Platar filled it out for Aurum. The receptionist was confused but didn’t question it further. They hurried into the back, during which Aurum and Platar noticed a problem. How will they keep the cloak closed? They got away with filling in the details by having Platar do it, but how would they do the blood? Soon, Aurum suggested that they both specialize into being a mage, and that they use magic to keep it closed. Agreeing, Aurum managed to barely complete the spell before the receptionist returned.
“It says here you’ve already awakened. In that case, please place a drop of blood on this card.”
Aurum did exactly that, with the card blossoming with information.
Name: Aurum
Party: The Silver Strikers (F-Rank)
Rank: F
“I take it you two are in a party, the… Silver Strikers?”
Nodding, the receptionist shook her head and congratulated Aurum on joining.
They then both ran to the quest board.