Chapter 5: The Mercenary Guild

Lucien opened the door and noticed people sitting around tables in groups of six. Some of them wore clean armor while others wore faded armor that had many scratches. All eyes turned to see Lucien stare back at them. The first thing the mercenaries did was observe the new face. Their eyes narrowed as they noticed the green ring, the white jade storage ring, and the longsword at his side.

Lucien was grateful for the hidden body space. Inside was his spatial ring with his seven thousand purple coins and three red triangular coins. The frontier town might value gold and silver more, but Lucien also noticed an auction house. He also had thirty gold and ninety silver in the spatial ring as backup. If there was a method to scan a storage ring, people would only notice the few dozen silver and three gold he had left. However, he was not like the eighteen outsiders randomly brought to the Ten Kingdoms. He chose to enter and still had his memories and items.

"Hey, I've never seen him before," a six foot tall boy with scratched steel armor whispered to his five companions. "Think he'll join our party?"

"He has too. All the other parties, including the two parties of six that came with us, have not lost any members yet," a brunette with a long braid nodded.

"I don't see a dog tag. He's not a mercenary!" a black haired boy with two axes at his side cried.

His outburst did not go unnoticed and all eyes turned to gaze at him before turning to Lucien. Only outsiders registered with the Mercenary Guild. Once you reached a high enough status, you can join a cultivator academy or sect. This was because it was hard to enter any cultivator organization without proper backing.

"You lost kid? This is the Mercenary Guild," the barkeep asked as Lucien walked over to him.

"I know. I'm the one who went missing. I left the seventeen others as I was curious. I woke up with no memories except my name, how to move my body, and literary skills. They slept for a long time and I figured I wouldn't get any answers from them. I got lost and fell through a hole. Made a profit though. Apparently, my longsword is red cloud steel and I became what the guard called a Ranker or cultivator," Lucien shrugged.

"Haha. What a lucky brat you are."

"If I was truly lucky, would I be here?"

"True. I assume you were informed about the twenty silver fee and the ten silver fee to join a profession guild?"

"Yeah, I'm not going to join a profession guild. Found a few cultivator techniques and learned the spells and battle skills."

"WHAT? You found such a treasure trove? Was it all in the storage ring you wear?" the barkeep yelled in shock, everyone in the room envious and jealous of such crazy luck.

"No. I bought this white jade storage ring for two gold on the way here," Lucien answered with a chuckle.

"I don't recognize that sword. This means none of the mercenaries or people of this town died and left it behind. Perhaps there was an area we overlooked."

"I heard it is a frontier town with magical races and beasts threatening it. What kind exactly?"

"Ah, you know. Goblins, orcs, and the occasional troll. Trolls are stupid but spells have no effect. It is the orcs we really have to be concerned with. Their numbers are growing faster than goblins. You must realize, goblins rape just about any race and the impregnated female always gives birth in four days. They are a breeding menace, but the orcs are gathering in higher numbers. Something is happening."

"That sounds bad. So, I don't have to join a profession guild?"

"Just join the Mage Guild. There are two guilds that depict both paths of the Ranker or cultivator. Profession guilds are sub branches with very specific styles and motives. If you know your own spells, joining the Mage Guild is acceptable. Joining the profession guilds is easier, but academies and sects are more likely to recruit from the Warrior and Mage Guild. The price of admission is prior knowledge of at least one skill, no prior membership to the profession guild, and one gold. The profession guilds have a simultaneous membership, but its members rank less in the official Ranker guilds."

Lucien hesitated before taking out a gold coin. The barkeep smiled and gestured to a dummy at the wall surrounded by a steel barricade at the back and side. Lucien lifted his left hand and a fist sized fireball formed and hit the dummy.

"Excellent. Spell confirmed. Here is your Black Sun Mercenary dog tag. It is a magical item that contains a map of the city and known areas around it. It shines a gold light to depict the locations of our Black Sun Mercenary Guild, the Mage Guild, and the villa of your current mercenary group."

"He is! He has to join us. Go get him!" the braided girl said and ushered the boy with two axes before turning to the other boy in scratched armor. "Go to the villa and tell Ralph and Luna that we got our sixth group member."

As the armored boy lumbered out the building, the braided girl and other boy walked up to Lucien. Lucien noted a small axe, short sword, longbow, and quiver behind the girl's back.

"Hi. My name is Raven," the braided girl smiled. "I became the leader of the third group of the eighteen of us. We thought you were dead. I'm a hunter and Sven here is a berserker. The armored boy who left is Benkei. He's a warrior and wields a bastard sword. Another boy, Ralph is our priest and Luna is our summoner."

"It is a type of mage specializing in summoning magic. What she summons is really random and might even fight us," Sven said, seeing Lucien's face frown. "She also knows various spells, but needs practice. We all do. I guess this is our way of saying welcome. I know you just joined the Mage Guild, but what weapons do you wield and is there more than one spell you know? Battle skills?"

"I know the Fireball spell and Thorn Blade spell too. As far as battle skills, I know the Lightning Fall sword art and Stone Fist technique," Lucien answered, not revealing his Dark Obsidian or Slumbering Dragon techniques. The first was a darkness and earth attribute bladed weapon battle skill while the other was a body cultivating battle skill. He also had the grey flying sword talisman hidden away as well as his small fortune.

Many mercenaries stared at Lucien. The veterans were only mildly surprised as they never heard of his battle skills before. Only two mercenary groups were envious. They were the remaining twelve who also arrived that month and none of them knew so many Ranker techniques. Most learned only the one skill offered for free while the truly skilled of the twelve had a chance encounter and found skill books.

A man burst in, blood trickling from a wound as he fell to his knees.

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"Lando?" the barkeep frowned.

"......the south gate. Orcs....south.....guards fell----" the man named Lando rasped before falling on his face, an arrow lodged in his back.

"Lando!" the barkeep roared, lifting his chubby body over his bar to reveal muscular arms as he rolled the man over.

".....sorry boss. We couldn't hold," Lando coughed, blood blurting out.

"Healers! I need a damn fucking healer! Don't you die on me Lando! You still owe me a bucket of ale and sixty two silver," the boss roared.

"You forget the five coppers," Lando laughed and held his arm, his expression stern as three men in white priest garbs came and shined light onto Lando from their hands. "The orcs got the goblins serving. They're riding on Green Iron Boars!"

"Impossible! How could they work together?" the boss asked. "How did the gate fall?"

"Trolls. Ten of them. Something is leading them. Strange thing is, they don't even seem to care when we shot their kin down before the trolls knocked down the gate with boulders. They've gone mad," Lando said, his breathing stable due to the priests. "Boss Cao, Jing died. Jing Cao died."

"My brother...." Cao began before standing up to roar at the mercenaries. "What the hell are you lot doing? There is a fucking raid out there! Go kill them!"

"YES!" the mercenaries roared and charged, the building full of chaos as the groups yelled their orders.

"What is going on?" Lucien asked as only Raven and Sven did not follow the mercs out besides Cao and the priests who were healing Lando.

"A raid. The largest this year. Only happens when their numbers are too great. It is their means for population control, but the two races never worked together. The trolls never gathered in groups greater than five," Cao growled. "You lot better stay off the center of the streets. Use long range if you can. A goblin cavalry is relentless and boars tusks sharper than steel, even more so."

"Lets go! My axes are getting rusty and need to be bloodied before sharpening," Sven laughed and rushed out the door.

"Can you fight?" Raven asked, taking out her longbow.

Lucien's Black Wood Bow and his quiver appeared from his storage ring and nodded grimly. The two nodded at Cao and stepped outside.

"Move!" a man roared, shoving Lucien against the wall after Lucien rushed out the doors.

"Everyone remain calm and head to your designated shelter number. Do not push! Hey! I'm talking to you woman!" a guard roared as a pregnant woman pushed a skinny woman out the way.

"Chaos. Pure chaos. I love it."

"Just head to the gate Sven. Run along the buildings."

"What about the others?"

"Benkei will be with them. We'll shoot and cover for Sven."

"I see them! First blood on me!" Sven laughed as they saw two giant green boars charge into view. Two goblins directed the boars while two others shot with arrows.

Lucien drew his bow and aimed one of his Black Iron Arrows. He shot the arrow and it pierced through the chest of one of the driving goblins. The boar reared back and crashed onto the ground, crushing the leg of the second goblin on its back.

"I killed one. I took a life," Lucien muttered.

"It is okay. They're not human. Think of all of the people they've killed. Eaten. We need to kill them all," Raven soothed before shooting at a boar. It only snarled as the arrow bounced off it and charged at her.

"Sven!" Raven roared.

"Yeah. My turn," Sven shrugged, brandishing his axe. As the boar got closer, Sven dived to its right. Sven's left arm swung and chopped off the left foreleg of the trunk.

Bones cracked and screams echoed as the boar fell on its left flank and rolled, killing the two goblin riders instantly. Lucien cringed as one goblin head was crushed into a meat pie.

"We got more incoming. I'm heading on ahead," Sven said as he wiped the blood off the boar's body.

"Take your time to adjust. You're a Ranker now. Fighting is in your blood. If not, you'll shed enough blood or die. You got a neat quiver and longsword. The only way you'll die is if you let the goblins and orcs take your head without a fight," Raven said, patting Lucien's shoulder before chasing her friend.

Lucien watched his new party members run off. He stared at his bow and nocked another arrow as he saw a goblin chase after a woman on foot. His arms shook and missed, hitting the wall. He breathed out slowly and aimed. His next arrow flew true and hit the goblin under the ribs and above the waist.

Lucien held his bow softly as he drew his sword. The metal glinted as the sun shined upon it. Lucien raised his arm and closed his eyes as he cut the goblin's neck. His heart lurched as his sword got stuck and swung again after wrenching the sword free. A part of him actually felt elated and excited he killed the boar and all those goblins. It terrified him and freed him of his apprehension to fight back.

"Just another day to live. Another day," Lucien murmured to himself as he cleaned and sheathed his sword.

Lucien didn't notice the memories of the purple aquatic dragon affecting his personality. With all the memories flashing through his mind previously, Lucien was able to adapt. Lucien didn't notice the air get colder around him as he walked to where Raven and Sven headed. Blue lightning would crackle behind him with purple and maroon flames burning the earth where he stepped. It did not go unnoticed by the three people standing on a roof nearby.

"That one has an ancient beast spirit. Its affinity to water and thunder is exceptional," one of the three cloaked people muttered. "Thunder may be the boy's affinity while water and flame is the beast spirit's. The two seem to be out of control. Perhaps the beast spirit underwent a metamorphosis and was cleansed of an incompatible element affinity it had when alive."

"Is he dangerous?" a hooded woman asked.

"Not yet," an old voice answered. "The beast spirit seems purified. The strange reaction will settle in time as fire and water will neutralize one another. The boy might also have other affinities. The fact that there is a beast spirit means this kid is not ordinary. Usually the noble and ancient clans of the Ten Kingdoms have so many affinities due to their vast resources. The raid of the creatures is the priority. Some mercenary found something that riled them to such an extent that this....incident is occurring. At first I thought it was the boy who found such an item. It appears I was wrong. Continue the search."

The three cloaked Rankers stared at Lucien once more before changing to a new target. Lucien felt a tingle around his ears and turned to see the empty spot where the Rankers had been.

Lucien scratched the back of his head in confusion before walking to rejoin his party.