A lively buzz filled the hall of the adventurer’s guild, Lucius’s entrance almost going unnoticed. His stature and mask drew him a few looks, but the patrons quickly lost interest.

  The guild hall was more spacious than Lucius had imagined, having been renovated from an old cathedral. Dozens of voices echoed throughout the stone structure, drowning out the sound of his own steps.

  The hall was livelier than most taverns, a bar serving as the culprit. Opposite the bar stood a row of counters, each manned by a clerk adorned in uniform.

  Lucius felt an uneasiness in his mind, a mild nervousness clouded his thoughts. He felt out of place, almost certainly the youngest in the building.

  He had every right to be there, but he still felt as if he was unwelcome. It didn’t seem as if he would have any luck making friends, but thankfully he had no intention to.

  He managed to settle his nerves enough to approach one of the clerks. A woman sat behind the desk, a pair of glasses sitting on her nose. She looked up from the paper she was reading, or rather she looked down on Lucius.

  His head had just managed to clear the counter, drawing a strange look from the clerk. “Can I help you?” She spoke plainly, without the tone of respect that Lucius had so readily come to expect from others.

  “Yes, I’d like to register with the guild please.” Lucius spoke with decorum, yet the mask obscured the politeness of his tone. It was another feature of the artifact, one Lucius was not so sure he liked yet.

  When he spoke, the mask would modulate his voice. It served to further obscure his identity, but seemed to also strip the emotion in his voice, making him come off as rude. However, adventurers were not exactly known for decorum, so perhaps it wouldn’t cause him much trouble.

  The woman raised an eyebrow at his request, pausing for an uncomfortable amount of time. “Sure. First you need to fill out this form. There is some ink and a quill at the table over there.” She pointed behind him. “When you’re finished, give it to me and we'll get you assessed.”

  Lucius nodded, grabbing the sheet of paper from the woman’s hand, or maybe it would have been more accurate to call it parchment. He made his way over to the writing utensils, reading the paper on his way.

  Name, age, town of residence, there were less fields than he was expecting. It wasn’t exactly a thorough vetting, more like an open invitation for ex-convicts and deserters. He grew more weary about the strangers that surrounded him. The guild was more concerned about profit than the reputation of their members.

  Since violence was bad for business, the guild still had to maintain a modicum of discipline amongst its members, but there were countless stories of betrayal, none of them verifiable.

  As the saying went, what happens in a dungeon, stays in the dungeon. A chilling reminder not to trust a man whose only loyalty was to his coin purse. And just another reason Lucius intended on working alone.

  Lucius dipped the quill into the inkwell, then paused as he was about to fill in his name. He had thought of a number of aliases to use, but one name stood out to him. ‘Grimm’ he wrote on the piece of parchment.

  He had never quite gotten used to writing with a quill and ink, but it was legible enough. He opted to put his real age, his height ensured he wouldn’t pass as an adult anyway.

  Finally he filled in Redmond for his town of residence, the city he was registering in. Despite his anxieties, it was unlikely the clerk would even give the paper a second look.

  When he had finished, he brought the paper back to the clerk who took it from the desk and gave it a glance. She threw him another suspicious look, but didn’t ask anything. She stamped the paper and handed it back to him.

  “Through those doors and on the right there is a waiting room. Hand this paper to the instructor and they’ll take care of your assessment exam.” As he was walking away with the paper in his hand, she muttered something under her breath, though he couldn’t quite make out what she said.

  He walked through the doors and followed the clerk’s directions. The waiting room was small, only a handful of benches sat outside a door to what he could only imagine as some sort of training room.

  The adventurer’s guild issued each one of its members a rank upon registration. It served not only to keep adventurers from biting off more than they could chew, but also so that they wouldn’t waste the client’s time.

  The ranks were issued from F to A, F rank being the lowest. There was also an S rank above A, but it was more than just rare. While there were thousands of A ranked adventurers, it was said there were only a handful of S ranks. However only the guild leaders knew how many S rank adventurers there really were.

  Anytime a member registered or wanted to rank up, they could apply to get reassessed. Most of the Assessment instructors were ex-adventurers, some more harsh on their evaluations than others.

  Suddenly the door swung open, and a middle aged man with a wide frame stepped into the room. His face and arms bore scars, trophies from a life of combat to be sure. He approached Lucius, who stood up to greet him.

  “Papers?” The man skipped over pleasantries, gesturing for the paper in Lucius’s hand. He handed it to the instructor, who examined the stamp the clerk had left. When he seemed satisfied, he folded the paper up and shoved it in his back pocket.

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  “Well come on. Let’s get this over with.” He gestured to the room he had emerged from. Lucius followed him into a sort of training room. It was crafted from stone, but seemed sturdier than the chiseled blocks that had comprised the rest of the cathedral.

  There stood a woman already in the room, robed like a priest of some sort. She seemed like a healer if he had to guess. “The test is simple. We will spar until I can properly assess your level of strength. Our healer friend over there will make sure none of us die, probably.” He shrugged.

  After a pause, his smile turned to a frown. “I was sure you’d fall for that one.” He drew his sword from his waist. “Well come on then, I ain’t got all day.” Lucius nodded, grabbing his blade from its scabbard over his shoulder.

  He stared down his opponent looking for gaps in his stance. He recalled his father’s words: ‘the opportunity for victory will be presented by your opponent.’ It was a saying he had heard back on earth as well, but only by learning the sword did he actually understand it.

  He lunged forward aiming for a shallow slash under the instructor’s guard. Like clockwork, the man lowered his guard without even taking a step back. Metal clashed against metal and Lucius retreated, assuring his footing.

  From above, from below, and even both sides, the instructor always managed to adapt his guard to intercept his blows. Lucius remembered his father’s second lesson: ‘Learn to read your opponent's stance, and you need not fear his next move.’

  Lucius watched closely as the instructor adapted his stance, each posture revealing something about his next strike. Parry after parry, the instructor’s blows grew heavier. Until Lucius could no longer block them without mana.

  He channeled mana into his body, clenching his muscles and hardening his defense. With every swing, his strikes grew stronger as well. Before he knew it he was channeling mana into his sword. He was performing the 3rd tier sword technique, ‘mana blade’, out of habit.

  It was nothing amazing as far as swordsmanship went, but definitely precocious considering his age. The instructor smiled, summoning his own mana blade with a grin. “Now we're talking kid, you might be some fun after all.”

  His speed rose greatly, causing Lucius to stagger under an onslaught of attacks. He had already discovered one of the boy’s secrets and was eager to see what else he was hiding.

  Lucius managed to recover, assuring up his stance with more mana and dodging the attacks he wasn’t certain he could block. Even with such an immense increase in power, it was clear his opponent was still holding back.

  He switched to offense, using feints and quick stabs to disrupt the instructor's rhythm. None of the attacks managed to land, but they were effective in slowing his opponent’s attack.

  Several times he was tempted to cast a quick spell and be done with it, but he knew it would bring more trouble than it was worth. Lucius gritted his teeth, hatching a desperate plan to score as many points as he could.

  As the fight dragged on, it was ever apparent that the instructor had more mana and stamina. With every strike, Lucius grew weaker and slower. He knew his only hope at landing a blow would come from a sprint rather than a marathon.

  He lunged at the old man with a high guard feinting a vertical slash before switching to an uppercut at the last second. The man seemed surprised at first, but managed to block the attack with blinding speed.

  But the defense had not been perfect. A thin smudge of blood ran down Lucius' blade, and the instructor’s smile grew wider. The cut was nothing compared to the numerous grazes Lucius had accumulated himself, yet he took pride in his accomplishment anyway.

  Before he could revel in his achievement however, the instructor continued with a flurry of strikes, taking advantage of the boy’s fatigue. By the third strike, Lucius found himself disarmed, collapsing to the floor in a pool of sweat.

  The man pointed the blade at his throat for only a second before re-sheathing it and offering his hand to Lucius. “Amazing.” He broke out into laughter. “I haven’t seen a talent like you in a long time.” He stopped for a moment to catch his breath.

  “It’s rare for a kid with your talent to choose this lifestyle, why don’t you go serve some lord instead of rotting in this dead end job?” He wiped the sweat from his brow.

  “The army doesn’t pay well, I need coin.” Lucius replied honestly.

  “Hah, don’t we all.” The man chuckled. “Well stay safe out there. I’d hate to see you die before that talent blooms.”

  After taking some time to recuperate, the two return to the clerk’s office and Lucius was issued an adventurer’s id. He flipped the steel plate in his hand. On the front his name was engraved, a 10 digit code stood across from it. Underneath was engraved: ‘Rank D.’ When he was finished fumbling around with the id, he slipped it into his pocket.

  Perhaps the old man had undercut him so he wouldn’t go biting off more than he could chew. He had been hoping for a higher rank, but it would suffice. A D rank adventurer was still allowed to solo an E rank dungeon, and so he would not need to rely on a party.

  Lucius made his way over to the job board, browsing the listings out of curiosity. Contracted work served as a double edged sword. The pay tended to be lower, but at least it was guaranteed. A dungeon expedition could bring great riches, but most turned up empty handed.

  Suddenly, one of the flyers caught his eye. ‘Frost wolf subjugation. Location: Verak, Required rank: D.’ He grabbed the flyer from the board, reading its description. It was a request from the village of Verak the chief had put in.

  The town had seen a sudden outbreak of frost wolves. They had been pushed south out of the mountains, and had been terrorizing the region. The village was offering a bounty of 2 silver per head. And they would even let him keep whatever he harvested from the wolves.

  Lucius took the flyer to one of the clerks, eager to accept the quest. The pay was not great, considering he had to risk his life. 2 silver could probably only buy two nights at a nice inn. However, depending on the condition, the pelts and teeth might be able to net him a pretty penny.

  Frost wolves were quite low on the predator hierarchy. Endemic to the northern regions, they tended to prefer snowy climates, and usually only descended to the plains when winter storms were wreaking havoc. They hunted small game mostly, and rarely anything that could put up a fight.

  But to call them an easy prey would be foolish. They were smart critters and always stuck together in a pack. They were not afraid to take on humans when necessary, and were known to target the defenseless.

  It was the perfect opportunity for Lucius to test the efficacy of his unique form of combat. A great testing ground for him to learn how to fight like a spellblade. The clerk handed him back his id with a set of directions to Verak.

  He stepped out onto the streets of Redmond. After some searching, he managed to hitch a ride on a farm wagon for a few coppers. The bed of the wagon was filled with hay, making his skin itch no matter how he sat, but it was worth every copper he saved.

  It would be a long ride to Verak, so he crafted a makeshift bed out of the hay. He laid down, squirming into a comfortable position. He put his mask away and pulled his hood over his eyes, drifting into a nap shortly after.