Chapter 37: Guilds (1/2)
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This is a Global Missive.
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This year's Tutorial is officially over. The batch is now fully part of the System. You have now full access to its every service.
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Access to the Pavilion; Unlocked.
Macro Translation; Unlocked.
Ranking; Unlocked.
Looting; Unlocked.
Dungeons; Unlocked.
Quests; Unlocked.
Parties; Unlocked.
Guilds; Unlocked.
Trials; Unlocked.
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Congratulations, Hosts, you are now full-fledged members.
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We will now share with you one last message.
Welcome, and survive well.
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Rakna looked apprehensively at the prompt in front of him. 'Full access to the System, huh?' He thought and read each newly unlocked 'service' with a scowl.
Before he could ask anything about it to Alexa, the lights of the hall went out and the sound of someone clapping brought his attention to the stage located at the far back. The projectors lit up and the few hundreds of newbie Hosts saw a lineup of around fifteen people.
One of them was Gray who was holding his cane to the ground with both hands and an ever so bright numeric grin. Around him were all kinds of individuals.
Amongst them, there was a man wearing a worn-down brown trench coat and a cowboy hat. A little girl that looked no older than twelve was present as well but despite her appearance, she had a disturbing grin on her face. A man with long hair and twin swords on his back, a curvy woman with long ears, a short young girl with light armor and short hair, a young-looking boy with white hair, a humanoid reptilian with dark green scales…
All in all, they all exuded a powerful presence. 'The other overseers I assume,' Rakna thought and focused on two people specifically, other than Gray.
One of them was a tall man that stood at the far left of the stage. He had short spiky blue hair and green eyes. What caught Rakna's interest about this man was his beastly features, namely, the ears and the six tails he sported, which seemed to belong to a tiger. Other than that, the man in question also was staring at Rakna with a smirk, who very quickly began to ignore it.
The second person he focused on was the man that stood not only at the center of the lineup but also stood slightly forward. Compared to the others, his appearance was somewhat banal. Black hair and eyes, a middle-aged look, and casual clothing. But, for some reason, Rakna felt that he was one of the most dangerous people there.
”My name is Quill Frazen.” As if on cue to Rakna's thoughts, the man spoke to the Hosts gathered in the hall. ”I'm sure that all of you have formed a good picture of the current situation. So, I won't bore you with the obvious. First of all, my colleagues here and I are this year's overseers that were each tasked to oversee you. Our job is decomposed into two parts. The first is making sure that the Tutorial goes as smoothly as possible. The second one is what I am about to tell you.”
”Within the System, you have two choices. Either you act alone, or in a group. In most cases, that decision essentially comes back to one thing; Guilds. The very same mechanic that the System just gave you access to. You can join a guild for protection, resources, or guidance. Needless to say, it is recommended for new Hosts to join a guild. Of course, none of you have any connection to the already established guilds and that is precisely why overseers volunteer as one in the first place; to recruit.”
Rakna's eyes flashed in understanding. He briefly glanced at Gray who waved at him as if he knew that he was going to be looking at him at that moment.
”We will go around recruiting the Hosts that we believe have potential in this batch. You have the choice to refuse. Of course, the opposite is also possible. We can refuse you. In that case, I suggest you try to find someone willing to take you in after leaving this building. Every year, guilds that couldn't or didn't want to send an overseer will have a spokesperson outside. Though I warn you, not all guilds are good. You will only have yourself to blame if you end up prisoner of a shady guild while under an unreasonable contract.”
When Quill was finished with his speech, the lights returned and the first overseer to move was Gray. ”Well, well, have fun, friends. I already know who I want,” he said and disappeared from the stage.
”Tch, lucky bastard,” the tiger man uttered. ”He's the first overseer from that guild in at least fifty years and he so happened to get an S+.” The other overseers showed their agreement in their own way before getting to their recruitment.
Meanwhile, the instant Gray vanished, Rakna had to resist the sudden urge to last out purely out of reflex as he reappeared next to him. Allan, Flavia, Nyx, and the others also tensed.
”No need to be so jumpy,” the clown said merrily. ”Not only do I have no intention to hurt you, but as an overseer, I'm forbidden from doing such a thing.”
”I see,” Rakna replied so dispassionately that his friends nearly face-faulted. ”Get to the point, Clown. Is your offer about my joining your guild?”