"The Warriors test!?"
"Yes, is there a problem?"
"No… not at all." The receptionist said while stealing a glance at Randwen.
"So, what do I need to do?"
Dane obviously knew what needed to be done in order to do the warrior's test, but he still faked ignorance. No matter how you looked at him, he just didn't look the type for a warrior.
"Y-yes, of course. Which rank are you testing for?"
"Rank?" Isn't it just one test?"
The receptionist was baffled.
"No, guest. The candidate needs to choose the rank he is taking the test for. If you want to be assessed as a rank 2, you need to pay the fee and prove matching abilities. The same goes for other ranks."
Dane faked a confused expression. Of course, this was how it was supposed to be.
"Are you sure? I was told that it was only a test…" Dane mumbled until his eyes sparkled. Of course, this too was faked. "Would you mind calling guildmaster Ned? I was told to visit him."
The receptionist had a dumbfounded look on her face. Nobody outside of the warrior's guild staff knew the name of the guildmaster, but this youth actually asked for him personally. He was about to reject him when she got interrupted.
"You want to see guildmaster? Tsk, tsk. See, kid, he doesn't meet with customers, no matter who you are. You can try to get an appointment, but even then, your chances aren't looking good."
The man who just spoke was clearly over 40 considering his greyish hair mixed with the black one, but he still looked rather young otherwise. He had a sturdy frame and was carrying a gigantic two-handed sword on his back, probably around 1.8 meters.
"Really? Well, that's weird…" Dane faked to be confused and conflicted. When the man saw his expression, he smiled a bit.
"By the way, why do you want to meet him? Aren't you just here to get tested? Even if the guildmaster met with customers, it wouldn't be for something as trivial as that."
"I suppose so…" Dane kept quiet for a second and then gave a sheepish smile. "I am sorry. It is just that, some days ago, a man approached me on the road. He was very big and very strong, and he asked for a little water. Since I had none, I gave him wine instead and started to laugh heartily. After that, he said that he would repay me with a sword lesson. I didn't want to since my family wanted me to become a magician, so I rejected him. But he insisted, and I had no choice. After 5 movements, I started feeling weird and he stopped. He had a serious expression on his face and told me to find guildmaster Ned and do the warrior's test. He said that if I succeeded, I could become a warrior and a magician at the same time, so I came." Dane once again smiled. "Are you sure there is no way to meet him?"
The man frowned and adopted a thoughtful expression.
"Did he tell you guildmaster's name?"
"Yes, he did." Dane smiled wryly. "Well, anyway I am sorry to have bothered you. I shall take my leave."
After that, Dane started walking towards the exit, but suddenly a hand appeared on his shoulder.
"Okay, kid. I will assess you. You were right, the warrior's test is indeed the same for all ranks. Come with me."
"But, I was told to see guildmaster Ned…"
"I am the guildmaster. Are you coming or what? By the way, don't use my name."
He said and Dane nodded. They walked until they entered what looked like an indoor training field. There were a lot of people training inside. Some were sparring with one another while the others were swinging their weapons to a practice dummy. Some were just watching. Anyway, Dane and the guildmaster didn't stop there. They walked until they reached an iron door. The guildmaster opened it with one hand and instructed Dane to enter it. After that, he closed it behind himself.
This room was much smaller, but the material seemed to be top notch. There was a rack with a lot of different weapons in it. The guildmaster stopped and looked at it while grabbing his longsword.
"Choose a weapon. We will have a little spar over here. This is the test."
Dane shook his head.
"Thank you, guildmaster, but it isn't necessary. That man gave me a sword for using when I met you." After Dane said this he took out his sword. It was, in one word, amazing. It had beautiful carvings on the hilt and the blade. It was not ostentatious, but it had an air of sharpness to it. The guildmaster widened his eyes for a moment before regaining his composure.
"He gave that to you? His sword? Do you expect me to believe that?"
"Guildmaster, it was not his sword." Dane answered. "Well, you can say that it was his, but not the one he used. This was something he said he used when he was younger and no longer serves any purpose to him. His real sword is way more amazing. And sharper, I think."
Dane was trying to play dumb and pretend he didn't know about swords. This was an epic-tier item. Items above that were few and far between, but he still said that. The guildmaster gave a wry smile and nodded.
"Well, I guess you may be one of them after all." He mumbled and adopted a guard with his sword. "Are you ready?"
"Yes, guildmaster." Dane too adopted a stance. "Please go easy on me." Dane smiled.
After saying that, he changed his stance slightly, but it made the guildmaster adopt a serious expression. After that, the guildmaster moved.
He was fast. Way faster than a normal human being, but this was to be expected. But still, he was restraining himself to have a speed that he considered Dane would be able to follow. Dane parried his strike with his own sword and jumped backwards. He was preparing to retaliate but the guildmaster had already appeared in front of him. Dane swiftly swung his sword towards his opponent, but the latter avoided it. Fortunately, this was the moment Dane was waiting for. At the moment the guildmaster avoided his strike, he activated a skill. Well, he executed a skill.
The skill system in Zeryann was pretty straightforward. You could choose the assisted system, which guaranteed the skill you activated was completed. After that it was the semi-assist, which required you to performed the movements of the skill, but it almost always succeeded. The last one was the manual system. In this one, you depended on yourself to do everything. Of course, the damage and freedom in the manual system increased. This was why Dane could use a skill at level 1.
"Feint Strike!"
Dane shouted while he moved his sword towards the guildmaster. He was aiming for his left, and so Dane's opponent moved his sword to block the strike. But midway through, Dane's wrist moved in a very strange way, and his sword followed. Now, it was aiming towards the guildmaster's right.
Just before the strike would hit, the guildmaster's movements blurred and, before Dane knew it, his strike had already been parried. But of course, he expected that.
The guildmaster jumped backwards and examined Dane with light in his eyes.
"Who taught you that skill?"
"Hu? What skill?" Dane faked ignorance. It had to be said. If he was not a genius, a top-actor wouldn't have been out of the question.
"The one you used just know. Come on, you even shouted its name. Feint Strike, wasn't it?"
"That? Oh, I saw a mercenary use it, so I copied him. No one taught it to me."
"Really… HAHAHA!" The guildmaster started laughing heavily. He even dropped his sword. After a few minutes and when his eyes were already red, he calmed down.
"Kid, you are really something. An innate warrior, to be precise." He sighed.
"An innate warrior?" Dane asked, pretending to be confused.
"Well, no need to know the details. Know this. You can, indeed, be both a warrior and a magician. Follow me to the front desk and get your registration done. After that, we will give you your emblem."
"Yes!"
Dane pretended to be excited and followed the guildmaster to the front desk. He then explained the situation to the receptionist, who was evidently very surprised. Still, she behaved appropriately and helped Dane finish his paperwork, which Dane filled under a fake name. He had to pay the register fee, but it was a laughable amount. Merely 5 silver coins. After that, Dane Revari was officially an innate warrior. Of course, it didn't affect his class all that much.
After exiting the warrior's guild, Dane took a deep breath and smiled.
"Congratulations, my lord."
"Thanks, Randwen. But this is only the beginning, the absolute beginning." Dane started walking again.
"Sir?"
After leaving, Dane and company arrived at a completely different building. It was on the outskirts of Enas and there were a lot of beasts moving around. Even so, none seemed to be behaving violently.
There were also a lot of people using bows, and occasionally a dagger user appeared. This was the Ranger's Guild, it was the best place to obtain a Rogue medal and gain the innate rogue class. It was no problem for Dane.
The process was very similar to the one of the warrior's guild, with the exception of the skill used. Of course, why would you gain a rogue innate class using a non-rogue skill? But Dane succeeded. Once again, using a fake name.
In the game, it would've been completely dependent on luck whether you could obtain the innate class emblems, and most players wouldn't accomplish that until they reached level 50 and they got to Enas. Now, Dane was enjoying it while being only at level 1.
After leaving the Ranger's guild, Dane started walking towards the centre of the city. The most important building was there, the Central Tower of the Magician's Association.
Why was it the most important building in the city even surpassing military and governmental buildings?
Easy, its because it was the place where the most powerful magicians in the city gathered.
Even though there were places where the most powerful warriors and rogues gathered, they were not as respected as the central tower.
This was also a direct reflection of the important role magicians had in society.
Just as "rogue" is a basic class that defines assassins and rangers, and "warrior" encompasses swordsmen and pugilists, magician was also a very broad term to describe the different type of magic users, and they were considered of paramount importance by any country.
The reason for this was simple. A magician could specialize in alchemy, which would result in amazing magic weapons or anti-magic weapons. The same goes for equipment. An enchanter could place powerful spells inside a ring, just waiting to be activated. There were also the case where a magician was both, and became an existence countries would fight for. And mind you, this is only for crafters.
The battlemages were an existence that could turn the tide of a war by them alone given a sufficiently high level. And the divine magicians could easily regrow limbs and bring a person back from de death. A very impressive feat. Basically, magicians were the "hot-goods" of every nation.
It was also the most expensive and hardest class for a person to walk. And it heavily relied on talent.
Of course, this didn't mean that the magician class was the most powerful one, it was just the most suitable for a country to use.
Actually, it was a very sensitive class.
A magician could utterly destroy a warrior or a rogue given the right conditions and supposing they were of an equivalent rank, but the same could be said the other way around. If a magician was distracted or slow, a warrior or a rogue could kill him before he knew he died.
But, even taking this into account, magicians were very desired and considered the strongest class.
Fortunately for other classes and unfortunately for countries and empires, it was very hard to become a magician. Also, most magicians had a very strange mindset in which they only wanted to keep studying magic-related subjects, so very few went to war.
All of the above are among the reasons why the Central Tower of the Magician's Association was the most important building of them all. And also, it was the brains of the city, since it was the main tower of all wizard towers in the city. Even the court's tower was subordinated to it.
As Dane thought of all this, he kept walking forwards. A lot of people walking in the same direction as him. Under the curious glances, even the usually stoic Randwen felt uncomfortable. After a while more, an imposing-looking tower came into view.