Ron and I arrive at the association and ask about where they are going to take our pictures. Once we are there, we notice the sizeable queue of hunters. Hunter exams are done is batches, so it isn't unusual to have this many people getting their license at the same time. As we wait in line, I mention my dream to Ron,
"Was the king evil?" he asks.
"I don't know, the memories of the arrival of the horde made it seem like the people respected him. Even the elf representative looked at the king with admiration," I answer.
"Maybe she was just acting? Even nowadays, politicians are amazing at wearing masks," he replies.
"I'm not too sure, the lack of context makes things very hard to judge," I say, in frustration.
"Yeah, let's hope you get more dreams that help fill in the pieces," he says.
I want to tell Ron about my ability to increase my mana capacity, but even just talking about my dreams garnered a couple of stares from the other hunters. Not only that, but I also want to see if I'm capable of breaking a rank barrier. If all I can do is reach the peak of rank E, then it's not such a big deal. Soon enough, my turn arrives, and I head into the room. It is a small studio, with a large white while surrounded by lights and a camera. They ask me to sit in the chair with my back straight and to make sure no hair is on my face. My hair is rather short so that's not an issue, they also indicate that I'm not allowed to smile. 'Thank god. I suck at smiling for pictures.'
"That's it, your license should be ready by the time you reach the first floor," says the photographer.
"Eh? That fast?" I ask incredulously.
"Yup! Hunter's are of the upmost importance; we don't want a dungeon to break just because some of them are waiting for their license," she responds.
"Right, thank you," I say while walking out of the room.
Ron enters the room as I'm leaving, I decide to wait for him, it only takes a couple of seconds after all. Or so I thought, it's been 5 minutes and he is still inside. 'What is taking him so long?' 5 minutes turns into 10, but thankfully, that is all I have to wait. The door opens and Ron appears behind it, he has a devilish smile on his face.
"Talk to you later!" he says looking back.
"What happened? You took so long," I say.
"Huh? Oh sorry, Joanna and I were just talking a bit," he says.
"Joanna?" despite his supposed answer, I'm still confused.
"Yeah, the photographer, she was super cute, so I decided to strike up a conversation," he answers.
"And she paid attention to a kid like you? Maybe you just look like her little brother," I say.
"Maybe, but I don't care. Whatever works, works," he says, shrugging his shoulders. He then pulls out his phone and shows me the screen.
[Joanna the photographer]
The screen displays that name along with a phone number. 'Okay, more reasons to hate this kid I guess.' The photo- Joanna, said the license should be ready before I reached the first floor, with Ron's delay added, we received them as soon as we arrived. It is a simple card, similar to a driver's license. The difference being that this one has very little information. Only a picture, the person's name, and their rank are written on it. The reason for this simplicity is the existence of mana signatures.
Just like hunters can feel each other's aura, you can imprint that aura onto objects that have decent mana conduction. In the case of a hunter's license, they all have a small mana stone embedded into them, like the chip on credit cards. As soon as we received it, we were forced to imbue it with our mana in front of a witness. The witness is simply an employee of the association that's a hunter. Once the imprint is settled, it is very easy to match a license to its owner, the information and picture are just formalities.
"Hell yeah! We've officially become hunters Will!" Ron gets quite rowdy after we leave the building. "I would propose a celebration, but I'm already a little late to the team meeting for my raid."
"Don't worry about it, go ahead man," I say.
After a brief farewell, Ron gets into the car and drives off. I decide to go back inside and sign up for a raid. Hunters like me that don't already have a group, need to ask the association for help. They will be added to the group finder system, their info will be displayed on a public website. Other hunters go searching on the website for people to fill/create a group. If all parties involved accept, the group is formed and then they can look for a dungeon to clear. Usually, people that need to rely on this system aren't part of a guild. If a hunter doesn't have a guild, they can only clear dungeons that are owned by the association.
Yes, owned. Mana stones, artifacts, monster parts, all of these things are exclusive to dungeons. Ron's father isn't alone in wanting to enter the dungeon clearing business. By default, any dungeon found is owned by the government, aka the hunter's association. Then, they decide whether they can clear the dungeon or not. If they decide the dungeon is too difficult, or they can't spare the manpower, they put it up for sale. Any authorized guild is allowed to bid for a dungeon's rights, once they own the dungeon, they can task whoever they want to clear it.
Guilds want dungeons so that they can keep everything that comes out. Hunters want to be part of guilds because they provide them with a lot of resources. First, large guilds can afford to pay their hunters more. That is because large guilds usually have parent companies that use dungeon resources for their products. Mana has started to surpass electricity, you don't have to worry about generating it, or any environmental effects. Mana is everywhere, if the product can run on ambient mana, it has infinite battery.
The reason why I'm not trying to join a guild is simple. 'From porter to E rank hunter, there isn't much to desire. Large guilds don't have any reason to invest into someone like me, and smaller guilds aren't much different from the association. In fact, smaller guilds can be worse, I've heard horror stories of hunters that got stuck in pyramid schemes within a guild. It's a lot easier for me to stay without a guild, even if it can be slightly less profitable.
After signing up for the group finder program, all that's left to do is wait for a request to appear. 'I don't think I have the luxury to deny a request. Almost 2 weeks of zero income, plus my hunter expenses, money is very tight. All I can do is hope they are decent people.' I expect days to pass without a single request, so I decide to head home and train. Breaking my expectations, as soon as I arrive home, my phone receives a notification. A group had 2 members withdraw and they needed replacements, luckily, one of the two that left was a close combat fighting type.
I keep on reading the request, it seems they have no problem with me being a spear user. The website also displays the number of successful raids a hunter has completed, so they should be aware I'm a complete newbie. To avoid any misunderstandings, I decide to contact the group leader and tell him I'm a brand-new hunter. Using the phone number on his profile, I give him a call.
"Hello?" he says.
"Hi, Sam, right? I'm Will. The hunter you requested for your group," I reply.
"Oh hi, yeah I'm Sam. Did you accept the request already?" he asks.
"No, actually, I wanted to make sure you knew that this would be my first raid," I answer.
"Oh yeah. Don't worry, I know, but everyone has to start somewhere. If no one wanted to group with you because it was your first time, you would never find a group." He says cheerfully. "Unless you are one of those crazies that think they can solo a dungeon," his tone is serious as he speaks. "Let me warn you, unless you are 2 ranks above the dungeon, its impossible to clear it alone. Even with the 2-rank advantage, its still extremely difficult to achieve."
"O-of course, I'm not that crazy. I'm apprehensive enough with going in as 5 people. On that note, we don't have a healer, right?" I ask.
"Sadly, no. E rank healers are rare, and no one above that, would want to hinder their earnings just to help some weak hunters," he replies.
"I expected as much. Anyway, if you don't have a problem with my lack of experience, I'll gladly join your group," I say.
"Great! Accept it through the program, it will add you to our group chat automatically," he says.
"Sounds good, see you later then,"
"Goodbye."
Once the call ends, the screen returns to the website and I accept the request. Exactly as Sam explained, I'm added to their group chat.
[ This the new fighter type? – Anna]
[ Wait. Is he a first timer? Are you sure about this Sam? – Chris]
[ Yes, I'm sure, all we need now is a scout. When I find one, we'll meet up okay? – Sam]
The chat activity dies out after a couple more messages. 'They seem to get a long well. I wonder what made the 2 people leave.' Despite having found a group, I still have to wait for the other spot to be filled. I stick to my plans of training throughout the day, and of trying to find a new technique to use. I decide to search online for some common techniques on the level of reinforcement. Any better ones would be too hard to use or are exclusive to guild members.
I would like to buy a technique from the association, but they are very expensive. Unable to find anything, I get very disappointed… 'What about that?' The dreams I've had about the king are very realistic, to the extent that I can feel the mana flow. With that in mind, I decide to give the water slash a try, 'It looked like a spell, but I didn't see any matrix. It should be possible for me to execute it to some extent.'
Closing my eyes, I recall the sensations from the dream. I grab my spear and attempt to mimic the flow of mana. 'It is similar to reinforcement, but instead of covering the spear, he filled it.' My mana enters the spear, I envision it like filling up a container with water. When a decent amount of mana is inside, I slash my spear horizontally.
Whoosh…
A breeze passes through my room. 'Huh? It was a simple man discharge, where is the water?' The slash only caused the mana inside the spear to be expelled without unceremoniously. 'Wait… if it had worked, wouldn't I destroy my room? I really need a better place to practice.'