Ranfel, Ellia, Mug, Luck, and Darren were seated in the couches of the VIP lounge, with another woman sitting along with them.
"I don't like him." Arms crossed, the new girl with black hair shook her head. There were patches of grey in her black tanktop and shorts, making her look like she was working hard down in her workstation.
"You don't like anyone, Lyssia." Luck replied.
"Well then, I especially don't like him."
Luck just shook his head faintly and gestured for her to do anything she wanted, prompting for her to stand up from her seat and leave the room. The only person she treated humanely was Luck, since he grew up with her. As for the others, she genuinely thought that few people of her level deserved her attention and respect.
"Anyway, to the rest of you." Luck continued after Lyssia had left the lounge room, "This man is my friend. And his circumstances are very complicated, so he didn't get to study the arts of combat in the Fortress. Also, he is blessed by a demi-god with a strange flux root. I'm sure you will find him interesting."
"A strange flux-root?" Ellia asked, looking around her to check if she was the only one curious.
"Although he has near-zero combat capabilities, he already has the ability to actively manipulate flux."
Ranfel scoffed, rolling his eyes, "That's impossible."
"Is it?" Ellia raised an eyebrow at the sleepy person.
"Didn't you learn anything in the fortress . . ? Body transformation isn't flux manipulation . . . to put it simply, we can only activate the flux traits we absorb, but we can't control it. Control is only possible once you've become a fourth-grade pupil."
". . . You know a lot for someone who sleeps anytime and anywhere." Ellia nodded at Ranfel slowly.
"Don't insult me."
Mug then chuckled, before turning his head towards Ranfel, "You say it's impossible, so you think the guild leader is lying?" Ranfel just averted his gaze and closed his eyes, wanting to get some peace.
This prompted Luck to continue, saying, "It'd be better if Darren showed you." He then nodded at Darren, who was sitting on the couch beside his.
His gut filled with butterflies, Darren gulped and stood up, clenching a fist in front of him.
"Closely feel the fluctuations of his flux energy." Luck reminded everyone, before reclining in his seat. "Now do it, Darren."
Darren nodded once, before shouting in his mind, 'Bash!' And like usual, he punched at the air at the same time he chanted, causing flux energy to flow rapidly to his arm. And as the punch ended, the extra flux energy still in his arm dissipated immediately.
"I . . . don't see anything special about that." Ellia shrugged, smiling innocently.
"No, it really is special." Mug chimed in.
As for Ranfel, his expression was one of utter confusion, the bags under his eyes puffing out as he squinted, "How?"
"I don't know either. But this, I do know. He can't absorb and utilize flux cores from creatures, unlike us. Instead of gaining new traits through core absorption, he gains more ways of manipulating his flux. And right now, he has . . . how many of them . . ?"
"Um," Darren glanced at Luck, before answering, "Two."
"Show us the other."
Darren nodded, before reaching for a sheathed knife attached to his waist strap, "This one . . . um, involves any sharp weapon. Here goes."
He planted a foot forward and unsheathed the basic knife, before chanting in his head and slashing, 'Slash!'
The air whistled as his blade cut through it, and everyone could also feel the fluctuations of flux inside Darren's body.
The new recruit had just channeled flux into a weapon, and this proved it-- he really did have the ability to control flux.
"Believe it now?"
Ranfel looked dumbstruck; Mug mildly surprised; and Ellia unsure about what expression to wear. But before any of the three could say anything, Luck added, "And, although this guy can already use flux, he is much weaker compared to us. He doesn't even have proper combat experience, since the Fortress didn't accept him as a student, since he's too strange."
". . . The fortress didn't accept him because of this . . ?" Ranfel squinted, "There's no way they wouldn't want a first-grade pupil that can already use flux."
Luck knew that one of them would catch on, but he could keep things vague, "The circumstances were complicated."
Ranfel used his pointing finger to scratch at his temples. Although he wanted to know more, he knew he shouldn't ask too many questions.
"Going back to the topic--" Luck continued, "I need someone to accompany him to the fortress' training dungeons and train him himself."
The room fell silent for a few moments, with Mug and Ellia exchanging glances. Mug just shook his head and smiled, while Ellia shrugged and said, "Ranfel is raring to go."
"Yes, brigade leader. Allow me to train him." He stood up from his seat and looked at Luck with resolve, before shooting Darren a quick glance. His resolute expression looked menacing to Darren, because of the dark circles under his eyes and the stuffed eyebags he had.
"Please don't fall asleep and let him die." Luck smirked at his subordinate, prompting Ellia and Mug to chuckle to themselves.
Ranfel shot the two members of the brigade an unamused glance, before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, "I won't."
Although Luck wanted to accompany Darren in the training dungeons, Luck felt like Darren's place in the social hierarchy of the guild would come firm if a member got close to him. After all, he was bound to be a busy man, and Darren was still weak. If he was the one to always give him special treatment, the others might not take for it too kindly.
Luck pressed his lips together and nodded, "Then he's in your care."
♦♦♦
Led by Ranfel, the two headed all the way towards the city center to the fortress, where future cultivators and cultivators were being taught various skills, technicques, and combat knowledge.
They signed a few papers but luckily did not need for any identification processes to happen to Darren. The brigade information was filled out instead. It would be bad if Darren's mossbag identity was discovered too early after all.
The training dungeon was a sort of tunnel going through a mountain, with dozens of guards watching over those who want to train in the dungeon to avoid casualties. And with the two barely speaking at all except when the moment requires, they both reached the training dungeon entrance.
It was a simple opening in a steep, rocky hill that spanned more than a meter wide, with two armored cultivators stationed beside the entrance.
Darren couldn't help but feel amazed, now that the training dungeon he had only heard about was in front of him. He heard that the dungeon contained monsters that were controlled by high-tiered cultivators using parasitic abilities. And although killing these monsters yielded no flux cores, the battles were genuine.
If a person was trained correctly in the dungeons, they would gain plenty of basic experience when it came to fighting, and they would get to use all the theories they learned from classes in the fortress.
Ranfel and Darren entered through the entrance unhindered, before Ranfel spoke up, "We'll start from the weakest monster and go up from there, so I can get a rough idea of your current level."
"A-Alright, got it."
The two headed towards an area in the tunnels, where skeletons were walking around and about. When a human enters a certain range, the skeletons would approach the human and try to attack-- as per the designs of the cultivators who were controlling them.
"These skeletons are the weakest. I won't tell you anything about them, as they shouldn't really do you any danger."
"I see . . ." Darren nodded, before muttering, "Well then, um, I'll approach them."
Not saying anything, Ranfel just nodded and crossed his arms, wanting to observe the strange cultivator clearly.
Darren's physique was okay, but everything about him screamed 'unrefined.' The way he carried himself, the way he wielded his blade, the way he talked-- it felt like he himself looked down on his own existence.
Ranfel didn't have much puzzle pieces to even begin guessing, however, so he just forced himself to stop thinking and just start observing Darren again from scratch. But his tired eyes widened when he heard a crunch, followed by an 'Ow!'
Darren's fist had broken the skull of a skeleton, instantly 'killing' the skeleton.
"Beast killed. 7 EXP gained."
"No, no, no, wait Darren." Ranfel hurriedly tried to get Darren's attention, raising his voice a little for him to hear, "Please don't smash the skeletons. Smashed bones aren't reusable."
"Oh, s-sorry."
Ranfel kept silent as he watched Darren remove the bits of dry skull on his arm. 'So that flux-enhanced punch is enough to break dry bone.' It wasn't anything surprising, as some male mossbags could do the same.
But as for Darren, he couldn't help but smile when he heard the kill announcement in his head. Although the announcement kind of became more vague compared to killing in the 'other world,' he was happy that killing an 'already-dead thing still yielded EXP. Even though it was minuscule compared to his EXP requirement of 500, it was still progress. Not to mention that there was an abundance of monsters here.
However, his plan to peacefully level up was shattered when he heard a monstrous roar echo through the tunnel, soon followed by heavy footsteps that shook the dungeon, and causing some pebbles and dirt to drop from the ceiling.