The light burns my skull. The pounding within my skull in is even worse. I turn my head slightly to reduce the light.
Even shifting my body hurts, with the bruises coating everywhere. I'm surprised nothing's broken. A minute goes by as I stay on the ground eyes closed. While laying on the floor, I feel someone's hand touch my back. I immediately turn around to see who did that. Who I see is Instructor Kim, hand outstretched.
He looks at me with surprisingly proud eyes. He tries to touch my torso again. I'm standing now, backing up.
He seems confused at my actions before realizing, something. He too rises to his feet and says, "I mean no harm, I wish to give you some of my Gi so that you can maneuver without being confined to a hospital bed for an eternity. So don't move." With that said, he approaches me and gently places a hand on my chest, above where my heart is.
Instructor Kim closes his eyes and I start to feel a slight prickly feeling emanating from where his hand is before it spreads out to the rest of my body. The feeling is like when blood is slightly cut off to a limb so it starts getting icicles, that feeling. I stay entirely still while the Gi travels through my veins, my arteries, my blood.
Once the icicles disappears, I feel rejuvenated. My skull is no longer pounding, the light no longer hurts to look at, and I'm pretty sure my bruises are less; bruised. Instructor Kim finally opens his eyes and takes his hand off my chest. He then backs up a few steps to give me some personal space.
Once he's far enough away, I say while bowing, "Thank you, Instructor."
Instructor Kim bows in kind and says, "Thank you, for being a good pupil. I do hope that you will come by sometime so that I may teach you."
Hearing his words, a new feeling flows from my chest. It's not the icicle like Gi, no, it's more like... satisfaction? I bow deeper upon hearing those words, "I will. Thank you again."
He acknowledges my words in kind, "Head to the clerk and tell her you passed. She'll give you a Hunter License which will allow you to join a squad and enter Labyrinths."
"I shall. Have a good day, Instructor."
He nods, allowing me to leave. I exit out through the door and back into the west wing. There were more people here now, at least a hundred going to and fro in the wing. I maneuvered my way through the people and into the commons.
I look at the clerk booth and see they all had at least four people in their line. I head over to the clerk's line I was at last time, a few hours earlier, and wait. After seven minutes of waiting, it was my turn. Walking up to the clerk and presenting my note that Instructor Kim had stamped at some point. I ask her, "Am I able to register now?"
She looks at me, then at the note, then back at me, confusion evident on her face. She, reluctantly, grabs my card, fills it out, and gives it back to me. I grab the card an look at it. It was black with a diamond pattern, top to bottom. In the upper left is a picture of me, next to it being my name, age, and lastly rank which was tin.
I say with mock politeness, "Thank you very kindly." and then leave her booth.
-
I try looking around for a squad for a little bit. I had already tried to join three that 'looked' promising but they all rejected be. To be fair, I had no idea what I was supposed to be looking for. I'm now sitting at a bench, looking at the different squad. Most have four or more members, one or two usually being in heavier armor, one having a bow, and the last wearing either a priest's wear, or crusader gear. Quite strange to see the influence of Europe in a world devoid of, well Europe.
After looking at the different squad for ten minutes, I hear someone shout, "HEY YOU! The one sitting down," I look around before seeing her. Once we lock eyes, she says again, "Yes you, come over here."
The caller was a woman in full battle armor with a sword and shield along with three other buddies, one wearing clerical garbs, one that's probably just an assassin, and just a mage. I stand up and decide to walk over to them. Getting closer, the caller says, "Are you also a vanguard?"
My confused look forces her to explain, "Vanguards, the people at the front who have swords and shields and spears. Those guys."
Nod of understanding, I reply, "Yes, I guess I would be a vanguard."
"Cool, join us then. I need help with the vanguard. Oh yeah, what class are you?"
"Class?"
"You know, the weapon and skills you use in a fight."
"I'm sorry, but I don't know what you're talking about."
Her energy slightly decreases at my words, "Wow, nobody told you anything. Alright, seeing as how no one else told you, I shall. There are five classes with different expertise. You have Fighters like me, using one handed weapons and a shield. Next are Warriors who use anything two handed, from mauls to spears. Archers are obvious, they use bows to shoot from distance. Thieves use daggers and are sneaky, lead is that, hi Seok."
The assassin man, clad in black, replies in an equally dark voice, "Hi, Seung."
Seung, the fighter lady, looks back at me. "What was I talking about again?"
"You were saying something about thieves?" I tell her.
"Oh yeah, alright, next is, I think clerics who can either bludgeon or heal their compatriots-"
The woman wearing priestly garbs speak us, "That's me! I prefer using a staff to heal my friends."
I reply with a "Cool.", before Seung starts speaking again, "Yes, I think lastly are mages who use mana to deploy spells that can change the tide of battle. Their in low supply and high demand, so everyone wants one. Luckily," she puts an arm around the obvious Mage, "we have Seong-Jin. He's a cool guy once you get past his superiority complex."
Seong-Jin snorts and says, "But I am superior."
"That just makes my point. So, did you get all of that?"
I nod my head, "I did, thank you for telling me."
"No need for thanks, just tell us your class."
"I... guess I would be a warrior?"
They stay still for a moment before Seung and the cleric start whooping and hollering. Even the Mage and Assassin join in, eventually. Once their impromptu celebration is over, the Leader Assassin, I think his name was Seok, asked, "So, would you like to join us? We're also just starting out so you won't be alone."
I looked at the squad, a real good look. After a few seconds, I reply to Seok, "Yes, yes I would."
I think he smiles, can't really tell with the black cloth over his mouth, but the eyes are smiling at least. He then asks, "So, where's your gear?"
My thoughts of Labyrinth hunting with the squad quickly come to a screeching halt. Knew I should've bought a sword.