"What did you just do back there? How'd you get so fast all of a sudden?" Nico got out through deep breaths, Tear disappearing from his hand now. Recalling the object was just as easy as summoning it, so he did it without a second thought. The unique weapon of player was imprinted onto that individual's very existence, so the possibility of it being taken from you was unfeasible. "It's one of my skills, [Woodland Stride], the other one being [Entangling Roots]. It gives me augmented dexterity and pace in forest or woodland settings–since we're in a plains biome, it wasn't as much, but it was still enough to surprise, you wasn't it?" Ingrid answered, and he could see that she was breathing heavy as well. He could feel the pain in his right leg more pronounced now that the short burst of adrenaline had faded, and Nico winced at the throbbing pangs. It seemed as if Ingrid noticed the situation because without saying something, she cast [Lifebloom]. The blonde held out her hand, a white lotus flower blooming from her palm–it was radiating a soft hue of light, but more importantly, a green magical aura started to flow from the flower into Nico's injured leg. The sensation was strange, but he could feel vitalization streamlining into the wound with a refreshing feeling.Ingrid closed her palm, the white lotus fading away along with its glow. The green stream of magic stopped, and he realized that it was his first time being healed. His leg felt much better already, and there was no wound anymore; even the blood that dripped down from the pricks were gone."Ingrid, thank you." Nico said gratefully, as it was his first time experiencing healing magic. As a support-type, he was sure she healed all the time, and that she had cast that ability probably more times than she could count. But he had never felt that before, and so it would be a memorable experience to him. "Of course, I proposed the spar after all, and I hurt you," She replied, "But you surprised me, Nico. I've been a player for a relatively long time now, and you kept up with me better than some of the more experienced players I know back in Stockholm." Nico nodded in understanding, "Well, I'm glad to hear I can beat some Swedish players," He said with a chuckle, eliciting a playful s–mile from Ingrid, "But seriously, thank you for this. You showed me a lot, and you didn't have to. You're definitely very strong as well." Soon, the two of them exited the dungeon. Outside, the area was still empty, and no one occupied the hallways of books that filled the shelves in the shop. The atmosphere felt so different to Nico, who came out of the janitorial closet door sweating in the summer heat, having just exerted himself physical in a way he never had before; he realized he had to get used to fighting much sooner.His stomach rumbled as he realized that it also burned a lot of calories to move that much, even for a player who had enhanced physicalities. Tiredness filled his body, and his right leg still felt minimally sore even if the wound was stitched up–it appeared that healing magic wasn't omnipotent, which made sense; it would be ridiculously overpowered if it could cure any disease or restore any wound. Nico quickly asked the girl next to him if she wanted to grab something to eat, as the experience had made him realize he was hungrier than he thought. She agreed, smiling warmly, and they made their way to a nearby local sandwich shop. It was closer to Excelsior's campus this time, meaning that the two of them walked back in the mid-afternoon blaze of the sun, Nico feeling a drop of sweat drip down his temple.When they made it to the deli, many other students were nearby, and Nico could see that above some of their heads were , the symbol that allowed him to recognize that they were players, and vice versa. Ingrid pointed to a table by the window, and the placed there things there before going up to the counter and ordering.Nico got a hearty BLT sandwich with a milkshake, while Ingrid preferred ice tea and a grilled chicken sandwich. As they waited for their food to come, Nico couldn't help but feel a sense of cordiality with her–Ingrid had been nice enough to show him the ropes of dungeon raiding, even if it wasn't the type of dunegon that could be cleared, and spar against him, too."So tell me," The Witchblade began, feeling a little guilty that he was hiding something–his true class–from her, "where even is this recruitment event at?" He asked."It's at a warehouse near the edge of the city," Ingrid answered as their orders came; she took a sip of her iced tea, the color of which was an fizzy amber and clay-red, "I can send you the address if you want. It's mainly been advertised through word of mouth, but some people were posting about it, too." "Yeah, that'd be great if you could send it," Nico said, pulling out his phone. It was on the text message app on the screen where the phone prompted a number and a text to be inserted, presumably getting her phone number as well. Ingrid typed it in with ease, and he saw that the message included the time, Monday night which was in two days, and the address, "I don't know what it'll entail, though–they probably keep that information a secret so no one gets an unfair advantage in preparation." The girl said."Makes sense," Nodded Nico, "So who else should I look out for other than Francisco?" He realized that if he wanted to have any semblance of success as a player, integrating himself into the community was going to be the imperative move. And with that, he needed to know the names of the strongest around, as intel was potentially everything when it came to dealing with potential opponents or allies.Ingrid responded, not missing a beat, "Well I've only heard rumors, but I've heard the strongest kid in our year is Blake Hayes, the Electromancer. They say most of his battles end in one blow, beccause once his opponents get hit with his magic, they can't get back up." Though the way she said it made it apparent that she had only heard the news through rumors or gossip, Nico was still in awe; if that was true, that means the upper echelons of players had to be much more powerful–potentially exponentially more–than he was at the moment. "Sounds... terrifying." Nico commented, taking a bite into his BLT; the juicy bacon and lettuce complimented each other well, and since he was hungry, the food tasted that much better. "And then there's Aleksy Lisowski," Ingrid began, "He's a really nice, outgoing guy, but people say he's really strong as well, though I don't know what class he is; his name has just been brought up in the conversation, you know?" "Gotcha," He responded, gulping down a portion of the milkshake in between bites, "Well, I'm sure we'll find out during recruitment, right?" "Yes," Nodded Ingrid, "I assume that it'll mostly, if not all, be player versus player combat." It made sense, as a player's ability to fight with one another was directly reflective of their overall competence, which would be translated to raiding dungeons or such. After the meal, the two of them didn't linger around much–Ingrid headed back to her residence hall, and after he walked her back, Nico went back to his own room. Feeling recharged, though, he knew that he wasn't ready to end the day just yet. Now, though, he had her number or social media, so they could reach each other any time. Nico found Kadin sitting on his chair at his desk when he got back to his room, scrolling on his phone. He guessed that no one in the player community around Excelsior hadn't heard of EPS, so he prompted to ask his roommate about it too, as he knew the Magic Archer was familiar with much of the player news. "Hey man, how's it going?" Nico asked as he entered the room, memories from last night still fresh."Good, good," Kadin replied, putting his phone down, "Thanks for yesterday; you just met me, and you didn't have to step in, but you did." "Happy I could help–I was told, though, that it could've gone a lot worse, since Francisco is apparently a pretty strong player?" "Unfortunately, you're not wrong," Kadin grimaced, "I shouldn't have let that prick get to me." He ultimately sighed."Well, you can get your revenge at the EPS recruitment event, right?" Nico remarked, and Kadin had a surprise look on his face."I thought you said you were a new player; you already know about things like that?" "I ran into someone earlier, and they filled me in," He said, for some reason feeling a strange need to keep their experience priate."Well, however, you find out about it," Kadin began, "that's good that you're getting to know other players; but yeah, the EPS is no joke–they only take the best and strongest." Nico nodded in agreement, though he didn't know where Kadin stood in terms of strength. By the way Ingrid was describing it, he wasn't sure if his roommate could take on Francisco, but Nico didn't want to assume things he couldn't fully confirm. And furthermore, he didn't want to rely on other people for information–it would help for sure, but Kadin had been helpful enough taking him to the party. Instead, he wanted to figure it out on his own, and take challenges head on without relying on outside sources of help or information, as when it got to a certain point, it mattered more about what he was capable of doing than any sort of minor intel he could get from others. In that moment, Nico told himself he would at least train a little more before the tryout day came. Sure, he was a new player, but he had one trick up his sleeve that others didn't, and he didn't know much, but he knew that passing that opportunity up would be foolish. Unlocking his former power would come with time as he got stronger, but right now, Nico felt like he needed a base standard of strength to at least match up with the other players who have been getting stronger ever since they awakened a much longer time ago than himself. Either revisiting was a likely possibility as well; Nico wanted to reintroduce his body and mind to wielding the sword, and while killing mere Slimes wouldn't yield any rewards, it was mainly for psychosomatic synchronization and proprioception purposes. Furthermore, Nico wasn't sure of any way he could gain access to a lucrative dungeon, since most of them were taken by clubs like EPS or guilds, and accessing them would require special permission or contracts. Of course, there were public, reoccurring dungeons that the local organizations have decreed would remain non-private, so those were popular spots to farm miniscule loot and experience, but Nico wanted more than that. Conquering those gates wouldn't benefit him much in the long run, and therefore his best chance was making it into EPS in order to gain access to the advantages that membership in such a club could grant. Monday night came a lot sooner than expected. The past day and half had honestly been a blur of restless preparation–he didn't know why, but Nico had started to feeling a sense of drive to push himself to try his best. A fidgety first day of school went by in no time, and Nico even surprised himself that he didn't care about his first-ever experience in a college classroom compared to something he found out about a day prior. As a political economy major, his two classes of the day was Introduction to Comparative Politics and Introduction to Microeconomics, very rudimentary courses to build up foundational knowledge. Of course, he stayed diligent and focused in class, but the back of his mind always thought more about that night than anything else. After having gotten home from his final class, which ended in the mid-afternoon, Nico ate a substantial meal and opted to let himself relax before the time came. The previous day, Sunday, was spent with several hours fighting Slimes in the dungeon that Ingrid had shown him–the two of them sparsely texted throughout the day, but he would only see her again Monday night during the recruitment event. Instead, Nico devoted the little free time he'd have before school started to coordinate his mind and his body, making him flow better and faster in battle. He didn't even summon Tear, opting to fight the Slimes with his punches and kicks alone. He wasn't an expert in martial arts by any means, but an elementary understanding of hand-to-hand combat came alongside [Eldritch Swordsmanship] so at the very least, he could utilize that to train his body's reaction speed. Reflexes aside, consciously echoing the movements his brain processed was a difficult ordeal–so while [Danger Premonition] was an extremely useful ability, it was meaningless if he could detect an attack coming but couldn't react to it in time. Therefore, he was trying to train his automatic mechanical responses to danger, and the best way to do that was with semi-harmless Slimes that he could easily kill.Of course, only a few hours of practice was not nearly enough to get him up to par with other, stronger players, but the fact remained that it helped synchronize his current existence to that of the character from the video game in which he obtained his class from–it became clear to Nico that the system, in one way or another, had harmonized his own soul with the concept of the character's. Therefore, he was merely getting back what he had already knew, which was buried under piles of unawareness and ineptitude for now. He wasn't sure if it was the old competitive spirit in him, or the desire to bring out the potential he knew was hidden deep inside, but by the time the sun was halfway descended beyond the horizon, the last echoes of daylight being obscured by the massive skyscrapers in the distance, Nico stood in front of the warehouse on the outskirts of the city by the water.It looked like he didn't need the address that Ingrid had sent him, because him and Kadin made their way there together, both of them having agreed to go with one another that night. Taking an Uber there, Nico and Kadin arrived in walking distance of the warehouse, as it wasn't connected to any main roads.And already, without even having to focus his senses, Nico could already detect a truly staggering amount of people. Since it was dark out, the only light sources were a few streetlights far away and the crescent moon that was shining bright in the sky. He could see a flew glares and flares light up in the distance as he and Kadin approached the crowd, most likely the use of people's active skills.Kadin had told him that they were going to meet up with some of his other player friends, and it occurred to Nico that probably most if not all of Excelsior's freshman population of players were in attendance, and that number was definitely higher than one hundred at the very least. The warehouse was located on the edge of the water, meaning anyone could see the moonlight reflect the Gravesend Bay's pitch-black ripples, making the atmosphere much more euphoric and mysterious. The entrance of the large structure laid in a giant parking lot, where everyone was gathered. The lights in the area were dimmed, so it wasn't easy to recognize and see faces. People were either split up into groups, talking amongst themselves, or standing in anticipation alone, locked in their own thoughts. As they were entering the back of the mass, a familiar voice perked up, "Kadin!" It came from Gracelyn, who Nico had met two days ago. The redqad's face became more visible as she got closer to them, and she was accompanied by another recognizable visage, Saniya, and another girl behind them who he had not met yet. "Grace, there you are," Kadin said, "Hi Saniya, hi Lucia." He acknowledged the two girls behind his now-probably-girlfriend, and their names became elucidated to Nico as he saw the questions marks above the stranger's head turn into words. Lucia had matching dark-brown hair and eyes, minimally illuminated by the glow of the street lamps relatively far away. It snapped him out of his train of thought–he was thinking about the abilities he might be able to unlock next other than the ones he had now–when the girl introduced herself."Nice to meet you guys," She waved at Kadin and Nico, the latter giving a curt wave back with a slight smile. Under different circumstances, he would've tried to be more friendly. But right now, he was feeling nervous–having no idea what to expect, Nico became even more apprehensive when he saw just how many fellow Excelsior freshmen were here to try out for EPS.According to Ingrid, only around a dozen or so of them were going to make it, so all of these people could potentially be his enemies in this upcoming competition to be recruited. He pushed the thought back into his head and said, "I'm Nico, nice to meet you." It was more of a brief formality than a genuine introduction as his eyes peered into the crowd, trying to find any other familiar faces, notedly Ingrid's. However, he couldn't see her. And it seemed like him and Kadin were the last two people to arrive, as before he knew it, the air began to ripple. Everyone stopped talking and the commotion died down almost instantaneously as the atmosphere suddenly shifted–tension crackled in the air as Nico's chest felt like it was getting tighter, only enhancing the nervousness he currently felt. He thought, in that moment, about how his life was taking such a different turn from what he thought it would be originally ever since that night in June not so long ago.However, [Danger Premonition] wasn't going off, so he was sure that whatever this was, it wasn't malicious. Without warning, the wide, red shifting doors of the warehouse swung open with a grating creek as the blackness of the depot's interior became apparent. It was an invitation to step inside, where presumably, there would be more to see. If this was the next step, everyone would be following it. And so, everyone did–slowly, the body of students began to make their way forward, with Nico's group in the very far back. None of them said anything loudly, sticking to quiet whispers of, "what's going on?" and "this is unnvering," being heard to his side. Nico stood behind the group, being one of if not the person at the very end. In front of him, he followed Kadin as the girls stood to the side; the Magic Archer stuck close to Gracelyn, and it wasn't necessarily easy for Nico to see over his roommate who was a few inches taller than him. Basically, he was going into it even more blind than everyone else. Sure enough, the entourage crammed fully into the warehouse in due time, and Nico found himself feeling more tense and tense as he continued walking.The pressure in the air was still palpable, and everyone could be seen physically feeling it–the Witchblade didn't know what it was, but he had an inkling that it might've been the aura of another player, being exerted for whatever purposes. But since it didn't contain any malicious intent or bloodlust, meaning that there was no reason to be afraid, at least not yet. Now, the entire bunch of around one hundred and fifty students stood in the pitch dark, not a thing able to be seen other than the moonlight coming from the back. He wasn't sure what this recruitment ritual was, but it was starting to get thoroughly creepy. And then finally, out of nowhere, dangling farm lights from the ceiling flickered on and in an instant, the entire warehouse's interior was illuminated. Asides from a few reactions to the sudden onslought of brightness, everyone was more relieved that they could actually see now.The warehouse, which looked like an industrial storage repository that would normally be filled with massive shelves and items was completely empty other than the bodies of students was currently occupying it. However, there was a platform in the far front that stood halfway up the towering ceiling, and on it stood a figure.People began to notice, and whispers and murmurs began to spread throughout the crowd like wildfire as fingers were pointing up."Who is that?""Is that the... is that the Astroblade?" Nico heard voices around him–though he didn't know who they belonged to–but his eyes remained fixed to the figure up and in front of the masses. Instantly, Nico could tell that that man was the cause of the suffocating air around them. And before they knew it, the lights seemed to suddenly shine towards him, shifting all luminosity to his body like a spotlight shining on a stage. And then, the man spoke. "Hello, everybody!" His voice rung out like thunder throughout the large area, and Nico was confused as to how, as there was no microphone or speaker system anywhere in sight. Was it merely magical ampliciation? Before his train of thought could run rampant, Nico decided to focus, as the recruitment was probably starting any second now."Welcome to this year's Excelsior Player Society's recruitment event. I am Arthur Copeland, EPS's president." The man, Arthur announced. With every word that boomed throughout, the crowd remained completely silent, listening to the leader's every word; this type of commanding presence was not normal to find, and Nico could already understand that this man right here was possibly, most likely, the strongest player in all of Excelsior, and one of the strongest in the metropolitan area.He didn't need to notice much–the aura that Arthur was exuding gave him enough information as it was, and Nico could tell that if he wanted, his aspect could be much more smothering and oppressive than it currently was. As Arthur spoke, the suffocating air faded and people began to release sighs that they didn't know they were holding."Holy... that's the Arthur Copeland..." Muttered Lucia to Nico's front right."How strong is he?" Nico asked, unsure if he wanted to find out–he didn't know how often they would be interacting with such an individual."He has the legendary Astroblade class, and they say he's one of the strongest players on the entire East Coast." She answered back in a hushed whisper."Thank you all, for your attendance!" Arthur's continuation severed their conversation, and all eyes and ears went back towards him. "This recruitment will be a three-day process, with tonight being the first day; you are expected to show up tomorrow and the day after if you want to be fully evaluated."As he spoke, Nico inspected the man's face; the leader of EPS had coppery-blonde hair that made him instantly recognizable, and his striking jade-green eyes stared at all of them, seeming to make perfect eye contact with each individual freshman there all at once. This was a person with immense authority and strength, the peak that Nico wanted to achieve eventually some day."If you participate in all three activities, you will be evaluated by myself and the rest of the Board of Officers, and we will be personally contacting you if you are to be recruited. Remember that being a member of EPS means a great deal of responsibility–you will be required to attend raids, fulfill contracts, and defend Excelsior territories." Nico was aware that there would be obligations to such a prestigious club, but these specifics were news to him.After a moment of pause to let the group take in the information, Arthur continued, "And now! Let the first activity of this year's EPS recruitment event, the battle royale... BEGIN!"And with that, the entire world went black.