"When are you leaving?" Nathan sighed, standing in the middle of the training room with Penn as he walked around Daniel toward the weapon rack.
"You must be crazy to think I'd leave you alone with Penn," Daniel spat, not hiding his distaste for the situation. "Don't you already have a horde of Guides? Why are you chasing after mine, too?"
"Yours?" Nathan paused with a scoff. "I believe he doesn't wish to be owned by anyone, right, neighbor?"
Penn quietly followed Nathan to the weapon rack, attempting to avoid the tug and pull against him. If he said anything, he would only spark more of a fight. Nathan glanced at him with a smirk.
"Which weapon did you mainly use in the military?"
"M4 5.56 Carbine, M18 handgun, and the Ka-Bar utility combat knife," Penn replied, standing beside Nathan and gazing at a few of the weapons he'd practiced with previously.
"Hmm, since you'll be playing a support role, you can stick to combat knives. There is a large selection you can use without needing mana or skills - but they are awakened-use only. It'll be suitable for your close-combat skills as well. But for long range, hmm…"
Most of those are mana-based, like the Hunter Guns. Crossbows are still an option, but please keep in mind that they are not powerful enough or entirely feasible when it comes to defending yourself and the person you are guiding. Then add on the amount of extra weight you carry for the arrows… We'll think of something," Nathan explained, reviewing his different options inside the dungeon.
"Isn't there something like an awakened storage space?" Penn asked. Nathan shrugged.
"Yes and no. Not every awakened has it to start. It's an earned skill. When you do your class-up exam through the system, there is an option to add to that exam to learn the skill."
"Pardon?" Penn looked over at him, confused. You didn't just have the skills you were awakened with?
"When you get evaluated as an awakened, you have a designated growth level. As a rank A, you can work your way to rank S. But to get there, you must level up and max out rank A level 9. The awakened system will intuitively tell you it's time to take the qualification test. An instant dungeon will appear before you; only you can see and enter it.
Once you are there, a stone tablet will explain the details of your specific test. Each time you take a level test, you can choose to level up one specific skill or gain a new skill. The test is added to what you are doing, increasing its difficulty."
"Oh…" Penn gasped, almost dropping the crossbow and the strange glowing knife that Nathan had handed to him. "So, how do you gain the skill for storage?"
"It's based on your own experience, so the weight and number of items you can hold depend on you. During the test, random items will appear. Once you complete the test, your subspace storage skill will be determined by how many items you carry and their weight. For example, if you carry only a handful of bullet shells, the storage granted to you is seven to twelve items with a maximum weight of less than one pound."
"Ha!" Penn couldn't help but laugh at how ridiculous that sounded, but then he nodded. It made sense when you thought about it, but it still seemed unfair to many. He turned to Daniel. "Do you have the skills?"
"No," Daniel shook his head, clicking his tongue. "My class requires a lot of subskills based on knowledge, and they take a lot to level up. Unfortunately, I have to focus on class skills."
"What about leveling up as a Guide?" Penn asked. Nathan shrugged, so Penn turned back to Daniel, who smiled.
"It's a skill based on both quality and quantity. If you were an ordinary Guide, you wouldn't have to worry about any awakened level-up test. It's about how much time you put into your guiding, your quality of guiding, and how many awakened you have guided - with the quality going up if the awakened are the same or higher rank than you are."
"Hmm, frustrating," Penn mumbled. Nathan leaned close.
"Just keep focusing on guiding me, and you'll rank up in no time," Nathan whispered, his eyes curving into half-moons. Penn felt goosebumps all over when he looked into Nathan's cold brown eyes. For some reason, the closer he looked, the more they looked like the void in his nightmares. Penn nodded slowly in response.
"Don't you think you're close enough?" Daniel snapped, stepping over and pulling Penn back a few steps. Nathan stood straight and shrugged with a smile, walking back to the center of the room.
"Let's get some practice in so I can gauge your skills," Nathan called from across the room. "Once I have a general idea, I'll take you through the association's training gate so you can experience a real dungeon."
"No!" Daniel yelled. "He hasn't even had proper training, thanks to that incompetent fool from before. Don't you think you're rushing it?"
"He's been an active military service member for years. He should get hands-on experience fighting monsters since he already has the basics down. We don't need to delay just because you are overprotective," Nathan replied sternly.
Penn chewed his inner cheek while keeping silent. In all honesty, he agreed with what Nathan was saying. He was a qualified combat veteran. Asking him to stay in a room to run back and forth avoiding superpowers being thrown at him wasn't quite the constructive training they made it out to be.
And since Nathan mentioned it was a dungeon used for training by the association, it should be more than safe enough since hunters with less combat experience than he had entered.
"As his trainer, I don't believe it's safe for him to proceed with such extremes," Daniel hissed.
"How is it extreme when it's the standard next step in training for new Hunters? Are you discriminating against him because he's a Guide?" Nathan shot back, refusing to back down.
"Daniel," Penn interjected, finally making himself known since both parties kept talking on his behalf. "I agree with Nathan. With my skill level, I believe it's the right step to take next."
"Penn!" Daniel seemed to beg. He ran over to Penn and tugged on his green tee shirt, pulling his ear down to his mouth and whispered, "Don't trust that bastard. I don't know why he's playing goodie-two-shoes with you. He's never given two shits about any living thing. He's cruel, crude, rude, and revolting down to his bones."
"Daniel, I understand you have a dislike for him - some type of bad blood. But he is also my combat trainer and has been earnest in teaching me everything from the start. He's a rank S hunter willing to teach me everything I need to know about this Battle Guide thing. I'll be assigned to him in dungeons soon enough - I can't avoid it forever."
Daniel's hands trembled, and the bottom lip of his open mouth quivered. His eyes reflected a sense of betrayal, and he dropped his gaze before quickly looking at Nathan with a scowl.
"Fine, but I'm not leaving. I'll be watching from the overview room," Daniel replied, giving a frustrated sigh.
"Thank you, Daniel. I owe you dinner," Penn replied with a smile, reaching out to squeeze his shoulder. Daniel gave an awkward smile in return.
"I'm holding you to that!" Daniel joked back. "After your training session, we'll go to the equipment room and get you a communication core. I can't go into the dungeon with you, but I can respond immediately if you contact me. Digital devices like cell phones don't work once you pass through a gate."
"Let's do that. I'd rather follow the safety measures you suggest since I'm inexperienced."
"You'll be in trouble otherwise," Daniel replied in a jokingly stern tone.
"Go, you're holding us up," Nathan yawned, still waiting across the room. Daniel gave Penn's bicep a quick squeeze before glaring at Nathan as he left the room. Nathan chuckled while shaking his head. "Finally, the hamster has left us."
"Pfft," Penn sputtered between a shocked laugh and a cough. Yet he couldn't dispute that with Daniel's bright personality and small stature; he did remind him of a hamster. "Why are you so pushy with him?"
"Hmm? Because he's a Hunter who's swarming around my Guide. It's instinct-based. Even more so for higher-ranked espers. I mentioned before that we get very territorial, like wolves and their mates. Or mama bears and their cubs. Or even a crocodile and its prey. It all depends on how the Hunter views their Guide." Nathan waved his hand, and Penn walked up next to him.
"Didn't you say that I didn't want to be owned by anyone?" Penn poked Nathan's hip, and Nathan's eyes darted to his hand before slowly looking up at Penn's face. That unsettling feeling crept inside Penn as he looked into Nathan's eyes, which momentarily appeared black. Nathan slowly smiled.
"Of course, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm your priority."
"As it was stated," Penn chuckled before lowering himself into a fighting stance. "Let's get started, shall we?"
"Yes," Nathan smiled widely. "This is what I'm talking about!"