“Follow me,” Gladis whispers and turns from her counter. She walks towards the door that leads to the guild’s documentation chamber. She hears him walk around the counter and follow her, and all she can feel is confused dread.

He is a [Necromancer]... with mesmerizing eyes, perfect skin, a strong jaw, and short-cropped hair.

Her face reddens and her heartbeat quickens as she recalls his pearly white smile. She swallows hard and opens the door. “T-this way,” she stutters with her words.

How can a [Necromancer] look so good? Aren’t they supposed to be ugly and in love with corpses or something?

She listens to his footsteps behind her.

Maybe he’s not a [Necromancer]! Maybe Bo is wrong… there’s a first time for everything!

She quickly shakes her head. No, she’s never been wrong before.

With a quickened strut, she reaches a hallway with several doors. She opens the third one and enters. “In here,” she voices louder than usual.

“Just take a seat in the center,” she quickly adds.

“Oh, nice enchanting chamber you have here,” the man says, looking at the rather small room used for new applicants.

“Thank you. We got it last year,” she mumbles softly.

She moves across the room to an enchanted safe which unlocks itself immediately when she touches the handle. Truly, the [Enchanters] of Camelot have produced many amazing things recently.

Opening the safe, she is met with hundreds of enchanted metal cards, ranging from Bronze to Adamantine. Next to those cards are the ones for teams. These are slightly larger and come in enchanted Copper, Silver, and Gold.

One of those cards will be picked after a combat assessment, what she needs now is the smallest and most important one. She kneels down and selects a blank testing card. The cards come in three colors: white for a commoner, green for a noble, and then there is black. The black one is only given to someone holding a class on the blacklist, as she likes to call it. The black tag warns everybody on sight that the bearer is presumed dangerous. It will also help [Bounty hunters] to better hunt and track the cardholder if they do something illegal.

She grabs a blank black card and turns around. The man is sitting in a casual position, waiting patiently and sporting a lazy grin that seems to multiply his attractiveness.

Dangerous. That is what she feels about the man, and that is exactly to which she is attracted. Her former lover was a [Berserker], before him was an [Assassin], and leading up to that was a string of the most dangerous-looking [Mercenaries] she could find.

Now, this handsome man gives her those same vibes while also having amazing looks. He is dangerous, and she hates that she finds him attractive for it.

“You know, I've made jokes about people being wowed by my spectacular body, but this is something else?”

His words snap her back into reality.

“Sorry!” She scrambles to him. “Just relax and sit back properly on the chair. Let it do all the work.”

“Aight.”

Carefully, she moves behind the chair and sockets the card. The enchantments in the chair activate and she takes a step back. Mana releases from the seat, spills around it like a cloud, and smothers his whole body.

“Please do not release any mana or use any skills while the testing is in progress. Right now, your physical stats are being checked and recorded.”

“Does it ever fail?” he asks.

“Only if you move or activate skills.”

Gladis watches information readout on the black card, her eyes widen at what she sees… especially when the max mana capacity is written.

Mana - 22,763/11,981

She can’t believe it, there must be a mistake, but if there is, then the test would have been canceled. Still, his quantity exceeds anything she has ever seen. Most [Mages] have between 200 and a thousand. Only an [Archmage] would have over a thousand. On top of all that, he has some skill that is allowing him to exceed his maximum.

She continues staring at the information as it is written, revealing more and more absurd information. Eventually, the test completes and the card slips out of the socket behind the chair. She grabs it before it falls to the floor and gawks at the information before it’s hidden.

[Quasi Eludo]

Mana - 22,763/11,981

Mana Regen - 24.1

Strength - 51

Dexterity - 94

Stamina - 77

Perception - 366

Endurance - 55

A second later and the information on the card disappears.

But she saw his stats, and the numbers are inhuman. Especially that perception. It can't be possible!

“Are we done? It seems like we’re done.”

“Y-yes! Here is your card.”

I hand him the blank card. He looks at it and frowns. His eyes begin to glow with mana and the card reveals his information.

“Huh, this is a [Rare] rank enchantment. I can see at least a dozen different commands. Weird… Hmmm- Oh, I see! They used multiple pieces of metal and then melded them together. That’s pretty smart, especially since the enchantments don't need to actually be strong.”

“What?” she asks, confused. Is he also an [Enchanter]?

“Hm? Oh, nothing. Just checking out the work. Very advanced construction.” He waves her off. “Anyways, what's next?”

She shakes her head while looking at the card going blank in his hand.

“That's it for now. We can go back now and report to the [Guildmistress].”

“Really? Does it have to be right now?”

“Well, yes. There is not-”

She stops talking as a hand touches her chin and lifts her head. She meets his gaze, one only a couple inches away from her own.

Quasi’s eyes stare into her own. “I’m sure she can wait.”

_____________________________________________________________

 

Bo-Chenh has many secrets; her parents, the island that she grew up on, and, of course, her skills to name a few. One such skill she keeps hidden from her staff, [Guild Sight], allows her to sense everything happening within her guild. So, when the [Necromancer] returns with a sweaty and exhausted Gladis, she knows exactly what transpired.

“That took quite a bit longer than usual, Gladis,” Bo-Chenh states while keeping up a neutral expression.

“Uhh, sorry [Guildmistress], the whole process took awhile.”

She slowly nods. “I imagine so.”

She then looks to the young man who looks as though his stamina has not even taken a dip.

“You have your card, correct?”

He twirls a blank black card in his hands.

“Good. Follow me, the training field is upstairs.”

Quasi follows Bo-Chenh as she heads up the stairs. Her movements are slow but are also very precise.

“So, did you enjoy the show?”

The [Guildmistress] snorts. “You knew?”

“You’ve seen my perception. Hiding from me is very difficult.”

“Your perception is still within the realm of [Heroes],” she shrugs.

“That is a dangerous statement.”

She chuckles. “Oh, it very much is.”

Both of them arrive on the second floor. Bo-Chenh, instead of going to the arena, walks towards a blank wall opposite it. Her hand touches the wall and it folds inward to reveal another door.

She opens the door and crosses the threshold. Quasi chuckles as he follows her inside.

Despite the dim light, visible are the black garbed men and women that sit or stand within the room. The [Guildmistress] continues to walk into the room and Quasi follows without even pausing to observe his new surroundings.

The door shuts behind Quasi.

Bo-Chengh turns around and extends her hands, a vicious smile graces her visage.

“The Thieves Guild welcomes you, [Hero], Quasi Eludo.”

Quasi just smiles, not even bothering to look around the room.

Bo-Chenh’s cocky expression warps into a disappointed frown.

“Drat. You have [True Sight], don't you?”

 

 

“Yup.”

_______________________________________________________________

 

It has been over a day since Nafissa began traveling due south with her sisters, and so far, the trip has been boring… and painful.

She rubs her butt. Riding on horseback for hours on end is not something to which she is accustomed. If only she wasn't leading the caravan, then she could sit on top of a wagon, or better yet, inside a carriage.

Looking back, she sees everything's going as planned. The carts and carriage are moving in a straight line while some of the [Priestesses] are on horseback. Those on horseback are dressed in armor that belonged to the [Mercenaries]. The armored [Priestesses] make poor imitations of [Mercenaries], but she hopes it will deter [Bandits] until the promised escort arrives, one which she fears may not be fulfilled.

She doesn’t show her anxieties, lest her sisters panic. She dearly hopes Jessica spoke true.

“Nafissa!”

She turns towards the voice. One of the [Priestesses] points into the distance.

She follows the finger and spots something incoming from the horizon. She squints, trying to make out the image. Her eyes widen.

“Stop!” she calls out with her hand in the air. The caravan slows to a stop. She gulps, staring with increasing fear as a large contingent of two hundred cavalry gallops towards them.

“What's the matter, Nafissa?” A priestess calls from inside the carriage. She peeks her head out to look, but also goes silent when she sees the cavalry coming directly at them.

Only when she sees their flag does she relax. The cavalry belongs to [King] Henceforth, one of the two most powerful leaders in the borderlands. Unlike [Warlord] Dominus, who would be more than happy to rob them blind. With a gulp, she dismounts her horse and walks to the front of the caravan.

It takes another ten minutes before the Cavalry arrives. They circle the caravan, surrounding them while brandishing weapons. Eventually, a heavily armed man rides into the circle. His armor shines in the light as he coldly appraises the caravan.

“I am [Cavalry Knight] Harold of the great [King] Henceforth. Who are you… women?”

Nafissa feels the hairs on her neck stand on end at the way he says the last part. It feels very condescending, so similar to how the [Nobles] speak to her when they finish.

“We are [Priestesses] of Eir, and we are traveling south to assist those injured.”

Harold’s cold gaze moves towards the rest of the caravan. He dismounts his heavily armored horse and then walks towards Nafissa.

Nafissa blinks in confusion before the man's armored hand raises and slaps her across the face. The strike is loud and painful as Nafissa is struck to the ground.

“How dare you lie to me?” He sneers. “I can already tell you’re [Spies] to the traitorous [lord].”

“No,” Nafissa coughs out. “It's the truth. We’re [Priestesses].”

Harold hand moves to the hilt of his sword when the other women start to move to Nafissa. They immediately stop at his movement.

He then leans down, his armored gauntlet wraps around her neck and lifts her up. He punches her in the face with his other mailed fist.

“You think me stupid? A bunch of women wearing the insignia of a [Mercenary] company that my [King] hired from the north?”

He punches again, the skin ripping across her face.

“Please, stop!” a [Priestess] yells.

Harrold gives the other women an annoyed look.

“Men! Arrest them all and take their supplies.”

His words are answered with a shout as the cavalry converges on the caravan.

Harold’s gaze shifts back to the supposed leader of this group. His hand currently around her neck rises up, her feet begin to dangle as they no longer touch the ground. Her hand grabs his arm holding her neck. He sees the fear on her bloody face.

Harold raises his other hand and creates a fist. Blood drips from the knuckles as he prepares to strike.

Before he can, a white bird with glowing purple eyes lands on top of it.

He blinks at the bird. Then the ground begins to tremble.