I was frozen by the gorgeous woman who spoke to me. She had long chestnut colored hair that fell around two floppy dog ears. What struck me most was her bewitching smile, and her kind eyes.
"Catherine said you were interested in joining the Guild?" She asked as she sat down beside me. I instinctively scooted away and tried to regain my composure.
"Um, yeah, I mean, I was at curious how and, like, what the requirements were?"
"Sure." She giggled. "Well, for starters, I'm Ashley."
"Nice to meet you, I'm Nick."
"Charmed." she says while placing a parchment and quill pen in front of me. "Now, we just need you to fill out this form in order to join. As for requirements, you just need to be at least ten years old, not a slave and not wanted for any felonies."
"Seems pretty lenient." I pick up the parchment and look it over which helps slow my heart beat.
"The Adventurer's Guild is often the last resort for people that have run out of options so local governments are willing to overlook small crimes if you can give back to the community through labor." She keeps moving her face closer to mine as she speaks. "That being said, if you commit any crimes once you become an adventurer the guild won't hold back any effort in bringing you to justice."
Her face is so close to mine by the time I finish speaking that I have to lean backwards to avoid getting headbutted.
"I got it, i got it, just back off."
She pulls away and smiles softly, waiting for me to make a decision.
"What kind of things do people do around here for money?" I ask as I wipe myself off.
"Most of our members at this branch collect plants and monster parts at the edge of Argon Forest to sell in town, though occasionally there will be a monster hunting quest if a monster shows up at the treeline that the junior adventurers can't handle."
"So the senior adventurer's get paid the big bucks to keep the other adventurer's safe, yeah?"
"No one gets paid 'the big bucks' around here; you must be thinking of Ras Hafun City."
"Well, if that's the case then I'll need to rethink my application." I say as I begin standing up. A firm hand lands on my head and forces me back into my seat.
"Who's the brat?"
"This is the a new applicant. He seems very concerned with who makes 'the big bucks' around here." Ashley says while wearing a mischievous smile; I can't help but feel that I've walked into a trap.
"Our terms not good enough for you boy?"
I try to turn and look at who's speaking to me but they've got my head locked in place.
"I'm just considering the potential risk which seems to be pretty high compared to the reward." I shrug.
"Are you using this hollow skull you have sitting on your shoulders? I didn't think brats your age could do that."
"Thanks."
My captor finally reveals herself as she lets go of my head and moves to the empty spot beside me. She has fierce green eyes and bright blue hair; if I didn't know any better I'd say her head was ablaze.
"Now I'm curious, most people that walk through that door do it because they have no other options but that doesn't seem to be the case with you."
"Well, I'm not so sure."
"What is it that you want?" Her eyes pierce right through me.
"My parents are selling off their books to make ends meet and I've been looking around town for ways to make some money."
"Ah, the Drake's kid. I've been by there but haven't seen you."
I freeze at the string of new information. If I get caught lying here I feel I may face some painful repercussions; the blue haired woman beside me doesn't look like she easily forgives.
'That's my last name. I haven't seen her there either but I only watch the library once a week when we don't get many visitors.'
"Ah, yeah, I must've just missed you," I shrug.
Her eyes narrow at my belated response.
"Listen up!" The blue-haired woman yells. Everyone stops what they're doing and turns our direction. "There's been reports of unusual monster activity in the woods so all adventurer's are banned from working the treeline until further notice."
Moans fill the hall as everyone realizes that their meal ticket was just rescinded.
"Ashley, keep an eye on him."
"Yes sir, Guild Master." I glance at Ashley and see her smiling at me but by the time I turn back to the Guild Master, she's already gone. A nauseous dread fills my stomach; I suddenly feel incredibly out of place.
"Well, thanks for the help but I've got to get going." I say as I stand up to leave.
"Bye."
The hair on the back of my head stands on end. I can't get over the sense of unease assaulting me as am I once again greeted by the mid-morning light.
'Are you okay?'
"I just need to sit down for a minute." I walk briskly to the fountain at the center of the square and sit down.
"What the hell was allthat?" I think with my head in my hands.
The Guild Master who could see right through me and disappear in an instant, the sense of dread I felt when I at the end of our conversation, and the immutable Ashley who just smiled the whole time. It felt like I was suddenly on a different planet; well, another different planet.
I take some deep breaths to still my racing heart.
"Stay calm; panic kills."
"Okay, how the hell did she disappear like that?"
'The Guild Master? She was probably just really fast.'
"What? She was gone from the hall in an instant!"
'Yeah, the seal can make people really fast and strong.'
"I remember you talking about the seal ceremony, what is that about?"
'That's the big tattoo on our back.'
"Tattoo?" I pull at my collar and see the edge of a black tattoo rise up the back of my shoulder. "No kidding."
'Yeah, it's how people connect to the system.'
"System." I repeat absent mindedly.
'Yup, it works like a suit of armor that makes you stronger and protects you from damage.'
"How does it make you stronger?"
'You can get additional stats that boost your strength and speed and stuff by leveling up or training.'
"No way!" I leap up from my seat and a number of people look in my direction.
'Y-yeah. Hey, people are looking at us.'
"Ignore them, how can I find out what my stats are?"
'Just say status.'
"Status."
A semi-transparent panel pops up in front of my face.
Niccolo Drake lv 1
Sponsor: God of knowledge
Job: Commoner lv 1
Possible jobs:
Skills:
Titles:
Unassigned points: 0
Health: 45/45
Stamina: 70/70
Vitality: 0
Strength: 0
Agility: 0
Endurance: 0
Resilience: 0
Mana Capacity: 0
Mana Bandwidth: 0
Processing power: 0
"What the hell? I suck." I hear some sniggering from the passerbys but I ignore them.
'What did you expect? I just woke up from getting my seal yesterday.'
A flurry of thoughts filled my mind. To live is to lose ground, the down going; here stood an opportunity to fight against the inevitable decline. No matter how hard one worked in my old world they would always reach a physical limit. What was the limit of the system?
I take a step to my left and immediately stumble over a boy sitting on the ground.
"Sorry about that." I say as I dust myself off.
"Okay," the boy responds without even looking back up at me. He didn't seem to be hurt so I walked away without a second thought.
I ran back to our house so I could talk to the kid privately. I pushed open the door and instantly made eye contact with the kid's mother.
"I'm back, I'm going to my room."
Without waiting for her to respond I bolt up the stairs and land on the bed.
"Quick, let's switch."
'Okay.'
I fall back into the mind sea and everything goes numb.
Not ten seconds after we switch, there's a knock at the door.
"Nick, are you okay?" Carroll asks.
"I'm fine, mom."
She opens the door and walks in, a concerned look on her face. Carroll walks up to Nick and grabs his face before moving it back and forth to inspect it.
"Hehe, that tickles." Nick giggles.
Seemingly satisfied, Carroll walks to the door.
"Dinner will be ready soon." She says before closing the door behind her.
"Okay! Thanks Mom!"
'I think you should be in control around your Mom.' I say, another chill running down my spine. Well, I don't have a spine at the moment currently so my imaginary spine.
"Okay." Nick grabs a book off the shelf and opens it on the bed like clockwork. "You were talking about the system before, right? This book talks a lot about it."
'Oh, cool! Mind if I check it out?'
"Sure!"
I'm yanked up to the surface in an instant. It seems to be getting easier to switch.
"Thanks, now how strong can you get with the system?" I ask.
'I don't know if there is a limit, I think it just gets harder to gain stats the stronger you get.'
"Holy fuck." My mind races again as I skim the book in front of me. Images of anime and superhero movies storm around in my mind. Could I really get that strong?
I'd never really had an ambition for power but gaining superhuman strength and speed is too tantalizing to ignore. Nick went on to explain to me that training could increase your stats but it was time consuming so most people just leveled up; how do you do that? By killing monsters. Apparently the gods or whatever made it so the system didn't reward people with experience for killing other people, which made sense.
"What do you say? Do you want to get stronger with me?"
'Not really, I just want to stay inside and read.'
"Don't you remember what your Dad said? They are going to have to sell books to pay the bills; eventually there won't be any books left."
'Mom says I shouldn't worry about that.'
"Of course she's going to say that, she wants to protect you by saying that they have everything under control."
'I don't know...'
"Okay, how about this; we'll just try training in town and see how strong we can get, no dangerous woods or monsters, no problem right?"
'I guess...'
"This kid is killing me." I think to myself.
I was trying to be equatable considering I'd basically commandeered his body but I was too excited to gently change his mind over time. I wanted to get started now.
"Okay, I'm going to start with some push ups and see what this body can do."
'Push up?'
"Don't worry about it."
I hop off the bed and get in position. The cool stones feels good on my hands. I pump out ten push ups real quick and stop to reevaluate. My arms are shot. Just how out of shape is this kid?
"Nick! Dinner!" I hear through the door.
"Coming!" I shout back.
I fall back and switch with the kid so he can be there for dinner.
"Ow," Nick says as he rubs his triceps.
'Yeah, that'll happen. I bet you've never done something like that before.'
"Why does it have to hurt?"
'Pain is weakness leaving the body,' or at least that's what my brother always used to scream at me.'
"You had a brother?"
'Yeah, I did, but whatever, go downstairs and eat dinner.'
"Okay."
I never thought I'd say this but dealing with Nick made me empathize with my brother a bit. I'm not sure if he was ever really trying to help me but he did look after me sometimes. He make me food when Dad came home late and taught me things.
I shake my imaginary head as I try to stop thinking like that; I shouldn't try to empathize with my abusers.
"Nick, you're sweating." Carroll says as she sees us walk into the kitchen.