Chapter 5 the Guild

The guild was easy to find no matter how you looked at it; the building itself was a five-story building with two separate doors, the first door was for regular people and their familiars while the other is for transporting overly large familiars or trainers' spoils when going out in the wild. Walking into the building I found myself surrounded with people and their familiars, one thing that was present though was that most of them smelled. This was a world that didn't have much scientific development, the best you could get was a warm bath and scented oils which cost an arm and a leg, luckily though the female trainers were better off than the males of this establishment. When I walked in several familiars froze in place while others turned to stare at me with hostility but that quickly vanished, thinking about what was going on I could only think about the fact that Shade had a very drastic effect on other familiars.

When I finally got to the front desk, I found myself in front of a young woman dressed in finely made clothes. Her skin was the color of amber, blonde hair, and green eyes, beside her was a sheep that was laying lazily beside her which was as big as a cow, its fur was a metallic silver but it still looked fluffy for some reason. As I looked over the sheep its information appeared within my vision thanks to the systems timely announcement.

[Name: Steel Needle Sheep

Gender: Female

Rank: 2 (1 step away from Rank 3)

Skills: Strong Wool LV 4, Needle Wool LV 3, Soft Wool LV 2]

"Do you wish to post a request sir?" (Receptionist)

"No, I'd like to take the trainer exam as well as the monster breeder exam." (Me)

"Where is your familiar sir, I don't see it?" (Receptionist)

"I had to leave it at home, its very territorial, I can summon it at any time though." (Me)

"Alright please follow me to the testing area, once you have finished your trainer exam, we will start the breeder exam." (Receptionist)

The receptionist got up causing the sheep next to her to open its eyes for a moment to see what's going on before going back to sleep. I followed the receptionist down the side hallway and into a room with double iron doors, when the receptionist opened the doors, I found myself standing in front of an arena made of gravel. On the side lines were bleachers where several spectators leisurely looked over the arena, on the field there were two individuals along with their familiars; the first was a young man with a blue and black frog, while the other was a burly man dressed in hide armor, by his side was what could only be described as a buffalo that was on fire. The burly man looked disappointed at something while the two familiars battled but I knew in an instant that the buffalo was holding a lot of its power back especially seeing how the frog was a rank one familiar while the buffalo was an elite rank two.

The buffalo decided it finally had enough and swatted the frog like a fly; the frog went flying across the field releasing a sickening croak while its trainer ran after it with a worrier look, the receptionist that stood beside me kept her business like smile on her face the entire time even when watching this pitiful scene. I guess she's all to familiar to this scene, noticing that no one was going to help the frog I walked up to it seeing that the frogs rig cage was caved in along with several broken bones. The young man that was checking his familiars condition looked at me with caution but that didn't stop the sadness and worry within him to show. Crouching next to the frog I placed my hand on its slippery skin and activated my healing skill, the fatal damage that was present just a moment ago was gone but the frog was still unconscious. This frog was a blue cloud dart frog which was incredibly hard to train but if trainers could raise it properly then they would be formidable, looking over the frog's data from the system I found that most of its skills were advanced for its stage and it looked incredibly healthy. Putting my free hand in my pocket I acted like I was pulling something out of it but in reality, I retrieved my journal from my inventory, I wrote down the evolutionary conditions and passed it to the young man.

"You have raised a fine familiar, go home and let it rest and then train and improve." (Me)

"Thank you!" (Young Man)

The young man picked up his frog and left the field but he didn't leave the room instead he sat down on the bleachers looking over the field expecting something. The burly man looked at me as if judging me while the receptionist had a pleasant smile on her face unlike before, when she noticed that I was staring at me she nodded to me before turning towards the burly man.

"This young man wishes to take the trainer exam." (Receptionist)

"Hmph another brat trying to get himself killed." (Burly Man)

"Please summon your familiar so we can proceed." (Receptionist)

"Alright." (Me)

'Shade it's time.'

*Shade appears*

"A timber wolf huh, looks like it was raised well but its still just a weak species, no use even testing it." (Burly Man)

"Watch out!" (Me)

When the burly man finished his sentence Shade immediately reacted; she charged forward towards the burly man and swiped at him with the intent to kill, the flaming buffalo that was by his side was restrained by black thorny vines. The burly man immediately rolled out of the way of Shade but that didn't stop her from taking another swipe at his back, her razor-sharp claws grazed the mans back just before he could get out of reach. I immediately sent Shade back into the system to let her cool off, looking at the vines that were still holding the buffalo even with the scorching heat I couldn't help but shutter.

'System what the hell did you do to Shade, she's changed so much since the last time I saw her!'

[User put the system on auto-train mode which resulted in multiple training simulations to be progressed, Shade has completed 190/200 training simulations, right now she is on par of a normal rank three familiar]

"What the hell was that!" (Burly Man)

"That was my familiar, you pissed her off with calling her weak." (Me)

"But Timber Wolves are weak!" (Burly Man)

"Who said Shade was a Timber Wolf?" (Me)

"What?" (Burly Man)

"Shade is a rare breed of animal known as 'Wolfbane', though they share similarities they are incredibly different when it comes to combat proficiency." (Me)

"Why the hell didn't you say anything!" (Burly Man)

"How could I when the moment you saw my familiar you insulted it." (Me)

"He does have a point." (Receptionist)

"I don't want to hear it Anna, that thing was way too dangerous to even bring it out in this building, you're request to become an official tamer is rejected." (Burly Man)

"You don't have the authority." (Anna)

"I'm the examiner for the exams today so damn right I have the authority." (Burly Man)

"I didn't want to do this but you leave me no choice; Burk you are officially relieved of your duty, please come back tomorrow to collect your last pay." (Anna)

"You can't do this!" (Burk)

"I just did, gentlemen will you please escort Mister Burk out." (Anna)

'What the hell is happening here?'

"Now that the cause of the problem has been removed can you please resummons you familiar?" (Anna)

"Are you sure, Shade isn't known for her restraint as you can tell." (Me)

"It's fine, it was our fault for the scene from earlier, Burk has a tendency to be… aggravating at times." (Anna)

"Alright, just please stay ten feet away from her at all times, if someone passes ten feet it will end badly." (Me)

"I will keep that in mind." (Anna)

'Alright Shade come on back, and this time don't attack people.'

I summoned Shade once again but the moment I did she looked around like a predator searching for its prey. Seeing that Burk was no longer there Shade seemed depressed but she became alert after realizing that everyone was staring at her, I don't blame them as I'm staring at her as well thanks to the massive change she experienced. Her former light green skin was that of dark bark which was almost jet black, her tail was barbed and covered in thorns which retracted on command, she was taller than me now. What drew my attention the most was her claws, before she had wolf claws which could barely cut, now she had razor sharp claws that showed your reflection, I haven't gotten to see her teeth yet but I'm pretty sure they are as sharp.

'System you said Shade complete 190/200 training simulations, how's that possible when it hasn't even been three hours?'

[When User was training with the creature known as 'Shade' it had to restrain itself to keep you out of harms way, since you weren't there it could unleash its full potential resulting in an incredible training speed]

'Alright is there anything I should know specifically about shades change?'

[Shade's vines are now fire resistant as well as poisonous, she can release three kinds of poisons now; paralysis, Erosive, and neuro-toxin, please note that it has a five-minute grace period before taking effect]

"Anna, please send someone to check on Burk and his familiar, Shade's attacks are poisonous." (Me)

"Thank you for the thought but our staff is already tending to his wounds, if he or his familiar show any signs of poison they will immediately act." (Anna)

"Then I won't worry about it." (Me)

"Now then; can you please explain your familiar to us, though she has the striking resemblance of a Timber Wolf she definitely isn't one." (Anna)

"Shade is a rare wood type familiar; she has the ability to control vines at will as well as release poison, as you saw earlier, she is incredibly fast as well as strong." (Me)

"Yes, that was truly impressive, is there any problems that you've experienced when raising her?" (Anna)

"She is prideful and moody as well has having trust issues but overall she is the best partner I can ask for." (Me)

*Gentle Smack*

"God damnit, I told you to stop doing that, do you have any idea how much that hurts!" (Me)

"Hmph." (Shade)

"Okay I think I've seen enough, please follow me to get your license as well as to progress into the next exam." (Anna)

I desummoned Shade but this time I kept her from the training simulators as I needed to see how strong she is at the moment, after several minutes we finally entered a small room with a table and pen and paper. In front of it was a kennel with a trap door behind it, if you listened closely you could hear several different cries and howls.

"Please sit down, we will release common grade familiars one at a time and you will write down their evolutionary materials." (Anna)

"Anna please come to the infirmary we have a slight complication." (Intercom)

Just as she was about to finish her explanation of the exam the intercom sounded causing her to pause momentarily. She quickly explained the grading of the exam before leaving the room, thinking about how things are going I couldn't help but think that I've caused quite a headache for Anna, I guess I should show my worth.

Third Person POV

Anna pushed open the door to the infirmary only to see a chaotic scene; staff rushed all over the place putting out fires, security held down Burk while their familiars took care of the flame buffalo. On closer inspection you could see that on the buffalo's skin there were puncture marks that turned black with black veins around them and it was spreading. Burk who was being restrained by security had a different situation, a staff member worked as fast as he could treating the wound on his back which has eroded away into black rotting flesh.

"Explain the situation!" (Anna)

"Ma'am whatever poison these two were exposed to is incredibly adaptive; when running our tests we found that only a high grade antidote can cure them, luckily Burk is the only one that is in a life threatening condition." (Staff member)

"Then what's wrong with the fire buffalo?" (Anna)

"It has a neurological poison going through its system right now, it doesn't know what's going on around it but on the bright side the poison will ware off in a few hours." (Staff Member)

'How is this possible, two different poisons and yet they were both from the same creature. In nature there a lot of poisonous creatures however they can't have two different poisons as they will cause the host harm.' (Anna)

"Go ahead and use the antidote, just make sure that you charge him for it." (Anna)

"It will be done vice master." (Staff Member)

Anna looked over the scene for a while before walking out, this scene was embedded within everyone's mind as they remembered the cause of this crisis. The staff all looked like they were afraid of what they will experience in the future but if you looked at Anna who was walking towards the exam room you would find that she had a smile unlike any revealed since she started working within this guild building. Things will be changing around here but for better or worse that will be decided by Bishop and his temperamental familiar.