Chapter 3 - The Guild

A few days after Gavin finished training with his new master, Zom, he is seen walking around a forest, trying to find a nearby town.

"Damn... I need to get somewhere otherwise I'll be lost forever, why'd that guy even leave me alone out here of all places...?"

Gavin says to himself as he walks through the forest.

Suddenly, a monster appears for the first time in Gavin's journey, it looks to be some sort of monster-ificated bear, with spikes and a larger appearance than usual.

"Woah, a monster... Based on what I remember in those books, it looks to be an Ursa Minor, a huge bear with the ability to grow spikes out of its body and... Well, that's the only thing special about it, other than its obvious physical enhancements, but whatever."

Gavin says to himself once again, as he prepares to fight the monster.

The monster then lunges at Gavin, as Gavin steps aside, easily dodging the bear's attack, as Gavin then immobilizes it with a small Aura Release,

"Torture."

Gavin says as he places his hand on the bear, as the black and red energy flows into his hand and onto the bear, causing it continuous great pain as it convulses uncontrollably until it died of cardiac arrest.

"Well, that was easy, too easy... I feel like my attack name is too simple though..."

Gavin says as he then tears the bear apart, salvaging whatever he could of the bear for future use,

"Alright... And that's it for this bear, and let's continue our journey!"

Gavin says as he resumes walking through the forest.

However, only a few steps after walking away from the bear's torn corpse, he looks and sees 2 bead cubs hiding in the bushes, running towards the bear's corpse, as Gavin then realizes what he's just done,

"Oh, shit... I just killed their mom didn't I? She was just trying to defend her kids and I..."

Gavin stands there, frozen in shock and guilt as he looks down, ashamed of himself for doing that,

"What have I done...?"

He says to himself, as he steps back and begins running off out of guilt, leaving the bear cubs alone, with their dead mother right in front of them.

Gavin continues to run off, thinking about what he's just done,

"Now that I think about it, monsters are just animals who're affected by the golden sparks... I really need to keep watch of what I do next... God why'd you have to do this to these poor wild animals..."

Gavin thinks to himself as he continues to run, into the forest to try and continue focusing on finding a town.

More days pass, as Gavin's monster encounter seems to have become more and more common since that day, with him easily knocking each one out by only applying pain until they simply pass out.

"Damn... I swear to God I'm cheesing all of these fights, I feel like I might never even need to use my sword, but these poor guys... I have to hold back more."

Gavin thinks to himself each monster he takes down.

"These monsters, they're all really still just... normal animals, monsterized..."

He continues to think to himself out of guilt as he continues walking through the forest, when finally...

"Wait... Is that, smoke I see? And I hear... Busy chatter from people, and bustling streets! That's definitely a town."

Gavin says to himself excitedly as he runs towards the noise. As the trees and forest clears with each step he takes, he finally sees it,

"Woah... For the first time in 6 months, a city..."

Gavin says, a deep sigh of relief as the sight of humans, houses, markets and buildings refresh his mind from everything that has happened so far.

Gavin then walks through the town, as he realizes that it's pretty familiar...

"Wait... Is that a guild? Wait a goddamn second, is this Artillos?"

Gavin says to himself, as he puts on a slight smile while sighing softly, reminiscing the past, while at the same time laughing at himself for being such a coward back then,

"Heh... What the hell was I even doing?"

He says to himself, as he continues casually walking through the town. Soon, he then also realizes, that people are looking at him weird,

"Huh, what's wrong? Why's everyone looking at me?"

Gavin thinks to himself, as he then accidentally bumps into a pole,

"Owh... What the...?"

He says, as he then sees a strange piece of paper, he then picks it up as he begins to read. "Gavin Andersonn: World's Most Dangerous Criminal, Wanted Dead or Alive, Bounty: 6,000,000,000".

Gavin's eyes widen as he realizes,

"Oh shit!"

He says to himself before quickly running off into an alleyway, hiding there in the meantime.

"Damn, that was close, hopefully no one decided to call in the authorities on me yet... or worse, the military."

He says with a sigh of relief, hoping he didn't just jinx it.

He then looks around out of the alleyway to check if there's anyone, as he then manages to find a cloak to wear in the trash, putting it on as he finally has a disguise.

He then gets out of the alleyway, it seems no one there can identify him now, somehow...

He continues walking around, until finally, he makes it to the guild,

"The guild, huh... It's been almost 3 years since I've last been here."

Gavin says to himself, standing in front of the gate and looking it up and down, as he takes a deep breath before entering.

As the gates open, Gavin stands there, wearing his cloak as he looks around the bustling guild as there are adventurers everywhere, drinking, betting, getting new quests and rewards, and just having some fun.

However, his mysterious figure and aura then attracts the attention of everyone in the guild, as they all go silent, stopping simultaneously as they all look over at Gavin.

Gavin gulps nervously as he walks through the awkward silence of the guild towards the counter, where the same guild assistant seems to be,

"Hey there, new adventurer! How may I help you?"

She says with the same enthusiastic tone as she did all those years ago,

"Same ol' same..."

Gavin thinks to himself, smirking a bit at the memory, as he then looks around and thinks,

"Hmm, now that I have these new skills and abilities, maybe I should finally try signing up to be an adventurer!"

Gavin thinks to himself as he then begins to talk,

"I'd like to apply to become and adventurer, please."

He says to the girl, as the guild assistant nods and pulls something out,

"Alright then... First, I'll have you go through a few tests, then we can move onto your actual guild identity, okay?"

The assistant says as she pulls out a piece of paper, which seems to be a simple personal data sheet, as Gavin quickly fills it out,

"Okay... Next, we have the magical affinity test, to see how much magic affinity you have, if you have any at least..."

The assistant says as she pulls out a crystal of some sorts,

"This is is Aetherys Crystal, it's normally used to store and release magic for spells and adventurers back in the day, but nowadays its used in global technology such as TVs and other devices. But even with its advancements, the base crystals can still be used to identify one's magic affinity."

The assistant explains, as Gavin is mesmerized by its sparkles and shininess.

"Damn, interesting..."

Gavin simply replies, still checking out the strange crystal.

"Alright, sir, all I need you to do now, is to simply touch it"

The assistant explains as she holds it out for Gavin, as Gavin then places his hands gently on the crystal, then...

SHINEEE

"Oh, it seems your magic affinity is at an average level, B-Ranked!"

The assistant says cheerfully, as Gavin sighs deeply,

"Alright then, average is good, this way I won't attract too much attention."

Gavin thinks to himself,

"Alright, sir, the next test is... physical examination! We'll need to see your physical capabilities so we can identify what rank you could be placed in!"

The assistant cheerfully explains as Gavin gulps nervously,

"Dammit, I jinxed it again..."

Gavin says to himself quietly, as the assistant then leads him to an outside area, which seems to be filled with sports equipment and other stuff,

"Alright, sir, for the physical examination, we only have 3 tests, strength, speed and endurance, we want you to go all out with all of them, alright?"

The assistant explains to him with a smile, as Gavin looks around, thinking of what to do,

"A-alright then..."

Gavin says nervously,

"I just have to hold back, it's as simple as that... hold back and don't catch any attention."

Gavin tells himself, as the assistant then leads him outside to a track area.

"Alright, sir, first we'll see your speed in this 100 meter dash test!"

The lady says to him as Gavin gets on the field,

"Okay, here we go..."

Gavin then gets on his running stance, as he takes a deep breath, and...

With a single dash, completed,

"...0.03 seconds"

The assistant says, shocked and paralyzed at the sight of Gavin's speed,

"Dammit! I tried to hold back, but it wasn't enough... How strong did I even get in those 6 months!?"

Gavin grits his teeth in annoyance.

"A-alright, sir... Next test, we have, the strength test! All you need to do, is lift each of these weights one by one, and we'll see your limit, alright?"

The assistant explains nervously, a bit in disbelief at Gavin's speed feat as she then lets him take the stage,

"Okay, Gavin, all you have to do, is pretend..."

Gavin says to himself, as he begins to lift each weight, pretending to struggle with each weight as the progressively get heavier and heavier,

"Alright! And this is the last weight... H-honestly, sir, I-I don't even know how you've even made it this far, not just anyone could make it to the last weight, y'know?"

The assistant says to Gavin in shock once again, as Gavin realizes what he's just done once again,

"Dammit! I forgot to stop at some point, I just kept pretending to struggle and nothing more... Well, this is my last chance to pretend and fail."

Gavin says to himself, as he prepares to "try and lift" the weight.

Gavin begins to strain, pretending to struggle as he lifts the weight. He then opens his eyes, as he sees the assistant with eyes and mouth wide open in shock,

"W-what the hell... What's wrong? What did I do?"

Gavin asks the assistant,

"Y-you just threw it into orbit..."

The assistant says in absolute shock, and confusion, as she nearly faints,

"T-that was over 1 ton..."

She says one more time, as she stumbles over to the last and final test, with Gavin following close by.

It seems that Gavin's feats have now been noticed by the other adventurers inside and the people around, as they all now watch Gavin closely to do the test,

"Dammit... Why're they all looking? I could use my Aura Release... But then I'll catch even more attention... What do I do...?"

Gavin thinks to himself as he prepares himself for the last test,

"Okay, sir... This is the durability/endurance test, it's pretty simple, all you have to do is..."

The assistant explains, when suddenly, she punches Gavin in the gut, but... No reaction.

"What the?"

She says to herself in confusion, as she goes and picks up a shovel, before banging it on Gavin's head, but it only ended up bending,

"What the hell?"

She continues to say in frustration,

"U-uhm... lady, what's the test here?"

Gavin asks stupidly, as the guild assistant goes around picking up multiple different items, each getting bigger and heavier and put more force into hitting.

"That's it!"

She says with a very frustrated, tired face, completely different from her usual cheerful attitude, as she then suddenly pulls out a whole ass fucking gun, and fires it at Gavin,

"Woah!"

Gavin thinks to himself, as he manages to dodge the bullet.

The assistant then finally gives up, as she falls to her knees and sighs,

"O-okay, sir... You passed the test, congratulations..."

She says with a defeated face, as everyone around cheers and applauds Gavin, while Gavin only stands there with an embarrassed face.

"Dammit... now everyone knows me as the guy who passed the guild's physical exam with the best results, breaking even the previous record, great..."

He says with an annoyed tone, as they all go back into the guild, surrounding Gavin as they celebrate him.

After a few hours of drinking and partying and awkward laughing, Gavin sits back at the counter, as the guild assistant from earlier calls out for Gavin, as he then follows,

"Greetings, sir! I apologize for my behavior earlier, it was very irrational of me to do that..."

The assistant apologizes, bowing down, as Gavin sits at the opposite side of the counter,

"It's okay, really..."

Gavin says with a slight smile, causing the girl to blush,

"clears throat Y-yeah... A-anyway! Here's your results, and your new guild card, welcome to the guild!"

The assistant says in a fast motion, flustered and embarrassed as her face turns completely red, turning around to hide it.

"Damn... My own guild card, never thought I'd ever get strong enough to join one, yet here I am..."

Gavin thinks to himself as he then views his guild card.

"Name: Gavin B. Andersonn, Age: 19, HT: 5'9, WT: 60Kg, Rank: S-Rank"

"And, there you go... S-Rank already..."

He says to himself with disappointment, but catches the attention of everyone as they all rush to Gavin in curiosity,

"No way, S-Rank?"

One guy says.

"Unbelievable!"

Another one says.

"That's crazyy."

And another one says.

"Dammit, I'm not supposed to catch attention... But here I am"

Gavin says with an annoyed, surrendering sigh...

When suddenly, the guild door bursts open as powerful winds blow through, everyone struggles to hold on to their seats as they all turn to see who it is, as a short silhouette can be seen in the doorway,

"What's this I hear? I just got back, and now there's a new S-Rank around here? Preposterous!"

A small, arrogant female voice can be heard, as the silhouette moves closer, seemingly light footsteps from heavy boots stepping through, as finally...

A short, white-haired brat with purple eyes looks up at Gavin, staring him "down" as she glares at him,

"You!"

She calls Gavin out, pointing at him, as the two have a direct face-off.