BXBX NOVEL Chapter 40 40:Skies
Several days passed in the blink of an eye.
Every day, Lucas would walk into Leader dorms energetically and come out with a haggard appearance.
Instead of training, it looked like one side thrashing show for Parth who would laugh his ass off seeing Frederick crushing Lucas.
It was so brutal that Lucas wondered if Frederick had a personal grudge against him or if Parth might have whispered some evil things against him to Frederick.
No matter what, he decided to take revenge on Parth.
Unlike other students who busied themselves with their schedules, Lucas had a couple of things to carry out which weighed his mind.
25 days have passed since he enrolled and there will be a field test by the end of June. A major incident was going to happen during the field test where lives would be in peril and many people would die.
Lucas has been training until he was completely exhausted but he knew this was not enough. He needs real experience and needs to hunt monsters for exp.
No matter what, he needed to upgrade his bloodline before the stipulated time so that he would have a better chance of survival. His goal was to buy Golden Bloodline.
Silver bloodline wouldn\'t help much and if his bloodline had hidden ability it would only manifest at golden or above.
200.... That\'s the number of 1-Star monsters he needs to kill to get the golden bloodline but it was easier said than done.
He is not strong enough to solo-raid a dungeon. He needs protection and a team. So, he started to look for a mercenary squad.
Luckily, he found one of the best possible options.
Skies...
Frederick encountered them in the dungeon where they helped him. It is headed by 6-Star Warrior. On top of that, there is a person who can help him a lot in the future if he could establish a connection with him.
However, he was not sure if his application would be accepted so sitting on the chair, he sighed heavily.
Before him was a diary filled with scribbles containing various scenes of the plot along with the flaws and things he needed to work out.
His gaze skidding over the pages fell on dark-colored words. These are some things he needs to concentrate upon to build the foundation for a profound personality if he wants to soar higher.
There is no person without flaws but a person should know to cover up those flaws.
One needs to learn to be manipulative and deceptive.
To Be Secretive.
To be able to handle Criticism And Anger.
To talk well and reply to others\' questions sharply.
To handle one loss and one win.
Lucas had lived most of his life carefree, and honestly, it was difficult for him to change his personality all of a sudden.
But some things need to be done. Otherwise, he would be swallowed by nobles, if he ever steps into the higher society.
Those bastards have some venomous tongues.
Lucas shook his head and stopped as the appointment time to meet the Member Of Skies was approaching.
........
Skies began as a small mercenary guild and then started to expand slowly and steadily.
They began their operations from the Outer zone and when Lucas looked for them, he found that they had formed the Mercenary Guild just a month ago.
Lucas arrived at a two-storey building and found some people walking out.
Seeing them Lucas wiped his sweat" Do I stand a chance in their requirement list."
CHIME!
A small chime rang out as Lucas entered the reception room, he saw an orange-haired woman sitting before the computer with a glazed expression.
\'If I am correct, she is Morgana. A 4-Star wizard.\'
\'I should talk to her nicely. She had an easygoing personality.\'
Lucas walked towards the counter and knocked on the counter faintly.
"Ohhh!"Morgana jolted in shock and closed the game she was playing with a flustered expression.
"Hello, Nice to meet you."
"How can I help you, Sir?"Morgana asked with a surprised look seeing a 17-year-old kid.
"Nice to meet you too."
"Big Sis, I came here for the interview."
Morgana\'s mood brightens seeing the boy addressing him as Big Sis instead of some stupid maniac calling her aunty.
"Kid, you have good manners."She smiled and checked Lucas\'s number.
"You see the four sitting there. Your number is after them."
"You can stroll around or wait here for your number to come."
"I will wait."
Lucas smiled and took his seat while wondering about something.
Several minutes passed and Morgana gestured for Lucas to enter, pointing to the left side.
In the room, the three pillars of the Skies sat with solemn expressions.
Aaron, the leader of the guild sat at the centre. On his left sat a Scotch while on his right sat Reynolds.
The atmosphere felt quite odd as if he was being interviewed for a company salesman. Lucas shook his head peeking at Reynolds and Scotch\'s blank expressions.
These two are polished diamonds. They might not have good fighting capability but they are good at support.
While Reynolds had vast connections in the market, Scotch was a good hacker and handled technical stuff. He used to be a member of the Secret Forces in the Silver Knight Empire.
James might be good at creating things but Scotch was good at breaking down firewalls and creating fake ids. In the future, Lucas needs to find a way to poach him.
Lucas sat down maintaining his blank expression though he was a bit nervous from the inside.
"Lucas Bright, you are a 1st Year in Horizon. You have got enough resources on your hands so why did you apply?"Aaron spoke, fixing his gaze on Lucas.
Lucas stared straight at Aaron and spoke as confidently as possible"I applied for two things."
"Experience and Money."
"The only thing cadets from Horizon don\'t have is experience. First-year students don\'t have much experience in the real world. Students are not bound and are free to do what they want on the weekend and I want to thoroughly utilize my time fighting against low-rank monsters and gain experience."
Saying this, Lucas almost cried remembering how others spent their time for real.
Girls mostly went shopping, boys went to parties and some even went on dates. Only very few would remain to train. This scenario is only true for the first year.
From the second year, all of them were going to be bound by a tight leash.
"And about money, who doesn\'t like to earn money? I am a commoner and have some circumstances of my own. I need to earn, which I can\'t do by staying cooped up in Horizon."
Aaron\'s fierce gaze softened a little hearing Lucas\' answer.
\'He seems mature and sensible having some good reasons.\'
Reynolds shook his head noticing Aaron\'s subtle changing expression and decided to take over the matter.
"Lucas, you had some realistic goals. But it all comes down to one thing, why should we take you instead of others."Reynolds spoke, waiting for Lucas to answer.
Lucas raised his brows and chuckled, surprising the trio.
"The answer to this question is very simple."
"I may be weak now but I have one thing that others don\'t."
"What is it?"Aaron squinted his gaze leaning forward a bit."
"Growth!"
"Unlike others, who have almost hit their limit. I am still growing. It hasn\'t been a month since I entered and I am already in mid-1-Star. By the end of this year, I will be able to attain a 3-Star or who knows maybe more."
"And you are only recruiting 3-Stars and below for now so I am one of the best possible candidates you can take in."
Lucas\'s confident words took them by surprise for a bit.
"You are good at boasting."Scotch muttered with a smile.
"I know, it may sound unbelievable but if you take me in, you can personally witness my growth."
Most of the awakened couldn\'t find jobs and became rusty. This is mostly true for those between 1-Star to 3-Star.
Their ranks are quite low so most of them can be just guards or servants of nobles. And out of them how many could you find being graduated from the academy?
"Hahahahah!"Aaron suddenly burst into laughter startling everyone in the room.
"Kid, I like you."
"It may not look like but I have also graduated from the academy. You see this scar over here, this was given to me by a half-demon I encountered at the borders so I knew better than anyone else about the thinking mentality of students."Aaron mutters caressing the scar near his ears.
"Those who have had higher rank tried to make mercenaries work under them while the lower ones like us are afraid of taking steps out of the academy in the first year but you seem to have guts of steel."
"Tomorrow we will be going to an E-rank dungeon. You will fight with G-rank monsters if we encounter any and then I will make the final choice."
"Don\'t worry, there are always chances of low-rank monsters appearing in the dungeon since monsters breed a lot."
Lucas nodded and got up.
"That means I am selected," Lucas asked, trying to suppress his happiness.
"Actually, till now no 3-Stars have appeared," Aaron spoke embarrassingly drawing Scotch and Reynolds to glare at him.
\'Boss, is there a need to say this to an outsider?\'
"Ohhhh!"
"Thanks for giving me this chance. I will take my leave now, "Lucas gave a gentle bow and left. He needs to prepare for tomorrow.
"Leader, is it okay to hire him."Scotch spoke skeptically and added, "I am not underestimating him but his life might be in danger inside."
"Dungeons are unpredictable. There\'s always one in a thousand chances of something going wrong in a dungeon causing it to change its ranks."
"If he is trapped with us and something happens to him we are just going to waste a bright kid\'s future."There was a hint of worry in his voice.
"I also agree with him, Leader. We should not recruit him now. Let him grow a bit then we can discuss."Reynold spoke resolutely.
Aaron shook his head and spoke, "I know your concerns and this is the very reason I thought to take him in."
"No other guild or mercenary squad will hire him. If he needs money and is hell-bent on exploring dungeons he will surely find a way to enter dungeons even if he had to go in alone so rather than that he should work with us and grow."
"I mean come on man. I have raided so many dungeons and it only happened once when a 5-Star boss monster appeared in an F-rank dungeon."
"Do what you think is right."Reynold sighed heavily massaging his forehead.
He knew that Aaron may look tough on the outside but he is a softie from the inside like an egg.
This was also the reason Lucas selected Skies. You just need to be sincere with them and show your worth to them. That\'s enough for them to accept your request.