Chương 26: Chapter Twenty-Six: Selection

Upon arrival at the barracks, we all make a simple plan. Since nothing on this floor is clear, we have decided that regardless of what exactly our training entails, we will cooperate without complaint. This was a fairly easy plan to devise, as the very fact that none of us are high enough level to go against Garf or even a normal civilian on this floor makes the decision pretty clear.

A couple hours of us waiting in anticipation is interrupted as an intercom echoes through the barracks telling us to meet at the mess hall immediately. I can't tell where it comes from, but I don't bother spending the time checking as I follow Vince and the rest of the group back toward the main building where it feels like our impending doom awaits. When we arrive, there are five people standing in wait alongside Garf who holds a weird azure rock in his hand.

"Approach and form a line." We do so without any complaints and I quickly find myself standing at the end behind Angus.

"Put your hand on the stone and then wait for a trainer to pick you. After they pick, you are to do what they say without complaint. Is this clear?" We all nod and Garf gestures at the first person in line to come forward. Vince steps forward and puts his palm on the rock while I attempt to crane around everyone else to watch. His hand sits there for a few seconds before Garf waves him off while tapping his fingers on the stone like a keyboard.

"Level 7. BDY focus. Skills lean toward bruiser tank." The severe man reads off the results like a lab technician and almost immediately, one of the five standing next to them raises their hand. Although I am interested in what the results reveal, I watch absently as Vince hurries to stand behind a large man with short hair and a smushed nose that looks like he got punched one to many times. < Ruler's Hound - Level??? > The line moves forward as the next person up is Sandra.

Following suit with Vince, she puts her hand on the stone while Garf plays around with its surface.

"Level 6. BDY and AGI split. Skills portray a variety of options. Potential for PWR upheaval for conversion to spell blade." I listen to the comparatively lengthy explanation and watch as two hands come up. One is a pretty woman with youthful features and ruby red hair that contrasts well with her bright eyes. The other is a slender older woman with severe features and cold gaze. When they see each other's hands, the younger woman puts her hand down with a playful pout that the other woman doesn't even acknowledge.

Sandra silently falls into position behind the older one who doesn't even glance at her. < Ruin-Blade Sorceress - Level??? > Up next is Henry, who hastily places his palm on the stone while staring at the ground.

"Level 3. BDY centered with AGI support. Skills oppose stat allocations and need PWR overhaul. Potential for mobile tank or vanguard support." No one raises a hand for multiple seconds until eventually the man who picked Vince waves a finger while looking somewhat disinterested. Henry scurries over to stand next to Vince while Sara steps up to the stone.

"Level 6, AGI centered with MND support. Skills lean toward jack-of-all-trades build." This time, only the red-haired lady raises her hand, and Sara wordlessly finds her place behind her while the woman claps her hands excitedly. < Freeform Illusionist - Level??? > The process continues without fault as Kathryn, Nikki, Benny, and Wade are sorted one after the other.

"Level 5. PWR focus with BDY support. Skills portray affinity for a general magician class."

"Level 4. AGI focus. Skills suggest scout or rogue class."

"Level 1. Even split of stats. Skills could result in a variety of classes."

"Level 4. Even split of stats. Skills have potential but points at no particular build." Kathryn and Benny find themselves being chosen by the stern looking trainer that picked Sandra. Nikki and Wade both go to one of the two trainers who hadn't picked anyone yet. He is a jolly looking man clad in loose robes and has a particular habit of stroking his thick ginger beard. < Harmonic Shaper- Level???

> Just as the rest have done, Angus steps forward and places a sweaty hand on the stone while rubbing his leg nervously with the other. Unlike the previous rounds, Garf's eyebrows raise slightly and he doesn't bother reading out the results.

"You are with me, boy." Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. This causes some surprise in the room, as Nikki and Wade's trainer chuckles loudly while the man in charge of Vince and Henry scowls at Garf. The youthful woman who chose Sara puts a dramatic hand over her mouth while her eyes glitter.

"Being a bit selfish, are we Garfield?" Garf declines to respond to the woman's provocation and instead turns his attention back to me.

"Move with a purpose, boy. You are the last one." Before Angus or I have a chance to react, the curly-haired boy is ushered next to the bald man, and I am the last left in the line. Swallowing the anticipation working its way up my throat, I reach forward and place a hand on the stone. Almost immediately, Garf has another reaction unlike he had with the others, and my hopes soar. That is, until I realize that his look is not one of interest like for Angus, but rather one of distaste.

The bald man frowns deeply before reading off my results.

"Level 11. Unbalanced focus on PWR. No room for upheaval of stats due to higher level and uneven skill pool. Overall leaning toward mana battery refueler." No one raises their hands. I stand there looking like an idiot as all of the trainers pointedly ignore my existence. I even look around at my fellow group mates, only to find they are all conveniently staring at the ground. Garf is the only one to speak up after ten seconds of brutal silence.

"Lirin, can you take care of this one since you have not chosen a trainee yet?" My attention turns to the last trainer in the room who hasn't raised his hand once. At the end of the line, he stands with his hands behind his back in obvious disapproval.

"I suppose so." I am still standing there like an idiot due to the poor results I was given, so it takes an annoyed wave from Garf and a snap of fingers from 'Lirin' before I finally realize what is happening and head over to my new trainer. < Mana Thaumaturge - Level??? > The man looks skinny but no where near my level of anorexia. He is only a couple of inches taller than me, but still somehow looks down his nose at me with eyes that look unnaturally blue.

Weirdest of all is his billowing robes that drag on the ground and make the man look like he is trying too hard to be a warlock. I quickly find my place behind the man and say nothing as Garf addresses the room.

"I will remind all trainees that they should follow their orders to a tee. You will be with your assigned master everyday unless otherwise ordered. You will stay here over the course of your training and occupy the barracks during times of rest. Trainers: feel free to take your apprentices and make sure they are fit for duty by the time the next wave hits in a month. That is all." Everyone falls into motion and each trainer leads their assigned trainees out of the room.

"Follow me." The wannabe warlock waves me on, and I follow him closely while trying not to step on his oversized robe. Instead of heading outside like the rest of the groups, Lirin leads me down a nearby hallway until we arrive at a staircase heading down. Without preamble, he continues down the steps, and we descend for multiple minutes before stopping in front of a heavy metal door. With a wave of his hand, the door squeals open, and we enter into a large basement fit with various appliances and bookshelves.

Lirin continues walking toward the back of the room without stopping, so I mirror him while looking around at the interesting items littered around the room. We approach a large desk in the back where the man looks through a couple of random gadgets before grabbing a sheet of green metal. Not even bothering to explain, he continues to the other side of the room where two doors sit embedded in the wall.

Marching through the door on the right, we emerge in a small bathroom fit with shiny looking crystals and strange metal tubes that operate the various devices inside.

"Take off your clothes and stand over here." I hesitate for a moment before following his orders. This isn't the first time I have had to stand naked in front of a stranger, so the process doesn't bother me much. I am more so worried about what reason he needs me to be undressed. While I silently pray that the System didn't mean 'DIC' difficulty this literally, Lirin takes out the metal sheet and sits on a light blue chair that appears out of nowhere.

"Put your arms out to the side and move your feet to about shoulder width." I mentally breath out a sigh of relief as the warlock man begins doing something with the sheet in his hand. It looks like this is more of a technical thing rather than something kinky. Disregarding the man analyzing my naked body, I instead turn my attention to the chair he sits on. Its appearance was a surprise and a truly interesting one at that.

It doesn't seem to be an actual piece of furniture either, as the surface glows and it is slightly transparent. For a moment, I think it is a result of the <Chair> skill, but I quickly reevaluate my findings and instead conclude that the man just shaped the chair out of mana. I haven't seen mana in such a tangible state before, so the ease at which the man just popped it out of thin air makes me wonder just how many uses mana has. It would seem that there are indeed levels to this shit.

For all I know, he might just have a vastly superior level in <Mana Control> that has allowed him to manage this feat. As it stands now, I can't imagine doing such a thing with my own skill, as I can barely even get mana to leave my skin before it falls apart. All I know is that I want that skill. Whatever it is, I want to make things out of mana as well. Maybe this whole training thing won't be that bad.

Even if I was just forced to go along with this guy, he probably has all kinds of good information and techniques that I could learn to up my skill levels. Who knows, maybe I will even be able to learn some other interesting skills like the chair creating one.

"Tell me your skills, traits, augments, and stats." I am pulled from my delusions of grandeur and once again realize that I am naked. Doing as he says, I detail the information he asked for and nothing else.

"Hmmm… [Mana Foundation] was a surprisingly good choice given how stupidly you allocated your stat points. Thermal Resistance is an almost unbelievable boon as well, but I do not understand why the System allocated this Trait to you. What are you not telling me? Don't lie or you will not like the consequences."

"I have a condition called [Mana Mutation] that I think makes my mana produce some type of thermal radiation." Lirin gets up from his seat and promptly smacks me in the face hard enough to make my head bounce off the wall.

"You should have included that information in your previous summary of your capabilities. Also, notice how easily you were thrown around from a simple slap. Use this as a lesson in the importance of mediating your growing PWR stat with the occasional point in BDY to balance out your attributes." He takes a seat back on the mana chair as if nothing happened and continues to mess with the metal sheet.

"And resume the position from earlier. That slap shouldn't have bothered you much anyway. If you can handle the strain of your body trying to contain your uneven PWR attribute allocation, then I imagine my hand wasn't too painful."