Walking down the streets was a jarring experience, after all, he had been fighting for his life with all his strength just a few minutes ago, and now people were strolling down the paved roads as they talked about their day, it was extremely off-putting. Along the way he spotted several people who looked more like him and his make-shift team, they had armor and weapons and walked with purpose on their steps, of course, they all had better gear than him. They were all mainly coming out of the building that stood in front of him, a three-story building with a giant sign that read: Mercenary Guild.

Knowing that nothing would happen if he didn’t go in, he took a deep breath and pushed the lock-less set of doors open, inside was a large hall with seats and chairs where hundreds of people sat and ate, they all seemed to be happy as they chugged down mugs of alcoholic beverages. Further down the room was a counter where people were lined up and ordering their food and drinks, but the receptionist in the center of it all seemed to have a different purpose, every other line the people would leave with a tray of their lunch, but with her they would leave empty-handed or with papers. She seemed to be the thing he was looking for.

Making his way through the tables of drunks was hard, some tried to reach for him and his companions, especially the elf girl. But due to their intoxicated state, they were not very good at it, soon they found themselves flowing through the room. Damien couldn’t help but notice that everyone in the room seemed to be rather young, there were some older people in their 40s but mainly everyone seemed to be a teenager or in their mid-twenties. Is there a reason for that?

The line for the receptionist wasn’t very large at all, in fact it was very small. The lady in the front beamed when she saw him and his group, “Hello! You guys must be new Climbers, I take it you are here for the orientation?”

She got straight to the heart of the matter and she was right on target too, “Yes, we don’t know what is going on here actually.”

She nodded at his words with understanding, “Yes of course, we’ve all been there where you are, but don’t worry the Guild will take care of that!”, she turned to the side and exited from behind the counter, she wore a white button shirt covered with a dark-blue vest and a long black skirt, the thing that caught Damien’s eye was the pin on her vest, a red shield emblazed with golden swords that pointed out from the sides, they looked like angel wings. If he had to guess then that would be the Mercenary Guild emblem; it had a nice stylish feel to it.

“I am the receptionist of the Guild Branch located on Level 1, at your service,” she young woman curtsied her skirt, “And you are in luck, the next orientation is today so no need for waiting, we usually do these when enough new Climbers built up, please follow me.”

She strutted off to the side where a door was located and the group followed her through to a long hallway, as the pretty blue-haired receptionist guided them to a room she prodded at the group, “So you cleared Level 0? What kind of test did you have? I’m asking because normally when we get a new group of Climbers, they come in groups of around 20 or so, not 4.”

He thought about his next words and figured that her insight might help understand the test they had to go through more, “We actually were put into teams and made to fight a Minotaur, it was very difficult actually.”

Her eyes widened at the response, “You guys fought a Minotaur? Yikes, no wonder there’s so few of you. Tests are normally taken in parties, that’s very standard for Climbers, but a Minotaur is pretty rare to encounter on Level 0, you guys must have very good instincts if you made it out.”

So we had an unusually hard test, just my luck, though things did end up working out in my favor, so I suppose it evens out somewhat.

“Hey, sorry to interrupt, but I have a question,” the elf girl stepped forward from the back where she had been walking, “What exactly is the Mercenary Guild?”

The receptionist smiled at the question, “That’s a great question, but it will be answered with the rest of the common questions, so I implore you to wait a bit longer.” The elf made a face, but otherwise remained quiet as the receptionist stopped in front of a door, “We are here, I ask you to refrain from asking questions to the Guild Master as he gives his explanation, there will be time for questions afterwards so for now only listen.”

Once the group had consented to these terms with simple “Okays” and nods, the door was opened, and they were led inside. The room was illuminated by lights encased in glass spheres, the light within simply floated with no suspension, it was magic. On the floor were dozens of chairs with people already sitting on them, on the front was a stage where an important-looking old man stood. His elegant robe made it clear that it was expensive, and his face showed a dignified expression, likely the Guild Master that had been mentioned previously.

Although many of the room’s occupants had turned to face them when the door opened, once they had seen them, they quickly lost interest in them and returned to facing forward, “Matilda, is that a new group? Kinda small isn’t it?” the man on the stage spoke.

“Yes, they are a new group, I believe that you are good to start now Guild Master.”

The man nodded at her, “We were just waiting for you so I think we will, alright listen up fresh chickens, before we begin, we must make one thing clear. If you wish to continue your life as a Climber then you will have to face the threat of death each time you climb to a higher Level, the rewards will be great as you reach some of the upper Levels, if you think those things are worth your life then listen to me, but if you don’t then, feel free to leave now, there’s no shame in that.”

Expecting some people to get up, Damien was surprised when nobody even moved, they were all determined to be Climbers, “That’s good! Then let me start explaining how this world works, it’s a long explanation so get comfortable, I will allow questions in the end so shut your yapping for now.”

The quiet muttering that had been happing up until now shushed into silence, the man was intimidating even with his old man appearance, “The world is made up of several ‘Levels’, just like the one you are in right now, we have tried to measure the area of each level and have estimated that each Level is roughly the same size of 200,000,000 square miles. On each Level there is a test administered by the System which, once passed, will allow a Climber to reach the next Level, each Level’s living area is different from the other, I’ve seen worlds of ice and worlds where flames engulfed everything, though most Levels are relatively normal with the exception of the monsters that inhabit them.”

Levels? This world is just one level? There’s more of them? How many?

Questions filled Damien’s mind as the explanation went on, he refrained from speaking out like asked but he was sure that the others in the room felt the same way he did.

“The pattern is four Levels of a season in a row before it transitions to the next season, the Level before a full cycle can be completed is normally a unique Level that doesn’t make sense, they are very dangerous which is why unlike the other Levels, people don’t settle in them. On each Level Climbers will normally fight monsters and grow stronger before they head to the center of the Level to take the System test, which brings me to the next important topic. The System tests on each level. These tests will progressively grow tougher and tougher as you get higher up so don’t go thinking that you passed one level so you can pass them all. The difference between the people that pass Level 1 and the people who are at the Frontier is like a man to a God, there is no contest, so don’t get cocky.”

The Guild Master took a second to make sure everyone was paying attention, “The test themselves will change from instance to instance, there is three types of test mainly: tests versus monsters, tests versus other Climbers, and finally tests that don’t fall in the previous categories. With each Level you climb you will grow stronger and so will the monsters that live on that Level, this is because leveling up and achieving new ranks will increasingly be tougher and require more EXP with each level up. It isn’t rare for Climbers to give up climbing around the 17 Level, the first unique Level. That is because that particular world has a very hard test compared to the one in Level 16.”

If you choose to stop climbing what happens? And why would you quit if you get that far anyway?

The old man smiled, “I know what you are thinking, if it gets that hard then why climb at all, right? Well the higher the Level you live on, the more resources you can find and therefore the better quality of lifestyle you will be able to afford, you can life a very comfy life if you make it to a high Level, trust me, some people I know people that live like kings. But now for the most important part of this explanation, the way the System helps people get stronger.

It’s actually a very complicated subject but I will try my best to simplify it into sections for you guys, you might already have seen this by now, but if you think about your status a screen will pop up, please do so now.”

Damien was indeed aware of it so a mere Status and the blue screen was once again in front of him.

Class: Starter Rogue

Name: Damien

Rank: F

Species: Human

Title: Bold

Lvl: 4

Passive Skills:

N/A

Active Skills:

Shadow Strike Lvl 1 (10 MP) I Shadow Step Lvl 1 (5 MP)

Bond:

N/A

HP: 70

MP: 42

SP: 60

Skill Points: 8

STR: 20

EDR: 8

VIT: 8

AGI: 19

PER: 9

DEX: 9

INT: 13

WIS: 8

FAI: 0

Status Effects:

N/A

Blessings:

N/A

EXP: 54%

Fighting Style: Quick Strike

“The first thing you should see is your class, each of you had an option between the first five starter classes, there is hundreds of known classes out there, classes can evolve from actions, new ones entirely can be obtained from quests and events, and so they can even be changed with special items, but don’t expect to get one without spending a fortune. A class is important because it will grant you certain skills at certain levels that are associated with that class, moreover it will shape the way you gain stat points and how they are weighted.

For instance, a warrior will receive 3 points to Strength and only 1 point to Intelligence with a level up, and they are weighted in the sense that 10 points of Strength in a warrior will be worth more than 10 points of Strength in a mage, and so on so forth.

Next is your Rank, it basically denotes how powerful you are, the Ranks go from F and F+ all the way to S and S++, Ranks will increase with the number of stats you have in total, in order to go form Rank F to Rank F+ you need a total of 100 stat points, and that number will continue to double with each Rank.”

Damien did some quick math and found out he had a total number of 94 stat points in total, he was close to getting to the next rank.

The Guild Master continued, “Ranking up will grant a skill associated with your class too. Next up is the Title, these are earned through actions and events like a class is, there are thousands of these and once you get one the effects that come with it will always be active, regardless of whether you have it equipped or nor, with the exception of the title saying otherwise. After that we have Lvl, this will increase your stats and power, to increase these number you need to get EXP from killing monsters or completing quests, you can see how much of the EXP for the next level has been acquired by the section at the bottom middle.

A Bond is whether you have a pet, a slave, or a master, you shouldn’t worry about that for now. The next two sections are for your stats, they are pretty self-explanatory, but, much like everything on the screen, pressing on it will bring out more information so I will leave that for you to do later. Status Effect will display anything you are currently afflicted with, and how it is currently affecting you.

Blessings are like Passive Skills, only much stronger and extremely hard to get, you probably don’t need to think about that one for now. Lastly is your Fighting Style, this will dictate how you fight, it will automatically allow you to have a certain level of expertise in that field of fighting, there is thousands of these out there and are earned much like Titles and Classes are, keep an eye out for rarer Fighting Styles, these are extremely helpful.”

The Guild Master finally stopped talking and the room grew silent, Damien was about to explode with the number of questions he had gotten during the explanation, there was plenty that was explained but with every answer two more questions arose. The Guild Master smirked at the confused faces that everyone had, “So… Any questions?”