Despite the dangers of war, I was incredibly relieved when the day arrived for my assignment to active duty. With the monsters receding from the vicinity of the city, there were no current available missions. It was impossible to go level up even if you wanted to.

The Adventurers’ Hall was bustling once again. It seemed Reginald’s speech had some part in this, especially as the benefits on offer became known far and wide. A hundred thousand Zeny monthly and two EXP potions was a staggering reward for service.

The attraction of joining the war wasn’t just financial incentive either. The information from Daron’s prophecy had been passed along to Eastrath, the message sent in full. The Adventurers’ Hall worked with the Zeppelin companies and managed to get free passage for any adventurers coming from Eastrath.

With the issue presented as a matter of the fate of all civilization, and with the rewards dangled in front of their faces, many adventurers who had previously retired chose to come out and give it one last go on the battlefield. No doubt many of those who had fled Arturii would change their minds as they saw the tide flowing back and immediately begin a return journey.

“Your assignment is with the Valkyrie guild,” a clerk told me having checked my details.

This news was a pleasant surprise to say the least. I had almost no familiarity with any guild. The Valkyrie guild was at least renowned for its fairness and benevolent attitude. At the same time I did wonder, was my allocation to them random or had they chosen me in some way?

As a top guild, their headquarters were close to the city center. I only needed to walk two blocks over from the hall to get there. Their building was as grand as I was expecting and even more so. There was an extraordinary statue of a Valkyrie outside the front entrance: she was a winged giantess with a ferocious expression.

Inside, the building was packed with vagabond adventurers waiting to fill their empty squadrons. All the seats were taken and I found a spot off to the side and stood watching. People continued to pour in for the better part of an hour.

It was only when the traffic died down did the guild administrator behind the desk pay us any attention. She started to call out names from a list in front of her. One by one people got up, received their assignment, and then disappeared into the building.

For some time I had felt a growing diminishing of enthusiasm for the guild and this skepticism grew when I found myself to be the only one remaining in the room. Everyone else had been called already. Yet the clerk didn’t talk to me to find out if something had gone wrong, as someone working for a friendly guild might have done. I wasn’t in the humor to approach her, like a supplicant. So I waited for a dozen minutes, curious to see what would happen.

In the end, it wasn’t the clerk who sought me out.

“You must be Joseph.” I looked up and found my eyes resting on High Priestess Rhea. Right away my suspicion that this allocation had not been random was confirmed.

“That’s me,” I acknowledged.

“My name is Rhea and I’m the guild leader of Valkyrie.”

Of course, I knew this already, ever since the Arturii farm incident. I doubt she recognized me from then. How much, though, did she know about me and my rare class? “Nice to meet you.”

“You’ll be in my squadron; I hope that isn’t a problem?”

And it wasn’t. I would be safest there, although there could be a downside if the presence of high-level Adventurers hindered my growth. “It’s not a problem.” I paused. “Do you mind if I ask a question?”

“Go ahead.”

“Is my assignment to Valkyrie really random?”

“To be honest I was expecting a different question. You are a careful person Joseph, I see. No, this wasn’t random. In fact, the top five guilds bid heavily for you and we just so happened to pay the most.”

That was my suspicion. Clearly, the Valkyrie guild hoped I would develop friendships with their members, perhaps even join their guild. I respected Rhea for being honest in her answer.

“I’m not interested in joining a guild,” I said.

“That’s fine.” She laughed, “perhaps you’ll change your mind.”

“I doubt I’d change my mind unless you’d be willing to fulfill a wish of mine.”

“A wish? It depends on the size of the wish,” she was interested.

“There is a guild I want destroyed. So that I never have to see or hear their name again.”

Her face turned serious, “Well… that depends on the guild, doesn’t it? What guild are we talking about?”

“The Tyrant guild.”

For a brief moment Rhea started to laugh at my response. Evidently, my facial expression didn’t change at all, “Oh… you’re serious. I’m afraid that’s a steep ask. No guild can give you that.”

Even before stating my demand, I had felt it was an impossible one for her, and that’s why it was so perfect. It was my way of telling her I wouldn’t join their guild, at least not unless my outlandish demand could be met. No guild would give up so much for me, regardless of my new class.

She looked at me appraisingly now. “Do you mind if I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“Soul Harvester, what kind of class is that?”

“You can think of it as a mix between a melee and caster.”

“And is that a result of the class or a result of your stat choices?” Rhea had hit the nail on the head with that question. The true answer was that being able to melee while essentially a caster was a mixture of both class features and my having the stats to manage for a short while in combat, but how much of the rare combination was based on my stats I didn’t want to reveal.

I was in a unique position. If I planned to go against the Tyrant guild, I wanted as little known about my class as possible. “It’s a mixture of both,” I said and although she waited for more, I did not continue.

“And what about your skills?”

“They benefit both.” She picked up on my reservation and didn’t try to pry further.

“Fair enough. What role would you play in a party? I’m not being nosey: you will be a member of the squadron; I need to know how to get the best from you.”

“I can’t heal, and my tanking ability is subpar. I should definitely be deployed as a caster, albeit one with short term melee capacity in an emergency.”

“Alright.” She started to walk away. “We’ll be leaving tomorrow morning; the clerk will show you to your room.”

Meeting my group the next morning brought no surprises. Unlike the other fill-ins who found themselves mixed thoroughly between squadrons, my entire group was Valkyrie guild members. I was the only guildless member.

This was what I was expecting anyway, and it seemed my unusual position had already been noticed. I could feel the curious stares of the other non-Valkyrie Adventurers. Some were gentle, while others held a faint hint of hostility.

Ours was the first squadron to depart and a caravan of horse drawn wagons awaited us outside. The cabins were packed with supplies. “You must be thinking this will be easy,” Rhea suddenly said behind me.

I had to admit that the presence of so many high-level Adventurers did make me less anxious than perhaps the situation deserved. “Maybe.”

She started to laugh, “I’ll have you know, just because you’re in this squadron doesn’t mean it’s the safest.” Her voice became playful, “on the contrary… we are going to the most dangerous battlefield. I have an image to uphold after all.”

This was a cynical remark and a side of her I had not seen on the farmland. Was the Rhea of that time an act? Or was this simply her way of warming up to me? Her big sister vibe reminded me of Lady Briele those months ago in the Egester sewers.

We headed out the west gate of Arturii and it was my first time using this exit. The monster range outside here approached level 45 within just a single day of travel. Fortunately, there was not a monster to be seen. The army of monsters had rendezvoused on the west side of the continent.

Our travel was steady throughout the day, with a couple of stops. The shadows cast by a declining sun were lengthening and nightfall was close. I still didn’t know the names of my party members at this time. I didn’t even know the destination we were traveling to.

Campfires were lit and pots were placed on hot charcoal. A cozy atmosphere surrounded our entire camp. I couldn’t deny I felt the odd man out. It didn’t help that every time Rhea spoke to me, I could feel the cold stares from her guild members.

I suddenly felt like I was back in school. It was the teacher’s praise, a double-edged sword that set you apart from the class. Your classmates looked at you with disdain: you had something they didn’t, but they wanted.

They doubted my ability. Why was I special? What did I have to justify a bidding war for my service? If that’s what they were thinking, I couldn’t satisfy them. And what would they feel about the truth? Resentment, perhaps, at my fortune. I felt set apart from the conversation around the fire and went to sleep early at the fringes, even though the first night was cold.

It was the following day when I finally overheard the name of the location to which we were traveling: it was an area known as Dragon’s Pass. This was a canyon many miles wide that stretched all the way to the west coast. Rumors stated it was formed when a dragon rent the land asunder.

The journey was a week and a half of travel. Half way through it, I was finally introduced to the five-person party I would be fighting with. In order to take the time to bond, we left the wagon and walked together on foot.

Most of the Valkyrie parties were long-established and used to working together. I did wonder how they fit me into all of this? Was their previous fifth member forcibly removed to make room for me, or had this group been down a man from some unfortunate accident prior to this expedition.

I was actually the lowest level Adventurer in the group, which didn’t bode well for my acceptance by the others. The tank was a man named Julian, a 37 Swordsman. His brown hair was curly and his carefully shaven face often expressed complacency in his good looks, especially when women were present. Julian had the gear to match his manicured appearance.

The healer was named Rodrigo. He was bald, with a pair of piercing blue eyes. His gaze was steady and filled with truth. His temperament was much more accepting of me, unlike Julian who only ever regarded me with disdain. Rodrigo was also level 37.

The two remaining members were both women: an Archer and Mage. The composition of the group was a good one for my double-role. The alternative would have been for them to have had a second melee instead of the Archer or Mage. In which case, I would be a mage for most of the time. With this set up, I was probably the back-up melee. Rhea must have listened to me carefully and believed me. The melee side of my growth interested me much more anyway.

The Mage was named Joy. She had shoulder-length black hair and when she looked at me, it was with a gaze that was curious but aloof. Her casual dress and entire body language screamed carefree. Outside of the serious business of war, I could imagine her being goofy and cracking jokes. Sometimes, I felt she was on the verge of getting to know me better, a smile would play at the sides of her mouth. But her conversation remained focused on tactics and spells.

The archer was named Amber, and my impression of her was… not good. She was the only one of the group who had refused to offer her name and a handshake after I had been introduced. All she had done was nod. The fact that her name was Amber was relayed to me by Rodrigo. I couldn’t tell if she disliked me or just disregarded my existence. Hers was an extremely focused personality and one I wasn’t a fan of.

Regardless, we found ourselves walking in our group of five. During the day the whole army marched in parties of five, spread out along the road but with no openings in our formation and with the horse drawn wagons well protected in the middle of the column.

The carts which formed the core of our caravan and the supplies being carried there were essential for our survival on this journey. Only at night did the entire army come together and freely talk and roam the length of the camp.

I found myself walking behind the other four of my group as they whispered among themselves. Only Rodrigo decided to fall back and walk beside me. From his glances, it seemed like he wanted to get to know me, but didn’t know where to start. It wasn’t his fault though. I knew I was unapproachable most of the time and the feelings that hung about me were… heavy. It wasn’t that I was unlikeable, but the message I gave off was probably one of ‘not available’. So it was to Rodrigo’s credit that he stuck by my side despite my silence.

On the second day of our journey, I decided to start a conversation with him, “How come you’re back here instead of with the others? Won’t it reflect badly on you?”

“Why would it? They mean no harm, they’re just skeptical is all. They’re also curious, too. They’ll warm up to you once they know you aren’t dead weight.”

I appreciated the honesty. “That will be a while; we aren’t scheduled to reach the Dragon’s Pass for over a week.”

“Ha, that’s where you’re mistaken. Rhea never said there were no monsters on the way to Dragon’s Pass, just that was our destination. We’ll be in the middle of enemy territory soon and you’ll see how the Valkyrie guild does things.” There was pride in his words; pride for his guild. The prospect of battle and showing my new group what I could do made me excited.

Rodrigo wasn’t wrong. The next day we witnessed our first monster: a level 60 hunch-back troll. The troll was out of our level range so we didn’t partake in the skirmish, but two parties in that range banded together to defeat it.

They were quick and decisive, and made the troll look like cannon fodder. Their teamwork was on a completely different level to anything I’d seen before. This was the elite of Valkyrie.

Rhea only watched calmly, even though with her help they could have dispatched it with even more ease. That told me one thing. She was interested in training and levelling everyone here.

Our turn came only twenty minutes later.

Assassin Mantis* LEVEL: 37 INSECT WIND

HP: 22513 MP: 35

STR: 30

AGI: 45

DEX: 25

VIT: 35

INT: 5

A giant mantis specializing in sneak attacks.

The monster wasn’t green as you would expect from a mantis: in fact it was see-through. The Assassin Mantis had the ability to alter its color to fit the background like a chameleon. There were two razor-sharp scythes protruding from its arms.

This was my chance to demonstrate my skills: the opportunity that Rodrigo told me I would have sooner than later. I couldn’t mess this up or they would never treat me as an equal.

Something else that became apparent was my group’s lack of information about me. Rhea knew I specialized in both ranged and melee combat, but my party did not. Clearly, she hadn’t given them any information at all.

I guessed my robe and rod threw them for a loop when I shadowed just behind Julian. He rushed in with his shield ready. Rodrigo called on me to hold back, and was the only one concerned for my safety. Julian snorted in displeasure. Joy didn’t seem to care either way.

When we were just half-way to the Assassin Mantis, I used Mana Scythe with 60% of my MP. This was the highest I’d ever used before, and I wanted to put on a show. The blue, flame-like scythe extended from my rod. I could feel the eyes of my party members watching me.

I hadn’t worked alongside a tank before but knew what to do. I sprinted until I was on opposite side of the monster from Julian. Its pulsing abdomen was in my face at this point.

The mantis was fast and its scythe-like blades tried to reap Julian. His shield work was good, and our tank managed to deflect every attack. For my part, I didn’t rush in haphazardly but tried to skirt around the conflict.

When I was halfway to the mantis I realized something was wrong. Neither Joy or Amber had attacked or cast a single ability: even Julian was only blocking and not attacking. I felt that maybe they were testing me.

I didn’t feel right about the situation but went in anyway. My body was only a few feet behind the mantis when it turned fully around and sliced out horizontally as if to decapitate me. I could actually hear the gasps from the others in my group.

This was a situation that should never happen. It was only possible in one circumstance, and that was if Julian had no posed threat at all. He had generated no aggro. For that to be the case, it must have been a deliberate choice on his part.

I didn’t panic though.

The scythe was coming directly at my head and there was almost no way to dodge it. My previous self would have died. I had Phase Step, however, and when the scythe was merely a foot from my head, I activated it.

Time seemed to stop for me as I ducked under the scythe-like blade and past it. This wasn’t just a dodge for show; I intended to take a leg as a prize. The mantis only had four legs supporting it, and when my blade came across one and chopped it like cutting the stalk of a weed it let out a horrible hiss.

The monster barely managed to stop itself from toppling over by moving the remaining front leg more towards the middle of its body. Despite that, its mobility was already in a horrible state. It was at this point I expected Julian to wake up and cut the shit. He didn’t.

The mantis looked directly towards me and lurched in my direction. Beyond it, I managed to catch a glimpse of Rhea. Her face was not one of happiness: she was truly pissed. Julian was probably in deep shit.

A scythe came from above with the intent of chopping me clean in half. I managed to raise my weapon to meet it and my legs nearly buckled beneath me on impact. I told myself I was fine if this was the only danger.

It wasn’t. There was the second scythe, and it was coming horizontally. The mantis had the full intention of cutting me into little cubes. I activated Phase Step again and managed to cut a gash in its chest before pushing backwards.

My eyes looked at Julian and I hoped he saw the level of my distaste. This had gone beyond creating a show for everyone. I couldn’t help but glance at Rhea to show my disapproval and to send her my thought: ‘Is this how your Valkyrie guild acts?’ And from her dark expression, she understood the mocking look on my face.

“Enough!” Rhea suddenly yelled. The smug look on Julian’s face vanished as if he had eaten shit. He had been so engrossed in the play that he hadn’t realized that the eyes of all of the senior officers were watching him. No matter how unskilled a tank, it was impossible for him to pretend this was a mistake.

Now, too late, Julian prepared to intercept the monster when the tank from Rhea’s party grabbed him and fully restrained him. The mantis was still coming at me when another member of Rhea’s party appeared out of thin air behind it. The monster didn’t have a moment to react before its body split from head to toe.

Rhea came over personally and had her tank drag Julian in front of me. The smug look from before was gone completely. Instead, it was that of someone who felt wronged. “It was only a playful joke,” he mumbled.

This was when Rhea looked at me, “What do you say?”

I had a choice to make. I could accept it as a ‘playful’ joke. Maybe Julian would appreciate such a gesture towards peace between us and I would be more accepted into the party.

The more I looked at his eyes, however, the more I thought Julian a snake. There was almost no chance he would be grateful at all. From what I had seen of this self-centered, vain man, any concession by me would make me look like a weak pushover. I also refused to accept that situation had been a joke. In normal circumstances, I’d be dead, the first attack that I had managed to dodge was lethal. Without Phase Step my head would have been struck from my torso. Most people would have been decapitated by that strike. It was impossible for him to not know that and yet he denied anyway.

“I could have died,” I said. “Is this how a tank in Valkyrie performs?” And it was like someone fed a new spoonful of shit into Julian’s mouth. Even Rhea seemed surprised by the scorn in my words, but not in a bad way.

She actually smiled, “No, you’re right.” She then nodded her head towards her own tank.

“I’ll train him well.” He saluted and then dragged Julian away.

It was only after we were alone did I dare to ask, “Should I have let him off?”

“No, I think you’re right. Besides, this is a valuable lesson for him. Griswold doesn’t play around. He really is going to ‘train’ that boy well.”

“So, what now? We no longer have a tank in our group.”

“It seems like you didn’t need a tank, I’m sure your group will do fine. Besides, Julian will be back in a few days.”

And I could only smile in response. Truthfully, she wasn’t wrong. If the fight had continued I would have taken another leg and left the mantis on the ground. From there I could have cast spells to dispatch it safely. It wasn’t impossible for me to deal with it alone.

Business carried on as usual after Julian was dragged away and I returned to my party. Rodrigo was apologetic and assured me he didn’t know what the others were up to. It was a plan cooked up by the three of them.

Joy gave a nod and simply said, “Not bad.” And amber remained indifferent as before. Regardless, it seemed to me that they looked at me with a lot more respect than before.

I caught Joy occasionally glancing in my direction with a curious expression.

“Is something the matter?” I asked.

“What do you call that?” she gestured towards the dark blue scythe hanging from my rod.

“Mana Scythe.”

“Interesting, I can feel there’s a lot of mana coming off of it. That would mean you have a considerable amount of INT, but you fight like an assassin.”

I suddenly felt like she was a bit more discerning than I had given her credit for. Her body language and conversation was carefree and aloof but she was actually paying close attention. I half expected her to ask if I was really level 32. I was starting to have déjà vu, this was like my discussions in the marsh ponds.

Joy simply shrugged off my non-response and went back to minding her own business. In turn, I couldn’t help but take an occasional glance at Amber. She eventually gave me a deadpan stare back and I asked her, “Did I do something to make you want to get rid of me?”

And even that directness wasn’t enough to get a response. Rodrigo had to interject, “Amber just doesn’t like talking to new people. By the time you get used to her silence she’ll start talking. It was like that for all of us.”

Night rolled around and I found myself secluded again. Instead of being down about this, I set up camp against a tree trunk and pulled the bag of rubies and zircon from my inventory. The gems jingled like glass as I set them down.

We had been traveling in nothing but forest for the past two days. I was well overdue for a scenery change. My mind couldn’t rest easy at night for some reason, and the best method I could think of was to exhaust myself.

I started to go my through my gear again with the goal of adding a fresh HP +10 to each item. The effect of this was incremental and marginal for any one piece, but little by little added up to a HP gain that might make all the difference. I wasn’t sure if she was looking for me or took notice of what I was doing by accident, but Joy showed up.

“You’re an enchanter?” She looked at the green mana floating in my hand. I couldn’t answer as I was concentrating on putting another gem into my rod. Only after I finished did I have the ability to speak.

“Sort of.” Truthfully, I felt like a fraud. In my mind I was not an enchanter, at least not yet.

She sat beside me and watched me go again, “You’re on HP and MP enchantments?”

“Yeah.”

“How long have you been practicing?”

“A little over three weeks.” She seemed surprised and I thought I was embarrassing myself.

“That’s actually really good!” She suddenly pulled out an intermediate enchanting book. “I’ve been studying for over a year now. I’m just becoming proficient in two-stone enchantments.”

I was surprised, but only for a moment. Mages were the most likely class to become an enchanter after all. Having a huge amount of MP and good control of your mana was necessary to go far in this profession.

“To be honest, I bought these materials but can’t really make use of them. I got way more than I needed.” The beginner’s enchanting guide didn’t have any recipes for a two-stone enchantment that had rubies and zircon as the raw materials.

“It’s impressive,” Joy said. “You don’t have a guild and are working diligently towards a goal. I don’t think I would have had the stomach to try alone.” She started to flip through her book. “There is a two-stone enchantment listed here you can maybe try.” And she passed the booklet to me.

I took it and started to read. It was an enchantment for boots and chest that provided +3 AGI. The materials were zircon and a ruby. I memorized the instructions carefully and reread them several times before passing the book back.

“What do you think?” Joy asked.

“I can try it.” I held both materials in my right hand and placed my Valkyrian Shoes on the ground just below my left hand. I pushed my concentration to the limit and focused all my attention towards the two stones.

It wasn’t as simple as just melding them both down into my mana. There was a process to follow. I needed to meld half of the ruby into mana, then all of the zircon, and finally the remaining ruby.

There was an order to every enchantment, and that was the means by which they were discovered and recorded. New recopies started off as a scientific experiments and were eventually jotted down. I guessed this was why the shop owner had said so many enchantments were still undiscovered.

I blocked out every distraction around me: the hooting of owls, the singing of crickets, even the chilly night breeze that caused the trees to dance. There was nothing around me, and nothing in my vision except the two stones.

The mana flowed in my hand exactly as I wanted and I focused all my attention on the ruby first. It started to slowly melt and disintegrate until there was a red swirl in my hand. My measurements weren’t exact, but I managed to stop when it was around half its initial size.

After that, I focused solely on the zircon, and without any restraint melted it with no problem. The two different properties of mana floated there as if battling, but slowly melded into a beautiful yet uniform cloud.

All that was left was to melt the remains of the ruby, and this also went without a hitch although the effort meant I felt like my eyes were nearly bulging out of my sockets and veins were showing on my forehead. The ruby melted and I had a reddish green cloud that seemed chaotic and disorderly, but also orderly at the same time.

Enchanting was a phenomenon with contradictions I couldn’t exactly explain. Like there was a method to the madness. My attention turned towards the Valkyrian shoes and I carefully urged that cloud of mana to swirl around them.

My hand was nearly shaking as I watched the cloud completely engulf the shoes and start to wrap around them. There was only a single little stream still connecting it to my hand. I broke it off and prayed.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t that lucky. The cloud of mana floated there for only a moment before it shattered into a beautiful green and red dust. I was so close yet so far. It took me a moment to realize Joy was still sitting beside me.

“What’s wrong?” It looked like she had seen a ghost.

The words were caught in her throat, “Were you being honest earlier? About only practicing for three weeks?”

I suddenly felt like an honest response would be a form of gloating, so I only nodded my head. She stood up and I caught a glimpse of uncertainty in her eye, maybe it was disappointment. Did she think I was lying? Or maybe the disappointment was in herself?

She walked away and I couldn’t find any words to say. I wasn’t sure what to say. It was only a while later that I realized I should have said thank you.