I had to admit, Johnson was quite a good storyteller. By the end, the entire crowd inside the guild was listening. Someone even clapped.

It was me.

“What a nice story, truly. This lake of Metal clearly houses the Lord of this World, the Lord of Alloy. Good Johnson, good lad.” I was happy and ruffled his hair. He batted my hand away in embarrassment.

“Well, I’m not sure how much truth it has to it, but it always stuck with me. This lake of Metal is a real place, yet it is closely guarded by the Western alliance. It adds a hint of suspicion that makes the story worthy of conspiracy.” Johnson giggled, clearly entertained by this.

I asked what the western alliance was, and Au-ha, which was just sitting there still, explained to me it was one of the world’s 3 major powers. Eurasia, Western alliance, and the Low East. The western alliance covered the western hemisphere of the planet. Right now, I was on an island off the mainland of Eurasia.

It was quite a day, for me and Johnson. He did me a favor and paid for a room for the night. I lay on the bed, not needing to undress anything. Tomorrow was the test to enter this guild. I could obtain some money finally and begin searching for a way to enter the lake, my greatest lead.

That night I dreamt I was a million different creatures as one. Pure blood that traveled forward, consuming nonstop. Transforming at will, I gained the powers of all the creatures I ate. Nothing would threaten me, nothing would escape me, it was endless, and meaningless. The more I consumed, the more the blood began to fall. This was when I understood.

This might last forever. I no longer had control; it was like being a passenger in your own body. I moved, and ate. Until one day, I saw a creature take flight. I ran at this creature, chasing it beneath the land. As my body diluted and spread, I once more gained control and handed over the core, ready to die at last.

I awoke to more boiling blood. I could feel a horde of life wiggling beneath my skin. It was firmly under control for the moment, but I was liable to lose myself to the power. Regardless, it was another day, and the test would begin early this morning, and last all day.

An obstacle course, a beast hunt, and a tournament, of course.

I had signed and submitted the form shortly after bumping into Johnson, the people here see me as strange, but not completely alien. They assume my tail is artificial, and my red skin was cosmetic. In this world, there are people with skin ranging from red to gold to glowing. My stature was tall, but not inhuman.

That is to say, I could still fit in this world. Of course, the Blood Horde power allows me to transform my body at will, as long as I have the beast blood necessary to. I could take it all away and return to being human in form, I could regrow my wings if I wished. But I couldn’t transform into a different animal, yet, and I couldn’t grow another tail, unless I ate another beast with a tail.

I headed to the first site of the test, meeting up with Johnson first. He was sweating profusely, currently carrying multiple rags, and wiping his forehead constantly.

“H-how are you today? I feel great! H-haha.” he then made a gross choking noise that was a half cough.

He seemed a little nervous.

“Relax, lad. I will help you out where I can,” I patted his shoulder, which was soaked in sweat. “Nobody really expects much of you anyways, so there’s nothing to really lose.”

“That’s reassuring…” He muttered.

We made our way to a large, open area of land. A rare sight in this world. Gathered were many, many groups of warriors. Few were alone. I didn’t have a phone yet, so I asked Johnson when it began.

“F-five minutes, haha.”

The concept of counted time was something I was introduced to in this world. These humans were incredibly creative.

Soon enough, a loud metallic aircraft hovered from above, and around 8 humans jumped out, from their appearance. Veteran warriors, and likely proctors of the test.

A savage-looking bald man wearing camouflage fatigues stepped forward and began speaking.

“Sooo, like, this is the test…” he spoke with a much different tone than I imagined.

“First off is a simple elimination course thing, then we do a beasty hunt. This is a well-supervised event, but a few sillies die every year. Be careful, babies. And ummmm, last is a tournament. This is done to determine your rank, like D-A. Well, technically S too, but don’t worry about that.”

He then stepped forwards along with the rest, and where they once stood, towers were erected from beneath the earth. Needless to say, they were made of metal. They all looked the same, very minimalistic.

A warrior stood Infront of each tower. The man began again, “This is the first test, according to what style of combat you prefer, line up at the metal erections. From left to right it goes: Swordy people, Axe-boys, Spear pokers, Shooty types, the Hammer hunks, The kinky whip lovers, the funky fist types like me, and the rare mages.”

What a strange man. I realized I had no weapon, and would be forced to line up at his tower. Virtually none were weaponless in this world. I could technically join the sword tower, but I would rather not reveal what I didn’t need too. I looked at Johnson, to console him.

Beyond my understanding, he already had a steely-eyed look. Resolute to the extreme. “I’ll be going to the sword tower, good luck, Brother.” He said and walked off, cloak flowing in the wind.

What a hero. Possibly with a slight mental disorder.

Looking around, the sword tower easily had the longest line. The ranged attack tower came at a close second. The spear line slightly longer than the axe and hammer lines, which were about tied. There was one person lined up at the mage tower. He received quite a few stares and whispers.

There was one group of warriors, who hesitantly stood at the Close-quarters line. They all had quite a few augmentations, and wore a similarly designed Gi, signifying they came from the same school. They all looked at each other worriedly.

I joined the back of this line. They nodded at me, I nodded back. I looked over at the mage, who was staring straight ahead.

“I’m serious, don’t let this guy touch your butthole.” Big Star’s comments were getting stranger every day.

I didn't even have a butthole. What is he on about?

The test began, and the people entered the tower in groups. The Yellow team walked ahead. After a while, medic bots carried two of them out, covered in small bruises. After a longer while came the other two, beaten and bloodied. I realized there were hints within these injuries. The smarter groups definitely would not be the first in the lines unless necessary.

The door to the tower opened, and I entered.