"Ladies and not-so-gentle men! Hello and welcome!" A man with a golden hair greeted as he stood above a platform wearing his best smile facing a crowd.

A number of people took attention and moved to hear him closer. A few brave ethereals willing to join the ranks of a guild known as Avenguard.

We have gathered them inside the etherium that is located in the center of the Damsel Square, the Red Damsel itself.

The interiors of this grand Etherium is rather large as compared to its mini versions offered by the local taverns.

Unlike those small glum-looking rooms with glum-looking tables, the Damsel can be described as a colossal mess hall with the word mess being literal.

Setting aside the fact that the place is teeming with ethereals, the major portion of the place depicts a part of a desolated castle; a fortification left in ruins. With verdant grass and vegetation humbly growing out of cracks and crannies. With springs and water font and streams flowing under stonebridges finally dripping into the darkness in the edges of the metaphysical world.

In one side, bone-like pillars protrude in walls, in another, metal frames and odd-looking furnitures.

The castle is divided into three floor levels with balconies overseeing the lowest. In the middle stood a monument seemingly similar to the golems that exist in the battlefield.

A few distance from the monument is were we decided to conduct our event.

"Now let me present to you our dearest captain, the great-grand founder of Avenguard, the guild hailed as the most promising team in the Eastern border. Not to mention I quoted that from one of the top tier guilds in the kingdom. The best of the new rising guilds of the current age..."

"Enough with the compliments, Gamma. Let me speak," I told the guy as I grabbed his shoulder.

"Right, boss. Sorry!" He replied then announced, "Our guild captain, Cethro!"

I was hoping for a round of applause as soon as he said my name but there was none, the crowd only fell silent as I moved forward.

I casually took a deep breath and fixed my eyeglass with a finger then spoke, "Greetings my fellow Ethereals, listen!

We of Avenguard gathered you today in hopes of finding members for our secondary squad. Specifically these aspiring people would be enlisted to join with the intention of participating in the Gilded Goblet, the reknowned annual event being held in Fort Breunor in the coming month."

I scanned the crowd as I spoke. There were different faces, expressions, and expectations but I care little of what they think. I only need those who have talents, wits, and will to destroy every single enemy that would stand against our guild. A companion that would join us in paving our way to the top.

"We only need three, but I'm not saying we must choose among you. We will only pick the best for we only need the best," I said.

Like how I meticuluously chose our current members. The hardwork and extreme persuasion I had to commit to have them join Avenguard. The goal of this recruitment should bear a similar passion.

"So I dare ask each you, do you consider yourself the best?" I grinned.

I wanted to challenge them in my speech. Maybe pressure them to put up more than what they usually do. But there's no use to that, Avenguard has good reputation so I bet these people who dared to participate already knew our standard.

"Now, without further ado," I announced, "lets begin!"

The procedure of our guild's member selection is simple: the participants would be pitted against each other in three consecutive battles.

Clash. A fight between two teams made up of five individuals. Their battlefield: Argadnel.

Argadnel is a battle arena different from Calydon, the usual location for Duels.

Aside from the slight variation of landscape and vegetation, this battlefield is a lot larger and wider than the latter making it suitable for matches involving multiple ethereals.

Instead of having a single direct path from one gate to another, Argadnel is divided into three different lanes. In every lane, three locations are guarded by golems with their distance extending away from their designated gate. A total of nine minor defenders and one larger and stronger gatekeeper for each teams.

Between the lanes are groves with narrow passages littered by monsters of varying strength. Some providing points and items when slain and some granting greater benefits for the whole team.

For the first two matches, participants would be graded in their individual performance. Winning is not required however having less deaths, most kills and most assists is critical to obtain a high score.

Six with the highest scores will advance on the third match where they will be teamed up with our guild members and there they will be closely observed to determine if they are fit for the role or not.

I was planning to make the process a little more detailed but my hands are tied as I had to personally arrange our guild's slot for the Gilded Goblet. That said, I have trust in my colleagues.

They share my goal of finding the best member for our new squad lineup.

"How many participated for today?" I asked as I sat in a comfortable seat situated in the farthest corner of a room.

Tables in different sorts of styles and sizes are scattered across the Red Damsel available for public use however, private rooms exist hidden in the castle walls which are commonly used by guilds for their activities.

"We got a total of fifty two," a girl replied passing me a panel with a detailed list of information about the individuals whom joined the selection. "Although I went on filtering the unqualified so that number dwindled down to twenty. Among them, I found only three having decent records," she continued.

"And where did you based that decision?" I asked.

"Win rate, battle statistics, role preferences, avatar preferences, sigil registry, ranking in the local leaderboard, and match history for the past two months. I also went and checked their lifestyle, affiliation, finances, travel history, and the rest of the things that I believe we should take into account," she replied.

The girl was a fair beauty with a dark blue hair appearing to be harmless in the first glance. Her strict and meticulous demeanor however makes her formidable when it comes to gathering information. Incidentally, she is our guild's vice captain.

"We also got someone from a rival guild," she added, "we had faced them a couple of times before but I heard they disbanded recently due to some internal conflicts... That and a lot of newbies with zero experience as usual."

"Anything out of the ordinary?" I asked scanning the panel.

"Well, there's this guy who were recommended by Reveri although he's..."

"Wait," I interrupted her, "Reveri brought someone in our turf? Care to explain that?" I turned to Reveri sitting next to her.

"Oh please, I'm not into this kind of thing," Reveri retorted, "Just watch him and you'll see."

If there's any word I can use to describe Reveri, it would be the undoubtable fact that she is the guild's mascot.

I have no intention of insulting her when I said that. Her popularity alone has doubled our fame and that deserves respect.

Being dubbed as Saint is a special feat however her usefulness in the battlefield is no joke. Starting as a timid wall flower, I had her master a wide range of Mender avatars and who would have guessed that she had an amazing amplitude for it?

She has long proven her worth as the main squad's Mender and I say that position of hers is irreplaceable.

Now that she had brought someone in the selection I wonder what sort of person had grabbed her interest.

"I'll raise my expectation then. Keep an eye on that person, Mystel," I ordered my vice.

"On it," she replied, "I already assigned Gamma for that."

"Well boss, I'm in full attention in this specified person," the golden haired boy said with his face focused in a panel displaying a scene in one of the ongoing matches.

"So far he's been slightly boring... A little bit passive since the beginning of their match with zero sign of care to his teammates. A typical newbie if I may say... How did he even get passed Mystel? Oh wait... what in the world?"

His tone turned different as he grabbed the panel closer, "he was facing the Pugilist head-on?"

"A cocky raider," I commented passing back the panel to Mystel, "I bet the Pugilist would wipe him clean,"

The Pugilist is a raider avatar with excellent amplitude for taking down isolated targets. A difficult opponent in a one-on-one with a slight disadvatage of having no weapon to carry, this avatar relies in barefists yet definitely dangerous to fight against.

Pugilist is rather hard to master but with proper knowledge and tools it can potentially eliminate almost any enemy as long as they confront them one-on-one. That being said, facing it unprepared is rather reckless.

"Uh... No sir. He's not using a Raider, he's not backed up by his team mates either," Gamma replied then murmured "so this is the reason why he was wearing two sets of Nu Manica."

Nu Manica is an item achieved when combining the basic items Pauldron, Vambrace and Techtite. Suitable for Raider avatars, it does not just increase MIGHT and provide some bonus defense but also nullifies about 18% damage directed to it. A desirable item for close-ranged avatars such as the Pugilist.

I wish to think the Pugilist was the one wearing the item but the way Gamma said it suggests it was the other person.

"He's not using a Raider yet he was wearing Nu Manica? So what avatar is he using? A chaplain?"

"Holy... He crafted Airgetlam in the middle of a slugfight!" Gamma suddenly commented without answering my question not even reacting to my joke.

Airgetlam is one of the terminal items that can be crafted using Nu Manica. Undoubtedly a perfect personal defensive equipment being able to completely negate damage directed to it as its durability is basically infinite; its undestructible.

This item however it is not so often used by the majority of raider-using ethereals as it does not permit the activation of combat skills.

"Boss, this dude is nuts!" Gamma blurted, his eyes still focused in the panel, "Its not like he can take the Pugilist down but he got the guts to b--He slain the Pugilist!?"

"He what?" I said and took off from my seat.

It is not impossible to beat down a Pugilist. It is not as tough as Berserkr nor it gains much benefit from items that builds up defense or regeneration.

Obviously it can be done with the help of another person something supportive like a Mender but even if its one-on-one there are a lot of ways to outsmart anyone.

But for someone like Gamma whom, I'd say one of the best raider user in the guild, to be surprised like this is making me curious. He said it was not a raider. Perhaps this person is using something that is out of the ordinary.

"The Chaplain just slain the Pugilist," Gamma said as I moved to view the scene displayed in his panel.

There stood a person in white robe with both arms cladded in metal holding down the unconscious Pugilist as its body whittled down into small black fragments finally vanishing in thin air.

Before him came two people perhaps to serve as reinforcements but they were a little bit late even appearing to be quite surprised of what happened.

The person using the Chaplain avatar should have ran to escape but he didn't. A rather dumb move but he faced them. He run forward and dealt the first hit making his opponents to go on the defensive.

He casted ENLIGHTEN on the nearest to prevent it from moving then pommeled the other into a corner.

It was foolish to assume that he would he able to defeat the enemy this way considering the amount of damage the Chaplain can do but his movements were rather good. Weaving smoothly to dodge while flawlessly connecting his attacks.

So he was able to overpower the Pugilist this way.

To think an avatar suited to fight in barefist being dominated by another avatar in a fight using barefist. This is out of the ordinary!

I assume he used Nu Manica and ultimately Airgetlam as a strategy to completely deflect the Pugilist's power punches all while being able to inflict close-range attacks himself.

He did sacrifice his ability to cast combat skills though but on the side note, the Chaplain barely has any combat skills.

He got wits, eh?

His movement is also outstanding. Either a natural talent or a result of hardwork through training.

I can imagine how great he can be if he was using a different avatar. Something more suitable, a Pugilist perhaps or a Werewulf or even an Infernal!

Is he only showing off that he can achieve such feat even at a handicap?

"Mystel," I called the blue-haired girl standing on my side, "battle record?"

"On it," she replied pulling out a panel before continuing, "Ninety-third in the local rank. His matches consists of one thousand one duels and three clash battles with a win rate of sixty four percent.

He hasn't been using any other avatar aside from Chaplain, which is rather intriguing.

He's been affiliated with the guild Blackdogs for a very short moment but rumors says he is currently hunting them to take revenge.

His name is Greed,"