As Rue slept peacefully others did not, A council was in session thousands of Km away.

The hunters council was attended by several big names with equally important epithets.

"EMERGENCY REPORT COMING FROM BASTERN." a hurrying guild member said over the tired humdrum of the meeting.

the general representative took the report from the panicked man and shooed him off to avoid the anger of the higher ups for the intrusion into the council.

Usually there was an economic evaluation, employee evaluation and class up candidates.

Economically the guild was essentially the backbone for most cooperating countries so funding for guild activities wasn't really an issue anymore.

This location within the greater dragonoid empire of Ber Fernakanad in the capitol.

An interesting report was filed to the highers who being at a council were sent the report assuming that the council would happen then the report read, what they didn't know is that the report was of such staggering content that it would be privately reviewed by the council and gathered members of the elite grades of the hunters guild.

'the shining flash' Ingram Sullivan

'the gravekeeper' Maverick Lewistead

'Crazy lucky' Zarucia

'the untouchable' Demo Gegorik

'The subspace sniper' Juvenile

and finally 'Steel soldier' Der'gon Seeves

Possessing an epithet means one of two things, you were recognised for a specific set of skills or abilities, or you were generally recognised and then gained an ability. The second is substantially rarer as one can Imagine.

"hey hey what is the emergency?' Juvenile rang out in an overly loud and surprisingly high pitched voice for a 6ft male humanoid.

"Another candidate has been slipped in last minute, no feats to their name with the exception of their Guild test." the speaker said to the elites.

"Hmm another? thought we had few this year, though depends on the quality of the new flesh." said the flowing feminine tone of Zarucia

"So what if there is another 'Candidate' You guilders are absolute trash at pickin em!" Juvenile spoke out again.

Promptly two hands floored the back of his skull, though his head bounced back from the table without a noise.

"So what is the spectacular circumstances that a guild member would have to barge in here for? I don't imagine the guild members tend to stick their necks out for randos often." Maverick chimed in with a southern baritone settling the room's ambient chatter.

"this one is a human for one, second, has a mana pool estimated at 500 points, third, has no known history being from an illegal warp and seemingly not knowing, and fourth possesses the Arcane magic technique as well as at least one unique condition potentially two from the report maybe so far as three." the speaker listed one at a time in order of whatever he damn pleased.

the room sat in stunned silence, the elites especially, out of all of them the only human was maverick.

Ingram is a undead, Zarucia is a lizardfolk, Demo Gegorik is an extradimensional, Juvenile is a Sheepfolk,

Der'gon Seeves is an automaton

"so that is maybe Impressive, So what?" Juvenile, He froze further when the speaker said the next set of features.

"The person in question is a 13 year old human and she copied the Setstrange's family technique with an increase in efficiency. during. the. test" he finished.

"ERROR, switching to persona core, So we have a real anomaly here, WHO appeared from absolutely NOWHErE?" Der'gon said his voice swapping from the mechanical computation core and his personnel interaction core.

The voice was surprisingly free of a mechanical feel, not that it wasn't there, simply subtle, at least until the end of the sentence.

"from the report that is what the truth seems to be, although this is a early stage report the real thing will be delivered within 4-8 weeks as everything needs its own proofing." the speaker reasoned

"Why can't we just get a snapshot of the status of this individual? it ain't like the guild doesn't have it on file yet." Demi Gegorik

said in an otherworldly trill

the speaker was clearly not happy about the recommendation said "even you elites are not qualified to see any and all information within the guild, their privacy will be their own for as long as they will it to be.

Should you really need to know go and see her for yourselves." the speaker said with indignance.

Rue again awoke inside of a blindingly white room, Rue contemplated about the general frequency of her loosing consciousness after operating magics, then saw the instructor in her field of view.

"Did I pass?" Rue said startling the instructor who looked relieved that Rue was awake.

"Oh you are fine, uh pass? haha good one kid, I should ask you to be my teacher, you not passing, HA," Abodan went on with even more mumbling before he got a swift elbow in the ribs and returned to understandable speech.

"Ah well so technically you didn't pass the test as you were rendered unconscious after defeating your own summon... Um the ones that you had to beat was the shieldbearer and ranger skeletons." Abodan said scratching his head.

Rue blinked "So I didn't pass?"

"very one track mind aren't you, and to answer, no you don't pass the adventurer's exam, Admittedly both me and Abodan feel this is a asspull from the higher powers that be, but you have been given an offer to become a guild sponsored craftsman." The guild employee said with a frown marring her face.

"but when l looked around I didn't see the skeletons after killing the one I made."

The guild member smiled slightly before pointing at Abodan

"he ordered them to hide in one of the corners behind the shield which was miraged to look like the walls."

Abodan stiffened up before sighing and nodding.

Rue thought for a few moments, took a deep breath and then sighed.

"is there anyway I can still do hunter-like tasks while being in the 'sponsored craftsman' position?"

Both Abodan and the employee cradled their heads in their hands.

"seriously, there are so many other options to you rather than being a hunter." Abodan groaned

"What is with the youth these days, I don't understand." The guild employee hissed.

Rue looked expectantly at the pair of adults, beautiful emerald green eyes glowing with anticipation.

Abodan looked at the employee, they closed their eyes and started thinking.

Rue waited for a few minutes until they reopened their eyes and chatted in hushed whispers to eachother.

They turned and Abodan gave the employee a look, then she began to speak again.

"So it is possible for you to spend some time doing the craftsman sponsorship, If you could convince your teacher that you needed to kill monsters to collect materials first-hand, It shouldn't be impossible to convince them to let you hunt."

Abodan took over and said

"Though you need a new firearm, that cute little force shooter is effective to a degree but it was the ultimate reason you didn't pass."

This was true, while Rue was attempting to crush the mage, her bullets were stopped by the shield of the shieldbearer or occasionally sniped by the ranger, prematurely detonating the condensed mana, a conventional projectile weapon would have made said fight easier and probably would have let her succeed the test.

Rue considered these things before pulling out a small slip of paper Akyas had written in truly illegible font.

She had handed it to the guild employee who looked puzzled at it.

"can you read this?" Rue asked

"Uh give me a sec."

the guild employee pulled out a set of glasses and a worn leatherbound book that smelled of ages forgotten.

After a minute or two the Guild employee turned back around and handed Rue a note that was actually written in a language that Rue understood.

"So I don't recommend following the advice written there, but it says that if you go into the southern slums and head to the markets you should find a rundown store labelled 'Reliable Munitions' tell the keeper that 'I' sent you. who was the one who gave you these things anyways?" the employee asked.

"He said I shouldn't tell anybody about him, since it would be more problematic for his reputation or something to be on me he said." Rue replied to the seeming exhaustion of the Guildmember.

"So, will you join the sponsorship program?" she asked.

"If I can hunt then there isn't a problem I think." Rue said simply.

As Rue essentially agreed, an amount of noise between angry mumbling and a sledgehammer striking a glass bell rang out as the door to the room flew off their hinges before the surreal scene of doors reattaching themselves happened.

A small thickly haired humanoid dashed with his proportionally small legs until he found himself next to Rue's medical bed.

"Aye. yah don tal-kin bout som weird stoof an readi fo da forges?" the hairy humanoid said in an incomparably thick accent.

"Unnn... can I hunt for materials?" Rue repeated what the Guild member had said to ask.

"Yah tehat Shold beh foine, I wanna seez yah In da forges doe." he said like an overexcited ball of racial stereotypes.

"Um, can you speak... clearer Dovam?" the guild member asked seeing the confused and frozen Rue.

The disgruntled dwarf reached into his pants pocket and attached a small metal octahedron that was covered in light scratches, on second glance Rue noticed that they were actually filed channels for mana.

Suddenly the dwarf began to speak again "Is this better?" he said, his voice changing to be weird, almost completely neutral aside from the obvious deep tone.

"Much better, I believe this child didn't understand your accent so you may wish to repeat you answer." The guildmember said

The dwarf's eyebrows scrunched up and the hair around his mouth moved downwards at the tips as he growled and answered Rue's original question.

"I said, yeah that should be fine, I wanna see you at the forges though." still holding that expression.

"That should be fine, I think... That cubey thingy around your neck, that is an arcane magic catalyst isn't it?" Rue asked to see the dwarf's eyes widen and his beard invert how it was positioned.

"you could tell that from just a look kid?!" he exclaimed and turned to the guildmember

"I thought you were lying though ya teeth Trace, they really do have that skill!"

the guildmember... Trace, rolled her eyes as the dwarf then turned back to Rue.

"so kid you ready for your first day?" the dwarf asked

Rue was silent for a moment, then nodded after looking Trace in the eyes.

After the admittedly banal transition into the Forges Rue found herself in a set of thick covers with a single glove on her offhand, the right hand, uncovered.

When she was being instructed Dovam blinked taking a second look at the arm before shaking his head and continuing the instructions to cloth up.

Dovam then took Rue into the forge room.

Large vaulted ceilings with massive bricks of toughened stone slates covering everywhere up to the ceilings, moving though the room the centrepiece was a large foundry instead of a central pillar.

Dovam navigated through this room into a side room with a comparatively smaller forge enough for a single person.

This room had enough space for someone like Akyas to walk around without dipping and had a table on the other side of the room with a box and a bench next to it.

"this is where we will be dealing with your learning, just cause you wanna go out and fight don't mean that you can neglect your talents." Dovam said with presumably a serious expression.

"Rue, as a person with the arcane magic technique at level 3, you possess an intuitive understanding of the items made by the technique, HOWEVER, it is a mere inkling of what the technique is based on, you know how to make these items barely, the barrier piece on your arm for that test was impressive but wouldn't function as proper armor if it was hit.

A proper Arcane catalyst can avoid mana saturation issues, Improve mana quantity and even produce magical effect not directly correlated to elemental magics or energy constructions."

"Why is my technique so important? I just want to be a hunter!" Rue exclaimed to the man who was barely 20cm taller than her.

Dovam answered her with a swift slap

"you possess a gift that made this world what it is, abuse of artefacts is exactly why we need your talents, Yet all you want to do is fight and die in bloody conflict with mindless beasts, I REFUSE to let you dismiss your gift, YOU WILL learn what is necessary, And once that is done, then you can go fight to your heart's content."

"wuh-wuh-what?"

"I want you, In this room, at least 4 times a week, the rest you may do whatever you wish, I do not care, As required of the sponsorship program you get paid the absolute minimum amount of currency to live."

A small silver band flew from Dovam's outstretched palms and it bound itself around Rue's right wrist.

ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzt

Massive bolts of electricity flew from the arm as the band attempted to bind around the arm.

the band stopped as it cracked and exploded in a small shower of sparks.

"GGGRRRR annoying thing!" Dovam said as he did a circle turn and another identical band wrapped around Rue's throat.

For a moment Rue could hear the pulses of her heart, then the band expanded and she took a deep breath.

"Wha-what?" Rue trembled touching the silver band around her throat.

"that will integrate with your status, ask it questions, do whatever I don't care, it can take care of most pressing issues you have More importantly it will make sure you follow your verbal contract with the guild.

Sub-system installation incomplete - incompatible hardware detected

Reverting to legacy interface()

|/---|/---|/---|/---(100%)

Legacy software changes noted -

Leveling - offline

personal biometrics - online

Job - online

Job history - offline

stat conferment menu - offline

status Backup reinforcement - partially functional*

Skill adjustment - partially functional**

Skill documentation - online

Un_q_e A-A__y__is - offline

status effect detection - online

Limited codex - New - online

*backup reinforcement - currently the mental stats are incapable of ordinary biological growth (standard limit 20) Physical statistics can grow when performing physical exercise and supplying the muscle with mana

**skill adjustment - basics unlocked, incomplete codex, skills may not grant extra knowledge merely represent a scale of understanding of a field according to system judgement

Rue understood on an instinctual level something was horribly wrong about the current predicament.

"now onto the lesson." dovam said removing the octahedron.

What he launched Rue into was a teaching of standard forge techniques and how to prepare these things, during this conversation as Rue paid Dovam's words attention a book floated nearby which recorded him.

After the theory behind using the forge, Rue began her first forged item, at least its shape.

She struck the metal with force, and Remembering the status notice she fed mana into her whole body, letting the power soak every pore as she struck the metal inaccurately to the chagrin and chastisement of Dovam.

Dovam worked her like the slave drivers, Hours of pounding the metal, heat it back up, pound it some more, 'Focus on this' 'focus on that' would come from Dovam on occasion. then the break came, he caught Rue's uplifted hammer, recent off the forge by Dovam's hands, She felt like she had been carrying the world for the past... Actually Rue had no clue as to how much time had passed in this red gradient box, Flopping onto the chair in the corner Dovam looked through the box in the opposite corner before pulling out many things which looked and smelt of food.

A stomach cried in agony, but Rue couldn't answer the vocalisation. Eventually Dovam had prepared a plate of food and put it down in front of Rue, Who savagely crammed it down in an instant to his surprise, then again, it voiced immense protests of hunger.

10 minutes had passed since Rue had began hammering away at the metal and Dovam felt like shit.

he was contracted by the guild to teach Rue the skills she needed to know, which was a tall order considering there was no individual who possessed the Arcane magic technique above level 3 within several months travel of Bastern, the higherups would have to ship a specialist to teach the kid, so they began doing what was possible.

Give the kid a subsystem bangle and teach her all the crafting skills possible up to level 3.

That was the order that came down the pipeline, as soon as Dovam threw the first bangle he had a premonition of great failure. The arm shot off sparks resisting the bangle's influence, at this point Dovam had to harden his heart since his suspicions were true.

This girl's arm wasn't flesh and blood, it was an ungodly rare supermetal that any person LET ALONE a dwarf would happily tear off the arm of a little girl with no history and shady contacts.

Dovam saw the arm's gleam in the locker room earlier he though he was hallucinating, Magicite, commonly referred to as the demi-god metal as it was a completely natural mineral, the problem was that it was so rare. even a single pinky of Rue's, assuming sold magicite, would buy Rue a house, weapons for hunting, an unrestricted hunters licence and a spot as a famous person. Never in any life or any of Dovam's 90 years did he think he would meet a person who used such a potent ore as a prosthesis, even worse Given the sparks that came off the thing and the kid's seeming surprise about what I did.

Dovam had a terrifying thought. He knew nothing particular about the status system, you get a slate when you hit the age of maturation of your species, Dovam wasn't there yet for a dwarf, Though he heard from his grandmaster, the clan's grandmaster, that there was once upon a time status slates could only be made of magicite and they were impossibly complex magical artefacts.

utterly terrifying and powerful in nature, it can only be speculated what an arm of magical metal would do, Or so he thought.

So to keep his mind off the arm he spent the time he had right now focusing on critiquing Rue's form.

Even after forging a hammer that was as light as feasible, Rue trembled like a spring lamb, following instructions like a machine, her muscles spasming and flexing like an engine misfiring. Dovam stopped her and made her food to make sure she was Ok, only to realise that he was feeding a blackhole in disguise.

After another 10 minutes of stuffing Rue with half-cooked ingredients she thanked him for feeding her.

Rue felt full and happy, She was panicking about having a collar on but when dovam stopped her from working as she felt so tired, horribly tired then he fed her, she ate a lot.

More than usual, why was that? She didn't know but she felt a little stronger and when they started working again it was... well, a lot was too much but a bit too little, a moderate improvement maybe?

Rue struck the glowing metal into shape at dovam's command, even got into a groove as it were. eventually a set of metal pieces came together. Four large 'planks' of metal with a dip halfway up, a square of black gleaming metal. 50cm x 50cm and around the15cm from two of the 4 sides a curve formed, it curved in forming a concave surface, these curved surfaces were thinner than the top and bottom pieces. then four relatively identical plates, the plates were held close together, marked and the marked portions were removed to enable the four plates to form a solid cube without a top or bottom.

After this another 4 ingots were heated and fused together into another large plate of 50cm^2, all plates were around 2-3cm thick, this plate was no different, this one was concaved in until it dipped down onto the curves inside the plate box, Resting on the girdle of the box from the inside.

Then another plate was placed on top.

"Alright kid, time to review what you have learnt." dovam said happily, the kid hadn't eaten the entire fridge so he wouldn't he yelled at by the guild for pigging out, at the same point he knew the kid would have a bad situation on his hands if she didn't learn at least the basics quickly.

To be honest he barely knew anything about the arcane magic technique, not that he couldn't perform some of the actions from the technique merely that he wasn't suitable to learn it and found that without a status it would be incredibly difficult to learn.

Though he heard some pretty crazy stuff from the youngster here, coping the instructor's technique to create a true monster, then fighting that monster to a standstill causing a part of her attack to physicalise itself to increase the reaction to end the crystal juggernaut.

Crazy stuff.

Anyways Dovam finished the quizzing of Rue to ask what she would do now that they had completed a mere fraction of the work.

"So I need to finish this thing in order to go do what I want?" She replied

"good enough, so what do we do to complete this MMMMm?"

She thought for a moment before yawning and almost falling over with dovam catching her as she fell. Dovam sighed.

"thank you for pushing so hard little one, This older one must be shameful."

Eventually the council came to a close the elite hunters left for whatever they wanted and the executives began to talk amongst eachother.

"truly, she was a complete unknown who had an address to ol reliable huh?"

"HO HO HO, You Must Be Joking, Ho Ho Ho/" a larger man said with jolly old man laughter, the attendant was not even smiling.

"No sir, this is no joke, this hunter applicant was denied a hunter's licence illegally since she possessed the arcane magic technique and several named unique artefacts of superb quality." The attendant said grimly

The jolly overweight gentleman's demeanour changed to a chilly one, as if he had taken one too many sweet fruits.

"UNplEASANT!!" he screamed before steam bellowed out of his ears and he stopped.

the attendant sighed before walking up to the large figure and lighting a cigar under his massive and well groomed handlebar mustache.

"Ah, where was I, yes... When can my agents get there?" he asked

"Posthaste Sir admittedly Bastern has gone into lockdown since the illegal warp which brought the child in, so we may be there in a week, a month or even 3 if we are particularly unlucky with the hazard storms within the dividing mountain range."

The moustachioed man grunted and shooed the attendant who bowed before heading of for his errands.

"Gentlemen?"

"Well at least this has gotten exciting for the first time in 300 years." one said holding a paired set of extravagantly carved crystal cutlery, the rainbow crystal the final remains of an extinct species of monster, compressed into crystal opal.

"An upstart youngster? Bet she won't last twenty years within the guild!" the third said in a haughty tone.

"Now now, at least give her thirty." the rotund gentleman said

"Well I shall bet 10 then." the youngest looking said while delicately eating a appetite enticing scent.

"The regular amount?"

"OF COURSE."

And thus the three individuals made merry and split up to attend their own business.