Deacon, Typhus, and Elle reached the entrance to the Adventurers Guild. The layout was the same as the Cow’s Udder except for a few distinct changes. There was no main stairwell in the entrance way, in its place was a T-intersection. Signs at the junction read “Admissions to the left” and “Guild Shop to the right”. They all turned left and were greeted by seven-foot-tall bulldog faced humanoid. He swept Typhus and Elle up in his arms for a dog hug?

“I heard you were back. Where is Armand? Can’t have a full Cardinal Unit in house without him.” Barked the obvious hugger.

“Jacob, put me down right now.” Elle said sharply.

“It’s good to see you to buddy.” Typhus said with a grin on his face Deacon had never seen before as Jacob put both Typhus and Elle down.

“And who is this? Peasant clothes, no weapons, vacant look in eyes, Vasilly soldiers boots and a big burn hole in shirt. Nope can’t figure it out. Some kind of vagabond that followed you home?” Jacob said.

“I’m Deacon, I’m here to join up.” Deacon said while gritting his teeth.

“Ok well if these two are putting a good word in for you we just need to go through admissions.” Jacob replied.

“Here, Molok wanted us to give you this.” Elle said.

“You saw Headmaster Molok? Did you go to the Udder?” Jacob asked while he carefully opened and read the letter.

“Who is this guy anyway? He takes up most of this hallway.” Deacon whispered to Typhus.

“He is the damn Guild Master here. Be nice and he can hear you.” Typhus said.

“Deacon, is it? Come with me.” Jacob said as he pocketed the note and furrowed his eyebrows.

“What did it say?” Deacon asked.

“It won’t matter if you don’t pass this test. Now I need you to extend your right hand and put it on this square tablet.” Jacob said as he directed deacon to plinth on a desk. As Deacon touched it the tablet lit up a dark green then the color solidified to a more washed out green. Jacobs demeanor seemed to soften upon seeing the solid color.

“Ok great. Molok says we can do away with the country-of-origin discussion and move right on to the combat trial. He suggested two General class adventurers should work.” Jacob said as they all walked deeper into the building.

“Wait aren’t they way above my skill level?” Deacon asked.

“According to Molok that will be the best test for you. I trust him with my life, and so should you if the letter is any indication. Its simple sparring, no death blows and no permanent damage. The pit’s enchantments make sure of that.” Jacob said as he instructed Deacon to stand over by a door.

“What pit?” Deacon asked.

“This one.” Jacob pulled on rope hanging from the ceiling and Deacon slid through a hatch in the floor out into a wide-open Arena. It looked like there were at least two rows twenty feet up from the sand in the pit for seating. There were weapons hanging along the walls of the oval shaped arena. At the opposite end from Deacon were two double doors. They remained shut for now, but he could hear people entering the seating areas up top.

“What the actual fuck man? Couldn’t I just take the stairs?” Deacon said yelling into the rafters.

“Just relax and center yourself for a fight against two opponents. I must wrangle up some General Tier adventurers. Be right back.” Jacob yelled.

“It’ll be fine, mop the floor with them.” Typhus yelled.

“Elle? Nothing to say?” Deacon asked as he crossed his arms and stared into the cheap seats.

“You’ll be fine. We all have to do this. Have a little fun with it. Couldn’t be worse than those kobalds right?” Elle replied.

Deacon stopped turning in circles and released his aura. He wanted no surprises, hopefully his aura would give him the chance to dodge at least. Now that he thought about it he hadn’t really spent much time training with his aura. He used it a little in the fights underground but wasn’t particularly focused on it. This gave Deacon an idea. Deacon began focusing his aura right in front of him. He began swirling his finger in small circles and trying to will this aura to do the same. While using Nether Beam he noticed that the functioning parts of that technique focused his aura in the palm of his hand. Could he do that with smaller parts of his aura? He kept the swirling motion going until he heard a gasp from the crowd. Upon opening his eyes, he could see a spinning blade of ice rotating at the same pace of his finger. He stopped moving his finger and the blade dissipated into his aura.

Now that he had the idea all he had to do practice with it and maybe he could develop his own auric technique. Just as that thought occurred to him the doors opened, and two swordsmen stepped out. Deacon gave them a quick once over. They had mismatched gear, but the swords didn’t look like trash. He was secretly grateful that one wasn’t an archer. He could still feel the thuds from Elle used to hit him with blunt arrows. One of them was exhibiting a feminine posture. The other was definitely mannish.

“This the new guy? He looks like walking trash. You should give up now and save yourself a beating.” Said the tall one.

“Come on Ralph, lets get this done. The Cantina awaits.” Said the female voice.

Deacon sat down in a lotus position ignoring them. He began to hum barely audibly. The audience began to snicker thinking Deacon had chosen to give up. Typhus began taking bets loud enough for Deacon to hear.

“Five silver says the new guy is the only one left standing at the end.” Typhus barked.

“Ok if you won’t give up, I guess you are choosing the hard way.” Ralph said as he lunged forward with the flat of his blade aiming at Deacon's skull. Deacon pitched forward narrowly evading the strike and extending his right finger into Ralph’s left hip joint. As Ralph tried to dance away from the strike, he realized his left leg went numb. He fell to the ground in a heap. The woman, who believed this was already over, snarled and attacked Deacon. Getting to his feet and out of the way of Ralph’s ground slashes Deacon used Spectral Dodge to spin around the woman planting his right finger into shoulder joint of her sword arm. Her sword clattered to the ground while the strike sent her spinning like a top. It must have been the combination of the Spectral Dodge speed and Deacon's unnatural strength that gave him an added advantage. He planted an upper cut to her jaw on the second rotation lifting her off her feet. Being a gentlemen he caught her as she was falling to place her on the ground. That was his mistake. She elbowed him in the face and then Deacon unceremoniously dropped her. At this point Ralph had got up on one leg and began hopping toward Deacon. What happened next shocked the crowd. Deacon began twirling his whole hand and spinning a Nether blade between him and Ralph.

“If you give up just sit down. You can’t really maneuver with your leg like that anyway. I’m libel to cut you in half.” Deacon said as his eyes gave off that eerie green glow. Ralph did so. That’s when the woman attempted to kick Deacons legs out from under him. Deacon just lifted his left leg and brought it down across the top of her head ending the fight.

“Alright that’s enough. Well fought Deacon. Ralph and Amanda, you’ve earned ten guild points each. You can collect at the teller.” Jacob said from the audience.

“Guild points?” Deacon asked.

“Hey, can you fix my leg? I’d like to walk out of here.” Ralph asked from the floor.

“Oh right, sorry.” Deacon reached a hand down to pick up Ralph and jabbed his hip again.

“That’s actually much better. Thanks. You are a surprisingly competent fighter for a level 9.” Ralph said.

“How did you know I was level nine?” Deacon asked.

“Jacob, its part of the information he gets as Guild master,” Answered Ralph, “She unconscious?”

“I guess I didn’t think I hit her hard enough for that.” Deacon went over to help Amanda up, but she grabbed him by the throat with her good arm.

“You humiliated me in front of my peers with that spinning stunt. Don’t think I’ll forget this. Now fix my arm or so help me!” Amanda threatened as Ralph showed up separating the two. Deacon decided she could sit and spin if that’s going to be her attitude.