“…Wait, you were being serious?” Arthur looked at the boy seated in front of him, and then notably leaned to the side to look at the five nervous teens behind him, and then Arthur turned his head to look at the boy once more.

“Well obviously, you wouldn’t have even been allowed in here if it was a joke.” Arthur’s sarcasm was perhaps a bit too on point, given that Drew Simmons and his team all flinched collectively.

Their flinch was met with a sharp slap to the back of Arthur’s head, leaving him rubbing his head while looking up to Emilia with a kicked puppy look.

“Be nice, you called them here.” Emilia warned with a shake of a fist in Arthur’s general direction.

On a whole that skit got the six teens much more relaxed than they were a moment ago, a necessity given that they were to be ‘co-workers’ not ‘employer and employee’.

Arthur was the ‘leader’ not the ‘boss’ of the group, much in the same way a captain was not a general. Adventurers were all considered equals until levels were counted, and right now levels weren’t being mentioned.

After all, Drew Simmons was someone who didn’t bother hiding his level, the forty eight was respectable for someone who was level thirty four in their previous meeting roughly a month and a half ago.

Arthur’s group had collectively grown around eleven to thirteen levels, whereas Drew Simmons seemed to have levelled up fourteen times in that timeframe…

Maybe if they put him in higher Areas he would level up more explosively?

Arthur’s need to have everyone’s levels be the same was going to be taking a hit soon, and Arthur felt himself sniffle a sob at the thought of the equilibrium being messed with.

Really, why did Arthur’s little ‘OCD’ have to be about having numbers being equal? And preferably even?

“Uh, sir?” Drew was understandably confused why the ‘strongest Adventurer’ was suddenly looking between Drew’s left wrist, his own, and then the beautiful Russian’s and then suddenly making a sudden sobbing noise.

“It’s nothing. Nothing at all. Let’s talk a bit about this whole thing, as you can guess, this is a recruitment interview.” Arthur’s words got wide eyes from all the teens in the room, who were glancing between each other…

Only Drew kept his gaze squarely on Arthur, getting a nod from the Einherjar leader… it was a good trait on the boy, Drew’s posture was one that his team looked towards.

Arthur would know, he wasn’t allowed to freak out unless it was to lighten the mood, freaking out would mean that his team would be worried, confused, or panicking along with him.

Not an ideal situation at all to say the least.

“Thank you for the opportunity sir.” Drew was really respectful though… Arthur wanted to make a face every time he was called ‘sir’ but he held it in… at least the boy reverted to informal speech when surprised, such as when Arthur walked in and sat down in front of him with Emilia trailing behind him.

“I’m hoping for a mutually beneficial arrangement, so I think there aren’t really any thanks necessary when you’re helping me just as much as I’m helping you.” Arthur admitted before looking to the other teens that froze, noticing his gaze.

“I’m saying this ahead of time, I’m bad with names, I might forget yours from time to time, and I apologize.” Again, the group of teens felt a sense of incongruence between their image of Arthur Clive, and the genuine article…

This could very well be a good point to the saying of ‘don’t meet your heroes’.

“Uh, okay… how does this work exactly?” Drew tried to bring the topic back to the original reason why he and his team were sitting in a private room within the Guild.

Drew hadn’t even known such a room was in the Guild, let alone wonder at how easily Arthur arranged for its use…

Most Adventurers didn’t exactly have such a casual relationship with the Guild after all, with most it was just a business, not something to rely on…

On the other hand, Arthur could ask concessions from the Guild and get what he asked apparently, the lady at the counter, Ellie, even delivered the message to Drew and his team to enter this room ahead of time.

Drew could only wonder at why Arthur was treated so nicely by the Guild… beyond the high level of his team, Einherjar.

“Oh, right, recruitment… to put it simply, there isn’t much doubt that we could take on all six of you, let’s start this off there.” Drew and his team nodded, and Arthur checked a piece of paper on the table between them.

“Let’s see, the only real thing we wanted to check was that we could in fact work together… you see, we honestly don’t care much for whether you have a Rare Skill, Unique Skill, a super powerful Anima, none of that is as important as whether or not you can ‘slot in’ to the group, so to speak.” There was some understandable confusion at Arthur’s words, so Emilia coughed, drawing attention to her.

“What Arthur is trying to say is that teamwork is more important than individual skill. If you are weak, we can help you become strong, but if you can’t work with us then it’s pointless.” Emilia clarified, leaving the six teens to sigh in relief.

Really, except for Drew, Arthur knew none of their names, and that would have to change at some point…

“We’ll figure that out in an easy way. We will ‘trade’ teammates for a day. I will go with myself, Emilia here, and our other teammate Matt.” Arthur then gestured to Drew.

“Now, knowing that I am a swordsman, Emilia is a thief, and Matt is a guardian, who of your team would you recommend to complete a six man team?” Drew and his teammates didn’t even consider this request unreasonable, even though most Adventurers would find it as such.

A team of Adventurers were a tight-knit crew unless they were a gathering of ‘free’ Adventurers who team up with whoever was available… but even then, free Adventurers rarely stay ‘free’ for long.

Splitting them up without their input was sure to get a team mad at you, but once more, the difference between Einherjar and other teams was apparent…

Had it been anyone else asking Drew to split teams, Drew would have refused immediately… but the opportunity to fight with the best Adventurer and his team was worth the annoyance.

“Well we can separate me immediately, I’d love to watch you in action but having a team with two leaders isn’t going to work if our orders clash.” Drew’s separation of himself drew a smile from Arthur who motioned for Drew to continue.

“Our tank, Carlos, shouldn’t join your team if you have a tank, one dedicated tank is enough for a team on average, though I’ve heard of teams with more… I also help with the defence if necessary by the way.” Drew added, the aforementioned person of Latino descent raising his hand to let Arthur and Emilia know who they were talking about.

If the name wasn’t a dead give-away… but that’s like expecting Wandile to be a big African guy.

It’s just slightly on the side of racist.

“Also, thinking about it… you all will need a healer, a ranged fighter and maybe an extra vanguard?” Drew seemed to have made his decision as three people stepped forward from the group.

One was a large blonde guy who Arthur immediately labelled as ‘jock’ in his head, Arthur would bet money on this guy having done a sport before Red Sky Day.

Probably football, the American version… he looked the type.

Another was a smaller black haired boy who could possibly be in middle school, or simply short, and going by his raising of his staff he was likely a healer.

And as for why Arthur considered the boy the healer, that was because the last person to step forward was a girl holding a bow with curly brown hair, an archer was the obvious choice.

If she were anything other than an archer, Arthur would eat his hat. Not that he had one, but the meaning was there.

“Okay, I suppose these are the three you recommend. As you can guess, you’ll be getting Einherjar’s healer, archer and our vanguard berserker.” That last bit got a look of fear from Drew and his two left over teammates, understandable really…

Berserkers, in general, were kind of like grenades being carried around by teams. You just tossed them in and stood back, but if they went off near you bad things would happen.

“Don’t worry, our berserker is an odd one out of the group really, she rarely gets mad.” Arthur wouldn’t explain Alice’s strange Skills to the group but instead let them figure things out while they journeyed.

“O-okay… um, is your second in command, Michael Grave, going to be leading our team?” Drew asked, and it was a valid question considering that just about any member of Einherjar could leave and make their own teams easily.

“No, you’ll be leading your six. Michael, Alice and John will be following your orders in general, but know that if you do anything they disagree with they will let you know.” Arthur was pretty sure that they’d return fire with violence…

His friends were all pretty violent people, even if some like Michael and himself resorted to it last… Matt especially would be quick to it.

“Right, right… um, which Area would we be operating in, I mean, we’re still in Area four, nearly at the Demon Lord room, but…” Ah, Arthur could understand the worry, but, recalling their levels to be forty eight compared to Einherjar who were all level seventy by now.

“Don’t worry about it, technically speaking you could win a fight in Area five at your current level, though you would be in more danger… but with your higher levelled teammates, you’ll be fine in Area six.” Jumping two Areas seemed insane to the younger Adventurers, but Emilia nodded in agreement to Arthur’s statement.

Three level seventy Adventurers with three Adventurers almost level fifty in their current Area… doable, Einherjar were ready to attack the Demon Lord room, and they only did that when Arthur felt they weren’t progressing fast enough in their current Area anymore.

By all rights, that was an extremely slow method of progressing, and yet, because Arthur started Einherjar on doing that from the first and second Areas, by the time they got to other Areas they breezed through easily until the Demon Lord room.

It was kind of like being an overqualified worker for their job really.

Their high levels were good for them, because if they had to fight in an Area suitable for their level they’d probably be in Area seven or eight by now, much further, but they’d also have a much higher chance of dying.

“So knowing who your teammates will be, Area six. We’ll all be operating there, but uh, we won’t be using the same Dungeon entrance, so as to ensure that we don’t meet up with each other while in the Dungeon.” Arthur scratched his cheek at that with a bit of a chuckle as stood, motioning for Drew to stand up as well.

“So just to be official about it, and because this is actually how Kingdoms are formed… you are all going to have to kneel for a moment.” Arthur seemed really embarrassed about this, and Drew didn’t blame the man.

From what little interaction they had at that arcade, and here, Drew had determined that Arthur was pretty lax when it came to details and formalities, and didn’t actually enjoy them that much.

That, and kneeling wasn’t really something someone did in the twenty first century unless they happened to meet one of the rare royals still around, and even then most didn’t go through that anymore.

So after that bit of awkwardness, the group of eight people exited the room, all now a member of Arthur’s Kingdom.

He was quite tempted to name it Camelot for the pun, but he was vetoed by Emilia who demanded he name it something sensible.

In the end, Valhalla was used, matching with the naming theme they had already been using, and Drew’s team was named Jotun, after the giants of Norse mythology.

Mostly because at least half of their members were tall as heck, and Arthur was spiteful like that, not that Drew and the others caught the meaning, leaving Emilia to sigh and palm her face at Arthur’s naming sense.

Besides, Valhalla? The realm of the Gods… and where dead mortals go.

Was he implying that they were dead or going to die? Really, Emilia wondered about her boyfriend sometimes.

“Hey, over here!” the eight Adventurers turned their heads to a table in the Guild proper, seeing the other four members of Einherjar seated in waiting, all four standing to meet them halfway.

“So, these are our new teammates huh. Michael Grave, this here is John Collins, our healer, Matt Jacobson our guardian, and my sister Alice Grave, our berserker. Hit on her and I murder you.” There was a beat of silence before Michael started laughing after his intro, leaving the newer team, Jotun, to laugh nervously.

Michael was actually joking; he didn’t need to protect Alice from anything given that she could probably hurt anyone near her easier than he could.

“Nice to meet you all. I’m Drew Simmons, leader of this team, I’ll be working with you today…” Drew started off strong and then looked back to Arthur nervously before Arthur chuckled, letting Drew know it was fine.

“Oh, so we’re doing the split? Who is with who?” Michael asked, as Drew stepped forward with two of his teammates.

“Well, uh… Arthur, said that you, your sister and John were to join me and my two teammates here, Carlos and Vanessa, tank and magician respectively.” The Spanish guy and the second girl of the team nodded as they stood next to their leader, and Michael looked to the group before turning to Arthur.

“Level forty eights, Drew himself is a traditional knight-type swordsman unlike myself.” Arthur answered the unasked questions as Michael nodded, turning to Drew with a smile and outstretched hand.

“Glad to be working with you. I’m a good scout, so we’ll be talking a lot as we move through the Dungeon, I pass on information, you give out orders.” Drew nodded, still a bit confused on being allowed to give someone like Michael, who was really famous as the second in command of Einherjar, orders.

“On that note, Emilia, Matt and I, we’ll be working with the other half of Drew’s team, who I still have yet to get the names of…” Arthur stared at the three as they realized they had to introduce themselves.

“Ah, I’m Brandon, I’m a Fighter, a bare-hand fighting Class, my Anima is a pair of gauntlets.” The stereotypical jock answered, though Arthur caught a hint of this guy being a bit sceptical…

Brandon said nothing but Arthur knew he didn’t exactly cut an intimidating figure for someone over level seventy… but appearances have nothing to do with strength when it comes to Adventurers, if a child was level fifty they’d easily defeat a grown man of level ten.

Arthur would have to get Drew to talk to this guy, as that line of thinking had to be cut before he got used to judging by appearances…

After flashing his Soul Sight and causing Brandon to flinch in confusion on why Arthur’s eyes flashed purple, Arthur looked to the short teen, the healer of Drew’s team.

Arthur felt kinship when he realized that the healer would probably match Arthur’s height by the end of high school.

“Miles, healer, anima is a staff that increases effectiveness of healing spells.” That was a brilliant Anima whereas John could ‘buff’ his teammates as well as heal; Miles could heal better than John would at that level… versatility, or mastery of one, jack of all trades or master of one in a sense.

Miles also concisely gave all necessary information as simply as possible, as if throwing it out there… meant Arthur could be quick to move onto the next person, and if he fought like he spoke, he’d do whatever had to be done, as quickly as possible.

“Ah, my name is Emma, I’m the archer, and my Anima is a Skill for using a bow.” Michael subtly twitched at that, but he didn’t need to worry about being replaced or anything like that, he was damn strong for his Class, and there were some things that weren’t clear just using a status.

“Got it, I will remember your names… eventually.” Arthur’s words had the three sighing tiredly already, leaving Emilia and Matt to fist bump each other from behind Arthur, leaving the teens unable to see the action.

“We’ll split up, talk later.” Arthur then turned and walked out, Emilia and Matt talking to the three new members of Einherjar while following their suddenly overly eccentric leader.

“…Is he always like that?” Drew asked pointing as the other group left the building, looking for a nearby Guild building.

“Nah, he’s moodier than a girl on her periods.” Alice’s words drew a stop as everyone looked at her, and there was a beat of silence.

“What, I have every right to say that. His moods swing a lot, and you guys caught him on a ‘happy’ swing.” Alice said while turning and walking to the entrance room, Michael patting Drew’s shoulder while nodding in agreement.

They hadn’t even noticed John vanishing into the entrance room when Arthur’s half of the group left.

Drew sighed, following Michael and Alice while Carlos and Vanessa followed their leader, wondering what they got involved in.

So, looking forward one hour-

“So, how’re you all holding up?” Michael asked with a smirk that had the tired half of their team groaning in complaint.

They were in Area six, fighting through the Area had left Drew, Carlos and Vanessa seriously tired, especially the former two, as they were front-line fighters.

“This, is, awesome… and tiring… ow…” Drew gasped out, hoping that John would heal their pain, only to see the healer of the group yawning and lying down in the safe zone they found.

Found, because Michael neglected to mention that only Arthur and Emilia remembered every single route they took and the best ones out of them.

So unfortunately for Drew, they were only on the third floor of the sixth Area, floor fifty three total… and even then Drew had already levelled twice in one single day, leaving Drew excited for finally reaching level fifty.

Carlos and Vanessa were just as excited, though for different reasons, Carlos was in awe of Michael’s skill as an Archer, as an Archer and a front-liner had to work together to fight generally, with the Archer waiting until the front-liner held the enemy in place before firing.

Michael would fire, whether Carlos was in position or not, and he would hit his target, Carlos was starting to wonder if his role was pointless before deciding to get better, to the point where he wouldn’t be a hindrance.

Unfortunately, Carlos wasn’t aware that Michael just fought like that. Michael didn’t care for ‘convention’ when it came to being an Archer, if he could shoot, he would, and he wouldn’t stand still either.

If he could kill everything while standing still, he would, but if he had to move to get a clearer shot, he would.

And as for Vanessa, she was surprised by this one line:

“Oh, you’re a magic user? Never worked with a magician before…”

As far as Vanessa knew, just about every team had a magician, it was normal, because magic was an important ability to have, many a monster resisted purely physical attacks, and many people found themselves subconsciously imbuing their attacks with Elements to get damage by some monsters such as Slimes.

Granted, Slimes had extremely low ‘health’ and so died the moment they got hit with a good bit of magic, but the idea was there.

But then Vanessa found out that Alice had a magic Skill, and told that Emilia and Arthur both had magic Skills, even if they weren’t ‘offensive’ like her own.

A melee fighter having a magic Skill? That was strange for Vanessa, but apparently it worked for Einherjar, the more powerful team not needing a magic user when they had Arthur.

Michael’s words, agreed to by Alice and John who stated that despite being a swordsman Arthur could probably have been a magician without worrying.

Vanessa was a novel experience for Michael, Alice and John, having never worked with a dedicated magician before.

John didn’t count; he was a healer who could lob swords at enemies, not giant blasts of fire or light.

So the three younger fighters were happy because of how strong they could become working with Einherjar, and the three Einherjar members found the three interesting.

Carlos was interesting because his Anima was two shields which had bladed edges and could slot together to make a larger one, the Einherjar members had never heard of such an Anima before.

Vanessa, well, as mentioned, she was a magician, enough said there.

And Drew was kind of similar to Arthur…

There were notable differences, Drew was slower in a fight, but he could likely take a hit better than Arthur would, as evidenced when he managed to block an attack from a Vine-Hound, one of the lower ranked enemies of the sixth Area…

Lower ranked, but they did hit hard, they died quickly though, making them lower ranked, they kind of looked like their name suggested, a wolf/dog made out of vines, its eyes two red flowers and its mouth filled with thorns, they commonly attacked by charging and knocking Adventurers with their heads or biting.

Arthur wouldn’t even be there to take the hit, instead dodging and attacking in return, but Drew could actually block such a hit whereas Arthur would just have to either dodge or take the damage.

Arthur recovered quickly due to his high Vitality stat, but defensively Drew was just better.

That was combat, but when it came to leading, the differences came out a bit more.

Drew was less… precise, when it came to his leadership, but it wasn’t bad, just different.

Arthur would give specific instructions to a person, after learning what the person could and could not do of course.

Drew would ask a person to ‘handle’ something, leaving it up to them to figure things out, giving advice if necessary.

Arthur learnt about his teammates and worked around their limitations, while Drew forced his team to be quick thinkers, both worked actually, and while one could say that Drew’s method was better, or Arthur’s method was better…

“Arthur lets us grow at our own pace, Drew pushes forward… Arthur only asks for what he knows we can do, Drew can ask for unreasonable things though…” Michael muttered to himself in thought, knowing that he would have to explain all this to Arthur soon.

Speaking of Arthur, his team were doing a bit better than Drew’s.

“You should pick up a martial art and not just rely on the Skill, I have the Sword Sage Skill but I still look up instructional videos.” There was a wince from Brandon.

“Standing still will get you killed, move around more. If Matt wasn’t our tank you wouldn’t have such leisure in this Area.” There was a wince from Emma.

“Keeping out of a fight is important for healers that aren’t Loyiso, I suggest moving around more, learning to defend yourself, or picking up the Sneak Skill as soon as you can, John can help you out there.” And a final wince from Miles.

“Shame, shame… I’m glad we got out of this early.” Emilia mock-whispered to Matt who was not even trying to hide his laughter.

Their team was on floor fifty five, two whole floors higher than Drew’s half of the group, and the three mentioned were a whole three levels higher than they were before entering this place.

“Arthur’s quite the taskmaster, but you should listen to his advice. It’s rare that it’s wrong.” Emilia finally felt a bit too much pity and let the three know that Arthur was really just trying to help them out, not pick on them.

“Thanks… he’s a bit… intimidating, in a fight.” Emma added, noting a Poison Oak walking a bit close, and Arthur having his weapons ready.

In all honesty, the three weaker members of the group didn’t even need to do anything, Matt and Emilia both watching as Arthur began to spark with electricity, his hair spiking back as he vanished.

At about two hundred Wisdom, Arthur went from nothing to full Mana in about five minutes… an absurd rate, even for a dedicated magic user.

And with that rate of regaining his magic, what did Arthur do?

Use the ‘Basic’ Spark Step consistently. Back when he had about fourteen per cent of his magic regenerated per minute he could hold it for about an hour or longer… now he could keep it up for just about forever.

It took maybe fifteen, sixteen per cent of his Mana per minute? The Greater version took about twenty four per cent of his Mana per minute… so he could use it for about twenty five minutes at max.

It was better to use the Basic Spark Step, saving the Greater Spark Step for emergencies.

When Arthur reappeared, he was in front of the Poison Oak, swinging the sword he got from Despair, Black Remorse…

The sword was Arthur’s go to weapon except for the Rusted King fight, having swapped to Soul Flame mid-fight after figuring out that Fire would make the Rusted King easier to hurt.

But eh, the sword wasn’t as interesting as Blade’s was, stronger, but not as interesting… Arthur could only use it when he reached level forty seven anyway.

Name: Black Remorse (Sword of a Death Knight)

Requirements:

Level: 47

Swordsmanship Skill (or some alternative)

Strength: 50 - Dexterity: 75

Offensive Ability: C

Passive: Dark Damage added to attacks (C-)

Continuing, Arthur swung, the Poison Oak screeching in his face with its poisonous breath as Arthur growled.

The sword hit, and the treant monster found itself missing an arm, and Arthur ducking under its retaliatory swing, easily moving within the cloud of poison before his Dagger of Hunger struck deep into the wooden face on its trunk…

“Void.” And with a crunch, the face vanished, as if wiped from existence, leaving the body to disappear and leave behind a Soul Stone, as well as a Green Core, which were both quick to vanish into Arthur’s inventory.

Arthur walked back, his cloak once more hiding his armour and leaving him plain and unassuming…

None of the newer members of the team would ever think Arthur weak. Never.

“Alright, let’s turn back. Our newbies have already stocked up on two levels too many.” Arthur added, looking to Emilia who smoothly handed the map to Arthur, who looked up before looking back at the map.

“Alright, this path has the least monsters on average, let’s go.” Whatever the odd methods were, both Einherjar and the newly named Jotun knew that they would be strong under this man’s leadership.

This scary, scary man who was so unassuming would lead them well.

Arthur Clive

Level: 72 (C-Rank)

Class: Linked Swordsman- Grants one stat point to Strength and Wisdom per level

Gives Soul Sight (Unique) Skill

Anima

Dagger of Hunger

Cloak of Will

Anima Skills

No Change

Primary Element: Lightning

Other Element(s): Darkness

Personal Skills

Tactician IV (62/200) - increases Wisdom by 25% (total 160%)

Sword Sage II (229/300)- Any bladed weapon deals 30% extra damage

Soul Sight III (35/500) - Allows insight beyond mortality

Dual Wielding IV (96/200) - Greater use of two weapons

Lightning Elemental III (97/300) - Use supplementary lightning spells

Quick Reflexes III (124/150)- Increases Dexterity by 20%

Stats

Strength: 90

Dexterity: 107 (130)

Intelligence: 59

Wisdom: 122 (196)

Endurance: 59

Vitality: 90