Just before I was about to knock on the door it opened and instead of knocking on wood I was knocking ona a big hairy chest. In front of me stood a huge 8 foot minotaur. Thank the heavens he was one of the few in his race who actually had a sense of humor.

“Down boy, trying to flirt with me wont help you in your exam.” The guildmaster said with a wink.

“Sir you know I would never try and flirt with you. Your wife would chop me up and sell my meat in her shop. And as you can see not much meat on these bones so not much chance she would make much money.” I chuckled back at him.

“Yes she would. By the way now that you have come of age it’s about time you call me Jerome when we are in relative privacy. Out and about in the town I still need you to keep up with the Sir. The wife insists I act all high and mighty in public.” He shuddered a little bit when mentioning his wife.

Yes the big 8ft tall minotaur who went about town with twin battle-axes strapped to his back, was well and truly under the thumb of his 5ft tall gnomish wife who happened to be the local butcher.

“Lets get on with the show. Have a seat.” I had a quick look around while sitting down. The room was just about big enough to hold the rectangular table I was sitting at. Only two doors, the one I came in on and one on the opposite door. On the other side of the table the guildmaster sat down. Next to him was the town clerk Malach. As a clanless dwarf he had no last name, if an outsider asked he would just say that he was Malach of Masterdam.

As soon as I was seated the guildmaster began.

“With Malach here as a witness I now officially welcome you to adulthood and give permission to the system to fully integrate you.” As soon as he finished saying that a small blue box appeared in front of me.

*System initializing 0.5%*

“Roughly by the time I’m done with my explanation it should have completed, and you will go onto the examination.” The guildmaster guessed at what I was seeing. “When integrated you will go through the exam and put onto your path. You path will always be unique to you. Just as no two people are alike so too are their paths. Even so thier are roughly 4 archetypes. Labourers, craftsmen, advenurers and Unique. Labourers wich range from innkeepers and maids to dockworkers. Craftsmen such as fletchers smiths cooks and so on. Adventurers are the most diverse ranging from priests and mages to warriors and rogues. The last category cant really be defined as each one is as strange as the next one. Most people dont start off with a unique class but evolve into one over time. Like me I started as a warrior but evolved into the guildmaster class.”

I was about to speak up when. “Now I know what your going to ask, ive been through thousands of initiations like this, guildmaster by itself is not a unique class but as each one comes from a different background. Some are mages, some rogues, some even start out as the butler labourer class in service to a guidlmaster and evolve into the guildmaster path after their employer died. More info on classes and paths you will get later. The system doesnt allow us to talk about this until you are an adult so as not to influence any of the decisions you make in the exam. Your system should be almost done initializing, once that is done you will enter the door behind me. It looks like a cupboard but as soon as you get in and close the door behind you, you will be teleported to the dimension where the exam takes place. Time flows differently there, no matter how long the exam takes, for the rest of us only a few minutes will have passed. Good luck.”

I startled when another blue box appeared.

Initialization complete. Welcome to the system. Access to most functions restricted until exam is complete.

The guildmaster stood up “Well judging by the fact that you seem a bit distracted im guessing your ready.”

“I wouldnt call myself ready but the system surely is. So lets get this over with, I dont want to miss my party.” And with that I made my way around the table and headed through the door.