The Harvester

Chapter 37: Guilds

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This is a Global Missive.

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This year’s Tutorial is officially over. The batch is now fully part of the System. You have now full access to its every service.

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Access to the Pavilion; Unlocked.

Macro Translation; Unlocked.

Ranking; Unlocked.

Looting; Unlocked.

Dungeons; Unlocked.

Quests; Unlocked.

Parties; Unlocked.

Guilds; Unlocked.

Trials; Unlocked.

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Congratulations, Hosts, you are now full-fledged members.

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We will now share with you one last message.

Welcome, and survive well.

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❮ ◈ ❯

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Rakna looked apprehensively at the prompt in front of him. ‘Full access to the System, huh?’ He thought and read each newly unlocked ‘service’ with a scowl.

Before he could ask anything about it to Alexa, the lights of the hall went out and the sound of someone clapping brought his attention to the stage located at the far back. The projectors lit up and the few hundreds of newbie Hosts saw a lineup of around fifteen people.

One of them was Gray who was holding his cane to the ground with both hands and an ever so bright numeric grin. Around him were all kinds of individuals.

Amongst them, there was a man wearing a worn-down brown trench coat and a cowboy hat. A little girl that looked no older than twelve was present as well but despite her appearance, she had a disturbing grin on her face. A man with long hair and twin swords on his back, a curvy woman with long ears, a short young girl with light armor and short hair, a young-looking boy with white hair, a humanoid reptilian with dark green scales…

All in all, they all exuded a powerful presence. ‘The other overseers I assume,’ Rakna thought and focused on two people specifically, other than Gray.

One of them was a tall man that stood at the far left of the stage. He had short spiky blue hair and green eyes. What caught Rakna’s interest about this man was his beastly features, namely, the ears and the six tails he sported, which seemed to belong to a tiger. Other than that, the man in question also was staring at Rakna with a smirk, who very quickly began to ignore it.

The second person he focused on was the man that stood not only at the center of the lineup but also stood slightly forward. Compared to the others, his appearance was somewhat banal. Black hair and eyes, a middle-aged look, and casual clothing. But, for some reason, Rakna felt that he was one of the most dangerous people there.

“My name is Quill Frazen.” As if on cue to Rakna’s thoughts, the man spoke to the Hosts gathered in the hall. “I’m sure that all of you have formed a good picture of the current situation. So, I won’t bore you with the obvious. First of all, my colleagues here and I are this year’s overseers that were each tasked to oversee you. Our job is decomposed into two parts. The first is making sure that the Tutorial goes as smoothly as possible. The second one is what I am about to tell you.”

“Within the System, you have two choices. Either you act alone, or in a group. In most cases, that decision essentially comes back to one thing; Guilds. The very same mechanic that the System just gave you access to. You can join a guild for protection, resources, or guidance. Needless to say, it is recommended for new Hosts to join a guild. Of course, none of you have any connection to the already established guilds and that is precisely why overseers volunteer as one in the first place; to recruit.”

Rakna’s eyes flashed in understanding. He briefly glanced at Gray who waved at him as if he knew that he was going to be looking at him at that moment.

“We will go around recruiting the Hosts that we believe have potential in this batch. You have the choice to refuse. Of course, the opposite is also possible. We can refuse you. In that case, I suggest you try to find someone willing to take you in after leaving this building. Every year, guilds that couldn’t or didn’t want to send an overseer will have a spokesperson outside. Though I warn you, not all guilds are good. You will only have yourself to blame if you end up prisoner of a shady guild while under an unreasonable contract.”

When Quill was finished with his speech, the lights returned and the first overseer to move was Gray. “Well, well, have fun, friends. I already know who I want,” he said and disappeared from the stage.

“Tch, lucky bastard,” the tiger man uttered. “He’s the first overseer from that guild in at least fifty years and he so happened to get an S+.” The other overseers showed their agreement in their own way before getting to their recruitment.

Meanwhile, the instant Gray vanished, Rakna had to resist the sudden urge to last out purely out of reflex as he reappeared next to him. Allan, Flavia, Nyx, and the others also tensed.

“No need to be so jumpy,” the clown said merrily. “Not only do I have no intention to hurt you, but as an overseer, I’m forbidden from doing such a thing.”

“I see,” Rakna replied so dispassionately that his friends nearly face-faulted. “Get to the point, Clown. Is your offer about my joining your guild?”

Gray chuckled. “Indeed. As I have already told you, your unique circumstances are perilous, to say the least. But, by joining my guild, you can be sure that even the most powerful Hosts nearing the top Plateaus would think twice before laying their hands on you.”

“That confident, huh?”

“Yes,” Gray nodded and waved his hand at the other overseers as they talked to several groups of people. “The overseers generally belong to at least one of the top thousand guilds. It is not too shabby but, the one I belong to has a place in the top hundred; ranked 34th to be exact.”

“Though, I won’t hide you that we’re quite small. But, at the same time, we only accept members with considerable talent and power. Most people fear us for that and since our motto is to retaliate a hundred-fold against those that hurt one of us, you can be sure that you’ll get quite a secure standing in the System.”

“What would be the implications of joining your guild?” Rakna asked back without missing a beat almost taking Gray by surprise with his readiness. “And how can I trust you?”

“Well, first, nothing too bad will be imposed on you. You are pretty much free. The only thing you would be required to do is answer when you are summoned or act when another member needs help. It has to be a mutual thing after all. We help you; you help us. In addition to that, you will get the normal advantages such as the guild shop and quests.”

“As for my credibility, well, I have nothing to gain by lying to you. You can ask your AI and you’ll learn that, unlike the spokespersons outside, overseers are not allowed to lie about what they offer to Hosts. Unless they want to be punished by the System itself.”

[That is true, Rakna,] Alexa intervened. [If an overseer attempts to lead astray the Hosts that they are supposed to guide, they will be punished. The punishment itself depends on the gravity of the situation but a thing such as lying about the conditions of joining a guild can go as far as having the overseer forced back to level 1.]

“Hm,” Rakna closed his eyes in thought and both his and Leis’ group looked at him wondering what his decision would be. “I have one last question.”

Gray waved his hand. “Go ahead.”

“I suppose only I can join your guild?”

“Yes, unfortunately, I don’t think I can accept someone other than you,” Gray affirmed. He looked at the others and stopped on Nyx. “I would have been inclined to take her in. Her ability and what Aquila said about her make her a promising Host but let’s say that our guild has a policy to never accept more than one person at once.”

“Well then,” Rakna shrugged. “I will join your guild as long as I don’t become their enemies after they themselves align with another organization.”

“Enemies, huh? Don’t worry about that. Our guild is completely neutral,” Gray grinned and turned toward everyone. “Also, if that helps, I can recommend your friends to certain guilds.”

“I can help with that,” a new voice joined the conversation and Gray looked behind him. A woman with long green hair, emerald eyes, and long ears walked over to them. The crowd was splitting to let her pass and a lot of the guys immediately blushed as their eyes fell on her body accentuated by the one-piece dress, she wore.

Leia elbowed her brother who also had been entranced. Allan groaned and tried not to look and Flavia glanced at Rakna to see his reaction. She sighed in relief when his eyes reflected just as much dullness as always.

“Oh? Vera? Are you interested in someone here?” Gray asked and the woman smiled as she stopped right next to the group.

“Indeed,” she nodded and looked at Flavia. “Tell me, what is your path?”

Flavia blinked in surprise. “It’s… Chaos Witch.”

Vera’s smiled widened. “Good, I was right. I knew I felt a familiar aura. My name is Vera Bael. I’m from the Wiccan Guild, and like you, my path is Chaos Witch.”

“Uh,” Allan uttered. “So, another sexu-!”

Rakna wordlessly put his hand over his mouth’s friend. If his instincts were right, this woman was plenty able to make him regret his words a thousand times over. As a matter of fact, Vera’s eyes had gained a shade of red just before he had silenced Allan.

“You were saying something?” She turned toward Allan who started sweating as a wave of killing intent washed over him.

“N-nothing!”

Vera’s eyes returned to normal and the invisible pressure disappeared. She then went back to Flavia who had her hand on her chin.

“I advise you to accept, young lady,” Gray intervened and she looked at him. “The Wiccan Guild is constituted of only female members with high magical potential. On top of that, they are one of the three top hundred guilds present this year. There is no better deal for you. Especially if your path is Chaos Witch.”

“In that case, I agree as long as I keep my freedom,” Flavia declared and Vera smiled.

“No problem. You will be as free as you can be. Now, what about you? I think you’ll fit perfectly in our guild,” she spoke to Nyx who was standing to the side. The former goddess widened her eyes since she didn’t expect to be suddenly addressed.

“…I agree. I don’t think I’ll get a better deal anyway,” she accepted without too much hesitation.

“Perfect,” Vera clapped and both Flavia and Nyx visibly started reading something.

A few seconds later, they both said one word, “Yes.”

“Welcome, you’re now a member of the Wiccan Guild. To settle the formalities, it will be tomorrow at the Pavilion; in the morning preferably. Your magic affinities will also be awakened there. See you around, girls,” Vera said and nodded at Rakna with a smile before walking away.

“Well, that happened,” Allan muttered.

“You’re quite lucky,” Gray said to the two women. “The Wiccan Guild is probably one of the best possible choices for you two. In any case, here,” he snapped his fingers and three envelopes appeared in his hand out of nowhere. He handed two to Leis and one to Allan.

“For you, you should go talk to Quill; the grumpy guy from earlier. Give him this letter and he will probably take you in. His guild has a lot of physical fighters and is the third guild in the top hundred attending today,” he said to Allan who nodded as he grabbed the letter.

“As for you and your little group, you should go look for Magnus or Grim. The former is the cowboy and the latter is the tiger beast-man. I’m sure the two of them will be willing to accept all of you, separately or not. Choose by yourself after talking to them. I recommend Magnus for gun-related stuff and Grim for the rest.”

Leis nodded silently and took the letters. “We’ll go right away then. Thank you,” he added and led the Wing Walkers toward the concerned overseers.

“Welp, guess I’ll be going for a bit as well,” Allan said and headed into the crowd.

“All right,” Gray raised his voice and, just like Vera, clapped his hands. An action that prompted a System window to appear in Rakna’s sight.