Chapter 75: The Choice
Chapter 75: The Choice
"Training in five in the indoor dojo!" A voice echoed throughout the villa, bouncing off the stone walls and reaching every corner of the expansive estate.
Adam\'s eyes opened, waking up from his meditative state. He was sitting cross-legged and had meditated for the past hour.
He was hoping to get his emotions under control.
\'Better hurry.\' Adam stood up, his legs feeling slightly numb, and then left his room and headed straight to the central courtyard.
After arriving, he saw players opening a sliding door, bowing, and putting their shoes aside before entering the sacred ground.
Adam followed suit, opened the sliding door, bowed in respect, and placed his shoes aside.
Then, he entered the dojo in only his socks and saw rows of tatami mats covering the entire floor.
The players stood up in rows, talking with their friends and stretching while waiting for their instructor to arrive.
Adam joined the back row, feeling slightly like an outsider. Everyone clearly knew each other, but since he was the only new recruit, he felt a bit out of place.
"Oh, a new recruit?" At that moment, the person standing beside Adam noticed him and offered a friendly smile. "I didn\'t know our guild was recruiting."
All gazes turned to Adam briefly before they all turned to look straight ahead. While they were curious about the new recruit, they had training ahead of them and wanted to focus on that.
"Mm, my name\'s Adam." Adam said to the smiling young man.
The young man had blond hair, blue eyes, and a cheerful demeanor. He didn\'t look older than Adam, and he was most likely a very new recruit as well.
"I am Enigma." The young man said with a grin. "I am still Mercenaryman, but I am your senior by two months, so treat me with respect!"
"Okay." Adam nodded.
In most cases, Mercenarymen shouldn\'t treat others with the same rank with the same respect as higher rankers. However, in this case, Enigma was his senior, and seniority in the guild was also treated with high regard.
This might be the first time Enigma was senior to anyone, and since he had been bossed around for months, he finally had the chance to do the same.
However, Adam was a S-ranker, and it was enough to completely ignore the seniority. But Adam didn\'t like to go around declaring it to everyone.
"Everyone, stand in attention!" A brown-haired young man shouted loudly and straightened his back with a serious expression.
Every single player did the same, looking like a miniature army.
At that moment, the sliding door and bored-looking man entered the dojo. He glanced around the room, unimpressed by the display of discipline.
"Alright, let\'s get this over with..." He yawned loudly and went to the front of the room, then turned to a bronze-haired young man and nodded. "Young Knoxx."
"At ease!" Knoxx shouted and moved from his uptight position to a slightly more relaxed one. However, he still looked like a very serious young man.
All the players eased up a bit and turned to look at the instructor.
"Hmm..." At that moment, the bored-looking instructor saw that there was a new one in the midst. "A new recruit, hmm. The guild master didn\'t tell me about this; oh well, name yourself."
"Adam Palestar!" Adam said.
"Adam Palestar..." The instructor wrote the name down and frowned. \'Haven\'t I heard that name somewhere?\'
He shrugged his shoulders and said, "My name\'s Dutch. You may call me Sir Instructor or Sir Dutch; pick your poison."
Adam nodded and thought to himself. \'He is most likely Archwarrior. I don\'t think any weaker should have a position as instructor in Tier 2 guild.\'
"Alright, you\'ll have to choose which one from Three Powers you\'ll learn..." Dutch said, but then he was cut off as the sliding door opened.
A frown appeared on his brows. He expected a late student, but instead, a tall figure with fiery red hair entered the dojo.
"Guild master!" Dutch immediately stood at attention, his bored expression vanishing like a fleeting cloud.
All the players in the room turned to the tall figure and bowed in absolute respect. They rarely had the opportunity to meet the guild master.
Knoxx, the bronze-haired young man, looked excited. \'Guild master should\'ve only come here for one reason. He must think one of the recruits shows some promise, and that must be me!
\'Perhaps I\'ll finally have a chance to be a porter for Crimson Hound\'s Top Dungeon Party!\'
"Dutch." Digby nodded briefly and made a stop at the front of the room.
Dutch stepped aside, letting Digby take the lead.
"Do you have the scrolls here?" Digby turned to the instructor and asked.
"The Three Powers?" Dutch asked, and Digby nodded.
Dutch quickly went to fetch three old-looking scrolls with worn-out text and quickly returned
to Digby before handing them over to him.
"Adam, come here." Digby turned to Adam and said.
At that moment, all the players realized that Digby came here for this new recruit. It was
weird since it was the first time this had happened!
Knoxx\'s face morphed into a look of shock and confusion.
\'He is here for this nobody? Why?\'
Adam walked to the front of the room and bowed respectfully.
"You\'ll have a choice to make." Digby crouched on the ground and opened the three scrolls. "Kraft, Magick, or Kiryoku. Choose one to start practicing in."
Adam also kneeled on the ground and looked at the three ancient-looking scrolls. This was an extremely important choice that would determine his path for the rest of his life.
"If you listened to the class, you should know what each of them does." Digby said. "Eventually, you\'ll start learning all three of them, as each one of Three Powers has its own
uses.
"You can\'t really ignore any of them. However, you must focus on one of them, and this will
be the moment to choose the one."
"I\'ll..." Adam hovered his hand over the scrolls, deep in thought.
"Choose wisely." Digby instructed.
"I\'ll choose this one." Adam touched one of the scrolls with a confident look.
It was a choice he had made a long time ago.
After seeing the choice, Digby smiled. "You chose Kiryoku."
At that moment, the scroll of Kiryoku started glowing, and a beam of light entered Adam through his forehead. He received knowledge about Kiryoku, and he was now able to learn it.
"Kiryoku needs great patience and discipline to master." Digby said and gave the other two scrolls to Dutch. "You need to be in control of your emotions and focus your mind
completely."
"Yes, sir." Adam nodded, and he was almost shaking in excitement.
He wanted to already start learning Kiryoku.
"Dutch, I\'ll be taking Adam to the dark room." Digby stood up and said, "I\'ll train him
personally."
Gasps!
The players gasped and wondered who the hell Adam was for the guild master himself to train
him personally!
"S-sir, who is he?" Dutch asked with a trembling voice. "I have been the instructor for the past five years, and this is the first time you have trained someone personally!" \'Who the fuck is he?\' Knoxx looked at Adam with a look of hatred. \'I was a B-ranked recruit,
and I have potential to reach Royal Mercenary and become one of the cornerstones of the Crimson Hound Guild!\'
"His name is Adam Palestar." Digby said. "Also, he is the newly crowned S-ranker."
"What?!"
Knoxx\'s face paled, and his jaw dropped. \'S-ranker? What the fuck! Why did someone like him
join Crimson Hound? What in the world!\'
Dutch looked frightened. \'I-I have a chance to train S-ranker?! Do I even qualify to do so?\'
"S-S-S-S-S-S-S ranker?!" Enigma felt lightheaded and almost fainted.