12 Sullivan

“Sir, reporting. I was out hunting a glade deer, b-but I found something...”

Pausing for a moment, the guard looked at him curiously. ‘His eyes look serious…’ thought the guard.

“It’s… It’s hard to describe… It was.. Blood everywhere, the deer’s guts were hanging from trees. It was evil. Horrific. I can show you, it’s not far.”

The guard held up his hand, attempting to calm the man. “I’ll report it to the captain, thank you. Go home and rest, don’t leave the village for a few days.”

“Yes.. I’ll go home… mm.” the hunter sounded emotionless. He had seen mauled animals before, but this was incomparable, something dark, and it mentally scarred him for life.

***

Jay approached the adventurer guild again - this time when he heard the guard yelling out to make way for the rich brats carriage, he didn’t even look back - he simply stepped to the side of the road and kept walking.

As his carriage sped by, a pair of eyes were death-staring at Jay from the luxurious curtains, obviously the noble brat didn’t like this - how could he start the day without making at least one other person suffer?

Fucking loser, Jay thought. A superior, smug smile appeared on Jay’s face while the carriage kept moving up the path.

Jay wasn’t a bitter person, nor did he let small-minded people affect him - he usually tried to laugh at how petty others could be.

As Jay was walking, he heard a voice “... little bastard” He looked off to the right.

Spotting another adventurer who had to step down the hill as the carriage went by, Jay realized he had something in common with this fellow, the hate of the carriage noble - he quickly offered him a hand to help him back up onto the path.

“Thanks. Appreciate that. You’re heading to the guild too, huh?”

“Yeah. That brats carriage is pretty annoying, why does it have to be so much wider than other carriages?” Jay chuckled.

“Well, to fit all of his ego of course!” The two laughed together on the side of the road.

“What’s your name? I’m Jay.”

“Jay? Mark. So, are you in the melee group?” Mark guessed since it was the largest group.

“Yeah, but I would like to learn more about the other disciplines too. Which one are you in?”

Doing a half-smile, Mark put his hands in his pockets “I’m in the mana-craft group. It’s ok but.. It’s a little strange to train up the mana-craft skills… and then the teacher talks right into your mind when he notices you not absorbing the ambient mana,” Mark chuckled, shaking his head, “but they’ve been giving me some melee training too… Anyway, we better get going. It’s good to know that brat is pissing off someone else as much as me,” smiled mark. “Maybe we can go on a quest sometime,”

“Yeah sounds good, thanks for the offer. I’ll let you know when I need some help.” Jay gave a thumbs up, trying not to be awkward.

The two continued to talk while walking.

As the duo approached the gate, Jay noticed something was different. The guard had changed.

“Hey, where’s Dave?”

The guard squinted at Jay “They reassigned him. You’re to report to the administration straight away.” He pointed at Mark “You’re to go to your class trainer.”

“Wait, why am I getting singled out?” Jay said as Mark walked off.

“Those are my orders, kid. Now go.”

Jay sighed as he pursed his lips. The walk to the reception building felt like it took years, as if time slowed down while thoughts rushed through Jay’s head. Am I in trouble? Did I level up too fast? Did they find out about my class somehow? Maybe it’s because that noble brat complained? Shit… If I run now it will only make things worse. I wouldn’t even make it to Losla with these monsters around, he thought as he glanced at the guards, who couldn’t help but exude a tremendous pressure.

With each step, Jay felt his heart sink. As he entered the reception, he was almost sweating from nervousness - then a pleasant old lady at reception greeted him from behind a counter covered with different papers.

“Hello there, how can I help?” she greeted Jay with a warm smile.

“Hi... I was told to come here. My name’s Jay. Jay Hart.”

“Jay Hart? Ohhh, yes. Sully wanted to have a word with you. Give me a moment” The old lady left and went into another room behind her. After a moment, she came back out.

“He’s ready. Head up the stairs dear. Last door in the middle.” the old lady smiled.

“Thanks.” Jay smiled back.

Walking up the stairs, Jay walked down the hallway past various doors, then knocked on the door at the very end.

The door opened from the inside as Jay noticed an indifferent smile which quickly turned into an angry pout mixed with a death-stare. “Hey.. I know you. You’re that girl who had the crossbow at the gate?”

Sighing, she blushed, “Come in and sit down.”

Jay walked into the room as the girl shut the door. Two leather chairs were sitting in front of a dark-wood desk, while a man with piercing, glowing blue eyes sat on the other side. He was wearing a maroon shirt, with a black tie and a black coat. He had a neutral look on his face, with flowing black hair which went down his shoulders and below the desk - from where Jay could see.

Jay felt nervous as he sat down while the man stared at him.

“Anya, training has started” He addressed the girl who let Jay in. She left with another sigh.

Watching her as she left, he didn’t blink. Then he stared at jay once more.

“So. Jay. My name’s Sullivan. The guild master. I noticed you didn’t register but joined training yesterday.” The man spoke with a soft, silky voice, but Jay could tell there was a power behind it - it was if he was speaking to a mountain.

“Oh…. there must’ve been a,”

“You didn’t register. I know all my students. And now you’re level five. Jay, why didn’t you show up for registration?” Jay was immediately cut off mid-sentence - clearly Sullivan hated hearing lies.

Sighing as he looked at the ground. I can’t lie to this guy. He seems to know everything, a real fanatic for details...

“I was coming, but then a carriage knocked me off the road, and it rained that day so the hill was really muddy and I slipped, then kept sliding. Eventually I hit my head, and it knocked me out - when I woke up, it was the eighth. That’s the truth.”

“Ah yes, that damn carriage… I’ve already had some complaints about it... So, you are level five, but you didn’t reach a mana conduit to gain your class. Is that correct?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then, how did you gain your class? And what class are you?”

“I… Well, I was thinking of checking my status and I thought I would be a butcher or something but… I found out that somehow I became a swordsman,”

“You’re a terrible liar Jay.” He leaned back in his chair, entwining his fingers as he thought - then he pulled out a green crystal which let off a soft glow in his fingers.

“Margie, can you bring me up a conduit crystal please?”

An older voice sounded from the crystal “Sure sully. Give me a moment.”

Jay and the Sullivan man sat there for a moment, and Jay could only dig his fingers into his chair. Sullivan continued staring at Jay, watching his every move while Jay looked around the room. Jay tried his best not to seem suspicious, but he was looking for any exit he could find; Jay even committed himself to jumping through the window behind Sullivan, but there was something about Sullivan’s dangerous stare which stopped him. Finally, the same woman at reception opened the door and entered, a green glowing orb levitating in her hand.

“Here you are, sully.” She smiled.

“Thanks Margie.”

She left as the orb floated from her hand, passed by Jay’s head, then hovered over Sullivan’s hand.

“You’re definitely not a swordsman. No one gets to level five after some training and one day. So you must have a unique class. Touch the orb and show me.” he commanded. His voice had power but to even Sullivan’s surprise, Jay resisted.

“No thanks. I know my class.” Jay waved his hand casually, but clenched his jaw nervously.

“Now.” Sullivans voice, again, was soft yet had a commanding power, and as he stared at Jay, his eyes glowed blue with threatening energy.

Jay tried to stand up, but as he put his hands on the arms of the chair a powerful force washed over his body. He could barely move, and after a desperate struggle he gave up.

“I’m not touching your fucking magic ball, now just let me leave.” Jay grit his teeth.

He knew Sullivan would not ask again, and Sullivan sighed as he reluctantly brought the orb to Jay’s hand, making him touch the orb. The calm and collected look on Sullivan’s face dropped as it revealed Jay’s class.

“W… huh?” Sullivan was speechless. It was as if reality itself was lying to him.

“How? What? A necro-“

“A necromancer. So, are you going to kill me?” Jay finally got to interrupt Sullivan back as his eyes narrowed into a death stare.

“But that’s a monster,” Sullivan realized he was loudly blurting, and whispered, “But that’s a monster class…. I don’t even see how this is possible. And I know you’re the old butcher’s boy, so you definitely weren’t born a monster. How the hell could this happen…”

Sullivan was thinking as Jay interrupted his thoughts “Well, I think it was because I have been working as a butcher my whole life, you know - touching the meat of dead corpses, looking at it, analyzing it, cutting around the bones and stuff? But that’s just my theory. To be honest, I have no clue if the correlation equaled causation here, but… I’m not a monster.” Jay timidly said.

“Hmm… Yes, obviously you’re human, I’ve known your father since I became an adventurer. What I want to know is why you hid it.”

“You knew my father? How?” Jay asked, but answered Sullivans other question, “Obviously it’s a monster class, so I thought you would kill me like one.”

“Mm…. I see. Your father was one of my men, but can you tell me about your skills?”

Jay told him part of the truth “I don’t see why. You can probably already guess them anyway. It’s how I could level up so quickly, as I wasn’t exactly alone: I had some help.”

“I see…. Anything else you want to tell me? I won’t kill you.” Sullivan asked, sounding incredibly professional through the entire questioning process.

Jay thought about using [Shift] and making his ashen ring into a levitating ring of bones floating around him, but he decided against it. It would only creep Sullivan out even more.

“No. But I think my class is a mix between dexterity and mana-craft, so if you’re not going to kill me, I would like extra training.”

Sullivan had to stop himself from chuckling, “Ok, I see. Well… I will keep your class as a swordsman for now - at least, that is what the records will show - but you will also attend the mana-craft training.”

“Thank you, sir… Sullivan… you’re the only one who knows so far.” Jay was a little less hostile as he realized that he wasn’t about to be executed.

“You’re safe, as is your secret. I’ll register you as a swordsman and let you attend the mana-craft class. If anyone asks, just say you’re part of an experiment.”

“Part of an experiment for Sullivan. Ok, Sure. Thank you.” Jay said. His eyes became slightly moist as he thought he was going to die this whole time, finally the tension was easing and he realized he was going to survive this encounter.

“You may leave. Just know that I’m keeping a close eye on you, Jay Hart.”

“Yes sir. Thank you. I- “

“Back to training. Go.” He cut Jay off once more, then pointed at the door, dismissing Jay the same way Anya was.

“Yes. Thanks Sullivan. I’ll do my best” Jay said, full of thankfulness as he went to the door. As Jay closed it behind him, he took in a big breath of relief, feeling like he had just dodged death once more.

I thought he would judge me, but I guess I was the one judging. He didn’t kill me after all, he nodded. But I won’t underestimate him again.