8 Differentia

To put it simply, Differentia is massive.

As we follow Burch through the sprawling streets, the excited buzz of conversation in our group continues to get louder.

With all these new sights and smells, it's no wonder everyone's getting so worked up.

The streets are almost like a maze and I couldn't hope to remember all the turns and twists we've taken so far. The vendors make it all the more confusing.

Clothing stalls with all kinds of colored clothing sit next to stores full of fascinating trinkets and sparkling jewelry.

The food stalls smell heavenly and I can hear meat sizzling on a grill.

However, the weapon stalls are catching more attention than any of the other stalls.

There are tons of weapons, all of them shining in the sun and so sharp that I can't see the edges.

I can see people in armor testing out maces and longswords. A few guys are trying, and failing, to lift a gigantic great sword.

Maybe a few guys in our group might be able to, but that's because they're pretty big.

(I wouldn't want to have to fight with any of those guys.)

A few of the shopkeepers are trying to lure people from our group into their shops, but they resist and keep walking.

Obviously they are scared of what Burch will do to them, especially after what he said before we entered the town.

'If anyone gets separated from the group and I have to go looking for them, there'll be hell to pay!'

It seems like he's had bad experiences in the past, he sounded very adamant about it. However, I can understand where he's coming from.

If you didn't know where you were going, you'd get lost instantaneously. We've only been here for ten minutes and I already can't remember the direction we came from.

After another few minutes of walking past stalls and shops, we stop in front of a gigantic building in the middle of a town square.

It's a building entirely made out of a strange, blackish metal. Windows pop up here and there, and around the top of the building there's a strip with designs of all sorts of monsters.

I find a goblin, and something that resembles a gremlin. There's also a half-human half-bull, a strange beast with the face of a human, and a massive scaled lizard that has wings.

It's long arching neck lifted it's head into the air and fire spews from its mouth.

For the first time, Burch takes off his hood. Blond hair, blue eyes, darkly tanned skin, he has none of it. Instead, he looks like he just woke up from a long nap, but somehow became even more exhausted.

Messy black hair falls down to just above shoulder height. I can see pale skin peeking through his hair and clothes.

Turning around to look at us, his cutting grey eyes count to see that everyone is here.

Seemingly satisfied, Burch opens the black doors and walks in. Sarcastic and I follow him in, Matt and Natalia right behind us.

Everyone else trails in, looking around nervously.

The inside is just as impressive as the outside. We enter into a slightly messy room full of wooden tables.

A bar sits off to the side, but we walk past this and to a waiting area with cushioned chairs.

Burch makes a motion for us to sit down, so I plop onto the nearest chair. Matt and Natalia sit next to me while Sarcastic sits a few chairs down.

People sit down around us, already talking about who knows what.

"What is this place?"

I look over at Natalia and think about her question.

"Well, I think that Burch works here. He seems to know the place pretty well and got here easily enough. It also looks like he and the desk staff know each other."

Matt nods and looks around.

"I came to that conclusion myself."

"Ok, so Burch works here, but why are we here?"

"Well, if he works here then that means that he tested us for his boss or something. This place is the reason we are here. Burch was talking about how we will be trained and I have a feeling that this is the place we'll find out more about these 'classes'."

As Natalia nods along, Will looks around the building with wide eyes.

"Hmm, that sounds about right, but what if that's completely wrong and we're just here for another test? Or they torture us or something?"

"I mean, your guess is just as good as mine," I say sheepishly, "but it's the best I've got."

She hmphs and turns her head away.

"It's better than nothing, I guess."

Burch is standing in front of the group, done talking to the desk people.

Seeing him standing there, everyone quickly quiets down as their friends nudge and shush them.

Everyone has grown silent and all their eyes are on Burch.

He rolls his neck and sighs. A series of loud popping noises fills the room.

"Listen up. We have a guest speaker that is going to explain what you're all doing here, because I could care less about explaining shit to you guys. Here he is, and ask as few questions as possible."

A man in a well tailored suit walked up now, taking Burch's place in front of us.

His suit is very out of place in the tavern like atmosphere, but imagining him in anything other than a suit felt wrong.

"Hello! My name is Charles, but please call me Charlie. Please ask as many questions as you need. You've been brought to the Guild to sign up and be trained as adventurers. As adventurers, your job will be to kill monsters and protect the populace from monster threats. Yes?"

Not too far in, someone stuck their hand up. Almost immediately, Charlie called on her.

"What if we don't want to be adventurers?"

Without even a moment of hesitation, he jumped into the answer.

"If you don't want to be adventurers, then of course you can try to get a job and live in the town. However, the highest paying job you'd be able to get is as waitress or waiter at a bar. With no money, you wouldn't be able to get an apprenticeship anywhere. You could also get married and be a housewife, but that isn't really an option for the boys.

"However, as an adventurer, you would make good money. Your training is free, but you will have to pay back the Guild for your awakening. However, after saving up enough money you could get an apprenticeship in the town and make good money that way. The only thing you'd have to participate in would be quests in dealing with immediate threats to the town, but that only happens very rarely and only if we don't have enough adventurers.

"Now, is there anyone that want to leave?"

He pauses for anyone to stand up, but everyone stays seated.

Before he can move on, I raise my hand.

"What exactly is the awakening? Does it have to do with 'leveling up'?"

I glance over at Burch and I can see a hint of surprise in his eyes. Charlie also looks a bit perplexed, but goes into the answer pretty quickly.

As he starts I can feel Burch's eyes still on me, almost like he's analysing me.