3 Hello Hans, my name's Sim

The relationship between a mentor and a student is all about trust. When you are the mentor, you want your student develop a trust in you so that your student won't lie to the guild about your mentorship and its quality. You instead would try to build trust with your student so that you may raise your rank within the guild. This is because all veterans are required to train a number of students before they can increase in rank.

On the other hand, a student must also develop a trust for their mentor. In many ways, a mentor could choose to "disown" their student easily. It is rumored that mentors who disliked their students would think of creative ways to kill them off. Among those that aren't as creative, choosing an unexplored ruin, or a known dangerous one could easily lead to a students death. Or, choosing a corridor that is quite possibly trapped and letting their student investigate trapped areas is another option.

Previous new recruits who had heard of such deaths or were discontent with their mentorship would spread rumors to defame the veterans of the guild. Every year these stories of deaths easily spread to the newbies as they began their first adventures of exploration with their mentors. From hearing these rumors, seeds of doubt were sown into the minds of new guild members before each year. And thus when they judged every dangerous situation they had encountered with bias against their mentors.

The rules established by the adventurers guild didn't help much at all. If an adventurer had died on an expedition, based upon the rules the surviving adventurers would be entitled to the loot. In most cases, the student was the who had died. This was not because the mentors decided it was better to kill them off so they could keep their loot. No, it was because the students were mostly inexperienced. With their hot blooded youth driving their actions, they would make many mistakes which would end up in their deaths. No matter how hard the mentor tries, some students would always ignore them. Greed, vanity, stupidity ... the list of reasons for their deaths was very long.

Contrary to the rumors, when student dies, a mentor usually donates not 10% of the loot that their students were entitled to, but the whole hull from the adventure to their deceased student's family. Why? Because they knew that the line of work was dangerous and many students would resort to adventuring when they had exhausted other paths. It was an unsaid rule within the veteran adventurers circle that this had to be done so that their family could survive a bit longer.

As the newbies became normal ranked adventurers and moved up the ranks, they would come to understand that their mentors were always on their side. As they met and teamed up with more and more veterans, this fact became more solid and more concrete to them. With time, they would come to understand that the rumors were false.

In a sense the rumor was test in of itself. It tested the bonds of the guild. If a newbie couldn't trust their mentor who taught them, then how could they trust a random guild member who they would pair up with in future adventures? How could the guild trust a newbie who doesn't report their findings, and pay their 5% tax to the guild? How could the guild rely on the adventurer to mentor their juniors when they themselves become veterans?

Unfortunately Sim was one of the newbies who had been convinced of the rumors.

Sim was actually quite lucky. Since his childhood, he was not only blessed with an average connection to the ether, he had a sixth sense for finding treasures. At the age of 18, he had already found a gold ring in a patch of dirt, a skull of a dead pope, a tome written in an unknown language, and many more treasures from just walking around. He knew he had a knack for adventuring and knew that he would become rich beyond his wildest dreams if he became an adventurer and so he did.

Driven by greed and haughty from his small accomplishments of finding treasure with his sixth sense, he had applied to the adventurers guild. He had easily cleared through the initial physical tests and lied on his psychological tests. "To uncover history with my ability to find treasure." Even his answer disgusted him when he wrote it down, but he knew "To get rich." wasn't the correct answer for sure.

He was accepted.

At the start of each year, an entrance ceremony would be held at the adventurers guilds across the world. Many newbies of different races and skills would be introduced to each other and allowed to mingle in a large party with the veterans who decided to attend. Sponsored by the guild, the event was supplied with a gracious amount of food and alcohol.

The ceremony was also a joyous occasion where senior mentor-student pairs would be announced.

Sim had high hopes for the event. He hoped he would get paired up with the most famous and richest among the adventurers. He knew his sixth sense was special and many mentors were probably lined up and would beg for him to become their student.

That year, the ceremony began with a bang and quite literally. Small explosions occurred on the stage followed by loud triumphant music. Through the smoke, mentors walked out from the shadows. Bright-eyed, newbies including Sim looked at the mentors. Each mentor was distinct some were quite famous.

Sim's heart began to pump as the ceremony started. The guild leader walked forth from the smoke after the mentors. She was quite stunning and and seemed to have all the curves in the right places. Despite her looks, her gaze was not seductive, but quite vicious. It wasn't an understatement that she everyone had their attention on her.

"Welcome everyone. We are gathered today to welcome our newest recruits."

Taking a pause, the entire guild clapped in applause. An audacious fellow even yelled, "Please marry me Mistra!". Hearing this, the veterans all looked away from the guild leader. Why? 3 blades had already ended up pinning the poor fellow to his chair.

Ignoring the idiot Mistra, the guild leader continued.

"As always John, those jokes aren't tolerated in the guild." Mistra said as she stared at John. Slowly the newbies began to notice the poor pinned fellow as they followed Mistra's gaze. Looking down at the blade that had cut through his pants near his... umm.... watergun? Instead of being terrified, he chuckled and yelled out "No problem!".

Seeing the sight, some new male adventurers shook as they subconsciously moved their hands to cover up their important parts. Among them was Sim. They figured that they shouldn't even dare to look at Mistra the wrong way from now on.

The females in the room were impressed instead.

'Can I be as bold and skilled as the Guild leader someday?'

'Would she give me tips if I asked?'

If the newbies weren't paying enough attention to Mistra before, they were now.

On the stage behind Mistra, the mentors tried to maintain their composure and experienced appearance. Not holding being able to remain calm, some mentors began to grin. Instead of being scared or being in awe, the mentors knew what had actually happened.

The "unlucky fellow" was actually the most "lucky fellow". John was Mistra's husband. John intentionally called out to Mistra as a joke, but Mistra turned it into a warning and lesson for the newbies.

Now with the attention of the whole room, Mistra continued.

"This is a great year for the adventurers guild. This year we have forty three new members. Congratulations, young men and women and welcome to the adventurers guild!"

Another round of applause followed suite.

"Each of you have your own skills, and are blessed in different ways. Some of you are naturally lucky. You will find yourself in danger and somehow through your sheer luck, you would make it out alive."

As if speaking to those individuals, she glanced at them while she spoke.

"Some of you are blessed by the ether and you will use these to your advantage as you face the dangers that come."

Again Mistra glanced at those individuals and many of the audience began to notice this as well.

"And some of you, have rare skills and abilities. You will hone your skills and your fame will only grow!"

This time she took a glance at Sim. Feeling their eyes contact, Sim felt a sense of pride as if Mistra was speaking directly at him.

"All of you will cause waves in the community. Albeit a large giant discovery or many small ones. You will all, from this day forth, work for the guild. You will find great treasures, report on old civilizations and share your knowledge with the whole world. And as a result, live a fulfilling, yet dangerous life."

Everyone clapped as Mistra was finishing her sentence.

"Now I'm sure all of you were waiting for me to finish with my speech so we could get onto the mentor-student announcements, so I'll cut it short. With one last sentence. Well one last piece of advice."

Looking serious now, Mistra seemed like a different person. She wasn't smiling any more and the aura on the stage became darker. The newbies felt it as their mood shifted from joy to uneasiness in a split second.

With a stern and solid voice Mistra spoke.

"Listen to your mentors. Eighty percent of you will die within the year."

Ending her speech, Mistra disappeared from the stage in an instant in a small puff of smoke.

Silence. The joyous mood in the room was ruined.

Although it was harsh, the mentors and veterans that were present knew that it was a fact. Many of their friends, colleagues, and even their own mentors had died suddenly or unexpectedly in their adventures. They knew that the adventurer life was dangerous, and not many newbies knew about this fact.

In Mistra's place, John had appeared through the smoke. He coughed as he appeared suddenly out of thin air. Still stuck to his chair, John stood up. And as he stood up, the chair raised with him. John confirmed for himself that the three blades had definitely fused his clothes to the chair he was sitting on. John coughed awkwardly as everyone's attention was now on him. This scene would have been a hilarious sight if the new recruits weren't shook by Mistra's statement.

John conveniently sat back down onto the chair that had fused to his body.

"Now let's continue the ceremony." John announced.

"Jill will you come up on the stage?"

No one questioned or wanted to question why John was up on the stage. They were still thinking about Mistra's words.

Instead, everyone looked around as a woman appeared from the back of the room. She was human. Her dark brown hair contrasted and highlighted the brightness of her blue dress. Her face appeared to be filled with uncertainty and excitement. She wasn't sure if she wanted to become an adventurer anymore. Walking onto the stage, John smiled at her. It eased her stress if only a bit.

"Congratulations Jill, your mentor will be .... "

"Me."

Cloaked from head to toe in dark gas, a man stepped out from the line of mentors. His face and his body could not be seen through the smoke, but his deep voice was heard by all in the room.

"Brother!"

The girl replied, apparently she recognized him and rushed past John. She threw her arms out and tried to embrace the shadow in a hug. Instead of being solid, the shadow as fluid. It dispersed and reappeared beside her.

"There is a time and place for everything sis." He whispered to her as an arm materialized from the cloud to pat Jill on her head.

Coughing awkwardly once more, John continued.

"Jill's partner is the ever-loved Shadow. Known for his fluidity, nothing has stopped him from finding treasure. Be it a locked door or a sealed room, he has always found his way in. Now, please step off the stage so I can continue."

The ceremony continued as more and more students were introduced to their mentors. Unlike the first pair, the subsequent pairs didn't know each other. Many newbies met their mentors with a face of excitement, others were with disappointment.

Standing nervously, Sim watched as many famous adventurers were paired off before his eyes. He couldn't believe it. 'What made those plebs worse of than he was?' Similar questions entered his mind. He tried to console himself as he knew there were still many more mentors waiting on stage for their students.

Finally, John called his name.

"Sim, please come up to the stage."

Joyously, Sim complied and rushed onto the stage.

"Sim! For you my friend, I'll like to introduce Hans. He's a beastkin and a well rounded adventurer. His instincts are very sharp and his intuition is first class. For that he's made many discoveries in the guild. He'll treat you well I'm sure."

Walking from the line of remaining mentors, Hans the beastkin who towered over them approached Sim. Hans raised out his hand to Sim for a handshake.

Sim instead looked at Hans. He was disappointed. Very disappointed. 'Why is this average looking beastkin my mentor?' he thought to himself.

Without shaking Hans's hand, Sim introduced himself.

"Hello Hans, my name's Sim."

From that day onward, they spent almost a year together. During this time they had multiple adventures, there were those that were fruitful, and those that failed. All the while, Hans taught Sim the basics and tactics that kept him alive the whole time.

Slowly Sim grew and Hans, but Sim distaste in Hans grew. Nag nag nag. Lecture Lecture Lecture. He couldn't wait until the day Hans died or their student-mentor relationship was over.

As number of dangerous encounters increased for the pair, so did Sim's belief in the rumors. Sim became convinced that Hans wanted him dead, but never thought that Hans only wanted to challenge him - the student, further...