Recruitment

Once the purple light covered our vision, Xanther felt a wave of nausea hit him. He was confused about how he had gotten through interdimensional travel better than teleportation. He looked to his left and saw Kensley curled up on the ground while frothing from her mouth.

"That's a common reaction to this. You're just abnormal."

When he got a closer look at Ferun, he noticed the scars scattered around his neck and shoulders. He looked the weirdest one out of all of the representatives, wearing a grey tank top and baggy black pants. His hair was a dark blonde and looked messy from someone grabbing it too much, it matched his eyes.

Once the purple light cleared up, the entrance to a nearly colossal hall came into view. It looked like it was made from the finest marble he had seen and seemed excessive for bringing new recruits to.

"You there! Yes, you! Bring this girl to the reception center."

He was right. Xanther was brought to the clan leader's hall to discuss the conditions that were offered for joining.

As they entered the hall that seemed better suited for giants, he saw giant statues of both men and women intensely studying literature lining the front of the path. On the edges of the ceiling were murals that depicted wars that most likely took place in this world. Near the end were human-sized statues depicting their strongest fighters and leaders, where the clan leader's office lay.

As they passed these towering sculptures, Ferun began trying to give Xanther some advice.

"While I have offered you these conditions, a lot of them will depend on whether you'll be able to live up to the expectations of the leader. While yes, we value your unique talent and body, we also have expectations regarding how you act."

"I expected that. Also, what do you value about my body?"

Xanther did his best to look curious about the aspects they wanted from his body.

"I would have expected them to tell you by now. You seem to have been born with Gluttony's curse. This causes any and all energies in your presence to rush towards you and into you if possible. Any child born with this trait will die upon realizing that they have any affinity for any energy at the age of around 9 or 10 in a violent explosion. Any that don't have an affinity are usually plagued with illnesses that come from being oversaturated with the energies of the world without having any control over them."

"So I'm a huge exception who also seems to have a lot of talent?"

"Not only that. Nearly every higher-stage energy user wants to have Gluttony's curse because of how many energy stones it would save. You could essentially start getting stronger passively depending on what stage you are at. Many have died trying to have the curse transferred to themselves. You are most likely the only one in the world who has survived the curse for this long and remained healthy."

"Wow, so what would happen if I turned out to be evi—"

"We would make it the highest priority to kill you."

The air felt like it froze as the words left Ferun's mouth.

"I'm glad that I'm not evil then."

They had arrived at the clan leader's door. It, like most things in this hall, was massive and clearly too much for just one human. Ferun walked up to the door and knocked three times on the door. Each knock sounded like it was a strike of thunder. Xanther swore that he saw circles appear around Ferun's forearm that sparked with electricity.

"Clan leader, I have brought the recruit with me!"

The door slowly opened without a sound. It was quite jarring seeing it open so smoothly. Inside was a middle-aged man sitting cross-legged in the middle of a circle of crystals growing out of the marble. They were a deep blue color that resembled looking into a deep ocean. The man opened his eyes and stood up to greet Xanther and Ferun.

"Welcome. I presume that you're Xanther?"

"Yes, may I have your name?"

"My name is Lester Odune. I see that they weren't lying when they said that you had survived Gluttony's curse."

Lester's face then turned serious.

"I have heard of the conditions that you were offered when you accepted to come here. Frankly, I'm going to have to retest you here.

He waved his hand and a spell circle dropped a testing plate into his hands. He made a platform for it from ice in the middle of the crystal circle.

Xanther walked up to it and felt the same pull as he had felt before. His hands made contact and the same result showed up. Lester seemed to have noticed something and furrowed his brows.

"Ferun, remove those bracelets on his wrists. They're affecting the energy around him."

The bracelets immediately unclasped and fell to the ground. It felt like a burden had been removed from Xanther. The crystals around him began losing their color and collapsed in a few seconds. Cracks had also begun forming on the walls surrounding them.

The bracelets jumped back up and closed themselves on Xanther's wrists immediately. They pushed his hands free of the plate. Ferun looked wide-eyed at Xanther.

"Holy shit. Kid, I thought the amount you were absorbing before was your maximum extent."

"In all honesty, I thought that the bracelets were being used to help you fake having the curse.

Lester then grinned in a way that you'd only expect from a devil.

"Forget calling this Gluttony's curse, it's more like you are the sin at this point. I don't know how you're not dead, but you'll get all that you were promised and more should you ask for it."

Lester extended his hand out to Xanther. Xanther had an equally cunning grin. He took Lester's hand and shook it

"Ferun, lead him to a core disciple living area and help him grab his necessities on the way."

"On it, sir."

"I'll come to meet you again once you've had a week to settle in."

Ferun then led Xanther out and started walking him to the reception area.