Chapter Forty Four

Within a wooden themed office, Sally sat in a furnished wooden chair. "This is good, in its own way at least. How many people signed up for the training?" Sally asked as she went through a set of documents.

"Thirteen, Lady Sally. The people were rather eager." Yslaine, standing behind Sally, passed a sheet of paper to Sally. "I believe in the coming weeks, We'll experience an increase in adventurers."

Sally grabbed the sheet, scanning through the list. "Hmmm, seven male and six female...why is Jurai even on the list, she should be resting, that woman."

Yslaine suppressed a chuckle at that. The Demi humans were an interesting bunch indeed. She found that she even came to enjoy their company.

While Phalsia as a continent wasn't solely made of human supremacists, the kingdoms within did have their disputes. Apart from the elves and the witches, the other non humans species hid away from the other races.

It was safe to say demi humans were not 'openly' discriminated against. Yslaine might have had a demi human slave or two, although that was in the past and shall remain in the past. With her new allegiance, came a new perspective.

"So apart from Jurai, we have twelve participants. That's more than I expected, this is better than I hoped. By the time we're done, Maple Grove will have its own adventurers. Can't let that sketchy Magistrix pull one over on me, now can I?" Sally dropped the list and picked up another from the table beside her.

"Speaking of Namarie, how many people have signed up for the magic institution? Oh... Six huh. That's better than expected as well." She folded the documents and placed them in a corner of the table.

"Come on, let's go welcome them." Sally made her way out of the office with Yslaine right behind her.

As they exited the wooden-themed office, Sally's boots clicked on the stone floor, echoing through the hallway. Yslaine followed closely, her own footsteps quiet on the cold surface. They made their way to the Maple Tree guild training area, or to Maple and the gang, the Maple Tree Sub Guild training area, where the eager participants awaited.

Upon arrival, Sally's eyes scanned the group, her gaze lingering on each face. Jurai, despite her pregnancy, stood tall, a determined glint in her eye. Sally face palmed with a sigh. "Jurai, no. End of discussion. Please escort miss Jurai out of the training area." A few maids, hired by Yslaine, and vetted by Sally of course came in and led Jurai out. The wolf kin could have easily resisted, but a look from Sally told her to calm down.

"Welcome, everyone," Sally began, her voice clear and authoritative. "I'm glad to see so many eager faces. You've all taken the first step towards becoming adventurers, and I commend you for that." Her eyes locked onto the departing back of Jurai. "Though, I must say, some of you are more... enthusiastic than others."

Yslaine suppressed a smile, knowing Sally's words were directed at Jurai. Some of the participant's cheeks flushed, but they held their ground.

Sally continued, her tone serious. "Training won't be easy. You'll be pushed to your limits, and beyond. But I promise you this: if you persevere, you'll emerge stronger, capable of facing whatever challenges Phalsia throws your way."

As Sally spoke, Maple entered the training area, her presence commanding attention. Her eyes sparkled with excitement, and her smile was infectious. The participants exchanged nervous glances, their focus, on her little figure.

"First, you will all pick whatever weapons suits you." Sally continued as Yslaine pushed a mobile weapons rack on tiny wheels.

On the rack were up to thirty different weapons, from the classic sword, spear and bows, to the more sophisticated, like axes, gauntlets, claws, sickles, daggers, even a retractable chained mace.

The participants chose their weapons, and Sally raised an eyebrow to their choice of weapons. Three of the men and two if the women had chosen swords, no issue there. A man and woman had picked the bow. A man had picked the spear. Two men had picked the large axes. The last two women had chosen the daggers and the chained mace.

"Alright, are all finished? Good. Now what we'll be doing is basically on field training, as in, you'll learn while you fight monsters." Sally mentioned as they familiarized themselves with their weapons.

When they heard Sally however, they were immediately shocked, with the men visibly paled and the women sweating buckets.

"The training will only take a week. While we want to increase the training time to get you all prepared, we have to take into consideration future adventurers, we can't waste time training a single set of adventurers. This might change in the future but for now you'll have up till the end of the week to prove you're ready to be an adventurer." Sally began as Yslaine returned the weapon cart, pushing it masterfully and gracefully. (However that works.)

"When you're prepared, you'll gain your adventurers panel, giving you a few guild benefits like access to mana." She continued and this caused the current audience to gasp in surprise. Yslaine poured a some herbal tea in a rose wooden cup for Maple who had a plate of cookies in one her hands.

One of the men who had chosen the sword, stepped forward. "Uhm, Miss Sally..."

"That's guild master, to you." Sally cut him off immediately. She stared at him for a moment, he looked to be in his early twenties, he had on a white shirt with dark blue ragged trousers and ragged boots. The other men dressed no differently, with their shirts been of other colors.

The man embarrassed by her gaze, blushed, then corrected himself. "Sorry, guild master. But when you say, access to mana, do you mean you'll unlock our mana veins?"

Sally retained a stern face, as Maple yelped about the tea being too hot and Yslaine apologizing over and over in the background. "Yes, that is a must for Maple Tree's adventurers. It comes with the adventurers panel."

Tears pooled in his eyes, as well as the eyes of the others behind him. One of the ladies, a girl looking around fifteen years of age, eventually broke down in tears.

Sally stood with a stern face as she let them get it out of their systems, after all this was a perfectly normal reaction in this new world. Apart from mages who normally awakened their mana veins on their own before the age of twelve, normal people needed the assistance of other mages. This however, was a very expensive endeavor as it costs mages a lot of mana to safely awaken another's mana veins.

It was safe to say that the difference between a normal human, and a human with awakened mana veins was quite large. And while people who awakened on their own were capable of becoming great mages, the ones who didn't were capable of super human feats even if their mana capacity were much lower than the naturally awakened. Most adventurers, were non awakened humans and while some of them were strong, they would eventually fall short to someone whose mana veins were awakened. But if one could not awaken it naturally, they had to pay a mage a hefty sum to awaken it for them or get lucky enough for a mage to do it for free.

This however, was not a problem for the Maple Tree guild, or rather, the Maple Tree sub guild system. Granting sub members with a very watered down system on a physical medium. And no matter how watered down it might have being, it followed a general rule. And that was to bring out a person's potential.

This was already tested on Yslaine, who had up till now had no reason to unlock her mana veins as she was a princess.

Her bracelet was used as a medium to display her panel. And it read.

_____________________________

YSLAINE AUGUST MALAKAR

LEVEL 3 [ 25% ]

ATK : 140

DEF : 200

AGI : 90

_____________________________

Unlike Maple and the others, they found that Yslaine didn't level up by killing monsters when she killed multiple small monsters, the proficiency percentage didn't budge once. But found she levelled differently, her proficiency percentage increased when she went about her normal duties, it even increased faster when she exercised.

Sally voice snapped the weeping trainees back to reality. "If you're done, we'll be moving to the first stage of your training."

They immediately stood at attention as Sally moved towards a circular platform. She turned her gaze towards them and they followed.

Once they were on the platform, Maple jumped on, with Yslaine running behind her. "Okay guys, lets go!" Maple cheered as she activated the guild teleport function.

A bright milky white light enveloped them and they all vanished, leaving an empty platform in their wake.

As the light dissipated, the group found themselves standing in a vast, open plain. The sky above was a deep shade of blue, with only a few wispy clouds scattered across it. The air was crisp and clean, with a hint of a sweet scent that none of them could quite place.

Sally's eyes scanned the horizon, her gaze lingering on the distant trees. "Welcome to the hunting grounds," she said, her voice carrying across the plain. "Here, you'll learn to survive, to fight, and if you're up for it, work together."

Sally and Maple along side Yslaine, suddenly vanished and reappeared standing on a tall raised platform, observing from a distance.

"Your training begins now," Sally called out, her voice echoing through the forest.

The participants exchanged nervous glances, unsure of what to expect. Suddenly, a loud roar echoed through the forest, making them jump.

A massive creature emerged from the underbrush, its eyes fixed on the group. It was a brown furred wolf, its fur matted and twisted, its teeth razor-sharp.

The participants gasped, frozen in shock. Sally and Maple watched from their platform, their faces expressionless.

The wolf charged, its massive paws swiping at the air. The participants scrambled to react, their weapons at the ready.

"I wonder how they'll do," Maple whispered to Sally, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

Sally nodded, her eyes fixed on the battle unfolding below. "Indeed, let's see if they're worthy of being adventurers."