Rally

The two hours passed relatively peacefully. While everyone was having a fun time eating and drinking. The three were having a conversation in their own little world. They ate food as they talked about what it would be like away from home and hunting monsters. Ash was not able to contribute much to the conversation. At times he would add a little 'word' here and there.

Occasionally, a guild receptionist or hunter would stop by and strike up a conversation, but as they also had other duties to attend to and people to meet, they never stuck around for long. There was one man that Velk believed to have taken an interest in Sylas. He was a young-looking wyverian with long black hair and long pointed ears. Both the wyverian, who had introduced himself as Xientas, and Sylas got along nicely.

Xientas ended up being a pretty nice guy. Both he and Sylas got into a conversation about carapaceon wyverns and what their hard shells could be used for. Velk knows that carapaceon wyverns are a specific class of wyverns that look like large crustaceans and have hard shells and exoskeletons. They often come with pinchers or claws and will sometimes use poison to disable their enemies.

Both Velk and Ash had trouble following the conversation, so they somewhat ignored the 'nerd' talk. Velk enjoyed learning new things, especially anything that could help him hunt in the future, but once they started using terms he had never heard before and could not understand, he could only sit in silence and watch the time tick away.

Once the clock hit noon, Two large doors in the middle of the room flew open, revealing a large passageway that led underground. The passage was connected to the stairs leading upwards towards the second floor, just behind. While the hall was massive, it was not nearly big enough to fit more than five hundred people and still be comfortable, so underneath the guildhall was a large auditorium with enough stools and chairs for everyone to gather.

People started making their way down while Velk and the others watched off to the side in silence, waiting for their turn. Many were also coming into the guildhall from outside, adding to the group of people waiting. Once it was moderately open, the trio also started to make way downwards.

It was not a very long flight of stairs, but it did take some time to reach the bottom. Once, there though, they entered a large room that could easily fit five hundred people. In front was a large platform where an old wyverian was sitting on a pillow.

She was dressed in purple and red fine silk and was very short. Her ears were long and pointy, but her earlobes were sagging due to the large crescent earrings hanging from them. Her hair was wisened grey and was being held up in a bun using sticks.

This was a woman Velk did know. She was the guild master for the Rak-Al-Faar district. Guild masters or guild managers, a step below, are the people responsible for overseeing a village for the guild. They help direct hunters and approve them for higher ranks within the guild. This woman was the lead spokesperson for the last two rallies that Velk had attended, which is why he recognized her.

Rows of stools parallel to the stage could be seen filling the auditorium, many of them already having occupants. All of the seats were segregated into two different colors. The seating closest to the platform had red cushions, while the stools in the back had blue. Red chairs were meant for the hunters in attendance, while the blue was for guests. Attached to the walls above the ground were fancy-looking platforms made for guild officials and VIPs where they could get a better vantage point and more comfortable seating.

"We should look for somewhere to sit before the discussion starts." Sylas pulled on Velk's shirt to get his attention. The room was a little loud, so it was difficult to hear what Sylas had said, but he caught parts of it. Velk just nodded towards Sylas and started pushing him towards some open seats.

Once they sat down, their sides were flanked quickly by other guests who had either come to watch the rally or were prospective hunters. It was crowded, but since they only had to sit there for three hours, they weren't going to complain about it.

After a couple of minutes passed, a gong was rung. It quickly silenced the room with some shushing. The guild master continued sitting relaxed on her pillow as she waited for everything to start. Once everyone was quiet, she patted down her dress and stood up from her lofty pillow.

She stared at the crowd and cleared her aged voice before speaking. "Welcome, people of the Rak-Al-Faar district. It gives me great gratification to see your bright and beautiful smiles every time a rally comes around." She gave a smile of her own that reached ear to ear.

"Today, we are here to discuss the new rules and regulations that the Hunter's Guild has called enacted and that we are to abide by. We will also talk about the latest findings our hunters and scholars have come across, give decorations to those that earned them, and honor those that have died recently... Let us begin."

The guild master proceeded to call upon a woman standing off to the side carrying a couple of scrolls. Once the guild master had the woman place the scrolls next to her feet, she bent down and snatched one of them up. She unrolled it and began reading off the scroll while occasionally looking up and explaining in detail to guarantee that everyone understood everything.

The scroll she was reading detailed the new regulations put in play, but most of the things said in the scroll had no relevance to Velk. Many of the rules were made to stop hunters from hunting certain monsters in the Old World. Since they were located in the New World, the regulations didn't hold much significance.

The Old World had been put into a delicate balance within the ecosystem. This was due to the large population of humanoids living there. This 'delicate balance' did not exist in the New World yet, so there were almost no restrictions for hunting monsters where they appeared.

There were also a couple of other bits, such as events happening in the capital and various quests needing elite hunters to complete. Many districts do not have the quality of personnel they need to keep themselves well defended; hence, they call for aid elsewhere.

Once the guild master finished reading from the first scroll, she delicately placed it down and picked up a second scroll with her dainty fingers. This new scroll listed off locations discovered in the Old World and the New World. Every district receives the same information and gives it during their rally every three months. While noting was new for the Old World, the New World had many fascinating goodies to be learned and discussed. It was already estimated that the New World was many times larger than the Old World, so it will take many years to explore it all.

The guild master did the same with the second scroll as she did with the first and placed it down before grabbing a third. This third one talked about new wyvern species discovered and any subspecies or variants that had been observed. It detailed an odd-colored Baggi who was a bit more robust than usual. Velk knew what a Baggi was, mainly because it has been mentioned multiple times in the books for beginners he owns.

Velk knows that the baggi is a social bird-type wyvern that can put other creatures to sleep using its saliva. Although the sleep they induce does not usually last long, baggi are quick, so it is almost impossible not to become baggi food if you happen to fall victim to that attack. This baggi was orange-colored, instead of the standard blue, and had a more potent sleep sac, allowing its saliva to be more powerful. Once a male baggi becomes old enough, it will grow in size and become a Great Baggi; this is always followed by an attempt to overthrow the current alpha of the pack. If the orange baggi had been allowed to grow, it might have become an Orange Great Baggi.

Sylas was listening to what the guild master was saying eagerly. This was definitely his sort of thing, and he loved reading about monster variants. Velk enjoyed it too, but he would have rather seen the monster instead of listening about it. It doesn't help that the monster is already dead, and another one will probably not be seen for a long time, if ever.

Moving on to the fourth scroll, it talked about the new plant life and animals discovered. There was nothing all that interesting, but the information was still beneficial. Many will not remember everything said here, so a shortened version is recorded on paper and posted on the guildhall walls so that the hunters can re-read it if needed.

The fifth and final scroll was about new potions, equipment, edible food, and enchantments either made or discovered. A long time ago, an ancient civilization was wiped out. They were experimenting on wyverns and earned their ire. It's not publicly known what destroyed them, but because their actions destroyed the world's 'all-important balance,' they were destroyed by the very wyverns they experimented on. This is why the Hunter's Guild stresses the importance of keeping balance and respecting nature and its denizens.

Numerous ruins were left behind in the wake of the ancient civilization's fall, many of which have been explored and studied thoroughly, each giving considerable knowledge to the Hunter's Guild. This knowledge allowed them to create powerful weapons to hunt the wyverns. They had recordings of Elder dragons and different enchantments they would inscribe onto their gear. That was how unique weapons and armor were able to provide [Skills] to their user.

Many of the 'new' inventions were discovered in ruins and were re-created for the hunters and average citizens. The ruins had also taught many techniques describing how to predict when monsters would attack a settlement or when they would migrate to new regions.

After the guild master was done with the scrolls, she called the woman back to take the scrolls away and called some men to start bringing out some cases and more scrolls. This time, rewards were going to be handed out to the lucky hunters and guild staff. This was an exciting part for those who were not only scholars or academically inclined.

The guild master started to read the names on the scrolls and called upon them to receive their rewards. Rewards varied depending on who the person was and what they did. If they were a hunter, they would earn things, like zenny, weapons, armor, charms, decorations, medals or individual titles, and guild cards advancements. While scholars, engineers, and guild receptionists often received zenny, trophies, and occasionally a title. Titles were rare and few between, though.

One by one, everyone watched as guild members walked up to the stage and received their rewards. Their feats were almost always publicly enounced to the spectators. There was one man who had successfully slain a dangerous Nargacuga nicknamed "Shadow Stalker." He came across it during an expedition tasked with going out and exterminating a Rathian. This Rathian had been causing problems for the surrounding villages.

The man was promoted to a high-rank hunter after returning with the Nargacuga and handing it over to the guild for rewards. This promotion called for a great cheer from the crowd, as it is not often that a hunter is promoted to high-rank, and high-rank hunters are always appreciated.

He was also rewarded with a new title, now going by "Shadow's Bane." Hunters can obtain titles based on the achievements they made for themselves. Ordinary hunters tend to get pretty lame nicknames, if at all, but once you reach high-rank, they become a lot more creative and noteworthy.

After the rewards were passed out, everyone was returned to their seats, and the stage was cleared. It did not take long for an entourage of men and women holding different guild cards to make their way onto the stage and surround a blue fire that had been placed by a well-dressed man, and the guild master stepped forward to address the crowd.

"We will now be moving on to the final section of this meeting; we will honor the dead by sharing their tale and highlighting their achievements. May the Sapphire Star ever guide their path."

Everyone sitting within the crowd suddenly stood to show their respect; this included Velk, Ash, and Sylas. One at a time, a man or woman would step up, holding the fallen member's guild card. Since bodies were often not recovered, it became ceremonial to burn the guild cards instead. They would stand in front of the blazing blue fire and recount the tale of their friend who had died, followed by throwing the guild card into the fire. Occasionally the death was due to old age, and no friends were found for the passing, so the guild would use a well-informed guild receptionist to tell the tale.

The funeral was not very easy for many within the crowd as most people just so happen to know each other within small cities like this one, and the family of the dead guild member almost always showed up. Even if the person had been dead for the last three months, it brings back memories, and multiple cries of grief could be heard throughout the crowd as friends and family told their tales. Velk knew a couple of the fallen, but it did not affect him all that much as he never got to know them very well.

After the funeral, which felt like an eternity, passed. The guild master stepped forward to give a goodby speech to everyone going home and then proceeded to talk about the upcoming event. It was a race that was going to take place while the new hunters were being recruited. The hunters and other guild staff would have to clear five laps while running through the city. There were multiple traps and obstacles placed throughout the roads while the rally was taking place.

The race track had been cleared of citizens so that they would not get in the way, but they were allowed to stay off to the side or in their homes and watch the event take place. Again, everything goes. The guild members were allowed to attack each other, doing anything in their power to win, so long as it did not damage property or life.

The reward is never mentioned until after the event is already over, and there are occasionally rewards for more than just the winner, so even if they knew that they did not stand a chance at winning, most people still joined. If you managed to set up a trap ahead of other racers and prevent them from moving on for a time, you might be rewarded for quick thinking and creativity. Of course, this will probably earn you the disdain of many different participants for a short time, but grudges are rarely held among the common folk.

Velk would not be able to watch the event, but he is excited nonetheless. Today is the day that he will finally become a hunter and begin his adventure. He is supposed to find a guild receptionist after the guild master dismisses them and sign up for the recruitment test along with Ash. If both he and Ash pass, then they can create a bond together through the guild. Thus, becoming hunter and palico.