Faction Recruitment P1

"To all who have joined us on this lovely day! WELCOME! TO THIS YEARS FACTION RECRUITMENT EVENT!" The commentator shouted out with excitement.

"This year we are joined by some of the biggest factions on the rise! We are even joined by the famous Shadow Temple!"

"We have countless smaller factions so I will tell you about the big 5! Now do remember that this isn't ranked at all! This is just the top 5 factions in our opinions!

"First! We have Terra's Might! A faction that is well known for their best tankers that can go toe to toe with the boss! Some of their best achievements involve the clearing of the C ranked raid, Tyrant Earth Gorgon, in just 2 hours!!" The announcer called out as a group of people walked towards the centre stage.

Their uniform was a combination of black, green and gold.

"Haaa!!" They shouted in sync as a huge rock golem in the shape of a dragon appeared behind them.

*URAAAAAHH!!!!!!

The dragon roared out, caused the ground to shake from just its voice alone.

'Huh. How rare.' Shiro thought as she knew what this was.

The earth dragon golem was a combination skill. A rare skill that combines the might of several mages to form a single avatar. Or in this case, the earth dragon.

While its strength cannot be compared to an actual earth dragon, it was still a fearsome golem.

Flexing its wings, the earth dragon posed with a majestic aura.

*UOHHHH!!!!!!!

The crowd cheered with fervour seeing the dragon.

"Wow! It's an actual dragon!" Lyrica cheered as well, clearly impressed by the dragon.

Shiro only smiled since she didn't want to burst Lyrica's bubble just yet.

The Terra Might walked to the corner of the stage with the dragon posing intimidatingly behind them.

"NEXT! We have the Seraphim's Call! AKA the holy guild. They are famed for their healers and attackers which harness the light element! With an astounding record of single-handedly protecting a stronghold from a monster wave! They are a rising powerhouse you should keep your eyes on!"

After the introduction, light burst down from the skies while a group of people could be seen walking onto the stage.

*DONG!~

The sound of a bell rang out as quartz pillars rose up from the ground. Mist covered their area of the stage, making them seem more holy.

When they came into view, everyone could see a group of handsome men and beautiful women. They wore outfits that were clearly inspired by the Olympus style of clothing from Greek mythology.

Raising their hands in the air, they snapped their fingers.

With the snap, a portal opened up and a statue of an angel appeared with a golden harp.

A gentle melody rang out as the angel started to play the harp. Each flick of the string gave a buff to Seraphim's Call.

The angel was a summoning spell that granted the entire party a buff for a short duration.

Shiro watched with a neutral expression, clearly not happy with the whole 'holy' theme they were going with. It just reminded her more and more of the light-bearing hero.

'Pretentious f*ckers.' Shiro thought with disdain.

Walking to their side of the stage, Seraphim's Call had the angel stand behind them.

"With an icy hellscape wherever they go, we have the Winter's Grace!! One of the strongest contenders to join the high tier factions!! Their ice magic is especially fearsome and could even help one jump levels! One of their biggest achievements consisted for finishing a raid 10 levels above them with no casualties sustained!"

After the short introduction, the stage burst into a snowstorm.

Shiro looked up at the snowstorm with a frown.

Even though she was this far away, she was sure the snowstorm would surpass her's in every aspect.

Especially the temperature. If she was to be hit by that, she would definitely be frozen over easily.

*Boom!

The snowstorm exploded apart as it started to snow gently in broad daylight. The sunlight reflecting off the snow made it seem like it was snowing diamonds. Within the 'diamond dust', a group of people dressed in white and blue could be seen.

While they didn't have a mascot/avatar/guardian behind them, the aura they released was more than enough to make their presence known.

Walking to their side of the stage, they restricted the snow to only fall around them. This made it seem like a portion of the stage was ripped right from a snowy mountain.

"We now have the Shattered Dynasty! Leaving only the destroyed corpse of every monster they see. The Shattered Dynasty's attack power is not to be underestimated! Armed with a skill passed down through the generations, they hold the title of the supreme spear!"

5 giant spears materialised into existence above the stage.

The spears were gold in colour, measuring about 10 meters long and had a monstrously sharp edge that made people feel like they were getting cut just by looking at it.

The people from the Shattered Dynasty stood atop the spear. Their uniform was coloured gold and red with a hint of eastern culture within their design choice.

Flying over to their side of the stage, the spears hung ominously behind them.

"And finally! We have the famous Shadow Temple!!! There is not much to say about them except for the fact that you, DO NOT! WANT TO BE THEIR ENEMY!!!"

A tornado appeared in the centre of the stage with purple lights appearing at certain intervals.

A pair of glowing purple eyes appeared in the tornado as it brought the sense of unease to everyone.

*Boom!

The tornado scattered as what was inside was an avatar of the grim reaper. A deadly scythe hung on its back while the members of the Shadow Temple stood under the bringer of death.

With all five of the best factions introduced, the commentator then proceeded to explain the rules.

"For this years Faction recruitment, we'll spice things up a little! The first stage will be a king of the hill type of event. Today will be the warrior's division and tomorrow the mages division. We'll split up the warriors into several blocks of 1,000 contestants. Each of you will be fighting your way to the top of an artificial mountain. The mountain has several layers with each layer only being able to contain a certain amount of people.

"On the top layer, there will be the top 10. Whoever finishes in the top 10 will earn a red ribbon. The next layer would be the top 100 and the finishers of this layer will get a blue ribbon. Top 500 will earn a green ribbon and the last layer will get a white ribbon. Naturally, this applies to the mages division as well!

"The ribbons will then be classified into their own group for this event. The red sector, blue sector and so on. The top winners of each group will get their own rewards with the winner of the red sector having the most bountiful reward of all.

"Due to the sponsors we have in this year's faction recruitment, the winner will earn a berserk power fruit! This fruit will not only grant you a tremendous increase in stats, but also a suitable berserk type skill for you!" The commentator shouted out.

A group of mages flew into the airspace and spread out their hands.

*GURURURURUR!!!!!

The earth started to shake as tens of arenas rose up into the air. Thankfully, due to the fact that they held the faction recruitment every year, there had more than enough space to accommodate the tens of arenas.

The arenas were set up in a way so that the top layer would be bombarded from all sides.

"Alright guys, let's go draw our ticket lots. Close quarter combat classes come with me." The teacher called out as she was familiar with the process they had to go through.

[Good luck you two. I'll be watching.] Shiro typed with a smile.

"Watch me get that red ribbon!" Lyrica said as Shiro only chuckled.

"It's not as easy as you think Lyrica. You'll see." Madison only shook her head.

The duo stood up as they walked towards the teacher.

Seeing the two walk away, Shiro could only chuckle at how far they managed to progress. Through pushing themselves, both of them managed to reach level 20 and above in a few short days. Without constant struggling between life and death, they wouldn't be able to advance this fast.

'If I'm going to make a party for us, I would need to fill out the basic formation first.' Shiro thought as she started to form the basic team composition in her mind.

'If possible, I wanted Silvia to be my healer since she has the rare class, Grand Healer. Lyrica will be the vanguard. Helion would also be good as a vanguard. Madison will be the tanker. We'll definitely need another tanker to help split the burden.

'I can be centre since I can shift between tanker, crowd control and damage dealer. Now I'm only missing an Assassin, an Archer, and another Mage.' Shiro thought as having every role filled out was important.

'But then again, I am being a little optimistic with the thoughts of Helion and Silvia joining the party. Therefore, with only me, Lyrica and Madison; I need a minimum of 4 more people.

'Once I have the basic composition, the best thing to do next would be to find a second healer. Having to heal the entire team alone would be too much pressure on just one healer alone. She needed to share the burden.

'After getting a second healer would be a second tank.' Shiro thought as making an efficient party was going to be hard work.

"Ai… so troublesome eh little Yin? Not only do I need 4 more people to make the basic foundation of the party, but I also need another healer and tanker. Not just anyone will do either. I need people I can trust and people who are reliable. Ai so difficult." Shiro said as she played around with Yin.

Yin chirped in agreement.

Meanwhile, Lyrica and Madison got their numbers and found that they were placed in different blocks.

"Good luck." Lyrica said as she gave Madison a thumbs up.

Madison wrapped her arm around Lyrica's shoulder and whispered into her ear.

"So how is the progress between you and Shiro?"

"HUEHHH!!!!" Lyrica cried out in surprise. Her odd scream attracted the attention of the surrounding people.

Blushing heavily she looked back at a grinning Madison.

"What do you mean?! There is no progress!" Lyrica said as Madison grinned further.

"So you're not denying the fact that you're trying to progress with her."

"NO! GO SHOO!" Lyrica said as she ran away to the arena.

Madison only chuckled as she had plenty of time to watch everything unfold.

Lyrica, who ran away, panted slightly while trying to stop her blush.

However, what Madison said kept ringing in her mind as she looked over in Shiro's general direction.

Biting her lip slightly, she sighed and turned away.

Walking to the arena, she was given a special armband and weapon.

The weapon and the armband were items that connected to each other. Whenever the 'damage' caused using the weapon passed a certain threshold, the wearer of the armband would be pushed down a layer.

This would ensure that no one would get harmed too badly while also not restraining their combat powers by much. 

Twirling the sword in her hand, Lyrica made sure she got a general feel for the weapon.

She wanted to get the red ribbon so she could impress Shiro.

"WARRIORS GET READY!" The commentator shouted out as the screen shifted to the different arenas.

"On your marks!"

Lyrica adjusted her footing while she narrowed her eyes at the other contestants.

"Get set!"

She could see the other contestants activating a few of their skills so she too activated hers. It was an aura type skill she got on her class advancement to Elven Bladedancer.

[Thousand Blade Aura.]

This skill increased her speed and power for a limited amount of time. Both the cooldown and backlash was rather mild so she could use it at the start of this fight.

A silver glow wrapped around her body and the sword she had in her hand. Since it was just a normal sword, she couldn't fight to the best of her ability.

However, as Shiro once said, that is no excuse. Since she had the hidden proficiency, it meant that her body had the potential to move in such a way with different weapons as well. It was just a matter of practice and experience. 

Since she could get into the rhythm with the daggers, she could get into the rhythm with the sword.

"START!"

Dashing forwards, Lyrica crouched low to avoid the initial scramble.

Fighting wasn't her top priority right now. Getting to the top was. The longer she waited, the harder it would be for her to reach there.

Lyrica's eyes became focused as her mind calmed down. She was slowly getting into her rhythm.