“Me!”

The red-themed warrior spoke with glee as she stepped forward, her enthusiasm was a complete change from the anger she had displayed earlier; almost a whole different person.

Admin smiled at her self-offer, “Great,” she readily accepted her proposition. There didn’t seem to be a great deal of resistance propped up, perhaps there was no requirement to become a team leader or Jane’s high score contributed to the lack of objection.

Jane smiled at her admittance to the leadership position, her eager fist-pump cemented the clear distinction from her former behavior. Damien was making sure to observe her to the smallest detail, he knew she was capable, and that she was upset with him. All he needed to know now was how her personality functioned in conjunction with both her surroundings and individuals. If her nature was too volatile he would have to keep a closer eye on her and start developing a strategy to deal with her in case her petty anger would evolve into something even more serious.

Refining his thoughts to contemplate the current situation, he inwardly prepared himself to make his next move, “I’ll also volunteer.”

Everyone’s heads turned to face his unanticipated bid for the remaining leader position. Although it had only been a few seconds since Admin had asked for volunteers, and even less since Jane opted in, it was obvious that the others had been thinking about taking the position themselves.

However even if they wished for the position, it was impossible to make an argument for themselves, after all the two people that had stepped up were the two with the highest scores in the Monster Hunting Phase. They would be hard-pressed to even make the opening dialogue that would lead them to start the argument. So they remained silent, except for another warrior. This one, unlike Jane, who had unique armor, was wearing the armor that was issued by the Mercenary Guild.

“Wait a minute,” he interrupted Admin before she verbally accepted Damien as a team leader, “I also want to be a team leader,” her smile never wavered.

“Mister Donovan,” Admin revealed the warrior’s name, he was the one who had reached the number three spot. His tan skin, tall stature, and scowl somehow gave him a feeling of intimidation, he fit the warrior part splendidly. Although Damien had only watched Admin for a few minutes at most, he had already begun to see patterns in the System embodiment’s body language prior to answering things. It wasn’t that he was a great analyzer, it was more fitting to say that Admin ensured that her mannerisms were comprehensible to others, likely to make up for her absence of humanity.

When conversation flowed in one direction without objections, much the same as an explanation, she held her hands behind her back. If at any point there was a misunderstanding, she would bring her hands forward in front of her body as she corrected the confusion. It wasn’t much to go by, but it gave a pretty general idea of how she expressed herself with her body movement, the way she would move if there was no problem and the action she would take when there was one. This was why Damien had a pretty good idea of what she would respond to Donovan’s offer after she brought her arms from behind her and held them in front of her.

“I am sorry to say you may not take a position as leader, unfortunately,” to Donovan’s credit, he did not lose his cool at being rejected, he handled her words with subtle distaste, but he was not angry, he waited for further explanation, “Both Miss Jane and Mister Damien hold higher scoring, even though you displayed a great performance in your own right, I can’t justify giving you that position over these two. I hope you can understand.”

“I see, I do,” he relented to her.

With that explanation the warrior Donovan receded back to the crowd, Damien was partially surprised, he didn’t look like the type to do so.

Should I really be judging people by their appearance? It’s all I got though, so it can’t really be helped.

“Well with that out of the way, allow me to guide you to your rooms,” Admin gave a small bow before she signaled with her hands to follow her out of the great hall.

The crowd of Climbers slowly began to head to the door she was pointing to, but Damien decided to give the current room they were in a quick look, he wanted to memorize the layout of their immediate environment. The room had two identical walls that were adjacent to the wall with the double glass doors that were being pointed to by Admin, on the opposite wall there was a glass display with empty silver containers. The room itself was filled with several rectangle tables with chairs, it was akin to a dining hall.

Is this where we will be eating?

Satisfied with his observation, he headed out with the rest of the Climbers into a large hallway. The walls were made with a grey dull stone, the floor was a set of white and black tiles in checker patterns, but what drew everyone’s attention was the doors at the end of the long hallway. The massive gold and black doors almost occupied the whole wall it was on, the design on the frames was a roaring dragon with jagged horns and sharp claws. It was fantastic craftsmanship he noted.

Admin walked down to the doors and the enormous doors started to open for her, by the time she had reached the end of the hallway the doors had fully opened for her, “Please step inside, I will show you the place where you will all be resting.”

Following behind Admin lead them through the doors and into a new space. Inside there was a small hallway with five doors on each side, at a glance words were inscribed next to each. A closer look revealed that each was a name, the Climber’s names.

“There is an identical hall through the stair to the side,” Admin pointed to their right, a rather elegant white marble stairs lead upstairs, “If you can’t find your name on these doors then simply head upstairs where you will find your own room.”

All the Climbers looked at the doors in both parts trepidation and excitement, for the most part, they had been forced to share rooms with each other up until now with the hospitality the Mercenary Guild had shown them; now they each had a room for themselves.

“These doors will only open for their respective owners, furthermore, only the owner can invite others to step inside. The System believes in privacy so not even the System will know what you do inside each room, which includes the bathroom within. That being said, it's not a completely good thing. The System governs this whole testing arena, and protects you from foul play. That means you will not be able to be attacked by other Climbers or even myself, but if you invite someone to your chambers, the System will not be able to prevent you from being the recipient of harm, so please be careful with who you allow to enter your room, okay?”

The words of Admin brought with them a necessary feeling of distrust for the Climbers, questions started to linger in their mind; why would someone want to hurt you?

Admin once again revealed her almost omniscient knowledge and answered the unspoken concerns, “You might be asking yourself why someone would want to kill their fellow Climbers, and although this doesn’t apply to all tests, it does to some, just like this one. You see, this test will only allow a maximum of three for each position. In the Final Phase, there will be a grading system to see who is worthy of moving on and who isn’t, but even if you prove to be good enough to progress to the next Level, if that limit is reached, the ones with a higher grading will be allowed to go on. That is why it might be worthwhile for some to kill their competition, to ensure they have the room to go on.”

“Wait, you mean that we can kill each other?” a warrior spoke.

A quick survey showed that warriors took up six of the 18 spots of the Climbers that had passed the first Phase, which meant that at the very least two of them would not be able to move on. The problem was more pressing for warriors, it seemed that there were only five rangers and five mages, though Damien was still unsure which were mages and which were clerics. These would only have to worry about a single one of them not making it to the next Level, at the very bottom of this worry were the rogues.

He had already killed four rogues before the test began, although he did it for reasons unrelated to the test, it ended up working in his favor. Only two rogues were in the test, the possibility of not making it due to the limit of four being reached was non-existent for them.

“Now, unfortunately, no clerics were able to progress to this Phase, but we will carry on anyway,” the additional information Admin brought was a small shock to Damien, he had been wondering how exactly a healer would go about damaging things. Especially in an event that was Monster Hunting; a solo test. It seemed that the clerics either died or failed to make the 25 point threshold.

“Tomorrow I will explain the positions a team typically has, why they are important, which are interchangeable, how classes work, why some are preferred over others and everything else. It is important to know these things since, despite the great different challenges you might face in Anathum, these teams will be flexible enough to deal with everything that comes your way. So I implore you to take my lessons to hear.”

Classes? Positions? This is exactly what I was looking forward to learning about.

“At this point, you may feel free to find your room, you are all dismissed,” Admin spoke in her soothing flat voice, but Damien already saw the but coming through her body language, “Except of course for Miss Jane and Mister Damien, unfortunately, due to your roles I must keep you a bit longer to explain some other rules.”

The others, excited to see their rooms, quickly scattered all over the hall to search for their own rooms. Some were quick to find them and head inside with a smile on their face, others had to head upstairs to find their own lodging.

All that remained after the burst of activity was Jane, Damien, and the ever-smiling Admin. Now that everything was out of the way the red warrior was once again throwing a death stare to Damien who was doing his best to ignore her, she was still upset about her loss in the Monster Hunter Phase.

“Perfect, allow me to explain your extra rules you must know as team leaders,” Admin’s words snapped both Jane and Damien’s attention to her, “Although you will be participating in your respected group for class evolution, you will also have to be mindful about your points. Throughout the week, you will receive a task each day. A message will appear through the System to inform you of what that will be, if you complete your task without issue you will be awarded a predetermined amount of points. If you fail or someone becomes aware of what your task is, you will receive a small amount of consolation points. These points will be used at the start of the Final Phase to bid for team members, make sure you buy the team you think will work best.”

The dump of information was not too difficult to follow through, the only problem for Damien was not knowing the nature of the tasks that will be asked of him, he doubted they would be simple, but hoped they would not be incredibly difficult either.

“That being said, don’t forget to pay attention to what you will be learning here, it is very crucial and helpful. Goodnight,” with that final word, Admin disappeared in a flash of light.

With Admin gone only Damien and Jane remained, an awkward silence filled the hall. Damien attempted to extend the proverbial olive branch to his fellow Climber, “Even though we already know our names, I feel it is only right to properly introduce myself. My name is Damien, nice to meet you,” and in defiance to his expectations, the warrior reciprocated his courtesy.

“It’s good to see at least you have manners,” she reached out her hand, and recognizing the gesture to be of mutual understanding he reached out his own, “My name is Jane, although I am upset about losing out on that prize I still feel it necessary to have dignity if my opponent does as well.”

Damien’s genuine gesture of civility had somehow meant something to the warrior, perhaps it was a code of honor or personal motto, but she had recognized him to be a proper opponent.

“Don’t think that I’ll be satisfied with this loss, I’ll gather a great team and beat you in the Final Phase, so don’t start getting overconfident in this small victory over me,” she said to the still surprised Damien. Content with her declaration of her intentions of victory, she headed off to find her room.

Damien watched her strut off and had his mind focus on the short conversation he had just had. The moment Jane had expressed her desire to challenge and beat him, something within him stirred. It was difficult for Damien to understand himself, the System had stripped him of everything that was personal to him, despite that something had remained. And whatever that was, it enjoyed the feeling that came with struggle.

This should be fun.