Ash found himself standing in front of the Marksman hall. The decision to pick a Division took him a long while, and as excruciating as it was, he had to pick one amongst them, which happened to be Marksman, for reasons that were somewhat simpler than others would think.
The melee Divisions weren't an option since he was extremely weak and would most likely end up dead if he tried it. The mage was obvious since he couldn't use magic, he couldn't join the heavy artillery because there needed more power and muscle, the support and engineers were mainly utility workers and didn't match the plans he had in mind.
With no other option, the only thing he had left were the Marksman who were somewhat the most flexible division around, being charged with the stealth aspect, he didn't really know much about them but it was obvious that the scouts usually came from this division and that was the role he needed if he wanted his plan to work and survive while doing so.
" I need a break, " Ash said in a low tone, moving his sore body into the hall, which gave him a surprise; there were not many people inside.
He thought maybe it was because he was early, but it grew obvious as time went on that they were not much, doing a mental headcount, he noticed they were nothing more than three hundred in the hall, sparsely scattered around in small clusters.
" everyone in the hall except the kid head to the drill field " a voice called out drawing his attention as well as the others as all eyes were suddenly on him, some accessing others were not so interested in him just wanting to know who the person was talking about which was so much different from the batch that he came from, as if he wasn't worth much which was a good thing in a sense as it meant less attention given.
Soon the hall was empty leaving Ash who now was curiously looking around, the hall was wide made of brick from the outside it was too unassuming lacking any attractiveness until you got in that he noticed how different they were compared to the sixth hall, automated steel bench on the left part of the hall while the right part had racks filled with many bows and a lot of quivers stacked with a few close range weapons mixed within, the middle had three raised platform separated by two pillars on each side of the platform making six of them arranged in the middle.
Despite these details the hall carried a very gloomy air which was something that he noticed the moment he got into the hall but didn't put it in mind since they were people present but now it was more pronounce being very eerie making him uncomfortable, the wall had marks and scars that looked like they had been done by claws while some others looked like it was done by blades.
He didn't really notice it before, but now it was more pronounced and more eerie than normal. He had seen marks before, but these seemed very much enticing. He had the urge to touch and observe the nature of the marks, mostly the ones that looked like they were made by monsters at the same time; he didn't want to move.
It was as if his body didn't want to move and at the same time he longed to go, after a long struggle he closed his eyes trying to calm his mind he didn't really notice at first but now it was like he was under a sort of hex spell that messed with his mind ' this is bad ' he thought trying to put his mind in order but it was all to no avail, if anyone wanted him dead it would be obvious that they would do it when he was alone and obviously he was defenseless against it.
The attack continued for a while before suddenly coming to a stop, leaving a heavy oppressive feeling on both his body and his mind and a ringing sound in his ear that lingered, he wanted to speck but suddenly found no voice to do so, he moved his fingers and they responded making him to release a sigh of relief but suddenly had a bad premonition.
Looking up his breath suddenly seized looking at the strange environment that he found himself , he was currently in the same hall but something was off and it didn't take him a long time to find out what was wrong with it , it had somehow become new but the same time didn't seem like it was totally different with those scars and cut marks had disappeared replaced by horizontal and vertical lines that were looked like they were drawn by hand but were glowing joining with other lines at some point .
the racks were missing even the training platforms had disappeared leaving what looked like tiled floor but now riddled with marks, his attention soon turned to the middle of the hall where two figures now stood one was a monster who looked like a breed between a human and a wolf looking close to eight feet in height, the creature was almost entirely black even the mana that surged and crackled around him like lightning giving off a lethal but dangerous vibe that gave him goosebumps.
The other was a human who looked like he didn't really care about anything. He had a tall body, but still not enough to close to the wolf-human; he was resting on a long pole, having a calm smile with one hand on his dark hair, combing it back. The two seemed to be in a heated argument. The wolf seemed angry, trying to relay it with words, but the other didn't seem to care, making it angrier.
When he tried to listen, he couldn't hear or make out anything that they were saying. When he tried to move his body, it felt odd, like it wasn't his feeling way heavier than normal, even way worse than when the attack first hit him. He tried to talk, but his voice was nowhere to be found.
He struggled under the immense pressure trying to lift his body which buckled under the pressure refusing to respond, even his thoughts now seemed muddled under the pressure but he still tried moving his body " hey " a voice called out to him before he raised his head looking at the figure which was the young man who now stood in front of him with the wolf-human, he got down to his level and whispered to his ears in an ominous tone
"Watch carefully "