A door closes gently behind Reid as he approaches an unfamiliar bed. He was given a clean pair of pants and relatively unused shirt, which he promptly threw onto the bed.
"Well they seem nice, we were lucky to find a place like this our first night." Amadeus speaks calmly in the boys head.
"Yeah… That was a first." Reid responds shyly, a small blush reddening his face.
"A first? For what?"
"My first hug. It was… warm." A small smile crept onto they young boy's face.
"That was your first hug? You may have undersold it when you described how rough your childhood was. Well congratulations on the hug." The cold and logical man tries his best to provide some level of comfort to the boy. "By the way, please start working on utilizing our telepathic link. I don't want the people living here to think they took in a lunatic. I'd rather not get kicked out right after finding such a nice shelter."
"Okay, I will. I don't want to leave here either."
"Well, now that we have more time, we should talk about our plans for our future. To start, I want to first understand what drives you. What are your goals and motivations?"
The boy takes some time to consider his answer. "I've never really though about it. All I ever wanted was to have a good talent so my father might accept me. Since that's not happening anymore, I don't really know what else to do."
"That does pose a problem… I could give you some time if you want to think about it."
"Yeah." Reid looks at the clothes in front of him. They were slightly worn, likely some kind of hand-me-down, but he wasn't going to complain. He begins to change into them as he asks his new companion a question. "Mr. Amadeus, what is your goal?"
"To understand the rules and laws that make up this world. I was actually pretty close to accomplishing it before my god came to stop me. I was defeated shortly after and sent here. My goal is still the same but this world is so very different on a fundamental level that I might as well be starting from scratch."
"That sounds really difficult. I don't think I could ever do something like that."
"Most would consider it an impossible goal, or at least one that cannot be completed in just one lifetime. Even so, I refuse to deny my desires. I will pursue this path to the very end. That is what my goal means to me. Something I can dedicate my whole life to."
"Wow that's awesome Mr. Amadeus. Do you think I could ever find something like that?"
"Of course, although you likely won't find it immediately. Some people can go their whole life without finding that special something, so no need to rush. For now we could just try to find some broad goal you can work towards."
"Okay like what?" The kid asks as he finishes changing.
"I'll just name some general interests, let me know if anything speaks to you. Let's see… there's getting stronger, becoming wealthy, gaining status, helping others, gaining recognition, falling in love, fighting discrimination, creating a business, spreading peace, becoming a hero, advancing the sciences. Anything there catch your attention?"
The boy tugs on his new shirt nervously. "There was one… I… Think I want to gain recognition." The boy answers slowly.
"Okay, we can work with that. This temporary goal could even be symbiotic with my own, to a degree at least. What led you to choose that one?"
"I… just want to prove that I'm not an abomination. That my life wasn't a mistake. That even I can be someone."
*Knock knock*
Cynthia calls to them from the other side of the door "Dinner is ready, come down if you're done changing."
"Okay, I'm coming." He quickly turned around and opened the door.
"Oh my, you look lovely! Follow me, the others are excited to meet you."
A warm smile stays plastered on her face as she leads the boy down the stairs and into the kitchen. After passing through a large open doorway they find themselves in front of a cozy dining table. Around the table sat 5 kids of varying ages with one adult seated at its head.
"Alright everyone, now that we're all here I'd like to introduce the newest member of our family. Say hello Reid!" Cynthia says while gesturing to the boy.
"Hello." He answers shyly.
Cynthia sees his nervousness and continues the conversation in his place. "As you can see, we may not be the biggest orphanage, but we make up for it by being much closer with each other than any other." She looks over to the kids at the table. "How about we go around the table and introduce ourselves. Danny can you start us off?"
The oldest child, a young man around 15 with chestnut brown hair and a solid build answers. "Okay, well I'm Danny. Right now I'm in training to join the town guard, so if you're ever in any kind of trouble you can rely on me to help you out." He shows a toothy grin before looking at the kid next to him.
"I'll go next, name's lance. Make sure to remember the name 'cuz I'm gonna be the greatest hunter this towns ever seen!" The scrawny red headed teen of around 13, flashes a cocky smile.
"I'm Anna. I'm in the same hunting party as this idiot. We may only be F rank, but we still make enough to help out at the orphanage." A beastkin girl with golden hair, fox ears, and a large bushy tail answers with a smile on her face. Despite being the same age as the boy she had a far more mature demeanor and was much taller than him as well, which created an odd dynamic between the two. Reid can't help but being drawn in by her delicate features.
"And we-"
"Hey! Who are you calling an idiot! Also don't go around putting our personal business out there! You just killed my whole intro!" Lance quickly interjects while cutting off the others.
"No fair!" "Yeah, it's supposed to be our turn to introduce ourselves." "Lance you meanie!" The last two kids, dark elf twin girls who were 11 years old, pouted at lances interruption.
*Tsk* "Yeah, my bad, go ahead." He says as he glares angrily at Anna for getting him in trouble.
"I'm Faerie. I'm the older twin and I like reading." The girl whose eyes were a bright gold and whose silver hair was long and straight, answered in a calm and quiet voice.
"I'm Faeth. I'm the younger twin and I like flowers." The girl whose eyes were a bright red and whose silver hair was short and braided in the front, answered with a sunny disposition.
An older woman with a stern expression who sat at the head of the table was the last to introduce herself. "I suppose I should introduce myself as well. I am Mary and I am the proprietress of this orphanage. I hope that you can get along with the others."
"Yes Ma'am. It's a pleasure to meet you all. I hope we can get along as well." Reid answers nervously.
"As much as I appreciate the manners there is no need for such a thing here. We're all a family here, just talk as you normally would. Now come sit down, we're having Vergen soup tonight and I'm quite confident you'll like it." With that Cynthia and Reid sit down at the table, plates already made for them. Lively conversation breaks out almost immediately as Lance starts telling stories about his 'glorious adventures'.
Amadeus suddenly speaks up in Reid's head. "Reid, about what they said earlier, what does being a hunter entail? And what is the purpose of the ranks?"
"What's a hunter?" Reid asks to double check. He didn't realize until it was too late that he was speaking out loud.
"Oh, you wanna know huh? Well you've come to the perfect person. Let me break it down for you." Lance answers the unintended question, still keeping his cocky smile. "Hunters are super awesome fighters that beat up monsters and save people."
"Lance that's a horrible description." Anna quickly takes over. "When people say they're hunters, normally it means they've joined the hunters guild. It's a place where they take on various requests to earn money. Its similar to the mercenaries guild except instead of fighting people, hunters focus on fighting monsters and finding things out in the wild. Also hunters have a different ranking system then mercenaries do. They can go from from G to A rank. Oh! And then there are the s-ranks and starred hunters above that, but those people are like living legends. Everyone starts at the bottom as a G rank, but you can level up by taking a rank up exam from the guild. The requirements get harder and harder as you go up and rank." Anna explains clearly, obviously she is the brains of the party.
"But what about the glory!?!" Lance complains. "You cant talk about hunters without talking about how cool they are."
"What glory? We've only been doing G rank quests until a couple weeks ago!"
"Annaaa! C'mon, you're making us look lame."
The two go back and forth for a while before Reid shyly butts into the argument. "Um, what exactly is a quest?"
"Sorry, I was getting there before I was interrupted." She shoots Lance a look before continuing. "Quests are how hunters make money. People go through the guild to request all kinds of things, the guild takes that request, figures out how dangerous it'll be, and give it a rank. Hunters can only take quests of the same rank as them unless they have a large enough party or the guild gives them special permission. G rank quests are typically just busy work and don't have any real danger associated with them. F and E rank quests have a little bit of danger, they include things like gathering quests or hunting animals. D rank and above are where the real danger starts. That's where you start having to deal with monsters and stuff."
"Plus the pay gets way better as you get higher ranked. I'm just about to hit E rank, and once I do we'll start rolling in money!" Lance boldly proclaims.
"Didn't you fail the last 3 combat exams you tried?" Danny asks with a smile on his face.
"S-So what?! I was just feeling a bit sick last time. This time it'll be a cake walk!"
"Sure, sure. Then how about we start training together like we used to? I'm about to start having the evenings off, we can do it then."
"Really?" Lance's eyes light up.
"Yeah, you're gonna need all the help you can get to rank up."
"Thanks!... Hey wait a minute." The rest of the kids start laughing at his delayed reaction.
"Do you have an interest in becoming a hunter?" Mary asks in a calm voice.
"I… think it could be interesting. How are you supposed to become one anyway?" Reid answers, not yet sure what he wants.
"If I remember correctly from when we helped Lance and Anna apply, there were only 3 requirements. First is to be at least 13, now correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe you meet that requirement."
"Yes ma'am." he answers shyly.
"Second is to take a short test which focuses on the guilds rules and how to operate properly as a hunter. Last, they require you to use a divination tablet to record your mana signature. They do that to prevent fraud within the guild"
"Divination tablet? Not a stone?" Reid asks, confused.
Anna steps in to answer his question. "No, a divination tablet is kinda like an upgraded version of a divination stone. The tablet can print the information it sees straight onto your guild card. You use the guild card to accept and turn in quests so you gotta make sure not to lose it."
"Oh, okay." A nervous look took over his face at the thought of having his actual information recorded by the divination tablet. "Thanks…"
That's when Lance gets an idea. "Hey, how about we take you to the guild tomorrow? We can show you the ropes and get you signed up!" Enthusiasm filling his speech.
"And what about the test…" Anna quickly takes the wind out of his sails
"Oh right… Just trust your gut! Hunters gotta have good instincts, right?"
"But you failed your first test, right?" Faerie asks.
"And you even studied before you took it." Faeth points out.
"Uhhh." Lance had no comeback for their brutal honesty.
"Oh right!" Cynthia quickly gets up from her seat and leaves the room. She returns a moment later with a smile on her face and a book in her hands. "Here, you can use this."
Cynthia hands a book labeled 'Basic Guide to Hunting' to Reid. "The first chapter is all you would need to know to pass the entrance test, but the rest is supposed to be really helpful to new hunters. If you really want to be one you should read through the whole thing, or at least that's what the receptionist told me back when I bought it for the kids. Now, I think you should take some time getting used to living here before you start running off to the hunters guild, but I know kids your age aren't the best at staying still. So if you go, just be sure to stay safe, okay?"
"Okay, I promise. And thanks everyone."
Anna is the first to respond. "No problem. And if you really do become an hunter we'd be happy to help you out with your first couple quests."
"What! But we just stopped having to do those lame que-" A sudden elbow under the table interrupts his line of thought.
"Like I said, we'd be glad to help." Anna says, ignoring the pain from the boy next to her.