The party had spent almost an hour around the dinner table, throwing all manner of names around. Starting with 'Jack's Emporium' going all the way to 'Heavenly path' or 'Grand Constellation.' It had to be noted that more than half the suggestions were made in jest, the joke clear thanks to either the barely contained laughter of the one suggesting the name or the sheer ridiculousness of the name itself, or sometimes both. Of course, some of the names were pretty decent, made with quite a bit of thought behind them.
"How about 'Stolen Constellation'?" thoughtfully asked Emi, explaining her thought process a short moment later. "We were unknowingly stolen from our homes and plunged into a cold and unforgiving world trying its best to either make us suffer or outright kill us, and all for some convoluted reason no one could properly explain. Salvation, some would say. Others still would call it a trial we must pass. And so, we were stolen, and we will be a guiding light for countless others. Of that I am certain. Much like the constellations had been used for centuries to guide the way of seafarers, so will we guide others. Thus, Stolen Constellation."
"Damn, Emi. That's good. Really, really good." Jack hummed, more than just pleased with the latest suggestion. He could also clearly see the rest of his group were more than happy with it as well. Some could perhaps say that the name was somewhat pretentious, a claim to power or grandness that did not rightly belong to them, but what did they know? Who would they be to tell what was and was not right for a god to choose as his guild's name?
"It's surprisingly simple, yet has a flair and meaning to it that describes us all. Even our sweet little Viki could easily identify with the name. Plenty was stolen from her, and she too will one day shine like a star in a constellation that will guide countless souls." Izumi nodded in agreement, more than pleased with Emi's offer.
"Anyone not feeling the name, or are we in agreement?" Jack asked, adding, "Don't be afraid to speak up people. We are a team, and we need to be on the same wavelength in things like this. We can always think of something else if needed." There was no urgency in his tone, just a simple desire to have a unified decision.
"Dad's right you people!" Kenji chimed in, clearly happy with the name suggested, but at the same not passing by such a golden opportunity to use Jack's weapons against himself.
"Precisely." Jack quickly interjected, all too aware of a possible mutiny were he to not act in a timely manner, thus he decided to take the matter in his own hands and steer it in a more desirable direction. "So speak up. And in case there are no objections, I would like you all to use your adventurer ID's to mark this fine document right over here." he explained as he placed a rather odd looking scroll that almost screamed fantasy scrolls of magic or the like. it looked like some weathered parchment, with what looked like very aged and slightly crumbling sides. Of course all that was just a visual effect , as Jack had been told by the receptionist at the adventurer's guild branch in the city when he had gone over to inquire about the necessary steps to register one's own guild. Unlike the adventurer's guild however, he learned that other similar entities, founded by anyone else really, were not called guilds in official setting and documents, but were referred to as 'Interras'. A word originating from some locals misunderstanding and butchering the meaning of 'inner circle' of friends gathered for a single purpose.
Happy to see that he had managed to distract the kids and steer them in a more desirable direction, he went on and explained everything they needed to know, whether it be about the lore and symbolism of both the scroll, the reason for its appearance and so on and so forth, to the reasoning behind the name of Interras and of other things further still on the subject. Only another couple of hours later did he got around to explain the actual mechanics about the usage of the scroll itself, though that did earn a few groans in Jack's direction.
"Really? That simple? And you lectured us for TWO HOURS for that?" Fumiko had groaned and complained at the end, only to quickly hide her face and averting her eyes when Jack gave her his best attempt at a resting bitch face. He was well aware of just how disturbing could ones visage be when a god in all but flesh dried even just a little bit. The action did serve a twofold cause, as the rest of the kids also refocused on the scroll in front of them and the task at hand.
Thankfully, unlike Jack's lore sharing, the kids got through registering themselves with the scroll, followed by just as swift a group of Alonso and his compatriots, accompanied by Viki who was quite nervous.
"Don't worry so much Viki." Jack spoke as he walked over and patted her head gently, utilizing his newfound skill to calm shaken girls around him with gentle headpats and a reassuring small smile on his lips. "You might still have some doubts about your place among us, but as both I and everyone around you here have said numerous times already, it should be time to drop said same worries aside. It should actually be the reverse. If you want to worry about something, then worry about us never letting you go. Like a proper family, we will cling to you till our dying breath, never giving up no matter how low you fall."
"R-really?" she looked up in Jack's eyes to see not a single trace of falsehood, or at least so her mind told her. Jack did more than just stood there as he replied, slowly turning her around to face the rest of the group.
"What does it look like to you from here?"
"Thank you." a quiet few words of gratitude left her lips as tears of joy streamed down her small face. The reflection of decently sized group of youngsters looking her way with smiles and fondness in their eyes told more than thousands of words could ever convey.
"We are a big and happy family, and our guild, of which we all hope you will be a part of, would just be the extension of that family. And sure, with time some new members might earn a place there, but so long as I am the guildmaster of it, there will be extremely strict vetoing system to ensure no undesirables could sneak their way in, for I am sure we will become a well known group sooner rather than later."
With the small pepe talk out of the way, Viki too soon had registered herself with the scroll, becoming the only actual native of this world to become a founding member of the Stolen Constellation Interra.
-----------------------------------
Gifted. What an interesting group of people, commanding as many different perceptions about the group at large as there were people around. The common folk saw them as myths manifested in flesh, walking among them to carve their own legends that would be told for thousands of years. Be it of their valor, vanquishing evil wherever they went, or of their courage, standing against armies of monsters and prevailing- protecting the weak and needy behind their broad backs and unyielding spirit. Or worse still- of their bloodthirst and monstrous nature, as they embodies the very demons others of their kind had vowed to exterminate, leaving nothing but rivers of blood, mountains of corpses and piles of ash in their wake.
For merchants, the gifted were a gamble, with each new member of their type being a gamble of sorts. Did this one look just promising enough to invest a large amount of their treasury reserves, all on the off chance that said gifted would soar and in doing so earn said merchant more money than he could spend. Did said gifted seem like riddled with vices, more likely than not to fall to the way of evil, resulting in not only wasted investment, but possibly even in the death of the merchant for assisting in said calamities growth? Or any other possible measurement of cost benefit analysis they all made on a daily basis in their sphere of work.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Then there were nobles. Some would say the most important part of the populace at large, and they too had their own issues to tackle when it came to the gifted. Much like the merchants, they too weighted the pros and cons of each individual gifted in question, deciding whether or not to offer not only their physical assistance, be it in money or otherwise- like for example passing laws in their governed territories that gave said gifted's special privileges and what not. Whether to offer then a rank among their lines, mostly starting with the title of knight and perhaps slowly working their way up the social ladder. Or in some cases, forbidding certain gifted's from doing business within their lands.
Last, but definitely not the least, and some would even dare to sat that the most important if all the groups, were the clans, and the single establishment that held any sort of authority with them- adventurer's guild. Clans were, as the name might already suggest, a collection of smaller- usually consisting mostly of a certain race- guilds, or as they were referred as Interras, united in their desire to ensure their own continued survival and growth. One would assume that with high level individuals in numbers aplenty among them, this particular objective was easy to achieve, though they would be dead wrong.
Not only were there plenty of conflicts among the clans as they vied for the best resource locations within the ever, even if relatively slowly shrinking civilised lands, but the dungeons that spawned and demanded the immediate attention of a large number of them also ensured a relatively high casualty rate, creating a never-ending demand for fresh and capable help. It was here that the gifted came into the clans, earning their place among them and access to better and better resources as they earned their place. For clans themselves, the gifted were a blessing- a tool to begin with that would slowly grow into a person said clan would call their own, or bury and quickly forget if their expectations had not been met in a reasonable time frame.
And the adventurers guild? For them gifted were the common currency they dealt in, for nearly all of the gifted summoned with sooner rather than later pop up in one of their branches, or any city really, to get their own adventurer ID at the very least. It was also why clans even cared about the opinion of the adventurers guild. Being banned or scorned by the guild was too much risk for the large clans, cutting of their available pool of new recruits or helping hands in easily available and known location- all they would need to do was visit the guild and issue a quest to have said issue solved in a timely manner.
It was precisely because of their unique standing amongst all other groups and forces that adventurer's guild had that allowed their employees- namely attendants, butchers and so on and so forth- shared a rather unique perspective as well. Unlike most other people, the guilds employees looked almost bored when interacting with the gifted. Snide remarks and sarcasm was a daily necessity for them, seemingly a point marked down in their contract regarding the number of times and the severity of said remarks.
"So, how can I be of assistance?" asked a middle aged brunette as she lazily looked at Jack who had just reached her workstation on the other side of the counter. The boredom and clear lack of care apparent in her voice.
"Here to deliver a signed new guild registry."
"New Interra registry you meant. Details matter." she snickered as she stretched out her hand "Gimme."
Jack did not reply, though he did as asked, placing the old looking scroll in her hand.
"Let's see, let's see." she hummed and unrolled the scroll as she placed it on a magical device right next to her, transferring the data from the scroll to their system.
"Hmm, hmm. No warrant or bounties on any of your heads? Check."
"The minimal number of founding members achieved? Check."
"Starting balance of the new Interra?" she asked, her eyes darting towards Jack, who then fished out a small bag of coins from his shirt and placed it on the counter, only to earn a raised eyebrow from the receptionist.
"Come love, there is not nearly enough silver coins to cover the registration fee and the minimal balance needed for the new Interra."
"Not silver coins though." Jack calmly replied, though he could already start getting a teeny-tiny bit annoyed. Thankfully, the receptionist was smart enough to not scoff and quickly grabbed the small pouch and emptied it in a bowl on the counter, revealing almost twenty gold coins as they fell on one another, a pleasant sound of gold clinking resounding across the hall. At this point the woman seemed unable to resist as she quipped.
"Rich little shits, are you? Did lord daddy sponsored you all?"
"Do accidents often happen with people in your line of work?" Jack asked, his face still the epitome of calm, though there was something unnerving in his voice that quickly shut up the clerk, though at the same time another few of her co-workers were glancing over to see the entertainment.
"Heh. If I had at least a silver coin each time similar things were said to me here, I would be a rich lady already indeed."
"Doubt it. How many fresh gifted's near level twenty have you mouthed off to in mere months after their summoning?" Jack asked calmly, earning the proper reaction he was expecting. It was precisely the clack of her jaw and the bulging of her eyes as she read the founders list more accurately now that had caused her reaction, for along with the founders name, their level was also displayed in the info the scroll had recorded.
"Let's see, let's see, what fun can we find here?" one of the co-workers spoke as he leaned over the relatively shorter brunette that was servicing Jack and glanced in the screen "Stolen Constellation? Heh, someone seems a bit too high on their freshly attained power from the tutorial."
His smirk did not last long, as the moment he raised his eyes towards Jack, ready to unleash another few insults his way, he was met by a rather odd sight. A extended hand reaching right near his forehead, three fingers stretched out straight with the forth was held by the thumb.
'A flick? The fuck?' a momentary thought passed through the man's mind before his head was impacted with what felt like a hammer, knocking him out on the spot even as his body flew back a meter or two before landing on the floor like a sack of potatoes.
"Breach of privacy. You should know your own rules better than I do." Jack spoke loud enough for all to hear, stopping them in their tracks. What the man had done, was a clear violation of guilds rule that stated that no other attendant was allowed access to the documents handled unless the one handling them had asked the adventurers permission and requested assistance after said permission had been granted.
Jack was wearing all his equipment, not the mercenaries though, so he could show a bit more of his physical prowess without earning suspicious and greedy looks while also ensuring no other entitled fools walked over any time soon. The brunette was still going through the founders list- her eyes going larger and larger as she was cross referencing the names with the guild's database. As it turned out, Stolen Constellation's founders list contained some pretty impressive names with enough rare classes and even a couple of epic ones to boot. Add to that the fact that almost all of them were gifteds as well as that the small heroes group from the recently defended monster tide was among them and what little snarky and sarcastic remarks the brunette had she swallowed hard.
"E-everything seems to be in order sir. Please wait a few minutes while the information is being jotted down and saved in our databases." She added a moment later "I can't help but notice that you have forgotten to fill out the recruitment criteria for any would be applicants. I could do that for you if you'd like?"
"We are not recruiting." Jack answered calmly, earning another gobsmacked expression from the poor brunette.
Jack calmly stood in front of the counter, his mind wandering around to random thoughts as he waited for the process to finish as the receptionist droned off in the background about the benefits of Interra and what additional services the adventurer's guild could provide. A few minutes later still, the registration was done and she handed Jack a small box she took out from another device nearby. Inside, twenty small insignias laid, all adorned with the small crest Jack had come up with and gotten the green light from his Interra. A stylized hand reaching for a cluster of stars was depicted on the insignias, proving the affiliation of those wearing one.
"COngratulations sir on the formation of your Interra- the Stolen Constellation."
Jack Raja(?)
Age- 27
Species- human(?)
Level- 21
Class- Twin aspect of Creation and Destruction(EX)
Stats unassigned: +11
Attributes:
Strength- 24 (14+7+3)
Vitality- 23 (12+8+3)
Dexterity- 21 (15+6)
Intelligence-7
Spirit- Spirit- 25 (20+5)
Skills- Wisdom of Creation and destruction(EX), Choice of the creator(EX), Eyes of procurer(EX), Matter storage(EX), Arukain language(C), Spark of inspiration(EX).
Spells- none.
Titles(unlocked): The real Monster, Big Game Hunter, The brilliant rookie, The insane Solo. Monster debugger.The actor. Executioner. Survivor. Pioneer, Record breaker.The new champion supreme.
Gear: amulet +2 vit: weapon- Gundao+3 str. Rings- spatial storage, vit +
