Risen World

Chapter 337: A day of Interviews was worth it

With their first successful recruitment everyone's mood seemed to brighten up. The bard couple would have to be leveled up a bit, but they would be great for all forms of combat since their abilities could completely turn the tides of battle. In a territory war they would have an even greater advantage since the more people involved in a conflict the more powerful their abilities would become. Joshua was happy to have them aboard and he knew that they had probably gone through similar circumstances as Lilly. People would feel like they were just dragging the group down early on since support abilities were on the weaker side of things at low levels, but at the point his group was at a boost of any small amount could mean the difference between life and death.

After Jacob and Evelyn had left the room together with excited dispositions, the interview process went on. Unfortunately they had to slog through another set of candidates that didn't meet the standards for their guild, but throughout the day Joshua was able to come across some interesting people. Outside of the bard couple there were three other people that really stood out to him. He felt like these three and the bard couple could actually be a part of the main force of his guild going forward.

The first of the three people that Joshua and the rest decided fit the guild really well and their personal group even better was a middle-aged man by the name of Victor Belinsky. From his name alone they could all tell that he was Russian to some extent, but based off his accent he had clearly grown up in America. He had blond hair that he kept short and well combed. His facial features were a bit on the stern side with a wide jaw and piercing grey eyes. He stood at a little over six feet and he was geared with some high level equipment that showed that he had been through some tough dungeons in the past. The fact that Joshua could see some wear and tear on Victor's gear showed how often he used it.

The first thing that caught Joshua's attention about Victor was the fact that he easily shrugged off Joshua's pressure when he entered the room. He even identified that it was coming from Joshua in the first place. He didn't back down from Joshua's look in the slightest which was definitely a good sign that he was up to the standard they were looking for. When Joshua observed Victor's level he found out that he was already level sixty-seven which was an amazing level for a solo adventurer.

After asking Victor a few questions he found out the reason Victor had decided to join a guild was because of the fact that his progress was starting to be hindered from working alone. He didn't want to get left behind by people in the larger guilds just because dungeons were starting to get impossible for him to do on his own. Victor figured joining a strong guild like the Fenrir Guild would push his limits especially after seeing the large town subjugation.

When the little chat was done they moved on to the combat portion and went over to the connected training hall nearby so that they could see Victor in action. He went up against Adrian since they both used swords, but it became clear as soon as the combat that their style of fighting was completely different. Victor only used one sword which was more of a large saber that was designed to cut deep with each swing.

Victor was slower than Adrian in combat, but his style wasn't based on speed, but instead was more defensive. Victor's blade had a large cross guard on it that he used often to catch one of Adrian's blades while blocking to try and knock him off balance. Victor may have been an inch or two shorter than Adrian, but he was much bulkier which shined through in the spar by how easily he was able to knock aside Adrian's attacks. As the battle went on Adrian started to take the advantage with his skill and higher reaction speed, but Victor put up a great fight.

At the end of the battle the group got a good idea of what Victor's soul beast ability was as he seemed to grow stronger with the more damage he took. By the time he had taken several unexpected strikes from Adrian his counter attacks were so powerful that they would force Adrian to block with both swords and still get sent sprawling away. Joshua could see that Victor had been fighting on the verge of life and death for a while with that style of fighting. If he continued to go at it alone he'd eventually get overwhelmed in a dungeon with no back up.

After the spar concluded they welcomed Victor into the guild and he seemed a bit happy about it judging by the small smile that came across his face for only a moment. After Victor left they went through several more interviews. Most of them were people they either refused outright or told to sit behind in the area for Joshua's other plan for later. Every once in a while they would come across people they felt would be worth bringing into the guild, although that was on the rare side. It took a few hours for them to come across another high level recruit like the pair of bards and Victor, but when they did it was someone that was hard not to notice.

The person that came walking into the room was a giant by even Joshua's standards. The man stood at a good two inches over seven foot and was built like a bear. He probably had a good forty to fifty pounds on Joshua when it came to the weight department and every step he took left a loud thud thanks to the gear he was wearing. He was obviously a tank when looking over his heavily armored body, even his face was covered with a helmet.

Joshua went through the same test he had done with everyone else and was surprised that the person in front of him didn't seem bothered by his aura pressure. In a similar vain to Victor the man clearly looked like he had been through lots of battles in the past. When it came to the pressure that Joshua was giving off the large man was able to easily shrug it off as he looked down towards Joshua. After shrugging off the pressure he took off his helmet so they could all see his face.

He was a rugged looking man which wasn't surprising and he had a small scar across his left cheek. His hair was a matted black mess that looked little better than a mop on his head after taking off his helmet and his eyes were a hazel color that looked older than any of the other recruits they had seen so far. From that alone Joshua could tell that the man was much older than he appeared. When Joshua used observe he found out the man's name was Ivan Gray. His level was currently at sixty-four which was better than most of the other people they had interviewed, but what surprised the group was the story Ivan had told them for his reason to join the guild.

Just like Joshua had expected Ivan was old enough to be his grandfather, but with the age regression he had decided to go back to relishing his life and making the most of it. Of course there were other guilds that had tried to recruit him in the past, but he had declined because he either felt like he didn't fit in or because they weren't up to his level. He wasn't the type to dive into dungeons on his own so he had worked as a mercenary for the past couple of years before the mercenary guild had even started up. Now he felt he could find a place where he could settle down as a guild member after watching the large town subjugation.

When it came to equipment Ivan was geared from head to toe in heavy armor, but what stood out was the massive sword on his back that was getting into the same territory size wise to Joshua's scale blade. It wasn't the same type of blade since it wasn't wide enough to be used as a shield, but it was longer and probably not as heavy. No one in the group had any problem with moving on to the next part of testing when it came to Ivan since they all felt he'd fit right into the guild. He may have been on the older side, but his calm and noble personality seemed to give a good impression.

For the combat challenge Joshua was up this time around to spar with Ivan. The fight wasn't as fast paced as the one between Adrian and Victor since Joshua knew that speed wasn't going to be Ivan's strong suit. So instead he challenged him in a clash of strength. Since Ivan was a Heavy Swordsman in a similar vain to Abigail he wanted to see how powerful he was. The clashes were a bit evenly matched at first which was a good sign in Joshua's opinion. Joshua wasn't using his aura in anyway but the level difference between them was a good eleven levels. The fact that Ivan could keep up in the strength department was a good sign.

What surprised Joshua was the fact that Ivan was extremely skilled and even put a little pressure on him when it came to pure skill. Joshua eventually one, but it was closer than he was expecting. From that alone Joshua was certain that Ivan had spent many years wilding a blade. The last thing they learned about Ivan was the fact that his soul beast made it so that any forms of buffs, healing, or helpful abilities used on him would have twice the effect. It was an interesting ability that was great for a tank to have.

After Ivan was accepted there was really only one other person they interviewed that greatly stood out to them. It was getting late in the day and they had gone through more than a thousand interviews. Overall they had gained only forty two members which put them a little way past half the total they could have in a small guild. The fact that they would soon become a medium sized guild really put into perspective how difficult it was to get talented explorers to join your guild.

It was at this point where the entire group was preparing to pack up for the day and head out that one more person came in for an interview. This person was an average height woman that looked even taller with the heels she was wearing standing at around five foot seven. She had long curly blonde hair that was golden in color and cascaded over her shoulders. She was fairly voluptuous which immediately got the attention of Adrian thus getting him to attract glares from everyone else. She was also well fashioned with a mage robe that seemed to fit her body perfectly and surprisingly left little to the imagination.

When Joshua hit her with the small amount of pressure she didn't just shrug it off like Victor or Ivan, but instead rose to the occasion and started flaring her mana right back. It was clear to Joshua that this woman didn't like to be taken lightly. When Joshua observed her for information he found out her name was Robin Hughes and her level was already at sixty-three. It was already clear to Joshua and everyone else that she was a mage, but after talking to her a bit they found out that she specialized in lightning magic. Having her around would be extremely beneficial since no one in their group new to many lightning based spells.

Robin apparently decided to join the guild because of the fact that she wanted seek fame and become one of the most powerful mages in the future. She knew joining a guild such as the Fenrir Guild would be her best chance at reaching that goal. When they took her to the training room she showed her lightning spells and a unique skill that made her spells chain together as they empowered each other and create an interesting effect.

After that interview they decided to stop the recruitment for now and stick with the ones they had picked out so far. If they were going to recruit anyone else it was going to be after the opening of the arena so that they could show off and catch more attention. Joshua was looking forward to that.