I look at the man, and he looks at me. He stands there with arms crossed, and eyes that seem both sharp and lazy at the same time, like he’s sizing me up but still can’t be bothered to care too much.

“Man, took you a while to get your ass over here, but also lucky me to be here just as you came around. Or unlucky? I hate dealing with newbies.”

He is short, bald, and seems like he likes to smile a lot, but not always in a friendly way. These smiles are often ironic and for his own amusement rather than to show friendliness. The uniform he’s wearing isn’t too restrictive and seems to be made with comfort in mind while showing his affiliation with a specific group. Done up in a combination of white and pale blue.

Most of all, this man feels dangerous. Just the look in his eyes and the way he carries himself betrays his strength.

Seeing me fail to react, he doesn’t seem to care at all and shrugs, flashing me another smile. “Fuck, I hate dealing with newbies. Anyway, my name is Weslin, from the Primordial Knights. I will be taking you to the third floor.”

I observe him, but he seems to be serious.

Maybe I could use him to get to the third floor quickly. The plans are already starting to run through my head.

“Why?” I ask.

“Rookie recruitment program? Kidnapping? Test subject for the Doc? I don’t know, man, it’s mostly up to you and how much the Head Recruiter likes you. Though Nyssa seems interested, so she might want to test you personally? But who the hell knows. Lately, she’s been spending more and more time on the fifth floor, she might not want to come up to the third.”

“And if I refuse?”

He smiles. “Of course, you are free to do that! But then I’ll have to beat the crap out of you. I saw your fight with Whitey, so I’m curious to see how you do against me. The same goes for that black mana, as annoying as it seems, makes me very curious, so don’t try me. Now, you are Nathaniel, right? No need to lie, we’ve already bought some information on you. Will you go with me, or do I have to beat the crap out of you?”

“Haven’t the Primordial Knights been dropping in rankings? Why shouldn’t I join Bloodline or Frontier?”

Weslin sighs. “I know, right? I blame Nyssa for being so obsessed with trying to get to the sixth floor. Sure, the others have been taking care of the guild while she’s been working on that, but it’s not the same without her. Especially when she’s got most of her party on the fifth floor.”

He gestures at me as he starts walking, and I hesitate just a moment before following at his side.

As talkative as he is, he continues to blabber. “And damn, those maniacs. I was on the fifth floor too, and man, it’s an ugly place to be spending so much time on. Sure, Nyssa is a prodigy, one of the most talented users of primordial energies you’ll ever meet. I wouldn’t be fucking surprised if she gets the fourth one out of nowhere, but damn if she didn't pick one nasty challenge. And who the fuck was that Adrian guy? You saw the rankings, right? That maniac managed to get there all on his own almost a thousand years ago. Frigging monsters. I bet that asshole’s an Absolute by now somewhere outside of the tutorial.”

I keep nodding energetically as I listen to him speak.

This isn’t that bad. I'm getting a lot of information for free, and so far, the man hasn’t made himself very threatening. Though obviously that’s only if I ignore the fact that I’m getting kidnapped right now. It’s like following some strange man to a van with 'Free mana' printed on the side.

But I know that if I tried to leave or disagreed with him, he would turn against me very quickly. At the same time, I don’t think I’ll ever get a better chance to push against him than right now. If he takes me to more people from his guild, it’ll be harder then.

The question then becomes whether or not I even have a chance right now.

Weslin looks at me like he knows what I’m thinking. Then he smiles.

Nope, I don’t think so. He looks and feels stronger than Faora, and he’s probably at a level not far off Luan. If I threw all I had at him and surprised him, I could probably have a small chance, but at the same time, I don’t know how he would react to that.

So, for now, I may as well hold myself back and decide to use this as an opportunity. He will get me to the third floor. I’ll get plenty of information from him in the process. Then I can decide what to do from there.

“Man, you have one arrogant-looking pair of eyes. So what’s your conclusion? Think you can beat me up?” he asks, turning left between the buildings. From the direction we are heading, I figure we must be going to the Guild Square.

“Maybe,” I respond.

That only seems to make him even more amused, and he taps my shoulder a few times.

“Good! A real man should have confidence in himself. You seem like a decent enough man, so don’t make me do something ugly. I’d rather welcome you as a newbie in the guild than hand you over to the Doc.”

“Do you usually kidnap the new members?”

"You would be the first one in decades, but whatever that black mana of yours is, Nyssa seems very curious about it, so we kind of skipped some of the normal protocols." He slows and leans closer and whispers, “What is it, Primordial energy? One of the Older Fragments? Some kind of fancy skill?”

“Honestly? I don’t even know.”

“Damn, you don’t seem to be lying. That’s fucked up.”

“I know, right? Is Nyssa a demon?”

“Obviously. Ninety-nine percent of the guild leaders of the Primordial Knights over the past thousand years have been demons. Those fuckers breathe and fart primordial energies, I swear. You probably expect her to be a typical demon, though. Horns, white hair, red eyes, all that stuff. Well, somewhere in her distant bloodline, there must have been something different, so her hair is black. But god damn, don’t ever mention it in front of her if you like your legs unbroken.”

“I won’t. What primordial energies does she have?”

“Well, I can tell you she’s got kinetic, but you’ll have to find out the other two on your own. That’s not the kind of info I’m in the habit of just handing out. What I can say is that there both something beyond the common five.”

“I see. So you have void only?”

At that, he snorts. “Only... It’s not as fancy as having three or two, but just one is already super rare.”

“It is? In our group, we have, including me, three people with Primordial energies.”

“They aren’t demons, right?”

“Nope. All humans.”

“Well, in that case, you’ve got one really fucked up group. I think the information said you won your tournament, right? Probably both? Then you’ve got some kind of insane healer, a mind manipulator, and now a bunch of other folks with Primordial energies, someone else with a Fragment, and a few more. It’s like all the future Champions of your planet got thrown into your group, my guy.”

“Do people from my planet really blabber that much?”

That makes him laugh. “I said exactly the same thing a few years ago about my planet! There are always newbies that some skilled guide ends up running into, making friends with, and slurping up all that information for free. Then the guides sell it to Information Guilds.”

“Damn.”

“Right? You’d think all Locals were some kind of Greed subclass freaks who see us attendees like tourists they can profit off. Little shits.” He says the last part toward a few young Locals like Lochi, his smile seeming a bit more genuine than before. Even that much scares them off, and they run while glancing back at the scary attendee.

“Do you have information about a man from Earth? He...”

“...he started in Beyond,” Weslin finishes for me. “Another friggin’ monster in the making. There isn’t much we could gather. His Handler is probably one of the top dogs here, one of those old monsters who takes one attendee under their wing once in a hundred years. They block as much information as possible. But even that should tell you more than enough. Best to avoid the guy.”

“I thought Handlers were required to take in attendees.”

“Yes, most of them. But let’s say you’re a Handler for thousands of years. You gather enough rewards to the point you only need to take one every hundred years or so, and use Beyond like a holiday villa in the meantime. You might even have enough rewards to enter one of the deeper floors where only Rulers and maybe a few others can enter.”

“I see.”

“Enjoying the free information? The Information Guild would charge you tens of thousands of shards for this.”

“I am. Thanks. Do you know anything else about him?”

“Greedy little jerk, aren’t you? That’s all you’re getting for now.” He stops and points toward a food stall nearby. “Go buy me a candied molten thornfruit. And don’t give me that look. The information I gave you is worth way more.”

I glance at the stall. The molten thornfruit looks like some kind of dark, spiny fruit, its skin cracked and oozing thick, glowing syrup that drips slowly like honey but steams where it hits the air. The vendor uses tongs to handle them, dropping one onto a leaf wrap before handing it to his customers.

I sigh and head toward the stall, feeling Weslin’s gaze on my back the whole time. The closer I get, the stronger the sweet, almost sickly scent becomes, reminding me of burnt sugar.

The vendor barely glances at me and asks for a price I’m sure is multiple times higher than anything he’d charge the Locals.

Never in my life have I been so sure of something.

I transfer the shards, and he gives me two fruits, wrapped carefully so the syrup doesn’t burn my hands.

When I turn, Weslin is grinning like I’ve just passed some ridiculous test. I hand him the fruit, and he bites into it without hesitation, syrup dripping down his chin.

“See? You’re a good kid, newbie. That’ll help you last longer here as long as you don’t mess with the wrong people.”

I ignore him and take a careful bite of mine to taste it.

Then I turn to head back to the stall for more. Weslin shouts at me to buy more for him, too.

The square is busier now, with guild members, merchants, and curious onlookers filling the space.

Weslin finishes his thornfruit and tosses the sticky leaf wrap into a bin nearby. He wipes his hands on his uniform, then glances at me.

“You know,” Weslin says, licking the last bit of syrup off his fingers, “people like to act all grown up, serious, important. Funny, isn’t it? All these tough guys acting like enjoying a bit of fun makes them weak. But deep down, adults are just kids pretending they’ve got it all figured out.”

He looks at me, amused. “At least you didn’t act like it was beneath you. So let me give you some advice. Find a powerful backer soon. If you do manage to escape me, I won’t even try to hunt you down later, even if Nyssa herself orders me. You’d damn well deserve to be left alone if you managed that. I don’t care if it’s someone from the Primordial Knights or someone else, but do it fast. There are already rumors about that black mana of yours, and whatever it is, it’s making certain people curious. Plus, that asshole who started in Beyond isn’t doing a good job of not attracting unwanted attention to your planet.”

I bite into the thornfruit again and nod. “So, where are you taking me now?”

“Our guild’s branch. I have something to pick up from there.”

“Let’s go then,” I say, and as he starts walking, I follow.