In the central training field, in the middle of a crowd, facing the pressure emitted by the two guild leaders i knew that I had to find a way to escape faster.

  But just when I braced my legs, about to turn around and run for my life, a third voice cut through the killing intent.

  "You two at it again? Are you guys here to recruit kids or kill them?" a female voice spread effortlessly through the entire stadium.

  With that reprimand, the terrified crowd parted from another direction, making way for one more person to enter the tense circle.

  Down the path arrived a middle-aged woman. Though she had some white hairs scattered on her head, her pristine, pale skin looked as remarkably young as a teenager's.

  She wore the same kind of traditional clothes as the others, but topped with an extra-large robe that looked highly ascetic as she coldly looked at the two men.

  "If you guys really want to fight, then do so out in the grass field or go up to the higher floors," "Don't ruin the fragile peace of this city that's been kept with quite some difficulty,"

  The moment she spoke those words, the two ferocious men immediately reigned in their killing intent and controlled themselves.

  The suffocating pressure vanished. It was as if their whole deadly standoff never even happened.

  Once calmed, the Vanguard guild leader Alric immediately said

  "It's not my fault, He started it, you should warn him,"

  The Iron Sovereign leader fired back. "I started it? You were the one who blatantly tried to recruit the boy without even considering us," "Do you mean to say we should just stand blindly by while you use your dirty tricks?"

  But before guild leader Alric could retaliate, the woman sharply butted in.

  "Stop it, you two! Also, he is right, Guild Leader Alric. We are also the respected leaders of the four great guilds here," "Just because we were a little late doesn't mean you can just take them. Don't you think we should all make our offers first and let the boy decide?"

  Pushed into a corner, guild leader Alric had to comply, "I only made the initial offer and was waiting for the boy's reply, as you said. But then again you are right, I had to give everyone a fair chance"

  With that concession, the explosive problem was almost solved as the woman spoke again.

  "Good. Instead of fighting like beasts, let's look at what's in front of us and make our offers. Let the boy decide whom to choose fairly"

  "Okay. I accept," Leader Alric muttered.

  Leader Kaelen crossed his arms and added, "I accept too, but what about Lady Sylvia? She is also one of us. Do we wait until she comes?"

  To that, the woman calmly replied, "No. She is in seclusion and won't be coming out for a few more days. So let's ignore her for now. We who are currently here will make our offers"

  With that, the imposing woman finally looked directly at us

  "I'm sorry for the late introduction, everyone. I am Elara Thorne, the leader of the Golden Lotus guild. The richest guild of this city,"

  Introduced herself she faced guild master Alric, prompting, "Since you came here first, please make your offer, leader Alric"

  Accepting that, the Vanguard guild leader repeated his initial offer. After that, guild master Kaelen gave his pitch, and finally, Lady Elara made hers.

  Although all three offers seemed somewhat similar, there were a few crucial differences.

  The Vanguard guild master offered dedicated teammates to train with. Guild master Kaelen offered the best training methods the city had, and the Lady Elara promised vast financial resources.

  With their pitches concluded, they all looked expectantly at the boy with the fire manipulation powers as Lady Elara asked,

  "So, who do you choose?"

  After almost being caught in a deadly, life-and-death clash just moments ago, the boy was deeply confused while nervously looking at the three overwhelmingly powerful figures.

  Looking at their hungry eyes, for some reason, he felt like he was facing those exact same wolves that had tried to rip him apart back in the jungle.

  Watching all that unfold from the safety of the crowd and rapidly analysing the information I received, I was also curious to see whom he would actually choose.

  After a few agonising minutes of deep thinking, when the terrified boy realised the guild leaders' patience was running out, he finally gave an answer.

  "First of all, Guild Leader Alric and Guild Leader Kaelen, I sincerely thank both of you for your offer. I'm sure anyone here would be more than happy to join your guild, but I am sorry to say this, I am choosing the Golden Lotus Guild," he announced nervously.

  "Specifically because I neither have much natural talent in fighting nor in teamwork. I simply want to do my best while also gaining monetary help. So Lady Elara, please take care of me," he bowed slightly, intentionally choosing the safe option for obvious, self-preserving reasons.

  Hearing his choice, Lady Elara exclaimed with a bright, happy laugh.

  "Hahaha, it's great that you chose me, and my guild will certainly take the best care of you," she promised, turning a smug look to the other two guild leaders,

  "Do you guys have any objections?"

  "No," Leader Alric grumbled, although looking highly uncomfortable. The leader Kaelen growled the exact same answer with even more visible discomfort.

  Satisfied by their reluctant surrender, the Lady was just about to take the boy and leave when leader Alric suddenly stopped her.

  "But Lady, what should we do about the others?" he asked, gesturing to the rest of us.

  "We can't just blatantly ignore them since there is a high chance they might also awaken these powers"

  Hearing that valid point, leader Elara thought for a brief moment before deciding,

  "Well, let's let them stay here, and when they eventually awaken the powers, we can recruit them"

  While it seemed like a good plan, Leader Kaelen suddenly butted in. "But Lady, what about the upcoming expedition to challenge the eighth floor? We have failed three times already, we can't fail again. For that preparation training, we absolutely need the training ground."

  The Vanguard guild master, as if entirely forgetting his bitter rivalry for a moment, also chimed in.

  "He is right. We need the training ground soon. We can't just let them stay here forever. They can't even communicate with citizens who can't actively use intention manipulation."

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  Thus, the three leaders suddenly dropped the translation.

  They started talking rapidly in their harsh native language for a few minutes before the Vanguard Guild Leader once again took the central stage, projecting his intentions and looking around at us to speak.

  " Well, everyone. We know you guys have many questions, but we don't have time to answer all of them right now,"

  "All we can say is that you are officially welcome to stay in the city, and we will ensure you won't suffer any harm from the citizens here as long as you don't make any trouble. So please consider yourselves new citizens,"

  "Also, we have decided that, you can stay here in the field for a whole week from today. After that, you will have to vacate this place entirely because this is a vital training field for the climbers' association and we need this for our upcoming training."

  Once he finished, Leader Elara seamlessly relayed the remaining critical information.

  "Everyone, in the seven days you have, I suggest you go into the city and find a proper job with food and shelter, we will make a formal request to everyone so they accept you.

  "Also, all of you, learn the language and culture of this place to better survive. Even though we don't know the exact reason for your arrival, I hope you get your answers eventually,"

  With that, once she stepped back, it was finally the Iron Sovereign leader's turn to speak.

  "From today on, we will be sending envoys of our guild here every single day at this same hour, and they will explicitly do the recruitment instead of us."

  "So, make sure to show your abilities to them if you have any. Anyway If you have understood, we will take our leave, take care of yourselves,"

  Saying that, the three powerful figures turned around and casually left the stadium.

  Although we still had a mountain of questions we desperately needed answers for, not a single one of us dared to step up and ask them anything. Not after we had all felt that breathtaking, suffocating energy when they almost got serious and fought.

  We all implicitly realised that those dangerous people were only being nice to us because of the fire-manipulating boy, so it wasn't a good idea to annoy them.

  The moment they were out of sight, the tension broke, and everyone started to frantically chat with each other about what to do next.

  Nate, standing next to me faced me with a bitter, exhausted smile.

  "A tower with nine floors that collapses in a thousand days if not escaped and we are totally fucked. That's my findings. What do you think?" he asked.

  "The exact same. But I personally prefer the phrase 'royally fucked'," I replied, matching his desperate, cynical smile.

  "Anyway, the power, that boy awakened, do you think something like that will happen, for the rest of us?"

  "Of course," I replied, "It can’t just be a gift reserved for a single person, right?"

  I said with an unfounded confidence. I knew there was no evidence for my words, no guarantee etched in stone, only a raw gut feeling and the cold, internal logic of a survivor. For now, that was enough.

  Yet, beneath that confidence, a shadow of worry began to coil. The questions were simple, but they carried a physical weight: When would it happen? And what would that power be?

  Since the world hadn't seen fit to change us all at once, I knew there would be divides. It was likely that our paths would diverge, each power as different as the people holding them, awakening in different times.

  The thought sparked a flicker of frustration. If there was to be a difference between us, it would be decided by luck and talent, and when it came to those two things, I had always been cursed with the worst of it.

  I knew I was better than the ones who had died in the jungle, those whose journeys ended before they even reached this place. Yet a small, jagged fear of expectation still clawed at me.

  I remembered my life back on Earth, a life defined by the crushing weight of being average.

  In my studies, I was a permanent resident of the middle ground. I was the boy of C’s and C-pluses; on the rare occasion I bled over several books and strained for more, I might get a B. But an 'A' was something I could never get, no matter how hard I worked.

  Even in sports, the story was the same. I was the eternal extra, the shadow on the sidelines. I trained until my muscles screamed, yet I was never a real player when the matches truly mattered.

  If someone were to ask what I excelled at, the answer was a bitter one: I was a man who would try, who would always try, but never reach the summit.

  I was the eternal average.

  Considering history, I had no illusions; I wouldn't be the one to awaken faster or better than the rest.

  But I forced those thoughts into the back of my mind. They were a luxury I couldn't afford. Right now, a more primal reality grounded me: the desperate need to survive, to find a way to exist without starving to death in this world.

  I took a sharp breath, forcing the doubts to the surface, and suppressed them.

  There were more urgent things to think about now. With that, I looked at Nate, who had the same thoughts as I and ignored the talk of powers for now, as he asked

  "Hmm. So what do you think we should do now?" "I have already starved for a whole day. Those guild leader bastards gave all that fancy speech, but they didn't even drop us some food,"

  I could perfectly understand his irritation before giving a logical answer.

  "They did blatantly say the food is extremely scarce here and they literally have to climb the deadly tower just to get it. So it's totally understandable,"

  "Yeah, yeah, I understand the logic too. But that can't solve my hunger, can it? So I have decided to go around the city and look for food right now," "While I know it might be dangerous, I have no other choice. I can't just starve like this, and I can't sleep on the hard floor like I did last night. So are you guys coming?"

  The quiet girl Eva who rarely talked, always hiding nervously behind him, accepted easily because she was having similar desperate thoughts. With that, they both expected my answer.

  I thought for a brief moment before speaking.

  " I'm not coming. You guys go on. I have to meet someone in the city who might get me a job. I will join you later if I fail,"

  "What? You already know someone here?" Nate was shocked, his eyes wide. "If he can help you with a job, can't he help us too?"

  " That person I know is a strange old man who saved me yesterday. So I will ask him if he has any jobs for you too and tell you later," "But you guys should go and look for a job too, since I can't be too sure he'll say yes"

  They both agreed with my sound reasoning.

  "Well then, good luck on getting a job here, Let's meet here soon "

  "Yes, you guys too, stay safe."

  With that goodbye, they took their leave first.

  With that, I had gotten the crucial information I needed.

  Since there were only a few thousand natives in the whole city and hundreds of us suddenly wanted jobs, I didn't want someone else to beat me to meet Mr Old Smith for a job.

  So, I absolutely didn't stay for any more idle discussion fearing someone else going ahead of me, and simply turned and left the training field.

  ***

  Walking back through the central city, retracing the exact path I used to reach the training ground, I made my way toward Mr Old Smith's house.

  But with only a hundred meters or so left before I reached his front door, my path was abruptly cut short in a narrow alley, as I was blocked.

  Standing squarely in my way was a man in his twenties, clad in the same tough leather garments I wore, his hand resting near a bone sword belted at his waist.

  Hoping he could somehow understand me, I looked into his cold, dead eyes, framed by long hair swaying in the breeze, and asked,

  "Hello, mister. Can I know why I'm being blocked here?"

  Hearing my words, his eyes only grew colder, and he harshly replied,

  "Ddgd ffhf ygfhh?"

  The alien syllables confirmed my worst fear: he didn't understand a single word I said.

  Before I could even attempt to defuse the misunderstanding, his right hand clamped down on the hilt of the sword on his left hip.

  The sight froze the blood in my veins. 'Fuck,' I thought, two bleak realisations hitting me at once.

  First, this hellish world was infested with absolute psychopaths who had zero concept of talking and resorted to violence instantly.

  Second, if I had awakened any special power in this place, it was undoubtedly the power of bad luck. I mean, seriously, who the hell faces a life-threatening, mortal combat situation every single time they go for a simple walk?.

  But right then, I didn't have the luxury of pondering my cursed fate; I had to focus on the armed killer in front of me and figure out how to survive.

  With that, A massive flood of adrenaline-fueled thoughts raced through my newly enhanced mind even before he could fully draw his blade as I thought about survival. The fourth time since I came to this place.