Dogmatic Dungeon Dominion

The packing of all the items in his locker in the barracks only took moments. The lingering feelings Penn had about his long-term residence lasted moments longer. With one last glance around the room, he turned away and closed the door — throwing his MOLLE bag over his shoulders as he left the barracks behind. With his badge and military ID handed over before his exit, all he was left with was to go through those clear, reinforced glass doors for the last time.

A black-tinted window vehicle waited for him at the entrance; the driver wore an all-black, nondescript suit and sunglasses. The man gave a shallow bow and opened the backseat door. Penn paused, eyes darting to the silent driver, pursing his lips before entering the car. The door closed beside him quietly before the driver got in and set off to their destination.

The car ride was silent and smooth, but as Penn stared out the window, it was the same short route the commander had taken the morning before. As they rounded the block to the Hunter's Association, the driver pulled in front of the building and opened his back passenger door.

"I'll be here when you finish," the driver stated flatly before getting back in. Penn clicked his tongue as he marched through the large arched doorways of the stadium-sized building. He headed to the reception desk from his previous visit.

"Jennson. Penn Jennson. I'm here for my class level and match proficiency test," he said in a low, clear voice, standing with his back straight in front of the receptionist, trying to avoid saying the dreaded word out loud.

"Ah, Guide Jennson," the receptionist smiled and looked up at Penn - who flinched. With a reassuring look, he stood up from his computer chair with a tablet in hand. "I'm Secretary Daniel. I'll be handling your intake if you follow me."

With a deep internal sigh, he followed Daniel through the employee badge-locked gate. The hallways were wide and clean. Though they looked pleasing in an aesthetic sense, the feel and sound made Penn know that they were of a quality and strength higher than military-grade material. 

"First, I'll take you to the guest locker rooms to store your items. Then, we'll take you to HR for your employee intake forms and awakening ID. After that, we'll make our way to the class-level testing room. It's where we usually get the official tests done for every awakened power user for all the details of their abilities."

"And the match test?" Penn asked tentatively, looking down at the young man who barely reached his shoulders.

"I didn't take you for being shy," Daniel laughed, his pale gold hair swinging with his gentle chuckle. "It's a test that will take several days and spread out through a few weeks due to the availability of some of the hunters - a few teams are away on dungeon raids currently. We'll be taking our time with the tests to help you get proper rest and training in between. Once we're done for today, Spencer will drive you to your newly assigned dorm. He's the specialized Hunter in charge of security who drove you earlier."

"Ah, so he does have a name?" Penn mumbled, causing Daniel to laugh loudly, echoing like a clear bell around them. A laugh that drew everyone's attention with its sweet sound.

"He's definitely more on the aloof side," Daniel continued, pressing the elevator button and tapping his key fob. "If he warms up to you, he becomes quite the prankster."

"I much prefer cold weather, fresh snow, ice cream in a blizzard, and barefoot in an igloo," Penn joked, offering the secretary a relaxed smile as they entered the elevator. Daniel was an easygoing enough guy to get along with, a breath of fresh air compared to the army. Daniel brought the tablet up to cover his mouth in an attempt to hide his fit of giggles. 

"You joke like an old man," Daniel finally managed to say through his tears as the elevator beeped and the doors opened. "You're much too young for that."

"Doesn't say much about the guy who found the old man joke funny," Penn replied, passively shaking his head and clicking his tongue, feigning disappointment as he followed Daniel through the upper hallways of the association. 

Compared to the basement training area he had previously visited, these hallways were typical modern offices, with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city and the well-manicured green parkscape for the employees in front of the building. The comparison of funding to the army was once blatantly obvious. 

The guest locker room was on its way to the Human Resources department, so the pit stop to unload was relatively quick. The HR intake was pretty standard for jobs — with NDS, insurance and benefits, liability, responsibility to the public, division of dungeon spoils, and so forth. 

They measured Penn for his Guide lab coat and a standard nurse scrub top in one of the five color choices - he chose black and moss green. Daniel reassured him that if the pants were appropriate for work, the type he wore was up to him. Khakis, it would be. And then they shuffled him in front of the camera for his identification photo. He stood before the gray designated photo wall, giving the camera his standard stoic face when asked to smile. Daniel's shoulders shook as he hid his face behind the tablet again. 

Finally, they were on their way together, back to the basement. From pictures Penn saw online, they used a dungeon core like in his previous test to classify his guide level. The point of classifying the level of the Guide was to match Hunter's at a similar level. If the discrepancy level is too large, a backlash on either end could cause a catastrophe. 

If the Hunter had too large a gap ahead of the Guide, the Guide could possibly fall into a coma or even die. On the other hand, the Hunters themselves could have their powers go berserk. Guides were necessary for active power users, like physical therapy for an injured athlete. The more they used their bodies without treatment, the worse the injury and damage to the body would get. 

Guides were like a water treatment plant and a recharge station for an awakened man — they cleaned the corrupted power building up in the body by cycling it through their own system and putting it back into the power user like a charging cable. 

The guides can describe the feeling and experience in many ways, as they all have different ways they feel it go through their bodies. But a majority of hunters have stated that receiving a guide refreshes them, recharges them like a shot of caffeine, and fills them with an endless thrill that their subconscious tells them to never let go of.

This was a point of contention for Penn. As stoic and calm as he is known to be, he was far from submissive - even known to be argumentative at times when pushed. He refused to have anyone try to own him, claim him, tie him down, take advantage of him, or even force themselves on him. Though all awakened go through standard basic military training, guides are otherwise ordinary people. They don't have the added strength that the Hunters have to compete against if something were to happen. 

Penn's fists clenched as he was lost in thought, only zoning back in when Daniel shyly tapped his shoulder, looking concerned. He seemed to have been in the middle of explaining something. Penn sighed. 

"I apologize, Daniel. My mind wandered for a moment."

"I'm sorry, it can be a lot of boring information," Daniel awkwardly scratched at his collarbone.

"No, it's all on me. I got too deep into thinking about the whole Guide situation. It wasn't my ideal career choice," Penn replied, trying to reassure Daniel. "So please, I hope you can repeat what you said. I'll pay attention this time."

"Haha, sure! The leveling test will state your current level, but that's not where you may be later. Almost all awakened have the ability to grow - but it's a set growth for nearly everyone. There are a few outliers who can break that wall, but otherwise, it's a pretty set bracket. 

F class is the lowest you can awaken at, and the highest you can reach is class D. E class can make it up to C, and that's where the bracket shrinks. C class can't grow past B class, B past A, and A class can't grow past S class. There are some who are also forever stuck in the class they awaken at. Usually, it's related to their class - the experience leveling can have a higher climbing requirement.

"Some soldiers never make it past private," Penn said offhandedly.

"Doesn't each rank have a high year of tenure? I thought the longest you could be a private was around five years?" Daniel asked, confused. Penn nodded.

"Because either you fucked up badly, or you just never made it home."

"Ah…" was all Daniel could reply as they stopped before a set of double doors. "Well, this is the room where you will be taking your class test."