Dogmatic Dungeon Dominion

The following days continued with the same strict schedule: morning guide lectures, training with hunters to understand his awakened powers, more match testing, and a few trial guiding sessions in his assigned office space.

With his military experience and training with the other hunters proceeding smoothly, Daniel explained that they had created a whole new category because of him—a battle guide.

Usually, when guild or partnered guides enter a dungeon, their Hunter must focus on protecting them and will even bring in additional protective details to ensure the Guides are safe. It can be pretty expensive to bring along a guide, but long expeditions make bringing them mandatory. 

"A battle guide…" Penn mumbled, walking out of the training room with Daniel, dabbing his neck with the towel from the streams of sweat. Daniel stood on his toes to reach the back of Penn's head, wiping it with the cloth. Penn gave a soft smile and looked down the hallway absently. Since they had found out about their high match rate, Daniel had been more touchy with him.

"It's definitely a step forward in the stagnant hunter field," Daniel replied, dabbing any damp spots he noticed. "Being the first at something in this day and age means being paid more."

"Also means I get made into an experiment, always being watched for what I do," Penn replied, attempting to hold back the sarcasm. Daniel paused, retracting his hand and biting his lip.

"That's true," he replied in a gloomy voice. "I didn't think of it that way. I'm sorry, Penn."

"No, no, it's fine. I wasn't fishing for an apology," Penn awkwardly smiled, walking towards the elevator leading to the guiding offices. He glanced down at Daniel, who stood beside him in the elevator, chewing the inside of his cheek, well lost in thought. He was no stranger to flirting, but it had been a while since he last dated. And he had never dated someone he worked with—being military and all. 

Yet having a new coworker, his trainer, come on to him so hard worried him. All the media he consumed about relationships between guides and hunters only filled him with anxiety that it was nothing more than an obsessive need to be guided—and that wasn't any way to build a foundation for any relationship. There was no other way to describe how fast Daniel had attached himself to Penn.

But Penn didn't push it away. He quite liked having Daniel as both his trainer and a work friend. He was easygoing, understanding, fun to converse with, and pleasant company overall. Unless Daniel does something to push his boundaries beyond reason, Penn has settled with himself to leave things as they are.

"Tomorrow in spar training, you'll be testing your abilities against a spellsword," Daniel perked up, suddenly reminded of what was scheduled for the next day.

"A spellsword?" Penn responded, highly confused. Daniel gave a small laugh.

"I'm not surprised you haven't heard much about them. They are almost as rare as I am. To put it simply, they are magic swordsmen. They use their mage qualities while wielding weapons. Most mages can expel or release their power away from their bodies. Spellswords can only direct their mana through weapons—sometimes even people. They are a fun bunch to watch while fighting, and they are very flashy. But to spar against them is hell. They fight dirty."

"Isn't there a standard fight training method taught by the association?" Penn questioned, and Daniel nodded.

"Yes, but the problem lies in the order of training. After six months of mandatory military training, you get assigned to a training academy based on your skills. Spellsword skills are all manga-based, so they go through mage training. Since mages are usually long-range fighters, they are taught dirty tricks for close-range emergencies."

"Wasn't there some high-ranking hunter famous for close range?" Penn leaned down to open the office door. 

"Ah, Summer Holstein, the A-rank battle mage," Daniel replied, following behind Penn and sitting down on the theater couch. "She's well known to be a crazy fighter. She was an Olympic boxer before she awakened at the age of twenty-two. She was also a late bloomer, though not as late as you." 

"A boxer?" Penn perked up, sitting beside Daniel. Daniel laughed. 

"Yeah, I knew you'd like that. She loves close combat. It's what she's best at. She was rightfully angry when she awakened as a mage. So, she pushed forward and created her own close-combat mage techniques. They also created a new category for her, which became her moniker."

"So, a battle mage versus a battle guide for sparring? I can already tell how much I'll get beaten. Just because I was in the army doesn't mean I can beat an Olympic boxer…"

"There are a lot of downsides to being a close-combat magic fighter because of the amount of mana needed for fighting non-stop at close range. It was discovered later that she would be more susceptible to MSOS," Daniel shrugged.

"MSOS?" Penn raised an eyebrow.

"Mana System Overload Syndrome. But most people call it by its slang term - berserk mode. She needs guiding more often due to how much mana she pumps out. And it has to be contact guiding. She has three dedicated guides assigned to her squad because of it."

"Three?! You can need more than one?" Penn asked, surprised. His eyes darted to his phone, reminding him of the unsavory images he had found before when searching for information about guides and espers.

"There's the quality of the guiding and the rank to keep in mind. How is their proficiency between them? What is the guide's rank compared to the Hunter? The guide's quality may be high so that the proficiency between them and the Hunter can come out at a higher rate during the match test—but if they are of lower rank, they can't keep up with guiding as often as the Hunter may need."

"Oh," was all Penn could say, hands intertwining. 

"Being an A-rank guide comes with a lot of perks. Even guiding an S-rank should be easy enough for you alone—unless it is mid-war and you have guided them non-stop and reached the end of your reserves. But I find that unlikely to happen," Daniel pondered.

"Ah," Penn just nodded, feeling awkward about his anxieties being exposed.

"Hunter Summer is also a big advocate of Guide rights. She was disgusted by their sexualization when she awakened. Her long-term boyfriend is also a Hunter, but he lost his bonded guide because of some obsessive hunter. He joins her at every advocacy group for guides that she attends. Not all hunters are greedy over guides," Daniel reassured him, reaching out and patting Penn's hand. Penn could only nod once again.

"Silvanus Makris, Hunter Summer's partner, is also very protective of her - even though she is much stronger than him. He'll most likely be there to watch over the sparring session. He can be a bit intimidating, but he should warm up to you easily since you're a guide," Daniel explained.

"I look forward to it," Penn attempted to give a reassuring smile.

"Oh! I forgot some items for today. I'm going to run back to the HR office. Be right back!" Daniel jumped up and ran out of the room with a wave. Penn awkwardly waved him off. He sighed deeply and moved to the lounger on the opposite side to lie down, already exhausted.

"Did I come at a bad time?" A familiar, low, rumbling voice called from the doorway. Penn sat up in surprise, seeing the man from the river standing before him. "You don't need to get up since you seem tired. I'll come to you."

The man smoothly walked over to Penn, who was lying on the lounger, and confidently sat beside him. Penn didn't know how to respond to the situation and looked at the stranger with a confused expression.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. It seemed you were open for a session," the man smiled innocently, putting his hands in the air. Penn adjusted himself on the lounger to gain more space.

"Ah… I'm still in training, and I have someone who watches over my guiding sessions currently…" Pen replied awkwardly, glancing at the open doorway. "If you don't mind waiting until my trainer returns, I can try to guide you then…"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm actually in a bit of a hurry. It's fine if the session is short—I just need a top-up."

"Will that be okay? I haven't had a match test with you yet…" Penn pressed cautiously.

"Haha, yes, it's fine. I trust the man who gently set the fish free even when he was grossed out by it," the man joked, his shoulders shaking with mirth. "And since you're tied, you can keep lying there. I don't need you to move just because of me since I inconvenience you."

"Oh… okay," Penn responded awkwardly, lying back down and closing his eyes as he tried to concentrate, directing his guiding at the Hunter beside him. After a few moments, he realized nothing was happening and opened his eyes. He looked over at the Hunter, who gave him an apologetic smile.

"Sorry. I'm an S-rank, so contactless guiding most likely won't work unless you are also S-ranked…" He shrugged his shoulders to show his apology, but his brown eyes looked empty, as if he didn't mean his apology in the slightest.

"I see… I've only tried guiding A-ranks so far, so I was unaware," Penn apologized, holding out his hand. The man smirked and clasped it tightly. Penn looked down at the hands before closing his eyes. "So you are the man from the dorm complex."

"Yes, I was surprised to see you when I walked into the first open office I found. I thought you were a hunter."

"Ah, I wasn't trying to lead you on otherwise. I have awakened recently and was moved from the military, and I do indeed have combat skills," Penn opened his eyes and gave an apologetic smile. The man kept smiling and nodded in response.

"I wasn't calling you a liar. I was just curious. You didn't feel like a hunter but didn't look like a guide. It's the first enigma I've experienced in a while."

"Are you a fan of puzzles?"

"If they are interesting enough to catch my attention."

"Haha," Penn chuckled, trying to focus on the guiding. It proceeded slowly as if it were being restrained or blocked by something. Was it because the Hunter was an S-rank? Penn frowned.

"Ah, that should be good enough for now. I'll get going," the man got up, smiling his thanks as he turned to leave.

"Oh, I don't know your name!" Penn sat up in a hurry.

"You can get it next time when I buy you a coffee as thanks for today, neighbor," the man smiled and left the room with a little wave. Penn stared at the empty doorway momentarily before looking down at his hand, confused.

"Did I… even guide him?" Penn mumbled, questioning himself. Daniel walked in at that moment.

"Guide who? Did someone stop by?" he asked, confused.

"Ah, nothing happened. Just need more practice," Penn replied, having an inkling that it was something he shouldn't mention. Daniel nodded with a smile.

"Shall we get on with the training today?"