Hero's Carnage

Once they entered the interview room, the middle-aged man that had a bulky frame pointed to the steel chair and said, "Sit down and tell me about yourself."

Lucas took a seat and calmly responded, "My name is Lucas."

The man raised his eyebrows and said, "That's it?"

"Yes."

The man began laughing, "You're not very sociable, huh? Or maybe you have nothing good to tell about yourself?"

"Both," Lucas quickly responded with a nonchalant expression.

"Not bad. I like a straightforward guy. We have a couple of people like you in the guild so I don't mind it. Then what about your reasons for wanting to join our guild?"

"I want to enter dungeons and earn money, but public dungeons aren't very convenient, and the monsters inside disappear too quickly unless you're there early, so I am looking to join a guild."

"Dungeons, eh? What level are you?"

"I am currently level 13."

"Level 13…? You're full of surprises, aren't you? Don't you know that our guild is a C-Rank Guild? Most Players within C-Rank Guilds are usually above level 50. Why would you even bother coming here at such a low level?" The man asked him with a stern expression on his face.

And he continued, "If you came here looking to leech off of us, then you came to the wrong place, pal."

Lucas remained calm despite the man's intensive gaze, and he spoke after a moment of silence, "I came here because your guild's advertisement didn't have any level requirements. If you're looking for people at a specific level, you would've said so in the advertisement. The fact you didn't mean your guild doesn't care about levels."

"Even if that is true, you're only level 13. Most people can reach level 13 in a few months from level 1." The man then looked at the paper he filled out that had his basic information.

"It says here that you're 18 years old. What have you been doing your entire life?"

"I have been living in the streets trying to survive," Lucas calmly responded, taking the man by surprise with such words.

"I was born without any powers, and I'd only recently awakened my character status— a few weeks ago."

"What? So you're a late bloomer? And you managed to reach level 13 in a few weeks? You must have gotten help from others."

Lucas shook his head and said, "I don't have such luxury. I have no friends or family. I have traveled alone since level 1."

"..."

The man turned silent after hearing his words, and he remained that way for a good minute.

"What kind of dungeons are you looking to enter?" The man then asked.

"I am looking for Intermediate-rank dungeons right now, but I will increase the difficulty as I grow stronger."

"Intermediate? There are only monsters above level 20s in these kinds of dungeons, and you want to fight them at level 13? There are less painful ways to kill yourself, you know?" The man said, wondering to himself if Lucas was bullshitting in order to impress him.

"If I was going there with the intention to die, I wouldn't go out of my way to come here because like you had mentioned— there are better ways to kill myself. I may be level 13, but I can handle intermediate-rank dungeons."

"Oh? Now you're talking." The man stood up from his chair and tossed the paper with Lucas' information on the ground.

And he continued, "Since you sound very confident in your abilities, let's move directly to the second part of the interview— a practical examination where you spar against another individual."

"I have seen many people like you before— people who claim they can defeat monsters far above their own level, but when we enter the fighting stage, their confidence immediately shatters, revealing their true self that's full of weakness."

"You were right when you said that we don't care about one's level, as we believe that one's potential and ability are more important than one's level. After all, one can consume experience potions and level up without fighting any monsters, but can you really call that power?"

"Our guild desires true power— but we won't find that unless we look beyond one's level. That's why we don't have any level requirements."

"Follow me."

Lucas nodded and followed the man.

They left the interview room a moment later and continued walking down the long hall.

At the end of the hall, there was a staircase going down.

After descending the staircase, they arrived in this massive underground gymnasium that had many people training there.

Some of them were using their abilities, and some were just swinging their weapons around.

Of course, there were also people sparring against each other.

"This is our training hall; it's where most of our members and newbies can train alone or with others. It's also created using a special metal that was reinforced by very durable and nearly indestructible materials that can only be dropped by Earth Dragons."

"..."

Lucas didn't respond, as he couldn't care less about what the place is made of.

Sometime later, they arrive before this large and square-shaped platform.

"We'll use this place."

The man then jumped onto the platform before turning to look at Lucas.

"What are you waiting for? Come on up."

Lucas nodded and also entered the platform.

"You'll be fighting with me for the second part of your interview. Come at me with everything you got and don't hold back." The bulky man said with a slightly arrogant smile on his face.