That Unique Monster Who Just Got the 'Consciousness' Passive Skill

After I jumped the stairs up, my fingers wrapped themselves around a fancy, enormous rich wooden door's handle, and the priestess nodded to me with excitement. The flatly decorated smooth door gave a clicking sound when I twisted it, and we entered the place:

Ring!

❮ 1 notification(s) arrived! ❯

❮ The Player has entered the "Guild Bureau." ❯

❮ Welcome to the "Guild Bureau" — From it "Additional Quests" can be obtained here whenever sought. ❯

That was the System's brief introduction to the Guild Bureau. Was this place related to… the Game or whatever? Most likely.

After another notification was given, ❮ The Player has met the requirements to unlock a quest. ❯, I was told that. That notification, despite it coming right after I was told I could obtain additional quests from this place, was unrelated to anything "additional" to the game.

❮ Main Quest, "He became a monster" has been acquired — Let the Player head down to the training grounds and join a Guild. 0/1 ❯

Oh, sure, okay. For now, I wasn't in a hurry, so I appreciated the new sight stimulating my senses and sucked in all the new information, colors, shapes, and objects of this place with great pleasure.

The hall the doors gave to was seriously enormous. So spacious. Way more spacious than how the Guild's quarters were back at the Academy, in the aristocratic district. That was natural. If anything, those were the headquarters of the organization called the Guild, the Guild Bureau. Most of the hall was made of dark, refined, and lively woodwork. In a few words, it was an elegant manor. The ceiling was high, and lofty pillars propped it up. Calm, assertive, freeing, yet controlling. Those were the words of this place.

In the middle of it all, there was some kind of reception. ❮ The Player may interact with the Attendant of the Guild Bureau in order to obtain Additional Quests. ❯

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Looking all around, the System displayed yet another AR display to educate me, the Player, about this place. Locking my eyes onto another feature of the Guild Bureau I felt was System-related, the System introduced me to the Notice Board — ❮ The Player may directly interact with the Notice Board in order to select the quest sought on his own. ❯

Devouring the rest of my surroundings with voracious eyes and curiosity, no other AR displays were given.

It was then that the priestess warned her quirky boy, saying I mustn't let everything I saw in here get my interest too much, otherwise she feared she would never get to rest from today's work.

That wasn't the place to visit anyway. What I was after was the training area where I could obtain what I sought. From within the Guild Bureau, where everything was more about papers and documents, we navigated across the Guild Bureau toward the Training Grounds, where most of the job-related guilds' own headquarters were found.

Soon, we were there. "And we have arrived, Aoi!"

"...We have?"

"Sure. We have!"

"Oh…? Oh."

"...Don't you dare simply 'oh' me, boy! I deserve much, much better!"

"No, it's just… now that I see it, it isn't the first time I've dropped by this place, that's all." Thanking my priestess, I let her know I was grateful for having guided me around. Sometimes, the System didn't have a quest for every little interaction I had to do with the world. At times like these, I had no choice but to rely on either the old man or some other friend of mine to show me around. I was genuinely grateful.

"Humph," replied the babe. "That's a given, young man. Listen, I told you, didn't I? There's no way you never came around."

Hesitantly, I told her she was right. I mean, she had the wrong idea, thinking that I must have come here in the past with my official party, but whatever.

Passing through the many hallways of the Guild Bureau area, we were led to this place. Was that actually how the two places were linked with each other? I said I had never been here before, but hey, it wasn't true. Not entirely true. I had never stepped into the Guild's headquarters before, but I definitely got a little glimpse of the training area before.

At the back of the Guild Bureau, doors gave way to a most gigantic yard in an open area that was still part of the Guild's realm. Forming about a circle, a dozen of light constructs were settled down there. Accommodations and quarters. Out there, under the light of the setting sun, they formed some sort of harbor where mana-wielders passed, again and again.

"What is it, now, my dear?" the priestess stepped in front of me, extending a hand to me. "This is your place. Come along, why don't you! Also, now that I've brought you here, you may ask any questions you might have." With that comment, she reminded me that she didn't come here for no reason with a pleasant smile.

As I climbed down the few sandy stairs to the babe, I agreed with her, but rather than ask her a question, I answered one of her own. So, yes, I knew about the training grounds, but then, no, I didn't know where it was spotted, nor that it was related to the Guild. I only stumbled on this place at random on the first days I arrived in the capital.

Questioning me about many other trivial questions, I tagged alongside the priestess and answered most with as trivial answers. The training grounds: where the mana-wielders afforded training from their seniors in order to achieve mastery of their job and skills. This place had better be the one place where I'd figure myself out. At some point, naturally, as I was the visitor here, I asked the questions and gathered information.

In the same way the Guild Bureau had headquarters, the job-related guilds or clans also had headquarters. Like the Guild Bureau, the job-related guilds' head offices were considerably bigger and larger than the other seats they had all across the capital. Right in front of us, those offices and accommodations were all reunited together, seated right next to the Guild Bureau, for a reason: to produce new recruits.

To the rookie mana-wielders who aspired to become monster-hunters, those were the places to start learning about the practical lines of the job they chose. I so happened to be part of this group of rookies, by the way. And we, the newcomers, hardly had the time to go about visiting the whole vastness of the capital of the Roerden Kingdom in order to visit each of the job-related guilds separately. Why not visit them all in one go, then?

Many other details were given to me about why mana-wielders chose any job-related guild, but I discarded them as extra and unimportant. Really, there was a lot to know, but whatever, the details were irrelevant to my situation for now.

There was a single reason for which I had wanted to come here and visit— ❮ "He became a monster" Quest — Head down to the training grounds with the priestess. 0/1 —

❮ 1/1 — New instructions: Choose a job-related guild. 0/1 ❯

This was part of the grand scheme… but I had yet to know that. For now, I only observed. My escort indicated to me to do so, so I just did. Passing by the warrior guild's lodge and area, I peeked in the facility where mana-wielders who aspired to become warriors trained.

Gauging them up, I counted one, two, and three instructors.

"C-Come on inside, why don't you!"

The warriors were separated into three groups, and together, in their old dojo, they trained on sorts of tatami mats with a different master of the sword.

"Oh ho? Oh ho ho ho? Are we chickening out, now, little sir?!"

The instructors' movements were slow, and they fought with wooden swords, indicating that they were only training the rookies. Like this, training went on for all the disciples to have their chance at learning their new skills or conditioning their physiques.

"Those are the warriors, yes." Apparently, the tank of the party was affiliated with this guild. "But don't be afraid, young man! Let the spirit of youth drive you forward to the new experiences you so much wanted, mwah-hah-hah!"

"Think I should join these guys…?"

"Yeah, c'mon! Why don'tcha go get 'em!"

But the girl's sudden burst of eagerness didn't affect me in the slightest. Cool-headed, I kept observing the disciples' training from the sidelines, reviewing how my plan was supposed to go in order to at least learn one skill. After she saw this, the priestess said that I was right to take my time.

I insisted that I didn't come up here to rush into things, and the priestess complimented the "kid" for being mature when it was necessary.

"For now, I'm just an observer, priestess."

"Yes, yes," she nodded," whatever you say… mascot."