Chapter 245 - 238. Double Assessment
More than a hundred of people gathered in Trinity compound that day, almost as many as the espers already part of Trinity itself. And that was only the ones who already passed the initial assessment; the first level.
But even only reaching that far was already considered achievement for some. After all, unlike guides, espers who joined a guild’s open recruitment session were mostly fresh graduates. High-quality espers were usually being scouted instead of going through many layers of assessment levels.
Arlo was one of those rookies. He didn’t go to one of the esper’s academies, but he had lessons from all of the espers in his clan, which was more than enough to grant him the first-floor trial success.
If it came to talent, Arlo had more than a decent potential. After all, he came from an old lineage of a loyal vassal to the House Ishtera. Unfortunately, the talented boy soon grew dissatisfied with the objective of his training.
Why would he need to better himself for another person? Why would he need to dedicate himself to someone who wasn’t even there, when he didn’t even know existed?
This disappointment turned him into a rebellious boy, and he neglected his potential just to reach a bare minimum, because, what for?
Why should he work hard if he couldn’t even do what he wanted to do; going from dungeon to dungeon, making the world safer one dungeon clear at a time? Instead, they said he should look to work for something that would make it easier for them to look for someone; like his police cousin, Cohen.
Arlo hated it. Arlo hated this man who he was supposed to call ’Master’.
But this man, who he had bent to hate for the rest of his life as the reason for his damnable cage, was also the man who later set him free. Telling the seniors to let him do whatever he wanted to do, to stop this Templar nonsense altogether. The man even looked disturbed and downright disgusted at the word ’Master’ being thrown at him.
The man was awesome!
Arlo thought, as an esper, he would look up to another esper as a beacon. Someone great and historic-bending like the Serpent Lord perhaps, who he had the privilege to meet for three times already. But he never thought he would end up considering a guide as his role model. Hearing about the man’s struggle in the red-zone and his amazing tale in the Borderland put Arlo in awe.