I felt the heavy gazes of everyone in the room locking onto me.
The one from the chief, in particular, felt hard to endure. It was as if he could see through me with a glance. It was the first time in my life that I felt so… inferior to those around me.
"I would need to know a little more about your guild to make that decision."
Once more, I didn't want to take rash decisions.
None of them indicated that they would kill us. So, I remained neutral, asking the questions for which I wanted answers.
"What do you want to know, young human?"
I revealed a light smile. "Your strength. How powerful are you compared to the top guild?"
After all, if I were to join a lower-ranked guild, it could also hinder my growth in the future, especially since I didn't know if I could change guilds as I wished.
"You dare challenge our strength!" someone in the stands shouted, followed by a few others.
They were insulted by my question. However, I didn't care. It was a logical question, one that was essential for my choice.
"Silence."
The chief stood up from his seat, and with a blink of an eye, he reappeared before me.
'Is he trying to intimidate me?' I thought as I didn't back down, staring into his eyes, not once looking away.
I had never been scared of anyone in my life, and such a thing wouldn't start today.
Seconds passed, and finally, the chief showed a smile, seemingly satisfied with my behavior. "You have guts. I'll give you that."
"Our guild is not one of the best. It's considered by the Universal System as a Low-Ranked Guild." The elf immediately noticed the dissatisfaction on my face. "But don't be fooled. It doesn't mean that we are weak. Everyone in our guild is at the very least Silver. It's not something that you can find in all Low-Ranked Guilds. We have big ambitions; we want to become a Mid-Ranked Guild!"
Cheers erupted all around the arena.
All of them looked proud, happy with their ambitions. But I wasn't. They weren't even aiming to be the best.
"I see…" I muttered under my breath.
The chief continued to laugh. "Haha! Then what do you say? Are you interested in joining?"
"Hm, maybe. But I'll need you to answer a few more questions. Is that fine?"
The chief shrugged, clearly not minding.
"I want to ask about the Watchers. Who are they? And what is their goal in helping us?"
No one inside the arena spoke, all of them becoming dead silent.
The chief also became serious. "That is not information that we are privy to. We have no idea what their goal is. All we know is that they help us become stronger by giving us items, skills, and much more."
I sighed. "And who would be privy to that information?"
"Those at the top. The founders of the four original guilds. They are the ones who know everything about this world. Even their own members have no idea how or why this world was created in the first place."
The chief had spoken as if I was someone who had lived in this world for years. I had no idea of the four original guilds. But just from the name, I imagined that they were the first guilds to have established themselves, and by the same occasion, they were probably the strongest ones.
"I see. So, they are the guilds that everyone is trying to join. Is that it?"
The chief shook his head as he could already see where I was going with this.
"You won't be able to join them. Not yet, at least. They only accept individuals over Platinum, and even then, you need to be a one-of-a-kind talent to make it in. Otherwise, they will all refuse without any exceptions."
"Is talent not something they are looking for?"
He shook his head. "Yes and no. They want the 'talents' to prove themselves before having a chance at joining their guild."
I rubbed my chin. That was annoying. From his words, it was impossible for me to join them, and it would probably be that way for a long time. I wasn't completely sure about how much time it would take to reach Platinum, but given that I was Bronze with the performance I put up,
My guess was that it would take a long time.
"And what about creating a guild of your own? Is that not an option?"
The chief's gaze suddenly became serious. "You're not trying to get information out of me so that you can join a better guild than ours, right?"
That was exactly what I was doing. But, of course, I would never say such a thing.
"What?! Me?" I pointed at my chest, acting offended. "I would never!"
The chief's gaze softened as he seemed to believe me.
"Alright, then. I'll tell you."
I couldn't really believe that worked. But I didn't complain. It wasn't my fault that he was so naive.
"New players can't create a guild. First, to create a guild, you need at least five people ready to be part of it right at the beginning. You also need a Guild Creation Coupon. That's the hardest thing about this. They cost a lot, a LOT of money. That's where most people stop dreaming about founding a guild and instead join one."
"Hm. Is there no other way to obtain a Guild Creation Coupon?"
He laughed. "There is, but it's so rare that there's no point in even telling you."
The chief noticed my serious gaze and proceeded to tell me.
"But if you really want to find out so badly, you can also obtain a Guild Creation Coupon if one of the Watchers gives you one as a show of support. And the other way, which is pretty similar but also much harder, is to become an apostle of one of the Watchers. If you are an apostle, then you are able to create a guild without a coupon."
I nodded slowly, taking in the information. "Receiving an offer as an apostle, how rare is that?"
The chief started laughing even louder. "Heh. Extremely rare! Only the best talents get an offer, and even then, they are scarce."
My eyes widened slightly on their own.
After all, I had received many of them after my first game in the Universal World. I simply didn't think that they were as rare as that. But it seemed that I was wrong.
"I see. What's the difference between receiving support from a Watcher and being its apostle? Is it that big of a difference?"
The man nodded. "Yes, the difference is pretty big indeed. Once you become an apostle, you become the representative of your Watcher. You have to be his embodiment. Basically, you become his right hand, executing all of his orders. But you also gain access to all of the Watchers' skills, powers, and more."
The chief tried to understand what I was thinking about, searching for my gaze. However, I wasn't thinking of much. I was simply happy that I hadn't rashly accepted an offer from them. It could have been a disaster.
After all, from the explanation I had just heard, by being an apostle, you became a slave to the Watcher, where you would have to listen to his every order.
Becoming a slave wasn't part of my plans, nor will it ever be part of them.
"Thank you for the insightful answers. If possible, before I answer your questions, could I wait for the rest of my teammates to wake up?"
He sighed. "Unless another one of you has talent like yours, he will not receive an offer to join us."
I nodded. I knew that already.
I didn't know why, but I wanted to talk with Ruby about what had just been said.
Ever since I had met her, she always had useful insights, and she rarely directed me toward the wrong path. That's why I wanted to hear her opinion about what I should do.
"Oh, one last thing. If I join your guild, can I ever leave it? Or is it definitive?"
The man shrugged. "That will depend on the contract you sign. However, I'm thinking you'll be bound to our guild for a few years at least."
'Basically an eternity,' I thought, shaking my head internally.
"I see."
Then, I waited a few more minutes in silence as everyone continued to look in my direction.
Slowly but surely, people began to wake up. Among them was Jake, who seemed extremely confused, looking around himself.
"Ah… just what happened?"
A similar thing then happened between the blonde-haired elf and Jake. The only difference being that the elf didn't turn around to tell his chief about him.
He let go of his hand almost instantly, not even helping him get up.
It was funny seeing the contrast in how they treated each other.
But then, after a few more minutes, Serena woke up.
I was curious about how the elf would treat her.
"Oh, a beauty. It's nice to meet you. What's your name, beautiful?"
Serena frowned slightly. "Who are you? Where am I?"
"Ohh… a feisty one. Here, let me help you up."
The look in the elf's eyes changed slightly as he did so.
"Chief, we might have another interesting one. She was blessed by a Watcher."
I frowned. 'Blessed? How? Who?'
It seemed some things had happened while I went to win our first match alone. For some reason, Serena seemed to be favored by the Watchers.
It was strange.
Her stats were terrible, her personality was horrible; there was just nothing good about her. Why would anyone even think about supporting her?
"By whom were you blessed?"
"Who the hell are you to ask me that?" Serena asked with a frown, almost on the verge of insulting their leader.
"Who the hell do you think you are, trash?"
"Don't talk to our chief that way, you disgusting trash."
"Humans, always haughty with nothing to back it up."
Serena frowned as she finally looked around and noticed that she was in the middle of an arena.
"Why do I have to tell who I was blessed by?"
The chief shrugged. "You don't have to if you don't want to."
Then, shortly after that, more and more people began waking up. Among them, Ruby woke up.
Before the elf even got close to her, I went up to her and helped her stand up.
"Levi?" She shook her head as she squinted, looking around. "Is something wrong?"
I dragged her a bit further away from anyone else as I wanted to talk with her alone. I needed to discuss the options I currently had.
But as I began to explain the situation, she immediately answered.
There was no hesitation in her voice, pure confidence shining through.
"Don't join. You need to create your own guild."