Chapter 8: 8 Dog Shit Luck
The testing facility ended up being in the large spire, it was on the first floor, in a room towards the back. The spire itself was rather beautiful on the inside, the walls were lined with aquariums, with many different exotic water beasts living inside. It reminded dark of the stories of the once famous sea world in the glory days of humanity. In a tank near him, dark caught sight of a half humanoid half crab creature, the size of his hand. The unblinking female head stared at him as it clasped its giant claw in his direction. Its other, much smaller claw began to glow as if sent a hyper heated ball towards him. The ball disappeared in a flash of light, bringing the crab girl with it. Beside him Juno gasped in surprise, pulling on his arm. "Did you see it John? That was a descendant of the Copper woman! She is rumored to give birth to only females, and they prey on young men who specialize in magic! Ha-ha it seems like you have an admirer"
John laughed, pointing to a large squid who was following along with them through the various tanks. "It seems you have an admirer too!" Juno blushed, punching John in the arm. "Haven't you heard of the tales of the tentacle beasts who used to ravage beauties like me in the past? That wasn't cool John!"
Grinning john responded "you're the one trying to marry me off to a crab" The slap he received in response was well worth it in his opinion. "So what do you think your sub class will be? Apparently mine is going to be a mage?"
Juno nodded in response "your class is pretty straight forward. Arcane meaning magic and marksman meaning well marksman"
"What if I had choice being a soldier or an assassin?"
"That's where the subclasses and auxiliary classes come in. Normally you can choose an auxiliary class, but if you choose something that is not beneficial to you or your armament that choice will be made for you. So you would have likely been a soldier with a minor in marksmanship and magic as auxiliary. "
John nodded in response "so what's your class? And what do you think your minor and auxiliary will be?"
"To understand my class you would first have to understand me. My clan originated in the old world of India, and were followers of the Sikh religion. Around a century before the world they knew ended, my clan migrated to the land once known as America. They became average Joe Americans, and were often targeted after the horrible event of 9/11 even though we had no part in it, and were not even the same religion. To eliminate some of the prejudices our clan began to marry Americans that were outside of our race, which led to us blending in a little more. Instead of my clan being pure Indian as it had been for centuries we became classic Americans, a mix of all races. However, despite this we were still avid followers of Sikhism, and it became even more of a core part of who we were. The traditional weapons of the Akali were trained to the youths from a young age. When the gates opened and technology failed, my clan survived because of this training. "
She paused looking at John who was listening carefully " after the cataclysm we became more inclusive, only bringing in outsiders rarely, marrying within our clan when possible. The Katar and the chakram became trademarks of our clan, and we were to train diligently in one of them. I chose the chakram, while my sister chose the katar. I had amazing talent with the chakram, and soon stood above the others of my clan. My sister had talent with the katar as well, however she was always in my shadow, someone on the sideline who was overlooked. At functions she often warmed the bench while I was the center of attention."
"When it came time to awaken our armaments no one was surprised when I awoke the chakram, after all it was rather common for us to awaken it, but what was surprising was that Hera woke up a kitten. Being a beast master was not something that occurred in our clan, other weapons were awoken, swords, daggers, and bows, and very rarely someone was born with the ability to use magic, but never a beast master."
"This should have been a happy occasion, a beast master is a powerful class to have, but it was just too weird, and Hera's reaction to it made it worse. She burst out crying when it happened, isolating herself. She would not even let me, her twin get close. I did not see her again until our clans special dungeon activated, she did not speak to me nor anyone when she entered the portal, her kitten following beside her as she strolled into the portal, a look of determination on her face. The next time I saw her she was with you, and looked rather happy."
She sighed, looking at the squid who was still following us. "I digress, you wanted to know about my class. My class the Akali, literally the immortal army of God. My subclass will undoubtedly be the soldier, as the chakram is a ranged weapon as well as a short ranged weapon. As for my auxiliary class, I was thinking about magic. Having my chakram imbued with lightning seems to be a good path for me."
"What about you? What's your story?" She looked at me, the curiosity in her eyes apparent. "How did you end up awakening the Arcane Marksman?"
John laughed "there isn't much of a story to me. My family has lived in the old America since it's founding. Every generation a soldier. You could say that being a soldier is in my blood. I grew up in a remote village raised by my grandfather. My mother died shortly after I was born, and my only other family, my uncle who I was named after, died in the war against the savages. A magic bullet striking him in the head as he was trying to help a wounded comrade. I was 4 at the time. When he past, the last person in our small town who knew how to use a gun died, leaving mostly melee combatants. My grandfather had awakened a crossbow, and tried to train me to use it, even after I awakened my pistol, but I rushed off into the wilderness to seek adventure."
John sighed as he spoke, memories coming up to the surface even as he brushed past them. "I encountered beasts at the sergeant rank when I was out exploring, much stronger than should have been around our remote village. I took shelter in a cave, which turned out to be a special dungeon. I survived by dumb luck, meeting a woman inside who seemed to take pity on me. She gifted me a couple of abilities, and carried me through the dungeon. She taught me the basics about using my armament, and dropped me off at the exit. I got even luckier at the end, winning a strong passive cultivation method connected to magic. And then I ended up in town, next to a young woman who did not seem to understand how beautiful she was. I got a feeling inside like I wanted to protect her, and I just followed that feeling. Eventually we ended up at the recruitment grounds and with all the girls staring at her I wanted to claim my territory so I pulled her close and kissed her head." He laughed as he spoke this. "It seemed to work and she didn't hit me, she recommended we share contact details, and that's the end of it. I will probably message her after the testing tonight."
Juno stared at him with unconcealed shock in her eyes. "You just happened to run into a special dungeon, in the middle of nowhere, and survived because of some random senior sister who took pity on you? She gifted you skills, and you won a magic cultivation method, which are rarer than magical steel, and then ran into my sister, who hates everyone, then you picked her up because she was cute? Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds?"
John rubbed his nose as he grinned "Yea, I think I used up a lifetime's worth of luck in the last couple of days, especially running into your sister. That girl sure is hot, especially her ears."
"... her ears?" Juno blushed "Don't they look just like mine?"
"...you don't know?" John really was rather confused. "When I met her she didn't have the kitten you mentioned, but she did have cat ears and a tail?"
"A tail? Could it be?? What color was her hair?"
"A deep blue, like the ocean."
"She used to have light red hair like mine. She must have awoken one of the elemental Neko classes. Perhaps it really was a lucky break for her to awaken a beast armament."
The two noticed that they had been talking for awhile, and were already standing outside the site for their testing. All the others had already enters the testing ground. The teacher, Instructor Rose, looked at them with amusement. "If you two are ready the test can begin."
John and Juno quickly bowed, apologizing to the instructor, rushing into the shimmering portal.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
-- Power
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