The room resembled a strange mix of a torture house and an operating theatre.
Aside from the medical tools sprawled across the slab, the bed in the middle of the area was intimidating enough. It would have been a normal operating bed if not for the numerous slits of leather bindings extending from its rim like sharp tentacles.
Vale gulped, clearly not expecting something as mundane as class assignments to be done in such a conspicuous area.
In his past life, all one had to do was swallow a pill and wait. And although some people displayed strange behaviours during the assignment, it shouldn't be so bad that they would need such equipment.
There were two people in the room: each wore a lab coat with one sitting on the only chair in the room and speaking into a crystal ball. The other was filling up a syringe with some strange liquid.
Noticing Vale's arrival, the one with the syringe flashed him a smile and stopped what he was doing.
The man was no more than thirty; his brown flowing hair was combed back in a very deliberate manner. His figure emitted an air of professionalism.
He walked towards Vale with his pure and delicately arranged rows of teeth exposed.
Inviting Vale over, he motioned for him to climb into the bed. Vale raised a brow, but didn't say anything.
After a silent prayer, he claimed unto the so-called bed and waited for more orders.
Throughout the entire process, the other man didn't even glance in his direction. But he couldn't be bothered by that. Clicking sounds filled Vale's hollow ears, as the leather bindings slowly locked in place.
His back pressed uncomfortably against the thin foam, as the doctor—or at least that was what he assumed them to be—said a few words to him.
"I will now be administering serum X to you." The doctor's voice was dull, as if he had said these same words a million times.
"During the five minutes that serum X takes to activate your class, you may experience numerous strange things, most of which are mere hallucinations."
His words gave Vale a clue as to why so much binding was needed. Indeed, it wasn't strange for people to have very intense reactions towards these hallucinations. And after multiple mishaps, the Hunter Association had decided to tie the candidates down.
Something else caught Vale's attention: "What do you mean by 'most'?" He asked the doctor who just chucked in response.
If they were side effects then they should all just be hallucinations, right?
Vale never got an answer, the doctor went towards the syringe and brought it to Vale's side.
"Are you ready?" He asked, but he didn't seem to care so much for an answer as he had already started inserting the needle into Vale's shoulder before he even got a reply.
It wasn't painful, at least not as much as he had expected. He felt the viscous liquid flowing into his veins.
He waited, but there were no side effects besides a light hunger, but this hunger didn't come from his stomach.
He looked at the doctor, and all of a sudden, this man seemed very… enticing. He was sure prey as big as him would satiate his hunger a little bit.
There was no urge to eat the man, but rather, it was one to… hunt him.
From Vale's position, he could end the poor man's life. From a cut to the artery, to a hit on his kidney, Vale saw multiple ways to kill this man.
A strange light appeared in Vale's eyes as he tried to hunt the man in front of him, but the binding kept him in place.
The doctor let out a sigh as he shook his head.
Throughout the next few minutes, Vale made numerous attempts to escape the binding, but he failed time and time again. In the end, he passed out, perhaps out of exhaustion or maybe because of the serum.
***
Directly outside the assignment hall, a group of people was waiting, each wearing professional attire.
They were representatives of numerous guilds and adventurer teams sent to scout for talents. The Hunter Guild was an amalgamation of numerous guilds, and these guilds would do anything to keep talents away from their competition.
Rin Po, a representative of the Celestial Sect—an A-class guild—paced around frantically.
His eyes were red and bags gathered underneath them. His hair was unkept and his complexion pale.
Rin Po's livelihood was at risk now as his job was on the line. Due to an unfortunate accident at work, he was under probation, and an inability to produce results would lead to his dismissal.
A subordinate of his came up to him and said, "Sir, we haven't gotten any good classes here. The best we got was a Spicy Chef and that alone was a lucky pull.
"I doubt it would do us any good to stay here, waiting for someone to unlock a legendary class."
Rin Po let out a frustrated sigh and placed his palm on his face.
Of course, he knew this was futile, but recruiting a legendary Class was the only way he could keep his job. His chances of chancing upon one were low: all the legendary classes that had appeared in Druti throughout the past year could be counted on one hand.
Still, Rin Po wasn't willing to give up. "Just one more," he said to his subordinate, taking out a tobacco stick and lighting it.
He took a deep puff and turned to his subordinate. "After the next one, we are leaving."
The situation was looking hopeless when his subordinate took out a small blinking ball from his pocket. Two words were glowing on the orb.
"Is that the next candidate's class?" Rin Po asked, a bit on edge.
His subordinate nodded, a stiff nod.
"So? Does he have a legendary Class?" Rin Po's hands were shaking as hope blinked in front of him.
His subordinate, however, seemed confused.
"It's a double word class so it's definitely good, but I don't know exactly if it's legendary. I have… never seen this class before."
"Let me see," Rin Po said, taking the orb from his subordinate. He too became confused, as he had no prior knowledge of this class. They weren't the only ones: everyone here had received the information on the kid's class, and no one seemed to be familiar with such a class.
The words on the crystal ball were bold and clear. It read: Primal Hunter.
[Author's note: Ten power stones and I'll post an extra chapter today.]