Chapter 335: Can we get a Normal Recruit Please?

After Joshua made it into the guild building he smiled a bit at the idea that his advertising strategy might have gone well. He knew that a lot of people waiting outside had been there for a while and he was sure that the smell of food from the surrounding cafés and food stands would get their attention. He was hoping having an active guild in the area would bring in more business for all the people around the area since he had gotten to know a lot of them. Although Aunt Betty had said that she didn't want the area to become to chaotic he knew that she was looking forward to having a little bit more business by how excited she was when she saw the crow outside.

A lot of people in the area that owned the stores and other shops nearby were in the elderly group that had just found a new lease on life. Joshua knew that they stuck together and really wanted a place in the hub city where they could be comfortable throughout the day and the area where his guild was located was perfect for that. Even so some of them did need their businesses to flourish if they wanted to live comfortably. The system would provide a place to live and enough money to eat basic food that could sustain a family, but nothing more than that.

Joshua knew that a lot of them even in their old age wanted to be able to support their children and grandchildren so he planned on helping them out by drawing some attention to the area with his guild recruitment. He might not grab as much attention as the large guild's in the center of the hub city, but he was able to drag well over five hundred people into the area just for his recruitment. He was sure that number would grow throughout the day as more people came in for the testing. It would be up to all of the café and shop owners to gain their attention while they were there. It could end up gaining them a customer for life.

After finishing his coffee Joshua went about the guild hall making sure everything was ready for several people to come inside. He also made sure the training halls were ready and set up so that they could test out the people in one on one combat if they seemed good enough to reach that point. While setting everything up members of the guild started to find their way over slowly. Joshua could tell whenever one of his guild members arrived outside since the crowd waiting would grow quiet as they made their way inside. After an hour or so everyone had arrived with Grace being the last one to show up since she had checked up on the hospital beforehand.

When she arrived Joshua decided to introduce her to everyone else so that they could get to know each other. "All right guys before we start this whole recruitment thing I want to introduce our newest member." Joshua said after Grace entered the guild. Everyone seemed a bit surprised at the fact that they had gotten a new guild member before the day had even started, but they seemed fairly welcoming when she came into the guild. "This is Grace Meadows. She's a doctor that has worked under my mother as her apprentice for the past couple of years and she has the goal of becoming the first field doctor around."

"Hi it's nice to meet you all. I know that you're probably not use to having a non-combatant around, but I hope we get along just fine." Grace said with a smile that immediately turned Adrian into the horn dog he usually was around women.

"Hi beautiful. Don't worry about the small details it's just great to have another beautiful woman like you around." Adrian said with a smirk and a wink. Everyone in the group just face palmed at his antics while Grace chuckled a little bit before turning to Joshua.

"Is he like this with everyone?" She said with a smile.

"Always." Joshua simply responded before turning to the rest of the group. "For now Grace can help at the hospital we're setting up at James Town, but in the future when she's got a secondary job that will allow her to protect herself better then she can be trained up to come with us on expeditions."

"Well it's good to have another girl around for this guild." Julia said with a small smile.

"What do you mean? We've already got four girls out of twelve of the total members. That's a pretty high ratio if you ask me." Jayce responded getting nods from Marcus and Allen as well.

"That won't be the case for long and you know it." Julia said giving Jayce an annoyed glare. "Just look at the crowd outside and tell me how likely it is we will keep that ratio going forward. Just look through the window and you can tell that's not going to happen."

Joshua understood what Julia was talking about since he had seen the crowd when he first came to the guild. One thing he was certain of was the fact that there were a lot more men than woman out there. In fact there may have only been thirty women in the crowd of near five hundred when he first past through. Now after another hour or so had passed he was certain that the disparity had only grown. It wasn't surprising since when it came to solo adventurers it was more likely for men to decide to go off on their own as explorers than women. The current situation proved that point. Women just seemed to be far more sociable in most cases and joining guilds didn't seem to be an exception.

"Well although I'd like to have a longer time to get to know each other, we don't have much time before it is time for the recruitment to begin. There's a lot of people out there and I'd prefer to not be here all night long interviewing people." Joshua said getting everyone's attention. "So we will bring them in one by one for the initial look, but after we know what type of role they fit into we will divide them so they match up with the members in our group that are in the same role. At that point they have to be interesting enough for us to go through the full interview, if not then just tell them were not interested."

"Good we're keeping things interesting. I'm guessing were allowed to test them in combat if we find it worth our time right?" Adrian said with an excited look. Joshua wasn't even sure if he had been paying attention to what he had been saying since Adrian had just finally taken his eyes off of Grace.

"That's the plan. Try to go into combat against similar job types. We don't need Adrian cutting down mages or Julia burning down closed range fighters from a distance. We actually want to give them a chance to show their skills off a bit." Joshua explained. Everyone nodded in agreement to his statement before they all went to the office area so that they could interview the people that came in one by one. Joshua asked Grace to stay at the guild hall and let people in one at a time since she wouldn't be able to help out much when it came to combat testing.

With everything set up and ready, they all waited inside for the first person to come in. Joshua was excited to see what type of people would come in for the interview, but he schooled his expression to put on a tough front. He needed to make sure whoever was attempting to join his guild actually had the will to stand up to the pressure he planned to give off, if they couldn't at least withstand his pressure there was no way they would be able to stand the pressure given off by creatures in dungeons they planned to go into.

After a few minutes of waiting the first person walked into the office for them all to meet. The man was rather fidgety for someone that supposedly was a close combat fighter based off his gear and he was on the smaller side with a rather skinny frame standing at around five foot six inches. Joshua quickly glanced over his gear and realized the man had gear that was for someone that had at least dived into level fifty and up dungeons, but his presence just felt too weak for a seasoned explorer. When Joshua used observe on the man he was able to find out why.

The man's name was apparently Delvin Reed and his level was currently fifty-eight. For him to only have level fifty gear when he was already near level sixty proved to Joshua right away that Delvin had been rather slow going when it came to his dungeon diving. So Joshua decided to give the man a test the moment he stood up straight in front of them. He used his aura to put a little pressure into the surroundings and Delvin crumbled instantly. Delvin looked as if he had encountered a powerful monster that he couldn't stand up against and he was frozen in place as he stared at Joshua in fright.

Joshua sighed before letting the pressure fade away. "Alright I'm sorry but you fail to meet our basic requirements." Joshua said before the man could even speak up.

"Wait what? But I haven't even been given a chance to prove myself." Delvin said confused and a little angered by the situation.

"You failed the moment you came in here with low level gear and such a low will stat that you couldn't even stand that basic amount of killing intent. The types of beast we fight against would have you frozen in place from the start of the battle and you'd only be a burden at that point." Joshua explained. He knew that the only reason for a close combat fighter's will to be so low as a stat would be because they hadn't gone through anything dangerous during all of their explorations. Will would be the hardest stat to get the full potential out of if you took things easy and only challenged dungeons you were sure to win without any issues. Fighting beast that were a good few levels lower than your own. "I suggest you join a guild that's more in it for the fun of adventure if you don't plan on taking any risk."

Delvin seemed saddened by this news, but nodded his head knowing full well that Joshua was right. "Thank you for your time." He said with a sad smile before turning to leave the room. After seeing that expression Joshua let out a sigh before making a decision.

"I don't think you belong in this guild, but if you have sometime come back and stay at one of the nearby cafés for a while. I have an idea to run by you and some other people that I don't feel are ready to join a guild of our level." Joshua said before looking towards the others who all seemed a bit surprised.

"I'll make sure to come." Delvin said with a bit of hope back in his eyes. Joshua realized he was the type that just wanted to join a guild for fun and adventure instead of trying to become the strongest like several other solo explorers. He had an idea that could get people like Delvin to help his guild out in the future, but he'd have to talk to them about it after the recruitment finished. Delvin left the room then a few minutes later another man walked in.

The next person that entered the office was nearly as tall as Joshua and decked out in tank gear of high grade. The man had a vicious grin on his face and Joshua was a bit surprised by his high level of sixty-two, but the man's first words instantly ruled him out of becoming a part of the guild. "Alright I'll join your guild, but I expect to be at the top. I'm far stronger than any of these others punks you've got out there so what do you say?"

Joshua simply glared at the large idiot before releasing his full pressure on him with his aura. The cocky man's smirk disappeared as he started sweating bullets and backing away slowly. Joshua just said one thing. "Leave." The glare he gave along with those fierce words had the man rushing out of the door in a panic. Joshua leaned back in his chair letting his pressure disappear. "Hopefully the next one will actually be normal."