Chapter 336: The Interesting Recruits Arrive!

For the next ten or so people that came in to be interviewed Joshua was left in disbelief at how bad they were. About half of them didn't even reach level fifty and were immediately rejected. The other half were clearly carried to the level they were at due to their low will stat that couldn't get past Joshua's most basic aura pressure. With their will stats being so low Joshua wouldn't be surprised if their other stats were low as well. It was easier to max out the potential of your stats when you took on challenges and were in fights that put you on the verge of life and death, but if you were just a tag along then that wouldn't be the case. Joshua could tell that a lot of the people coming for interviews were cast offs from other guilds at this point which dampened his mood.

"Do you think every single one of them out there are as crappy as the ones we've seen so far?" Adrian asked with an annoyed look as he laid back in his seat kicking his legs up on the table. "If so then this recruitment will be a waste of time. We haven't even been able to spar with any of them yet because they haven't been able to get past Joshua's pressure."

"It's not looking to good so far." Marcus said with a shrug. "Although Joshua told about half of them to hang back for something he's planning to do later. Want to let us in on that big guy?"

Joshua nodded before responding. "The ones I told to hang back were people that have potential, but not the experience to be in a guild that will be involved in the type of stuff we do. So I'm thinking of gathering people around that level and getting them to make a guild together. Then we can put them in a similar situation as the Heaven's Star Guild where we help them out without them being an official part of our guild. Making connection with them now can only be a good thing in the future." Joshua explained.

"I can see why you think that Josh, but we need to get some people for our own guild before we start thinking about helping others." Henry jumped in after everyone seemed a little intrigued by Joshua's idea. "Our guild should be the top priority for now so I hope we start getting some actual worthy explorers coming in soon."

"I think we won't have to worry about that." Aito said gaining everyone's attention. "I think all of the people that showed up first were the ones desperate for a spot in a guild. They've probably been kicked out of one guild to another. After a while we should start seeing some of the explorers that are more on the fence about joining a guild. Those types are the ones that are more than likely use to exploring on their own and actually taking risk."

Joshua hoped that Aito was right and became more focused as the next person was about to enter. For the next thirty minutes or so they went through similar interviews that didn't bring in anyone of interest in Joshua's opinion, but just when Joshua was thinking they might just have to wait for the battle arena to start up to find anyone interesting, the door opened letting in a pair of people this time around.

The pair was a man and a woman that came in hand in hand clearly showing they were a couple. Joshua didn't understand why they felt like they had to come in together, but he figured they would explain it during the interview. They were both surprisingly red heads with the man being a little taller than the woman, but they were both on the short side being around five foot five in the man's case and five foot three in the woman's. Joshua would have thought they were related if they had looked a little more alike outside of their hair color, but they were clearly not.

The man had a slightly handsome face with blue eyes and an overly excited smile as he looked at Joshua and the rest of his guild members. It was clear that he was a fan of the group and was extremely happy to have a chance to join. The girl had much longer hair that went down to the small of her back. She had a slim figure and a calmer disposition then her partner. The both of them walked in happy, but when they felt the pressure given off by Joshua they only tensed up for a moment before becoming a bit more serious. Joshua was happy by their reaction and observed them to see what level they were at.

It turned out that they were both at level fifty-nine at this point which was a good start. It wouldn't take much for them to be trained up. Their gear was good for their level, but while Joshua was checking out their gear he noticed something strange. Although each of them had a dagger holstered on their waste their actual main form of equipment was tied to their backs. In the man's case he had an acoustic guitar while the woman had a violin. It seemed weird for them to be carrying around music instruments so Joshua was even more intrigued.

"Alright you two have done well to withstand the pressure check so let's move on to the actual interview." Joshua said with a smile now that he didn't have to put on the cold demeanor for intimidation anymore. "Tell us your names, your jobs, and why you guys decided to join this guild."

The pair looked at each other seeming to communicate through simple glances before the man decided to speak up. "My name is Jacob Harris, but you can just call me Jake. This beautiful girl beside me is my wife Evelyn Harris." The man said introducing himself and his companion.

"You can just call me Eve. It keeps things simple." She said following up on her husband with a small smile.

"As for our Jobs we both are bards." Jake said while pointing at the guitar on his back. "The reason we wanted to try to join your guild is because we both became huge fans after seeing how you guys handled the large town subjugation. We've been in a couple of guilds in the past, but they always looked down on us because we aren't exactly the conventional type of fighters." He finished with a sheepish chuckle.

"I see." Joshua said while looking over to Lilly. He remembered how at the beginning a lot of people wouldn't give her the time of day because her abilities as a beast tamer weren't exactly normal. This couple's unique job seemed to fall in the same category as Lilly's did. "I've seen a similar situation before and I won't simply refuse your admission to the guild because your jobs are a little unconventional. We were planning to do combat trials, but I think it would be better if you can give us an idea of how the bard job works in general."

"Oh no problem. We aren't much when it comes to physical combat but that's not where we shine. So if you had just gone straight into checking out our combat abilities we'd probably be fairly underwhelming." Jake said a bit nervously. Hs wife patted his shoulder to calm him down a bit before she decided to take over the conversation.

"Well before my husband goes on a rant with all that built up excitement, I'll explain the basics of our jobs abilities." Eve said with a smile as she turned back to look at Joshua's group. "As bards we are very much support oriented for pretty much all of our abilities. The way our support abilities work are different from other support combat classes though."

"What do you mean by that?" Henry asked a bit confused. He was mainly a support class as well so he was interested in seeing how the bard class worked out in comparison to his own.

Jake decided to speak up this time around as he settled down from his excitement. "Well although support combat jobs are rather unique we have seen a couple others with such abilities in the past, but for the most part those abilities empower a person by boosting their stats by a certain percentage. As bards we effect our allies by playing music. As long as our allies here the music they gain strength, but the type of strength they gain depends on the type of music played."

"In my case I focus completely on strengthening my companions with uplifting music that can give boost that range from doubling their movement speed, empowering their spells and widening their range of damage, and many other things. The type of music I play changes the type of buff you get." Eve explained with a smile.

"For me my music is used to hinder the enemy. I can weaken them, slow them down, and even apply a bit of sustained damage depending on the music I play." Jake said proudly.

"I'm guessing you two were musicians before the world changed then. After all it's pretty difficult to get such a unique job." Joshua said getting nods from the both of them in return. "Well then I'd also like to know what type of soul beast you each have."

"Well that's simple since we both have the exact same soul beast." Jake said with a smile as he looked towards his wife. She nodded for him to continue and then he looked back towards Joshua. "Our soul beast are love birds, or more commonly known as parrots."

"The love birds make it so that the power behind our magic is strengthened when we play together by quite a bit." Eve explained getting everyone in Joshua's group to look at them in surprise. They had seen people have similar soul beast before, but this was the first time they had seen a pair of people have the exact same soul beast that seemed to work together.

"Looks like their love birds in every sense of the word." Adrian said while shaking his head with a depressed look. "Why are some people so lucky?" Everyone ignored Adrian's words and turned back towards the couple.

"Alright well can you give us a little show of how it works?" Henry asked. He could tell that Joshua and just about everyone else was on the side of bringing them into the guild since they knew how useful such abilities could be. Henry just wanted to see it for himself before he agreed to bring them into the guild as well.

"Sure no problem." Jake said with a smile as he stepped back so Eve could take front stage. She stepped forward and took the violin from her back showing everyone its pristine condition. There was a mesmerizing feeling to it that proved it wasn't just a normal instrument. When she started to play a soothing melody that felt somewhat like a lullaby everyone could feel some sort of power wash over them. Jake then stepped forward and pulled out his knife. He cut his hand before raising it to show everyone what was going on. His injury healed extremely quickly at a rate that would match up to Joshua's when he was surrounded with his aura shroud.

"This type of music creates a power of regeneration for all of my allies. As long as I'm playing this tune the power will persist, but it slowly drains on my mana so I can't do it forever." Eve said with a small smile as soon as she stopped playing.

"I'd show you what my type of music could do as well, but it's prohibited in the hub city. It's considered a form of attack if I use my music on any of you so you'll just have to leave it up to imagination." Jake said while stepping back up next to his wife. They all knew that using offensive abilities on someone else in the hub city was prohibited. That's why all spars were regulated to normal combat that relied on skill and technique rather than abilities.

"You won't need to do that. I think I can safely say you've made the cut. Welcome to the Fenrir Guild." Joshua said with a bright smile. He had finally gotten his first set of new members.