"Oh, I didn't know there was an entry requirement, Tim kinda just sprang it up on the both of us," Archie flat out admitted, much to the shock of the receptionist for some reason.

"Th- I did not expect you to say that outright," the receptionist admitted, looking far more… awake. "Normally, whenever the question I gave you gets asked, most threaten, insult, ridicule, along with all sorts of other veiled threats towards the establishment. As such, your response, while not a minute minority, is refreshing to hear."

'Really?' Archie signed in question. I guess all human, uh, people resource work deal with the same shit, even within the Multiverse. 'I mean, why, though? I assume this is like a job interview, why try and make this more than what it already is?'

"You ain't doing yourself any favors by acting like a complete buffoon in front of the person deciding whether to let you in. This is interview basics 101," Archie snorted.

He had watched countless videos on computer engineering interviews, prepared tirelessly, and even resorted to watching… computer science ones - just to make sure he had an answer for any curveball question meant to throw him off his game.

So, how the hell were they messing up the most important rule? Don't piss off the interviewer.

"Either because they fully believe their family will back them up and get them in regardless, which they do, if they have high-ranking relatives in the guild, or because their current skill and potential make their attitude something that can be ironed out over time," she answered.

Then, a sly smile crossed her face. "But I do love it when it's neither, and they get kicked out for being annoying little tykes."

'Preach. Watching self-entitled pieces of shit get a reality check is always satisfying,' Archie signed. 'Like, why act like you weren't shitting your diapers as a kid or nearly pissing yourself the first time you saw your own reflection in a mirror?'

"I could not agree more," the receptionist chuckled at his words before sending a pulse of mana into the bejeweled handbell and activating the numerous enchantments imbued within them before clearing her throat.

"Now then, the interview shall begin. It is recommended that you answer all questions truthfully - any lies will be detected and will not provide you with any advantage in the grading panel. If there are questions you cannot or refuse to answer, state so clearly."

Fair enough, Archie nodded in acceptance.

"Perfect," the receptionist, now interviewer replied back. "Why are you unable to verbally communicate?"

'I got cursed by someone - not sure how they did it, but they did. Everyone I went to, from healing churches to other Healers, told me they couldn't remove it. They said it would be better to evolve and let the System remove it during the evolution, as it was beyond their abilities,' Archie signed.

Probably not a good idea to mention how it came into effect because I killed a noble, yeah… best keep that little tidbit to myself, Archie decided.

The interviewer nodded, accepting his answer and moving on to the next question. "What is your relationship with Iron Trekker Tizalz Iskarion Malzeth, and what was the reason for your appearance here?"

That's two questions, but okay, Archie noted. Iron Trekker? I guess that's the tier he's in.

'We're friends. We met a couple of hours ago, and he suggested we form a team at the guild he's in.'

'He's a good kid, just a bit too trusting,' Archie added. While he didn't know how fast dragons aged, with Tim's personality, Archie couldn't help but feel Tim might be a bit on the younger side.

The interviewer nodded in acceptance and asked her third question. "Why do you think you might be a good fit for Omniversal Solutions?" emphasizing the name of her guild.

'I don't even know what your guild does other than Tim describing it as a place where you can pick a quest of your own choice, like finding missing supplies, and return back with results for a reward,' Archie answered.

It's a generic adventure guild, one with a high barrier to entry requirement, but it doesn't change what it is… huh, that reminds me of the ones I met in the temple stage of Thalindra's dungeon. Were those people members of an adventuring guild?

"We are mor - " the interviewer blurted out before quickly clearing her throat and continuing. "We are more than just that. Omniversal Solutions' goals are to explore and document the unknown within the Multiverse."

'But you do have a questing system, right?' Archie asked. Tim told him as much and that the pay wasn't that bad, even at his rank.

"...We do, but they are focused on areas that require exploration and documentation. All quests are centered around places of interest that have yet to be fully explored. When documenting and recording anything abnormal or interesting, and if it's accepted, you will receive a bonus on top of your quest reward."

Okay, so exploring the area is a side objective that's heavily incentivized, Archie concluded. 'So, what's stopping someone from just falsifying what they've recorded and documented for a bonus?' Archie bluntly asked.

"T-That is why any documented and recorded article submitted along with the quest objectives will be verified by the guild," she answered. "Submitting falsified reports will result in your membership being revoked, along with varying degrees of punishment - up to and including death, depending on the severity of the falsification."

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Oh damn, nothing like accidentally fudging up a number and finding out you're going to be sentenced to death to top off coming back from finishing a quest, Archie mentally remarked.

Clapping her hands, the interviewer then said. "Going back to the matter at hand, what makes you believe that you could be a good fit with Omniversal Solutions? Why should we make you a member over the countless others that apply every day throughout the Multiverse?"

I guess mentioning the adventuring and dungeons I've both done and completed should be enough to give me a solid footing in the exploration and adventuring aspect of the guild. But I probably shouldn't mention the Temple of the Handlers, seeing as how that's in "enemy kingdom territory".

'I've completed a total of eight dungeons in the past two months or so. Two of them required me to explore and find hidden jewels throughout the dungeon in order to kill the final boss,' Archie signed before adding on.

'I spent quite a bit of time trying to piece together the themes of the dungeons. Like in one of them, a dinosaur-themed one, there was a group of people who enslaved the dinos. Somehow - I have a theory that it was because of a T-Rex dragon god, but I'm not really sure - the dinos were freed due to outside help, and they ended up torturing and killing their abusers.'

The interviewer nodded at his answer with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, prompting him to continue, completely unaware that she was hovering her finger over one of the assistance request alerts that was enchanted under the table.

'There was another one where I explored a hidden jungle temple run by lizard people who were being invaded by hordes of insectoid creatures. I saw the whole thing unfold in holographic form, the further I progressed through the Tutorial Dungeon.'

The interviewer kept nodding at Archie's words, but by the time he finished, she nervously shifted her finger before slamming it down onto another assistance request alert - the one that directly called in the branch manager.

"A-am I correct in assuming that you are one of the few survivors of the 72nd Universe? And you are referring to dungeons you have taken within it?" she asked.

'Yeah, three of them were in the Solo Tutorial and five were in the Group Tutorial,' Archie answered.

The receptionist let out a soft exhale before stepping out of her seat and walking toward the door, much to Archie's growing confusion.

"It seems I've forgotten to bring refreshments with me - my sincerest apologies. Please give me a quick moment to fetch some. Are there any refreshments you'd like?"

Uh, what?

'Okay, then some water would be nice,' Archie signed, his eyebrow raised as he watched the elf swiftly leave the room and gently close the door behind him while giving him a soft smile.

The hell was that?

How long does it take to get a glass of water? Archie grumbled as his right index finger tapped against the top of the table while his eyes were concentrated on the mana pathways that were currently being etched onto a steel sheet.

He'd been focusing on how to create a spatial rift, which sounded far more powerful and complex than it actually was.

In layman's terms, he was trying to make a surface-level cut into the space in front of him using runes. He had the coordinates set relative to the direction the rune would face, along with the outlined dimensions of where the rift should form, but he was still missing the key component that tied everything together: a runic base.

He had yet to crack the code of what the Spatial Runic Base looked like, but he was close. With active spatial mana surrounding him, thanks to his Spatial Rings, Explorer's Tent, and three crates of Meteoric Iron bars, he could observe spatial energy up close through either Nature's Meditation or Spirit Link.

Once he figured out how to stabilize spatial mana and isolate it from everything else, leaving it in its raw, unfiltered form, it would be the first ever runic base he would have discovered entirely from scratch, one neither given to him by the System nor derived from other runes he'd seen.

It would also allow me to convert Unattuned mana directly into spatial mana without the hassle of using Spirit Link for four hours to gather a minute worth of spatial mana, Archie thought while rubbing the bridge of his nose, putting away his Runic Scriber and Steel Sheet he used for etching.

Creating a mana construct beside his right-hand side, he wrote, 'You done gawking?'

"Your observation skills are quite extraordinary to be able to detect me," a masculine voice replied from behind the wall, before a blue-skinned, broad-shouldered man dressed in robes walked out of the wall beside him.

'Don't act like you didn't notice me notice you twenty minutes ago,' Archie scoffed, rolling his eyes as he watched the man slide into the seat in front of him.

Offering Archie a hands over the table, which he shook, the man then replied. "I didn't want to distract you from your craft, you looked focused on what you were trying to create."

'I appreciate it,' Archie signed. 'So, what brings the big boss here to give an interview? Did I make some sort of mistake with the interviewer who was here prior?'

"Not at all," the man dismissed, waving his four-fingered hand to the side. "She was simply following protocol when a person of interest was identified. Oh, mind my manners, my name is Paleos."

'Nice to meet you, Paleos,' Archie signed. He hadn't been caught by anyone when crossing the borders, nor had he seen anyone trailing after either Aoife or himself. 'Would you mind telling me what I've done to become a person of interest?'

"You claim to be a Tutorial Participant," Paleos stated with a slight tilt of his head. "The only beings who can currently make that claim are those from the 72nd cycle's Tutorial."

'Okay,' Archie shrugged. 'I don't know what to say other than I am a Tutorial Participant. I was in the final few days of the Group Tutorial when, out of nowhere, I found myself face to face with the System Aspect, who told me my universe had blown up - and that I was now 1.3 billion years in the future.'

'I don't know why you're all making it a big deal and why it's hard to believe me, when one of the enchantments on the handbell is to ring when I lie,' Archie sighed.

"Enchantments like those only work when the individual is conscious and aware that they are lying," Paleos explained. "It does not work when the target believes they are telling the truth, even if they very well might not be."

'So, it does not detect subjective truths as lies because they truly believe it to be true,' Archie signed in interest. I wonder how that works, he thought, his gaze fixed on the handbell in curiosity. It was layered in enchantments, meaning even if he wanted to figure out its secrets with Gaze of the Forgefather, he couldn't - something he very much wished he could.

Having a lie detector, even if not perfect, sounded like a pretty handy tool to have.

'It seems that we're at an impasse then,' Archie signed, tearing his gaze away from the handbell. 'What can I-' Archie said, before interrupting himself.

Holding up a finger - the universal gesture for "one moment, please" - Archie unbuckled his right bracer and removed his Embergrasp Gauntlet. Turning his palm toward Paleos, he revealed the Harbinger of the 72nd Universe Sigil, not only a clear mark of his identity as a Tutorial Participant, but as the one who dominated the leaderboards during the Tutorial.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.