The Runic Alchemist

Chapter 916: The Streets of The Sanctuary 6

Sanctum City, Recruitment Camp, Luca.

A man in a Sanctum official uniform typed Luca’s information into the receiver registration window after he showed his Sanctum ID.

“Which one are you applying for? Field Explorer or Crew Member?” The man asked.

“I am a Blacksmith,” Luca replied.

“So, Technical Crew Member?”

“But I also want to join dungeon parties.”

“You can apply for both together; your chances of getting hired actually increase that way. Just keep in mind, physical fitness is a must for Field Explorer, and Technical Crew requires knowledge of steel work.” The man explained.

“That sounds alright.” Luca agreed.

He was given an application number and was told to wait in line for the physical fitness test. The Technical Member tests will start in the afternoon, he was told.

Luca was so excited for this that he woke up early in the morning and was one of the first to arrive at the location. He wasn’t alone.

Just like all those days ago when Sanctum had closed off the entire city for the ID registration, today too, the factories and all the major labour jobs were required to have a holiday. Sanctum did this for the people who wanted to apply but could not leave their jobs.

Many of his co-workers were present at the recruitment camp that was set up in an open green field some distance away from the outer city.

“Sup, you here too?” John, one of his team member asked from behind. He was accompanied by another member of their team named Van.

“Even Sups 24 gold is not enough for our leader, huh?” Van joked.

“You lot make almost the same as me and are still here,” He shot back.

They chatted leisurely while observing the physical tests that were happening before them. First was running for 5 km under 25 minutes. For pathfinders, that was easily doable, but for mundanes, it took some effort.

After than several tents were placed one after another where officials were going in and out of. When the first batch of passed runners entered the first tent, some kept moving to the next tent, while most left the recruitment camp in not-so-good-looking state.

“What are they doing in there?” John wondered aloud.

“Field Explorer means we just walk with researchers and help them, right? What else would we need other than physical strength..?” Val guessed.

“It’s just a general term like sailor. But there are many different duties in that, like Captain, Navigator, Quartermaster, Cabin boys, etc.” Luca answered.

“So we are like soldiers in this exploration project that can be given any job,” John added.

After four batches of runners, their turn came. Luca was still a pathfinder, even if a rune shaper first ranker. His level was also mid-first ranker tier. His first job was called Mana Steel Warrior, and his second was Blacksmith. At the time of his ascension, he was barely surviving; learning spells was not an option. Without sword training, he was neither offered the Spellsword class or Esper class.

Didn’t know any pugilist techniques to unlock that as well. So his choices were limited. The Mana Steel Warrior sounded cool, so he just selected that. He couldn’t read, so the divine voice read it aloud for him.

The job was not as cool as the name though. It only gave him some skills to use the runic tools better added with some knowledge of how to handle steelwork. It wasn’t completely useless though, as he finally got the Blacksmithing job and could earn some money.

Choosing Blacksmithing as his next job was the obvious move, and it gave him a lot of knowledge on how to work the smithy and metal. Even how to make some everyday items and basic weapons.

The work at the smithy did not earn enough experience points for him to level up further, so it just stayed like that for years.

Luca easily ran 5 km. John and Val were not pathfinders but were physically fit, so they were following some distance behind him as well.

They had to wait again for their numbers to be called for the tent entry; it was much sooner this time. It was another test.

They told them to sit on a wooden chair that had leather arm and thigh clamps. The official activated some runic device, and suddenly, Luca felt heavy pressure on his shoulders and neck. He tried his best to resist while following the instructions.

They had to stay like that for 30 seconds and then speak their name clearly at the end. It was the most bizarre test ever.

John and Val had an even harder time than him being mundane. But both managed to pass somehow, just like him.

In the next tent, a heavy metal collar was placed on their neck, and they were told to move their heads forward, backward, left, and right. It was relatively okay after that enormous pressure crushing them from above.

All people who passed with them were thoroughly confused as to what was happening so were Luka, John, and Val.

The following tent had another chair on which they were tightly tied and spun around like a ball. They stopped suddenly in between and were required to point at the hanging bell. People were throwing up left and right. Some bled from their nose, some outright passed out.

Now they understood why people coming out of the tent looked so beaten up. Luca was feeling the same.

The two tests that followed were even more ridiculous. In one, they had to catch hot metal without dropping. It just came out of nowhere randomly. The painted red color helped a little, but most people dropped more than they caught. Val couldn’t catch the required amount and couldn’t go forward.

The last test was keeping their heads sideways while walking straight on a white line. It was unexpectedly the easiest test, yet most people failed to do it. Apparantly not everyone could see from the corner of their eyes clearly, regardless of being pathfinder or a mundane.

Luka was among the four people who passed all the physical tests in his batch. They asked for his full name and address then they were let go. When asked if they passed or not, the officials replied with,

“The result will be announced later. All who managed to pass the first three tests could be selected for the jobs, so don’t forget the application number you are assigned and don’t miss the public and receiver announcements.”

Luka and others who had passed all tests were called aside and were told they got the Field Explorer job they applied for, but if called, they should immediately come to the Sanctum building anytime in this month.

Another one of them asked before they were dismissed,

“Why is there no mention of salary?”

To which they replied with,

“All who are selected will be given special training at the end of which multiple job posts will be available, all with different salaries. The lowest position is that of a Junior Cleaner, which has a salary of 50 gold per month.”

A collective gasp escaped from their group at the mention of 50 gold coins. Luka, the factory supervisor, only had a monthly salary of 24 gold. And that was one of the average sanctum job salary-wise.

50 for just cleaning.

Seeing their shocked reactions, the officials added,

“Being an explorer is a brave thing to do. Our Lord Runebreaker is going to travel the whole world; it will not be an easy thing to accompany him. You might not return for months on end. The pay takes all of that into consideration. You are the ones who have shown exceptional endurance capabilities. There are plenty of jobs that offer double, triple, and even five times the salary I just revealed.”

Needless to say, in one instance, the group forgot all the suffering they had gone through and could not wait for the training to start so they could work hard and get those high-paying jobs.

Just 50 or 100 gold coins per month was enough to buy most things in the Sanctuary city and live in modest luxury. If they had thousands, they could easily start a business of their own or could live without working for several years.

Luca’s heart was already screaming for him to prepare for these jobs and forget about the blacksmithing, but chasing money was not his goal here. Having too much was not good either. Ascending his class was more important to him and would be for most people.

So he told all that he had learned to his friends who came asking curiously and then stood in the waiting line for the Technical Crew Member tests. Here, people were less than the physical tests, but all were either assistants to major craftsmen or the craftsmen themselves.

The announcement mentioned anyone who knew metalwork, cooking, sewing, woodworking, or was a blacksmith, runesmith, or had any rune shaper class could use their skills to become a part of the flying ship’s crew.

The blacksmith skill tests started in the afternoon, as mentioned, and they just had to make simple metal tools in the given time using the resources provided. This was more what he expected. Luka did his best and crafted a top-quality blade.

When they asked if he wanted to test in the runesmith category as well, he refused politely. Luka told them he was a rune shaper but had not ascended from the Blacksmith job yet.

Surprisingly, they wrote his name in some list instead of feeling sorry for him and told him the 45-day training that will follow this recruitment camp will have an opportunity for him to gain levels and become a runesmith, because runesmiths were something Lprd Damian required the most.

When he returned home and a few days passed, Luka realized he wasnt the only one who was told that. The leveling-up opportunity for low-rank rune shapers like them was the most lucrative reward of them all.

Word spread of both the salary and leveling opportunity, and in the days that followed, recruitment camps were filled to the limit with people coming from all over the mainland.

Streets were full of people. It was celebration week all over again.