"Each recruit is allowed to issue 10 challenges to any other recruit they desire, and each recruit must accept any challenge they receive. All recruits must go through at least five duels before retiring for the night. Any undefeated recruit will be given 100 guild points, any undefeated recruit with more than 10 wins will be given 500 points, and the recruit with the most wins will be given 1000 points.

"To be fair, there are a few additional rules, like you can only challenge the same person multiple times if they agree, purposely losing a duel will lose you points, and you can’t wager more points than a recruit has. Once all of the duels are finished, you may proceed to the lodgings provided and prepare for tomorrow's assessments. There will be a general assessment of your abilities, followed by more specific testing by the major divisions within the guild. Points will be adjusted, depending on how these assessments go.

"Now, I would like to introduce the heads of the guild’s main divisions, and what they are looking for in recruits. As the guild leader and one of the strongest psionics in the Game, I occasionally take apprentices from the guild’s Psionics Corps, more on which will be explained later. Other than that, you will generally report to your direct superior, thus my interaction with the guild at large is fairly limited. Good luck in the assessments.” She then turned, and strode over to stand at the side of the altar.

Mason, who had apparently been near to the front, stepped up.

“I am Mason, the head Arms Master. Each and every member of the Black Rose Guild is expected to be proficient in at least basic combat, and I’m in charge of getting you lot into shape. If you impress me or one of my fellow brothers at arms in tomorrow’s assessments, we will consider taking you as a trainee, or squire, as they are called in this guild. All members are expected to achieve at least an F ranking in tomorrow’s combat assessments. If you have decent combat skills, and no one else wants you, you’ll join our general forces. If you wish to join you must have at least rank D combat abilities right now and achieve an expected combat rank of at least B. More on this later.”

Mason was soon followed by a thin, skeletal hawk-eyed man, who appeared tiny standing next to Mason.

He said in an excited, squeaky voice, “I am Admiral Thrag, one of the two commanders of the Black Rose fleet. The other commander being my wife, Thrasha. You may have heard of the fleet, as it was the one that led the Empire’s Prime fleet on a wild goose chase during the most recent rebellion. Now, it all began on a cold, clear night. Well, I suppose all nights in space are cold and clear, but this one seemed especially cold as my wife had just kicked me out of the bridge for—” Elissandra let out a small cough.