The Rise of the Black Plain

When all the new members of the Armhands were in the waiting room where Maximillian had been the first to wait, the chief examiner of the just-completed selection entered the room alone.

"Well, from now on, you're under my responsibility. So let's start with a short introduction." Said the furry level 105 individual.

"My name is Rhett. As you might have guessed, I'm an internal guild member." He spoke, showing the red and black snake mark on his hairy head. "In Armhands, external members have few leadership responsibilities. With rare exceptions, you'll mostly be working under someone else's command.

Two types of guild members will usually be in charge of you. One is me, and the other will be the member responsible for you in special activities."

Pointing to the alchemist in Minos' group, he said. "This alien is an alchemist. So he'll work with other alchemists in the guild, and another internal guild member will stay with him under their control group.

Some of you have special skills like this alchemist, so you'll have another boss besides me. But make no mistake, you owe me the utmost respect and obedience. If the day comes that you have to choose between obeying me and another boss, come to me, and I'll resolve it.

But don't worry about guild members trying to make trouble for you and putting you in difficult situations. That's not going to happen. None of the internal members have any interest in interacting with mere external members, even those who have potential." He looked at Minos as he said this.

"Any kind of problem you'll have will be with others of the same status as you, in other words, external members. But even among external members, you won't be equal.

In Armhands, we have a complex command hierarchy with 10 different levels. As I said, your level of cultivation isn't everything. This hierarchy doesn't just depend on your cultivation level.

The lowest level in our hierarchy is the recruit level. Right now, you are all recruits, and you will remain recruits until you meet the requirements to become Rank-and-File Soldiers. After that, you will work towards becoming Elite Soldiers, and the most talented among you will soon become Officers.

The first Officer's level is Junior, followed by Intermediate and then Senior.

Above them are those with the rank of General, whom the Chief Commander oversees. There is only one Chief Commander in the entire guild, and it is not the highest rank.

Above the Chief Commander are the Elders of the council and the Supreme Leader of the guild.

I'm a Junior Officer, while the woman who collected your data is an Intermediate Officer.

Minos was interested in hearing this and noticed that someone with a good position in the guild had promised to help him. He didn't like the situation he was in. Yet, he couldn't leave just because he didn't want to be there. He accepted his new situation and thought of a way to leave this place.

'I will improve my position and gain this person's favor to save my companions from the Blue Field and the Speckled Bear Wilds!'

Rhett continued to speak. "Among the external members of the sect, there are three ranks. They are Recruits, Rank-and-File Soldiers, and Elite Soldiers. Internal members are classified between Junior Officers and Senior Officers.

From the rank of General, only members of the Council can attain these ranks.

In short, the Chief Commander is the leader of everyone below him and must obey only the Elders and the Supreme Leader. He's not the guild's leader, but he does run the guild most of the time. So don't underestimate him. You won't run into him often, but be on your guard.

In any case, he usually only deals with Generals. Each General has a group of Officers of the three ranks under their command and usually has secretaries of the rank of Senior Officer, who give orders to lower-ranking Officers on simpler matters.

Soldiers and Recruits are led by Junior Officers and, in rare cases, Intermediate Officers.

A Recruit doesn't have to take orders from a Soldier but must respect them. You are also required to give priority to Soldiers in all matters.

When faced with a teamwork situation, you will choose your responsibilities according to your rank or the choice of the Junior Officer in charge of you. In short, staying out of trouble with your superiors is not hard. Just follow the guild rules and don't disrespect your superiors. If you do that, you'll have a good time here."

He finished the basic explanation of this place before using a spatial storage item to summon several small purple crystals.

"Use this to learn the rules of the guild. It will save you headaches and wasted time." He handed these crystals to each of the 43 people in front of him.

When these Recruits realized that they had to do this now, they immediately used the crystals in the same way that one might use a language crystal.

But it was much easier than a language crystal. In just two minutes, everyone there had learned the rules of Armhands guild.

Minos raised a hand and said. "The Intermediate Officer who collected our data said that each of us would be assigned to a function that correlated with our talents."

"That's what I'm going to talk about now," Rhett said calmly before activating a device on his right wrist, and a screen with the data of this group appeared for him.

Then he began to call these beings by their names, first calling the individuals who had nothing to do with Minos' group and giving them their orders.

He gave each of them different locations to search later and show their IDs. This would lead them to the positions they would fill in that place starting the next day.

After calling all the aliens not connected to Minos, he told them all. "From now on, I can come to you any time to check on your progress individually or give you orders. Although some of you will be alchemists, blacksmiths, etc., everyone here is ultimately an Armhands warrior.

In any case, we will meet every 15 days for a more relaxed follow-up. You'll get the meeting place and date soon.

That's all. You're free for today."

The group that had already received their instructions left shortly thereafter, leaving only Minos' group behind.

Rhett then said to Minos' group. "Before I give you instructions, we must clarify the situation with your group. You didn't just try to join us. You were invited into our group. And there are advantages to being invited to Armhands!"