The two made their way through the busy streets and arrived at the Adventurers Guild. Sol was ready to sell all the items they had collected in the dungeon and make a tidy profit. He mostly just hoped it would be more than enough to cover their expenses as they also needed to get better weapons.

Warhawk’s Talon

Rare

Attack: 50-60

Durability: 72/750

Skills:

[Sharpness] Lv 4, [Penetration] Lv 4

Sol had done his best to mitigate any damage to the blade, but even so, it had piled up and it's on its last legs. He needed to repair it or buy a new weapon, and either would require money which he didn’t have a lot of. Sol knew it was better to get new weapons as they were going to fight stronger enemies the deeper they go into the dungeon; their current weapons will eventually not be able to match up.

They went to the shortest line they could find and were eventually attended by a rather short receptionist. Sol almost mistook him for a kid if not for the impressively large beard they had.

‘Is he a dwarf?’

Sol had never seen a dwarf before, but he had heard about them. The dwarfs were known as a powerful race of craftsmen and warriors, at least they used to be. Sol didn’t know the specifics, but Dwarfs once had a glorious kingdom at one point famous throughout the entire world. But at some point during the dark age, it all disappeared. The dwarfs without a place to call their home moved to other kingdoms with a large majority taking refuge in the Holy Kingdom of Delvania located northwest of Crestelia.

Some fairy tales said that their kingdom once stood in the northern mountains above Crestelia, but no one had been able to find proof. That didn’t stop dwarves from traveling into the Frostaxe Clan’s territory to reclaim their lost legacy.

Dwarfs were rather rare to see in Crestelia, but in the capital of the kingdom, it was much easier to encounter those of other races.

The dwarf behind the counter smiled as he spoke to them, “What can I do for ya?”

“Hi, we are looking to sell a few dungeon materials.”

“Sure, sure. Can I see the quest paper?”

Sol was confused, “Do we need one? I thought this branch bought materials from adventurers.”

Sol recalled the conversation he had with another receptionist who told him that this branch buys materials from adventurers as a side business.

The dwarf had a troubled look as he spoke, “We do buy materials. It’s just that we don’t allow adventurers to sell specifically dungeon materials without having the quest for it. It’s to prevent lower-ranked adventurers from sneaking in or bribing the guards to enter the dungeon just for them to die when facing those monsters. If you want, I can register the quests, so you can turn them in, I just need your cards.”

Sol didn’t know there was a protection mechanism in place for dungeon materials; he assumed they did it this way because they have no control over the guards at the dungeon gate who don’t even verify adventurer cards.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“The thing is… We are C-Rank…”

The dwarf's expression goes from shock to slight anger mixed with disappointment.

“The hell are you going in the dungeon then?! What’s up with young adventurers wanting to die so badly! You don’t need to even take that risk; you could just do quests at your level and live comfortably. Do you need quick money that badly?”

The dwarf let his anger take over for a moment as he was tired of encountering adventurers who had no self-preservation whatsoever. The moment he finished his short rant he realized what he did and apologized.

“I-I’m sorry. That was very unprofessional of me.”

Although Sol was berated by the dwarf he knew it came from a place of kindness and worry over his well-being.

“It’s fine, I understand. How about this, what if we both take the rank up test? Could we come back later and sell the materials then?”

Surprised at the suggestion the dwarf asked, “Sure you can, but why didn’t you do that before diving into the dungeon?”

Sol didn’t have a good excuse for that; he simply didn’t think they needed to waste time ranking up.

“I… didn’t want to waste time doing quests or schedule a rank-up test that could be a week later, but if it's the only way to sell the items I’ll do it.”

The dwarf shook his head, “You don’t gotta wait a week. We have B-Rankers here on standby all the time. Just request a rank-up test and you can be done in less than 30 minutes.”

“Ahh…” Sol felt like an idiot.

It could be said that it’s not his fault for not knowing as he wasn’t from this city; he was used to the practices of the guild branch back in Initium and Kerman. Even so, he should have found it odd that there were repeatable collections quests only in the B-Rank board and not in C-Rank board.

The dwarf made no further comment, not wanting to embarrass Sol any further, and instead offered to submit the application for him. Accepting the offer Sol and Amber were led by another guild employee to the testing location.

They were led down the stairs to a large open area beneath the guild lobby. There was training equipment of all kinds and bleachers where guild employees and associates were watching the tests while on break or eating lunch.

The guild employee that brought them here took them to the bleachers and told them to wait until they were called.

Having nothing else to do Sol began to watch the rank-up tests that were happening. The current fight was between an archer and a spearman. The spearman sported a very noticeable guild emblem leading Sol to believe that they were one of the examiners.

From the side, he could hear the other employees idly chat and bet between each other if they would pass or fail.

“Think he’ll pass?”

“Nah look at his face, he isn’t confident he can win.”

“Oh? You wanna bet on it?”

“Heh, sure. I won’t say no to free coins. 20 silver.”

“Aight bet.”

The archer launched a volley of arrows that the spearman gracefully avoided. The spearman didn’t bother to use their spear to deflect any arrows as with just his reflexes he could move out of the way in time. The archer kept shooting his arrows in a stationary position and used a skill to empower them further, making them shoot much faster.

This didn’t stop the spearman as he moved at a rhythmic pace and was fast approaching the archer. By the time the archer noticed the spearman was getting too close it was too late to make space as a spear swung from the side and knocked his bow away.

The fight was over in less than a minute. It was so fast that some spectators asked their friends who had more battle knowledge on what went down. Sol on the other hand had a bored expression on his face.

‘Slow.’

To Sol, the fight was unbearably slow. His incredibly high agility and intelligence boosted his perception to the point he could see every movement of the two fighters. The fight looked more similar to a choreographed dance rather than an actual battle. Without using [Analysis] Sol was easily able to tell that the archer was around D-Rank and the examiner low C-Rank, which explained the lackluster battle.

The spectators paid whoever won their small bets and the next adventurer was called to take the test, sometimes by the same examiner or a different examiner depending on the rank they are testing for. Contrary to the first battle Sol watched, most passed their tests as adventurers wouldn’t apply to take this exam without being confident in their skills beforehand. The few who did fail tended to be lower ranked and overestimated their abilities.

After a few more fights Sol’s name was called and he walked onto the field.