After hours in that virtual space, but what to the rest of the world would have been only minutes. I opened my eyes and found myself standing back in front of the podium with the Crystal Orb. “Congratulations, Ms. Cobbler,” a voice said, startling me, “Wow, there, give it a minute. It is always a little disorienting the first time. Now, for the town records, what class did the System grant you? This information will be held in the strictest confidence, and it will be up to you if you want to share your Class with anyone else.”

“Um, Adventurer,” I responded, still a little worried that the mayor could tell I was lying even though Gem, the name the girl had asked me to call her, had said not even the highest-level Identify skill would be able to detect my actual class. That's the beauty of the administrator interface; you can tell the Identify skill to fuck off and return whatever you want no matter what level the person has it at, she had explained. Even after spending hours learning about my new class and the particular interface that came along with it, I still felt like I didn’t know anything. It would probably take days for it all to sink in.

“Excellent, Ms. Cobbler,” the mayor said, making a note on the same sheet of paper he’d been writing on with the other kids, “you can rejoin your family now.”

“Um, Thank you,” I say, making my way over to the stairs as the mayor calls the next kid up.

“How did it go?” Mom asks, hugging me as I join her and the rest of the family.

“You were out of it for a while, at least ten minutes,” Danial said with a big grin. “Does that mean you got a rare class?”

“Not necessarily,” Dad intercedes before I can say anything. “The time it takes doesn’t always equate to the quality or rarity of the class that is finally given. The only thing we know for sure is that for some people, the System takes longer to find a suitable class.”

“Oh,” Danial said, “so what did you get?”

“Danial Cobbler,” Mom says in her Mom Voice, “you know that it is rude to ask someone what their class is.”

“Sorry,” my brother says contritly, then grins. “So what did you get?” Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Mom shaking her head in resignation.

“You're not going to let this go,” I ask with a laugh, and it felt good to laugh after the experience I just had. Danial smiled unrepentantly, “Fine, you little stinker, Adventurer.” While I trusted my family, I wasn’t sure how they would react to their little girl having unfettered access to the system. System! I wasn’t sure how I would react when everything I had learned truly sank in. So, to preserve everyone's sanity, I decided to continue the fiction that the system had given me, the Adventure Class.

“That's so cool,” Danial enthused,

“Not really,” I shrug. “It's just the basic starter class for the Adventurer Class tree. It's not like it gives me any special skills or anything,” I add.

“No, but it will lay the foundation for your future class evaluations,” Dad responds. “It also gives you a good starting point for specializing. Some of the highest-ranking members of the Adventurer’s Guild started with the Adventurer Class.”

“I guess this means you are going to be traveling,” Mom says, sadness tinging her voice.

“Not right away. I’ll have to learn how to fight and defend myself and other survival skills, not to mention level my class. So you’ll still have me lurking around the house for a few more years.” The last bit seemed to have the desired effect as Mom smiled more naturally. “In any event, are you ready to head back home, or do you want to hang around until this is done?” I asked, noticing that most of the families of the kids before me had already left.

“Let's go home,” Mom says, “and Johnathan can take you to the Adventurer’s Guild tomorrow to get you signed up.”

“Sounds like a plan,” I say, giving Mom another hug, sensing she needed it.

~ ~ ~

The following day, Dad and I headed to the Adventurer’s Guild in the early morning, hoping to beat the rush. Our hopes were dashed as soon as we entered the building and noticed the long line in front of the reception desk. The Adventurers’ Guild was one of the few stone buildings in the town, with the town hall and the best inn being the others. All the other buildings were built from the wood harvested from the abundant forest north of the town. It was unsurprising then that all three buildings were built right on the town square, which wasn’t a square but a triangle with each building on a side.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

I recognized many of the kids from the ceremony yesterday in line with presumably older relatives to help them through the registration process. Most early classes lent themselves quite nicely to adventuring, with the rest leaning more toward the Merchant and Crafting Guilds. As the classes progressed, it became more complicated, but by then, most people had a general idea of what they wanted to do with their lives. So it shouldn't have been a big surprise that the Guild would be busy. And really, that wasn’t what surprised me the most; no, that was the fact that instead of joining the back of the line as I had expected, Dad led us over to a smaller desk off to the side, still connected to the main reception desk but separate.

“Hey, Boss,” the man behind the counter said, noticing our approach. “Who’s the Kid?”

“Jake,” my Dad says, clasping the man's hand, “can you register my daughter Melissa here? I’d do it myself, but I want to get something out of the back. Also, that pesky guild regulation prevents someone from registering relatives.”

“Sure thing, boss man,” the man laughs, eyeing the growing line. As Dad walks away, the man turns to me: “Well, young lady, as you’re the Guildmaster's daughter, I have no doubt you know a little about how the Guild works, but just to be on the safe side, I’ll give you the standard spiel we give all recruits while you fill out the registration form. Sound good?”

“Sound Good,” I confirm, taking the form he had handed me.

“By the by, the only required field on that form is your name; otherwise, you can give as much or as little information as you want. Anywho, every member of the Guild has a rank ranging from F to SSS. You will be starting at Rank F, just like everyone else. You must complete Requests and earn Guild Points to progress up the ranks. The only exception is when trying to go from F to D, as that is the only one with an age requirement. Not only do you need 100 Guild Points, but you also need to have reached your majority. With me so far?”

“Yes, but I do have a few questions,” I say, having filled out the form as much as I wanted to. After getting a nod, I ask, “Why is the F to D progress different from the rest, and how many points do you need to get to higher ranks?”

“To answer your first question, it’s because F Rank is more a probationary rank than anything. It allows the guild to evaluate your suitability and gives the newly initiated, like yourself, time to train and level their skills and class before taking on anything too dangerous. As to your second, to progress from D to C, you’d need 1,000 points, and C to B requires 10,000, and so on, with SSS needing 100,000,000 points. Also, I should mention that at each rank progression, your points balance resets back to zero, but at the same time, higher-ranked requests give more points, so it all balances out in the end. Mind you, if you fail a request, you will also lose double the rewarded points. For example, you'll lose ten points if you fail a request that rewards five points. I suggest making doubly sure that you have enough points before taking on challenging requests because if your points balance goes below zero, you’ll drop to the previous rank, and your points balance will be reset to zero. You’ll have to work your way back up through that lower rank before returning to where you were.”

“Oh, that makes sense,” I say. “And isn't that last bit a bit harsh?”

“Not really; it’s cut down on idiots trying to complete requests they aren't suited for drastically. Oh, we still get the occasional moron, but it's nothing like how it was.”

“Ah,” I respond thoughtfully,

“Anywho, starting at Rank D, you will be able to take requests one rank higher, but you will also have to demonstrate that you have the necessary skills to complete them. Of course, if you have any questions about a request, anyone at that counter should be able to answer them.” Jake added the last part with a wave to the main reception desk, which still had a sizable line, and it seemed to have grown even more since Dad and I had entered.

“When you have monster parts you want to sell, you’d normally come to this desk. The guild will give you fair market value for any parts you want to sell, but it will be less than selling directly to merchants. The Guild still needs to make a profit, and selling monster parts is one of our main ways of making money. Despite this, most adventures still sell to the guild as they don’t want to deal with the hassle of haggling with various merchants. Also, the guild hosts a monthly auction where you can enter rare monster parts or artifacts you’ve collected in your travels. Oh, and merchants associated with the Guild are more likely to give discounts to Guild members; the Guild does not require it, but some do it anyway.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I say.

“Anyway, the only thing I think we haven't covered is that while Guild Members can take Request outside the Guild, the Guild will not intercede on your behalf if something goes wrong. The Guild vets every Request to ensure it’s above board and that the requester can provide the reward for completing the Request. Also, the guild, for a small fee, offers a secure place to store any valuables you may have. To go along with this, the Guild has started to offer a service where you can store your money with us and have access to it at any guild branch.”

“That convenient,” I comment about the last part.

“I know. It’s a new service, though, and it only works because one of our members in the capital found that the System could track money in an account but required a central repository to work.”

“Oh,” I say at the same time, Gem comments in my head, .

“I’ll keep that in mind when I actually have any money,” I say.