Roge groaned as he slowly woke up, his brain a bit blurry as someone helped him sit up. “You’re okay now Roge,” a voice murmured to him, it taking a second before the dragon recognized it.
Marge. Right the test… his head clears at this, a new groan coming out as he realized what just happened. “I failed didn’t I?” he asked, looking at Marge as she grinned at him.
“Not at all,” a new voice interjected, Roge looking up at the manager who was testing him. “In fact, we don’t really need to go through the other physical tests. While that stunt was foolhardy, it showed how fast you can move with those vines, your armor protected you enough that you weren’t seriously hurt, and the vines can be given to other people, so you can outfit your team with them. Checks off all the right boxes and makes your utility Skill usage just high enough to pass.” Roge looked at the foxkin stunned, completely unsure if he believed her or not. “All you need to do is sign some paperwork, sign up with a team, and you become an official Copper Guild Member.” He then looks at the bearkin behind her, slowly accepting the statements as he had nodding along with every single one.
“Now hold it right there!” an outraged voice sounded, Roge flinching as a bit of discomfort ran through his head at the loud noise. He then noticed Paul and some of his clergymen standing off to the side, Paul holding a feather finger up in protest. “You can’t just ignore protocol! All Magic based…”
“...Classes that use Spells must sign up for the college,” the foxkin finished, the clergy looking miffed at the interruption. “Which he clearly does not have. Unless you want to extend the terms to Skills, in which case the Guild would have a very large problem with that considering over half of the members fit that criteria.” Paul flinched back at that statement, Roge imagining the overwhelming wave of new students if that were to happen.
“He is clearly using spells. He has a Magic class! He is coming with us.”
“No,” Roge grinds out, getting up from his sitting position to glare at the hawkman. “The Guild has accepted my application. You’ve seen my Status with no Spells to speak of. And attendance is not mandatory, otherwise you would have thrown me in the Holy College a long time ago. I am becoming an adventurer, and there is nothing you can do to stop it.”
Paul looked aghast at Roge, the dragon even growling at the clergyman. The other clergymen looked around at the equally hostile faces on the others present, Sean looking especially angry at them. They grabbed Paul’s shoulder, dragging him back to head out of the Guild building, seeming to know a lost cause when they saw one. “This isn’t the end of this,” Paul threatened lowly, pushing the hand off of his shoulder to walk out ahead of the rest.
~---~
“There you go young’in,” the dwarf at the front desk grunted, handing Roge some papers and a shining copper badge. “Fresh Copper Member. As you Rank up, remember to come back to get reassessed. Don’t want a stronger adventurer taking on the easy tasks.”
Roge nodded at the dwarf, though felt like he would forget half of the advice he had been given. It had been a long day after all, and it was only mid-afternoon. “Thanks,” he mumbled as he walked away, getting a surprising notification as he put the badge in his inventory.
Guild tab now available in Status! You are now Copper Status in the local Guild!
Warning! Tracking enchantment insufficient to overcome Static Mind! The Guild will not be able to find you if you get lost!
Multi-classing tab now available!
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Roge stopped his walk back to his group’s table with a frown, feeling like a cold bucket of water got splashed on him. Guild tracking is… mental? he questioned, not liking the implications of that. He decided to ignore that warning for the moment, pulling up both the Guild and Multi-class tabs.
Guild Home Branch: Lowerton Branch
Status: Copper
Rank required for Status advancement: Any Class Student Rank
Standing: Neutral
Party: Shining Heralds (Current members: 4)
More Stats available at Silver Status
Multi-class options:
None
Roge nodded at the two tabs, his Familiar moving on his shoulders for a better perch. Made sense to have that as a tab to keep track of certain things with the Guild. The Multi-class one made no sense though. Why offer it if it was going to give no options?
He arrived at the table of his Party members to find Sean and Marge already halfway through a pint, glancing at the time to find he’d only been gone for a half hour. Both of them hugged Roge immediately after spotting him, making his Familiar squeak as the tigerkin, without his armor on, and deerkin practically squish him to death.
“Congrats man!” Sean slurs out, taking a large swig of his mug. “First time someone went through the defense trial with a concussion and still pass.” Roge leaned away from the smelly breath, only to lean right into Marge with equally bad breath.
“Right? Took up a good fifth of my Magic to get him back to health..” she slurred, sticking her tongue out as Courage hissed at her. “Oh you’re fine little guy.” One missed bite disabused her of the notion she could pet him, Marge grumbling as she got back to her seat.
Sean, however, had somehow shifted his seat over so he could continue hugging the dragon, Roge feeling his scales heat up at the rather large feline’s close presence. “Hey can we have some wine for the new Guild member?” Sean called out, the bartender chuckling at his over-exuberance. “No more sulking over the fact you couldn’t join, bud.” That last one he whispered into Roge’s ear, the ear flicking at the hot breath running over it.
“Ooookay, getting a little too warm here,” Roge blurted out as he unsuccessfully tried to push Sean’s chair away.
“Oh just let him be Roge,” Hops chuckled, the elf apparently having gone through his alcohol at lot slower. “He’s much more of a hugger when he gets drunk, so it’s best to just let him be.” Sean casually gave him a middle finger at that, Hops chuckling as the tiger descended into giggles.
“How strong is that stuff?” he growled lowly, grabbing his wine as the waiter set it down and just then noticing how hungry he was. “What you guys serving for food today?”
They spent the next long while tolerating the two wasted party members and eating, Roge learning about enhanced alcohol and how it could cut through the high Constitution and Skills the two had that would normally not allow them to get drunk. Roge didn’t get drunk himself, however, not trusting himself with Sean practically hanging off of him and periodically giving him hugs. Looking past the feline features, Roge could see why Madam Madrid had temped him before. Hefty and strong were definitely his types and with how touchy Sean had gotten during the chatting, he’d definitely hit one more button.
~---~
Paul almost snapped at his fellow clergymen to hurry up, fury going straight through his body at how the day had gone. No new student, pliable enough to follow his orders and get him even higher in the church. No, the weak dragon had to all of a sudden grow a spine, challenging him right in front of the Guild members and making a fool out of him.
In fact… why is he so bold now? he thought to himself, scratching his beak with a feather as he thought on the problem. He seems so different than a few weeks ago… That thought brought up something Paul had only noticed in hindsight, pulling up the snapshot he’d taken of Roge’s Status the previous week and looking at his Abilities. Static Mind… Where did he get that from? Only a powerful psychic attack… He then froze his mindless walking, the other clergymen not even noticing.
It’s not possible… nothing else on his Status shows anything out of the ordinary. His eyes then caught on the Skill Tree Tab, noting the Gardening one was only at Rank 1. It showed as Rank 2 the last time, he pondered as he checked back on his logs. I’ll have to keep a close eye on him. If we have infiltrators in our midst who can disguise themselves that well… He then continues on walking, planning to bring it up with his superior once he had reached the Holy College.