The guild was not what James had been expecting. Van had told him he wouldn't be able to miss it and that was certainly true. Built in the centre of the camp it towered above several tents and marquees in an open space in front of it. The startings of a market taking place, although currently it filled less than ten percent of the open space set out for it. The designer of the camp really did expect it to boom.

The guild itself stood out, it towered above the market place as well as the surrounding buildings. But what stood out the most was how it looked. Wood, the first fully wooden building he had seen since arriving in this world. It looked like a tree stump, easily sixty meters across and circular in design, a flight of stairs seemed to be built into a tree root leading twenty meters off the ground, half the height of the building.

Reaching the top of the stairs he was greeted by a door of woven branches, as he walked towards them, reaching out to open them they swung outwards. Slammed open by a tall woman walking out in black armour, a dagger held in one of her hands.

“My house will hear of this” she called behind her.

James quickly ducked to the side to avoid being run over by her haste to leave. She didn't even seem to notice him as she started descending, mumbling the entire time over some insult.

Turning back towards the doors he could finally see inside. A large open space which must have taken up the majority of the building spread out in front of him. Multiple tables were set to one side. A bar stocked with wooden barrels and filled glass bottles of multiple colours caught his eye immediately. The stench of alcohol stained wooden floors filled the air, taking him back to his flat in dunedin. Waking up on a sunday morning to the mess left over from a day of drinking.

The rest of the room seemed to be segmented, he could see alcoves along one wall, with moveable screens. Some dummies set up for training near a large opening in the trunk facing towards the mountains, and the crevice which housed the original beginnings of the camp.

In the centre was a circular desk with space for several receptionists to sit. Currently there was one, they were bent over the desk furiously writing something down, which he guessed had something to do with the woman who had just stormed out.

As he walked closer he realised that it was a man, or rather a male half elf. The long dark hair reminded him of Van, but this half elf wore his hair pulled back in a ponytail, exposing the pointed ears to the world rather than hiding them as Van and Cila did.

“I have already said that just because you are noble doesn't mean that you are automatically a gol- oh, sorry i thought you were someone else '' The man looked up from the full page of writing in front of him.

“No problem, I was almost run over by who you were expecting as I came in.” James said.

“Then i will apologise for her, as i'm sure she didn't.” The man said, standing tall and smoothing the dark blue robe he was wearing. “My name is Hermey Oak, [Chief Receptionist] for the Adventurers guild in… The Camp”

Hermy obviously deflated at the name of the city they were in. James guessed it wasn't as impressive as he had hoped for.

“Thanks Hermey, she was no problem. I've met entitled people before.” He said.

Thinking back to some of his classmates at university. Obviously looking down on him for being from a farming family rather than bankers and accountants like they were. Seemed like class systems were another similarity across worlds.

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“I’m new to the camp, and was told i need to register her if i want to pick up jobs and to leave the camp daily” He said, still smiling at the man.

As he talked James noticed the half elfs eyes narrow at him.

“How is it an adventurer comes to be at the camp and is not already registered?” Hermey asked.

Feelling his face flush he wasn't sure how to respond. Constantly lying was tiring. But until he knew what coming from another world meant here he didn't want to voluntarily disclose anything. Hell, maybe it wasnt that uncommon. As much as he hated the thought he made a mental note to ask Van or Cila if there were any libraries in the camp.

“Ahhh, i was told it may be cheaper to register here as there were more jobs than adventurers.” He said, taking some points from his dad who was one of those guys that never paid full price for anything.

“Did they now.” Hermey said staring at James until he began to feel uncomfortable, deciding to look down at his boots.

“They would be wrong” Hermey filled the awkward silence. “Five gold to register. However they were correct about the jobs. There are plenty of jobs you can take individually or teams looking for additional members. You should be able to make back the registration in a day or two.”

James smiled , handing the five gold he had borrowed from Van. He was going to need to start earning gold if he wanted to keep the equipment the guards lent him. Although if he got a knife he didn't really need the sword. He had no idea what to do with it.

Taking the coin Hermey deposited them into one of many pockets in his robe. Pulling out a copper badge the size of a playing card. A logo of a Tree took up one side of the badge, Below it was something written in a language he couldn't understand. Turning the badge over he was met with his own reflection.

“Pass me your hand and I will attune it to you.” Hermey said, holding out a thin pale hand. James took it but noticed that the hand was more claw-like than either Vans or Cilas. Not just longer pointed nails but the hand itself seemed incapable of opening fully.

Holding the hand James felt a coldness creep into him from Hermey, the half elf still smiling at him. An ice cold stream seemed to flow from his hand and ito his chest, flowing through his chest and around his heart. Trying to breathe he felt his lungs become unresponsive, the coldness filling his chest entirely before flowing down his left arm towards the badge.

Pulling his arm out of the half elfs grapes James immediately fell to one knee, sucking in as much air as he could while trying to determine if he had been an idiot and just made a pact with the Illuminati or if that was expected.

Finally regaining his breath and looking up at Hermey he noticed that he was still smiling.

“That's my favourite part of signing freshies up.” He laughed.

Regaining his feet James did what was only natural.

“What the fuck was that?” He demanded. “I felt like you were trying to rip my heart out.”

Hermey laughed, a yippity wee laugh that was entirely unsettling.

“Mana attunement, makes sure no one can use your badge but you. Now what's your class category?”

“Category?” James asked, leaning on the desk still not feeling one hundred after whatever a Mana attunement was.

“How do you kill things?” Hermey clarified.

“Oh, I’m a [Hunter] so with a bow mostly.” He said

“Ok then” Hermey checked a small stack of papers in front of him. “There are groups who have asked for some ranged support you could look at joining. Or I believe there are some jobs on the board that would suit you. Just have a look and let me know if you want to take anything on.” Hermey said pointing to the opposite end of the room to the Bar, amongst the closed off rooms and tables was a large board three quarters full of pieces of paper. Nodding to Hermey James made his way over not fully appreciating the quantity of jobs until he was close. There must have been close to a hundred different Jobs posted.

After spending half an hour reading through a majority of jobs he quickly came to realise there were three categories of jobs the guild offered:

Scout - These jobs looked like there where whispers of something happening. ‘There have been reports of a strong monster/beast prowling the area. Confirm.’ They were probably safer than outright killing the monster, but seemed to offer the least amount of gold.

Eliminate - These seemed to follow on from the scouting missions. ‘Goblin tribe have set up camp in a cave. Eliminate.’ or ‘Undead presence confirmed in valley. Eliminate.’ Followed by general direction to the location. These paid the best coin and seemed the most abundant jobs. He wondered if most people went for the easy coin in the scouting missions rather than risk themselves engaging.

Requests - James lumped the remainder of the jobs into this category. It seemed like anyone with some coin could put a job up for the guild. ‘Needed - Griffin Head’ he wondered if Van had put that up. ‘Alchemy ingredients needed visit Wings n Things for further instructions’. There were even a few wanted posters that made him feel like he was in the wild west. ‘Wanted: Gir Rel last seen heading east from The Camp. Dangerous.’ There was then a list of know skills and gear. The reward was an attractive 2,000 gold coins plus Gir’s gear. But from the list of ten plus skills that were listed James knew it was well above his level.

In the end James took an elimination job that stood out to him. ‘Fifteen plus Bolt Sheep confirmed west of the camp. Eliminate’ Thinking back on the fuckers that had chased him in his first hour in this world he couldn't not take the job. The four gold pieces were also a nice touch. He would level, get some coin and revenge all in one day. Some lamb for dinner would be a bonus too.