I was standing in front of a pair of large doors, that a guard had assured me was the entrance to the guild master's office. I had needed to schedule an appointment with the older man by asking a secretary, who in turn needed to be notified by a clerk. Bureaucracy was the same everywhere, I guessed.
I was a little stressed for this meeting. I had a goal I wanted to achieve by the end of the meeting and I wasn't exactly sure if the guild master would allow it. Still, I had to try. After some hesitation, I knocked on the door. I heard a gruff voice coming from the other side.
"Ah, that must be Arthur. Come in, young man."
I opened one of the doors and entered, nodding politely to the guards as I passed them. I could see the old man I had met just once a few weeks ago, sitting behind a desk. He'd evidently dropped his paperwork to talk to me, because there was a stack of paper sitting right on his desk. The guild master was the first to speak.
"Good to see you again, Arthur. Doran has reported to me that you have tiered up all of your class skills to tier 2. I suppose you are here to ask about tiering up your class itself this time?"
"That's correct, sir. I feel that it is time for me to advance to the next tier."
The elder smiled kindly and nodded.
"Yes, judging from your progress, the time has come indeed. I must say, you did a remarkable job, completing Doran's training schedule this quickly. Congratulations boy. Now then, let's get to business. The guild has a few dungeons that we use to power level..."
Without thinking, I interrupted the guild master.
"Sorry sir, but that wasn't exactly what I had in mind."
Rather than getting angry, the guild master seemed to expect my interruption, because he got a Cheshire grin on his face.
"Then may I ask what it is, young Arthur, that you had in mind?"
Determined, I asked for something that I doubted anyone else would have asked at tier 1.
"I want to complete a tier 2 quest involving combat."
The old man only smiled wider when he heard that.
Quests were paid jobs handed out to guilds. They were categorised based on their difficulty and the type of work they represented. Gathering quests, exterminating quests, bounty quests, excavation quests and so on, there were an infinite amount of different jobs. Our local guild typically received around 50 quests per week, which were accepted by various parties and solo hunters. Jobs involving combat were the most common in our guild, which is in part why we were so combat oriented in the first place.
Finally, you had bigger quests that involved entire companies of warriors to complete. Each guild had their own version. The adventurers' guild would sometimes organise expeditions to unsettled lands. Mercenary companies would participate in wars and witch hunters would go on crusades if a larger group of undead gathered. Some historic crusades were even done in partnership with the church.
Asking for a quest above your tier wasn't that unusual. Doing so as a solo hunter, however, now that was a dangerous proposition. And yet, I still decided to walk this path. On one hand I was confident in my skills, on the other I knew that no one became strong without struggle. I could power level for the next few tiers, hidden behind thick walls and the backs of my comrades, but that wasn't me. That wasn't why I started this journey. My stats could already rival an average middle level tier 2 and my skills surpassed what any tier 2 was capable of. All of this combined gave me confidence to complete such a quest.
I hurriedly explained my reasoning to the guild master, while he nodded along. Eventually I fell silent. He hummed for a moment, before speaking up.
"I guessed you wouldn't be able to sit still. Very well. I will allow it."
I gave a sigh of relief and was about to thank him when he intervened.
"On one condition. You will complete this specific quest that I have prepared for you."
Saying this, he pulled a file out of his cupboard. Even from a distance, I could tell that it was a quest document, which described the specifics of the quest in question.
Smiling, he pushed the file in my direction, allowing me to read it.
Quest: Kill the rogue alchemist.
Tier: 2
Danger level: Mid
Recommended party size: 2-5 members
Location: The town of Ralston and its surrounding area.
Suggested arrival time: 1 week of quest posting
Quest poster: Mayor of Ralston
Description: Several days ago, the guards of Ralston discovered a hidden lab below our local alchemists' shop. He had been missing for a few days, which caused them to investigate. The lab had signs of human experimentation and torture, with evidence leading us to believe that the alchemist was involved personally. Our equipment notified us of the presence of dark mana in the area, which lead to us posting this quest in your guild. We were unable to find the alchemist, however our trackers assure us that he is still in the area surrounding the town. With our summer festival fast approaching, I as mayor, cannot in good conscience let such an evildoer run rampant in the town. It is our hope as the town of Ralston that the witch hunters will be able to rid us of the problem.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
Reward: 2000 silver pieces to be split between the party members.
Personal reward for hunter Arthur: ??? (from yours truly)
Giving the notice a once over, I shouted in surprise.
"20 gold? For a rogue alchemist that can't fight back?"
The guild master had a grim look on his face.
"Don't be so quick to judge. An alchemist that has access to dark mana clearly has some tricks up his sleeve. That also makes this quest perfect for someone with your skillset, however, since you're very difficult to kill."
I looked at it in more detail this time and noticed the personal reward bit, scribbled on in different hand writing. I looked at the old man suspiciously.
"Did you write this?" I asked accusatorily.
He laughed for a moment in response.
"What, you don't like an extra reward? My, what a humble response!"
"That's not what I meant, if you insist on extra rewards, who am I to say no?" I said, grinning back.
We smiled at each other for a moment, before the mood turned serious again.
"I prepared a little gift for you as your reward that will help you with your tier 2 class. I recommend that you return to the guild when you hit level 25 and tier up here. Tiering up takes a few hours, which is why our guild has specialised rooms just for that. Now then, are you ready for your first quest?"
"Of course I am!"
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A few days later I had finished my preparations. With the money the party had given me for my part in the dungeon clear, I had bought enough provisions for a month, in the form of little alchemical pellets that provided a day's worth of food each. I had had my sword sharpened by a tier 2 blacksmith and bought some new tier-less leather armour to replace my old set, that had turned into rags at this point. Revan wasn't big enough to ride yet, and I didn't have enough coin left over to buy a horse, so I would have to walk.
Fortunately, Ralston was fairly close to Reito, being only a few days away on foot. If I hurried, I could make it in three.
With a smile on my face, I walked through the city gates. I was ready for the journey.
Traveling along the dirt paths to Ralston was not dissimilar to my previous journey when I left my hometown. It involved walking through the woods, finding a spot to set up camp, training, sleeping and more traveling the next day. When I could, I would head deeper into the forest on smaller paths, so that Revan could walk alongside me.
The little bugger was as curious about the world as a two year old child, constantly heading from place to place, from object to object. He would grab some random tree root, bring it to me and then expect me to recite its biography. Then he would get mad when I couldn't describe it as anything more than a tree root, as if the world depended on my answer or something.
Yes, that tree is stuck to the ground, no that branch can't roll like your rock can, no you cannot eat every bug. He was simultaneously adorable and annoying. Still, his behaviour confirmed a hypothesis of mine. When Revan was not summoned, he was probably stuck inside some timeless void, unaware of the world around him. It basically put him in stasis, like one of those spatial bags nobles use.
Because of this, I tried to keep him summoned as much as possible, to let him learn about our world. If he was seen I would be in big trouble, I knew, so I had to keep him hidden in the dense foliage of the forest and unsummon him at the first sign of trouble.
If I got caught, best case scenario my class would get exposed to the wider world and I would become stuck as the poster boy of the hunter guild. Worst case scenario I would encounter some tier 5 priest and get turned into dust. Not exactly my idea of fun. Maybe I could travel at night in the future, since neither of us would get spotted and both of us could see in the dark.
After a few days I could see the town of Ralston in the distance. I unsummoned Revan and decided to play it safe this time. I invested some free points to get one of my stats to 100 prematurely. Like Doran always said: 'When in doubt, free point it out.' Well, he didn't put it quite like that, but close enough.
Name: Arthur Titles [Dark prodigy] Class: [Death Knight] LVL 23 Strength 100 Constitution 96 Dexterity 96 Intelligence 25 Wisdom 50 Affinity 223 Free stat points 2
Skills:
Passive: [Overloading Dark core](1%), [Dark sight](2%), [Berserker Swordsmanship](3%),
[Novice lifespan](N/A), [Perfect physique](N/A), [Flexibility](N/A)
[Mental resistance](N/A)
Active: [Dark augment](59%), [Shadow apparation](12%), [Battle meditation](5%)
I decided on strength, because, of the three physical milestone skills, its effect was the most useful in combat currently.
[Perfect physique](N/A)
Tier 1 skill.
Your muscles and fat are now perfectly proportioned for the use of the class skill [swordsmanship].
Increase strength to the next milestone to increase skill tier.
Tier 2 upgrades
[Mana physique]
Your muscles slowly absorb a minimal amount of ambient mana.
[Reactive physique]
A small amount of recoil will be absorbed and redistributed by your muscles.
[Versatile physique]
Your muscles and fat proportions no longer matter when it comes to using skills.
I found this to be another interesting choice. None of these choices had immense effects on my combat strength, but they might have affected what skill options I get in the future for my other skills. I imagined combining [Mana physique] with [Overloading Dark core] to create a mana core spread out throughout my entire body!
Immediately, I fell in love with the mana physique. My skills sucked up most of my mana and I would take any solutions that could aid my meditation in alleviating my troubles. Since it didn't mention manipulating mana, I was confident it wouldn't force me into a caster class.
Ding! [Perfect physique] skill reached tier 2! [Perfect physique] has become [Mana physique].
I felt an intense pain course through my body as my muscles adjusted to the skill.
[Mana physique](N/A)
Tier 2 skill.
Your muscles and fat are now perfectly proportioned for the use of the class skill [swordsmanship].
Your muscles slowly absorb a minimal amount of ambient mana.
Increase strength to the next milestone to increase skill tier.
With a new boost in strength and in confidence, I headed towards the gates, intent on meeting the mayor. The time for adventure was nigh! Huzzaahh!