My parents came out to say goodbye the next morning and once again Mother started to cry. I told them that I would send them letters and that they could come and visit me in the city if they wanted. Traveling was too dangerous, though, so they would only be able to travel there when the merchant came to town after the harvest. Though, with the discovery of two dungeons near the town, it was likely that the road would regularly have travelers going both ways and would become much safer.

Paul and Kevin thanked me for the training and said that they would come to the city once they were strong enough for a promotion and find me.

Last, I got a letter delivered to me my one of the mayor’s servants. It was from Belinda, explaining that she was sorry that I was getting punished for her actions, and contained a Ring of Glow, a magic item that she hoped would remind me of her. I put it on immediately, even though it was styled for a woman, and made my hand glow just to test the effect. I liked magic jewelry.

According to mother, the news about the mayor’s marital problems had gotten around town and people were talking about how, not only did they sleep in different beds, but they didn’t even make love with each other. One woman, a merchant’s daughter, even came forward to claim that the mayor had offered her a silver to enter his bed, which would no doubt encourage other women to come forward as well, both truly and falsely. It was a good time for me to get out of town, even if I wasn’t banished, as the mayor would want to punish someone for the rumor and he couldn’t punish his wife, who left the sheriff’s door open when declaring her indiscretion. After we finished saying goodbye I set off for Verlos City. It was a two day journey on foot, but that was assuming that you only traveled eight hours per day and rested in villages along the way. The cart was actually pretty light compared to what I had pulled to the dungeon, and I slept last night, so I didn’t need to rest. I would only need to stop to eat and use the bathroom, as it was hard to do either while lifting the cart with both hands.

I started off at a light jog. I hadn’t done that much, though, and soon I was breathing heavily. Thankfully my regeneration balanced out the effort of jogging so that I never got more tired than that, so after an hour, I increased my speed to a run. Soon my legs started to burn, and I knew I was getting a good workout. That was until my right calf cramped up and I fell to the ground, the cart skidding to a stop over the top of me. I gritted my teeth and rubbed the muscle, and soon the muscle started working again, if not entirely.

According to my status screen, this was a minor status effect known as Leg Cramp. I wasn’t going to waste 30 DP on getting rid of it, though. I stood, reached into the back of my cart, and grabbed a pinch of salt, throwing it into my mouth. It burned really badly, but soon I had washed it down with enough water that my mouth merely felt as if I had eaten overly salted pork. I ate a carrot from my pack as I walked in circles to loosen up my leg and soon I had fully recovered. I drank another water skin full of water and picked up the carrying poles at the front of the cart. Thankfully they were made of a flexible enough wood that they hadn’t snapped, though I was sure they would have if the cart had slid them into a rock. Thankfully for my situation, but not for the sake of commerce, this dirt road hadn’t seen any pavement of any kind in over one hundred years, so everything was covered in dead plants and soil.

I set out at a jog again, and as I didn’t get tired I simply kept running all day, only stopping in a village at lunch to buy some bread from their baker. Fresh bread was one of my favorite foods. After eating it and some dried fruit, as the fruit trees weren’t producing yet, I downed another water skin and started my jog again.

As the sun started to set I started passing by large fields where a variety of crops were being grown. I didn’t see anyone in them, but maybe the farmers had already left for home. The sun was almost completely set when I reached the gate of the city. There were two different lines, with people dressing nicer in the right one, so I joined the left. As I stood there I entertained myself by looking around at all of the women. The ones in my line all seemed to be workers, but despite the dirt many of them were quite nice to look at. In the other line there were only a few that looked that good, as most of them had used too much makeup and therefore barely looked like actual women. One thing I did notice, however, was that many of them wore dresses or shirts which revealed most of their chests. This was also true of the woman standing ten feet to my right, who was so well endowed that her dress barely covered the important parts.

Noticing me watching her, she stepped over to where I was and, without warning, slapped me as hard as she could. “How dare you look at me with such a lascivious gaze.” she said, then went back to her line. What does that mean?

A minute later I got to the front of the line. “Citizen card.” said a bored guard.

“What’s that?” I asked, and he looked at me with confusion.

“You are a resident of this city, right?”

“Not yet, but I hope to be. I’m moving here from another town.”

“Then you’re in the wrong line. Didn’t you read the sign?” He pointed to a sign that hung between the two lines. ‘Left lane, residents, right lane travelers’ it said.

“Oh, sorry. I thought the right lane was for rich people. They are all just dressed so nice.” Even the people who looked like they were working wore good clothes or clean, high quality armor.

“That’s because its mostly traveling merchants and nobles. We do occasionally get adventurers through, but there don’t seem to be any in line today.”

“Oh, I’m an Adventurer.” I had left all of my gear in the cart so I could move easier, but I had been in two different dungeons, so that had to count.

“Then do you have your adventurer’s guild card? I can let you through anyway if you do.”

“I haven’t actually joined the guild, yet, though that’s going to be the first place I’ll go when I get inside.”

“But you said you were an Adventurer?”

“Yes, I’ve been in two different dungeons, and killed over a hundred monsters, including goblins and hobgoblins.”

The guard sighed. “Still, I can’t let you through without ID or verification.”

“I can show you my status screen.” I offered, but he shook his head.

“Don’t bother. Just turn around and go to the back of the right lane. It will probably take you another hour but I’m not set up for the verification procedure.”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Ok, then, thanks anyway.” I spun the cart around and went down the middle of the two lines, passing the slap-happy buxom woman and pulling in at the back of the line. The line moved slightly faster than the guard expected and fifty minutes later I was at the front.

When I told the gate guard that I was moving there to be an Adventurer he sighed and had me follow him into the office. There he had me touch a crystal sphere. It seemed to be a Status object, like the one the church used to measure children. This one didn’t display as much, though, showing only my name, race, age, DP, status effects, and criminal status. They were a bit surprised that I had so many DP saved up without joining the guild, but it did back up my story of killing monsters. Seeing that my criminal status only listed that I was banished, but not why, I had to explain to them how the mayor and his wife were looking for love from other people, and how I got mixed up in it.

“Fine,” said the guard, shaking his head. “Just try not to do that here. The Mayor, nobles, and those on the Duke’s council might do more than just banish you if you seduce their women.”

“Technically, she seduced me, so...”

He sighed again. “If the mayor didn’t care about that fact, do you really think the minister of commerce will?”

“I don’t know. How’s his relationship with his wife?”

The man covered his face with his hand and shook his head. “I can’t believe I have to explain this. Look, just ask the husband first, even if the wife invites you. Or better yet, just don’t sleep with married women. That’s the safest way. Anyways, here’s your temporary pass. Once you get an ID from the guild, come back and we’ll give you half your entrance fee back. That will be two silver.”

I handed him the two coins, one of which he said was a deposit to insure that I didn’t commit any crime. He then showed me where the guild was on a map, gave me directions, and opened the inner and outer gates enough for my cart to pass through, and I walked into the city.

The first thing I did was follow the guard’s directions to the Adventurer’s Guild. It was a large building in the middle of the market district. The city had four dungeons, with a fifth a two hour walk from the city, so the market district was build roughly in the middle of the four dungeons, as gathering things from the dungeon was a major business. I didn’t see anywhere to park my wagon, but they did have a stable for various animals adventurers might use, like combat pets and mounts, so they let me store my cart there for a copper per night.

I entered the lobby and saw that there was a counter twenty meters ahead of me with three women and one man sitting in four of the seven partitioned areas. Each of them had at least four people standing in a line in front of them. I looked around for symbols or signs telling me where I needed to go, but didn’t see any, so I stood in the shortest line, the one with the man. The four people in front of me were all women, and the other lines were mostly men, but that didn’t seem to matter, as when I got up there he was just as friendly with me as he was with the ladies.

“Well, it’s not every day that a strong young man comes looking for my assistance.” he said, looking at me. Somehow I could tell that the little bit of muscle that was visible underneath my slightly too tight shirt was drawing his attention. “So, how can I help you?” He seemed quite charismatic, like my sister, only with a much stronger jaw and a mustache. And muscles. She didn’t have much muscle.

“I was hoping to register with the Adventurer’s guild.” I said.

He nodded. “Well, you’ve come to the right place.” He pulled a lever and the desk in front of me opened and a crystal ball popped up. “Please place your hand on the crystal and link your mana to it, and we can copy all of your current status onto a sheet of paper. Do you know how to link your mana to an object?” I showed him the ring and made my palm glow, with the ring glowing slightly as well when it connected to my mana. “Seems you do.”

I nodded and touched the crystal, letting my connection to the ring fail, and connected to the crystal. I doubted I could connect to two things at the same time at the moment, though I hadn’t ever tried it. He cast a spell on the ball and then touched a sheet of paper to it and words appeared on it. “Oh, that’s a neat trick. How does it work?” I asked.

“Not really sure. Some artificer made this ring, and I just know that if I use it on an object then touch a blank sheet of paper to it, it will burn the paper slightly in order to copy the words.”

“It’s the Inscribe information magic.” said the woman in line behind me. She reached forward and felt my arm. “It’s pretty complicated, but I can explain it somewhere quieter if you want to...wait. Michael?”

I looked at her for a few seconds before remembering. “Brie?” I asked. She had come to my town a month or so ago to clear the dungeon.

“Wow, I didn’t realize how much muscle you had.” she said, looking at me like the receptionist man had. “Have you been working out?”

“Quite a lot, actually. If you want, I can show you my routine.” The receptionist cleared his throat and I turned around. “Oh, sorry about that. I just worked with her before.”

“I gathered. Brie is one of the better mages here. I’m sure she can explain it to you later. Still, flirting with someone else in my line...” He looked over the piece of paper. “Well, you definitely have some skill, and good stats in most areas. Over twenty in five stats, and a level ten skill, despite having terrible talents. We can definitely use you.”

That reminded me of something I read recently, and I pulled out the note and handed it to him. “I got this last fall. It said I should come here. Any idea who this D.S. guy is?”

He read the letter, then just stared at it for a few seconds. “Uh, Meral, can you verify something for me?” He went to the section beside him and handed the woman the letter, and she also seemed shocked by it.

“Yeah, that’s definitely his writing. He’s been through my line hundreds of times. I didn’t expect him to be a talent scout, though. Where did he say he was from?” I told her it was Gray Forest Town and she grabbed a log book from the shelf behind her, and flipped through it. “He did have a mission last fall, escorting a trade caravan through that area of the country. I just don’t understand why he would just give a talent away.” She walked over to the section I was standing in front of. “So, tell me. What talent did he give you?”

“Average Troll Regeneration.” I said.

She grabbed another book and flipped through it. “The price for that floats at around one gold, as Regeneration is in demand and the downside isn’t that bad. I take it you just eat a lot more?”

“Usually three times as much as another person, though if I got hurt I have eaten five times as much.”

The woman nodded. “Interesting.” she put the books back on the shelf, nodded to the male receptionist, and went back to her seat.

“You are one lucky man.” said the male receptionist. “You somehow got the recommendation, and the attention, of one of the only Excellent ranked adventurers in the city, Derrick the Shield, and he’s quite a handsome adventurer at that.”

“Excellent rank?” I asked.

“Right, I should probably explain that to you, since you’ll no doubt be accepted. My name’s Graig by the way. Adventurers are ranked by their skills and stats. Anyone can be a Petty ranked adventurer, but those above five in their skills are commonly called High Petty, even if it isn’t official. To get a promotion to Minor you need at least three combat skills and stats at ten. To get a promotion to Average you need three combat skills and stats at fifteen. Major is twenty, Excellent is twenty five, and Master is thirty. Usually the stats aren’t a problem, as you usually have descent Common Talents to make training them easier, but skills rarely have a high talent, so you have to work at that. Derrick has the Shield, Shield Bash, Shield throw, and Mace skills all above twenty five, and I think Shield and Shield Bash are above thirty already.”

“Wow. That’s amazing.” I said, a bit excited. I’d love to get my skills that high. “What kind of insane training did he have to do to get that good?”

“Actually, I don’t think he did insane training. I think he was born with the Excellent Shield talent and bought the Average Mace one when he was minor ranked. After that, his talent just kind of carried him.”

“Wait, talent can make it that easy?” That didn’t make sense. I didn’t rapidly get Personality just because I had a major talent for it.

“Well, for skills it does. They make it easy to raise the skill by five points per level, which is probably why we chose those levels for our adventurer ranks. For magic, it just makes it easy to learn the spells up to your level. I saw that you had the petty ice magic talent, so you would have found it easy to learn the three petty ice magic spells you know, Freeze Touch, Freeze Bolt, and Freeze Edge.”

“I wouldn’t say it was that easy. Freeze touch only took an hour, but Freeze bolt and Freeze Edge took eight or ten hours each.”

“Compared to how long it would take you to learn Fire Bolt, ten hours of practice is really good. It would take you at least a hundred hours without the talent, and that’s if you have the intelligence to understand it, which I’m not sure you do.”

I nodded. “So, about signing up?”

Graig nodded. “Oh, here’s your card.” He handed me an iron plate with my face, name, age, and race on it. There was a hole in the corner with a strip of leather tied through it so that it could be worn as a necklace. “That should be fine until you get promoted, which at this point really just requires you to complete dives and missions, as your skills are so close to ten. Once you are promoted, I’ll upgrade you to a copper card. Average is silver, Major is gold, or at least gold alloy, Excellent is a metal called mithril which is only mined in dungeons, and Master are carved onto the scales of greater dragons, which are extremely rare as only a handful are left in the wild and few dungeons are strong enough to grow one. So sometimes you’ll here adventurers referred to by the metal of their ID.”

They waved the registration fee because I was recommended, and now that my registration was complete Brie invited me to eat with her party in the pub to the left of this room. I told her that there was something I had to do, but that I would meet them in a little while. I sprinted to the guard station and showed them my guild ID, breathing heavily and a bit sore, and they took back the temporary documents and returned my silver coin. Now the guild would be vouching for me, so they didn’t need a security deposit. With that I returned to the guild hall, out of breath from the five hundred meter sprint, and went inside to join them.