Adam and Ruk both took to their seats as the clerk closed the doors to the room. The branchmaster nodded as she did, clearing his throat before sitting down himself.

"Before we continue, allow me to introduce myself to our new guest, Mr. Ruk" The man said as he tidied his necktie. The orc nodded in understanding, "I am Branchmaster Carnos of House Ravan. I serve as warden over the Phoenix Guild's presence here in the new world."

"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Carnos, sir." Adam said, unsure if he was expected to give the branchmaster a fist bump as well. He decided not to do it.

"The pleasure is mine, Mr. Adam. I've read over your letter of recommendation, and may I just say how surprised I am to see that Mr. Baran has finally decided to recommend someone."

"Y-yeah, I heard he gets asked about it a lot." Adam replied.

"Indeed. He holds a lot of sway in this part of the world, but he barely uses it," Carnos sounded more amused than disgusted, "But enough about that, you're here to join the guild and become an Adventurer, yes?"

Adam nodded, "That's correct, sir."

"Of your own accord?" Carnos asked with a raised brow.

"Y-yes? Is there something wrong?" Adam asked. The question made his heart sink, thinking that maybe he had skipped a few steps in the process or was actually being tricked into selling his life away without knowing. For a moment, his trust for Baran and Fred faded a bit.

"Alright then," Carnos said as he placed his fingers together, "Normally you'd have to fill a form, pass several tests, and participate in a trial. Standard procedure. But we're currently running on a tight schedule. Most of our personnel are out doing quests at the moment. Not to mention you're also an unranked mage."

It seemed to Adam that he had decided to join at a bad time. The branchmaster himself looked busy. His desk had stacks of parchment to the side, a fresh ink and quill, and an empty cup that smelled of tea. Also, mages had ranks? Adam wasn't aware. Baran and Fred never mentioned anything about magic casters having a literal ranking system in place.

"That said, Baran has vouched for your ability. Therefore, you won't be delayed in your recruitment. You only need to sign the recruitment form to become a member, then we'll have your mana potential checked by a seer stone, and afterwards you'll either join a party of your choosing or create your own. It's up to you."

There was way too much information for Adam to digest. He didn't even know what a seer stone was, but the fact that they were going to check him for mana potential made him even more worried. He had no magic to speak of, no spells to show off, and certainly no mana for them to measure.

Not only that, but the branchmaster seemed laid-back about the whole thing. Adam felt into his mind to be sure, and he found it unchanged. Calm and still. Maybe this was a bad idea after all.

Thinking about his situation, Adam managed to calm himself a bit by accepting that being fast-tracked was the best way forward. Carnos mentioned tests and a trial. Those things sounded hard, time-consuming, and risky. He would have invited doubt and suspicion if he fumbled any of them. That said, he still had a few questions.

"What does it mean to be an unranked mage?" Adam asked, wanting clarification.

Carnos was as stiff as an old tree, unbothered by the rather unexpected question that Adam burdened him with. He merely raised both his brows before explaining what the term meant.

"To be unranked is to be unlabeled. Since you look young, I assume you manifested your magic potential quite late. It's rare, but not unheard of. That said, you also look to be... let's say, from a poor household. Nothing wrong with that. It would explain why you even asked the question in the first place."

Was it wrong to ask? Adam thought, it did seem to catch the branchmaster off-guard. It sounded like Carnos was trying to justify Adam's question and circumstances rather than answering his question.

Looking to his left, Adam saw that the orc looked very amused. The big green fellow was silent so far, merely smiling as wide as possible as he listened in on the conversation at hand. The orc then gave Adam a thumbs up.

Clearing his throat to regain Adam's attention, Carnos continued. "Apologies, but as I was saying, being unranked means that you have no record or a title. Nobody in the kingdoms know who you are, what class of mage you are, and what magical skills you possess. Furthermore, without a rank, it is difficult to measure your strength. That is the most important part. In the magical world, a mage's strength determines their fate. It helps avoid unwanted conflict, or death."

Adam's interest and dread was piqued by that last bit of information.

"How so?" Adam asked.

"A rank 2 pyromancer won't challenge a rank 4 anemancer, knowing the difference in power between the two. If the former is unranked and does not know their limit, they may very well find their fireballs waved away by a wall of wind before having their heads severed from their bodies with a gust. If it was the way around, the anemancer may find themselves torn apart by a fire tornado. Hence why rank matters."

Adam stared at the desk in silent contemplation. There was much to unpack about the realities of magic. It was shaping up to be an even more dangerous world than expected. He briefly considered stepping back from his application, but he figured that there was no better alternative.

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"Thank you, sir. I appreciate the explanation. I'm guessing I'll be ranked when I become an Adventurer?" Adam asked

Carnos nodded.

"Where and when do I fill out this form?" Adam quickly followed up

"Here and now." Carnos said. He then handed a long piece of parchment to Adam and a quill. The writing on the parchment glowed like gold. Adam had to remind himself that this was most certainly magical in nature. At least the quill looked normal, or maybe it didn't run out of ink? It would be pretty cool if his handwriting started to glow too. He was about to find out.

"Ignore the questions about classes. We'll get that sorted when you're ranked."

Wait a minute, Adam paused. He didn't know how to write in their language. It was weird. He could understand the spoken and written systems of the language, he even speaks it now thanks to whatever magical spell the mage from before cast on him. That said, writing in the language escaped him. It seemed like he needed to learn how to do it the traditional way. Unfortunately, that would have to wait.

Adam spent a minute reading over the contents of the form. It was asking for some personal information such as his name and address, alongside any skills or magical or martial classes he might have. There was only one slight problem, he had no address. He didn't even know the address of the worker's building he was staying in. Maybe he should have made more preparations before waltzing into the guild.

The part with the skills and classes confused Adam even though he was told that those could wait. He knew about magical classes, or at least some very surface-level information about it, but he wasn't aware of what martial classes meant. Judging by the name, Adam was convinced it involved physical fighting or something along those lines. He was starting to think that Baran and Fred were a bit unreliable in terms of telling him information he needed to know.

"Sorry, Mr. Carnos but..." Adam paused, embarrassed at what he was about to admit, "I don't know how to write."

It was during this moment did Adam sense a flicker of surprise from the otherwise stoic man. The branchmaster volunteered to write the information down himself, to which Adam obliged, having no other choice in the matter. The form was filled out in under a minute though half of it remained blank. Apparently, Port Silvershore was enough for an address.

With the form filled, the branchmaster proceeded to stamp it with his glowing golden seal, signifying that Adam was now an official Adventurer under the Phoenix Guild. Carnos then waved a sparkling hand over the form, making the piece of parchment glow before it duplicated into two. He then handed the extra form to Adam.

"That is your copy. Make sure to keep it somewhere safe. It will serve as proof of your membership alongside the guild tag you'll be issued with. The tag and form are both enchanted to show that they're real and genuine. However, if you attempt to alter them in any way, they will lose their enchantments and therefore their status. Do. Not. Do. That."

Adam nodded quickly, not wanting to invite any sort of doubt. He was no fraud. Well, not in the sense of tampering with official magical documents.

"Good, Dasha will soon be here with the seer stone, and you'll be on your way." Carnos leaned against his chair, seemingly satisfied with the conversation.

Then the orc opened his mouth. "Carnos! He's my partner, right?"

Adam's eyes widened as he turned to look at the orc and then back at Carnos. The branchmaster looked back at the two with a hard but neutral gaze.

"Our dear friend Ruk is from the Sandhammer Clan, sent here to fulfill his duty as a warrior. However, he needs a partner in order to venture into the new world. Not guild policy, but kingdom law." Carnos explained, noticing Adam's confusion.

Adam raised a brow at the implications of the last statement. What did he mean by the fact that this rule was kingdom law?

"W-what do you mean?" Adam asked, wanting to know the full context of what this arrangement entailed.

"Humans don't trust orcs!" Ruk announced before crossing his arms, "They stupid."

Carnos sighed, more so to calm his mind than to show exasperation. "The kingdom and the clans do not have a good history. After the last war, orcs were given freedom to enter civilized lands but under supervision. In the case of Adventuring, orcs can only accept and go on quests if they are in a party with one or more non-orcs. In line with that, no more than two orcs can be in a party as well."

Adam was missing a lot of context, "Okay, but why?"

"You don't know about their bloodlust?" Carnos asked.

Adam shook his head, much to the surprise of both Carnos and Ruk. Carnos appeared confused and his stoic demeanor cracked for a brief moment. Meanwhile, Ruk was somehow happy with the revelation that the young man knew very little of what was going on.

"Orcs have this state of mind called Blood Rage in which they gain immense physical strength and enhanced durability while losing all sense of reason in the pursuit of battle. Basically, it's when they lose themselves to their inherent bloodlust. Only a non-orc companion can calm the Blood Rage through words of comfort since another orc would simply fall into the same state if exposed."

None of what Adam was learning sounded safe at all. He looked at Ruk from head to toe, inspecting the large orc with a more cautious eye. He then returned his gaze to Carnos, "Is that why I saw him covered in blood at the docks?" He asked with dread.

"Wha? No! The blood was from a kraken that tried to drown the ship. I gave its tendrils some good swings with my axe before the slimy thing swam away like the coward it was!" Ruk proudly declared in his own defense, pumping a fist into the air. "Human, if you accept to be my partner, I will make sure that you will find glory and honor in these unglorified and honorless lands!"

Ruk then caught himself, seemingly broached by a thought. "Not unless you wish for riches? Or females? Or maybe you want a tribe of your own!"

"I'm not-"

"Nonsense! Every human has ambition. Which is why they rule most of the world!" Ruk sounded proud and in awe, making it obvious that he looked up to humans in his own, brutish way.

"Please settle down. Mr. Ruk, I'm certain Mr. Adam will make a decision after we have him ranked." Said Carnos, putting an end to the current conversation. Adam was grateful for it while Ruk simply accepted that he had to wait. The orc, in spite of his seemingly brutal existence and lust for violence, had displayed great patience throughout Adam's time here. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad if they became partners.

But the so-called Blood Rage did give Adam pause. It sounded scary.

As if on cue, Dasha the clerk returned with a big ball in her hands which was wrapped in silk cloth. She gave the ball to Carnos before retreating to one corner of the room and standing there.

“Once again, I would like to apologize for the rushed manner in which we’re conducting your registration. Though we have a lot of Adventurers and other personnel, quests have been piling up lately and most of our people have been coming back late. Sometimes they take weeks, others months. There’s also been a marked decrease in immigration from the other races. Combine that with the fact that most humans would rather stay behind the walls, there aren’t many new recruits. Well, aside from the two of you.”

Adam gulped as he nodded. The reality of the situation dawned on him, and his heart began to race. They were about to realize that he was, in fact, not a mage.

"It's time, Mr. Adam. The seer stone will judge you now."