"Let's register you, dear. My name is Selena, the Guild's Senior Assistant."
Yes, lady, it floats right above your head.
Or is that a hint that I should introduce myself, and say that stupid name out loud too?
There are a few adventurers here who can already see it.
She smiles, waiting with patience, pulling out a sheet of parchment and a quill, and there's ink on the counter.
Fatty's method in the guard house was similar.
This is a fantasy setting though, not the yard.
Her uniform is prettier too, yet she's not writing anything.
The NPCs so far learned my name without an introduction, even if they pretended not to know it first.
A few sentences into the scripted dialogs they start using it regardless, yet she wants to go all the way.
Is this the system's punishment for poor choice?
And it was their fault.
Well, what can you do, take a deep breath, and in the crossfire of the player's glances, introduce yourself.
And do it with a smile, as a proud adventurer would.
Grab a task and get out of here because the clock's ticking.
Get that Jazz on the road.
"I'm Noob, and as the name suggests, a complete beginner."
Let's spice it with a bow, for the sake of immersion.
What would this level-one character count as in this world?
A peasant? A regular citizen, or an outcast?
A near-homeless like I am in the real world?
"Everyone has to start somewhere, Noob. And what do you specialize in?"
She asks with a gentle smile instead of treating me like trash.
Not like the Old Fox the moment we met, and then when he heard the numbers. Screw that guy.
In this place, it either doesn't matter or she doesn't care.
It takes a weight off these shoulders.
When Baldie said it was an MMO, I was anxious to play against others.
Outside the game, people sneer or try to take advantage of me.
And us in general, the numbered ones.
We, container dwellers, are outcasts, descendants of former migrants.
Homeless, jobless refugees who couldn't afford free healthcare, or official documents after birth.
How she acts and speaks is friendlier than what I'm used to, but what did she mean about specialization?
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[After you reach Level 10, you can pick your first class. Your choices are Warrior, Rogue, Wizard, and Craftsman. On the higher levels, you can further specialize your caste. As the name implies, Warriors and Wizards deal with combat-oriented errands. Rogue is a more covert class.]
What about the Craftsman?
That sounds the least impressive, yet they must be worth playing if they exist in this title.
It's suspicious that the system message didn't elaborate on them.
The explanation makes it no less interesting.
[Craftman is a recently introduced class and Premium only. It's more support-oriented, and its jobs focus on manufacturing. You can order Premium for 9.99 on a beginner discount in your first three days. Otherwise, 30 days of Premium subscription costs 24.99.]
Shush, that wasn't the question.
And it still sounds boring, yet if it's Premium only, that must mean it's overpowered compared to the rest.
Why and how?
Let's ask Selena about the options first, then keep bugging the system for more info.
"What specialties are you speaking about? Like combat or foraging?"
The question won't surprise her, and she pulls out a few more parchments, laying them out on her counter.
They all look handwritten in English and appear to be contracts.
"There are usually three types of requests."
She begins, pointing at each.
"This one's for example to exterminate monsters infesting a farm. It's combat-oriented as you mentioned, and this is to find herbs, that fit the bill for foraging."
"And this one says to find the burglar who stole the holy cross from the Main Temple?"
It doesn't seem low-level at all, where would you even start with a mission like that?
And what do you do when you find the culprit?
Bring him down? Take back the cross?
"Yes. While I can't offer you an entry-level covert job, they tend to look like this."
She never stops smiling, pointing at the top left corner of each parchment.
"That's a C contract, while the other two are F-rank. Once you're registered, you'll become a G-class adventurer."
"Right. Let me guess: A is the highest, and the further down the alphabet, the easier it is?"
It's such a cliche, but why change it if it works?
Most people should be familiar with this system, animes and games copy them for centuries.
Rarely, they might change the names.
"S is the highest class, and it was only recently introduced, thanks to the new, looming threats over us."
Of course, how could I forget the S class?
It's a typical anime trope too, and she says recent, when this title came out a few months ago. That must coincide with it.
Will she introduce the lore of this world too?
The tutorial didn't hint at it, or could they drag me into a long-term mission for that?
With the govt task still looming, it might be better to dig into the lore later.
The system remains quiet about it too.
"Okay, here's the deal. I have zero experience, and that Trainer guy, Tank was rather harsh, so combat might not be my thing. Or it could be. It's too early to tell, and I'm pressed for time, so what do you recommend?"
She thinks for a moment, then slides the foraging contract forward.
She rummages a bit longer and pulls out a dozen more.
All want people to fetch some stuff or find a lost pet, each in F or G-rank.
The rewards are low, and the Exp gain isn't displayed.
"If you aren't confident in your combat abilities and want to advance in the ranks fast?"
She pauses to point at the descriptions.
"Take as many easy jobs as you can in the area. That will help you familiarize yourself with the village, and build connections."
[Standing is an important metric when you interact with NPCs. High Standing can make them trust you, and offer personal errands. It's like Security Status, visible to others, so they can tell at a glance if you're peaceful or dangerous.]
"Wait, you can take more than one at once?"
It's a stupid question, when the avatar already runs two, and is about to take out the third one.
The next system message chirps in before Selena can answer.
[As a free user, you can run 10 contracts, 3 from the Adventurer's Guild. Premium Users have no such limitations. You can order Premium for 9.99 on a beginner discount in your first three days. Otherwise, 30 days of Premium subscription costs 24.99.]
Damn, before the tutorial, it wouldn't stop bugging about it, and now the same with the Premium.
Yes, Baldie said too, but I can't afford it, okay?
Help win the mission, and then we can talk about it.
The reward is seven days Premium too.
"I can offer you three of these for now, and more after you finished them,"
Selena claims, and what a coincidence...