A stack of documents later, we completed our registration at the guild.
“Finally! I thought we’d never be done with all this.” I said, eager to be done with this.
The receptionist gave me a chagrined smiled.
“I am sorry for the inconvenience, but rules are rules. Now, do you want me to give you the rundown on the basics of how the guild works?”
I nodded, and the five of us listened to the receptionist as she elaborated.
“Every member of the guild is assigned an adventurer rank, colloquially known as ‘ad-rank’ for clarity. These ranks are copper, jade, bronze, silver, gold, platinum, and diamond, in that order. Each of these ad-ranks demonstrate the rank of monsters an adventurer is expected to be able to fight on equal terms; a copper can fight a rank F monster, a jade may hunt a rank E monster, and so on. To improve your ad-rank, you must take hunting quests for ten monsters of a rank corresponding to your adventurer rank and pass a rank-up here at the guild.”
“Huh? But we brought you a rank A monster’s corpse earlier today. Shouldn’t we get a platinum card right away?”
“Sorry, Ms. Azoth, but I cannot do that. Since you brought the monster to us before you registered, I cannot place it in your records. Furthermore, even if I could, you would still be unable to rank up. The reason the guild put the ten same-rank monster and rank-up exam rule is to limit the deaths of overconfident adventurers attacking monsters they cannot match.”
Unfortunately for me, this is made more complicated by the fact that every party is ranked by its lowest ranking party member. I’m willing to bet a platinum shekel the rank-up exam also exists to prevent people from dragging each other up ranks they don’t deserve to be in.
Still, ten monsters of each rank until rank C? It’s going to be a pain gathering all of them and bringing them back to the guild. No wonder the academy gave us four months.
“If you decide to take a limited quest from the bulletin board, you must take the document to reserve it for your party and register it with me or one of my colleagues. On the document should be the time limit listed before we post the quest again for another party to take it. You cannot take on quests that require a rank higher than yours; you also cannot take on multiple quests at the same time.”
“Alternatively, you may choose to perform one of the permanent or repeatable quests we have posted, which have no limit on how many adventurers can take them on. Simply report to a receptionist to mark one of those quests as completed. Since you seem to be eager to rank-up, keep in mind that only quests that involve you killing a monster of equivalent rank to your ad-rank will count towards your rank-up progress.”
Hmm…
Nisos sighed.
“Thank you for the explanations. Let’s go and discuss what to do at a table in the back guys.”
***
We found a table with five seats and promptly sat down. Nisos scratched his head.
“I didn’t expect that the system would be so rigid. It’s going to take us some time to find and drag forty monsters to the guild.”
“It’s a good thing in my opinion. A little inconvenience is worth it for the lives saved.” Ati added.
Nicotris threw in a comment of her own.
“I think taking on the repeatable quests is a better bet for us. There’s always a need for rank F and E monster carcases from beginner craftsmen, so we can just kill the monsters and bring them back in good condition to get to the rank-up exam as quickly as possible, even if the pay’s not that great.”
“That’s good and all, but isn’t dragging twenty monsters from the Abyss to the guild going to be a massive pain?” Jezibel complained, to which I laughed.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Leave that to me; if they’re going to make us do this the hard way, then I’ve got an idea I’d like to try…”
A cheeky grin and some curious looks later, I filled them in on my idea. If they weren’t going to let us bring the quests to the dungeon, then we just need to bring the dungeon to the quests.
***
A day later, we were back at the guild. More specifically, my carriage had just stopped at its front door, and I was now pulling it inside the guild.
“What in the world…?!” A nearby bystander said, as the other four got off and helped me fit it through the doors without the monster carcasses falling out.
Over the past day, we found an abandoned, broken steel carriage on the side of the road outside of town. I broke off what was left of it wheels and all the unnecessary components, then activated [Lady of Attraction] on it to make it float.
I aptly named it ‘The Steel Maiden.’
After naming the Maiden and tidying her up as best we could, the others rode aboard her as I pulled it to the dungeon with us. I was delegated to carriage pulling duty, partially because my strength overwhelmed the rest of the party’s put together, and partially because it was my idea.
We entered the first layer and killed a bunch of rank F through D monsters and packed the carriage full of them. There were permanent hunt quests for the rank F [Abyssal Rabbit] and the rank E [Abyssal Titanoboa]; the former for their meat and the latter for their hide. With ten of each acquired in good condition, we hunted a whole bunch of random rank D monsters to submit one at a time depending on what was posted on the bulletin board.
With the hunt complete, and with a little help from [Gravitational Multiplier], I dragged the Maiden back all the way to the guild’s front door, to where we are now.
Many of the adventurers were surprised to see us up to strange shenanigans again after yesterday’s events and, if their curious looks were any indication, were intrigued at to what we were up to next.
The same receptionist from yesterday was standing in a free booth, so I dragged the Maiden to her booth. To her credit, she pretended nothing strange was going on and greeted us with the same polite smile.
“Greetings, adventurers. How may I help you today?”
Nisos took a rabbit, went up to the counter, and answered her as he laid the rabbit in front of her.
“Hello. We’d like to turn in a monster for the permanent quest that asked for abyssal rabbits.”
“Thank you for completing this quest! Here is your payment of two copper shekels.” She said, pushing the coins to Nisos, who picked them up and put them in his pocket.
I handed him another rabbit.
“I’d like to hand in another rabbit, if you don’t mind.”
“Once again, thank you for completing this quest! Here is your payment of two copper shekels.
***
“… two copper shekels.”
By the time a few rabbits were handed in, the adventurers in the guild put two and two together and started cheering wildly. Each time a rabbit was handed out, the adventurers cheered and drank another mug of ale.
I am starting to think these people are just looking for an excuse to drink.
“Congratulations! You have hunted ten rank F monsters and are eligible for the rank F rank-up exam.”
I looked to Nicotris in satisfaction, who rolled her eyes yet had a smile on her face anyway.
“If I may, what is the rank-up exam about?” Ati asked the receptionist.
A hint of exasperation showed in her eye, but she smoothed it out fairly quickly.
“Put simply, you will be fighting against a jade adventurer that the guild will commission in an arena, and a staff member will determine if you passed based on the results. This exam is the same throughout the ranks – with adventurers of the rank you are applying to set as your opponents.”
Huh.
Nisos turned to us.
“You guys go first. I’d like at least one of us to stay near the cart to make sure nothing gets stolen.”
“Sounds good. Let’s go get our jade cards, guys!” I said, and we each followed a separate member of staff into a private arena.
Minutes later, another staff member brought what I presume to be a jade adventurer. The adventurer stood on the other side of the arena and glared at me indignantly.
“This fight will end when one of you is incapacitated, is dealt a fatal blow, is more heavily wounded when the time runs out, or submits. The time limit is five minutes. You must not move or strike at your opponent before the bell that signifies the beginning of the battle rings. You must not attack your opponent once the battle is declared to be over. Do you have any questions?”
The adventurer ignored the referee and spoke to me directly.
“You’re going to pay for humiliating me yesterday, little girl!”
Confused, I used appraisal to take a closer look at the young man.
[Human Lv. 2 – Apprentice Warrior Lv. 13]
“Umm, sorry, do I know you? I don’t believe we’ve met before. Maybe you’ve mistaken me for someone else?” I asked.
Somehow, that managed to infuriate him even further. Strange.
“Please refrain from antagonizing each other. Continuing to do so during a sanctioned examination is punishable by fines, membership suspensions, and even expulsion from the guild.”
The referee scolded us, so I kept my mouth shut as the stranger barely managed to do the same. He still glared at me though.
The familiar black dome rose over our heads, and soon enough we found ourselves in the middle of an abandoned village. As I prepared myself, the referee then started the countdown.
“2… 1… FIGHT!”