It took another 2 HOURS, but I managed to find the adventurers guild. I was worried I might have accidentally walked past it or something, but the instant I saw it I knew what it was.

I could see it from 4 street's over after all.

As I make my way to the entrance, I marvel at just how big the structure is. It's easily 14 stories tall, and it towers over all the other buildings near it. There's a semi-constant stream of people coming in and out of the building, putting me on edge.

Finally, I make to the entrance. I take care to not stand in the way of traffic, and inspect the doorway. It's very fancy, covered in looping swirls and intricate patterns. Normally, I dislike fancy because it's a waste of resources. Not this time.

I take a deep breath, before walking through the door. I look around, noticing that there are only about three people my stealth skill is able to effect, and everyone else instantly notices my presence. It's disconcerting, but I steel my nerves and look for the sign up desk.

"You looking for the receptionist?" I jump. When did he get behind me?!

"Y-yeah." I nod, turning around to face him, my face tinted with just the slightest bit of red.

"Oh, It's you! You found clothes!" Wait, I recognize this pair of abs. I look up, into the face of the guy I ran into with my [Clone] in the rain. Wait, why would I have found clothes?

I realize now that my [Clone] has been running around town naked, and I almost die of embarrassment.

"Mhm." I nod again.

"No need to be so embarrassed man, it happens to the best of us. Now, you were looking for the receptionist?"

"Yeah, I wanna sign up to be an adventurer." He raises an eyebrow.

"Sure man, but awakening stones cost a pretty penny. Now, follow me."

I follow him to the receptionist desk. Desks. Now that I know what it looks like, I realize that an entire wall is just receptionist desks. All of them are empty though. My [Clone] is busy finding clothes, so I can't compare the inside dimensions to the outside. Might reveal some things, might not.

"Hey Bernard, got a newbie who want's to sign up." Why is he talking to the wall?

"Ahh, I see you have returned." The voice that responds is old and gnarled, like a tree. Wait.

I peer over the counter and realize that the receptionist is an actual tree! Well, a treant, and he blends in almost perfectly to the guild walls! If you weren't looking for his semi-humanoid shape you wouldn't even notice him! I certainly didn't.

"Is this young sapling the newbie?"

"Yep, go ahead and crush his dreams!"

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Go ahead and what my what?

"Young sapling," He leans down so that I can see him without having to stand on the tips of my toes. "do you know how much an awakening stone costs?" As I stare into his amber eyes, swirling with knowledge and power, I have just one answer.

"No, and I don't need to know."

He blinks, and big sword man looks at me funny.

"What do you mean, 'you don't need to know'?" I puff my chest out proudly and state:

"I'm already awakened!"

Instead of saying oh okay, or congratulating me, or literally any of the outcomes I had thought of, both of them immediately begin emitting hostility. And so does everyone else. A few even emit killing intent.

"Is that bad?" I ask, shrinking into myself and using my [Stealth] to it's utmost in an attempt to divert some attention away from me. At first, it doesn't work at all, then it begins working on a few people, then a lot of people. It doesn't improve more than that, but now only about 4/5 of the guild want to kill me. Was that stealth leveling up? Questions for later, need to survive the now.

"Who did you steal the awakening stone from?" Big sword mans voice isn't friendly anymore.

"Who did I what? I didn't steal it from nobody, it came from an exploded house." Did these people think I stole it? My fear dissipates a little as I realize that these people think something completely different to reality. I'm still scared, but that's more of an instinctual reaction to this much killing intent.

"An exploding house? You mean to say a house exploded and you stole it from the ruins?" Hey, don't twist my words!

"No. a carriage ran into a house while it was raining, and I happened to be leaning against said house. I got showered with rubble, and somewhere in the debris was an awakening stone that happened to touch me. I used it, then got up and ran away. Didn't want to get involved with whatever nonsense was going on. Can you guys stop looking at me like you wanna kill me now?"

The killing intent relaxed, though it was clear a few didn't believe my story. Everyone went back to doing their own thing, talking, drinking, taking quests, leaving, whatever. Both big sword man and treant receptionist relaxed, accepting my explanation. Did they have truth detecting skills? I hope not.

"Pull out your soul book please, and give me your name." I pull out my soul book, keeping it closed just in case someone here can see it. It never hurts to be cautious. I'm about to say my name is [War], when I remember it would be a bad Idea.

"My name is Jay." He writes my name down, then waves a weird device over my soul book.

"Is there anything you would like to know before you go and begin completing missions?" Finally!

"How do I level up?" The two of them share a knowing look, before turning back to me.

"Young Jay, how much do you know about awakening?"

"It makes you strong?" He let's out a sigh.

"Malcolm, go to one of the other reception desks to get your quest submitted. This is gonna take a minute." Malcolm, formerly known as big sword man, takes two steps to the right and begins talking to the treant at that desk.

"Now, let's start with the basics. You level up by doing things you love. Sounds simple, right? Wrong. Different tasks can level you up faster or slower depending on a variety of factors such as age, physical condition, skills, friends, relatives, and more. The most common method is killing things, due to it being the simplest, but for most it isn't the most efficient. Stats go up when you level up, and you get half the total stats you get from leveling up as free points to spend wherever. For example, if you got 12 stats every level, you would receive 6 points to spend where you want."

He pauses to let me digest the information.

"Now, skills. Skills can range from incredibly useful to incredibly niche or useless. A man once gained the banana farmer Skill, and we still don't know what a banana is. Skills level from continuous use, though passive skills of any kind tend to take longer to level up. Do not share your skills with anyone, no matter how much you trust them. Your [Soul Script] can have many things written down, and everyone's is different. Status conditions are aspects of your being that can change, or have an effect on you in a non-obvious way."

Again, he pauses.

"You got all that?"

"Yep. Can I go kill things now?"

"Sure. Quest board is over there."