Early the next morning in front of the Adventure’s Guild branch stands a tall slender woman in combat boots, jeans, and a dark zipped up hoodie that reads, “Normal People Scare Me.” Izo taps her boots against the marble footsteps crossly, before grudgingly moving to climb up the stairs. She grumbles about architects lacking common sense as she labors up the steps to reach the entrance.
Rather irritated, Izo waltzes into the elegant reception area. A large breasted receptionist wearing a slim fitting uniform stands behind a counter desk and smile’s politely at the hooded figure. The receptionist name tag reads, Miss Carpenter. “Hello and Welcome to the Adventure’s Guild, how may I help you this fine morning?” The busty receptionist asked the slim, tall figure.
“I would like to register with the organization,” a woman’s voice calmly replied.
Miss Carpenter automatically answers, “A form of identification must be presented upon registration and a non-returnable $100 fee is to be paid upfront. I will need you to fill out guild registration form before we can progress to testing your rank.”
The tall, slim woman hands over a driver’s license and a folded $100-dollar bill. Miss Carpenter swiftly takes both items and hands over a clipboard with the forms needed to be filled out. She also points to a chair for the hooded woman to have a seat and fill out her paperwork.
Miss Carpenter swiftly processes the payment and fills out a preliminary record with the information on the driver’s license. Miss Carpenter furrows her forehead as she dubiously studies the arrogant face displayed on the license of Izo Reed. It was no wonder the woman hadn’t removed her hood. With some pity, Miss Carpenter says, “I’m all done. Miss Reed, are you finished filling out the rest of the forms?”
The hooded figure of Miss Reed stands up and hands the receptionist the completed paperwork. Miss Carpenter happily accepts the clipboard and hands the license back to Miss Reed. Miss Carpenter turns to her side and hands the information filled out on the clipboard over to another receptionist to enter into their computer system. With a smile, she motions for the hooded woman to follow her over to a secure door.
Miss Carpenter holds out a magic key card and types in a code into the door keypad before the door swings open. She leads the hooded woman further into the hallway to a door on the left. They enter a large dim white room with a single green light shining overhead.
Miss Carpenter stops at the door entrance as Miss Reed enters the room. From behind her, Miss Carpenter says, “When the light turns red, a monster will be released for you to fight. Depending on your speed at destroying the creature, the highest class that can be awarded is class C. However, should you feel yourself in danger, please raise your hand and the test will immediately end.”
Miss Carpenter firmly steps out of the room as the door shuts pointedly behind her and waits patiently in the hallway. Izo twists her neck and begins to stretch her limbs. A minute later, the green light disappears as a red-light blink several times, before the lights blink on.
A snarling low-class black wolf monster emerges from an opening in the floor. The opening closes as the black wolf hurls itself towards the two-legged animal, but halts in mid-leap. The two-legged animal doesn’t smell like food but like death. The snarling wolf whimpers and curls up onto his belly showing his submission.
Izo is a bit perplexed by the wolf’s actions but wasn’t about to complain. She walks back to the door and knocks rather loudly. “Excuse me, but the test is done,” she said rather loudly.
The receptionist hurriedly opens the door and steps in inside. In disbelief, Miss Carpenter sees a black wolf monster on the floor showing his soft underbelly. Snapping her gaping mouth shut, she swiftly taps a button on the side of the wall as the wolf creature drops back down through the floor.
Turning on her heels Miss Carpenter briskly leads the way back to the front desk. With a flourish, she types in the test results as a white card appears on a small stand beside her. Miss Carpenter reaches over and carefully hands the cards over to Miss Reed. “The white card is your adventurer’s guild card, showing your identification and rank. To update your ID, please bring your card to any branch to have it done. And should the identification card be lost or stolen, the loss must be reported to a branch. To issue a replacement there is a $500 fee.” Miss Carpenter waits a moment as she allows Miss Reed to study the identification card.
Izo reads the guild card with a wry smile. Her original class and starting stats had been registered, which defined all normal sense as her real stats were-.
Name: Izo Reed Age: 18 Guild Classification: D
Class: Inquisitor
Skills: Heal, Staff Expert, Aura, Illusion, Bloodthirst, Single Chant
Magic Affinity: 100
Fire: 40 Wind: 10 Water: 10 Earth: 15 Light: 25
Izo’s smile completely crumbles away as she remembers that WENCHES face. For the last eight months, Izo had been trying to find way to return to Earth with no solution in sight. Despite what Dolores thought, Izo, had not spent her entire time gaming or reading comics, that was only a cover for the harsh truth. Izo had been spending most of her time researching quantum physics of this Earth and mana theories. But no matter, how much she read or searched, all the researchers agreed on one thing. It would take an incredible amount of energy to create a transfer point to another world with the larger problem being the lack of precise landing coordinates.
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And that was the major problem. If Izo managed to somehow figure out a way to power up such a spell and survive the jump, Izo, didn’t even know, where home was. Was home even in the same universe or perhaps even in an alternate plane of reality? Bitter and disillusioned, Izo had been forced to accept the unpleasant truth, that she would never be able to return to her original Earth nor fulfill her vengeance against that blasted BITCH!
“How interesting, healing classes tend to be priests or priestesses must be a rare derivative,” Miss Carpenter commented out loud.
Izo is broken out of her reverie and tucks the card into her pocket, but actually, places the ID into her inventory. The receptionist doesn’t notice as she opens a welcome folder filled with information for newly registered adventures. Miss Carpenter hands the packet over to Izo and explains the contents.
“To accept jobs, you can check the guild public job board or online on the guild website. To accept jobs online, an online account must be created. Please try to remember your account username and password. If it is forgotten, the guild must manually reset the account.
As a member of the guild, you will have access to the guild teleportation ring located at every branch. If the teleportation ring is used to transfer to a dungeon, there is a fee. The fee can be paid prior to the transport or be placed on a tab to be taken out of the next earned deposit. Earnings will be transferred into the banking account(s) that were filled out on the form.
Should a new dungeon be discovered there is a large reward paid by the guild. Any more information will be paid separately upon confirmation. That includes equipment values, (common, uncommon, rare, epic, and legendary.) If any items are found in a dungeon, they can either be sold to the guild, an auction house or via another intermediary.
Selling items to private buyers is generally frowned upon but not forbidden. However, the guild does not permit that items of epic and higher value be sold to private buyers. If it is discovered that any guild member has done so, not only is that guild member banned for life, but there are other consequences that are not pleasant to behold.
Do you have any questions, Miss Reed?” The big breasted receptionist asked failing to notice the packet handed over had already vanished into thin air.
“Just out of curiosity, what are the stats for guild members?” Izo curiously asked.
Miss Carpenter smiles with humor and happily answers, “Civilian stats on average range between 50 to 75 points. F-class members tend to be athletic civilians or those individuals that possess stats more than is the average norm. Their stats are 75 and higher with their stats always falling short of reaching 100. Of course, like any guild class, they can become stronger via items or consumables to increase their stats and reach a higher class.
D-class member’s stats range between 100 to 150, C-class members range between 150 to 250+ stats, B-class members are between 300 to 400+ stats, A-class members are around 500 to 600+, and the rare S-class members are 700 to 800+.”
Izo sighs a bit at that. Her stats were all over the place, she could certainly take on a B-class member or an A-class member. But an S-class member was most likely at the level of a Demon King. The only reason she won in the first place was because she had used a couple of items to cheat. And sadly, she didn’t have any such items with her presently, therefore should she meet an S-class member, she may lose or worse be killed.
The only item that had transferred over was the World Tree Scythe. The World Tree Scythe had been Izo’s primary weapon as an inquisitor used for offense and defense. If she wanted any defensive items she was going to have to gather them on her own. Too bad, she couldn’t grind her stats up anymore as nothing including items would influence her locked stats.
With a smile, Miss Carpenter waves goodbye to the hooded woman who heads in the direction of the job board. With a rueful smile, she turns around to greet the next person in line. “Hello and Welcome to the Adventure’s Guild, how may I help you this fine morning?”
*
Izo stands before the job board and scans for D rank missions.
[Capture C class Villain, Bon Voyage, $15,000] [C class beast corpse, 100 gold coins] [Pick 25 Mad Mushrooms, 5 gold coins = $2500] [10 Black Wolf pelts, 15 gold coins]
Izo removes the Black Wolf Mission from the board and hands it over to a young man at a desk. He carefully stamps the job as taken and registers into his system as the next person in line steps up. Following the signs, Izo arrives in a large open room with an intricate spell pentagram carved into the very stone.
Several mage technicians in blue worker’s jumpsuit and blue cap are on standby. A middle-aged worker glances up from his post and takes out a scanner from his pocket. looks up. He holds out his hand and automatically says, “Registration card and location. And would you like to pay now or have the trip placed on a tab?”
Izo pulls out her card from her inventory and firmly hands it over to the technician to be scanned. “Sorry, but I’m not familiar with specific dungeons yet. Could I please be recommended a dungeon that holds black wolves? And, please place the trip on my tab, I would greatly appreciate it,” Izo replied.
The middle-aged mage technician halts his typing and turns towards the rest of the technicians, before yelling, “What’s a good dungeon teeming with black wolves?”
The mage technicians think about it for a moment, before shouting their replies.
“Terror Copses.” “Plasma Plains.” “Slaughter Ridge.” “Malevolent Mountain.”
“There you are. What will it be-,” the mage technician said as he pauses to read her name on the card, “Miss Reed?”
“Any of them will be fine,” Izo answered as she takes the card back and puts into her inventory.
“Gotcha,” the mage technician said as he randomly picks one as the hooded woman steps into the ring. The mage technician typed in the precise coordinates as mages evacuate the near area and set up shields to contain the after-mana bursts. The ring begins to glow as the mage technicians put their shades on and in a flash the hooded woman is gone.
The mages watch the remaining traces of mana violently sparkle and crackle in the air afterward. The minutes slowly pass by as they wait for the mana to finally dissipate. The last sparkles of mana disperse as the technicians remove their shades first, before releasing their shields. Out of curiosity, one of the technicians asks, “Joe, where did you send the newbie?”
“I just picked a random one, since I wasn’t sure about them. I think it was Slaughter Ridge,” the middle-aged technician replied. The technician nods in satisfaction at the reply as they resume their chat from before. Though if anyone had bothered to recheck the coordinates in the system, the destination coordinates would have read as, “Ophidian Wilderness.”