Richard walked the short tunnel past the gate, excited to see what the city looked like close up. Upon entering the city he could tell this was not the best part of town. His sense of smell was assaulted by a combination of garbage, sewage, and decay. The buildings were old and falling apart. There was cracked plaster revealing brick walls and some buildings that simply had holes in the sides of them or roofs that had fallen in on themselves. The road had at one time been paved but was now in a state of disrepair. Potholes and missing tiles were all over, and garbage was piled high along the sides.
Humans were the dominant group that lived in this area. That made sense after what he had learned from Leven. That didn't mean that he didn't pass the occasional Dwarf, Halfling, or other race as he walked by. Other than humans, though, it was only a small collection of other races. People seemed to stop what they were doing and watch him as he walked past them. Distrust of strangers, perhaps? It was supposed to be a less traveled road. Richard decided to pick up his pace a bit.
The further he walked, the cleaner the air got. Before long, the garbage disappeared, the cracks in the walls were fixed, and then just not there. He was passing into a slightly better part of the city. He was now passing many more Dwarves, Halflings, and even some Gnomes. It was also here that he started seeing some of the more exotic races that he had really been interested in seeing. Tabaxi, Frogmen, some of what he supposed were those Lizards Leven had mentioned. He even passed a small group of Elves!
There were three, two males and one female. All three were pale and slight, though all were about as tall as any human he had seen. One male had sun blond hair that shone in the light. The other males was a deep chestnut brown. The female's hair was black as pitch and seemed to absorb the light around her. All three's hair was fine as strings of cotton candy. They lifted, floating in a slight breeze that sprung up. Their ears weren't too long but did poke up above their hair and come to a rounded point. The gowns and robes they wore made his clothes look grubby by comparison.
Richard realized the elves were all glaring at him now. Three pairs of eyes, Dark as night, drilling holes into his soul. He hadn't realized he had been staring at them. Elves had always been a favorite of his, and when he had seen them he had come to a stop, right there in the middle of the road. Embarrassed, he quickly continued his journey towards the mountain. He hadn't gone three steps though when his foot simply slid out from under him, and he fell flat on his back. From this position, he could see the Elves again, and all three were laughing. The female Elves hand was glowing a slight blue, and as Richard got back to his feet, he saw a small patch of ice right where he had been walking.
Anger flared in place of embarrassment, but not wanting to cause a scene, he walked away with the sound of the Elves' laughter ringing in his ears.
*****************************************************************************************
Leven had given him good directions. He had just followed the main street till he was almost at the foot of The Gray Pinnacle and had found the building labeled Explorers of the Gray. When he entered the main building, though, it was basically empty. A couple of gnomes ran by with folders or stacks of papers. Other than them, it was just him and the female Gnome behind the counter.
Richard approached the counter, but before he could say anything, the Gnome spoke.
"Take a number, and you'll be seen in a moment."
Richard looked back out into the empty hall and sighed. Even in a fantasy land, customer service sucked. He took a number from the stack on the table and sat in one of the chairs he found along the wall. He waited for almost 30 minutes before the main doors opened again. A group of what had to be adventurers came in. They were covered in dirt, gore, blood, but all seemed to be in a good mood. Their party was made up of two Dwarves, an Orc, an Elf, and a Halfling. As a group they walked to the counter, starting a conversation with the Gnome behind the desk.
Their group spoke to the Gnome for almost 20 more minutes. She tallied up what they earned from their contract, as well as what they were going to earn for the monster parts they were bringing back. Richard found the exchange fascinating. He thought about what his first contract might be. Probably something small, like killing slimes. It didn't matter. He couldn't remember the last time he had been this excited about something. After the group left, the Gnome rang a bell, and another Gnome came out with a chest to collect the parts. The first Gnome cleaned the counter off before finally motioning to Richard to come forward. Richard all but ran to the counter.
"Welcome to Explorers of the Gray. How may I help you today?" The Gnome was about as enthusiastic as a damp towel.
"Hi, I'm Richard, I'm new in town, and I was hoping to join the Explorers." Richards voice, meanwhile, could barely contain his excitement.
The Gnome pulled out paperwork. "Ok, the first thing you need to do is sign this paperwork. It reads, "I, the undersigned, understand and accept that The Explorers of the Gray take no responsibility for your life, safety, or property. You swear to follow all guild rules and laws. Breaking any of the rules or laws can result in punishment, up to and including expulsion from the guild. This punishment would be in addition to and not including any punishment you may receive from local law or governmental officials. If you disagree with any decision the guild reaches, you must submit a formal written appeal within one week of the decision, or the ruling will be final. Sign the paper if you understand and agree."
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
'Ahh, the wonders of bureaucracy.' Richard thought as he signed the paper. The Gnome blew slightly on the ink to help it dry. He noticed out of the corner of his eye, that she threw the pen he had used in the garbage. Setting the paperwork aside she turned back to Richard.
"Ok, now that you've agreed to the rules and charters of the guild, we can get you registered. There is an entry fee, and depending on what you need to get started, the fee is different. If all you need is to register with the guild, it's going to be two coppers. If you need testing and a guild crystal, it'll be five coppers. If you need equipment, we can help provide you with some. We rent you basic equipment at a rate of 10 coppers per week. Until all rented equipment is returned or reported lost or damaged beyond repair, your earnings will be garnished at a rate of 10%. So what do you need done?"
Richard thought for a moment. "Well, I guess first I need to ask, what kind of testing are you talking about?"
The Gnome sighed. "That means you need testing." She pulled out a small bowl covered in glyphs and runes. "We need to provide the testing device with some of your blood. That will register the guild crystal to you and keep track of your information." Richard balked at this. He had read plenty of stories where people could control you with your blood.
"Uh, how much blood? Or, more preferably, is there any other way?" He asked.
The Gnome gave him a flat look before answering. "A few good-sized drops is usually all you need. And no, there is no other way. Either you do it this way, or you leave." She said with a tone that said which of those options she'd prefer. Richard thought for a second before holding out his hand. She poked the tip of his finger with a long needle. She did this while taking care not to actually touch him herself. He bled several good drops into the bowl before "accidentally" dribbling a couple of droplets on her desk.
"Oh, I'm so sorry about that." Richard said, smiling inwardly at her look of disgust. Richard watched the crystal as the Gnome cleaned her desk with a cloth. It was slowly absorbing the blood. Once all the blood was gone the Gnome used a pair of tongs to move the crystal to a second device. Richard wasn't sure if this was some safety issue or another slight at him, but he was fairly sure it was the latter.
"Normally, you can see your information whenever you want. Just focus on the crystal and whatever information you want to find out. This tool will allow others to see your information. Give it a try. Focus on the crystal, that will bring up your basic information." Richard did as she instructed and a light shot through the crystal from a glyph set under it. There wasn't much information available, but what else had he expected. He was just starting as an adventurer.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: Richard Reeds Status: Healthy HP: 500/500 MP: -/-
Race: Human Class: Magi Knight Level: 1
Skills and Abilites
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Richard noticed his MP didn't have any information. He was about to bring that up when the Gnome made a confused noise.
"Is there something wrong?" Richard asked.
The Gnome must have been very confused because as she spoke, her attitude had disappeared. "Nothings wrong exactly. It's just... You have a class I've never heard of, and your magic points are nulled out."
'Son of a bitch!' Richard thought. 'That was the one thing I wanted more than anything else!' He thought dark thoughts about that thing that he was more and more sure wasn't a god. Out loud he asked. "So I'm not able to use magic?"
The Gnome shrugged. "No idea. Normally, if you're not able to use magic, it says so and marks your MP as 0. Yours is... just not there." She thought for a moment. "Try bringing up your skills and abilities. Maybe something in there will explain it."
Richard focused on crystal again, and the display changed. The Gnome about fell out of her chair.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills and Abilities
Distracting Presence: Draws the attention of all nearby hostiles, forcing them to attack the user.
Defender: Take 5% less damage when equipped with a shield.
Tied to Infinity: The powers of Infinity course through your veins. Able to cast any spells without using MP.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------