World’s System?

A young woman who appeared to be in her late teens and nearing her 20s walked on the crowded streets, advancing slowly toward the center of the city. As carriages went past her, people couldn't help but momentarily look at her as they felt a strange attraction pulling them in.

Her incredible beauty was naturally at fault, as it attracted those who'd never set their eyes on a woman with such beauty before—even the princesses known for their beauty were no match; however, her beauty wasn't the only cause—her armor, which outlined her curves, appeared to be an armor of superior grade.

After several minutes of seemingly endless walking, Ayla reached the entrance of the Adventurer's Guild. Dozens of adventures belonging to a variety of races she'd heard of in the myths and fantasies walked the streets; several entered while others exited the guild. She then entered...

'It's bigger on the inside than it appears on the outside!'

As soon as the guilds' interiors were revealed, she realized that it didn't differ much from the fantasy stories—a quest board where one could select quests, the receptionist's counter, where one could register a quest and sell materials and monster parts, and a bar, where adventurers could rest and drink to their hearts' desires.

Ignoring the eyes that never ceased to land on her, fortunately for her, there was no need to wait in line as she quickly spotted an open receptionist. She headed straight for the open receptionist.

"Good... evening, Miss!" A young, dark-blonde-haired girl said softly, with a small red blush. Blinking a few times at Ayla, she fell into a daze without knowing it.

"Are you alright?"

"What?" She exclaimed, quickly breaking out of her daze.

"I asked if you were alright."

"Erm…yes! I apologize for my negligence." She bowed respectfully and continued, "How may I be of assistance to you?"

"I'm here to register as an adventurer." Ayla said, calmly. "And in addition, I'd like to register for a quest!"

"I... see!" She pulled out a blank black card with a golden rim and said, "To register, I'll need information such as…"

Within ten minutes, the registration was finished, and Ayla acquired her Adventure's License.

[Alias: Ebony

Race: Human

Age: 18

Affiliations: Adventure Guild

Rank: G (Novice)

Quest completions needed for rank promotion: 0/5

Ability: Unknown (optional)]

After checking her adventure's license, she stashed it away—she prepared herself for the load of information she was about to hear...

"As you've been registered as an adventurer, I'll briefly explain the rules and what's essential…" taking a deep breath, she continued. "Before a quest is given to an adventure, its content and difficulty are thoroughly investigated by the guild. Only those deemed fit are assigned to adventures that have a corresponding rank for their difficulty. Quests that might endanger the public, break the law, or disrupt the ecological balance are immediately rejected by the guild."

She began detailing information on the rules of the guild. If one misuses their adventure license to do any unlawful or wrongful act, they'll face penalties for their guilt. These penalties could range from issuing a simple warning to being blacklisted from all requests, and in the worst-case scenario, expulsion from the adventurer's guild.

And even after being kicked from the guild, if one went on to register for illegal quests, they'd be labeled a criminal, and a bounty would be placed on their head. The more crimes they commit, the higher their bounty and quest difficulty will grow, and their quest to capture them alive could change to killing them on sight, depending on the significance of the crimes.

After the initial rules, she detailed the rules that involved quests.

"Upon registering a quest, you can't register for another quest until that quest you've previously registered is completed or you inform the guild of your failure to complete the quest. If one does fail in completing a quest, they'll gain a demotion point, and 5 demotion points will lead to your being demoted in rank," she continued. Additionally, if you gain a demotion point, you'll need to complete 6 quests to promote from G to F rank instead of the usual 5. This applies to all ranks and would increase the more demotion points earned."

"Remember this… as a G-Ranked adventurer, if you fail 5 quests, you'll be kicked from the guild and will be unable to register again for a lifetime as you were deemed unworthy of being an adventurer."

The longer she spoke, the more Ayla's opinion of her changed...

'A brief explanation, huh? I suppose this world's definition of brief must be different. After all, this isn't a brief explanation but a lecture that a professor would give you.'

Instead of listening, she decided to tune out the things she found unimportant and only listen to what's important...

It was then that she detailed the adventure ranks, which were: G-F (Novice), E-D (Intermediate), C (Advanced), B (Expert), A (Veteran), S (Master), SS (Grand Master), and SSS (Saint), respectively. Unfortunately, adventurers could only register for quests at their rank—this would naturally reduce her promotion speed and, in doing so, increase the time it takes for her to kill her targets, but there wasn't anything she could do to avoid it.

She'd have to grind quests to make up for the lost time!

~~~

Although only twenty minutes' worth of time passed, to Ayla, it felt as if hours, maybe days, passed once the receptionist finished detailing every nook and cranny about the adventurer's guild; however, when she finished, she realized her mistake and lowered her head—her cheeks flushed red, appearing to be embarrassed.

"I apologize for my endless rambling... I've always been like this, and I favor the guild so much that when I get the chance to talk about it, I go into a happy, frenzied state. Please don't-"

"I won't report you! Don't worry! They must've done something for you to favor them, so why would I report you?" Ayla smiled. "Just remember to control your rambling for next time!"

"Thanks!" She raised her head, and when her eyes met Ayla's, her cheeks immediately flushed red. "You wanted to register for a quest. Please select a G-rank quest from the quest board, and I'll register you."

Nodding in response, Ayla glanced over at the quest board; as expected, it was crowded, and she couldn't see anywhere she could squeeze herself through to get closer to see it—sighing, she would have to wait for it to clear up a bit...

'It'd be best to join the crowd...' She walked to the quest board, joined the crowd, and waited for her turn.

Before long, the crowd blocking her from the quest board began to disperse, making it her turn. She moved ahead and stopped before the quest board, standing alongside several other adventures.

Observing the quests, she felt a little displeased at the quests for a G-Rank. It was accurate to say they were easy; however, fortunately, she didn't have to pick vegetables or exotic plants, and there was a possibility to fight.

She'd just have to control her strength to an incredibly high degree so as not to completely eradicate the prey...

[Quest: Mutated Cow Hunter]

[Rank: G]

[Objective: Hunt 15 mutated cows in the nearby forest. Failure to complete the quest will result in demotion points.]

[Reward: mutated cow meat, 300 copper]

'Only if they didn't have a rule that prohibited me from registering for more than one quest... then I'd raise my ranks quicker! For now, I'll pick this quest and move on from there.'

After taking the quest off the board, she went back to the receptionist and quickly registered the quest, and the receptionist provided more information on the quest's location. With her purpose finished, she set out for the eastern forest without delaying any further, with the receptionist waving behind her.

~~~

About ten minutes later, Ayla arrived and made her way into the forest in search for mutated cows.

It didn't take long before she spotted one!

The cow had a similar appearance to its Earth counterpart, but it was larger overall, with sharp, long horns that erupted from its head.

Even though she'd already located the mutated cow, it hadn't sensed her, even though she was meters away—the difference in their strengths and lineage was simply too far apart. Ayla didn't give it any time to notice her as she appeared above it in a blink of an eye and fell down with a spinning axe kick, landing on the cow's head.

Boom~

Its body crashed heavily into the ground below, leaving a massive crater as the entire forest violently shook. The kick shattered its skull into pieces, and its now soulless corpse fell to the ground, lifeless. It'd died without getting the chance to see its killer.

It was then that an unfamiliar screen appeared before her eyes—a screen that appeared to be something entirely new...

[Mutated Cow (Lv. 1)—Defeated!]

[+5 exp]

'A new system? Could it be that this world has a system? But why would I have access to it? I'm not apart of this world.' She frowned. 'Maybe it's given to all who inhabit this world, even if they're outsiders from another world.'

She opened her status, but two status screens appeared before her eyes, one familiar and the other unfamiliar...