46 Setting off

Xylene walk out of the ship, she is now ready to face off the new world that is in front of her. She has to set up her enthusiasm as high as possible since her future soley depends on how well she does from now on

She walked out of the port following the path she went on yesterday. Right now she is wearing the same clothes with addition to her new knee high boots. Her mood was on glee and in her face crept up a smug smile. Nobody knew how hard it was to live on a forest while wearing a pair of sandals, she has to endure it everyday, specially when running. Also even yesterday when she had a match with Ray. But now that she got the boots, her mind was finally free of the burden

She took the map in front of her. Right about now her goal was to get into the Adventurer's Guild and finish the registration process

Walking into the path way she noticed more and more about her surroundings, last time she went there, her mind was still nervous. One has to say that if one was to look at things with different perspective, the scenery would also start to change

The Port was like a bustling street with multiple stalls and people, each one has a business on themselves. With a little tour around she knew that most goods were either related to fish and other seafoods. Mostly everyone around were lively, and from each corners everyone keep shouting out prices. Its either to call more customers or something. The mentioned prices uses Si as a base

Staring back into the map, she reached the gates from before

Now that she has a better look at it, she saw two guard posts each sides with few guards in it bustly looking and observing each and every person entering the place

By the map, it told her that this gate was only the second gate and that the capital apparently has a total of five. The first being the Regular Residential area. The second is a mix of both the Well-off Residential area and Commercial area while the rest of it was left for Industrial area. The third for Noble's Residential Area and the latter she deducted being the military area and the last going to the gates before the castle. Its marked by restricted altogether with the third gate

The map has a huge cut in it, being the Academy. One could obviously tell how much priority it has been given

She wasnt sure of how big the capital is, but she knew that it shouldnt be just big. Since it has to fit multiple divisions

She has been walking for a while now, and unfortunately several eyes were turning at her wherever she went through. More and more and her motivation was getting damped by nervousness

"Aaah, this is irritating" she groaned in low voice. She hasten her steps while eyeing on the map

Reaching the front of the Adventurer's Guild, she was at a loss. Not knowing if she made a good impression or if she actually did something wrong when she was there

Entering it, she realized another thing. She dont know where to go between the two lines, she dont even know whether to line up in the first place

"To go forward blindly or get to know things first?" she muttered. Her anxiousness increasing by the minute

Needless to say, several eyes were already at her since she stood by the door. Many others already knew of her existence since before the match, even including some of the ones on the two lines. And after the news of her spread they understand her abit more, informing the receptionist of her arrival

While she was pondering and glancing around, someone approached her which she recognized. It was Claire

"Glad to see you're fine, Xylene" Claire called in a friendly manner

"Ehehe, yea" Xylene could only return a bitter smile back as she recall the past events... "How about Sir uhhh..." She paused as she forgotten the name of the test conductor

"Ray? Oh he's fine, he's strong after all" said Claire in a confirming tone "Are you here to finish the registration?"

Xylene noded

"Then follow me"

They arrived into another room, the back has a total of 4 rooms with the last being the staff room. The room, unlike the first room she entered, was like a library and laboratory at the same time with addition of a huge table at the center. Several strange tools were lined up like it was a decoration, Several shelves with few books in it aswell as many more tables that has the rest of the tools

Claire took up an apparatus on one of the wall cabinet and brought it on the huge table in the middle

"This is called Mana appraiser. An apparatus used to detect your body's affinity with mana. It could, in one way, determine if you are safe and able to use magic" Claire elaborated while wiping it and trying to set it up "Its the same as those that are used when you are young. Normally you would have to submit the result along with the form but luckily we are allowed to use this one". "Fuuh~ Alright, you can use it now"

Xylene nodded in return, but deep inside she was nervous

Claire remembered one thing "Ah, I forgot. You have to either transfer mana to it or let your blood drop on it"

"I-I'll transfer mana then" Xylene suddenly interrupted. After hearing the need of dropping blood, she got tensed all of a sudden. She wasnt a fan of hurting herself consciously, not unless its a random wound where she could even forget about its existance

"O-Okay..." Claire said in understanding

Xylene followed up the same procedure like before, putting mana into her veins and transferring it out externally at one point

The apparatus was like a long tube with glistering liquid inside of it. One point of it was to receive and the other to release. On its surface lies several engraved inscriptions. The receiving end was designed like a spoon and the releasing end was a split similar to a fork

Mana traveled in it as it gave off a vibrant glow while the inscriptions started to shine as well. She could feel the mana leaving the other side but nothing else aside the glow happened

"That should be okay now" Claire hinted Xylene to stop and Xylene retracted her hand in response. Taking the apparatus in front of her where she prepared a manual beforehand, Claire inspected it while waving Xylene to wait for a few moments

"A good affinity, I havent seen any result like this before, but you passed" seing the clean liquid inside of the tube, Claire was holding a magnifying glass while double checking it. This apparatus would filter your mana based on what you exerted from your body, there are several types of purity and the lowest would not only physically burden your body but would also be filled with impurity. She's maybe new here, but the staffs were trained on their own fields. "Ahem~ahem~ If there's any issue, you are free to recheck the registration form before we proceed to the last and final procedure" Claire said handing back the form

"Alright, for the final part, here is the plate as a proof that you are now officially of the Guild. All you have to do is to just send your mana on the plate and into the form and the registration will be over"

Finally its the small chip sized bronze plate. She find it more interesting because it actually required mana

It glowed a faint blue before switching itself into several waves of colors. Claire who saw this, only got amazed before she dismissed it right away

{!}

A sudden bling, ringed inside her head. She got alerted and tried to search of it right away until she realized how familiar that sound is. An exclamation popped up in front of her face

She looked back at Claire and seen no changes in her

She heaved a sigh and calmed herself. Right now she has to move away first since it isnt too bad to be careful

Xylene followed Claire until she gave her a piece of paper. It listed most of the regulations and their penalties similar to the one written on the registration form. There are also cautions and and several hints

Claire once again said to be careful when taking the quest, teaching her about not getting ahead of herself. After it ended, she went back into the reception

Xylene moved out of the building and distanced herself a bit further from other people. Sighing she looked back into the exclamation mark that still lingers in front of her face "Somehow, this is annoying"

Feeling that she was alone once again, she expressed a tired sigh and said the word "Status"

[Access: Denied]

{!}

[Attention: Error detected!]

[Loading... User]

[Attention: Another system was detected!

Azel System]

[Attention: Changing system]

"Err uh what?" The glass like frames faded into nothingness right after the series of texts ended. This leave her with no choice but to follow instead since it didn't let her decide

What to do now? What just happened?, this words lingered inside her head without any chance to get an answer

But nothing mentionable happened and especially nothing strange occurrence. Its like the status just appeared and dissapeared for no reason

Anxiety filled up her mind, she once again called for "Status" in hope to get verification

However it no longer responded and just blatantly went silent. She tried it more and more seemingly turning even more anxious. She even shout at it while some traces of desperation painted on her face. However it just dissapeared like it never existed in the first place

She didnt make any progress, but she tried to calm herself down while her hands covered her face

But she couldnt calm down just like that, so she tried to relax abit as she might breakdown even more. She sat at one corner by the side of the road

She first registered into the guild in hopes that she could maybe one day regain the Soul Status. She admit that she relied on it aswell as it gave her a bit sense of accomplishment and a set goal in mind which is to get stronger one day. But she got ahead of herself and think that 'I did well enough and that I am prepared' until one day, she encounter the end of her life along with the status she yearned for

Whether she could see that status again is a big question in her mind

"Changing system huh?" she finally managed to regain her calm. So its just change? and not disappearance? "Azel... this world?"

This left a big question in her mind. When she met the Soul Status, It happened when she first killed a boar. She wondered if it could be the same as before

But she wasnt the same as before, thinking that maybe one day it would also dissapear and not function like before

She tapped the map in her, brought it in front of her and then she realized that it only contains the location of places that is within the capital, not including the things outside the gates

She slapped her forehead in realization

One has to know that its common sense that there will be no monsters within the capital

A few words ran in her head, and that is the adventurer's guild and the quests...

But that leads to another problem. Her being currently unarmed

"Ugh This is irritating" She got more trouble than she could take, plus the sun already reached its peak and she either has to return back to eat or find food for herself

"Ugh, I better not ask for them everytime. I look like a freeloader" She stomped her feet on the ground and took the righteous pose "Time to grow up, I'm losing to that girl before" What she mentioned was Iris but in her memory she can barely remember her name anymore

"Food uhh, where should I go?" She tucked the map but frowned when she realized that it only contained restaurants and bars alike

She either has to brave the crowd or suffer by bills

"Haaaaaaaah~" then it calls for the alternatives! the street stalls! lets die with junk foods for life!

She passed by several stalls before, but they are on the port side where it only contain mostly raw ingredients

She took up the map and scanned it for any additional info, ...nothing came up. But something did manage to catch her attention

Something like a Weapon shop and Armory. It was directly run by Crafter's Guild with participation of Merchant Guild

She had heard of it before, Crafter's Guild also includes Leathersmiths, Blacksmith, Woodworkers and Tailors. It included every single industrial professions

Crafter's Guild had a strong ties with Merchant Guild

She had a few idea since it was a family of merchants and they gave her the map. Naturally they knew all the business locations within the capital and added it into the map. But this is probbably too much for her

She decided to check some restaurants that she might encounter along the way

But luckily she found a stall just along the way that sells grilled meat on stick. This was the first time she saw something like that. The meat, while she wasnt sure if its actually beef or something, it looked extremely tasty. She probed it abit since she was nervous around with people, there was a group of people near it and they gave 3 copper(30Si) to the man

She calmed down herself and reached for her pocket. The moment the group dispersed away, she directly went forward and ask the man about it, paying and taking the food before quickly getting away

The man was surprised about her action, but did nothing else

She was feeling proud about herself. Also about her first purchase in this world, she was kind of happy

She ate the food with glee and tasted the ingredients inside her mouth. It taste better but the meat's tenderness couldnt compare to the meat she ate on the forest. She wasnt sure if she should be proud about it or something

Even the meat from earlier breakfast couldnt compare to this...