Chapter 7: Skrill

A few minutes and side roads later we finally arrive at the Adventurers' Guild. A tall four-story building, with pillars aligned in the front that shine in a pure black sheen. It's easily the biggest building I've seen so far, and the most aesthetically pleasing as well. It's a long shot from looking modern, yet comparatively to everything else it feels like it is. I catch a glimpse of something shining behind the pillars, as we move closer I realize its glass. This is the first building, or anything for that matter, that I've seen in this world that has utilized glass, which leads me to believe that it is potentially used only for more prestigious buildings...maybe. Along with recognizing the presence of glass I noticed something else, at the base of each of the black pillars are statues. From left to right they each seem to be resembling some type of creature, a cobra-looking serpent, something that looks like a squid, a six-tailed scorpion, and the last one appears to be a dragon.

    "You've never been here before right? Cool isn't it?" Cynthia asks.

    "Yeah, it definitely gives off an awesome vibe, kind of intimidating too."

    "Well, there's nothing to be intimidated by, some of the guys inside may look unruly but you'll be fine." Griz reassures me.

    Even though I wasn't worried about the people inside to begin with.

    We continue forward, going up the stairs before opening two massive doors that lead to the interior. 

    "Wow," instinctively leaves my mouth as I gaze upon the sight in front of me, beautiful marble stretching across the whole floor, atop it are pillars of some sort of stone that checker themselves around the open room. The room is lit with natural light in addition to chandeliers housing mixtures of blue and white flames that seem artificially produced.

    "I know there's a lot to look at but let's get you registered first." Cynthia reminds me.

    She escorts me over to a line leading to a counter with some form of receptionist woman behind it. There are several lines and counters, each with different signs above them detailing what they are for, along with numerous people in said lines. The 'registration' line I find myself in seems to be the shortest with only a handful of people ahead of me, in comparison at least four of the lines I see have easily over a dozen. I can make out at least 100 people in this room alone which is just the first floor, of those people most are human, with the next most prevalent being all kinds of demi-humans, though there doesn't seem to be any elves, and only a handful of dwarves.

    "Griz and I are gonna go report our last job's status and maybe look for a new one, I'll leave K here in case you have questions or need help." Cynthia says to me.

    "I should be fine, if it's gonna take long or be boring she should go with you guys instead right?"

    "It's fine, I'll stay," K surprisingly interjects.

    "See, no problem, we'll be back by the time you're done." Cynthia says as she walks off, turning briefly just for her and Griz to offer a wave.

    After Cynthia and Griz are no longer in sight I ask K once again,"You sure you're fine staying here?"

    "Mhmm."

    "I see."

    As the line slowly moves forward I find myself asking K questions to both break the silence and get answers to the things on my mind.

    "So is it normal for there to be no elves around?"

    "Yeah, for the most part elves don't leave their villages, so not many are adventurers."

    "Ah."

    "Cynthia is a half-elf with her mother being a full-blooded elf, she said if it wasn't for her father she wouldn't have been allowed to register."

    "Oh wow, so it's a really strict thing then I guess?" K nods her head affirming my suspicion.

    "I see. Then with the exception of elves is it common to find adventurers of other races?"

    "Mhmm, although you can probably tell that much from just looking."

    "Yeahhhh, you're not wrong." I admit to the idea that maybe it was a foolish question. "I know Griz said that most countries have a smathering of races, but Im surprised that there doesnt seem to be a lot of discrimination to be honest."

    "Yeah, it's not too common here, especially because adventurers are more open-minded about that sort of thing for the most part, not to mention most people here have had multiple races in their party before. I guess there's a sense of comradery in being adventures that overrides all of that."

    "Ah, that makes sense." I reply to K's unexpectedly long response.

    "Mhm, its not the same everywhere though, the more snobby the area you find yourself in the more discrimination you see. That sort of thing isn't rare in the noble districts, especially in the capital."

    "Ahhhh, so it's like that, even here there's the sense of superiority that comes with wealth huh?"

    "Even here?"

    "Uh yeah, I meant that there are cases like that where I come from too." All I can think about my potential slip-up is a simple 'oops'.

    "I see, well wherever you were probably wasn't as bad as Grandium right?"

    "Huh? What do you mean by that?"

    "Jeez, you really don't know about much huh?" As she asks I simply laugh it off awkwardly.

"Like Griz mentioned the Grandium Republic is the only other nation run by humans, over there 'human superiority' is basically a policy. Other races aren't allowed to be official citizens, not only that but they legally allow the selling and buying of other races as slaves."

"Jeez, and no other country sees a problem with it?"

"It's not that simple, I won't pretend to know how the people in power think, but it probably lies with the power Grandium has. Grandium won the third Paradise War for our side, and it wouldn't be a lie to say their military power is probably stronger than the rest of the Luminous countries combined."

"I see, that's pretty buns." On Earth this fits the saying of "might makes right", despite how wrong it may be. 

"Buns?"

"Oh, like 'wack'"

"Wack?"

"Oof, 'buns' and 'wack' mean like 'bad' or 'unfortunate'"

"Then what's 'oof'?"

Alright, I'm stuck in a loop, "Anywaays," K gives an expression that shows her disapproval of me attempting to change topics. "Cynthia said you don't talk a lot, but it definitely doesn't seem like it right now."

"I guess."

"Aaaand back to normal."

"Well I don't like talking to strangers, and as much as I love Cynthia, sometimes it can be hard to keep up with her energy."

"Ah, see that's reasonable then. Aren't I a stranger though?"

"Hmmmm, yes and no."

"Hmm, I'll keep that in mind."

With that my turn in line had finally come up, which prompted K to go wait at a table not far from the counter.

"Hello, my name is Lara, welcome to the Embright City Adventurers' Guild, do you plan on registering as an adventurer today?" Asked the woman at the counter.

"Uh, yes."

"Alright, have you previously had your affinities evaluated?"

"No."

"Okay, no problem." As she says this she turns around and grabs a large glove with multiple gems inserted in it. I imagine if I were to put it on I could snap and turn half of the population to dust. "Please place this on your hand and keep it there for a moment."

As I reach out I ask, "What is this?"

"Oh," She says with a surprised look, "This is an assessment gauntlet, it will show the proficiency of any of your stats and your magical attributes if you have any."

"I see, how exactly does it do that?" I ask as I attempt to slide it on.

"Well, each of the-" she pauses as she notices the problem I have.

"Uhhh, what if it doesn't fit?"

She awkwardly laughs before saying "Oh, uhm, give me one moment please." She then places the glove back behind her and walks into a back room out of view.

    Given what's going on I can imagine the people in line behind me are confused or irritated so I don't bother looking back to apologize.

    "Sorry, we have never had that happen before, please use these instead." She says returning with a tray with five different transparent gems on it.

    "What are these?"

    "These are the same gems that are housed in the assessment gauntlet, but given the circumstances we will have to evaluate your stats individually with these."

    "I see," I say as she hands me the first one.

    "This is a strength gem, as the name suggests it measures strength, the reading is determined by how bright the red-color it shines is. If it doesn't shine at all then your strength stat will be determined negligible, otherwise it is determined as follows:

    "Dull grayish-red is low tier, dull red is mid tier, and bright red= high tier."

    "Hmm, interesting." As I say that we both see the gem begin to glow.

    "Bright red? For a starting adventurer that's a great sign." She says before looking up at me, "Then again I should have guessed considering your build huh?"

    She offers a slight laugh as she hands me the next stone, "This is the vitality gem, it does the same as the strength gem but instead assesses vitality and with a green hue."

    Strength was pretty obvious, but I can't help but ask what vitality refers to.

    "Ah, vitality determines just how much damage you can take before being rendered incapacitated, it also plays a role in your resistance to certain effects like poisoned or burning."

    "Ah I see, thank you."

    "No problem." 

    Once again after just a few moments the gem begins to resonate, this time showing a dull green coloring.

    "Mid-tier it is." She says as she once again notes down the results. "Next is the agility gem, this one will glow yellow."

    She hands the stone over and we again wait for the results.

    The stone shows a muddied dull grayish-yellow this time, which given what she said gives me the answer to what my agility is.

    "Low-tier agility." She jots it down

    Oof

    She notices my expression and attempts to reassure me, "No need to feel discouraged, all of these are things that can be improved with items and training, not to mention your strength more than makes up for it." 

    Lastly is the intellect gem, same as the others but it will respond with a blue hue.

    "Dull blue, mid-tier intellect."

    I dont now whether I should feel dumb or smart, I'd be lying if I were to say I wasnt expecting low-tier.

    "Alright, lastly is the mana gem, this one works a little differently from the rest though. It will give off a color, or colors, based off which magic attribute(s) you have, along with that the brighter the colors appear gives an idea of how much mana you have, although it isn't as precise as the other readings."

    "I see, what attributes are there?"

    "The attributes are as follows:

        Healing-magic=Green

        Fire-magic=Orange

        Water-magic=Deep Blue

        Lightning-magic=Purple

        Ground-magic=Brown

        Ice-magic=Light blue

        Wind-magic=Gray

        Light-magic=Yellow

        Shadow-magic=Black

    "Oh my, and it's possible to have more than one attribute right?"

    "Technically yes, but it's pretty rare, adventurers just starting out shouldn't have their hopes set to have two off the bat if I may be honest."

    "Ah, I understand."

    She hands me the gem which is the only one that differs in size since it's bigger than all the prior ones; after a few moments colors can be seen swirling within it. 

    "...Bright red, bright brown, and white!?" She exclaims before immediately covering her mouth so as to not be too loud despite her shock.

    "Uhhh, is that a good or a bad thing?"

    "It's amazing, to not only have high mana but also two attributes and white is almost unheard of. In my seven years working here I have only seen one other adventurer at this guild start with three.

    "What exactly does white mean?"

    "The fact the center is a pure white implies that you have a third affinity that is yet to be awakened, although you effectively have fire and ground magic affinity you will definitely have a third affinity later. This essentially makes you a three attribute adventurer, and you're just starting out at that!"

    Given her expression and what she is saying I can't help but feel hyped up, I was hoping that I would have some type of cool ability but wasn't actually expecting it. Then again maybe I should have, if I remember correctly this was one of the three things I asked for when being reincarnated.

    Guess that 'God' stayed true to his word after all.

    The receptionist calms herself down before once again speaking, "Well now that we have assessed your attributes and affinities it's time for the formal work, please fill out this form first and then we can continue from there."

"Okay."

She hands me a piece of rough-thick paper, written on it are the following fields that prompt an answer:

>Full name:

>Adventurer Name(Not required):

>Age: 

>Gender:

>Sponsor(Not required):

>Race(Not required):

>Class:

>Preferred Role:

>Stats(To be reported by a guild official):

[Strength: High-Tier, Vitality: Mid-Tier, Agility: Low-Tier, Intellect: Mid-Tier]

>Magic Affinities(To be reported by a guild official):

[Fire+Ground+Undetermined]

*This is an official adventurer registration issued by the Embright City Adventurers' Guild*

I notice the fields reporting my stats and attributes have been written in which leads me to assume that this is what she was writing earlier during the assessment.

"Excuse me, do you mind explaining the roles and classes in detail."

"Oh, not a problem. Roles are the task designations within parties or guilds, there are five roles that are taken up in combat. Those five being slayer, sweeper, tank, support, and flex. Slayers are the vanguard of the party, they focus on dealing damage to and defeating stronger, single-targets when needed. Sweepers also deal damage but their priorities lie with attacking numerous weaker targets when necessary and typically specialize in dealing area of effect attacks. Sweepers are often placed as a middle-guard in a party formation but there are some that place themself as either vanguard or rearguard depending on their abilities. The tank role is one that focuses on getting the attention of targets and literally tanking damage which allows for the other roles to operate freely. Supports are just as they sound, they prioritize either healing their allies or applying status affects to targets, they are almost always in the rearguard position. Finally the flex role is one that changes their position to suit the needs of the party and don't have abilities that lock them into one role. Typically more agile classes take up the flex role and focus on assisting the sweeper or protecting the supports but can just as easily assist slayers."

"Wow, thank you for the detailed explanation, I appreciate it."

"Not a problem, would like the same explanation for the classes as well?"

"Yes, please." I'm glad she offered because I would have felt bad asking, you are a saint Lara.

"As for classes there are eight of them, each able to rank up to another class once or even twice. The most popular class is swordsman, due to their easy to meet requirements and flexibility. Swordsmen can change jobs into either valkyrie or knight, which then can rank up into sword maiden and holy knight respectively."

Hm, I guess Cynthia's ultimate goal is a sword maiden then?

"They typically utilize a one handed longsword as their weapon and their roles are typically slayers, sweepers, or flexes."

I nod my head as a signal to continue.

"Another popular class is that of warrior, which can rank up into a paladin and then a templar. Warriors use a sword and shield combination and often play the role of tank or sometimes slayer and are almost always in the vanguard. Berserker is a class that utilizes two-handed weapons, often claymores or battle axes, they find themselves as slayers in the vanguard most of the time. Berserkers can only rank up once, and when they do they become a gladiator."

Dang, this is only three of the eight, Lara sure is thorough.

"Then we have archers, archers can rank up into either a ranger or an arcane archer. Archers and rangers use recurve or long bows, whereas arcane archers use crossbows along with long range precise magic attacks as well. Archers are usually iflex, but can sometimes be supports or even sweepers. Mages are one of the other most common classes, as the name suggests they focus on utilizing magic more so than weapons. Like swordsmen they can job change, mages can change to priest or wizard, and from there arch priest or arch wizard respectively. All mages tend to be sweepers or support roles in either the middle guard or rearguard. Along with that we have dual-wielders which can rank up into rogues, both arm themselves with either two daggers, hatches, kama, shortswords and so on. Though rare, some advanced dual-wielders can use two longswords; most dual-wielders fall into the flex roles, with a handful being sweepers or  even the occasional slayer. Finally onto the last two classes, first is the fighter class, which specializes in hand-to-hand combat and can rank up into the monk class. Although there are some weapons that can be utilized by this class but for the most part they just throw hands."

Wait did I just hear that right? They know about 'throwing hands' here?

She continues, "Fighters are often just found in the flex role and position themself in the middle guard. Lastly is the spearman class, with their rank up being lancers, spearman utilize spears or polearms and can be slayers, sweepers, or flexes."

"Wheeeew," She lets out a long winded exhale, "That's not everything but it is the majority of what you need to know."

"You explained in much more detail than I expected, I truly appreciate the attention to detail, thank you."

"Well it is my job, plus there may be something in it for me." She says with a sly look.

"What do you mean by that?" 

"Oh, once adventurers reach a certain rank they have to choose a guild representative as a commissioner who gets rewarded based on their adventurer's achievements. Considering your stats you'll shoot up in no time, when you do I hope you remember how helpful I've been." She adds with a smile that tries to nicely cover over her motives.

"Oh, well if that's the case I can do that much." Despite her saying her ulterior motives I don't really mind paying her back, it's not like I know any other guild representatives.

"Now that you have all the information you need I'll leave the filling out of the registration to you once again."

"Oh yeah, thank you again."

I look back down at the form, "Sorry, last question( I think), what is a sponsor?"

"A sponsor is someone who is vouching for your abilities as an adventurer and is willing to have your feats attached to their reputation. Typically it is someone who trained the said adventurer, if I may be frank, the fact that you have to ask means you don't have to worry about whether or not you have one.

After contemplating things like my name, class and role I begin to fill the form out properly this time.

>Full name: Robert Chan

>Adventurer Name(Not required): Skrill

>Age: 18

>Gender: Male

>Sponsor(Not required): None?

>Race(Not required): Orc

>Class: Berserker

>Preferred Role: Slayer

>Stats(To be reported by a guild official):

[Strength: High-Tier, Vitality: Mid-Tier, Agility: Low-Tier, Intellect: Mid-Tier]

>Magic Affinities(To be reported by a guild official):

[Fire+Ground+Undetermined]

*This is an official adventurer registration issued by the Embright City Adventurers' Guild*