Chapter 2: Adventurer's Guild

"Adventurer Guild?"

Ray and Shakky then became confused to hear the name of this place. The word Guild itself was quite foreign to both of them or even both of them did not know the meaning of the word. As for the word Adventurer itself, both can interpret this word as people who like to travel or often travel wherever that person wants.

"I guess you two are still a bit confused by this place, aren't you?" asked the young man casually.

"Isn't this some kind of bar or restaurant?" Shakky asked with great interest.

"Bar or Restaurant?" The young man asked back, "Ah, you are wrong. This place is not that kind of place. This place is quite different from these two places." The young man then said casually, "Well, you are the first visitors to this place. Also this place just opened today. How about you take the time to come hear about this place? I'm sure you will be interested after knowing about this place… especially" The young man's gaze immediately turned to Ray, "Especially for you. There is something interesting that will definitely make you happy with this place"

"Anything interesting?" Ray's interest immediately increased upon hearing this then a smile appeared on his face, "I wonder, what interesting thing are you referring to? Especially for parents like me. Surely it's very rare for something to catch my eye."

"Your words seem to indicate you know Ray-san" Shakky said.

The young man chuckled softly, "Was that too obvious?" The young man asked, "Well, just say it. I know you two quite well."

The young man paused for a moment and continued as his gaze turned to Ray, "Silver Rayleigh, Former Right Hand of the Roger Pirates and also…" The young man's gaze then looked at Shakky, "Former Empress of the previous Two Generations of Amazon Lily Island, Shaky"

"..."

Rayleigh and Shakky instantly fell silent listening to the young man's words. If it was only Rayleigh's information, the two of them wouldn't be surprised because Rayleigh was indeed quite famous on this island and there were also quite a few people who knew him.

However, information about Shakky?

Even Marines who have been in the Navy for a long time rarely know anything about Shakky. Few people know him. These people are veterans in this world.

"Who are you? Navy?" Rayleigh asked narrowing his eyes.

"Don't get me wrong." The young man immediately replied, "I'm not a Marine. I am also not an agent of the World Government. I am not an agent of the Revolutionary Army. I'm also not someone from a pirate group." The young man said casually, "My name is Ars. I am the owner of this place"

"Ars…" Shakky muttered under his breath and started trying to find information about the man in front of him.

As someone who runs the intelligence business. Shakky had a lot of information in his mind. Even people with small status would be easily recognized by Shakky.

"There's no need to search for information, Shakky" Ars immediately said, "I'm not someone who is quite famous or someone who is easy to find information. You won't be able to get any information about me."

"Ara~ You're pretty confident too," Shakky said in an interested tone, "Is this a challenge for me?"

"That's not a challenge" Ars immediately refused, "I'm just suggesting it. Because if you do that. It will just be a waste of your time."

"I think so too," Shakky thought for a moment and looked back at Ars, "Ars-kun, you said that this place is neither a bar nor a restaurant. Then, what is this place? Is this a place for adventurous people to gather?"

"Wow, that's close to the answer," Ars said in a slightly surprised tone, "How about you guys come closer for me to explain about this place? To make it easier to explain as well as to make it easier for you to understand this place?"

Rayleigh and Shakky both looked at each other and then nodded. Neither of them sensed any threat from Ars. Besides, if Ars was a threat, both of them had faith in the power they possessed to get out of this place.

The two of them immediately walked towards Ars with their gazes quite interested in the various items that were around Ars's place.

"We are here now. How about you explain this to us about this place?" Ask Shakky directly.

Ars nodded and started his explanation.

"This place is the Adventurer's Guild. The Adventurer's Guild itself is a place for people to register as adventurers, gather, and also report the tasks they have completed in order to get rewards for the tasks they have completed." Ars paused and continued, "Those who later succeeded in registering as an adventurer in this place will later be able to enter a place called a dungeon to go on an adventure there"

"Dungeons…"

Rayleigh and Shakky's interest grew higher especially hearing the word dungeon.

"A dungeon is a place where people who have registered themselves as adventurers in the Guild can go on adventures there. In addition to going on adventures in the dungeon, adventurers can also increase their strength, complete the tasks they take from the bulletin boards on each floor in the dungeon and also go on a hunt against monsters."

Ars paused for a moment and made movements such as swiping forwards starting from top to bottom. Immediately in front of Rayleigh and Shakky, a blue panel immediately appeared showing data on Ars' status.

Rayleigh and Shakky who saw this then were very surprised.

"Is this the power of a devil's fruit?" Rayleigh asked strangely.

"This isn't the power of a devil fruit, Rayleigh" Ars said with a smile, "By the time one has registered themselves as an adventurer. They will later acquire this ability. This ability is referred to as the status panel. The status panel itself will display information from the adventurers consisting of Name, Gender, Level, and Strength Information."

Ars paused for a moment and continued, "When one registers to become an adventurer, they will later acquire this status panel ability which is indispensable in dungeons. Anyone who isn't registered to become an adventurer later can't enter the dungeon unless they get my permission. They can go in there. As long as there is no permission, they will not be able to enter the dungeon later."

"What do you mean by level as well as strength information related to this strength, defense, and speed?" Shakky asked with interest looking at Ars's status panel where the level section has a question mark written on it which is also in the status information section.

"Anyone who will later register as an adventurer will get this status panel. The level itself symbolizes how strong the adventurer is while the strength information which includes strength, defense, and speed it is related to the value of that person's strength level." Ars paused and continued, "At the time one is about to register to become an adventurer, how strong the person is, at the time he or she will register to become a new adventurer. His strength will immediately become normal human level or it can be said that the person's strength will be recorded in the status panel. This is level 1 which is the lowest level with status configurations namely strength, defense, and speed having a value of five each. But this power setting itself only applies in dungeons. As long as that person is out of the dungeon, that person's strength will instantly be like his previous strength."

Ars paused for a moment and continued, "There are two ways to level up. The first way is to complete the mission you have. Later when the mission has been completed with the completion is to report to me. Later that person will get a prize in the form of Exp and also various other prizes. Take a look at the bottom of the status panel. There's a column of bars, isn't there?"

Rayleigh and Shakky immediately looked at Ars's status bar column.

"When a person gains experience from completing the mission, the bar will be filled with a large amount of experience gained by him. As long as the column bar is fully charged with Exp. The adventurer will immediately level up which means the adventurer's strength will increase compared to before. When an adventurer gets a level up, later that adventurer will also get free points that can be added to the status configuration where each level is up. Adventurers will get an additional 15 free points which can be added to the status configuration"

Ars paused for a moment and continued, "The higher a person's level is, the stronger that person is. The higher one's level, the harder it will be for one to level up because of the need for experience." Ars said calmly, "Then the second way to increase the level is by hunting."

"Hunt?" Rayleigh was immediately intrigued by this.

"Hunting as you two know is hunting monsters. Inside the dungeon itself, there are various kinds of monsters with different levels of strength. The higher the level difference between you and the monster, as long as you manage to kill it, the faster your Exp column will be filled because the amount of Exp that will later be obtained is greater than if you kill a monster that has the same level as you. Although the difficulty level to do so is high because later there will be a difference between strength, speed, and defense."

Ars paused for a moment and continued, "The fastest way to level up is to take missions and then hunt for higher-level monsters under the terms of the mission. That way, apart from getting plenty of Exp from the mission. Later you will get experience from hunting monsters"

"Furthermore, regarding the level of strength that we talked about earlier" Ars said, "I explained earlier that the strength level of the person who will become an adventurer at the time of registering to become an adventurer even though his strength is very strong here, but when entering the dungeon if he just entered the will instantly return to a normal human, right?"

Rayleigh and Shakky nodded.

"Well, if in one case that person will later surpass the power possessed by him in the normal world. Later that person's strength in the dungeon will continue to be with him," said Ars.

"That means that person will continue to develop, right?" Shaky asked.

"That's how it is" Ars nodded, "That guy will continue to grow following his strength in the dungeon. The more diligently that person raises his level, the stronger he will become. It will also be in line with his strength outside the dungeon."

"Is there a limit to the level of an adventurer?" Rayleigh asked.

"Not. There is no limit" Ars shook his head, "An adventurer can increase his level freely until that person gets bored"

"Speaking of the matter of strength…" Shakky said softly, "Ars, what do you think are my and Rayleigh's power levels on the level scale?"

"The strength of the two of you?" asked Ars, raising his brow.

"Well, I'm quite interested in this too," Rayleigh said calmly with a smile, "You can judge that, can't you?"

"Well, that's not a problem." Ars nodded and immediately his gaze fell on Shakky and Rayleigh, "For you, Shakky… you are level 479"

"Level 479? Is it strong?" Shakky asked with great interest.

"Strong? Hmm~ " Ars touched his chin and thought for a moment, "If I compare your strength with the monsters in the dungeons… At least you have the strength equal to the monsters in the 30s floor dungeons"

"30s floor?" Shakky asked again.

"The 1st to the 50th floor with monsters with lower level strength. Next up are the 51st to the 100th floors with medium-strength monsters. Then proceed to the 101st to the 150th floor where the strength of the monsters at this level is at high strength. The last one is floors 151 to floor 200 where the monsters on this floor are the monsters with the most terrifying power."

Ars paused for a moment then looked at Rayleigh, "As for you, Rayleigh. You're strength if I estimate in the level setting. You are at level 975"

"Level 975? What floor is that equivalent to?" Rayleigh asked with great interest.

"60s floor in a dungeon"

"Only there?" Rayleigh muttered under his breath.

"Do you think your strength is strong enough?" Ars asked strangely, "Even Whitebeard whose power can destroy the world. If on par with the monsters in the dungeon. He had only reached level 1512 which was equivalent to a monster living on the 100th floor. Even then, Whitebeard's strength was at its peak, and not now. Right now, its strength is only on par with monsters living on the 80s floor"

"Are the monsters on floors over 80 that scary?" Shakky asked strangely.

"Hmm~ Not bad," Ars said calmly, "At least, if one of those monsters appears in your world. You need someone with a level of strength on par with peak Whitebeard to be able to match his strength. As for killing him… That would be hard to do" Ars said calmly, "That's what I equate to just an average monster on that floor"

"Average? Does that mean there are still more powerful monsters? Like a boss?" Shaky asked.

"Sure" Ars nodded and continued, "The monsters on the dungeon floor are led by a boss monster. If adventurers can kill boss monsters on one floor, then the next floor in the dungeon will be accessible to adventurers. Currently, the dungeon had just been opened. Adventurers could only access the first-floor dungeons. As for the higher floors, it is still necessary to wait for the adventurers to unlock them by killing the boss monsters on that floor."

Ars then walked out of his place which caught the attention of Shakky and Rayleigh.

"Well, you've heard a lot of explanations as well as various things about this place. You must be quite curious about a place called a dungeon, right? Come with me. I'll take you both inside to see the place. At the same time, I will give some explanation for it. Count as the first guest. You have access to the permission to enter there even though you are not registered as adventurers yet."

"Ara~ This is interesting. I think we were really lucky to get that."

Shakky and Rayleigh themselves were now interested in a place called a dungeon. Both wanted to ask about it and especially wanted to see it in person. However, neither of them had the opportunity to do so. Neither of them expected that Ars would bring this up directly.

"I'm also quite interested in that place" Rayleigh nodded with a grin, "If a place like the one you said really exists. It will definitely be an interesting adventure there"

"You will see it soon enough. Come with me" Ars said as he walked toward the back of the building which made Rayleigh and Shakky confused.