Chapter 15: Quests

"What do you think?" The director asked after seeing Asher's face, he had this smugness to him that made you want to just punch him as hard as you could. Sure, he was presumably the reason this was here, and anyone would want to be praised for their work, but this level made you want to punch him all the same. Robert could only look over at him and question if he was really the director or if he had been getting lied to all this time, but after reeling himself back in he just turned back to the job bored and began trying to figure out how everything worked. 

"So how does the job board system work?" Asher asked the director, turning his head to meet his eyes. Asher wanted to ask his question before the director could feel him out, the more of a poker face he had now the better off he would be later.

"The receptionists all have communication cores and are sending messages off to the other branches, when a job comes in all the branches post it simultaneously, if the job is area specific then just one branch posts it. When an adventurer takes a job, they are given exclusive rights to the job for a timeframe set by the guild based on the job's requirements," the director said after raising a fist to his mouth and coughing once into it.

Asher could only stare at everything with wonder, sure he hated the director and wanted to stab him multiple times for not warning him about what absorbing a core actually meant but he had to admit that what he was watching was amazing, how did he even find so many people with communication cores or did he supply them all? So many thoughts were going through his mind. The director just watched Asher for a little while before tapping him on the shoulder and began walking over to the counter. 

Asher snapped out of his trance and followed after the director trying to figure out what he was up to. After a few seconds he caught up to Nick just as he reached the counter, he was calling over one of the receptionists who wasn't talking into empty air like a crazy person. Asher assumed that the others who were talking into empty space were talking to people from other branches with some form of telepathy. The receptionist who was called over by the director quickly walked over and stood in front of them. She had long red hair, brown eyes and had very light skin, it looked like she hadn't seen the sun in years. 

"How may I help you today, director? Have another new adventurer who needs help finding a quest?" She asked in a very polite voice, this time Asher was shocked by how nice she sounded unlike the other receptionists they ran into. And Asher was shocked by how many people the director must have brought down here for her to say that. Was what the director said about him being the only person here from earth a lie, or did he bring all new Adventurers that he fancied down here, to help them find their first quest? Asher couldn't figure out what the director was thinking or planning for the life of himself. 

"Haha, your right as always Sophie, I am in need of a beginner level quest for my new friend here," the director said laughing, ignoring Asher completely as he made the request. That wasn't the part that annoyed him, it was that he didn't ask for his opinion first, sure he would have asked for the same thing, but it was the principle behind the request that mattered. Asher just stared at him while he said this.

"Absolutely director, has he finished his first core absorption and if so what was his first ability, that way I can assign him a proper quest," Sophie said to the director, this time actually looking over at Asher, she seemed like she wanted him to tell her his ability but before he could say anything the director began speaking, cutting him off just as sounds began to leave his mouth. 

"He has a sword core and got a plus ten percent addition to all bladed damage," the director said, not giving Asher a chance to answer the question himself. Sophie just looked over at Asher with an all-knowing look and seemed like she understood the pain and annoyance he was feeling. Asher wasn't sure why the director was like this, was he clueless or was this all some sort of plan. From the look that Sophie was giving him Asher assumed that this was how the director normally acted. With a sigh he just nodded to her confirming what the director had said. 

"Understood, I will begin looking for a basic combat quest where he can learn the ropes and earn a little cash," Sophie said after taking a second to begin looking through the available quests that were posted on the board. She walked back and grabbed three from the board after looking over them for quite a while, only bringing them back to Asher and the director after she was certain that Asher would be able to complete them. 

"There are three different quests that I think would be best for you as you are right now. The first one is a rat extermination quest down in the sewers, each rat you kill will provide you five silver pieces for each pair of ears you bring back. The second quest is an escort quest where you must provide passage to the city of Luthan, the trip will take approximately fifteen days and you will be paid one gold when you get back with a letter of completion. Finally, we have a dungeon clearing quest, it's just outside of town and the pay is dependent on the type of monster you kill, but the minimum payment is fifteen silver and a max of two gold per monster," Sophie said while placing the three papers down on the counter for Asher to read, even though he couldn't. 

Asher could only stare at the pages with bewilderment and excitement, he was finally about to do something he had only imagined doing in games, part of him was terrified and the other was excited beyond belief. Asher knew that the escort quest was off the table, while it didn't sound that hard and paid the most guaranteed money out of the three, he had no knowledge of the land, nor did he have any faith in getting back once he was done. Asher could only sigh and try to decide between the other two. Between rat extermination and dungeon clearing he knew which one he wanted to do. 

"I'll take the dungeon clearing quest, that sounds the best for me, just tell me where I need to go," Asher said after making his decision. He knew that this was probably the best quest he could take right now and from the look of the receptionist he knew that at least she thought that he had made the correct decision. The director on the other hand had this look of disappointment to him, it seemed like he either wanted him to choose a different quest or perhaps choose Asher's quest himself, either possibility slightly pissed Asher off. 

"Good decision, I will just need you to sign this document and provide a drop of blood on the quest document, that will let us know that you have accepted the quest and what to report if you don't make it back on time," Sophie said grabbing the other two documents from him and quickly placing them back on the quest board. 

"Just put a drop of blood here and that will officially start the quest, after that you will have one day to prepare and one week to clear as much of the dungeon as possible, once that week is over, we will expect you to turn the quest in within two days," Sophie said pushing the piece of parchment to him. 

"Sounds good, I will leave tomorrow like you said," Asher said while grabbing the parchment out of her hands, with a poke of his finger he dropped some blood on the contract, it quickly started glowing red and after a second slowly stopped. Asher was once again entranced with this world and how it worked, magic was just so bewildering to Asher. Once the glowing had stopped Sophie grabbed it and rolled it up placing it inside what looked like a scroll container, she then placed it under the counter and handed Asher a copper badge with what looked like an insignia engraved into it.

"This is your guild badge, once you have finished your quest you can turn it in back here by using it, after that you will be given your reward depending on the number of monsters you kill, here is a map that will point you in the direction of the dungeon," Sophie said while handing Asher a tan looking map. Asher took it from her with a smile and quickly placed it in his inventory. With that he just nodded at Sophie and the director before leaving them behind not bothering to say goodbye to the director.