A visit to the Guild

Irena grappled Valeria's hand and they made their way through straight and mostly clean streets towards the inner wall. There were many different people going about their business. They were mostly human but other Races could be seen as well. Valeria saw many kinds of Beastmen, some Elves and a few Dwarves. They attracted quite a bit of attention, but not as bad as Valeria had feared. Some stares here and there, but nothing more. The houses looked similar to the ones Valeria saw in Woodfall. A mixture of stone and wood. Although more stone seemed to be used and all of the houses seemed to have a floor or two more than the average in Woodfall. The houses were also closely packed together and had less width than what Valeria had seen before. After 10 minutes of leisurely walking through the streets they arrived at the Adventures Guild. It was quite a lot bigger than the other houses and completely made out of stone. And it was right next to the northern gate which led in and out of the noble district. The large wooden double doors were beautiful ornamented with various types of Monsters and Adventures fighting them. The Guild seemed to be quite the busy place and a steady flow of Adventures came in and out of the building.

Thy both went in. The reception area was pretty spacious and there were over 40 adventures and customers in here. Adventures were looking at the quest board, standing in line at the reception with 4 counters out of which 2 were occupied and some just standing in groups chatting with each other. There was also a bar at the right side, which was currently empty. The reactions of adventures varied as much as the adventures themselves. Some ignored them, others looked at the duo with confusion and a few greeted Irena with phrases like "haven't seen you around for quite some time", "Hey Irena! Good to have you back. Wanna go for a drink later?" Or "Good day Irena, who's that little girl by your side?" Irena greeted most of them back in a polite way and continued dragging the stunned Valeria towards the left line in front of the counter. In the meantime, many adventures came along to talk with Irena, many of whom tried their luck, but she shoot all of them down. Most of them just laughed it off, but a few were also hearth broken. In a quiet moment just before their turn Valeria spoke up "Irena you're really popular. Whys that? Irena smiled "Well, there aren't that many female adventures around so many try to get the few of joining their party's. Most of those jerks have ulterior motivations, so do be careful. There are also a very few with... let's say 'particular tastes' which will try to get to you as well. Be especially careful around those and tell me afterwards so I can teach them a lesson" Irena's eyes filled with what seemed like a mix of determination and an evil grin.

" 'kay I'll be careful" Valeria didn't quite understand but agreed anyways, since Irena had much more experience in dealing with other people and adventurers in particular. The Beastmen in front of them which looked like a 2 meter big humanoid crocodile finished whatever business he had and it was finally their turn. Behind the beautifully made wooden desk stood a human woman, roughly twenty years old, dark purple hair and a friendly smile on her face.

"Welcome back Irena, it's good to have you around again. What business do you have today?" And her curious glance fell onto Valeria, who was still looking around the Room and at the many different adventures.

Irena's expression changed to an honest smile "Hey Miri! It's good to see you again! And ahh... Well concerning business, first we would like to register little Val here at the Guild" Miri's expression changed to one of confusion and she now openly starred at Valeria. "Ehh Irena, you want a child, a little girl no less, to become an adventurer?"

"Yes. She is way stronger than she looks"

"Ahem... sure... I think you should talk about this with the Guildmaster"

"Good. The other matter at hand requires his attention anyways"

"I-is that so? Well, I'll inform him immediately. Take a seat and maybe think things over again, okay?" Miri said and left the counter. Disappointed muttering and groans of dissatisfaction came from those who were behind Irena and Valeria.

"Come Val, let's take a seat"

They walked over to one of the empty Seats and waited there. And they were mostly left alone. A few minutes later Miri came back and leaded them to a staircase behind the counter and to the upper floor which was just one long hallway. Its walls were decorated with all kinds of stuff: swords, shields, spears, pictures and a few monsters heads. The most striking one was the lion like head hanging over the Door at the Ed of the hallway, its mouth wide open. It seemed like it was roaring at everyone wanting to come in. Val was fascinated by it and stared at it with excitement.

"What's that Irena?"

"Ohh that? That is the head of a Chimera. It was slain 8 years ago in the woods by the current Guildmaster. He used to be an adventurer himself and reached B-rank as a Solo"

"Wow! So, he must be really strong then!"

Miri who had listened quietly to their conversation until now spoke up "Indeed, but his golden days are over, now he's just an old geezer. But let's head in" she opened the door and quite a large room came into sight. It was as elegantly furnished just as the rest of the guild. A few bookshelves stood around and a large wooden desk was standing in front of them a few meters away. On the desk were many Books and documents laying around. Two wooden chairs were in front of it and one quite large one behind the desk. On the chair sat a human man in his early fifties, he was very muscular, his hair and beard were already grey. His grey blue eyes had a sharp look and his expression seemed to always analyze one.

"Good day. This 'old geezer' will meet you now" his gaze seemed to pierce Miri who's expression seemed troubled "Ehhh... I'll leave now!" And she quickly stepped out of the room and closed the door.

"Puh how did that old geezer heard me.an better get back to work"

The door seemed thick, but in the utter silence of the room one could easily hear Miri's remarks from inside. The guildmaster masaged his temples with a troubled expression on his face. "Good grief, I wouldn't call her dumb but she does have her... flaws. Oblivious would be a kind remark. But enough of that. Irena was it yes? We have met before, haven't we?"

Irena seemed to respect the old man. A expression which Valeria hasn't seen on her before came across Irena's face.

"Indeed Ferous. 8 years ago I helped you slay the Chimera. I was the envoy of the Kindom of Dyradale back then"

His expression changed to one which seemed to a nostalgic smile.

"Ahh now I remember, forgive this old man for forgetting something that important. Well we can reminiscence of days of old another time. Now what is the reason of your visit to day?"

His reminiscent attitude changed. And an inquisitive gaze fell upon Valeria who was curiously looking around. She currently was snooping around one of the Bookshelves. They contained various lexical containing rare monsters, their abilities and weaknesses. She was currently reading about Wyverns, a rare subspecies of Dragons, which apparently haven't been wiped out.

Irena looked a bit troubled at Valerias unproper behavior and sighed. "Well this little Lady wishes to become an adventurer" in contrast to the receptionists reaction his expression didn't change all that much.

"So you want the guild to guarantee this Dragonkins safety, ain't I right?"

A knowing smile came a across Irenas face.

"No wonder that you would know what she really is. Most would probably take her for a rare specimen of a half-Lizardmen. But you are correct. The only thing you missed is that our little lady here is really strong. She could down a Direwolf with one hit of her sword. To be Frank, she saved me and my party."

Ferous raised one of his Eyebrow .

"Is that so? I have heard of the inborn strength of Dragonkin. But that seems like a bit much... but I can't analyze her... so you could be right"

Irena smirked.

"You are correct. Her an bloodline seems to be very pureblooded, so far so that she herself that she was a half-dragon"

"A half-dragon? Can't say I have ever heard about one. Only read something about something like this. Well I think having her join won't be a problem. But she'll have to start off as an F-rank. So she can't join your group for the time being. You know that Adventures are only allowed to join groups one rank above your own"

Irenas expression grew a bit more tense.

"You know that this would be an absolute waste!"

But the guildmaster remained unfazed by

all of this.

"Sure. But the reason for her joining was safety wasn't it? Having her start at a higher rank would start quite the commotion, many would start to antagonize her and many would underestimate her. I would like to save us all the trouble and have her rank up as usual"

Irenas expression softened and she sighed defeated

"Fine. Your right. We'll do it your way. But in exchange you'll personally guarantee her safety from any Dragonhunters or Zealots of Vi"

"Sure. Don't like these guys anyway. Having a just a reason to beat them up is making things easier to explain"

Irena nodded smiling.

"Thanks Ferous, I'll owe you one. Now, the next topic at hand" Irenas expression darkened.

"We came across Woodfall two Days ago... it was completely empty, all of its inhabitants are probably dead. We found a group of Goblins still remaining in the village, we took care of them. But we found tracks of a much larger group heading west"

The Guildmasters expression hardened and a troubled expression came across his face.

"That's bad new indeed"

He clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"Don't know if you heard already but all our C and B rank adventuring groups are further South, there is a huge demon incursion. They won't be back for another month..."

Irenas expression changed from one of surprise to one of worry.

"That is terrible. Depending on the size of the horde and it could be a really dangerous threat"

"Hmmm... you said that they were heading west, yes?"

Irena nodded.

Ferous crossed his arms behind his head and sighed in exhaustion.

"They may be gathering a huge army around a Goblinking or a high level demon. Well speculating won't get us anywhere. Is the count already informed?"

"Yes. My guildmates should be there right about now"

"Ahh... Good then. I'll confirm with him our course of action. In the meantime I'll send out scouts to track them down"

"I understand Ferous. Could I trouble you to give Valeria the introduction to the guild? I have some business to take care of"

"Haaa... I guess that would be the best course of action... Hey little lady! You finished reading my PRIVATE books?"

Valeria who was just reading about intermediate Demons turned her head and looked at Ferous confused.

"Hey old man! You finished yet?"

Irena looked troubled.

"Vallie... we have to talk about your attitude towards superiors... Well, you will talk about the next steps with Ferous here. I have to gather provisions and medicine for the Refugees. We'll meet at the camp in 4 hours time, you can go sightseeing a bit. But don't cause trouble! I'll take my leave"

She bowed ever so slightly and walked through the door and a small warm smile flashed to Valeria a moment before she left the room.

"So you want to become an adventurer, Valeria was it? My name is Ferous Hammerhand guildmaster of Tervilla. Please take a seat" and he gestured Valeria to take place before him. Valeria seemed to want to continue reading but reluctantly put the book 'Rare Monsters and their Weaknesses' back into the empty slot in the bookshelf. "Hmm 'kay. Yes my name is Valeria, nice to met'cha! I hope I can get to read more of your amazing Books!"

And she walked over and took her sear directly opposite to Ferous. Who looked at her with a hawkish look in his eyes. Valeria was a bit bothered by this but tried to ignore it.

"So, I take it you heard the gist of what it means to be adventurer from Irena. But it is vital to experience the basics for yourself"

Valeria scratched her cheeks and seemed to think about it.

"Hmmm...What am I supposed to do?" Valeria tilted her head.

A faint smile came across Ferouses face.

"As I said collect experience and a reputation. I propose you take up lower ranking quests on your own or work together with adventures of similar rank"

"A reputation? Why?"

"A good reputation will offer you more protection than any guild rank would. Additionally it makes climbing the ranks easier. Once you reach B-rank the guild will be able to guarantee your safety officially. That is of course, much better than the guarantee of one old man"

He smiled genuinely.

" 'kay"

"Good. You don't have a patron nor a class am I correct?"

"No. I don't really no what that is"

A flash of surprise appeared on Ferouses face.

"Oh really... didn't think that would be possible. But then again... Well whatever. I'll explain it to you. First a patron is one of the gods which approves of your actions and grants you new abilities and power through the 'Stone's of revelation'. But most don't worry too much about it, since pretty much anything you would do will find the approval of some god. But of course deliberately striving to serve one god would make the gifts more gracious. That's also were classes come into play. They are a way to do so, to directly seek one gods approval. We divide them by effects rather than patron. We do so because two people can serve different gods but get similar abilities. For example one can become a Paladin by Serving the goddess of Justice Iustia or the goddess of Love Amara. Although 'serving' is not really correct, just earing their approval is enough, most just do as they do and take the gifts as a granted thing. You see it is still a mystery when and why the gods give out their gifts but the general kind of Gifts are largely the same, be it magic, martial abilities or Wisdoms of other kind. We also know that these gifts are always connected to your selected class and your own skills. Let's say you fight much with the sword, you will likely get a gift which empowers your swords play. But these gifts not automatically allow your body to use them, your body has to attune to the changes with training and time.

There are also limits for individuals to how many gifts they can obtain. What determines that I don't know. But the individual can increase these limits by killing magical beast's, I don't know why that is either"

Valerias head was spinning from all that information.

"Ehh yes... thanks for the... explanation"

The guildmaster sighed

"Well, if you don't mind. I'll accompany you to the 'room of revelation' and help you out. How about it?"

Valeria thought about it for a moment.

"Why should I mind?" She asked with a mix of curiosity and confusion.

Ferous showed Valeria a troubled smile.

"Well, the Stone reveals your whole person. So many adventures are very keen about not letting anyone know what is shown in the room. Most newbies let a confidant acquaint them, to show them how it works. But you seem... mysterious? So there might be things that you wouldn't want anyone to see"

"Oh..." Valeria was very troubled by that. Would it reveal her true identity? If it was a device gifted by the gods... it probably would, so she couldn't let anyone be present. But she also had no idea what she was supposed to do...

The guildmaster realized her inner conflict and interrupted her.

"Well, if you want you can go in by yourself first and try it on your own. And if you need help just call for me. I'll wait before the door. And I swear upon my patrons name 'Ordon' that I will keep everything that I see closely confidential"

He bowed his head slightly to show his sincerity.

"Hmmm... you can wait before the door"

"I understand"

He smiled with a knowing glimmer in his eyes.

"Well, let's get going then"

The guildmaster lead Valeria out of his office and back down the staircase into the main hall. It was still quite busy and many looked at the pair curiously.

They went through a corridor on the left side of the reception room and after only a few meters, a double door made out of dark wood was blocking their way. A small green gemstone was slightly glowing in the middle of the door.

"Ah, perfect it's free. You may enter"

The guildmaster said.

Valeria nodded and opend the door.

The room was quite spacious and had an octagonal layout. It's walls were made out of sturdy and well made stone. A large white ball was placed on a pendant in the middle. The room was otherwise empty and all the sound of the reception area ceased once the doors closed behind Valeria and she heard a mechanical 'click' from the door.

Valeria took a moment and then moved towards the crystal ball. Since she didn't really know what to do she did the logical thing and placed her small hands on the crystal. White light began emanating from the ball and was seemingly flowing into her aswell and she started glowing. After a few moments pictures of light appeared, like displays, around the stone in a cocoon like formation. All of them had roughly the same size except for the one directly infront of Valeria.

Name: Valeria

Race: Dragonkin (?)

Sex: female

Age: 12

Patron: ?

Class: —

Level: 6

Attributes:

Str.: 138 (?)

Dex.: 267 (?)

Con.: 178 (?)

Ma.: 307 (?)

Int.: 127

Wis.: 25

Skills: Mana manipulation, Spirit manipulation, Fire Magic 6, Sword mastery 3, Identity protection 5, Fire resistance 10, Fire immunity 3, Cold resistance 2

Unique skills: Divine Regeneration,

???, ???, ???

Titles: Huntress, Lone Survior, Woodrunner, Draconic Fire Mage, Returned hermit, Priestess of the silver Fountain (*)

Was what the one before Valeria displayed.

"Hmm that must be the personal information... seems like when I change my form, even this divine item can't see through my disguise. Hmmm...Still don't really get those numbers and all that stuff. Seems complicated"

Since the information displayed wasn't anything 'too vital' she decided to let Ferous come in. She went to the door and all the Displays disappeared as soon as she touched the red glowing gemstone within the door. Said gemstone switched its colour to green and the door opend. Infront of Valeria Ferous was leaning against the wall and staring at the roof.

"Mmm Ferous can you come in?" Valeria asked and the seemingly deep in thought Ferous was looking at her curiously.

"Fine. I'll help you out" and wry smile showed on his face.

Valeria and Ferous went back inside and Valeria placed her hands on the Stone of revelation once more.

All the displays popped up again just like before.

Ferous looked a bit suprised but took a look at the 'status screen' of Valeria.

"Ehmm mister Guildmaster can you explain that stuff to me?"

"Ahh yes sure" He seemed a bit startled.

But He began explaining to Valeria, nonetheless.

The attributes: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Mana affinity, Intelligence and Wisdom reflected her physical and mental capacity. To give Valeria a sense of what those numbers mean he listed the average stats and the corresponding groups which most likely had stats in that area.

1-9: incredibly low, your capabilities are basically 0.

10-15: Very Low, your capabilities are comparable to a human toddler

16-20: Low, comparable to human children

21-30: lower average, weaker human people, elderly or il

31-60: average, a standard human and basic soldiers (G-F rank adventures)

61-100: Above average. Skilled humans or average for some humanoid species like Elves (E-D rank adventures)

101-200: high, the territory of lesser Hero's (C-B rank adventures)

201-300: Very high, Full fledged Heroes (A-rank adventures)

301-600: Extraordinary high: Legendary Hero's or Godkin are in these territories (S rank adventures)

601-1000: Uncharted territory. Only S-rank threats possess such stats, unobtainable for Mankind

1001-???: Realm of the Divine.

He emphasised that this is only a roughly indication. For example Valerias average is about 170, this would make her a C-B rank adventurer. But the skills she possess are below average for so highly rank adventures, except for her unique skills, and would make sense for a E-rank. Skills and unique skills only reflect abilities which need mana to use, this is why Mana or Spirit manipulation is needed to use skills like Magic or martial arts respectively. Except for the manipulation skills almost all other skills are ranked from 1-10. Unique skills may also have such a rating system, but most of them function like mana or spirit manipulation.

If a skill reaches ten an advanced form of said skill will appear.

Titles are the most mysterious, they can reflect skills outside of those which require Mana, Social positions, great deeds, crimes or major accomplishments. Some rare titles like Valerias 'priestess of the silver Fountain' (which Ferous had never heard of) are marked with (*). These mostly indicate that they gave the wielder a unique skill. Which is In this case 'Divine Regeneration' which is, according to Ferous, the highest level of self regeneration possible. And he was in Awe as soon as he saw it.

"There is only one more question remaining....'What the hell are these question mark's?' The question marks by Patron is rather common, it can either mean that there are multiple Patrons or that the patron you have, chooses not to be displayed. But for the rest...I am not sure, but I have heard stories of such things happening. As far as I know they mostly indicate that there are abilities hidden, which even the wielder knows nothing about. And they need time to fully awaken. But what those are, I can only guess. Since there are question marks behind some of your Attributes and your race, I would guess that one ability must be shape-shift. From what you and Irena told me, that should indicate that you may be able to turn into a half-dragon, which apparently is something sightly different than a Dragonkin... but what that does concretely... I have no idea"

Valeria tried very hard to keep her focus during Ferouses lecture, but her head was spinning nonetheless.

"Well, let's talk about your available class choices. You have many different options"

He lead Valeria around the Stone of Revelation tot he other smaller Displays. All of them were similar, they had the class name in big on top and a very short description. The only thing that differed were the colours. Most were grey, some green and a few blue.

"The colour indicates the class level. Grey means basic, green intermediate and blue advanced. You should take one from the advanced classes. Let's see what you can choose..."

The available advanced classes were: Priestess, Spellsword, Fire Mage, Duelist and Blade master.

"From your gear I would suggest either Duelist or Blade master, but your mana affinity and high fire Magic would make Fire Mage more suitable. And if you want to use both magic and your blade equally I would suggest Spellsword"

"Hmm... 'kay then I'll take that one"

Valeria placed her hand on the display, but she didn't feel anything solid. A few moments later an electric like shock went thorugh her body and a confused expression came over her face "EHH!"

All the Displays vanished, except for the one displaying her data.

"Sorry should have warned you"

The Guildmaster said with a mischievous grin.

"Your a meanie Mister!"

Valeria shouted at him angrily and was just about to punch him.

The guildmaster took a step backwards and got out of range.

"Well, we should stop goofing around and check your new status"

Valeria was still pouting and turned back to her status screen with puffed cheeks.

Name: Valeria

Race: Dragonkin (?)

Sex: female

Age: 12

Patron: ?

Class: Spellsword

Level: 6

Attributes:

Str.: 138 (?)

Dex.: 267 (?)

Con.: 178 (?)

Ma.: 307 (?)

Int.: 127

Wis.: 25

Skills: Mana manipulation, Spirit manipulation, Fire Magic 7, Sword mastery 3, sword arts 1, Identify 1, Appraise 1, Identity protection 5, Fire resistance 10, Fire immunity 3, Cold resistance 2

Class skills: Mana Blade, Elemental Blade

Unique skills: Divine Regeneration,

???, ???, ???

Titles: Huntress, Lone Survivor, Woodrunner, Draconic Fire Mage, Returned hermit, Priestess of the silver Fountain (*)

"You'll have to practice to get used to your new skills, but it shouldn't be to hard for you" Ferous said.

"Hmm... 'kay"

"Good. Let's issue you your Guild card"