Chapter 6: Adventurer

I stood outside a large rectangular building with a pitched roof adorned with different coloured trapezoid slabs placed beside each other, forming a pattern with each trapezium in an inverted pose relative to it's predecessor. Covering over a thousand square yards of area, the structure was home to Basil's Adventurer Guild, regarded as the second largest guild outlet in the human domain.

Farya was an adventurer, and as much as it embarrases me to say it, she was the sole breadwinner of our household. However, due to her pregnancy, I convinced her to stay home, albeit with great difficulty. Going back to being a lumberjack again wasn't an option, since the biggest fish in the market was an enemy, and the job didn't pay much anyways.

And so, after being sword-trained for three years by a certain beautiful dragon instructor, I was ready to put my skills to the test.

The wooden double doors were flanked by tough looking guards on either side. Dressed in leather jerkins, they stood ramrod straight with one hand on the pommel of their swords.

As soon as I approached the Guild entrance, the tall, lean guard stopped me and asserted "I don't remember seeing you around here. State your business.", in a condescending tone, typical of untested recruits.

"I'm here to register as an adventurer", I answered as the other guard, his face hardened by years of being in the battlefield, stepped up and proceeded to pay me down.

"You're clear. Sorry for the inconvenience, security's been a bit tight since that bastard created a mess around here" grunted the grizzled adventurer, his voice barely containing his rage.

"Anyways, you're free to go", he assured me in a light voice, nudging me towards the gate with the back of his hand.

Pushing open the gates, my senses were flooded with the musty scent of ale , amidst a raging cacophony of noises. Endless streams of chatter constantly bombarded my ears, and a rowdy aura encompassed the interior of the building. Sitting around wooden tables on barstools, rugged groups of adventurers didn't pass me a second glance before they resumed boasting about their seemingly heroic conquests. 

Walking up to the counter, my eyes met a young lady near my age, wearing what seemed to a barmaid's outfit, at the counter.

Seriously, this looked more like a tavern more than anything. 

"Greetings sir, how can I help you?", the fair-skinned, almond-eyed woman inquired politely. 

"I wish to register as an adventurer", I replied matter-of-factly. 

"Sure sir, step right over to the second door to the right, just beyond the counter".

Heeding her instructions, I walked over to large door which had the words 'Recruitment' carved on it. "Honestly, what is the author's obsession with doors?" I thought as I swung the door's latch.

Light emanated from a lantern hung on the wall, casting its rays directly on top of the man sitting in front of me.

"So you'd like to become an adventurer?, May I ask why?", the white-clad man questioned, eyeing me from under his spectacles.

He went on like this for a quarter of an hour, before finally uncrossing his arms and getting up, motioning me to follow him. 

He led me through a hallway into what appeared to be some kind of training room, with four fighting rings etched on to the ground at a little distance from each other. The walls were adorned with weapons of every kind, from pocket knives to double handed greatswords, along with outliers like a spiked mace for your average eccentric adventurer.

Leading me to the end of the room, he ordered me to place my hands on a glass sphere that sat atop a cylindrical stand flattening out at the bottom. As I touched the glass sphere, a tingling sensation shook my body to the core, making me almost reel back in reflex, but it abruptly stopped, disappearing as suddenly as it had come.

"This is strange", the man implied, as he lifted the sphere, thoroughly checking it from all sides. "It's giving no reaction at all", the man further asserted. "I'm sorry but you will have to come at a later date, as my crystalear doesn't seem to be working correctly.", the man added with a sigh. 

Immediately realizing that the problem was due to my innate lack of mana, I handed him a letter of recommendation I had Farya write, in case a situation like this occurred. 

Eyeing the contents of the letter, the man's facial expressions underwent a series of changes from shock to annoyance, and finally to a look of resignation.

"Very well, you shall be assigned the rank of a bronze adventurer. You can collect your guild plate and ID card from the counter", he stated.

Sensing my cue to leave, I turned around and headed for the counter. Just as I was about to leave the room, the man called out to me "Tell miss Farya that my debt has been paid" before retreating to a doorway on his right.

After receiving my credentials from the counter, I headed over to the unruly part of the building, towards a huge bulletin board that covered a fairly large part of the western wall. 

Hundreds of requests lined the board, ranging from finding a lost pet to slaying a drake.

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The requests were arranged according to different difficulty levels, separated by thin planks of wood, effectively distributing the board into seven smaller sections. 

The leftmost section had a small bronze hexagon embedded in the center, with potential job appeals strung around it. The next section had a similar design, albeit with a steel hexagon. Similarly it continued after steel to gold, and then to three other metals I did not recognize by sight.

Heading over to my jurisdiction, I started scanning the quests to single out one worthy for my debut as an adventurer. Much to my discontent, the requests were mostly monotonous tasks such as finding a missing cat, or collecting herbs for an apothecary. As I  was about to give up on my grand debut, a parched sheet of paper, half hidden by another request, caught my eye. 

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The local dungeon has not been cleared for quite some time, and the monsters are starting to raid our farmlands. We need an adventurers' party to clear this dungeon so that we can live in peace.c

Requirements:

1. Clear dungeon "Sneed's Nest"

2. Kill the Goblin King Sneed

Reward: Six silvers

Difficulty: D

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Sure, the difficulty was a bit high for absolute beginners. But I had to take a bit of a risk if I wanted to rise up the ranks quickly. Also, the pay was good. Dungeons had to be completed in a party of a minimum of six people. Still, one silver was more than I was hoping for as a bronze adventurer. The problem lay in finding a party though. With my below average social skills, I was in for a rough time finding people to take on the mission with an absolute rookie.

"Umm, excuse me. By any chance, do you happen to be in a party?" squeaked a voice from behind me. Turning around, I came face to face with a blond haired girl who looked like she was still in her early teens. Dressed in leather clothing below a chainmail vest, I quickly realized that she was an adventurer as well despite her age. Then again, everyone could use ???????????????????? in this world, so it kind of made sense.

"No, I was actually looking for one in order to clear this dungeon", I pointed to the request pinned on the board. When she saw where my finger pointed, her gray eyes lit up as she uttered "We planned to head to that very dungeon, but one of our members chickened out at the last moment, and we were held back." she affirmed.

"In any case, would you be willing to join our party? she inquired with an expectant look.

And that's how I ended up joining Dawn's crest, A rookie party of adolescent adventurers willing to venture into the unknown, without the slightest hint of fear on their faces.

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