I opened my eyes looking at the ceiling, however, it was a different ceiling that I always saw when I woke up in the morning. That's right, I was now staying at the Starlight Inn in the City of Astraea.
I looked at the window and saw that it was still dark. I opened the time/date window, It was still four am in the morning. This is the time of my morning run. My body is already so used to this routine that I unconsciously woke up at this time.
"It was still early, let's take it easy for now"
Even if I skip my training, the Qi constantly optimizes my body without me taking any actions. So, let's sort out what happened yesterday. As I recalled the information I received, the pretty face of Esri suddenly appeared in my mind.
"Why did her face suddenly appear? Well, not that I complain, it was certainly a pleasant memory. She also seems pretty interesting. Should I pursue her romantically?"
I shook my head to get those thoughts out of my brain.
Well, no need to rush for now. There is more that actually requires my immediate attention. Like Adventure Guild. Or finding some clothes that won't be that eye-catching. I hope that there is something like this in the ring.
Yes, checking the storage ring was an experience in itself. If anyone asked me to describe it in a single phrase, my answer would've been "treasure mountain". Or "Dragon Hoard". Damn, who are you, gramps? Even if I ignored literal mountains of gold coins, some of those treasures looked like they cost a fortune. Well, better start looking for a better choice of clothes.
After a while, I managed to find something that looked less of "I spent your year's worth of salary for this piece of cloth" and more of "Yes, it's clearly high-quality, but unless you are an expert you won't see a difference".
A simple white shirt, made from who knows what and durable enough to stop a knife. Black pants, which I strongly suspected were made from silk. Uh, silk pants. Now I can properly be considered a young master, right? Pair of red leather boots, I hope there are no dragons to offend with those. Grandpa, what did you do to get them? And to finish it all, a short red jacket. Well, at least this was made from something simple, I hope.
I looked at my image inside the mirror. Damn, I look like an anime character, but at least I've seen someone who wore something that looked close enough to this yesterday. And unless some sort of master appraiser checked it, it doesn't look TOO special.
[Master, it's time for breakfast.]
"Thank you, Hestia. You are a lifesaver, as usual.
I went downstairs to the eating hall. One of the guards said that this inn is famous for its excellent food and, judging by smell alone, he was right.
'Should I go to Adventurer's Guild right now or take a walk through the city first?'
[It's recommended to go early, to avoid guild being too crowded.]
'Yeah, hopefully, I will avoid some bullshit cliche development with this. Thanks again, Hestia'
___
"Ohh! So, this is the Adventurer Guild, the building looked like a small castle"
I pushed the double door and entered. Yes, as expected, coming in the early morning was the right choice. There were only a few adventurers, mostly those parties that either those who just returned and decided to report finishing their quests or those who are, like me, plan on taking a quest and leaving before rush hours. Most of the staff either prepared the paperwork for a day or talked with their own adventurers. I wonder if every adventurer has their own receptionist or is it the "first come, first serve" rule?
'Now, who should I choose?' Just as I started thinking this, I saw an intelligent-looking lady in glasses, who just finished working with another adventurer and was currently free. Well, as good as any other choice.
"Welcome to the Adventurer's Guild. My name is Kiara, how may I help you?"
"Good morning. My name is Kazuya and I would like to register in your guild."
"Of course. Please fill in these papers."
The receptionist gave me a few forms. There were a few simple questions to answer. Age - 18. Sex - Male. Attribute...
"Excuse me, am I required to state my attribute?"
"Yes, it's required in the Kingdom of Vallier as a part of an initial rank test and for identification. If you never tested it, we can do it right now for free."
She put a crystal ball on the tabletop.
"I see."
Seems like I don't have a choice. Well, maybe grandpa actually messed with me all this time, who knows? I put my hand on top of the crystal ball. It felt like the temperature around me increased by a few degrees and then this warmth was sucked into the crystal ball, which then became bright for a few moments, before returning to normal.
"You can remove your hand now"
I removed my hand and saw a fire burning brightly inside the crystal ball.
"Your attribute is fire and you only have one attribute"
Seems like grandpa didn't mess with me in the end. Well, I wasn't disappointed anyway. I just kept filling in the forms. Do you have prior experience in combat or survival skills? - Yes. This was the last question, so I gave my papers back to Kiara.
"Yes, thank you. Will this fact affect me in any way?"
"We, Adventurer's Guild, don't care about anything that isn't affecting the completion of your quests. Sadly, it also means that we can't give you a higher rank based on your aptitude alone. Let me check your papers for a moment."
Kiara swiftly read my answers.
"Considering that you have prior experience, you can get a second-lowest rank right now. If you want anything higher than that, you also can apply for a direct combat test. Would you like to?"
"No, thank you. I am fine with what my results are."
Achieving a higher rank in the get-go will be boring anyways. Thankfully no one heard her saying that I only have one attribute. No one was rash or stupid enough to start any trouble in the morning.
"Yes, please wait for a moment, I will register you now"
"Alright"
I sat down at the nearest chair and waited for the receptionist to finish registering me. Soon enough, she called me back.
"Here is your Guild Card."
"A friend of mine told me that I could use it as an ID, right?"
"Yes, you'll be able to use the guild member card as an ID in any country."
Kiara gave me a green colored card with my name on it.
"Should I explain rankings for you?"
"Yes, please."
Kiara started explaining the basic details about ranking. She told me that there are 7 Ranks. You will be able to know which rank the person is by the color of the card. The lowest rank is F-Rank color Black, next is E-Rank it was color Green, D-Rank was Color Blue, C-Rank was Color Red, B-Rank was color Yellow, A-Rank was color Silver and lastly the Strongest Adventurers in the guild are S-Rank which is color Gold. She also said that there are unique ranks above that, but it was for special cases.
The tasks are divided into ranks by their degree of difficulty. The person belonging to a low rank cannot receive a task from a higher rank, but for parties, quest ranks available are based on the highest-ranking member.
"Next, as for the guild card, if someone other than the original owner touches this card for longer than 1 minute, the magic will turn the card blank. It is for counterfeit prevention. Also, if you lose the card, report it to the guild immediately. Although it costs money, we will reissue a new one."
"I understood"
"If you want to get a quest, you can choose the tasks that are posted on that board over there"
Kiara pointed at the wooden board at the side, there were lots of quests posted on it, at the top of the board were rankings. From left to right is Rank B to Rank F.
"What about higher ranking quests?"
"From A-rank and above, quests are usually either directly assigned by the Guild itself, are direct requests for a certain high ranked party or are "free for all" in case of emergencies. There is no need to post them here."
I went to the E rank quests and looked to choose what should be my first task.