I followed the attendant Chrissy along with Hemo and Pen. It's like I can never actually get rid of these guys. They're everywhere I go and there is nothing I can do about it. Pen and Hemo are always going to be associated with me after this.
I'm still wondering what's in store for me here. I wasn't given much information in the way of who Dhalia was, just that she was a very attractive blue skinned lady with white hair and golden eyes. I could tell she had a more slender body than mom. Dhalia was also about a centimeter shorter than I was, but other than her gorgeous looks and tight body there wasn't anything else I knew except she was highly influential. As the Guild Master she must be a very powerful person as well.
It was hard not to think about her because she mesmerized me. Taking a look around I saw that most of the adventurers were fit and beautiful women. They were much more attractive than the girls in the village but compared to mom and the guild leader they're lacking in every way.
Chrissy leads us on a tour of the guild. We see everything from the different rooms, the counter, the training area and the testing area. Several instructors held classes for adventurers who are registered on how to fight monsters relevant to the area. Education on the type of monster they were attacking, survival skills and multiple other topics helped prevent deaths for those seeking adventure, as explained by Chrissy.
After touring a few more areas of the guild we stopped at the training area.
Chrissy: "Hemo and Pen, I'm going to test the both of you in your swordsmanship."
Roy: "What about me?"
Chrissy: "Sorry Roy, but the guild master said you're not to participate since you don't have any aptitude for combat or magic."
Roy: "How is aptitude measured?"
Chrissy: "It's simple, we use crystals. Generally speaking, everyone has their talents from birth. The majority of people are not born with great magical talent and it's not easily known whether people can increase their abilities, but most people are born with varying degrees of physical talent. Actually, we should test that first before doing sword and skill tests."
Chrissy brought us over to an orb and had us take our ratings. Pen was 23 on the magical and 50 on the physical while Hemo was 10 on magical and 88 on the physical.
It was soon my turn.
Roy: "Is there an upper limit to these numbers?"
Chrissy: "No, but you have to have a total of above 200 combined to be considered an S-Rank Adventurer. As for the ranks F through A, it simply requires you to completely tasks."
Roy: "Then training isn't necessary?"
Chrissy: "No its' not. Training is just to help those new to adventuring to survive and exchange information. Anyone can register as the ID is tied to you. It's recommended to train for survival however as not everyone can be an adventurer. Training at least gives you an indication of where you stand before you go out into the wild. You need at least a combined value of twenty to be able to register, which the Guild Master states you don't have."
Combined value of twenty, I suppose I could try and do that. I don't even know why this Guild Master is so interested in me and why she is so adamant I don't have any ability.
I place my hand on the orb, it comes back at 0 for magic and 5 for physical.
Chrissy: "Looks like you aren't even as strong as the average ten year old girl. I really don't know how someone can grow up to be like you. I mean, I suppose you're pretty small and you have a thin frame."
Hemo: "We always had to help him with his farm work, but we always enjoyed his company."
More like you both were always looking for ways to get close to my mom you bastards!
Chrissy: "Sounds like you've had great friends Roy."
Hemo: "What are yourstats Chrissy?"
Chrissy smiled then once she placed her hand on the orb it measured 120 for magical and 89 for physical. She was indeed someone strong enough to be an S-rank adventurer according to the current guild rules.
Chrissy:"When the new Guild Standards come out I'll be demoted to A-rank."
Roy: "How do you increase your physical strength like that?"
I worked out a lot to try and catch up to Hemo but nothing worked.
Chrissy: "It's innate in the body, usually it grows faster when talented individuals exercise. Hemo has the potential to be stronger than me physically but magic on the other hand doesn't increase as much. Most who are S-ranked have a high magic level which can also be used to augment strength among other things."
In the training area was a large weighted boulder. Chrissy walked over to and it lifted it above her head. She struggled a little but was able to do it as I watched both Hemo and Pen look over in shock.
Chrissy: "Now let's do some sword training. Roy you go ahead and sit down. I think you should understand your position now."
I really couldn't say anything as I watched Chrissy easily beat both Hemo and Pen around before starting to teach them different sword and weapon techniques. I grabbed an information manual and began to read about the Guild.
Learning about the guild there were several key points. The first was that all adventurers had to register with the guild and the guild also protects them from countries andpolitics as long as they remain a member in good standing. No matter which country an Adventurer goes too, they must follow all the laws in order to receive the protection of the guild. If they break the law the Guild relinquishes their membership and their card.
As such there was a mutual relationships between Adventurer's and the guild for benefit.
The second point was how the Adventurer's increase their rank and take jobs with the guild. Every job gives a certain amount of points for that rank. There are two types of jobs, the resource jobs which are put up by merchant guilds, escort jobs, and combat jobs such as bounty hunting or monster extermination.
The jobs have different ratings but the ranking determines which jobs one can take. The Resource jobs can be taken by any class since they can be gathered by many different means. Bounty hunting wasn't a specific job per say as anyone who captures them would get the points depending on how strong that individual us, however monster extermination and combat such as taking down a den of bandits required specific ranks to take.
The funny thing is that there was no rank requirement to take jobs. The jobs are categorized by rank so thatadventurers can figure out which job is best for them, however if it's an individual requester they would have final say of whether or not to accept the adventurer. This is prevalent in escort quests where the merchant might want A-class adventurers who know what they are doing.
If adventurers take those kind of jobs and do poorly they would lose points in the ranking and can even be demoted. Also, except for S-Class, adventurers had to be active to maintain their rankings as points are deducted over time if there is inactivity.
Chrissy finished playing around with Hemo and Pen who were both on the ground drenched with sweat while she still looked completely fresh and comfortable. I get it, she's a strong independent woman who don't need no man.
Chrissy: "This concludes lesson one, I assume you both want to register and get some more training right?"
Hemo and Pen both nodded excitedly and got up to follow Chrissy.
Hemo: "Man the city is the best. So many cute girls."
Pen: "I know right, glad to have left that village."
As I gathered myself to follow them I was pulled aside by another attendant. This time instead of a human she was an elf… the first time I have seen an elf in this world.
Attendant: "Hello I'm Arwen, Please come with me, the Guild Master would like your presence. The Merchant Guild Leader is also there."
Roy: "Uh… sure.. thanks Arwen."
Arwen looked up and down over me as though curious.
Roy: "Is there something the matter?"
Arwen: "I'm just curious why the two of them want to see you. I know you arrived with the Merchant Guild leader but I'm just curious to your relationship with them."
Roy: "Well, let's say she's my family and she raised me in the village."
Arwen: "I see, that would explain it them. Please follow me."
I walk with Arwen to the top floor of the large building where Dhalia's office is. The beautiful and elegant vampire woman who seems to be familiar with my mother. Arwen stops, opens the door and lets me walk in before closing the door behind me. There in front of me mom sat with Dhalia next to her on a couch.