The most ordinary looking building in the square, ‘The Adventurer’s Guild’ was a large plain—2 storey tall—wooden building. But although it was ordinary, at the current moment it was the busiest building in the entire square—with a constant flow of groups of people entering and leaving its double door entrance. “Must be all the Players.” I thought, entering through swinging double doors.

Standing just inside, I saw a giant wooden space filled with a bunch of Players and people, and an open second floor space that looked to only have tables and chairs to talk in. Most of the Players were conversing on the first and second floor trying to make Parties or just chatting with each other, but about a fifth of them were actively looking at a single long and large notice board on the right side of the space.

Watching the Players at the notice board, I saw them rip or take papers pinned to the board and bring them to a long counter—at the other end of the giant space from me—with 6 well dressed people behind it. Focusing my eyes on the people behind the counter, I was shown that they were all Npcs, as they all had dark shades of red coloured Names—with one of them being the first black coloured Name I’ve seen.

“Woah! Those must be Guild Workers or something, and it looks like they’re the real deal. I haven’t even seen the guards I walked by have Names that dark red, especially one that’s black.” I thought to myself, lining up in a small line to the counter—knowing that I probably needed to register into the Guild before I could work. As I waited in line, I focused my eyes on the rest of the people in the space, and confirmed that almost all of them really were Players, with only a few dozen or so being light red named Npcs. I also looked up at the large banner hanging high against the wall behind the counter.

The banner itself was a simple black banner with a golden coloured border on the edges, mostly the shape of a long rectangle, but was pointed at the bottom; and had a simple golden design in the middle of the banner. The design was of a golden outline image of a renaissance shaped shield, a large sword pointing down in front and in the middle of the shield, and the capital letters of an ‘A’ and a ‘G’ on each side of the sword's blade—with the ‘A’ slightly placed higher than the ‘G’. “That must be the emblem for the Guild.” I thought.

Then finally approaching the counter, I realized I unconsciously lined up in the black named Npc’s line, and I could clearly see it as Thaddeus Crane. Up close to him, I could see he was a well kept Human man with dark brown hair that gelled and styled to the side. He was wearing an all black suit, a neat white dress shirt, and a long string ribbon as a tie—the other Guild Workers looked to be wearing the same uniform black suits, even the 3 women. On the suit jacket was a golden name plate that said ‘Thaddeus’ pinned on the left side of his chest, and a golden metal Guild Emblem—exactly like the image on the banner—pinned on the left lapel.

Thaddeus then said to me, “Hello and welcome! Are you also here wanting to join the Adventurer’s Guild?”

“I was, but how did you know that?” I asked, curiously.

“It was quite simple to guess really: I haven’t seen you inside the Guild building before, you don’t look like you're a townsfolk making a Request with those unusual clothes you're wearing, and finally there’s been a strange influx of people wanting to join the Guild the last 2 days.” Thaddeus listed.

“I guess it is simple to guess that, but before joining, I was wondering if you could tell me a summary about the Guild and how it works?” I asked, wanting to know the differences in Guilds in this world.

“Certainly.” Thaddeus said, smiling, “First of all, the Adventurer’s Guild spans all the big cities of the Continent, and even a few bigger towns like Asheton; and if you were wondering, our Headquarters resides in the Human Kingdom’s Capital City Leon, just a few days away.”

“If we're in the middle of the Human Kingdom right now, where’s the Elven and Dwarven Kingdom from here?” I wondered to myself, continuing to listen.

“As for Guild Work, the Guild takes in Requests from all people who make one and have some type of monetary reward they can give out, and we post those Requests on the notice board for any of the Members to take on.” Gesturing his hand to the notice board, “The Requests can vary from the mundane in helping people with difficult everyday tasks in town, to the dangerous monster hunts and killings; and sometimes even asking to protect an entire small town under attack from monsters. Once you find a Request you want at the notice board, just bring it to any of the Guild Workers at the counter, and they will inform you more about the details of the Request.”

“I don’t think I need to care about rewards right now, so I should just focus on any Requests that have monsters to kill so I can level up.”

“When you become a new Guild Member, you will start off at Copper Rank and work your way up to Iron Rank; then Silver, Gold, Platinum, Titanium, Mithril, Orichalcum, and finally the coveted Adamantite Rank.”

“And how would I increase my Rank?” I asked.

“Well up to Orichalcum Rank, you simply need to complete 100 Requests of the same Rank as your current Rank, or 10 in the Rank right above your current one; and yes you can do a bit of both. Then once the required number of Requests are met, you can be tested at any of the Guild Buildings to Rank up. Although if you are able to complete a Request at least 2 Ranks above your current Rank alone, you will be allowed to skip to the Rank of the completed Request without needing to be tested. Though in most cases doing so will lead to an early certain death." Thaddeus informed me, adding "And note that doing lower Ranked Requests will not count as the required Requests needed to Rank up, though you would still get the rewards from them.”

Nodding my head in understanding, I asked “Will I have to keep track of the required number? and what about when I work with others?”

“Do not worry, when you join the Guild you’ll be given an item that keeps track of the number for you, and as for Requests done in a Party; Parties usually decide on their own how to split the rewards if not specified, and the other than that, the Rank progress is mostly the same, except for a few cases.”

“What about benefits? Is there a good reason for me to join?”

“Of course, you name it: huge sums of money to allow you to live freely and how you want, power and influence in cities and towns, fame in the remotest places in the Kingdoms, and respect from the general public and the nobilities. All can be a possibility for an Adventurer in the Adventurer’s Guild!” Thaddeus proclaimed.

Chuckling at how much I liked the sound of that, I said “Okay, I think I got the jist of it, now what do I need to do to join?”

“All you need to do is pay a joining fee of 25 Silver.”

“What? That’s it?” I exclaimed.

“That’s it.” Thaddeus repeated; then handing him the 25 Silver, he said “Welcome to the Adventurer’s Guild.” Grabbing it from under the counter, Thaddeus placed a copper bracelet on the counter, “Here’s your Copper Rank Guild Bracelet." Passing it towards me, "Keep it on you always, it will be used to identify you as part of the Adventurer’s Guild, and is what's required to accept a Request from the Guild. It is also what helps you keep track of your Requests.”

"What happens if I accidently lose it? Or it gets destroyed by something?"

"Well the bracelets have a basic enchantment that should make them harder destroy, and the higher your Rank the less you have to worry about the bracelet being destroyed because of the metals they'll be made out of, but I would still advise you not to let the bracelet get destroyed, stolen, or lost. The hassle of replacing one can be quite costly at higher Ranks and depending who you ask." Thaddeus advised.

"Good to know, dont lose the bracelet." Looking at the bracelet on the counter, it was simple in design, only being a copper chain and a copper plate. The Guild Emblem was engraved to the left side of the plate, and the number zero was directly in the center of it. I could tell it was kind of valuable from the faint shine it was giving off, but as soon as I picked it up, an ominous message appeared.

As a Seer, you feel the connected sight of another begin to watch you.

My eyes widened at the message, and I thought “Someone’s watching me?” Going to an empty table, I put the bracelet down and grabbed it again, and it caused the same ominous message to appear.

As a Seer, you feel the connected sight of another begin to watch you.

“I see, to be more exact they’re watching the bracelet and not me, but if I touch it they can see me.” Then testing something out, I awkwardly grabbed the bracelet with the bottom of my shirt covering my hand, but being pleasantly surprised, the message never appeared. “Well that’s good news, it looks like it can only see me if it’s physically touching me.” Though knowing that I needed to wear it to work at the Guild, I reluctantly put it on my wrist anyway, “I don’t like the thought of someone constantly watching me, but I should just remember to take it off and cover it if I don’t wanna be seen.” Then making my way to the notice board, “Time to go hunting.”

But I was immediately disappointed to see that all the different pinned papers on the board right now were only Copper Rank—except for 1 Iron Rank that was just grabbed by a Party of 4 Players—and also that none of them had anything to do with hunting monsters. “Maybe I should’ve listened to Rayna and come here first, the other Players probably already took the good Requests.” Reading the details about some of the ones available, the Requests were all basic tasks: gathering some type of plants and herbs outside of town, being extra muscle for different construction work around town, or searching for something lost—all the pay being small amounts of Silver. Then remembering, I focused my eyes and tried to look for the glow of the Significance on the papers, but I didn’t see anything again. “Does this thing work? and I wish it told me what counts as something significant.” I thought to myself, reading a few more boring Requests.

After reading almost all the Requests, I was about to pick one at random, when suddenly a Guild Worker carried a stack of Requests to the notice board and was pinning them onto it. Though I didn’t care for any of the ones pinned to the board, as all I could look at was a single piece of paper—in the middle of the stack—with a faint familiar golden glow I’ve been looking for. “Ha, no way.” Waiting for the Worker to pin it, I immediately took it right after and read it.

Copper-Rank Request

Request- Gravekeeper Hensley is hiring a guard to protect him while he goes out and recovers the bodies of the townspeople at the local iron ore mine.

Request becomes null if Gravekeeper Hensley is severely injured or dies, or fails to recover the bodies of the townspeople.

Reward- 10 Silver

“Huh, I was just there yesterday, but other than the coincidence, there's nothing that looks special about this.” Quickly looking all over the paper and really finding nothing out of the ordinary, “Maybe I can learn more at the counter.”

Lining up and going to the same Guild Worker, Thaddeus smiled and asked, “What can I do for you?”

“I wanna take this Request.” I answered, handing him the paper.

“Alright, let’s see which one this is.” Thaddeus said, quickly reading the paper “Okay, this Request is very simple and self-explanatory, just protect Gravekeeper Hensley while he recovers the townspeople’s bodies at the mine, and bring him back to town safely.”

“That’s it?” I exclaimed again, wanting to know the reason for the golden glow of the paper.

“That’s it.” Thaddeus repeated again, as he then closed his eyes for a few seconds and opened them again, “I have informed Graveskeeper Hensley that you have accepted his Request, and he said that he will meet you at the eastern gate with a cart right away.”

“What? How? I didn’t see him do anything?” I questioned, then saying to him “Okay, I’ll be back then.” Backing away from the counter, I expected him to say more, but he just smiled and talked to the next person in line. Leaving the Guild Building, I thought “So the Guild Workers can somehow communicate to the people who made the Requests, how useful, but how did he do it?” Shaking my head of the useless thought right now, and instead thinking “I was kinda expecting for a Quest to pop up from Thaddeus, but I didn’t get one. Why?” Thinking about it for a bit, “Is it because I wasn’t asked directly by the Npc, like when Drune gave me a Quest?” I wondered, heading back to the eastern gate entrance.

Arriving near the eastern gate, I could barely see an old man waiting on an old wooden cart pulled by an ordinary brown horse, as an unbelievably bright and blinding shine was coming from his person. “What the hell is that?!” I thought, immediately suppressing the passive shine from the Eyes of Goblinkind to almost nothing. “Much better.” Then focusing my eyes back to the old man, his Name appeared as Hensley Thomas,“Yup, that’s definitely him, but what the hell does he have on him for something to shine that brightly?” Also thinking, “But he looks like he might be able to handle himself a little if his Name is light red like that.” Approaching the old man, I still asked “Are you Gravekeeper Hensley?”

Turning partially around on the cart, Hensley said “That I am, young man, and I assume you’re the one who took my Request?”

“That’s right.” I answered, looking at him for the glow of Significance, but not seeing it at all on him. “Where is it? Shouldn’t it be around him?”

“Well hop on then.” Pulling myself up onto the cart, the moment I got up there, I saw that the shine was coming from his chest—under his dirty ragged shirt—and with it the golden glow I was looking for.

“There it is! And from the looks of it, it seems like it’s a necklace.” Noticing the necklace strings around Hensley’s neck as I sat down next to him, “But what do I do now? I can’t possibly ask him to show me something that valuable and important, he might get unnecessarily defensive if it's something important to him and he thinks that I'm trying to steal or take it."

“Hold on.” Hensley said, gripping the reins and making the horse start pulling the cart forward.

“I guess I’ll just wait and see how the Requests goes then.” I thought, as we began to ride out of town.