“U-uhh! Arrrr!”

I screamed back at my reflection in the lake, I saw a completely different person.

“What!? Is that me!? Why do I have silver eyes!? And is that my voice!? Why does it sound so much rougher!?”

I slapped my face with both my hands, feeling my nose, cheeks and mouth to see if this was really me, even my hair had turned silver with black tips. Despite my new look I still had a permanent scowl and cynical look

“I’ve got to get up, this is just a dream! Yes… a dream, I’ll get up, come on body wake up!?”

I screamed out trying to stand to me feet, but immediately fell over.

“Damn it! This body is so much different from what my actual body is, its toned and taller, and where did I get these clothes from? A damn country barn?”

I couldn’t get a handle on this new body and kept falling over, somehow I had some country looking clothes, a grey laced up V-neck shirt with light brown pants and brown laced up boots, I managed to crawl back to the Oak Tree and leaned against it looking back out at the grass plains.

“Is that something in the distance? I think it’s a house? No….. It’s a town, maybe I should try and walk over there to see what is going on.”

I squinted my eyes at the distant image of what appears to be numerous small houses all bunched up together.

“Maybe I should just lye here and wait for someone to come past and give me a hand….Huh? What the hell is this?”

I put my hands in my pocket and pulled out a clear stone…no, it was a clear gem at a closer inspection. What is a gem doing in my pocket?

Guild Gem-Clear-Unable to join guild

“What the!?”

I let out a little yelp and 2jumped back a little, the words about the clear gem appeared in my vision like I was reading a book but only the words not the actual physical book, the words just floated in the air following my point of view everywhere, and then it disappeared.

“I need to figure out what is happening, there’s no point in lying here and waiting for someone to help me, and besides, how do I know they won’t just rob me and steal this gem.”

I pulled off a fairly thick branch from the Oak tree to use to stable myself and started walking to the town in the distance.

“This is a very simple town, but it has some weird buildings, does that one say Guild Hall?”

I managed to make my way to town and even got used to how this body works and could walk and even jog without the need of the branch. I looked around the unfamiliar place to see houses made from sandstone with a brick foundation and red tile roofs, they all had blue doors and looked like they were from the medieval stages on earth but mixed in with a fantasy feeling. I kept walking through the town which had a clear lake running through it and three bridges spread out that connected to the other side, which looked like the business part of the town as I could see some shops, a house that looked like an old hotel and market stalls.

“It is a Guild Hall, it says it right on the sign, how can I read that? It’s not in Japanese and I don’t remember seeing any Kanji like that in Middle School.”

I made my way to the furthest building in the village and right above the double blue doorway had a sign that said Guild Hall, but it had completely different characters on the sign than the Japanese characters I know, and yet, I could read it like it was Japanese.

“U-uhh, h-hello, is someone here?”

I pushed one of the blue doors open and walked in a little hesitantly.

“Hello, welcome to the Guild Hall on Floor 1. You must be a new player, allow me to help you get started.”

A sweet welcoming voice greeted me as I walked in, but when I looked up, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

“Ummm”

I stood there dumbfounded, the girl that greeted me looked like she was in her mid 20s and was wearing a mint coloured maid outfit, although the apron was white and she wore black fishnet stockings, but she had… brown animal ears, actual animal ears, the round and fluffy kind. I stared at her still trying to come back to reality, but this was an actual animal human, no, it was a real life demi-human, I think she was crossed with a squirrel, because when I looked down, I could see her fluffy brown squirrel tail.

“Hello? Sir? Are you all right?”

The Squirrel Demi-Human waved her hands in front of my face, trying to get my attention.

“Uhhhh, O-oh, I’m sorry, I’ve never seen someone like you”

“Oh, really? Well, my kind is known to stay at the lower floors but I would assume you’d seen my species as you made your way down to floor 1”

She told me as she put her index finger on the tip of her mouth and looked into the ceiling… Wait? Floor 1? She said that earlier before too, what the hell is a floor 1?

“I’m sorry did you say floor 1?”

I asked trying to get some answers on where I am.

“Huh? Floor 1 is the current floor we are on now and the lowest floor, no one knows how many floors exist but the highest someone has ever cleared is Floor 175. I think he was apart of the Mercenary Guild, under Zeus’s faction if I remember correctly and held one of the hero weapons… but, you don’t have to think that far ahead, you still haven’t passed the first 12 floors, which means you’ll still need to defeat the floor 11 boss before you can think of going that high up.”

The Squirrel Demi-Human girl told me as she smiled so innocently… Now I have more questions then ever! Floor boss? Guilds? Factions? Hero Weapons? And did she mention the god, Zeus?

“Sir! Are you ok!?”

I started to feel like I was about to faint at all this information but I managed to grab the wall behind me and regain my composure.

“I’m sorry, do you mind explaining to me what a guild and faction is?”

“Oh, certainly Sir, please come to the desk.”

I followed her back to the desk unable to look away from her fluffy tail waving back and forth.

“There are 11 guilds in total, each guild is led by one of the faction leaders and each guild has a max of 5 factions led by different gods. First up, we have the War Guild, which is led by the God, Ares. The other factions in the War Guild are Gurzil the Bull-Warrior God, Apedemak the Lion God, Wepwawet the Wolf God, and Bellona the warrior goddess.”

“Wait, there are 11 of these Guilds, each with 5 factions? You can skip what they’re the gods of, I just want to know what Guilds there are and what Factions there are.”

I didn’t need to listen to all that crap about the god of this and the goddess of that, I really don’t care.

“Certainly Sir, take this, it has all the information about the Guilds and Faction Leaders, I would stay away from Evil Luna and Medusa since you are a human. If you are looking at making money the Merchant and Treasure Guild is your best bet”

The Demi-Human Squirrel passed me a double sided piece of paper, it had all the Guilds and Faction leaders on it. That didn’t seem to good, the evil Luna? She said that with a psychotic smile as well, I wonder what that’s about? No, don't get distracted, if you’ve been sent into a fantasy world you need to join a guild as the first step and then you’ll meet someone that will know more about how you got here, stay focused! She said that there is money specific guild, I better figure out the value of each coin and the values of things around here pretty quick or I won’t get far at all.

“Uhh Sir are you ok?” I was looking at the piece of old paper she gave me

“What’s the Creating Guild?”

“They specialise in creating new items, from everyday items like a water pouch, to weapons like a magical arrow, in fact the Creating Guild Leader Kothar created the infinite water pouch you were given before you came down here”

“An infinite water pouch?”

The hell is that? And what does she mean I should have been given one before I came down here? Do I seriously look like I belong in this world? Well… My new body did look like a body only found in a fantasy world, I mean my silver eyes, what was that all about.

“Yes, an Infinite water pouch, you never need to fill it up, if you are wanting to meet a God quickly, Tehjin lives on Floor two, you should say hi to him while you’re there.”

The Squirrel Demi-Human told me while she looked at me like a was a complete idiot.

“Thats a lot of guilds…wait? Didn’t you say 11 Guilds, there’s only 10 on here?”

I asked remembering looking over all the Gods and Guilds.

“Yes… there are in fact 11… but, the last one, the Mercenary Guild, is not for the faint of heart… you have to be at least level 50 and have killed over 1000 monsters including, at least 5 floor bosses, and they even charge a fee of 5 Golden Tigre Coins, they don’t have a guild leader, just the 5 factions, which are led by Zeus, Hades, Shangti, Krato and Hercules. More often than not, each Guild owns a Guild Hall on every floor except a boss floor, but Faction Leaders have their own Guild Hall they use as a home.”

So the Mercenary Guild is a no go, and it seems that maybe a Golden Tigre Coin is the highest form of currency here, if I look at it the way I understand, it could be referred to as a ¥10,000 note back in Japan, but that still doesn’t give me an accurate value of the coin.

“That’s all the Guilds and factions you can join, while I’m at it do you want me to explain what Guild Points are and the Guild Ranks?”

“Oh, uhh, yes please.”

Guild Points and Ranks? They aren’t the same thing?

“I’ll start with the Ranks of each Guild, there are a total of 9 Ranks:

A Blue Beginner A Yellow Novice A Green Member A Red Adventurer A Brown Senior The Purple Grand Master The Golden Legend The Orange Eternal Black Demi-God

If you are unranked you are known as a White No-Ranker. The way to find out what rank a player is, is by the colour of their Guild Gem.”

“Guild Gem?”

What is a Guild Gem? Is it that clear Gem I found in my pocket? And a player? Is this a MMO styled world then?

“A Guild Gem is a Gem every player is born with and they are used to join the guild.”

I looked at the Squirrel Demi-Human confused, probably more confused then when I walked in here.

“So a Guild Gem is a gem that you just carry around?”

But my Gem wasn’t any of those colours, and I am assuming I’m a White No-Ranker, why isn’t my Gem white?

“Not necessarily, when you join a guild, they will you give you a guild bracelet with the Guilds offical Crest along with the offical Crest of your faction leader, the reason for the crest is that it powers the Guilds and the individual factions through the use of Guild Points, the more points the Guild and Faction have the stronger the Crest will make you, I’m assuming you are a player, its a little strange you don’t know this.”

Ok, that makes some sort of sense to me, now, how do I get these Guild Points? And why is my Gem clear? I want to ask but I don’t completely trust this lady, she seems to nice and polite and is getting suspicious of me.

“Oh, I remember all this, it’s just, my g-grandpa told me to ask for a refresher when I arrived just in case.”

I lied through my teeth, but hopefully that would put her at ease a little.

“That makes sense, your grandpa seems like a wise man Sir. I’ll continue then, to gain these Guild Points, you must successfully complete Guild Quests, along with the Guild Points you receive, you also gain experience points and skill points, the Quests themselves are supplied by the Dungeon, or in other words, The Creator. The Points are used for numerous reasons, the first being what I explained just before, players sacrifice or pay a fee to their Faction leader through the way of Guild Points. You are normally charged a fee once a month, you can pay in cash but majority of the players pay with their Guild Points. Guild Points can also be used to increase the base attributes of a player through the way of upgrading the Gem’s Attributes and unlocking Guild Gem skills.”

The Gem itself has a power that can boost ones strength and unlock special skills, I wonder what skills it has? If we are talking game skills, then they are crucial for survival in this world.

“One question, what is a player?”

I asked the squirrel Demi-Human, trying to tick off one of the many questions I have.

“I’m assuming you are asking that because of the recently new non-players being able to join a guild”

The squirrel Demi-Human looked at me with an impressed expression.

“Uhh, yeah, thats why”

I had no idea what she was talking about, but she seemed to be getting suspicious of all my questions again, better try and act like I know what is going on before I get labelled as a suspicious character and taken into custody.

“These new non-players are different then players that are born with a Guild Gem, because the non-players are given an artificial Guild Gem, so they can join a Guild and make a life for themselves as a Guilder. Non-Players also get the skills of upgrading or unlocking a Trade skill, if you focus on one of the icons in your field of vision you will see what skills and attributes you have. Players are still much superior as they have the ability to grant skills to enhance others along with themselves. They are also the only ones that can be chosen as a hero weapon."

A hero weapon? If I ask what that is, she will no doubt get suspicious of me. They sound like a big deal, I hope I don’t run into any of them, best to keep a low profile.

“All players are born with the Guild Gem clenched in their hand, while the infinite water pouch I was speaking of, a crystal orb to learn magic and 500 Silver Shark Coins appear after the first night next to the new born player. No one knows why these items are found next to the new born after their first night, but, it is rumoured that the Guild Gem itself summons these items to give the player a head start in their life.”

Ok… this world is extremely weird, a new born getting an infinite water pouch and a crystal orb. And did she mention 500 Silver Shark Coins? That must be right under gold if we are going a traditional way.

“Players are also granted a special quest when they join a guild, the quest appears when they accept the Guild and Factions Crest, it is a quest to unlock the unlimited storage bag, every quest is different for each player, non-players do not get given this quest.”

“Yes, I believe I know all this, thank you for a refresher, can I ask one more question?”

That sounded a little rude but that should get her suspicious look off of me, for the time being at least.

“Yes, of course Sir.”

“What is the major goal for players and non-players?”

Is there some sort of God or that Creator that you need to challenge? Is the so called dungeon being threatened? Wait!? She did say dungeon!? Am I in a dungeon!?

“Good question, although it is less of a goal and more of a legend, players and now non-players where brought to the dungeon to form a party of at least 5 members and clear it, but the dungeon has a whole different environment and layout on each floor, a player can gain other party members by teaming up or going to a guild and joining one of their God’s parties.”

That was actually pretty simple, despite the fact that the highest floor is 175 or something, and it still seemed that there was a whole heap of floors beyond that.

“Is there anything else I can help you with today Sir?”

Hmmm, if I ask to many questions she’ll start getting suspicious of me again, I should leave now but there’s one thing I need to know, for my survival at least.

“Last question, what is the best way to level up?”

“A common question from new players, as you are aware the monsters that roam the floors get tougher the higher you go, with the Floor Bosses being an extremely powerful foe, of course floor 1 is a safe floor so you won’t find any monsters here, but for the normal floors, monsters are categorised in 3 types of strengths. The weakest being a weak monster which will have a W next to their name, an average monster will have the letter A next to their name and a strong monster will have the letter S next to their name. You gain experience points and skill points when you defeat a monster, but if you attack the animals of the floor you will gain nothing, they are only around to keep the people of the dungeon fed, they don’t have a real impact on the floors themselves, but saying that, if the animals of a floor start to dwell down, monsters have been known to attack the cities and towns looking for food.”

“Do monster breed a lot and that is why they aren’t all wiped out?”

If the monsters where a threat then why not wipe them out?

“Monsters do spawn at a consistent rate, but, they also keep the ecosystem in check, I would refrain from using that sentence again if I were you or you’ll get in trouble, and your gem will turn clear.”

So monsters are just like animals then, they keep the balance. Huh? Did she say something about a clear gem? I got lost in my thought and didn’t listen to that last bit.

“Is that all for today Sir? I would suggest going to the Adventures Guild to start with and then listen to the other Guilds and decide what Guild to pick from there, there is an Inn across the lake that you can rest up, as this is a big decision.”

“Oh, ok, thank you for your help, I’ll go do that now.”

I bowed to the squirrel Demi-Human and left the Guild Hall and made my way down the street.