Second chapter of the day.

As a person, who is new to all this writing original stories, my biggest fear is building a good storyline in a good setting with good potential and then destroying it with a BS story route. So lemme know if the story gets too clishee or seems like a rip off...

Enjoy

Chapter 5: Registration

The sun was already high in the sky by the time Nalser woke up. It was the first time in years, that he actually slept away the fatigue that had accumulated .While he was stretching, he heard a knock on the door. Startled by the knock, he started thinking,

"Strange, I thought Tranquility was supposed to keep everything quiet." He cautiously got up from the bed and went to the door. When he opened the door a bit and peeked through the small gap, he instantly relaxed. He was greeted by a familiar old man, with his signature smiling face. In his hands were two cups. "Ohh, it's you. How did your knock sound inside the room?" Nalser opened the door and gestured to step in, he was quite puzzled by the knock. Tobias came right in and put one of the cups on the table, he pulled the chair out and sat on it, facing the youth he chuckled, " Good morning to you too, well about the knock. I'm still the owner of the magic formation here, even if I give you membership rights to the room, the restrictions don't work on me. Anyways, here, have a cup of coffee."

Then he put on a serious face and asked in a stricter tone, "Have you decided what you are going to do from now on? I doubt that you are stupid or timid enough to stay hiding here, hoping that the King will forget about you." "Njaa, I trampled on his pride a bit too much, to stay here so the live leisurely option is out of the window by now. For now my plan is to register as an adventurer, gather a bit of funds and go travel around," Nalser answered while smiling wrily.

It was true, a King who had been never questioned in his life, was blatantly talked back to by a youngster. That persons pride won't leave it like that, that was as certain as the blue sky on a clear day. His best option was to get out of Nadin as fast as he could. There were a lot of countries, human and not, surrounding this one. The size of Nadin was was the size of prewar Russia and China combined.

"If you just get out of the Kapitol, you are already in the clear. Adventurers are more respected than soldiers in this country." Tobias chuckled to seeing the smile and continued, "The royalty and nobles have been in power here for at least 10-15 generations already. They have become corrupt and while people don't dare to speak badly about them in public, due to fearing the punishments, they don't support them much. On the other hand, the story about you telling the King to go take a hike, has spread like wildfire. People support your decision and in spite of the nobles, would be willing to send them in an opposite direction from where you are going."

Hearing that Nalser didn't know, whether to laugh or cry about the situation here. The people weren't pleased with the leaders in this country but didn't have any means to stand up against it. "Njaa, politics is a messy game, if you are in power for too long, you start to abuse it," smiling wryly again, he blurted out and he took a sip of coffee. They talked for a bit more and suddenly Tobias stood up, " Now, the coffee has been drunk, the plans have been made, it's time to do the procedures for an adventurer's license then gear you up and send you on your way." Nalser was surprised for a second about the out burst but quickly calmed down.

He's out of combat personality had always been a go-with-the-flow type. He followed Tobias downstairs to a counter, where was a sign "Registration". He got the registration application and went to a desk he was gestured to. Tobias sat next to him and started explaining the guild's rules to him. Everyone else, who happened to be there, started whispering amongst themselves and guessing the origin of the youth. The registration application looked like this:

Name(First and Last): Nalser vi Dragoncross

Gender: Male

Age: 15

From(Optional)

Nothing more was wanted for the registration. He gave the application to Tobias, who reviewed it and put on a magic temple, that meant, he approved of the application. "Now then, now that the paperwork is done, time for the combat assessment." While handing in the paperwork to the receptionist, Tobias said with a smug smile.

Nalser had heard about the combat assessment before from Tobias, it's main point was to clarify the actual strength of an adventurer. After handing in the application, the candidate is given a time to come back for the assessment. After a fight with the examiner, the person is rated , from the bottom, as either green, yellow, red or blue. The max rank an examiner can give out as an assessment is Blue rank 3 stars. The black rank can only be achieved through a test, which consists of:

1. A combat assessment by the Head Guild Master

2. A certain amount of successful missions

3. A special missions completion.

He followed Tobias to the basement. This area was mainly used for training or assessments. Everyone from the reception area eagerly followed as well, in hopes of figuring out this mysterious youth.

The people, who were either currently being trained or assessed, dropped what they were doing and started sizing up the youth, who came in. Tobias said to Nalser, "Wait here and warm up, I'll go and have a few words with the examiner over there." Nalser started stretching out his body and and glanced at the surrounding crowd, " Jeesh, seems like they are here to watch a show... " While thinking that to himself, Tobias came back with a smiling face and said, "Okey, I'm going to be the one to give you a combat assessment. Don't disappoint me, little soldier boy."

Although Tobias hadn't asked and Nalser hadn't told him about being a soldier, it was as obvious as day to Tobias, a person, who had had seen much bloodshed in his life. A built middle aged man , with black hair and numerous scars, walked between them, sized up Nalser with a glance and put on a serious face while saying in a loud clear voice:

"Combat assessment, Nalser vi Dragoncross, applicant, vs Tobias Franks, Guild Master. Weapons are allowed. Creating crippling injuries is forbidden. Killing is also forbidden. Match start's on my cue and will end, when one of the participants is unable to continue or when I have stopped the match. Breaking the rules will end up with terminating the adventurers status and imprisonment." After making sure that both parties understood, he took a few steps back.

Tobias started lightly jumping up and down on spot, putting on a pair of gloves he smiled to Nalser and said, " You can use the knife if you want, if you last more than ten rounds with against me, I'll pay for the whole gear you need for the journey."

"Asoo, well, take it easy then, this is my first fight here." Nalser respodned with a smile. By the end the smile had disappeared from his face, exchanging it to a calm but cold look. He had completely gone into combat mode.