Chapter 6

Later, after taking a good rest at the inn, I headed to the Adventurers’ Guild in the city of Rondalm.

The Adventurers’ Guild handled everything from accepting adventurers’ quests and providing information on monster activity to exchanging magic stones for money and recruiting party members.

“I’d like to register as an adventurer. After that, I’d like to exchange some magic stones for money.”

“Then, for your registration, please tell me your name, Level, and Class.”

“Elymas. 【Lv: 12】... My Class is Heavy Knight.”

“...Ah, I see. So you’re a defensive Class, after all.”

The receptionist murmured sympathetically while preparing an adventurer’s card stamped with the guild’s seal.

I paid the fee and received my adventurer’s card.

【You acquired Title 〈F-Rank Adventurer〉.】

All right... Now I was officially an adventurer.

This Title didn’t come with any effects, but there were Skills that became available once you had an adventurer’s Title.

That Title would also be quite important for growing stronger in 〈Magic World〉.

“Oh, and I’d like to see the list of people looking for party members, if that’s possible.”

I wasn’t in any hurry to find companions, but I wanted to get a sense of how the Adventurers’ Guild in this world worked.

“Well... It’s rare for a party to want a defensive Class who’s just starting out, so I’d recommend giving up. Um, I hope that didn’t come across as rude...”

The receptionist said it hesitantly.

It wasn’t that I wanted to join a party... Well, whatever.

I’d find out about those sorts of things eventually if I kept adventuring.

“Hey, look at this! A low-Level Heavy Knight is looking for a party!”

A huge, bald man pointed at me and shouted.

His lackeys joined in, laughing loudly.

“Who’d team up with a slow, useless piece of trash like you, idiot?”

“Around the time of the Blessing Ceremony, you see people with dud Classes hanging around the reception desk day after day, begging for a party. Duds are a nuisance, so don’t even bother coming to the guild.”

...What a nasty bunch.

Well, I’d seen people like them plenty of times in 〈Magic World〉, too.

When I tested out the Heavy Knight Class on a secondary character, people would constantly say things like, ‘What kind of idiot doesn’t check the reviews in this day and age?’

“I’ll think about finding a party another time. More importantly, I’d like to exchange these magic stones for money.”

I took some magic stones out of my 〈Magic Bag〉.

There were ten Rana magic stones and one Aranda Ape magic stone.

The Rana magic stones aside, the Aranda Ape one should fetch a decent price.

“D-Did you hunt these yourself? A magic stone this size... I’d say it came from a monster around 【Lv: 15】...”

The receptionist sounded surprised.

“Yes. It was a 【Lv: 16】 monster.”

“But you’re 【Lv: 12】... And you’re a Heavy Knight, not an offensive Class... Um, records of your kills can be taken into account when considering promotions in adventurer rank. It’s difficult to verify them, but if we find that you made a false claim, you’ll face severe punishment. If you take it back now...”

“No, I was still 【Lv: 8】 when I hunted that monster.”

The receptionist looked even more suspicious.

“Um, was it already injured? Did you have companions with you...?”

“I did it alone. Record it that way.”

“If that’s what you say, then I have no choice but to record it that way...”

Reluctantly, the receptionist took the magic stones and handed me the money.

The ten Rana magic stones fetched twenty thousand gold, and the Aranda Ape magic stone fetched sixty thousand gold.

A hundred gold was enough to buy a loaf of bread for one meal.

It wouldn’t be far off to think of one gold as being worth about one yen.

Getting eighty thousand gold on my first day meant things were looking bright.

From now on, I should be able to hunt monsters around the Aranda Ape’s level reliably, and since I was working solo, I wouldn’t have to split the money with anyone.

I’d already passed the point where I needed to worry about making a living.

There was a reason I was so focused on making a name for myself.

Adventurers were divided into seven ranks: F, E, D, C, B, A, and S.

Once you registered, you became an F-Rank adventurer.

Your rank affected which quests you could accept, of course, but to enter a 〈Dungeon〉, at least one member of your party had to be E-Rank or higher.

Hunting monsters outside 〈Dungeon〉 was inefficient.

More urgently, your adventurer rank limited how many Skill Points you could allocate to 〈Oath of Heavy Armor〉.

Unless I became an E-Rank adventurer, I couldn’t allocate 16 or more points to it.

That was why I’d been unable to allocate any more Skill Points earlier.

Strictly speaking, the requirement wasn’t based on adventurer rank, but on a hidden parameter called Honor Points. Still, the fastest way to meet the requirement right now was undoubtedly to rank up through the Adventurers’ Guild.

〈Magic World〉 had probably set the limit because it wanted players to try out a variety of Skill Trees and keep their builds balanced, but it was nothing but an obstacle to growing stronger efficiently.

I wish they wouldn’t do this with something as effectively irreversible as Skill Points.

That was why I had to become an E-Rank adventurer as soon as possible, no matter what.

“Oh, the atmosphere’s gotten tense.”

“...What’s with that Heavy Knight?”

“Think he’s cheating or something?”

I heard people whispering behind my back.

It probably wasn’t the best idea to bring it up after attracting everyone’s attention, but there was no point worrying about what others thought.

I wanted to get stronger as quickly as possible.

Maybe it was because I was still bitter about being kicked out of the Count’s family, but more than that, my blood was stirring as a former 〈Magic World〉 player.

“Now, are there any promotion quests I could take?”

I asked the receptionist.

A promotion quest was one in which an adventurer authorized by the guild to act as an examiner accompanied you, and your performance could earn you a promotion.

There were several ways to rank up, and this was one of them.

“Hmm... There’s a large-scale Raid Quest tomorrow. Anyone with a record of defeating monsters at 【Lv: 15】 or higher can participate. Some adventurers with E-Rank examination authority will be joining, too, so if you distinguish yourself, you should be able to rank up...”

The receptionist said it without much enthusiasm.

From what I heard, the quest was to exterminate undead monsters that had gathered deep in the forest.

Many undead had the ability to create more of their kind using corpses found in forests and graveyards, increasing their numbers.

Apparently, they wanted to gather nearly ten F- and E-Rank adventurers and take them out before the situation got out of hand.

“So I can take part? Then I’d like to accept it.”

When I answered without a moment’s hesitation, the receptionist furrowed their brows, looking troubled.

“...It’s very dangerous. I’ve warned you, Elymas-san.”

And so, I succeeded in accepting the large-scale Raid Quest...〈Extermination of the Undead Horde〉.

This time, the enemy was a matter of quantity rather than quality.

What’s more, undead monsters tended to have high HP, while their other stats were somewhat lower in comparison.

That would make it easier to meet the activation condition for 〈Rampart Reversal〉: completely negating an opponent’s attack.

It was the perfect quest for me.