Adventurer's Guild

After confirming their acceptance to the Academy, Allen and his friends boarded the magic train—which cost one silver regardless of distance traveled between stations—and headed for the Adventurer's Guild.

When riding the magic ship, Allen had seen that Academy City was essentially a large circle. One train line traced the circumference of that circle while other lines ran north-south and east-west. Convenience of public transportation was not much of a concern for residents living here.

Given its name, one might expect Academy City to be mostly students, but that was apparently not the case. Maybe it was because of the numerous dungeons in the city's vicinity or simply because Allen was on the line heading toward the Adventurer's Guild, but there were a lot of adventurers also riding on their train. Soon, they came to a stop.

"This must be it," Allen said, standing in front of a five-story building bearing the same emblem as the branch in Granvelle City: a sword, staff, and shield.

"Welcome." A pretty older woman greeted them when they walked in. "How may we help you today?"

"We want to register as adventurers," Allen replied.

"Are you perhaps students?"

"Yes, our classes begin in April."

"Do you have the numbered tag you received when you passed your Appraisal?"

When the group produced their tags, they were told that students could register on the second floor. They climbed the stairs, only to be told they would have to wait a while as the counters were currently full.

Allen looked around and found the floor absolutely packed with students. In all likelihood, these were ones who had passed on some other day. Farther back in the room were ten counters designed similarly to customer service kiosks in banks in Allen's memory. Seeing as how the facilities were nicer on this floor than on the first, students seemed to be receiving rather favorable treatment, indicating the Adventurer's Guild's willingness to cooperate with Academy City.

After a while, Allen and his friends were finally called forward and invited to take their seats before one of the counters. Allen and Cecil sat at the front while Krena and Dogora took the back. One of the staff members, a woman who appeared to be in her twenties or thirties, brought over four crystals.

"To register as adventurers, each of you take one of these crystals and place your hands on it."

The children obliged, and the crystals all gave off a soft glow.

'These crystal balls are used for the Appraisal Ceremonies too. I guess they're just standard for processing personal information in this world? I wonder if someone's making these?' 

"Next, please fill these in."

The lady then passed out sheets of parchment with fields for their names, birthplaces, Talents, and so forth. When the group had finished, the staff member retreated into another room with crystals and forms in hand.

She then returned and said, "The process for making your adventurer cards will take some time. During that time, I will now give you some basic information about being an adventurer."

Allen got out his grimoire to take notes.

___

- Adventurers are managed by the Adventurer's Guild. 

- The Guild is an organization independent of the nations.

- Adventurer ranks go from "E" to "S."

- All adventurers start at Rank E.

- Adventurers accept quests (e.g., from the Guild, feudal lords) to complete in order to receive rewards.

- There are three kinds of quests: normal, emergency, designated.

- Only adventures Rank C and higher can accept emergency and designated quests..

___

'Okay, all of this checks out with what Raven told me.' 

Back when Allen was eight, he had gotten acquainted with an adventurer named Raven who had taught him quite a bit about adventuring. There were a few things that Allen was hearing for the first time, but for the most part they were extensions of what he had already learned.

"And that about covers it. Do you have any questions?" the woman asked.

"I have a lot, actually," Allen answered. "Do you have time?"

"Naturally. After all, being an adventurer is dangerous. Please ask me anything you wish."

"What are the conditions for entering dungeons?"

"There are several. First, because all of you are currently Rank E, you will only be able to enter Rank C dungeons."

"What can we expect in a Rank C dungeon?"

The woman nodded and went into detail. Of course, Allen took notes. 

___

- There are 20 dungeons within Academy City.

- The breakdown of dungeon ranks: Rank C x 10, Rank B x 6, Rank A x 4.

- Rank C dungeons are the most beginner friendly, containing only Rank E to C monsters.

- Rank B dungeons are medium difficulty, containing Rank D to B monsters.

- Rank A dungeons are the most dangerous, containing Rank C to A monsters.

_

Below were the conditions for accessing successively ranked dungeons and ranking up as an adventurer:

- One has to reach Rank C as an adventurer to enter Rank B dungeons.

- One has to reach Rank B as an adventurer to enter Rank A dungeons.

- Upon doing a full run of 1 Rank C dungeon, one becomes a Rank D adventurer.

- Upon doing a full run of 3 Rank C dungeons, one becomes a Rank C adventurer.

- Upon doing a full run of 3 Rank B dungeons, one becomes a Rank B adventurer.

- Upon doing a full run of 3 Rank A dungeons, one becomes a Rank A adventurer.

___

'I see, I see. Now it's time for the real questions.' 

Allen had a major goal that he wanted to achieve within his three years in Academy City.

In short, he wanted to find an MP Recovery Ring.

This was the answer he had arrived at when brainstorming for ways to increase his Skill Levels even faster. He wanted to raise them as high as possible before he was to head to the battlefield in three years. As such, he needed to increase the rate at which his MP recovered.

Back when Allen had attempted to foil Cecil's kidnapping, he had been knocked out by some sort of gaseous agent. After this incident, Allen had headed to a magic tool store in search of something he could equip to gain immunity to the Sleep debuff. The storekeeper had told him that they sold nothing like that there and that he should go to a magic gear shop instead.

Allen was surprised to hear of such a store, but he found one in short order.

Sure enough, the merchant there had known of what Allen sought: the Anti-Sleep Ring. However, Anti-Sleep Rings were extremely rare and almost never appeared on the open market. Whenever they showed up once in a blue moon, they would be snatched up almost immediately by royals, nobles, or tycoons looking to protect themselves. Due to this, it was said that they could only be found in the royal capital and Academy City. Allen had asked the price for reference and was told that the market price for one Anti-Sleep Ring was a hundred gold.

Since he was there, Allen had also asked about a ring that helped recover MP.

However, the store owner said he had never heard of such an item. Instead, he had heard of an HP Recovery Ring before—an accessory that would heal someone as long as they had it on. One had been found in Academy City long, long ago. The merchant was not sure, but if one were available nowadays, it would be worth a thousand gold at least.

Despite what the store owner had said, however, Allen figured that if HP Recovery Rings existed, so did MP Recovery Rings.

Pushing thoughts of the rings out of his head, Allen asked the Guild staff, "I've heard that you can find precious items in the dungeons. How exactly do they appear?"

"There are two ways you can expect to encounter items in a dungeon."

___

There are treasure chests scattered all throughout.

When the boss on the lowest floor is defeated, a treasure chest will appear.

___

"Hmm... How many floors can we expect for each dungeon rank? Also, roughly how long would it take to proceed through a dungeon if we don't get lost?"

"It's different for each rank."

___

Rank C dungeons have 4 to 6 floors.

Rank B dungeons have 10 to 12 floors.

Rank A dungeons have 15 to 20 floors.

_

Rank C dungeons require around 6 hours for each floor.

Rank B dungeons require around 12 hours for each floor.

Rank A dungeons require around 24 hours for each floor.

___

In other words, even the easiest dungeon could take twenty-four hours to clear.

"They sound very spacious," Allen said. "By the way, I've heard that an HP Recovery Ring was found in Academy City. Is that true?"

"I'm surprised you've heard of that. It's true that someone found it in a dungeon once. It's said that it was dropped by a Rank A dungeon boss seventy years ago."

'Ugh, that's before the Demon Lord strengthened all the world's monsters, which means it's a lot harder to do the same thing now. But, oh no... Just the thought of searching for a rare drop in a dungeon is making my heart race.' 

Thanks to the Demon Lord, every monster was now one rank stronger than officially designated. Consequently, dungeons were much more dangerous. The boss of a Rank A dungeon was presumably Rank A, making it effectively Rank S in fighting strength.

Killing it was beyond Allen's and his companions' capabilities at the moment, but Allen now had confirmation that there was a possibility of obtaining an MP Recovery Ring. This alone made it worth coming to Academy City.

With the previous topic concluded, Allen said, "I still have more questions. May I?"

"O-Of course," the woman stammered, slightly weirded out by the boy.

Although another staff member had already carried Allen and his friends' adventurer cards over, Allen was nowhere near finished with asking all the questions he had. Cecil and the others had no choice but to quietly listen as Allen and the lady continued talking earnestly.

"Do monsters in dungeons drop magic stones?"

"Yes, they do. Ah, I should say this ahead of time: you are only able to obtain magic stones from dungeon monsters, to be exact."

"So their bodies don't remain?"

"That is correct. If you need monster materials, you will have to head to the forest or mountains a few days' walk from Academy City. There are both Rank C and B monsters in the area."

"Understood." Allen now shifted from asking questions as an adventurer to asking questions as a quest giver. "I am currently gathering Rank D magic stones. If I were to issue a quest, is there an upper limit to how many I could request?"

"How many are you thinking?"

"At least two million."

"I'm sorry, t-two million?!"

Dogora and Cecil were equally surprised. The former cried, "Hold on, two million?!" as the latter rounded on Allen with, "What do you mean by two million?!" Krena was the only one who did not seem to quite get what was going on.

"That is the number I want to gradually work toward," Allen explained, "but I'm thinking of asking for ten thousand each time. I currently have a hundred gold—can I register the quest right now?"

He produced a bag of a hundred gold coins that made a heavy clunk as it thudded onto the counter.

"O-Of course. There is a large supply of magic stones here in Academy City.

However, I'm afraid it would take a while to meet those numbers..."

As Rank D magic stones normally went for one silver apiece, ten thousand of them would be worth a hundred gold. The staff explained that the guild processing fee was ten percent. 'I guess it makes sense for the middleman to take a cut,' Allen thought as he stacked ten more gold coins next to the bag.

"Roughly how long do you think it will take?"

"Well...a week should be enough, I believe."

Before coming to Academy City, Allen had tried placing the same quest at the Adventurer's Guild in Granvelle City but was told gathering ten thousand would be nigh impossible.

In the first place, the Granvelle fiefdom was facing a slight shortage of Rank D magic stones thanks to Allen practically decimating the realm's goblin population. In contrast, Academy City housed twenty dungeons, every last one filled with monsters. As long as he provided the gold, there would be plenty of monsters to kill and plenty of adventurers to go kill them.

Allen intended on pushing the limit of how many magic stones he could obtain throughout the three years he would be spending in this city.