Chapter 9: Hunter Guild
The city is surrounded by a 10-meter-tall stone wall and has a big open gate form where there is a steady flow of people going in and out of the town without control. The people are all dressed differently: some wear peasant clothing, others are more lavishly dressed. There are also caravans pulled by horses, giving the place a medieval vibe!
The city wasn’t defenseless because guards were stationed on the wall and some around the gate.
‘The guards don’t look like they are controlling the entry in the city so it shouldn’t have an entry fee.’
‘That’s good because I have zero money in this world so if they asked for money I would need to steal some. Next time I go to another world I’ll buy the Money System. It will be less annoying.’
Mikael joined the flow of people going into the city. He received some glances because of his ‘weird clothing’ but he still smoothly entered the city.
The instant he was in the city he was a little stunned by his surroundings. The town wasn’t the dirty image he had in mind when he was thinking of the medieval age but a beautiful city with wood and stone buildings but aesthetically pleasing ones.
But what made him think that he is in a fantasy world are the people. They belong to multiple races; he saw some elves and demi-humans with fox, dog, and cat characteristics.
Mikael took a discreet glance at the people around him before identifying a distracted, rich-looking man. He passed by him and took his leather pouch as if nothing happened before continuing to walk."
He then walked in a calm alley to check the pouch.
‘There is 1 gold coin, 22 silver coins, and 25 bronze coins. I don’t know their real value but it should be enough for now.’
He put the coins in the pocket of his pants before throwing the pouch on the ground.
He saw a poor-looking boy and asked him “Hey do you know where the library is?”
The orphan boy was wary but still answered “Yes you’ll need to follow the main road for 200 meters before going right.”
“Ok thanks,” Mikael said before giving him a silver coin and leaving.
The boy gave him a small nod as a thanks.
Mikael returned to the main road following the instructions of the boy and arrived before a 2-story tall building with a sign with library written on it.
When he entered the library he saw that it was nearly empty. Mikael looked around and took a book about the Luminous Kingdom and all the related information.
The Luminous Kingdom book talks about the creation of the world by the goddesses. It was the same story that was in the world description, but it was more detailed and portrayed the night goddess and the monsters in a negative light. He learned that the name of the light race's kingdom was the Luminous Kingdom and that it was ruled by a powerful S-rank king.
Below the king are the dukes who are generally A-rank. There are also marquis and then counts that are generally B-rank. In the kingdom, the Hunter guild is also really powerful. They have an S-rank guild master. When joining the hunter guild you will need to pay a fee of 1 silver coin and will start as an F-rank hunter or can pass an examination to start up to a D-rank hunter.
After D rank hunter you will need contributions to get a higher rank. Contributions can be obtained by doing quests. The harder the quest the more contributions you will gain. Contributions can be exchanged for money, gear, and more important body refining technique!
The money system of the Luminous Kingdom consists of coins. The coins are separated into four tiers: bronze coins, silver coins, gold coins, and platinum coins. 100 coins are equivalent to 1 coin of the superior tier. For example, 100 bronze coins have the same value as 1 silver coin.
The book also mentioned that one bronze coin is generally enough to buy a loaf of bread. So, if we compare it to the price of bread in the USA, we could say that a bronze coin is roughly equivalent to $2. This means a silver coin is worth $200, a gold coin is $20K, and a platinum coin is $2M!
‘If I calculate based on this comparison, I just stole $25K from that guy. But seriously, what was he doing carrying $25K on him?’
‘Anyway, I should rent a room at an inn so I have a place to sleep before registering as a hunter.’
“System, if I register as a hunter and pass the examination to directly become a D rank hunter, will I gain the rewards for the F and E rank hunter quest?”
[Yes, the hunter quest is considered a chain quest so if you complete the third quest(D rank hunter) it will automatically complete the first and second quest(F and E rank hunter).]
Immediately after hearing the system's response, he looked at the map of the city pinned to the wall, which he now knew was called Onissa City, and located an inn and the Hunter's Guild branch.
He took the time to go to an Inn named Moonlight Inn and rented a room with food included for 10 days with a silver coin. After he arrived at a building that looked like a tavern but it wasn’t an ordinary tavern but a Hunter’s Guild branch.
"When he opened the door, he saw what looked like a tavern but with a quests board and a lot of buff-looking guys with weapons and leather armor sitting at the tables and drinking alcohol. The surroundings were extremely noisy and lively. Some gazes fell on him, but nobody tried to provoke him because he didn’t look like a newbie with his sword and calm demeanor."
Mikael ignored the gaze and directly walked to the counter where there were a couple of pretty girls acting as the receptionists. He arrived before a demi-human girl with fiery hair and amber eyes with a mischievous sparkle in them. She also has two fox ears and a fox tail.
The fox girl asked Mikael “With what I can help you today?”
“I would like to register as a hunter.”
The fox girl's eyebrows raised in surprise before she spoke “Oh you aren’t one? I thought you were a hunter from another branch since you already have some gear.”
"Oh, you’re talking about my sword. I’ve done some solo training and hunting with it, but now I think it would be better if I became a hunter."
“You will need to pay a silver coin to become a hunter. It’s the basic fees.”
Mikael gave her a silver coin before speaking “I would like to pass an examination to start as a D-rank hunter.
“Alright come with me we will go in the D rank examination room” the fox girl spoke.
The fox girl looked at another girl before speaking “Liana can you take my place I need to go do an examination.”
“Sure Ruby I can replace you it was my turn soon anyway” Liana replied.
“Thanks”
Mikael and Ruby walked into a large room with a large open space and what looked like weight-lifting equipment.
Ruby stopped and turned to look at Mikael before speaking “ This is the examination room as you can see there aren’t many things but it works.
“We will test your physical parameters and if they are sufficient you will become an D rank hunter, if you not will end up as either an E or an F rank hunter.
“The most easily trackable attributes are the strength and speed so that is what we will focus on. If you aren’t satisfied with your result we can do a more in-depth test for your other physical parameters.”
“We will start with a speed test. It is alright for you?”
Mikael answered “Yeah sure”
Ruby looked relieved. “Finally, someone who isn’t complaining about the exam. It's rare that the clients aren't assholes who can’t understand that I don’t create the exam.”
She ported her hand to cover her mouth “Oups, I mean unpleasant customers.”
Ruby rapidly spoke “Anyways the speed test! It’s simple you simply run the distance from one end to another of the room 10 ten times. It's 50 meters so in the end you'll have to run 500 meters.
“I will calculate your time and give you a rank based on it.”
Mikael took his position near a wall.
“Ready 3..2..1 GO.”
The instant he heard the GO he immediately began to run. He took off like a rocket with his near-50 agility and his footwork skill his speed was near 120 km/h. Of course, he wasn’t capable of going at his peak speed permanently and needed time to accelerate and decelerate.
What would have taken a good jogger nearly 3 minutes took him not even 20 seconds.
When he stopped he heard Ruby exclaim “Damn that's fast its a C-rank speed. If your strength is at least 50% as strong as your speed you should pass.
"She pointed to the weight section and said, 'Now, for the strength test, you will need to bench press a bar. The more weight, the better your score.'"
Ruby added ”Oh and don’t worry if the bar falls on you it won’t hurt because it’s created with a special metal that cancels the weight impact.”
"Can I do it multiple times and add progressively heavier weight?"
“Of course, you can do it the number of times you want, only your highest will count.”
Mikael took position before bench pressing 100 kg extremely easily. It was so easy, it felt like a featherweight. 'Before I got the system, bench pressing 100 kg was my record, but now, it’s only the second day after the Akashic Records appeared, the weight feels like nothing to me.'
Next, he easily lifted 200 kg, then he lifted 300 kg, which he passed relatively easily. After that, he lifted 400 kg. It was hard, but he succeeded.
‘I’ll try 500 but it will be hard’ Mikael thought before taking position.
The weight descent was easy but when he tried to lift the weight it was stuck ‘Fuck I can do it’ before pushing the weight centimeters by centimeters and finally succeeded.
Ruby saw that he was looking tired and asked “Do you want to try higher or it will be your final score?”
Mikael took 1 second to take a breath before answering “500 kg will be my score I'm not capable of doing better than that.”
“Okay, so your strength score is that of an average D rank. With your strength and speed, you are qualified to be a D-rank hunter.”
Ruby looked a little embarrassed when spoke “Oh yeah I forgot to ask your name. I will need to know it to make your hunter card.”
“Mikael Angelini.”
“Let’s make your hunter card and you’ll officially be a hunter” she spoke before using a strange machine that gave her a small card.
Ruby gave the card to Mikael. He took it and saw that it had his name with Hunter’s Guild and a D rank marked on it. It also had Contributions: 0 written on it.
[Quest: F Rank Hunter completed.
Rewards 200 LP]
[Quest: E Rank Hunter completed.
Rewards 500 LP]
[Quest: D Rank Hunter completed.
Rewards 1K LP]
‘Nice 1,7K LP and it was practically free, the quests were too easy, not that I am complaining if more quests were like that it would be nice.’
‘The next one is the C rank hunter quest and will probably be a lot harder.’
Next, the two of them returned to the reception before Ruby began to speak “Now that you are a D rank hunter I’ll explain some basics of the job.”
“First of all, your hunter card is important, and will need it in the guild. Should you lose it you will need to pay a fee of 10 silver coins to create another one, so don’t lose it.”
“Second, there is the quests board, where you look for a quest that you want to take. When you choose one you will take the paper and come to the counter and the quest will be registered in your name.”
“Some quests can be done multiple times, like for example hunt goblin in the surrounding of Onissa city. These quests will have a RE which means repetable. Other quests are unique like for example catch a particular thief.”
“The quests are separated in Rank for their difficulties. The rank varies from F-S. As a D rank hunter, you can take up to C rank quest if you want but I don’t recommend it, they will be really dangerous!”
“Finally but not least, the rewards. When you complete a quest you will receive contribution points. These points can be exchanged against money, gears, and the most important one and the reason a lot of people join the hunter guild, the body refining technique.”
“Body refining techniques from F to S rank are available in the Hunter guild compared to other noble families that will need you to pledge loyalty to have access to their body refining technique” she spoke passionately.
Ruby asked, “Do you have some questions?”
“Yeah just to know what is the opening hour of the hunter guild?”
“The guild is open at all times.”
“Ok thanks, I don’t have other inquiries”
“That's good but do you want to take a quest?”
“No, I think I’ll go to sleep it's pretty late. I will come back tomorrow to take a quest” Mikael answered.
‘Yeah I’ll go sleep I’m tired of this long day, it would be stupid to take a quest when I am not at 100%.’
“Okay bye.”
“Bye,” Mikael said before leaving the guild and going directly to the room he had rented at the inn.
“System, Aedris time please.”
[Aedris local Time: day 38 of the lunar calendar, year 1252, 23:11:08]
‘It's 11 P.m. in this world so it's a good time to look like I am sleeping in the inn but in reality, I'm going to be in my apartment in the Records.’
‘It’s safer to sleep in the Records than in an inn where I don’t know if it’s safe, especially in an unknown world.’
“System, I want to leave this world.”
5 minutes later he was teleported out of the Aedris world and appeared in the Hub.