Syl

Chapter 71: Silver Rank

This time, our evening watch went uninterrupted by wolves, and the night seemed peacefully calm. I graciously received more advice and tutoring from Whitney on my [Perception] skill, and she also said tomorrow, since an attack was unlikely, she would give me some locks and tools to practice [Rogue Expertise] on.

During the last leg of the journey, Roderick agreed to swap seats with Whitney, and I got to work on trying to pick the locks. After succeeding a few times, she handed me a strange metal object and instructed me to dismantle it and then put it back together. It took a lot of trial and error, but eventually, I was successful and instantly rewarded.

The tutoring bonus was no joke, and after discussing it with Whitney a bit, she also said she was exploiting the first-time bonus.

"Whenever I meet a new smith, I ask them to make a lock and ask if they have any blacksmith puzzles. No matter their skill level, it's triggering the first-time bonus."

I thanked Whitney for the valuable nugget of information, but she brushed it off, saying it was the least she could do after I supplied her with such fine daggers.

Eventually, Kaerlin came into sight, and it was massive. I stared in awe at the city, which seemed circular in design and surrounded by an outer and inner wall. Whitney explained that since Kaerlin didn't have a dungeon to regulate essence flow, there was a lot more monster activity, so the city required much sturdier fortification.

We had to show our guild tags at the gate to gain entry, and unfortunately, I was attracting a lot of unwanted attention. I seriously needed to consider creating a human disguise. Before we left for the guild, Darius and Roderick approached me.

Darius thanked me profusely for protecting his shipment and wondered if I'd be willing to be hired for the return journey in a week. Roderick politely refused for me and said that his group would gladly take the quest. Darius seemed a bit disappointed but eventually marked my job done.

I was surprised that I didn't even need to return to the guild to be paid, although we were still going there to report in and for me to receive my Silver promotion. During the trip, Roderick explained that one of the reasons for the quest system behaving like this was to reward any final heroic deeds. Since your guild savings could be left behind in a will to your next of kin, it could encourage someone to give a last-ditch effort to defeat a disastrous monster.

"Possibly for some truly desperate. But the intent was that if you were going to die anyway, rather go out in a blaze of glory than a quiet whimper." Roderick said proudly.

Kaerlin was cram-packed with people - it actually made me feel uncomfortable. I followed the group closely to avoid losing them in the crowd. The adventurers guild was located against the inner wall, supposedly for the convenience of the city's inner circle inhabitants. The building was massive, easily dwarfing the town's branch. The group chuckled at my surprise.

"This isn't even one of the biggest guilds." Dewi pointed out.

We entered and officially reported our arrival, which was the polite and recommended thing to do when first arriving. Then, the others went to find an inn, leaving only me and Roderick behind. Roderick took me to the second floor, where we sat inside a well-decorated room and waited for a guild staff member to arrive.

Thankfully, we didn't wait too long before a tall woman with short raven black hair entered the door. I estimated she was older than Roderick but younger than Harris. Although her armor looked light, it brimmed with mana, and sheathed at her waist was a long and thin blade. I could see it crackling with a thick and yellow mana.

'Wow, the guild doesn't joke around if it can crank out high levels like this.'

Both she and Roderick immediately cracked smiles at seeing one another and embraced in a friendly hug.

"Roderick, you bastard, good to see you still kicking around!"

"I've still got a few quests left in me before I settle down for my desk job."

"I still think you should at least get to Gold, but I guess slime town doesn't mind."

"Hey, you won't be mocking slime town soon when our Silvers go loose on the world."

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"Well, that's certainly one way to increase your guild master's salary."

She then turned to me and gave me a lookover.

"And fate dropped an elf on your doorstep. I swear the other guilds are going to be livid at your luck for getting her to register."

Roderick must have been channeling Kurt and Whitney combined as he gave the smuggest grin before replying, "Oh, you have no idea."

"I'm Lisa. Nice to meet you." She said, offering a handshake.

I got up to shake her hand, "Syl. Nice to meet you, Lisa."

We all reseated ourselves, and Roderick handed over some documentation to Lisa. She took a moment to read it.

"Very nice. You more than qualify for Silver rank, and both Harris and Roderick are backing you." She said, "Also, it's nice to see another hybrid class, as I got a lot of flack for picking one myself. It's always nice to prove others wrong."

"I'm assuming Warrior and Mage rather than Rogue like my own," I questioned.

"Yeah. My parents wanted me to be a Mage since I had Lightning Affinity. But I couldn't meet the expectations of the Mage's Guild, so I became an adventurer. I was always strong and liked swords, so I decided to become a warrior, and my party was grooming me to be their tank. One thing led to another, and I ended up unlocking Spellblade. I took it and was kicked out of the party, did some solo adventuring, built a name for myself, then landed up running this joint."

"Are hybrid classes that hated that you'd be kicked out just for picking one?"

"No, but I was the sixth member and specifically recruited because they expected me to eventually fulfill the tank role. I've never had my class offer me a [Taunt] skill, and even though I could get someone to show it to me, I wouldn't be able to fit the role anymore. I honestly can't blame them for kicking me."

"Yeah, the healer and tank role is crucial in long-term groups. There can be plenty of politics, drama, and poaching." Roderick added, "You're lucky in that regard lass, although unfortunately, I can imagine many parties trying to recruit you just for the wow factor of having an elf on their team."

"I can see why Whitney recommended I stay solo for a while," I muttered. Roderick nodded in agreement.

"It worked for me. Considering you also soloed a dungeon, I can easily see it working for you." Lisa said, "Plus, most Rogues hate when they can't sneak past things due to their noisy party."

Roderick gave a brief rundown of what happened during our trip. Lisa nodded along and then smiled as she reached into her pouch and pulled out a silver chain attached to an ornate-looking crystal.

"Well, I've heard enough. Welcome to Silver rank, Syl. Here's your new tag." She said happily and slammed it down on the table, "Now pull out your old tag so we can transfer it over."

I pulled out my tag and placed it next to the new one. The cheap coppery chain was easily noticeable compared to the silver, and the crystal was noticeably smaller and lacked any engravings or sigils. With a casual wave of her hand, both crystals shone bright. The old crystal was the first to go dark, followed shortly by the new one.

"And you're officially promoted to Silver," Lisa said, gesturing for me to claim the new tag.

I picked it up and promptly wore it. I also made sure to update my equipment profiles to use the new necklace. Lisa briefly went over the benefits of my new tag. It could hold up to three quests, be used to make transactions, and most shockingly of all, interact with the [Mapping] skill. If my quest had a location or area in particular, I could filter that info into [Mapping]. At my current level, it would only give a sense of direction, but Lisa said later levels of the skill gave a visual map. Likewise, if I were in a party with other Silver-ranked or above members, they would appear on my [Mapping] skill.

"If this is what I get for Silver, I can't imagine what Gold or Platinum get."

"I won't spoil the surprise," Lisa said with a wink.

Silver also came with other benefits. I would have a higher selection of quests available and be granted entry to any guild-managed higher-level dungeons. I could also access the guild's knowledge library, although some of it was restricted to higher ranks, and could make requests of the guild's craftsman, information brokers, and so forth. The rates were usually cheaper than third parties, but sometimes, you simply had to go elsewhere if you wanted truly unique or specialized services.

"I'm assigning Luke to be your handler while you are here. He's a little on the young side, but he grew up here, and is a polite hard worker. When you come in tomorrow, ask one of the receptionists for him." Lisa said, "Any quests in particular you're interested or specialized in?"

"I'd say monster extermination, especially any with rare or harvestable parts," Roderick informed.

"Oh? Someone actually bothered to learn the [Dissection] skill?" Lisa asked with intrigue.

Roderick let out a hearty laugh, "Lass, you gotta show her. I bet you'll blow her mind."

I shrugged and pulled out a few of the harvested wolf parts, and the Gigatoad hide. I wanted to sell my parts anyway so I could potentially buy a slime core. Lisa looked frantically between the materials and stared at me.

"Good prank, Roderick," Lisa said with a chuckle.

"It's no prank. I gave her a carcass, and a few moments later, she popped out with it harvested. She even somehow salvaged the fur."

"A looting skill?" Lisa mumbled to herself.

"Looting skill?" I questioned.

"An extremely rare skill given by the Gods. Usually at birth or by doing some major accomplishment." Lisa answered, "It turns monster corpses into treasure, but can only be done shortly after their death before their essence leaks out."

I shook my head before answering, "That sounds amazing, but I don't have anything like that. I can't give the details, but it involves [Dissection]." I answered.

"I can confirm that, as the corpse I gave her was already starting to rot," Roderick added.

"Why the hell are you even bothering with adventuring?" Lisa answered with utter honesty.

"I want to explore the world. Not to mention the experience." I answered.

"Spoken like a true adventurer." Roderick laughed.

I ended up dumping all my materials onto the table, as Lisa said the guild would pay for it all. I still kept the evolved badger and bear parts as I'd planned to hand those in after doing some questing, so other than the Gigatoad, it was just a few bear, boar, and wolf parts. Lisa said I could expect it to all be deposited into my account promptly.

We finally left the guild and started walking to the nearby inn where we would be staying. Roderick had said it was a little pricier but worth it for the safety and convenient proximity to the guild. Also, much to my disappointment, he admitted that the food was not as good as Trevor's.

'Damn...'