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  Time had passed, and at long last were those mask-obscured ignited eyes able to stare at this board so before her sight; having finished her restocking, the receptionist’s peer had long departed off through a door elsewhere.

  Stretched across this wide wall of a board were many so-called ‘quests’, pinned and present… So many most certainly, yet…perhaps not too many… Indeed, relative to the potential full capacity of this wall of a quest board, there were not as many as there ought to be; there was, in a way, a sense of…scarcity within the many.

  However, for the foreigner there were still a plenty enough to be more than…overwhelming. So many choices, so many options; she deliberated on which to attend to and evaluate, let alone actually process. At the very least, this quest board, being ultimately a product of this Guild, was organized and segmented based off of ‘estimated difficulty’ and more especially ‘rank’ of the quest.

  As the foreigner had so learned the day before… The Adventurers’ Guild had ten so-called ‘ranks’ in total: Copper—her rank—, Iron, Steel, Bronze—which came after ‘steel’ for whatever reason—, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Saphire, Diamond, and Onyx; each rank, of course, had their own associated badge and quest designation.

  Likewise, advancing from each proceeding to rank to the next subsequent rank—or ‘ranking up’ as it was colloquially called—was an endeavor that became an ever-increasingly difficult, tedious, and demanding. This was because the implications of presumed skill and the differences in presumed combat prowess between these ranks were rather…exponential in their scaling.

  Indeed, essentially, the differences between a Copper-ranked adventurer and an Iron-ranked adventurers were not truly that apparent, whereas the differences between a Sapphire-rank and a Diamond-rank were quite profound, despite both being separated by only merely one rank.

  Because of the exponential scaling of these ranks, each rank had a predetermined ‘base reward’ provided by the Guild for all quests marked as appropriate for that rank, with higher rank base rewards being proportionally higher than that of lower ranks. Likewise, although adventurers could, either individually or as an organized so-called ‘party’, do quests that were of a much higher rank, it was—as the receptionist had so suggested—not necessarily…recommended, because of those same aforementioned reasons. However, those who wanted to ‘gamble’, so to speak, with a higher risk for a higher reward, could if they wanted to.

  The quests themselves, of course, also came in ‘categories’ and ‘types’, of which there were a myriad. However, there were three principal, those being: ‘direct issued’, ‘contracted’, and ‘assistance requests’.

  ‘Direct Guild issued quests’ were any quests made and offered by the Guild usually at its own expense. ‘Contracted quests’, on the other hand, were quests that were ‘contracted’ to the Guild by another—usually vetted— ‘stakeholder’ party who bore most of the expenses, such as the reward and general fees charged by the Guild in exchange for adventurer service. ‘Requested assistance quests’ meanwhile were issued by the Guild by paid request of a community, town, realm, and the like seeking adventurer help; these tended to broad, variable, and sometimes unreliable, being a general request for help rather than a defined quest with a fixed reward.

  However, of course, within these three categories were also were sub-categories and sub-types and the like, such as ‘clearance’, ‘bounty hunting’, ‘item collection’, ‘escorting’, and…so…so many more.

  Truly, recalling of this information from yesterday throbbed her mind so… The receptionist herself had even said that…adventurers hardly ever paid attention to these specific details and fixated exclusively on the quests’ listed rank, difficulty, and reward; many of these classifications and technical details mattered only on an administrative level, though having a practical understanding could be beneficial in the event of…disputes with the Guild.

  Nevertheless, besides actual coin, quests also rewarded a more abstract thing, these so-called ‘experience points’ which were utilized for the Guild’s so-called ‘levels’ which existed in addition to ‘rank’. There were one hundred of these levels attainable, with each rank being capped at ten levels. According to that receptionist, adventurer levels were largely considered archaic and thus hardly ever mentioned, with experience points not being listed on the quests.

  The only relevancy adventurer levels had were in the qualifying conditions for rank advancement and, more specifically, the allocation of these so-called ‘skill-points’—another abstract metric of the Guild.

  Starting at Steel-rank, adventurers would begin to earn ‘skill-points’ with which they could use to acquire a so-called ‘skill’. These ‘skills’, from the foreigner’s understanding, were essentially the Guild’s own unique and exclusive arcane system, being a defining characteristic of adventurers and were what separated them from any ordinary type of fighters. These ‘skills’ seemed to exclusively focus on the augmentation and enhancement of physical prowess, general combat-related abilities, survivability, and individual endurance.

  Once a skill-point was earned, an adventurer could, if they desired, go to their Guild hall’s respective ‘skill acquisition center’ to acquire a ‘skill-card’—which were, no doubt, similar if not identical to the spellcards utilized by the Collegium, except instead of casting a spell, they most likely encoded direct information and relevant activation sequences.

  Rather oddly, however, even though the foreigner would define both the Collegium’s spells and the Guild’s skills as…definitionally ‘magic systems’, from the impression she had gotten from the receptionist, the locals seemed to consider the two to be…entirely alien and separate systems—completely unrelated… Even though both were arcane practices that utilized the same card-based methodology of transmission and both requiring so-called ‘mana’ to use.

  Though, regardless, adventurers of this present era could also, in leu of earned skill-points, opt to…just simply purchase skill-cards with real coin instead—so as long as they met the prerequisites. She herself, of course, had zero plans or interest in utilizing these so-called ‘skills’, considering that they seemed to be, from what she had heard, just inferior versions of what she already had instilled within her… Indeed, her essence was already stuffed enough with automated functions, commands, and the like that were far more advanced in their scope.

  The foreigner let loose quite the exhaling breath, her mind exhausted from that rapid recall of things having been so learned and… Ugh… She stared at this board of so many things pinned of which involved so many ‘mechanics’ and ‘systems’ at play to keep track of…

  Even though she probably could handle those higher ranked quests, she was ultimately a still so-called ‘newbie’ in mind: ignorant and confused, even if capable in ability. Thus, she opted to just…stick with the receptionist’s forewarning… She promptly inspected the quests listed as ‘Copper-rank’.

  However, this had done little to narrow down her options, for there appeared to be more Copper quests than any other rank of quest. Trapped with apparent indecisiveness, unable to just...pick one to just skim, she finally decided to take swift and decisive action; closing her mask-obscured eyes, she simply reached out her hand and…snatched one at random. Stepping herself away from that board, she then…inspected that which was now in her hand, squinting her eyes just a little.

  “Quest of…Item Collection And…Acquisition, contracted by…the… Uhm… U…Unite… United… Cen…Central Trade…Company?” she thus quietly read aloud to herself… ? Correct?ne díabaso? ? She had not any idea if she was reading this correctly.

  Regardless, hmm… So, this was one of those so-called ‘collection quests’, then?

  “Uh… The stakeholders have requested the…finding and collecting of…the following naturally disbursed…items of interest…” she continued to read aloud; “Seventy…aged Clamfield sea shrubs having no less than…five months on them… Ehuh… Thirty sunny-cavern turquoise glow-stones, twenty-nine sunny-cavern magenta glow-stones, and one sunny-cavern wild glow-stone…”

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Uhuh… Well, besides the peculiar nature of these…wanted objects of interest being requested, this seemed fairly straightforward overall. Search, locate, and seizure; easy enough.

  “Sunny-cavern: Some fighting expected. Some monster harvesting expected. First layers of sunny-cavern contain Copper-to-Steel appropriate monsters; general avoidance recommended… Be cautious of glow-spiders… Do not—big letters—enter into below-recommended layers and deeper crystalish remains… Uhuh…” The foreigner continued to read this quest sheet.

  The quest sheet was hardly one single paper as much as…two, no three, sheets attached to one another—both sides filled. It was incredibly information dense yet also…very precise and straightforward.

  It essentially outlined, clearly and explicitly, everything she needed to know in order to properly execute this quest and successfully complete it… Such as the Guild’s own collection standards, practices, and policies that must be adhered to, the details of both recommended and mandatory handling procedures of target items, descriptions of the items of interest… On the very back of this quest sheet was even a rudimentary…primitive but still convenient…drawn map of the local area with key points of relevancy marked, the Guild hall and Coastfield being the central point of reference.

  Indeed, she knew exactly what was expected and required of her to do… Albeit, the more…technical language of this quest sheet was something she perhaps…struggled with understanding and…would have to get used to.

  “…stakeholders have permitted an allowance for…no more than ten items in excess of goal total for Clamfield sea shrubs…no more than five items in excess for the remaining quest-target categories. A bonus of half value has been provided… Standard excess penalties still apply for… Mhuh…” Ah… Thus, overcollection was prohibited… It was great that such was explicitly specified, considering she certainly had a propensity to… becoming an…overcollecting hoarder.

  Truly, things were so much easier and simpler when goals, expectations, and the like were explicitly defined for her instead of being left to implication and so-called ‘common sense’… She liked it when things were objective and concrete, not abstract and arbitrary.

  The penultimate section of this quest sheet was the segmented detail of the reward—the pay of this…‘quest’. Indeed, out of everything, this was…perhaps…what she wanted to know the most.

  Hm… She immediately skimmed this page. These so-called ‘stakeholders’ were willing to provide a payment of… 3 silvers per Clamfield sea shrub, 15 silvers per turquoise glow-stone, 20 silvers per magenta glow-stone—thus 210 silvers, 450 silvers, 580 silvers respectfully—, and 200 silvers for that wild glow-stone… Bringing the total to…

  To…

  1,440 silvers.

  Uhuh… That number required additional processing…

  However… For as stunning as such a value might be, it was not the actual ‘reward’, for the Guild itself took its own ‘cut’, so to speak, through so-called ‘trade commission’ fees which applied to each of the target categories’ totals in addition to this ‘extra-mercantile commerce and vending’ tax; thus, the actual reward—the calculations of which were transparently indicated on the sheet—amounted to…773 silvers from the collected items plus the added ‘base-reward’ for all Copper-rank quests, that being 20 silvers, thus a final sum of… 793 silvers for the ‘quest-taker’.

  “Huh…” The foreigner stared at that bold and highlighted dispersible reward… 793 silvers, 7 golds and 93 silvers… That was still a hefty pay, indeed… And all for merely going around and collecting these…seemingly random objects scattered throughout the local ecosystem. Of course, she would have venture out of Coastfield proper and into the surrounding periphery, but…from this single quest, months of rent…would be covered.

  Indeed… An acceptable risk that only she was taking; there was no debate on this matter, she had made her decision.

  The foreigner promptly took this quest straight to the main counter, sliding it right before the sight of that receptionist still standing where she was.

  “Ah! Finally selected something, huh?” the receptionist thus warmly remarked, “Everyone’s first quest always takes them the longest…” She thus inspected the foreigner’s selected quest sheet… “Now, let’s see here…” And her eyes so instantly turned blank… “Ah… Of course, one of those duplicate collection quests… And this one specifically—you have any idea how many of these identical quests are circulating around? And not just in our branch…” She sighed…

  “Is there the…problem?” The foreigner tilted her head.

  “No, no… I am just talking” the receptionist replied, skimming the quest sheet. She then proceeded to take out rather the…thick registrar of sorts alongside her own administrative stamp. Flipping through page after page, her eyes skimmed at processing speeds that could only be described as superhuman, until arriving at the emptiest page… With a pen, she wrote down the quest’s unique identifier code as well as the foreigner’s own name next to it. Immediately after, she provided her stamp onto the quest sheet proper. “Alrightly, you are good for action!”

  “I give the thanks…” The foreigner took the finalized quest sheet into hand and gently placed it into her handbag.

  “I do not envy you at all… Collection quests may look simple, but they can be…monotonous. Makes you wonder why those who dedicate themselves to doing these exclusively didn’t just join the Merchants’ Guild…” The receptionist made small-talk as she closed the large registrar, plopping it back to whence it came. “My advise for these sort of quests, though, is—and I am sure it says so on the sheet—but: collect each quest-target one at a time and ‘session-by-session’; so, start with, say, the aged sea shrubs, collect all of them and turn those in first, and then start collecting the others… No reward will be dispersed until full completion, but this makes…the process a lot easier, trust me—for the both of us…”

  “It is noted…” the foreigner simply acknowledged.

  “Oh, and…” The receptionist paused in her…added speech, contemplating and…deciding; “Actually, please wait here! I will return soonly!” She abruptly departed away, down through one of the doors behind.

  The foreigner thus patiently waited in silence, although for whatever reason, her leg was a little…jittery. Nevertheless, the receptionist returned timely enough, that door flinging wide open.

  “Alrightly! Thanks for waiting!” With a smile, the receptionist made her way back to her station, though with three…quite the sizable sacks…being lifted in her hands, alongside one smaller bag. “Take these! You will need them!” She gently tossed these sacks onto the counter, though being…sized…they drooped off.

  “Uhm… Alrightly?” The foreigner, a little confused, accepted these sacks and, with one hand, place them over her shoulder to be carried.

  “Normally, these Guild-sacks would be charged, but… You know, we do not get too many fresh Coppers these days—most skip straight to Iron or Steel… When we do get new members…” the receptionist remarked; “So… Consider this…just between us, alrightly? All on me…” She smiled rather the earnest smile; “Something about you is…interesting, I guess to say… So, I want to see you succeed!”

  The foreigner donned her own charming smile; “I see… Well, I give to you my grace, then!”

  “Not any problem!” The receptionist had a pleased cheer; “Just be sure to properly mark each sack, and… Again, go one-by-one, and try to use one sack for one quest-target category… You will turn in each sack along with the collected items” she specified.

  The foreigner nodded in acknowledged; “So, this is all, then?”

  “Yeah, basically…” Though, then the receptionist’s eyes began to…peer at the foreigner’s figure, evaluating… “Although… You might want to invest in…proper armor and adventurer-appropriate gears… Albeit, since you are fresh and new, maybe…an issue for another time… But try to stay out of any danger, especially when venturing into a sunny-cave, albeit it might be…unavoidable…”

  “Well, I will just not allow the bad things to get close to me…” the foreigner merely replied; “I am fast, swift, and can shoot, remember?”

  “Yeah… Let us hope so…” The receptionist ahemed; “Anyway, but…” Her eyes slid downwards, seeing the foreigner’s shoes… “Actually, you should probably also ditch those heel-boots… In this profession, you will want something that does not trip you…”

  The foreigner looked at her heels in kind, before looking back up at the receptionist… “Oh, yes… Certainly. Believe me, I was already thinking of…doing that… Walking in these does not please me, in truth…” she cordially replied… “But, so… If that is all, then I shall take the leave…”

  “Alrightly! Blessed luck be with you!” The receptionist smiled…

  With a gracious bow, the foreigner thus turned around and made way for that door.

  Yet… “Oh, wait! One more thing!” the receptionist abruptly hailed from behind; “Do not forget to record your item collection count in the recording boxes during each collection session for each target-category! That is mandatory!”

  “It is understood!” The foreigner, not pausing, merely waved her hand as she…awkwardly opened that double door with her elbow, stumbling out into the world and city beyond. Her first quest having just begun, she had many preparations needing to be done.

  The receptionist mellowly waved in kind her own sweet goodbye, yet her hand then drifted down as that door came tumbling closed, her smile dampening as it dripped down… “Hopefully this one makes it to Bronze, let alone beyond…” Her breaths quietly mumbled aloud as if…lamenting… “Maybe I should have warned her better about those sunny-caverns… Hugh… Not Copper-friendly places…” She sighed…

  As the sun rose higher, more receptionists would trickle in as the day had only just begun. Adventurers would eventually follow, dozens of them… Yet it felt that there were not as many as the days before and especially the days before those days before.