Chapter 6

A few days later, after resting well at the inn, I headed to the Adventurer's Guild in the city of Rondalum.

The Adventurer's Guild is a place where adventurers can take on quests, check the current state of monsters, exchange magic stones for money, and recruit party members.

"I would like to register as an adventurer. After that, I want to exchange some magic stones."

"Then, for registration, I need your name, level, and class."

"Elma, [Lv: 12]... My class is Heavy Knight."

"Ah, so you are a defensive class, as I thought."

The receptionist said sympathetically as she created an adventurer's card with the guild's seal.

In exchange for a fee, I received the adventurer's card.

[You have obtained the title <F-Class Adventurer>.]

Well... now I am officially an adventurer.

While this title itself doesn't come with any special effects, there are skills that become available only by having the adventurer's title.

To become stronger in <Magic World>, this adventurer's title is quite important.

"By the way, I would like to see the list of people recruiting party members, just in case."

I didn't plan to rush into forming a party, but I wanted to know how the Adventurer's Guild operates in this world.

"Well... parties that want a defensive class like yours are rare, so I think it's better to give up. I apologize if my words sound rude..."

The receptionist said hesitantly.

I didn't really want to join a party, but... oh well.

I'll understand the situation better as I continue being an adventurer.

"Hey, look! A low-level Heavy Knight is recruiting a party!"

A bald, large man pointed at me and shouted.

His followers then burst into laughter.

"Who would team up with a weak piece of trash like you, idiot?"

"During the <Ceremony of Blessing> period, there are always trash classes clinging to the reception every day. They're a nuisance, so they shouldn't even come to the guild."

...What a bunch of jerks.

Well, I've seen this kind of behavior in <Magic World> before.

When I was testing the Heavy Knight as a sub-character, I often heard things like, "What an idiot for not checking the reputation of a class in this era."

"Alright, I'll think about forming a party later. For now, I want to exchange some magic stones."

I took out the magic stones from my <Magic Bag>.

There were ten magic stones from Lanas and one from an Aranda Ape.

While the Lanas' magic stones are not particularly valuable, the Aranda Ape's magic stone should fetch a decent price.

"Did you hunt these yourself? These magic stones... I think they come from individuals around [Lv: 15]..."

The receptionist seemed surprised.

"Yeah, that's right. It was a [Lv: 16] monster."

"You are [Lv: 12]... and, well, even if you were an offensive class, it's still difficult. The monster hunting experience is important for adventurer rank upgrades. It's hard to verify, but if it turns out to be a false claim, there will be severe penalties. You can cancel it now if you want..."

"No, I was [Lv: 8] when I hunted that monster."

The receptionist looked even more puzzled.

"Was the opponent injured? Did you have any companions...?"

"I did it alone. Please record it that way."

"Well, if you say so, I have no choice but to record it that way..."

The receptionist reluctantly took the magic stones and gave me the money.

She took ten Lanas' magic stones for 20,000 gold and one Aranda Ape's magic stone for 60,000 gold.

One hundred gold is roughly the value of a loaf of bread.

A good estimate is that one gold is about one yen.

To have earned 80,000 gold on the first day is a promising start.

In the future, I should be able to hunt monsters like the Aranda Ape steadily, and since I'm operating solo, I don't need to share the rewards.

I can consider myself past the point where I need to worry about my living expenses.

There's a reason I'm focused on achievements.

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

I am already an F-Class Adventurer upon registration.

The rank affects the quests I can take, but more importantly, to enter the <Dream Hole>, there must be at least one E-Class Adventurer in the party.

Hunting monsters outside the <Dream Hole> is inefficient.

Additionally, the skill points I can allocate to <Oath of Heavy Armor> are limited by my adventurer rank.

I can't allocate more than [16] points until I become an E-Class Adventurer.

This is why I couldn't allocate skill points the other day.

Technically, it's not the adventurer rank but a hidden parameter called honor points, but the fastest way to meet the current conditions is to level up through the Adventurer's Guild.

<Magic World> likely sets these limits to encourage balanced skill tree development, but it's just a hindrance to becoming stronger efficiently.

I wish they wouldn't use such irreversible elements like skill points for this.

In any case, I must become an E-Class Adventurer as soon as possible.

"Hey, the atmosphere is bad."

"...What's up with that Heavy Knight?"

"Is he cheating or something?"

I could hear whispers.

It wasn't a good idea to draw attention, but there's no point in worrying about others' opinions.

I want to become stronger as quickly as possible.

While it might be partly to get back at the noble family that kicked me out, more importantly, it's the blood of a <Magic World> player from my previous life that is urging me on.

"Is there any upgrade quest I can take?"

I asked the receptionist again.

An upgrade quest is a mission where an adventurer, with the approval of an examiner from the guild, accompanies the adventurer and, depending on the results, can grant an adventurer rank upgrade.

It's one of the methods to upgrade.

"No... there is a large-scale quest tomorrow where adventurers with a [Lv: 15] or higher monster hunting record can participate. An E-Class examiner will also be there, so if you perform well, you can upgrade."

The receptionist said reluctantly.

The quest involves clearing out a group of undead monsters that have gathered deep in the forest.

Undead monsters often create more of their kind using corpses in forests and graveyards, and they can grow in number.

To prevent the situation from getting out of hand, they plan to gather about ten F-Class and E-Class adventurers to tackle the problem.

"I can participate, so I'll take the quest."

I answered without hesitation, and the receptionist frowned in concern.

"...It's very dangerous. I've warned you, Mr. Elma."

Thus, I successfully took on the large-scale quest... <Clearing the Undead Swarm>.

This time, the enemy is more about quantity than quality.

Additionally, undead monsters have high HP but relatively lower stats in other areas.

It's easier to meet the activation conditions for <Wall Return>, which completely blocks the enemy's attacks.

This quest is perfect for me.