Adventurers' Guild

When Foo entered the building he was greeted by an open floor, some tables with some noisy drunkards on the right side, an reception desk on the other side of the room, and a whole wall for postings about quest on the left side. The amount of quests was quite sparse though.

Walking up to the reception desk, he saw to his disappointment that there was no beautiful receptionist. Not even some cute demi-human with cat ears. Just a huge muscular brute with lots of scars. And that was not the worst part, the man was trying his best to look amiable, but the hardly suppressed furious aura that reminded of a raging tiger would cause anyone to shiver due to the disharmony.

Despite the receptionist's obvious efforts, it just screamed danger. Of course, an avid fan of horror games and movies, Foo just chuckled inwardly at the scene before him. It was without a doubt that the man would be lot less scarier if he did not try to look so friendly.

Arriving at the desk, Foo casually greeted the receptionist: "Hi there! I want to register as an adventurer!"

The receptionist was seemingly taken back. Then he beamed a smile that lit up the whole room. "Ha! I told you! I sure as hell can act friendly! Look, this newcomer have not even bat an eyelid! I am the epitome of friendliness!" He shouted towards his colleague that sat behind him, dealing with some documents.

The colleague of his, studied Foo carefully. The more he looked, the more puzzled he became. ``How can he be unaffected by that creepy smile?`` He thought. No matter how he looked at it, this newcomer looked just like that; a newcomer. The sword and clothes was, although of good quality, quite simple and unused. Definitely not what a veteran would have donned. And he did not look all that old. Neither did he look so young that he would have no sense of danger.

When the colleague was pondering about the deep mysteries of the world, Foo hurried to correct the misunderstanding, as the receptionist was now trying to make an even creepier smile: "No, no. Don't try to force it. That smile of yours could scare away even the greatest horrors of this world!"

The both men was stunned, and even the whole room went silent. Then a thunderous laughing erupted. The drunkards laughed so much that their beloved beverages was spilling everywhere. and the colleague was bent over with laughter.

The receptionist just stood there for a moment before he joined in on the commotion. Laughing hearty, he exclaimed: "Is that how it is? Everyone else just affirms that i am the friendliness itself!"

"How would they dare say anything else!" One of the drunkards retorted, increasing the raucous in the room by several degrees. Taking some time for it to calm down enough to have a conversation, although not due to the diminishing of the hilariousness, but due to oxygen depletion and stomach cramps.

Smiling wryly, Foo stated: "See, now THAT is a friendly face! Don't try to force it. If it feels unnatural and uncomfortable for yourself, how can it be otherwise towards others?"

Enlightened, the receptionist answered: "Indeed! Why should i bother with all this awkward smiling? I am not here to make friends, but to organize adventurers! If they are scared away, they were not fit for this line of work anyway!"

The others present nodded their heads. This was indeed true. If they could not even bring themselves to talk to the receptionist, how were they supposed to face the monsters in the wild then? In fact, it might even be an act of benevolence to try to scare away rookies. This was, after all, a job filled with dangers, and deaths was not at all uncommon.

With the commotion abating the receptionist went back to businesses: "Alright then, you are here to register, right? You know the rules?"

"Not at all!" Foo proudly exclaimed, stunning everyone in the room. How could someone state that they are ignorant with such pride? Fighting back their laughter, as they have yet to recover from the earlier bout, they curiously followed the exchange, forgetting about the glasses in their hands.

Taken aback, the receptionist chuckled in response and began the explanation: "The adventurers are welcomed in all countries because they usually helps out with the requests that are made at the guilds. This is different from other private and national combat forces, as adventurers can pass borders without any problems. Of course, adventurers are in turn expected to help out with the quests in the countries. In case this special status is abused, quests to hunt the abuser down will be accepted by the guild."

Pausing to pondering about if he missed something, the receptionist then continue: "As you might realize, the guild usually ensure that there are no inappropriate quests. While it might sound responsible, it basically means nothing. It just means that the guild refuses quests that overly tarnish the guild's reputation, harms the guild or overly disrupts the countries. As such all adventurers are banned from participating in wars and political acts of aggression. Bodyguarding is fine though, as long as it is not abused."

Appearing bored by the complex rules, the receptionist jumped to the more important parts: "Adventurers are grouped in ranks, rookies usually starts at A, then can rank up to B and so on. This is to judge the chance of completion, the rewards and to lower the death toll. When registering, your skills are tested to decide which rank you start at. Based on the rank, the registration fee varies. Higher ranks have lower fees, as we can expect them to quickly start to contribute to the guild, while low ranks needs a substantial fee. This is because they take longer time to bring profits. It is also to ensure that they have the ability to buy equipment and such to protect themselves, as when you can pay the fee, you should be able to have decent equipments. It is basically directed towards the good-for-nothing nobles."

At this point the receptionist stopped and took another look at Foo. Relieved, he came to the conclusion that Foo was not one of the nobles that he just insulted. No nobles would have such simple gears, and such relaxed personality.

Getting back to the point, the receptionist asked: "Alright, first thing first. What class are you?"

``Class?`` Foo pondered. ``It should be a warrior, right?`` With his thoughts on the sword and his martial skills. ``But i rather be a magician. I wonder if there is any requirements for that? Or is there any other awesome classes i can choose? I better ask!``

"What classes is there to pick among?" Foo asked, hoping for there to be some epic classes.

The whole room where stunned, while looking at Foo in disbelief.

"You... are not awoken?" The receptionist asked, obviously puzzled.

"I do believe that i am not sleeping, so i would say that i am awake?" Foo answered, a question mark almost visible above his head.

The room got even more silent, if that were even possible. One could almost touch the sense of incongruity that was filling the room.

"You... No wait! Do you not even know about the awakening, or are you just pulling my leg here?" The receptionist asked filled with confusion. If not for the fact that he could feel an equal amount of confusion from the other party, he would definitely think that he was just playing some joke right now. Hell, even with the confusion from the other party, how can it be anything other than a joke? How could one possible not know about the awakening?