A second E-ranked quest

Thankfully, he didn't faint on spot even though the pain was extremely unbearable. In about a quarter of an hour, the pain lessened.

Aren gazed at the small circular magic array he was standing on. It seemed a little similar to the magic array in blackthorn forest but this one was not written with blood. There were also none of those bones arranged around the magical array.

This array was written in yellow ink like substance, looking neat and complicated at a glance. When entering and exiting magicwoods by this array, it would glow for a while. Aren stepped out of the array and slowly walked towards the exit of this big hall.

The Mages' Association building was probably the most extravagantly build after the Royal castle. It was neither made up of woods nor stones but magical ores and shining pebbles. Even the floor was clean and shiny. The only building that came close to its tier in Construction and architectural finesse was Clementine Castle.

After Aren got out from the association, he first went to a cloth shop nearby. He needed to change his clothes first before he visited the Adventurers' Guild.

Entering the changing room, He started trying out various clothes and it took him almost half an hour to change in what he think was the suitable. He turned to his sides and looked at his figure in the mirror.

He was now wearing tight black trousers coupled with long brown boots on his leg. A leather armour from his waist up. Covering it was a thin black robe made up of expensive silk.

However, even if he changed into other clothes, no longer wearing a cloak; anyone who knew him would recognize him at a glance. When he made the name Ren Von' Neuthran, Aren had already decided to create another identity for himself at that time.

Ren would be a fallen nobleman's son, who ran away from his family when their fief was taken over by another noble family. Coming to Yunisse, he would start adventuring and become strong. However, he had not deserted his parents but was just going to take their fief back when he became a strong and powerful adventurer. All in all, he was typical foolish and stubborn kid who couldn't accept reality.

That was Ren, but if this Ren's face was identical to apprentice Aren, then a lot of problems would occur in the near future. So after considering many options, he decided to cover his head with hood and his mouth, nose and ears with a black cloth, only leaving his eyes for others to see. However, he was feeling that something was missing in his get up, like a finishing touch and such.

Aren looked around the clothes littered on the floor and an idea came to his mind. He grabbed the two white hand gloves from the floor and wore them.

There, perfect!

Pushing the wooden door open, he asked the shop keeper how much it cost. After five minutes, Aren left the shop.

'It cost three golds for all of these clothes, how expensive!' he thought while feeling a pinch. Even a small cloth shop in central district was this expensive. Aren grimaced under his mask as he headed to the Adventurers' Guild. As one of the four main powers of Ashlar kingdom, It was naturally a place he remembered.

As the nost populated district in Havrick city, the central district was very prosperous. The area it covered was only a little smaller than a lower tier city's. The road was wider with more carriages running on it. From time to time, a noble's carriage would pass by Aren while he was strolling through the road. The place was kept very orderly with no street vendors on the road's sides.

If it was not for the houses that only reached five stories at most and most people wearing clothes of same design, Aren would have believed that he had returned to Europa province of the western Confederation in earth.

After a while, he reached the Adventurers' Guild. It was a humongous five story building. He pushed the large door open and the sight of many adventurers taking quests and chatting loudly greeted him. Except for the fact that it was big, the interior was the same as in Yunisse.

Finding it not suprising, he walked towards the quest board and started searching for a quest. However, the number of F and E-ranked quests were too many to choose from.

There were two reasons why he came to do a quest today. First was naturally, to not have his identity as an adventurer revoked and second was to hone his battle techniques.

Although Cowen had taught him many combat techniques and skills, he didn't have sufficient experience and his skills were still on amateur levels. He could defeat typical rank 1s and below but he was not entirely confident he could take out those with top-notch skills.

As he was searching for quests that might help him in honing his combat poweress, his interest was piqued by a quest about raiding a bandit hideout.

The quest was to make the bandits, who appeared in the route between Havrick and Orotto city 'dissappear'. It didn't matter if they were killed or chased away. The nobles and merchants going to and from the two cities had been attacked a few times by these bandits, making them suffer losses. So these bandits who called themselves as panther's claws had become a nuiscance to the nobles.

'This one it is then.'

As Aren was about to take the quest paper and give it to the receptionist, someone else's hand also grabbed the paper pasted on the quest board.

Aren looked at who it was and saw a lean young man in his twenties. He was wearing a dark brown leather armour and had a long sword tied to his waist. Looking at the scabbard which was probably made up of expensive leather, Aren assumed that that adventurer was quite well-off.

"Friend, are you also thinking of taking this quest?" The adventurer said. His tone not emanating any hostility.

"Yeah, this quest fits perfectly for me."

"Hmm... This is one of the quest that has a great pay today though." The adventurer looked to be in a difficult position, his expression changing from time to time.

"How about we share this quest? You know this quest has a pay of 65 silvers, so we can both get 32 silvers and 50 coppers even if we do it together. Furthermore, there are three rank 1 leaders among Panthers claws bandits.

From the looks of it, you seem to be a rank 1 fighter. It will be very tough for you to do it alone." The adventurer suggested.

'He can tell I'm a fighter just by looking at me, what discerning eyes he has!' As Aren exclaimed in his mind, he pondered on what the adventurer said.

It was true that fighting 3 rank 1s was not what he could do at the moment. The bandits also might have their own trump cards. This adventurer in front of him seemed to know about Panthers claws, so teaming up with him was a good idea.

After a while, Aren stretched his glove worn right hand towards the adventurer and said. "Alright then. I'm Ren, a rank F adventurer."

The adventurer took his hand and shook it, not bothered by the fact that Aren was only a rank F adventurer. He then said with a smile. "Lets do this then, Ren. You can call me Lucian. I'm a rank 1 swordsman and a rank E adventurer."

Aren, with Lucian, went to the receptionist and gave her the quest paper. She skimmed through the quest paper and asked for their guild cards. After scanning the cards and confirming it was identical, She turned to Aren and said.

"It seems you had done a E-ranked quest previously. As a rank F adventurer, you have finished one quest higher than your rank. So if you can finish two more while in F-rank, you will get qualifications to take a rank promotion trial."

Aren nodded that he understood and she stamped the quest paper with the white stamp of the guild. As she gave both of their guild cards back, Aren noticed that there was some change in what was written there.

Party:

Ren, Lucian (Temporary) [Not named]