Chapter 32 - Adventurer's Guild

Ash looked at the busy, massive building that was the adventurer's guild, suddenly feeling inadequately equipped in the clothing she'd appeared in. While a small number of people were dressed similarly to her, most wore actual armor. Just as with the prior day, it was a simple task to tell the Earthborn from the Godsborn based on how showy the armor was.

Saving up for armor would have to be high on her priority list, she decided as they walked up the steps and into the building. A large counter ran along the far wall that seemed to be where quests were accepted and turned in, manned by a number of clerks that swiftly kept lines moving. Off to the right was a counter that, Yarrow explained, took care of dismantling creatures that were brought in for those that could not do so themselves.

The center of the room had a series of pedestals with countless crystals floating above them as well as slates to interact with on several sides. Each pedestal was a different color that matched that of the crystals within. The color of them denoted the ranking of the quest, going with a simple enough A through F designation with F being the natural starting point for a new adventurer.

Luna pointed her towards what looked like a relatively newly constructed desk on the far left wall, where a small number of people awaited. Ash glanced around the room apprehensively and reluctantly joined the line. The person in front of her was friendly enough and more than happy to do all of the talking when they realized that Ash was nervous about all of the people.

Having moved out of the way of the door, Yarrow watched the interaction with a slight frown as he spoke to Luna, "She was like this yesterday, as well, though it was not so obvious since I remained close at her side most of the time."

Luna's expression turned a little sad as she watched her friend, "Ash hasn't interacted with anyone that wasn't very carefully vetted beforehand in centuries before coming here. She developed a rather understandable fear after what happened so many years ago. She's also used to having a retinue of guards near at hand. She'll settle quickly enough and, until she does, I'll try to remain close by to provide a bit of comfort."

"I will do so when you are unavailable," Yarrow added with a slight nod before speaking what had weighed heavily on his mind since he'd seen the pain on her face the day before, his voice so soft that even Luna barely heard him, "She's dying doing the work of a Star Ash by herself, isn't she?"

The priestess' expression turned sad as she nodded just once, tears beginning to shimmer in her eyes at the idea of losing Ash. She honestly wasn't even sure if finding the one that could repair Ash's magic would be enough to save her in the end. It was possible that the yearly repairs would take a toll on both of them and claim their lives anyway, just prolonging things.

Their world was growing desperate as more people acknowledged the damage that the great hunt had done far too late to fix it. Entire magical ecosystems were collapsing and it was having devastating consequences even on the humans that had thought they'd remain unburdened by trouble.

Ash relaxed as she chatted with the person ahead of her and, eventually, the one that joined the line behind her as well. One of them, clearly a magic user, commented on how beautiful her foci were and Ash explained that she'd gotten them in exchange for some materials she'd come across from a jeweler. Judging by their reactions, it wasn't an uncommon trade. The magic user stated that their wand was much the same though the trade had been to help with designing things that would draw in Godsborn customers instead.

The warrior behind her had instead helped with menial tasks in the forge in exchange for the sword they wore, a worthwhile trade considering he'd taken up blacksmithing and so was able to learn quite a bit even if he didn't do much forging during that time.

Eventually it was her turn at the desk where the attendant swiftly explained while guiding Ash through the paperwork. Just as with the systems Ash was used to, one could take a quest of their own rank as well as a single rank above. Too many failures at a higher ranked task would see them restricted to quests of only their own rank and too many failures at those would see them placed on an evaluation. For the evaluation period one of several Earthborn adventurers that had volunteered to do so would join to, hopefully, figure out what was going wrong and help solve the problem so that expulsion from the guild could be avoided.

"Considering this is your first time, it is highly recommended that you take two quests from your current rank. One of which should be a material gathering quest that you are able to complete," they clearly knew about the restriction Godsborn had on gathering and were more than happy enough to work with it, "As well as a hunting quest in the same area. The crystals for each are grouped together and the interface will also group them. If you came with a party, you might also do well to explore a dungeon in the area you head into. Plenty of relatively safe ones have appeared in the area and they serve as a good training ground to learn what you need to do as an adventurer without clearing out your wallet to replace potions or repair armor."

Ash gave a slight nod and headed over to the crystal color that corresponded with F rank, a soft woody brown color that reflected the wood material designation given to the rank. It was supposed to be simple enough to move from rank F to E so long as one had the skills necessary to be a decent adventurer.

Finding an interface that was empty, she began to peruse and was swiftly joined by both Luna and Yarrow. Ash stuck to the herb gathering quests for the moment, wanting to use the quests to help learn how to identify things that would be important to her. There were three major gathering quests for herbs that corresponded with the three main potions that the new adventurers tended to go through at speed: health, mana and antidote.

Eventually Ash picked up the quest for gathering a flower called healer's heart that was used in health potions. For her hunting quest, she picked wind rodents that had been forced out of their ecosystem by the giant flame boar and had been relentlessly devouring the flowers since then. Satisfied with the choices, she went to the main desk to officially accept before they returned to the temple for a short training session so Ash would have all of the spells she needed.