Arin wiped the sweat from his brow as he continued to clear the debris from the mine entrance. He and Warden had spent the time that Zane and the others were gone trying to clear as much as possible. They had made a noticeable dent in the whole. They used the rocks to fortify the wall and gateway they had entered; Warden used some kind of magic to do this, which looked awesome and seemed very useful for a tank. Corvyn had taken this time to clean the bodies of my monsters to prepare the bones and hides as well. Arin figured his butchering skill was very high as he did it quickly and efficiently. He set up a makeshift kitchen and was preparing food. It was hushed as Arin was the only one who could speak, and it all seemed very dull. At least where he came from, there could be music playing or a TV show. Corvyn came over and nudged Arin, handing him food and water. He figured it would be an excellent time to take a break. He went over and sat on a larger piece of debris he still needed to move. He wondered what Zane and the others were up to as he ate his food.
* * * *
Zane and the others made their way to the adventurer's guild to sign up. They would need to return with Arin to do the same later. Zane also noticed several buildings besides the adventurer's guild with different signs. One of the buildings had a scale, and the other a hammer and sickle.
"What are these other buildings for?"
"One is the crafters' guild, and the other is the merchants' guild," Rein replied, "If it helps you out, you can join all three, but there is a cost to join each. They all have their unique advantages."
Arin thought about that as they entered the adventurer's guild.
"Welcome to New Farsworth's Adventurer's Guild!" a young woman exclaimed as she saw them enter. "Please come here if you have guild business, and I will be happy to assist you!"
The trio walked over to her. Zane noticed a few of the other patrons were talking about the fight outside, and others said they could beat them if they wanted to. Zane smiled as he heard this and continued getting even more excited about his affinity. They made it to the counter with the smiling young woman.
"Hello, my name is Aisha, and I will assist you today with your guild business. How can I help you today?"
"I need to be registered in the guild today."
"I can absolutely help with that! We will need to find out if you have an affinity. This is a private matter, so we will complete it at the back office. Please follow me."
Zane followed Aisha into the back office. There was a desk, a few chairs, and many filing cabinets. Aisha sat down, pulled a strange-looking orb from the desk, and set it on top.
"Before we start, I must enter into a contract with you saying that I will not speak of what I see here unless I have your direct permission," Aisha said as she waved her hand.
"Aisha - Guild Clerk would like to enter a contract with you. Would you like to read it?"
Zane read over the contract and verified it was what she had said. He agreed to the terms and was met with another prompt.
"You have entered into a contract with Aisha - Guild Clerk. If the contract is broken, she will lose access to the system and be labeled an oathbreaker."
"Great!" Aisha said with a clap, "We can now start with the process! Please place your hand on this orb, and we will determine your affinity and status."
Zane placed his hand on the orb, and it started to glow, changing as it did. Aisha looked worried as the orb started to finalize. She sighed as the image finally stopped moving.
"Something I need to worry about?" Zane asked.
"Well, it's not entirely discernable, but it looks like you have a death affinity," Aisha responded by showing Zane the orb. "Definitely strange for someone's affinity. Usually, you don't see a death affinity unless someone has seen a lot of death." Just then, Zane noticed Aisha's eyes snap back to the orb and watched her eyes widen as the eyes on the skull started to swirl with a purple and black vortex.
"What does that mean?"
"It seems you also have a void affinity as well. There is something else there but I cannot understand what it is. Maybe you will find out as you follow your path. However, you are the first person in this guild to have more than one affinity, and because of that, you will receive a special reward set aside just for this occurrence." Aisha smiled as she walked over to a bookshelf in her office. Suddenly, a wall opened, and she walked through the entryway and returned after a few moments with a sack and some papers. "This will be yours and should be quite the headstart for someone with your capabilities." She said as she placed the sack and papers on the desk.
Zane first picked up the paper with the sack and started reading it.
Congratulations on being the first in this guild to be blessed with more than one affinity! Inside this sack are some items that will significantly boost your start and make your progression easier. We have left you a meditation skill scroll, a few generic general skill scrolls (Mostly resistances), a general skill leveling manual with some excellent tips, a voucher for a free affinity gear piece, or a lesson with a master who can teach you how to craft affinity gear if you have the ability, and a spatial ring. We look forward to seeing what you can do in the future!
New Farsworth's Adventurer's Guild
Zane was amazed by the things left behind for him and that no one had claimed them before he did. He removed the skill scrolls and started with meditation. He unrolled the scroll, read over its contents, and was met with a prompt.
"General Skill Meditation(upgradeable) has been learned. Rest in meditation to heal and recover mana faster."
He then picked up scrolls for different resistances. One was for fire, poison, cold, venom, lightning, and mental. There was also a basic healing skill called rejuvenation and a skill called cleanse. He read the ones that he didn't have yet and was met with another series of prompts.
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"General Skill Cold Resistance has been learned. You can now spend more time in cold weather before it affects you."
"General Skill Venom Resistance has been learned. You can now handle stronger venom with fewer issues."
"General Skill Lightning Resistance has been learned. You can now spend more time in hot weather before it affects you."
"General Skill Mental Resistance has been learned. Not all attacks can be seen; you can now handle some mental attacks and trauma that may come your way."
"General Skill Rejuvenation has been learned. Heals minor wounds on your own or others bodies."
"General Skill Cleanse has been learned. You can now rid your body of toxins by using this skill."
Zane then moved on to skill leveling and read through the first few pages, which mainly discussed leveling the resistances. The pages talked about how some people arduously level their resistances. For example, one person literally walked through fire to level fire resistance. Of course, they had paid a healer to keep them alive and their skin without blemishes. He couldn't imagine how someone could afford that or have the willpower, but he figured it could be significant. As for combat and healing skills, they were more self-explanatory. Combat skills had to deal with damage or kill other beings, while healing had to heal oneself or others to level.
He next picked up the spatial ring and started putting it on the index finger of his right hand. The ring seemed too small at first but started to grow as he slid it down until it fit perfectly at the base of his finger. Zane attempted to figure out how the ring worked, but no matter what he did, he couldn't seem to access it. Aisha started to giggle as she watched him.
"Um... how do I use this item?" Zane asked, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.
"First, you need to bind it to yourself. The item just needs a drop of blood, and you will be able to bind it," Aisha answered, seemingly enjoying the embarrassed look on the new adventurer's face. "Then, you will be able to focus on it while it is on your finger, and you should be able to access the inventory of it."
Zane took a dagger out of his pack and pricked the index finger on his right hand, allowing the blood to slowly drip down his finger onto the ring. The ring seemed to absorb it and glowed briefly before returning to normal. Zane then focused on it and could see a space roughly the size of a small room, maybe 10ft by 10ft. He realized he could store so many items in it and was excited to be able to test it. He attempted to put the book he had gotten in the ring, and instantly, the item disappeared. He rechecked the ring's storage and found the book in the middle of it. He did a few more tests and found that he could focus on where the item went. After a few tests, he had put the book in the corner of the storage area. Aisha had watched him through all of this and was patiently waiting.
"Are there any other questions I can assist you with before we return you to your friends?" Aisha asked.
"No, that's great. I really appreciate the assistance you provided," Zane said as he stood up.
Aisha stood and walked out of the office back to the counter where Rein was waiting.
"Zoe said she had to leave for a bit and would give us an answer on joining the team before we leave town again," Rein said as he noticed Zane looking around. "I told her we would be staying at the inn here in town.”
Rein handed him the staff he had made for Zoe. “She also gave me this to give to you until she made her decision”
"That is fine. Thank you for the information. Is there anything else we need to do?" Zane asked as he took the staff from Rein before storing it in his ring.
"Yes, there is. I need your name so we can create your token," Aisha responded, looking at Zane.
"My name is Zane Smyth," he responded.
Aisha nodded as she held up a necklace with a token attached to it. The token started to glow as Zane's name was inscribed onto its surface. Once the token stopped glowing, she put it on the counter.
"Here is your token, you will start as a tin ranked adventurer. In order to upgrade to a different rank, you must complete missions and turn in monster parts," Aisha said. “Occasionally, there are nobles request missions that go to suggested members as well.”
Zane smiled as he picked up the token and put it around his neck. He always dreamed of something like this happening in his old world, but never in his wildest dreams did he think it would. He was excited to be able to experience this for himself.
"Is there anything else I can do for you today?" Aisha asked.
"Actually, there is. I need to transfer my party to Zane, and then we will have some bounties to turn in and some monster parts."
"That won't be an issue at all. I will just need both of your tokens."
They both handed her their tokens and waited momentarily as they glowed. Once the glowing stopped, she handed the tokens back. Zane didn't feel any different and hadn't noticed anything strange in his vision. He wondered how being in a party changed things.
"I will just need to know what bounty you completed. Please place the animal or monster parts here," she said as she placed a large tray on the counter.
"We cleared the old mine out. Here are the monster parts we collected as well."
Rein had placed the Hobgoblin's head on the tray, the shaman's head, and what looked like the ears of every goblin killed at the mine. Aisha's eyes widened as the items were placed there.
"This is something we didn't expect for a while, especially with the bounty changing to include the hob," Aisha stated as she started through the parts. "The reward was also updated.
"What changed on it?" Rein asked.
"They removed the gold reward and are instead giving the deed to the mine and the land rights to whoever can kill the hob. They figured it was becoming too much of a problem to keep."
"That's great! Once we have the deed, we can choose that as our primary location" Rein said before walking towards the request board.
"Yes, you can. I won't have any issue setting that location as your party's base of operations, though it is rather unheard of for such a low-ranked party to have one."
"What exactly does that do for us?" Zane asked, trying to understand what was happening.
"It allows us to install a communication array to contact you from the guild itself. It is extremely useful, especially for higher-ranked groups. It also allows for completion of quests and bounties from there, we will send the rewards there as well unless you turn them in at a guild of course."
"That does seem like a start. Are we also able to send goods from there to here to sell?”
“If our guild crafters decide that the work can be of value absolutely but you will also have to get a crafter’s token and become part of the crafter’s guild as well.”
“Then that will be the next stop. I need to head that way as it is as it seems I get to learn how to craft specific equipment. I look forward to it.”
“If that is all I wish you the best of luck on your adventures.” Aisha said with a smile.
Zane turned to find Rein still at the request board. As he walked towards Rein he noticed he had a stack of papers in his hand. “Did you find some good requests for us to complete?”
“I did. Some easy requests that can get us some funds and merit. What is next for us?”
“We need to head over to the crafter’s guild to get a few things done there.”
Rein nodded his head as he turned to walk out. They walked outside and started heading towards the crafter’s guild. Zane noticed a few of the buildings across the road and past the merchant’s guild were stores and thought it might be good to see what a few of them have later. As they approached the entrance to the crafter’s guild they heard the clanking of hammer’s on anvils. They opened the door and Zane smiled as he saw everyone rushing around a workshop. You had tailors in their area sewing garbs and bags, carpenters working on furniture, blacksmiths making armor and weapons, leatherworkers creating bags and other armor, and even enchanters working with crystals, gems, and even runes.
