"Welcome to the Solmare Adventurer's Guild. Are you here to register?" asked the receptionist in a professional tone.
He nodded. "Yes, and I'd also like some information about the tournament everyone's talking about."
The girl handed him a form. "Fill this out. As for the tournament, it was organized by the Kingdom of Velmora. The winner will have access to high-level resources, including rare artifacts and advanced techniques. However... the competition is fierce."
The boy was very curious about the techniques, but decided to think about it later.
He quickly skimmed through the form. The registration was simple, but the interesting part was the initial ranking: every adventurer was assessed to determine their official Rank.
"To participate in the tournament, you need to be at least Rank D, or have a power at that level," continued the receptionist. "There will be an evaluation test in two days. If you're interested, you can register now."
Jeremy thought about it. The tournament could be a great opportunity to test his strength and gain valuable resources. But most of all, he wanted to understand the higher Ranks better.
"I'm not planning to register," he finally said.
Jeremy's power was peculiar. From what he understood, death-related powers, like necromancy, weren't viewed favorably.
It would attract too much attention. The key was to get stronger and learn more about this place before seeking out everything else.
The girl nodded, slightly surprised. "Great. As for your documents, come back tomorrow to collect your ID."
As he walked away from the counter, Jeremy noticed several stares on him. Some were curious, others were distrustful. A group of young adventurers was whispering among themselves, eyeing him with a mix of condescension and interest.
"He doesn't even have the guts to compete…" murmured one of them.
Jeremy smiled to himself. He might not know everything about this world yet, but he was sure of one thing: he was strong, or at least his potential was.
Now he just had to prepare.
Then—
With an embarrassed smile, he returned to the counter.
"Did you forget something?" asked the receptionist with a grin.
"I need to sell some materials and buy a few things," Jeremy replied. "Do you know where I can go for that?"
"Absolutely," the girl nodded confidently. "Head to the Beast Association, it's about a kilometer from here, to the north."
After thanking her, Jeremy headed north.
After walking for a few minutes, the boy noticed a strange-looking place with a sign reading "Beast Association."
Compared to the majestic Guild, this place looked rougher, less maintained.
Without thinking too much, Jeremy entered.
"Hello," a very young girl greeted him immediately, with neat straight hair tied in a ponytail. "I'm Cecil, how can I help you?"
"Good morning, my name is Jeremy," the boy replied. "I need to sell some materials."
"What kind of materials?" the girl responded. "Not to pry, just to know where to direct you."
"Oh," he answered politely, "Just some Razorfang, Ailurus, and Putorius cores, Rank F and E, plus some common monster materials from these creatures."
"Alright," Cecil nodded. "Follow me."
Jeremy followed Cecil down a narrow hallway that led to a large room with several wooden counters, where burly men were trading various monster materials. The air was filled with a faint metallic and tanned leather smell, indicating that they often worked with defeated creature remains.
Cecil led him to a counter where a man in his forties, with a short beard and some scars on his face, was inspecting a pile of tusks. He looked up at them and raised an eyebrow.
"A new customer?" he asked in a deep voice.
"This is Jeremy," Cecil replied with a professional smile. "He has some cores and monster materials to sell."
The man nodded and tapped the counter. "Show me what you've got."
Jeremy opened a pouch and dropped a dozen cores on the table, then pulled out another small sack containing tusks and claws. The man's eyes were indifferent as he separated the materials with expert movements.
"Let's see…" he muttered, picking up one of the cores and inspecting it carefully. "Twelve Rank E cores and three Rank F. And these… common tusks and claws, nothing rare."
After a moment, he leaned back in his chair and quickly did the math in his head.
"For the Rank E cores, I can offer you 120 silver coins. For the Rank F, 3 coins. The tusks and claws? I'll give you a fair price: 5 silver coins total."
Jeremy nodded. He knew common materials didn't hold much value, but 128 silver coins for low-level loot wasn't bad at all.
The man pulled out a leather pouch, filled it with the coins, and placed it on the counter. "Deal."
Jeremy took the money and put it in his pocket.
"Are you looking to buy something as well?" Cecil asked, tilting her head slightly.
"Yes, I need a mage's equipment and some dark cloaks, a mask, and… do you have spatial rings?"
The man nodded and pointed to an area on the opposite side of the room, where various gear was displayed. "Look there. We have mage robes and some weapons. The simple masks and cloaks are in that chest."
"As for the spatial rings," the man continued, "we have different types. The simplest one costs 100 silver coins, with a 1m3 storage capacity."
Jeremy approached, carefully examining the merchandise. After a few minutes, he chose a set of Rank F mage robes, some sturdier cloaks, a mask, and a spatial ring.
"All this will cost you 130 silver coins," said Cecil with a smile.
"…"
"Is there a problem with the price?" Cecil continued.
"Well…" Jeremy looked away, trying to avoid eye contact. "I only have these coins," he said, pointing to the pouch the man had given him earlier.
"No problem," said Cecil with a smile. "Our association offers credit."
"All you need is your document," she continued.
"…"
"Is there a problem with that too?" Cecil's smile seemed to crack.
"It's just that I just registered at the Guild," Jeremy didn't know where to look. "My documents will be ready tomorrow…"
"Take it all and go," the man at the counter snapped, annoyed. "128 coins is enough."
"Thank you very much," Jeremy immediately replied, "I'll pay you back as soon as possible."
"Hmph, no need," the man grumbled.
Jeremy left the place, smiling while wearing a ring. Even though he had lost some face, he had gotten what he wanted.
After getting everything he needed, he only had to find a place to stay, but there was a problem.
"I'm broke,"
Jeremy murmured without hesitation.
"Also, it's getting late, I can't go back to the city without documents, so I can't leave. Looks like I'll have to wait until tomorrow…"
"It seems we're sleeping outdoors tonight," the boy smiled.
Somehow, he found an alley to stay in and spent the night. It wasn't the best experience of his life, but it wasn't too unpleasant either.
The next day, he went to the Guild to collect his documents.
With his documents in hand, Jeremy was ready to leave the Guild hall when he noticed a bulletin board with a bunch of quests posted.
There were quests of all kinds, from monster hunting to herb gathering.
There were also quests asking for specific materials from beasts or Rank C cores.
Talking with the group from yesterday, Jeremy learned something about the Nyx Forest.
It was divided into three layers: outer, inner, and central.
Where they were, it was the outer layer. There, the monsters, besides the ones Jeremy had encountered, were of a maximum Rank D.
In the inner part, things got interesting. There were more types of monsters fighting for territory. The inner zone could be further divided into four parts.
In each of them, there were different monsters, with one or more Rank B monsters leading.
After inspecting the monsters, Jeremy couldn't wait to face them. They were all monsters with great potential, with extraordinary abilities, but what excited Jeremy the most was the possibility of summoning them as his undead.
With a plan in mind, Jeremy wanted to take some quests and earn extra money, but his Rank limited him. He couldn't take missions two levels above his Rank, and being Rank E, he couldn't venture into the inner zone, it was too dangerous.
But Jeremy could always go without taking the mission, he'd take it later with the materials ready for exchange.
After all, completing quests seemed quite profitable.
And so, Jeremy set off again for the forest.
The area map was free, fortunately, so Jeremy no longer had to wander aimlessly in the forest. The map seemed to be integrated into the system, so there was no need to take it out every time to find the way.