Chapter 8- Guild Master
Ultimately, I decided it was just another thing that I might need the help of a local to figure out. That was okay, we’d only been here a few hours. There were bound to be differences and part of the joy of exploration was finding out what those differences were. For now I was going to have to be content with exploring the guild hall.
The job boards dominated the far wall. They were organized well enough to make a mid-level manager feel like his work had actual value. They were divided by size and color, with some notices marked by wax seals or iron tags. Adventurers drifted between them, some reading intently, others dismissing entire sections at a glance. A few arguments broke out over specific postings, but they were short-lived and ended without raised voices. Whatever authority governed this place, it was understood without being announced. Thankfully, my auto translate still worked here and so I could read how they were divided into Basic, Journeyman, Advanced, Elite, and Master tier, although the latter only had two jobs on it.
While watching, I noticed that the strength of those present varied widely here, but the floor was higher than anywhere else we had been since arriving in Basetown. These people were not powerful by my standards, but they were capable, and more importantly, they were accustomed to working within a system. That alone made them dangerous in their own way. There was also still the fact that mana was more concentrated here and seemed to still be slowing some of my abilities down.
Selena leaned slightly toward me as we paused just inside the hall. “Efficient,” she murmured. I nodded, already feeling the familiar pull of structure and order. This place seemed to be the engine which drove guild activity but like a non-mechanic I didn’t know what all the moving parts were doing. I could only say that Selena’s summary was accurate. Leave it to a scion of one of the peak families to both recognize and admire efficiency. This definitely wasn’t my strong suit, but that’s why I delegated.
Samvek’s attention remained on the edges of the room. He noted the guards stationed near the stairwell, the clear lanes kept open through the center, and the lack of blind corners. Violence could happen here, but only briefly, and never without consequence. The building itself enforced that understanding. The more I looked at the guards though, the more I realized something. All of their focus was directed externally. They weren’t watching the adventurers. They didn’t seem primed to break up an argument. Instead, they were prepared to defend against an attack from the outside. That added another layer of intrigue here.
At the far end of the hall, a counter stood apart from the rest, marked with a clean wooden sign that read Registration. No one had approached it since we’d come in, but I supposed if that was for new adventurers, then it wouldn’t be shocking that it would have the least activity.
The woman behind the registration counter looked up as we approached, her expression shifted from boredom to excitement. As I got a better look at her, I realized she was one of the younger clerks. Maybe they put the less experienced ones here. That was an interesting take on registration.
When we reached the counter she asked, “How can I help you folks?”
I smiled. “We’d like to find out what it takes to register as adventurers and hopefully go into the dungeon. But can you tell us, is the dungeon truly endless?”
She perked up even more. “I was taking you for experienced adventurers based on your gear and how you move. When you approached my counter, that was the last question I would have expected. I can give you the official guild response. No end has ever been discovered for the dungeon, but very few parties have made it below level 100 and the few who have and made it back all had at least one grandmaster tier. Most wouldn’t say what level they actually stopped on.”
“Interesting. How are the levels of the dungeon determined?”
She appeared confused for a moment. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I really must ask. Are you some rich young master with more gear than experience? Questions like that betray an absolute lack of knowledge about things that every aspiring adventurer would have already learned.”
Selena chimed in. “Let’s say that we’ve been to many different dungeons, but they were very far away. Can you just humor us and explain a bit about this dungeon. It isn’t like you’re exactly busy.”
I thought she might get mad at that, but she seemed not to mind. “Fair enough, and at least you aren’t being rude about it. Legend says that this isn’t just a dungeon but that it is every dungeon. We are taught that there are other dungeons spread across all of Aerth and that those entrances only access a limited pocket of the Endless Dungeon but that through this entrance you can make it to any part of the dungeon. There are even paths to other worlds.”
With those last words it seemed like a lightbulb went off in her head. She quickly covered her mouth as she stifled a gasp. “Perhaps we should continue this conversation in a private room?”
Curious about what she’d figured out, I agreed and she came around the counter before leading us up to the second floor. There were a series of offices. She took us into one of them and then once we were comfortably seated, she said, “Again, I must state the guild’s official policy. We do not insist that otherworlders identify themselves and if you do, that information will be held in strict confidence. Only the registering agent and the guild master will have access to any information provided.
“That said, as a practical matter, if you are in fact otherworlders, then it would make the process much simpler.”
I exchanged a quick discussion with the others and decided that it was going to be impossible not to come off as what they called an otherworlder. The fact that they had a term for it was promising.
“Okay, we’re happy to be more transparent.”
She held up her hand, cutting me off. “Before you say anything further, I swear by my levels under the Great System that any information you share with me will remain secret only to be discussed with the guild master, unless such information presents an imminent threat to guild or the people of Aerth.”
I felt a swirl of mana around her but the patterns were different from what I’d seen before. While I was examining that, Samvek asked, “Out of curiosity, why do you call it the Great System, I thought it was called the Fey System?”
Her eyes bulged and she quickly cast a spell. I could only tell that it was intended to cut off any sound from either getting in or getting out of this room. Her heart rate had grown faster when she came to the realization that we were from another world, but it was positively trying to pound its way out of her chest now. “That is very dangerous to say. I can only hope that you weren’t overheard. Know that my spell can’t stop divine ears but it’s the best protection I can offer.”
My curiosity was growing shaper by the moment. “Dangerous how?”
“Stars above, you really don’t know do you. Suffice it to say that legend says once upon a time the fey ruled this world. I don’t even know if that was true or what a fey would look like. What I do know is that for nearly 3000 years, the only god recognized on this world, is the Lawgiver. His Order is the only allowed church, and anyone suggesting otherwise have often become a rather colorful object lesson. It isn’t so bad no, but supposedly in the past they had entire crusades to kill off anyone who objected.”
We talked about it a bit further, mostly limiting our questions to understanding the nature of the Order here. There were Lawkeepers, they were the foot soldiers and were usually under level 60 with a few exceptions. She explained that because they were never adventurers, the guild only had limited information about them, but that Lawkeeper was their class and that all of them had the same divine imbuement.
I wanted to ask what a divine imbuement was, but Selena told me over chat to do no such thing and Samvek agreed with her. The clerk who let us know her name was Mary, continued to explain that Lawspeakers were generally the highest rank that would be in most cities but that recently some others had arrived in Basetown known as Inquisitors and Dreadnoughts. She spoke about them as though their power levels were beyond anything mortal.
“Okay, thank you for explaining all of this to us so that we won’t step afoul of the Order. But does the fact that we’re from a different world affect our registration here?”
Her eyes moved over us in a quick, professional assessment, lingering just a fraction longer on Samvek’s frame and Selena’s posture before returning to me. “If you want access to contracts, dungeon permissions, or guild facilities, you’ll need to register. While we are all under the System, different worlds often have different classes. So generally a test is required where you are taken into the dungeon with the guild master to demonstrate your level of competency.”
I nodded once. “What does the test involve?” I asked. There was no point in pushing before we understood the rules, even if I already suspected the answer would be unsatisfying.
“Varies,” she replied, already reaching for a fresh set of forms. “Basic capability assessment, survivability markers, and a verification pass. Nothing truly dangerous unless you overstate your abilities.” She slid three packets across the counter, one to each of us, along with a small inkwell and pen. “Fill these out completely. Or as completely as you can. If something doesn’t apply, leave it blank.”
I took the papers and glanced down at the headings. Name. Place of Origin. Class. Tier and level. Affiliations. Dungeon Experience. The list seemed fairly simple. We all agreed through chat to list our real names, but our place of origin simply as Another World. For classes, we were each going to pick one of our four class shards since we didn’t know how their system worked.
Ultimately rather than choosing one of my class a shards which either didn’t explain what I could do by themselves or sounded extremely pretentious. Instead, I listed Trailblazer of the Fused Path. I figured that would be vague enough that they wouldn’t know quite what I could do.
Thankfully on the tier section they had a handy guide.
Basic 1-20
Journeyman 21-40
Advanced 41-60
Elite 61-80
Master 81-100
Grandmaster 101-150
Since none of those applied as far as levels, I left it blank. I wasn’t sure how my levels compared to the levels here, but again my sense of the power level of the people we’d encountered told me that none of them were as strong as me. The one odd point to me was that the Inquisitor we’d seen had registered as level 200 with Identify. In fact, thinking about it, I pulled up the notification.
Terrel Nissun Tier: Grandmaster
Level: 201
Class Inquisitor
Race: Awakened Human
Again, I wanted to ask what an Awakened Human was or why the form we were filling out was limited to level 150. I just got the sense that those questions might lead to more trouble.
When we handed the forms back to her, Mary sucked in again. Okay, if you don’t give us a level, then we won’t be able to determine how to test you and that would require starting at level 1 in the dungeon and moving down the slow way. The guild master wouldn’t be happy about that waste of his time.”
Selena said, “We don’t want to waste anyone’s time. The level options simply don’t cover us.”
It seemed to take a second for Mary to catch up but then her eyes widened yet again. “Are you awakened? Uh, how is that even possible? You must come from a truly strange world. I’m sorry, you don’t have to answer those questions. The identity of your ascendant or divine patron is not something we could or even would want to compel you to provide. But, I’m going to need to include the guild master in the next part of our discussion. I don’t even know how to handle this. Would you at least tell me what level I should tell him you’re claiming?”
The three of us looked at one another but I was the one to say, “262.”
With that she was on her feet. “I’ll be right back with the guild master.”
Good to her word, she came back within two minutes. Apparently, this was important enough to interrupt whatever he was doing. He wasn’t what I’d expected. He looked about 40 and was slender with a wiry build. If I had to guess a class by just looking at him, I would have thought of something within the rogue classification. Appearances could be deceiving though.
“So you three are the ones giving Mary a heart attack.” He didn’t wait for a response but instead picked up the forms. Then he looked at us again and said, “Do I have your permission to cast an assessment spell on you. Normally, I’d just use the assessment sphere, but something happened a couple weeks ago and we’ve been instructed not to use the spheres until an investigation has been completed. That’s fine though, it just give me an excuse to leave the guild hall.
“It still leaves us with a problem because I’m not sure how to properly assess you. I can take you down to floor 90 which is the deepest that I feel comfortable going to and is one that we have a portal crystal for, but that wouldn’t properly challenge you if you are what you claim.”
“Where we come from our power level isn’t necessarily common but there are plenty who have reached this level or beyond. Selena’s father for example is much stronger as is Samvek’s father. The issue seems to be around this awakened term. Can you tell me what’s meant by that? Maybe we just have a different word for it.”
He seemed to consider my question for a moment before replying, “Awakening in the process of taking a grandmaster tier beyond level 150. It is a closely guarded secret and even the few grandmaster tier within the empire are below that level. Normally, there are no awakened on Aerth and the only ones we know of are part of the Order although legends speak of many others. Supposedly, on a ascendant or divine tier being can awaken that potential in a human and that is a type of sponsorship. I can’t say for sure if that’s true.”
I was a bit baffled. For the leader of a guild he seemed to have very limited information about how the system worked. Then it struck me. They were being purposefully kept in the dark. This entire world was. Someone higher up the food chain, maybe this Lawgiver, didn’t want the people on this world knowing too much. Usually leaders like that never had good intentions.
He said, “I could take you to one of the forbidden pockets that we have a crystal for, but I don’t know if I could survive let alone protect you there. And there is the matter of them being forbidden. So, maybe if you could each show me something you can do, then I’d know how to proceed.”
Selena stepped up first. She pointed at the knife on his belt. “Know how to use that?”
He grinned. “First blood?”
She returned his grin and pulled out a small belt knife.
Mary said, “Right here? Should we use one of the training rooms.”
Selena shook her head. “It won’t take that long.”
The guild master chuckled. “I do like a confident woman, although that’s pretty common for adventurers, perhaps too common. Mary count down from 3. We start when she says ‘go’, okay?”
Selena nodded. Mary counted and then before he’d even moved a thin line appeared on the back of the guild master’s hand. His brain had already told his body to start moving so it took him a fraction of a second to halt his movement. His eyes narrowed and he looked at Selena. “Was that pure speed or a spell of some sort?”
“A bit of both, but if you think I’m fast you should see Silas. He’s insanely fast, except when he should take his time.” Her voice almost took on a purring sound with that last bit. Then she added, “But not all of us can have his broken stats.”
“Well that was less fun that I expected, but it does support the proposition that you’re at the level you’re claiming. What about the two of you?”
Samvek reached out and put a hand on the guild master’s shoulder. An instant later they were both gone as he’d warped space around them. I got the sense that he had to brute force it more than normal as it lacked his usual refinement, but five seconds later they were back.”
“Teleportation is a powerful spell. While short range doesn’t necessarily mean you’re the level that you’re claiming, if you’re new to this world then you likely don’t know many placed to take me to. I assume that was a room you rented at the Purple Cat?”
Samvek nodded. “Exactly.”
Then the guild master turned his eyes toward me. “And you?”
“Well since Selena didn’t let you have any fun, I will. Come at me with your best attack. I’ll only defend. If you do hit me, don’t worry, I’ve got a pretty high regeneration rate and some healing magic as well as potions.”
He grinned and I felt him casting some spell, actually I quickly realized it was a chain of them. If I had to guess some were enhancing him and some were enhancing his dagger. When he attacked it was with impressive speed and power so much so that the furniture in the room and even poor Mary were all knocked backwards by the wave of displaced air.
His dagger never reached me though as it hit the first layer of my force constructs. I’d created three layers, but it turned out that his attack couldn’t even get through the first layer. I will say though that for a level 100 it hit fairly hard.
“Satisfied?”
“Yep, we’ll do the test on level 90. I have to admit though, I’m curious how quickly you can clear your way to level 100. And even more curious about if you’ll want to keep going. I’d like to see deeper parts of the dungeon, even if it’s a bit risky.”
“Then today you get your wish.”