System Change

Derek waited for a very long time before Nia finally walked up to him. “They are ready for you, Mr. Hunt.”

Derek nodded and stood. Nia led him past the counter into a room in the back, where a skinny man with light brown hair waited at a table.

The man stood. “Mr. Hunt, it’s nice to meet you.” He stuck out his hand for a handshake, and Derek took it. “I see Nia has already gone over the contract with you. Please…” He motioned to one of the chairs at the table. “Have a seat.” Then the man dismissed Nia.

Derek took a seat, and the man began. “Are there any question or concerns you have about the basic contract here?”

Derek shook his head. “It all seems pretty basic.”

The man nodded. Then, he held his hand over the papers and injected his mana into them. Afterwards, he slid the papers across the table to Derek. “If you would.” He said.

Derek put his hand on the contract.

A contract with one ’Francesco Jaccobs’ and entity ‘Adventurer’s Guild’ has been initiated. Would you like to proceed?

Y/N

Yes. Derek thought.

Contract has been completed. Please abide by the terms to avoid any penalties.

Just like before, the contract split in two. Derek placed his hand back on his contract, and it turned into mana and flowed into him, creating a new contract in his Status. The man across from him did the same.

“Alright, now that all the formalities are over, we can get down to business. I am the manager of the Torith Adventurer’s Guild, Francesco Jaccobs. You can call me Francesco or Mr. Jaccobs. All new applicants are vetted by me before becoming full-fledged guild members.” Francesco said.

“Now, the first thing I must ask is, what grade membership are you applying for? Bronze, Silver, or Gold?” He asked.

“I don’t suppose you can give out Platinum, then?” Derek said casually.

The man’s eye twitched at that. “Unfortunatly, no. For Platinum, you will need to apply at one of the guilds in a top city, or the Capital. Above Platinum, you can only apply at the Adventurer’s guild in the Capital.”

Derek nodded. “I see. Then I guess I’ll just take a Gold badge for now.”

The man flinched at Derek’s nonchalant attitude again. “You can not just ‘take’ a Gold badge. You must first be tested, only then will you be awarded a Gold badge.”

“That’s fine.” Derek said.

Francesco let out a deep sigh. “For the test, would you like to provide stat information and confirm through a contract, or would you like to be tested on your combat ability by the Gold instructor on standby.”

This was a no brainer for Derek. There was no way he would give out his current stats to anyone. But he decided to ask a question that had been on his mind. “Can’t you Identify that I’m at least level 100 and be done with it?”

The man shook his head. “No. The example people give of Adventurer Tiers are usually levels. Like, level 100 for Gold, and level 50 for Silver. But those examples are actually incorrect. You need the fighting ability of a level 50 or a level 100. Identify can be fooled. For example, a level 100 warrior can come in and ask for a Gold badge. Under what people think, we would just give that person the badge. But what if that person was an Alchemist until level 100, then changed their class to a Warrior class? That person would not have fighting experience, class supporting stats, or skills.” He explained.

“So, in general, people assume that it is level 100 that we give Gold badges to, but in reality, it is the strength of a level 100 fighter that is awarded the badge. You see?” The man asked.

Derek nodded. “I guess that makes sense. You wouldn’t want a complete novice fighter on a gold ranked team.”

“That’s right.” The man said. “Now, how would you like to be tested?”

“Combat ability, of course.” Derek said.

“Very well. Please follow me.” Francesco stood and began leading Derek to another door in the room.

Derek followed. They went through the door and into a hallway. They continued walking until they reached a door at the end. When Francesco opened the door, sunlight shined through, and Derek realized that they were heading to an enclosed courtyard behind the Adventurer’s Guild.

Derek looked around at the training dummies and targets stationed sound the area. It was a full on training ground.

“This is our training area. Our Gold and Silver ranked adventurers are allowed to come here to test their abilities and spar with one another. There are always a few healers on standby in case something goes wrong.” He said as he kept walking towards an area with two people sparring.

They got close to the spar, and Francesco motioned to a giant of a man watching over the two opponents. The man nodded their way, then turned and yelled at the two people sparring. “Take five!”

Soon, Derek, Francesco, and the other man were all standing together. “Russell, this is Derek Hunt. He is here for a Gold examination.”

“Oh?” Russell eyed Derek up and down. “He doesn’t look like much.” The man laughed.

“He wanted to take the Platinum exam, but we don’t offer it. He said he’d just have to settle for Gold.” Francesco said, not hiding his disdain at all.

Russell burst into a laughing fit. The two fighters also overheard Francesco’s comment and began laughing. “You want to be Platinum ranked? In your dreams, maybe. Hahaha!”

Derek was getting a bit irritated. Not at being made fun of, but because of how long this endeavour was turning out to take. Derek liked to think of himself as a patient man, but this whole thing was reminding him of waiting at a DMV back on Earth before the system appeared.

“Can we just get on with it? I have things to do, and I didn’t plan on being here all day.” Derek said, clearly showing his irritation.

The man, a head taller than Derek, looked down at him. “That eager to get your ass kicked? I don’t mind.” Russell looked at Francesco. “Explain what you need to him, I’ll be waiting over there.” Russell walked to the sparring area.

“The Adventurer’s Guild is not liable for any damage caused to you during the test. Of course, the healers will do their best to heal you back to 100%, but there have been cases where they were unable to. Do you understand?”

“Yes.” Derek replied.

“Very well. You may spar with Russell when ready. Do try not to get hurt too bad.” The man said.

Derek shook his head and walked towards Russell. Finally, he stood across from the man.

“I’ll give you two free shots, go ahead.” Russell tried to provoke Derek. “C’mon they’re free. You won’t get this treatment anywhere else.” He pointed at his chin.

“Just shut up and fight. Like I said, I don’t have all day.” Derek stood with his arms by his side.

Derek may not have a short fuse, but Russell sure did. Just the one sentence and the man’s face turned red in anger. “You asked for it.” The giant screamed and charged towards Derek.

At the side, Derek heard Francesco’s loud sigh. The man was shaking his head in contempt as he watched the scene.

Derek watched as the presumably Gold ranked adventurer lumbered towards him. This is the experience one needs to get the badge. It looks like this asshole just put every stat he got into Strength. Hell, I think Thomas is almost as fast as this guy. Derek shook his head and waited.

Soon, the towering giant arrived in front of him. The man drew his arm back, ready to launch a haymaker. His enormous fist flew forwards, aiming directly at Derek’s face. Derek tilted his head ever so slightly, letting the fist blow by, missing his ear by centimeters. Then, he lifted his right arm and, with the back of his hand, slapped the giant man in the face.

Everything happened in an instant. All anybody really saw was Russell rushing Derek, then throwing a punch. The next thing they saw was Russell spinning in the air like a dancer, before landing face down, ass up, completely unconscious.

Even Derek was in awe at what happened. No, he was not surprised that he won so easily. Based on the man’s attack, that was a given. What he was surprised about was the grace at which the man was knocked unconscious, or lack thereof.

Two healers immediately ran over to check on Rusell. Before long, they had him conscious and healed up. Luckily for the man, there were only six people currently on the training grounds. The two adventurers, two healers, himself, Francesco, and Derek. If he did some quick talking, perhaps he would be able to keep this unsightly news from spreading.

Derek walked over to Francesco. “So, I guess he was a Blacksmith or something? One of those level 100s that aren’t qualified for a Gold badge?” Derek asked.

“Uh… N-no, he was the instructor. One of the stronger Gold ranked adventurers in the city.” The man answered, embarrassed.

Bronson is so much stronger. Derek inwardly sighed. “Was that enough, can I get the Gold badge now?”

The skinny man answered. “Y-yes… Well, n-no… Uh, you weren’t joking about wanting Platinum rank, were you?”

“No.”

The man sighed. “I’m sorry about my previous arrogance, sir. I will have a temporary Gold badge for you soon. I would like to give you an official one, but I can’t go against guild rules.”

Derek frowned at that. “What do you mean?”

“You have proven yourself to be Gold ranked, however, for it to be official, you must complete at least two Silver missions. Before that, you will not be allowed to take on Gold missions.”

Derek let out a breath. “So much trouble.” He shook his head. “Well, let’s go see some missions. I really want to get this done today.”

With that, the duo left the training area. Leaving Russell alone to pander to the four witnesses.