As Lyra walked the streets of the Capital, an escort-knight leading her in the direction of the Adventurers Guild Headquarters, she mused how she had ended up doing this again. The Emperor had explained that it was better for Lyra to enter the Kingdom Alliance as an adventurer, as all adventurers had neutrality and could freely move between nations. She would still be an adventurer who had accepted the request of the Revean Empire, but it would be a better look this way, he assured her.
All in all, it wasn't that bad timing. Lyra had been curious about the adventurers ever since had first heard about them from Lady Helena back in Brightfield Village. So going to the HQ was something she had wanted to do as well, but registering as an adventurer herself, that bit she was not so sure about. She was however assured that there were no downsides to being registered, except having to pay a 10-silver fee every year to maintain your guild membership. That was to cover all administrative duties relating to you, over the course of a year.
And that's how she now found herself here, standing outside a large, three story stone-building which was the home of the Adventurers Guild. Over the large wooden door was their icon. A bow, a staff and a sword, overlaid. The knight nodded towards Lyra and took up position outside the guild. He wasn't there to guard her, but rather to ensure she did not get lost, which was a concern the royal family had, seeing the Capital City being as large as it was. Maps were not readily available to most people, it appeared, for a few reasons. To begin with, they were rare because they were so extremely difficult to create, at least professional and accurate maps. Secondly, maps were considered national secrets. If an enemy got a hold of an accurate map of, say, the Capital City, they would have a massive advantage in warfare.
The only ones who proper maps of the Revean Empire and their larger cities were the Royal Family, and the officers in the military. So having an escort-knight to lead people around the city were not an uncommon thing.
Anyhow, Lyra made her way up the few steps towards the Guild HQ, and then made her way inside. She could spot a reception at the far end, staffed by five receptionists. To the side, were three large notice-boards, where missions were posted. They were crowded, as Lyra would have expected. Then there was also a place for people to sit and lounge and eat, which also made sense. What was most interesting was that, for the first time in her life, Lyra now spotted people who were not human. There were two dwarves, clad in plate and chainmail, wielding a large hammer and a large axe respectively. They were stood on two chairs, in order to reach up high enough to be able to see the missions on the notice-boards. They were both bearded, so Lyra assumed they were men, but figured one could never be too certain when it came to dwarves.
She also spotted a human-looking woman, with long black hair, but she had both a tail slooshing lazily behind her, and cat-ears jutting out from atop her head. One of the beast-folks, Lyra assumed. Now, she did not mean to be staring, but she was. She was not entirely unnoticed either. Many patrons of the guild turned their head as she walked inside, watching her intently. Some had perhaps seen an elf before, but an elven woman still seemed to be rare even amongst the Adventurers. Lyra felt the stares and could hear the whispers going through the guild hall. She took a deep breath, ignored it all, and made her way towards the guild reception.
She had been given a new set of clothes by the royal family, to better look the part, and she had immediately grown fond of it. A short-cut green leather tunic covered her chest and shoulders, and it was a bit tight against her generous bosom but still soft and comfortable. It ended just above her navel, leaving her entire midriff bare, which would keep her cool. She also had a brown leather shoulder-pad over her left arm, to offering some protection to her neck, while her right shoulder was free ensuring she could move her dominant arm more freely. Then further below, she wore short brown shorts than ended about halfway down her thighs. She also carried a black belt with a few pouches and small satchels attached to it, for storage. Finally, black boots that went far up her ankle, with a little bit of a heel to them.
With this, she should look ever bit the adventurer, and her elven features were openly on display, which also was intentional. Before leaving, she had made Sofie braid her hair into a 4-strand braid, which kept her long light-blue hair out of her face and further revealed her sharp elf ears.
Lyra stopped by the counter, and smiled at the nearby receptionist. They were all human women, and quite pretty, Lyra mused. Intentional? Probably. A pretty face could defuse tense situations. And one did not want fights amongst adventurers.
-"Hi, I have come to register as an adventurer." Lyra said, her area translate spell still on affect. It had been working overtime, for a week now. One of the receptionists looked up and stood, picking out a paper form from a folder and slid it across the desk.
"Oh, great! That will be five silver coins as a one-time fee, and after that it is ten silver a year. Here is the form, please fill it out with your name, race, level and job." the receptionist then said, watching Lyra eagerly. Lyra put five silver coins on the table, courtesy of the Emperor himself, before she looked at the form. She still could neither read nor write, so the paper was a right mystery to her.
-"Uhm... is it possible you could write for me? I still cannot read or write Revean." Lyra said, smiling bashfully.
"Oh, of course! What is your name?" she said, turning the form around and gripping the pen.
-"Lyra Lunarsong." Lyra answered.
"Oh, beautiful name. Lunar-Song, correct? And Lyra with a Y?" the receptionist answered.
-"That's right." Lyra said and smiled.
"And... elf for race, right?" She asked.
-"Sure." Lyra said. No point in putting high elf, then she'd have explain and complicate things.
"Level?"
-"65"
"Oh, that is high. Naturally we will confirm later." the receptionist said. Had it been a human, she might have been more critical of such a high level, but elves were notorious for living very long lives, so in terms of elven adventurers, rare as they might be, it was not that strange.
"And your currentjob?" she then asked, looking up at Lyra.
-"Spirit Mage." Lyra said.
"I... have never heard of that job before." the receptionist said in turn, her pen hoovering over the empty field.
-"You can just put mage if you want." Lyra responded with.
"No no... I'll put down Spirit Mage, then... we'll have to search the registry later, or just make a new filing entirely." the receptionist answered, before writing down the job. Then she continued:
"Right, that's the paperwork done then. Next we'll bring out the measuring device, to get an overall gist of your power level."
-"Measuring device, power level?" Lyra asked, tilting her head to the side quizzically.
"So, we at the guild use a measuring device to get an overall read on the stats of a person. Not every office can have someone with the "Inspection" skill, after all, so we rely mostly on these devices that serve a similar function. However, the device cannot get any details about jobs or skills or the actual numerical value of a person's stats, rather it will summarize everything into a general power level value. Far less accurate than a proper "Inspection", but it gets the job done in most cases." she responded, as she put the papers away, and brought forth a large crystal orb instead, about the size of a human head, which she placed on the counter.
"We will use the power level as a basis for your initial starting rank. New adventurers usually begin at rank E and then make their way up to potentially rank A, and maybe even rank S which is the highest." the receptionist added.
-"Does everyone start at E-rank?" Lyra asked as she looked at this strange orb that was supposed to measure her power level.
"Nearly everyone. However if you have a really high reading, you could jump straight to C-rank, but never higher." came the answer. Then she elaborated:
"Even if the power level is extremely high, that will only take you to C-rank, because after that a lot more things beyond power becomes critical. You need to have knowledge of monsters, their skills, habitats, behavioral patterns. You need be knowledgeable on dungeons and dungeoneering. Teamwork, being able to work with others. Still, I have never seen anyone starting off at C-rank. I have seen people skipping E however a few times, and going directly to D."
-"That makes a lot of sense, thank you. So do I... put my hand on it?" Lyra then asked.
"Correct. Then we judge your power level based on how intensely the orb shines." the receptionist responded. Lyra raised her hand, and looked at the woman, eyebrow raised. She in turn nodded, and gestured for the orb. So, Lyra moved her hand closer and closer. However, before her hand even made contact with the orb, maybe some 10cm distance away, the orb just flashed white for a split-second before it cracked and then moments later shattered into pieces. The entire guild hall turned entirely silent, as everyone looked towards the reception desk, where the smoldering remains of the measuring orb still rocked back and forth on the counter.
-"I... guess that doesn't usually happen..." Lyra asked.
"No... but... maybe it was old? They do have a limited lifespan of about 50 years. But no matter... I have a fresh, new measuring orb as back-up... let me just..." the receptionist said, as she instructed one of the others manning the reception to go get a new orb, while she began sweeping the shards of crystal down into a trash can. Two minutes later, a new orb was on the desk in front of Lyra. But now, everyone in the hall was watching intently, curious to see what would happen.
"Alright... please try again, Miss Lyra." the receptionist said. And so Lyra did. Slowly slowly, she moved her hand forward and forward, until she this time managed to place it upon the orb. What followed was a light so bright, that it made everyone blind. The entire world turned bright for about 3 seconds, before it suddenly turned pitch black, along with the sound of a crack and another crystal orb shattering.
This time, there was a lot of grumbling and rubbing of eyes from everyone in the guild hall, as their eyes gradually recovered from the total flash-bang they had all received. Lyra was no different, it took her at least ten seconds to be able to properly see again, and when she could, she saw the smoldering remains of another shattered crystal. She flashed the receptionist another apologetic smile.
-"Soo... no good, huh?" she said gently, playing with a loose strand of hair, twirling it between her fingers.
"No... no good indeed." the receptionist said with a sigh, rubbing her eyes with her balled up fists. She then added: "If the Guild-Master was in, he would just use "Inspection" on you, and we'd be good. But he is away for a few days. Naturally, based on the blinding light, I would assume your power level is insanely high. But I am not allowed to make any judgement like that myself. Which means... we would have to do it the old fashioned way..."
-"Which is....?" Lyra pressed.
"The Vice-Guild master will have to test you out in the courtyard. I'll go ahead and inform him. Could I trouble one of you to guide Miss Lyra here to the testing area?" The receptionist said before calling out towards the adventurers by the notice-board. One, a young human male clad in a blue robe, held up his hand. "I can do it." he called out.
Which is how it came to be, that after shattering two orbs, Lyra now found herself standing outside in a court-yard behind the Guild HQ building, waiting for the arrival of the Vice-Guild Master, with a slew of spectators along the sides, there for the spectacle...