66 Death and Taxes

Reece was the first person to greet Eren outside his apartment. She was going to be his guide here.

“You want to know? Why don’t you come inside and let me show you?”

Eren smirked and punched Reece’s shoulder up in a friendly manner before keeping his right arm across her shoulders. The girl was used to his behavior and was tempted to take him up on his offer. However, she remembered her mother’s words that told her “give the man what he wants easily and he’ll never cherish it as much as he should.”

Reece had a frown on her face as she adjusted her stance while being burdened with Eren’s body weight. However, she did nothing to stand away from Eren and started guiding him towards another building where the guild’s main lobby was.

“How are you feeling? The synth body shouldn’t have any problems. But let me know if you feel something odd here.”

Reece told Eren while checking her schedule for the day on her spectral screen.

“I’m fine, Reecy. It’s just that I’m hungry. Do we have anything to eat here?”

‘Eat me.’ Reece answered Eren’s question in her mind and chuckled. She then readjusted her stance as a well-mannered girl as her mother wanted her to be before answering Eren’s question.

“We do. I’ll take you there in a while. But first, you need to meet with the captain.”

“Alright,” Eren said and let Reece guide him about.

***

This was the guild’s main lobby. It featured a giant hall that was enhanced with runic details for luminescence and air ventilation. There was a counter at one corner of the hall, serving as the place to register for solo or group missions.

There were various spectral displays placed at different corners of the guild hall. They had details about various ongoing and completed missions as well as current news about the city of Ladun and the Shaikai kingdom as a whole.

Various guilds were assigned these missions by the local authorities of the city as well as the Shikai administration if and when they were kingdom-level missions. Guilds could be issued the same kind of missions by the local and kingdom administrations with quality, quantity, and other variables varying.

I-Rune was used by all the denizens of Gilaahan. It was used to keep track of the guild members active on the missions. The data was shared with the local authorities as well as the kingdom’s administration if and when there was a need.

By now, every process related to the mission’s planning, processing, and completion had been streamlined. Even the raw products and resources collected in the missions could be used, sold, or stored in various ways, in an individual or guild’s capacity.

The Stardust guild also had non-human guild members in Gilaahan. It was just that they were rare since most races liked to stick with their bunch. It was only in a large guild that there was a huge diversity of races. That’s because adventurers would join such guilds because of the monetary benefits they offered.

A guild’s potential in Gilaahan could be easily understood by how many stars it had in the kingdom’s official database. The 1-star guilds were the most basic and considered start-ups. Whereas, two-star guilds were start-ups that had tasted some success.

The three-star guilds were known organizations in their sphere of influence whereas the four-star guilds were considered elites. The kingdoms like Shaikai only gave five-star ratings to one guild at a time.

The stardust guild was registered as a two-star guild that was considered as close to achieving 3-stars if and when they contributed enough for the city of Ludan and the Shaikai kingdom.

A guild’s rating determines its access to resource-rich areas. With better access came more lucrative missions and greater rewards. There were other perks to having a three-star or higher rating as well.

For example, three-star and above guilds had better, larger databases of spells they could give out to their guild members for a specific price. Of course, the city and kingdom administrations would take their cuts from transactions like these, enabling a smooth-functioning economy.

With a variety of spells to choose from, the guild members would be able to find the spells and techniques that better suited them. As a result, the guild’s individual as well as group prowess would increase.

Another passive effect of having a better spell and technique database was that the adventurers would likely be part of a guild that had a higher star rating. The guilds would then have more capable rankers to hire from a huge pool of adventurers.

As such, like every other guild, the Stardust guild aspired to have a better rating than its existing one. It was on the cusp of having a three-star rating. It just needed another kingdom-level mission to take part in and succeed at.

***

“Here begins your life as an adventurer, Eren Elijah Idril. Excited?”

Eren was greeted by someone with their usual friendly smile when he entered the guild’s lobby. When he heard a familiar voice, he was still looking everywhere while being led by Reece. He looked at 9 O’clock to find a lustrous-golden-blond-haired girl with gray eyes staring at him keenly.

“And a good morning to you too, cap!”

Eren smiled slightly at Miranda before heading her way with his arm still on Reece’s shoulder. At this point, he was placing half of his body weight on her, making his stride slanty. One had to admit that there was still wild and untamed behavior left in Eren from his days as a street thug.

“Excited? I am indeed excited. I have to be if I want to pay my bills.”

Eren added and smiled mirthlessly. Miranda chuckled before responding with a jab.

“Hehehe. That’s better. We can’t have you die too early if we want to at least take back our loan amount.”

“Death and taxes!” Eren snorted his nose and said.

“Death and taxes.” Miranda pursed her lips in a smile and nodded.