Chapter 5 A Dragon's First Quest

Arad stood up to leave, his head still stinging from Amber's punch. He looked downstairs and then back at Nina. "Say, can I take a quest now?"

Nina stood, "Of course, but I suggest you start with an F-rank quest."

"F-rank quest, what are they?"

"Look at your guild card."

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<Arad Orion><Level: 1><Class: Sorcerer>

<Guild Rank: F><Rank Up: 0/10><Reliability Rank: N/A>

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"The card has your name, level, and class. It also has your Rank, how many quests you need to rank up, and how many you failed." Nina explained.

She approached him, pointing at the card.

<Guild Rank: F> The ranks in the guild are:

F: Newbie Adventurer.

E: Starting Adventurer.

D: Seasoned Adventurer.

C: Experienced Adventurer

B: Skillful Adventurer.

A: Masterful Adventurer.

S: Super Adventurer, legendary heroes.

<Rank Up: 0/10> How many quests do you need to rank up?

Usually, you need to finish ten quests of your Rank to raise. Ten F-rank is what you need.

<Reliability Rank: N/A> it shows how many quests you failed. Abandoned quests also count as failed.

Note that quests that failed due to misinformation don't count. Let's say your mission said to kill the goblin horde that has 20~30 goblins, yet you faced a couple of hobgoblins. That doesn't add because it's unfair.

You can't, under any circumstance, take any quest higher than your Rank, Unless you join a high-rank party. This rule is to prevent needless deaths.

Quests like this don't count toward your Rank Up unless issued by the guild directly. This rule is to prevent piggybacking on stronger parties.

Arad nodded, tucking the guild card in his pocket.

Amber approached Arad, "Another advice,"

"What is it?" He stared at her.

"As a sorcerer, you can cast magic without an arcane focus but are limited to one element. That doesn't mean you won't benefit from having arcane focus." She took a small wand from her pocket.

"Mage staffs are for power, wands for speed, and crystal orbs for control. You better buy one as soon as you can." She said with a smile.

Arad stared at her face and then at the wand in her hand, "I thought you were about to give that to me, cheapskate."

She clenched her fist, "You rude little thing, but you won't need this. I told you, wands for speed." She tucked the wand back into her pocket. "You can benefit more from a mage staff or a crystal orb."

She was right Arad already has more speed than he needs. Getting more power or control is a better option.

"I don't have those to give you one. I only use wands." Amber sighed.

"You can certainly buy me a mage staff, can't you?" Arad glared at her.

[What are you doing?]

"I will get you a decent mage staff if you Rank up in a week. How about that?" Amber smiled.

"Deal." Arad grinned. There is chemistry between him and Amber. With them both being fire sorcerers.

"Don't even try. The time record is two months." Nina walked between them. "But if you want, how about you take a quest now?"

Arad walked with her to the counter. As he looked around, he noticed a ragged double-bladed battleaxe hanging on the wall.

"That axe behind you, is it for decoration?" Arad asked.

"No, that's for emergencies," Nina replied.

[We need a place to spend the night. Ask her about inns.]

Arad nodded, "Before I take a quest, I did want to ask you about the inns in the city. Location and pricing."

Nina reached under the counter, "I can give you a map of their location, but I don't know the pricing as it changes." She gave him the map. It had a total of seven inns.

"Thank you. Can you give me a quest now?"

Nina pointed toward one of the walls, "See that board over there? It has F-rank quests. Go read them and choose."

Arad thanked her and went to the board. After taking a glance, he found a lot of decent quests.

<Mint gathering: 5 Copper per fresh batch>

<Sewer cleaning: 1 Silver and 50 Copper>

<Brick hauling: 1 Silver per day>

<Porter for the demon fang party: 8 Silver per week>

<Rat hunting: 2 Copper per Rat, It can be done with a Sewer cleaning quest.>

<Slime hunting: 5 Copper coins per kill>

<Rabit hunting: Pays depending on the kill>

<Missing Animal: 5 Silver if retrieved>

"This is a lot." Arad's eyes darted across the board. He noticed that kill quests are rare.

[Take the slime hunting. All adventurers must start with it.]

"Why?"

[It's weird to do anything besides it for a first quest. I know the missing animal quest is tempting with the five silver, but the fact it's still there means no one found the animal.]

Arad grabbed the Slime hunting quest and walked back toward Nina. "I will take this."

She smiled, "Everyone seems to take it for a first quest," She stamped the poster and then pulled a paper from underneath the counter.

"I will try making it as clear as possible, so listen well," Nina said with a serious face.

"A slime is composed of two things, a flesh core in the middle and an outer layer of gooey acid." She pointed with her finger at a drawing of the monster.

"I see, so the problem is?"

"The acid layer can melt your clothes and destroy weapons. Kill them with magic or improvised weapons." She explained.

[Improvised weapons like sticks, stones, bones, or glass. Anything you can grab and don't mind losing.]

"And about your payment. Let me stress this; there are two." She pulled another piece of paper detailing the slime core.

"When you kill a Slime, there are two results. A destroyed core and an intact one." She glared at Arad, "A destroyed core is worth one Copper coin, and the intact one is five Copper coins."

"I understand," He replied with a hesitant face.

"Kill them with magic and brink the intact cores to prove the kill, and you will get paid five copper per one. It's only one coin for a damaged core." She sighed.

"Are you alright?" Arad asked with a worried face.

"I'm fine," She pointed at a stack of papers, "See those?"

"Yes."

"People reading those reports got easily confused once. I don't want to explain it again and again." She sighed, "It's five or one, easy to understand."

"Must be hard." Arad faked a smile.

"But it's worth it." Nina smiled, standing up, "Come here. I will give you a service."

Arad got confused for a moment, glaring at her with a strange eye.

"See the mint quest? If you got any mint in the forest on your way, bring it to me. I will register it for the quest."

Usually, you have to accept the quest first to get the reward. Nina allowed Arad to finish the mint quest without the risk of failure.

"Thank you. I will be going then." Arad stood heading out. Before heading to hunt, he decided to check on the inns on the map.

After one hour of searching, he found multiple prices.

<One night with dinner and breakfast: 2 Silver coins>

<One night with dinner and no breakfast: 1 Silver and 70 Copper>

<One night in a room for two people with dinner and breakfast: 3 Silver coins>

<One night with no dinner and no breakfast: 1 Silver and 50 copper>

...

Arad looked at his pocket, "My budget is 70 copper coins. I need to get more if I want to sleep in a bed with a full belly."