After looping the amulet around my neck, Phillander led me out of his office, and we traveled downstairs. We walked the back halls for only a moment before he led me into a room which had various men and women monitoring what at first appeared to me as computer screens. The shocked look on my face made him chuckle, but why I looked shocked was probably different in his head than my own. I had seen many things that reminded me of Earth here, but things here were not as technologically advanced as they were on Earth. This was probably the most advanced thing I had seen in this world since coming here.
"The Adventurer's Guild is an organization recognized by the Framework itself. That amulet I gave you connects to the Framework, and sends various forms of information back to us." He said, and pointed out several things to me, "That amulet is yours, but is not yet bound to you. It still needs to read your Stats, Class, and Rank, strictly for Guild purposes of course."
I paused at that, although in the back of my mind, something told me not to worry about it too much. I was pretty confident that my Veil would conceal that information from even the Guild, and I could swear I felt reassured of this by the Framework itself. I still didn't understand much about this world's system, but a lot of the time, I truly felt like it had a mind of its own. Like it wasn't just a collection of information, at least not fully. It didn't seem malicious, and in many cases, like with Delvin, it seemed to be actively working in my favor. I also always got a kick out of its snarky descriptions. I'd keep it in mind, but right now, I wasn't going to worry too much about it. It seemed like I finally might have a moment to just chill, and do the things I wanted to do for a bit. I still had to help Serena and Benji... but I'd wait until they were ready.
"The amulet, once fully bound, will relay basic information to my Guild staff via the mana crystal that is connected to it. The crystals will send your vital signs to one of these mana screens in real time, which lets us keep track of all our Adventurer's. It is unfortunate, but being an Adventurer comes with risks, and your amulet will let us know if you are healthy, near death... or worse." He said, looking somber as he said that, "If your amulet needs to be collected in the result of your death, we can use its paired mana crystal to lead us right to you."
"Okay, that is pretty cool." I said, nodding thoughtfully.
I didn't plan on dying, obviously, but the fact that these worked like this was nice. It was a somber thought to think about, but at least it allowed them to locate and collect the bodies of the fallen. It allowed for some closure for their families and friends, as they could get a proper send off, whether that was a burial or whatever else customs the various people followed in the result of someone's death.
"It is. Look over here, for example." He said, pointing me towards a screen to the left that was being monitored by a severe looking woman with curly blonde hair.
I looked, and smiled as I saw all 4 members of the Misfits on the screen, and it read that all of them were in good health. That's all it showed them, which I thought was short and simple.
"Your Stats, Class, and Rank are purely for Guild records, so those will be kept private unless you choose to spread that information yourself. We are under strict Framework bound oaths to keep that information to ourselves until the time that you deem in unnecessary." He said, and I just nodded again.
While it would be pretty comical to see these people bug out at my SSS+ Ranked class, they didn't needed to know that much about me. If more people than just those I told found out, I guess it just is what it is, but that sounded like it would make my life a lot more stressful than I'd care for. I'd more than likely have people coming to me left and right for various reasons, sometimes for help and whatnot, but no doubt for bigger shit like fighting in wars or something stupid.
I had no doubt I'd have some of these shitty egotistical nobles offering large sums of money to help them take over territories, or expand their families influence, or whatever stupid immoral shit these people got up to. I'd tell them all to fuck off, of course, but I ultimately didn't want to deal with anything like that in the first place. I would help those I could, and do what I thought was right, but it would be my choice, and mine alone. Really, I just wanted to relax and live the life I was never able to live until coming to this world, filled with all of the love and admiration I had been missing for long. Granted, I had met a lot of amazing people along the way, and that would have never happened if I was just sitting at home.
"Are you ready to bind the amulet?" Phillander asked me after a moment, drawing me from my thoughts.
"Oh, yeah. Lets do it." I said, and he nodded, and gestured for me to follow him out of the room.
This time when I followed him, we walked pretty much the entire length of the back halls until arriving a thick door made of a dense metal. He opened it without fan fare, and gestured for me to step inside. What I saw upon entering actually made me grin lile a crazy person. It was a large empty room, with one man standing inside reading some notes he had jotted down on a clipboard. The room itself was a large square room, devoid of almost anything except for a massive fucking crystalline orb in the center of the room, with a pedastal only a few feet away from it. The pedastal had an indentation on the surface, and from the shape of it, I had no doubt that the amulet would fit perfectly inside of this indentation.
Where the man stood, there was a long support rod sticking out of the ground that ended at about chest height with another one of those glass terminals connected to it. I assumed that relayed the readings of what this crystal showed him. Five bucks says I had to place my hand upon the orb and channel mana into it. The man looked up almost instantly as we both entered the room.
"Ah, Guild Master Dewitt. Is this Mr. Crosse?" The man asked, and Phillander nodded... you know, I'm just going to call this man Phil.
"Indeed it is." Phil said, turning to me, "Elias, this is Sylvester, and he will be the one helping to bind your amulet."
I nodded to the man.
"Hey." I said, making the man raise an eyebrow, before giving me a subtle nod in return. He studied my appearance, and seemed to flinch slightly when his gaze finally met mine.
"...hey..." He replied to my causal greeting, before shaking his head and moving on, "When you are ready, we can begin. Just hand me your Guild Amulet when you are ready."
I nodded, and wanting to get this out of the way, I removed the amulet from around my neck, and handed it to Sylvester. He nodded at me, then walked over to the pedastal, and secured the amulet in place. I heard a small hum, and I saw the the orb light up with faint colorless mana, before it faded. Sylvester nodded to himself as he walked over to the mana screen sticking out of the floor, and looked over to me.
"The process is very simple after this. Simply walk over the Analysis Orb, place your palm upon it, and channel your mana into it." He said, and I chuckled as I began to walk forward.
"Damn. Missed out on 5 bucks." I said.
"What?" Both men asked almost simultaneously, and I just shook my head.
"Nothing." I said, still chuckling under my breath.
Leaving the men with their confused looked, I made my way towards the large orb, stopped in front of it, and didn't even hesitate as I reached out and put my palm upon the orb. Unsure of exactly how much mana to put out, I just released what I considered to be a modest amount of mana into the orb. Apparently, a modest amount and what the orb could handle were very different things.
The orb went from a clear translucent look, to a dark black, blacker than any darkness known to man, before the whole thing began cracking in a spiderweb pattern, before then shattering into hundreds of thousands of small pieces.
"Well shit." I muttered, as I turned around with an apologetic look on my face.
Both men in the room just had wide eyes like dinner plates, and their mouths were so far open in shock that I was afraid their faces might lock up in place like that if they didn't shut them. I just reached up and scratched the back on my head.
"My bad." I said, unsure of what else to say.
"That... has never happened before." Sylvester said, looking between myself and the screen in front of him.
Phil on the other hand, was shaking slightly as he looked at me.
"These Orbs..." He began, licking his lips to wet them, "From what I know, are only able to read someone's power up to the Rank of A+. Even then, they don't just... break. Sylvester... what does the mana screen say?"
"It... well, come see for yourself." He said, and Phil quickly began to walk over to the screen.
I also walked on over, and neither of them even seemed to pay attention as I reach them, and peered over them. What I saw made me laugh, and I sent a mental thumbs up to the Framework.
[Results]
[Name: Elias Crosse]
[Class: Error (Error)]
[Stats]
[HP: Error]
[Mana: Error]
[Stamina: Error]
There was a bit more, which I thought was an invasion of privacy, but needless to say, it didn't tell them a fucking thing. I felt the slightest pull on my Primordial Veil during the reading, and it blocked that shit like a sports team's best defender.
"I don't understand... it has never failed a reading like this before." Sylvester said, then looked at the shattered orb, "I don't even know how this is possible."
Just when Phil was about to say something again, a new notification appeared on the mana screen, making both men's eyes widen in confusion, and just made me grin.
[Binding complete]
[Guild Member Name: Elias Crosse]
[Guild Rank: Silver]
[Status: Healthy]
Both men just kept staring.
"Nice." I said.
"I... have no idea what to say." Sylvester admitted.
"You broke the orb... it failed to Analyze a single thing about you... yet it still binded you. There is no precedent for this, since it has never happened before." Phil said.
"I am sorry about the orb, and I will pay for it. That being said, it did work... and this does say I am part of the Guild... so..." I said, and Phil just nodded numbly.
"Indeed... we cannot, and will not go against the Framework." He said, pausing for a moment, then added, "Do not worry about the orb. It is not your fault... this has never happened before... I didn't even know it could. It does make me wonder though... how strong you truly must be."
I just smiled at the man, and after a moment, a dumbfounded looking Sylvester eventually walked up to the pedastal, grabbed my amulet, and brought it back over to me.
"Thank you." I said, taking it with a nod, before looping it back around my neck.
"You are... welcome, Mr Crosse. You are not needed for anything else..." He said, seeming to think for a moment, before he said, "You... wouldn't want to tell us your class or rank... or both.... would you?" He asked, and I smiled at him.
"I do not. My discretion, right? It's not my fault the orb couldn't read me, correct?" I said, and the man just looked defeated before he sighed.
"No... not it is not." He muttered.
Only a couple of minutes later, I was led out of the room by Phil. Sylvester stayed behind as he was given the unenviable task of cleaning the mana orb. It was only a few minutes later before Phil led me to the front. No one was currently at the front desks, as no one currently needed a Guild employee at the moment. Kelsa was back over sitting with everyone else, and when she caught sight of me, she blinked a few times, before standing, and walking towards us. Everyone else at the table waved at me, and Sheila in particular winked at me, and I waved back, as well as sent her a wink in return, making her grin.
"Guild Master... Mr. Crosse... did everything go well?" She asked, pointedly not meeting my eyes.
"It did. Mr. Crosse is now fully a silver ranked member of the Guild." He said, and then turned to me, "Mr. Crosse, you may speak to Kelsa, or any other Guild receptionist to see what jobs are available, or to inform them that you wish to tackle the dungeon. You also..." He said, but his words faded to the background as my mind focused on something else instead.
Cici had been feeling pretty jovial,happy, and carefree this whole time, but right now, she was annoyed, and pissed off.
"Cici, what's wrong?" I asked hurriedly into her mind.
"Nothing to worry about, darling. Just some guys being jerks. They..." She was thinking back, before her anger intensified, and it turned to indignation.
And me? I heard people yelling, and I'm pretty sure my friends were calling after me. I swear, this place was bad luck, as something shitty happened the last time I was here too. I didn't care as I smashed open the front doors, destroying them, and then summoned my wings on my back before taking off towards my wife. Through the bond I shared with Cici, I had felt her anger and disgust in her mind, as well as her surprise and subsequent violent reaction she felt as someone layed their hands on her. Someone dared to touch my fucking Cici... Whoever it was, I was going to rip that arm off and beat them with it.