After obtaining my rank, Stella took me back to the counter to fill the paperwork. "Do you know how to read?" She asks me in a gentle voice.
"No." I lie purposely as my mind is busy elsewhere. 'B rank? Just B? How is that even possible? In my prime, I was rumoured to be the greatest mage to ever live. My mana should have been SS+ or at least A rank. But B rank?'
I circulate large amount of mana into every vein in my body. 'Something's definitely wrong with this body.'
"There! I filled out all the basic information. Do you want me to read it out loud?"
I politely decline.
"Okay…. Please put your thumb print on this form." Stella extends the form to me. "Put the print in the red box."
I grab the paper and press my thumb on the red box which records my mana signature. 'It's ugly.'
Stella takes the form with a smile. "Good! Now you are an official white banded explorer. I need to explain few important rules before you accept your first job. An explorer is a totally different occupation than an adventurer. As an explorer you are supposed to explore new areas, find lost adventurers and retrieve any forgotten loot. You can only accept one contract per dive and you cannot under any circumstances can provide any help to adventurers or fellow explorers. If caught, your license will be revoked and guild will charge you for your crimes."
I expression changes after hearing this strange rule. 'Can't help anyone?'
Stella notices the change in expression and provides an explanation. "Uh. This rule was specifically made to avoid extortion of quests because only a small amount of veteran adventurers specifically offered by the guild to become an explorer. Normal adventurer often seeks help and advices from these explorers for free. To avoid that, the guild has created this rule."
I nod in understanding.
"Oh! Did I mention? If you become high ranked explorer with enough fame, the guild or noble houses can offer you specific undisclosed jobs? They can be anything. Bounty on a rogue assassin, teaching a young lord or escorting a noble to a foreign land."
Even though Stella is talking with great enthusiasm, I couldn't help but roll my eyes. 'Foreign lands? No thanks.'
"Lastly, the ranks. The adventurer has the standard military ranks based on their mana purity but an explorer's rank is bit complicated. See this chart!" Stella pulls out a large chart with multiple colour patterns. "As you can see, the lowest colour is white, everyone has to start here, regardless of their mana purity. Then, we have white, yellow, blue, green, purple and lastly black."
'Hmm. It was only six ranks.' I think in the back of my mind.
"To climb ranks you have to finish a job above your own rank."
My tongue slips at Stella's statement. "Wait! Does that mean I can accept black coloured jobs right now?"
She chuckles at my question. "Not so fast. An explorer can only accept two ranks above their own rank. That too, has to be approved by the guild administration. That is me! And I am not going to let you go on a suicide mission."
I get annoyed by this rule as it will drastically slow down my progress. "Oh? Then give me a hard job so I can quickly reach black rank and earn lots of gold."
"Hehe. You are far too young to be an explorer in the first place. The only reason I am passing you is because of the SilverTusks token. Wait here. I give you a basic quest as your first."
I rub my forehead in annoyance while Stella turns to give me a job. 'Stupid system. I have only a month till Melsier comes back. Where in the actual hell I am going to find so much gold for him?'
"Uh. Altaris. I have two easy jobs right now. First one is to retrieve a doll of an C ranked adventurer who lost it somewhere around the first floor."
"What's the second?"
"The second one is a delivery job. You have to deliver this scroll to the 4th daughter of the Nelson family. She is a D ranked adventurer who went to explore the 1st floor yesterday. She is an experienced rookie so it is normal for her to stay in the upper floors in search of rare Alterums. You are supposed to bring this scroll to her."
"I…. take the second job."
"Okay! Give me a second."
I scratch my cheek as I remember breaking Kela's mud doll. 'No more dolls.'
Stella hands me the scroll which has the insignia of the Nelson family. "Nelson family is a small noble family living in the nearby town. Here's the description of Johna, the 4th daughter of the noble."
I take the paper and glance at it.
"Oops! I forgot that you cannot read. Let me read it out for you. Rose blond hair. Should be wearing the armour bearing the insignia of Nelson family. Fair skin complexion with round face and brown eyes. Did you memorize it?"
I read the paper in my hand and nodded to Stella.
"Nice! Follow me. It is obituary that I must assist on your first dive!"
Seeing Stella this excited piques my curiosity too. Again, she leads me to the main hall back to the stairs. On the upper floor, there was no doors, no long hallways or any fancy decorations. Just a big open section in the wall facing the pit with a plain wooden ramp attached to it. I point to it and ask. "Do I have to jump off that?"
Stella claps her hands together. "Yes! The jump is specifically designed that you will fall at a safe haven on the 1st floor."
I stare at her for a solid second. 'Is she serious? This is adventure guild not some pirate ship.'
Seconds later, I found myself battling against strong winds to keep myself falling to my death. "S-Stella! Do I r-really have to j-jump?"
Below me is the large pit, I could see every edge of the hole and it was utterly beautiful. Constant and wild mana blew along the wind only to hit my face directly. On the other side, the large buildings of the Dungeon city now looked so small and organized.
Behind, Stella flashes her tongue to me and presses hidden button which flips the wooden ramp. By miracle and my fast reflex managed to keep on the ramp. "Hey! What are you doing? Trying to kill me?" I snap.
Meanwhile, Stella smirks at me and spams the button. I fell in the pit.
While falling, I frantically push mana all over my body. 'Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit!'
The pit was really deep as it took nearly 12 seconds for me to see the end. As the solid ground approached my speed began to decrease on it's own. 'Is this-'
THUD! At the end I felt like I fell from few stories rather than few kilometres. Landing still hurt like hell, if not for my mana coating, my body would have multiple fractures.
I quickly get up and dust my clothes off. I felt the familiar mana pressure when I first woke up. 'Feels good to be back.'
The area around me was open and spotless. I glance around this safe haven, trying to find the Nelson family's daughter. 'But seriously this place is huge.' I have been walking for 5 minutes straight but I still do not see an end.
With no choice left, I decide to spread my mana into surroundings, creating mana field around 500 metres big. I finally sense a dead end in front of me. 'About 400 metre or so…. This isn't good. I am probably behind schedule, I need to clear this floor quick.'
With a determined face, I pump mana into my legs and began running around the first floor. The entire floor was oddly quiet and empty. I searched everywhere. No signs of Johna but I managed to find a doll which should be the other quest. It was all black and dirty. I put it in my inner pockets of the coat.
'Should I go to 2nd floor? But the job said to only search the 1st floor.'
Debating myself, I felt a bad cramp in my chest. It forced me on my knees. 'Mana exhaustion?' I quickly dash to the small cave on the other side. 'Fuck it. I can't fail my first job. If I am going to be late at least better complete this stupid job.'
The second floor was widely different than first floor. This floor was actually covered in darkness and uneven terrain. Luckily, I had no problem seeing in dark. I spread my mana field and something reacted to my mana. 'It's not…. A living being.'
Still, I decide to check it out. Once close enough, I cover my nose as the smell of rotting flesh was not pleasant. I cautiously walked closer to the half eaten corpse and flipped it. The face was unrecognizable but the armour plate was still intact.
I picked up the shoulder pad. 'The insignia of Nelson family.'