Lamigium, Adventurer's Guild.
At this late hour of the night, one of the rooms on the top floor of the Adventurer's Guild was still lit.
Inside, a young woman dressed like a military adviser sat at a desk, working diligently.
She was exquisitely beautiful. Although she wore glasses, they did nothing to hide her outstanding looks; instead, they added a touch of intellect and scholarly elegance. If she had been on Earth, she would undoubtedly have become an internet sensation—the kind of stunningly beautiful professor everyone talked about.
At the very least, the sharp aura surrounding her made people hesitant to defy her, and even inclined them to seek her advice.
It was not until a knock sounded at the door that the atmosphere was interrupted.
"Come in."
Without looking up, the young woman continued working as she spoke.
The door immediately opened, and someone slowly entered from outside.
"You really are still working, Ryley."
The one who spoke in such a gentle tone was another young woman in the prime of her youth.
She slowly entered through the door. Under the lamplight, her appearance was as gentle and kind as her voice, like an understanding young lady from a distinguished family, enough to make anyone's heart flutter.
Yet this beautiful girl, so gentle and kind in appearance, wore a suit of incredibly heavy plate armor that wrapped her entire graceful body.
On top of that, she carried a huge tower shield on her back and wore a slender Knight Sword at her waist. She looked like a female commander preparing to lead troops into battle, forming a striking contrast with her gentle, kind beauty.
As a result, every step she took came with the clinking of metal, making it easy to imagine just how heavy all that equipment was.
The young woman called Ryley raised her head to look at her, a trace of helplessness appearing on her intelligent, composed face.
"Honestly, Vivian, you still haven't given up on that armor?"
The helplessness in her voice made it clear that Ryley had brought this up with her many times before.
Vivian's expression remained as gentle and kind as ever.
"I won't give it up." Vivian replied warmly, as though she never tired of saying it. "I've told you many times already. I want to become a knight who shelters her companions from wind and rain, who blocks all malice and harm for them. No matter what, I don't want to give up this armor or this shield."
Vivian's tone sounded obedient enough, but the content of her words had nothing to do with obedience.
As a longtime friend of Vivian's, Ryley naturally knew she could only complain once or twice. Convincing Vivian was impossible.
Even so—
"It clearly doesn't suit you at all."
Ryley sighed helplessly.
"That's not true."
Vivian answered with a smile.
The two seemed to have a genuinely close relationship. They chatted for quite a while before finally getting to the point.
"Sorry, Vivian. There's something I need to trouble you with."
Ryley handed a sheet of parchment to Vivian.
"What's this?"
Vivian accepted it with some confusion.
"This is a report submitted by one of the Guild staff today." Ryley tapped the surface of the desk before her. "Apparently, a somewhat strange newcomer came in today. They didn't know how to arrange things for him, so they sent it directly to me."
"A newcomer?" Vivian became somewhat interested. After briefly looking over the report in her hand, she froze. "Twenty years old, reached Level Ten, and doesn't have a single skill?"
"What do you think?" Ryley said meaningfully. "Quite a few adventurers witnessed what the Magic Tester showed for that newcomer. It seems the news has already spread. Even the Magic Tester used at the time was inspected and confirmed not to be malfunctioning, so it should be true."
"Is that so?" Vivian said sincerely. "That certainly is strange."
"You think so too, right?" Ryley picked up a quill and pointed it at the parchment containing the new adventurer's information. "If he had no talent or aptitude, that would be one thing. But since he managed to reach Level Ten, that proves he has some potential for combat. He shouldn't be unable to learn even a single skill. What do you think is going on?"
Hearing that, Vivian thought seriously for a moment before raising three fingers.
"The first possibilities that come to mind are three."
"First, this newcomer may have taken the wrong path. He has the potential to level up, but he hasn't learned skills he is suited for and has been working hard in the wrong field. For example, he may have the talent to become a mage, but instead trained with a sword despite having no aptitude for it. His level grew, but he was never able to master any skills."
"Second, this newcomer may have encountered something in the past, such as a serious illness or some other circumstance, which prevented him from receiving adequate growth and training. Only later did he begin to develop, causing his level to naturally rise to ten. His talents began to show, but he had not had time to learn any skills."
"Third—"
At this point, Vivian spoke thoughtfully.
"Perhaps this newcomer possesses a Unique Skill or a Special Skill, which is why this situation occurred."
The three possibilities Vivian had raised perfectly matched Ryley's own guesses.
However, neither of them considered the possibility that the newcomer did have skills, but that the Magic Tester had been unable to detect them.
After all, no one would believe that a twenty-year-old rookie adventurer could possess a skill above Level Seven.
Generally speaking, skills of that level were nearly impossible to obtain before reaching level seventy, unless someone learned no other skills and concentrated all their Skill Points into a single one. That might make it possible to raise that skill to Level Seven by Level Thirty, but learning only one skill usually made it difficult to fight alone and train oneself to Level Thirty.
In this world, aside from special circumstances, people learned several skills at once in order to develop mature combat ability, participate in battles, and raise their levels more quickly.
In other words, people generally trained several skills together. By the time one of them reached Level Seven, their overall level would naturally no longer be low.
And this newcomer was only Level Ten. It was impossible for him to have trained a skill above Level Seven. There had never been a case in history of someone possessing a Level Seven skill at Level Ten—not even among the God Race or the demon race.
Thus, Ryley and Vivian naturally overlooked that possibility.
Even so, this newcomer's peculiarities were enough to arouse interest.
"No matter which possibility it is, he's worth observing closely, isn't he?"
Ryley's words finally made Vivian smile bitterly.
Because Vivian had guessed why Ryley had called her here.
"You want to stuff another newcomer into my adventurer party again, don't you?"
Vivian directly exposed Ryley's plan.
"As expected of Vivian. You figured it out right away."
Ryley chuckled.
Third update today!
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