Adventurer's Guild, the Invisible Rules

For a Player, the most important thing was beating monsters and leveling up!

But that was in a game!

In this real New World, especially when his own level was so low, "safety" was the most important thing to Tang Zheng!

The "Royal Tournament" had ended, and the civilians, Adventurers, and others who had been drawn in by the battle would gradually begin to leave as well.

Tang Zheng had no identity in the Royal City. It was only because of Gazef and the other man's battle that he had avoided being checked.

Once the Royal City returned to normal, an outsider like him would easily attract attention. Besides, there was nowhere suitable in the Royal City to beat monsters and level up.

As for his plans going forward,

Tang Zheng intended to head to "E-Rantel," a border city of the "Re-Estize Kingdom." However, he knew far too little about the New World itself.

There was a good chance danger would appear along the way.

So.

Tang Zheng went to the Adventurer's Guild because he wanted to find an Adventurer party that was also heading to "E-Rantel."

In the Royal City.

Aside from the luxurious buildings belonging to nobles near the city center, the other large buildings were the Adventurer's Guild and the Mages Guild, both built in the districts where commoners lived.

So!

Finding the Adventurer's Guild was not difficult.

From the locations of the two major Guilds alone, it was clear that neither the Adventurer's Guild nor the Mages Guild was highly valued by the Kingdom's upper echelons.

The national circumstances of the Re-Estize Kingdom and the Baharuth Empire were markedly different.

The Baharuth Empire placed great importance on the use of magic, while the Re-Estize Kingdom was the exact opposite, venerating brave Warriors.

The reason such completely opposite situations had emerged.

A major reason was that the Baharuth Empire had a man known as the "Chief Court Mage" and the "National Trump Card," one of the only four Elder-leaning people among humanity who had surpassed the Heroic Realm—Fluder Paradyne.

He had lived for more than 260 years. He had taught and assisted the Baharuth Empire's first emperor, and continued all the way to the current Bloody Emperor.

Such influence had inevitably caused the Baharuth Empire to value magic.

Tang Zheng remembered that Fluder possessed the High-Tier Class known as "Immortal," and had used that Class to perform a Magic Ritual and obtain "Longevity."

When I go to the Baharuth Empire in the future, I'll have another High-Tier Class to plan around, Tang Zheng thought silently.

The Adventurer's Guild's location.

It had been built in the outer commoner district. It was a conspicuous, four-story, square tower-shaped building.

When Tang Zheng arrived, he could clearly see people coming and going through the Adventurer's Guild's entrance.

Tang Zheng paused briefly before walking inside.

In an instant!

A boisterous atmosphere surged toward him.

The Guild's interior was somewhat more spacious than he had expected.

There were quite a few people, but it was not particularly crowded. The hall had no unnecessary decorations or furniture at all.

The entire Adventurer's Guild floor was made of wood, while a huge chandelier hung from the ceiling overhead.

Directly opposite the entrance was a fairly large front desk. The staff behind it were talking with several Adventurer parties.

After Tang Zheng entered the Adventurer's Guild, he noticed several gazes turning toward him. However, after observing him for a moment, they all turned away.

Regarding this situation.

Tang Zheng could more or less guess the reason.

With his shabby outfit, he looked neither like a formidable Adventurer nor like a client who could afford to spend money.

Who would pay attention to him?

That was also why Tang Zheng had deliberately dressed this way from the beginning, so as not to attract attention.

"How about this request?"

"The reward is too low, and the Adventurer's Guild will take twenty percent. Split among all of us, there won't be much left."

"Wouldn't it be better to choose this request?"

"Hiss, this is a task that only a 'Gold Rank' Adventurer party can accept. We probably aren't qualified, are we?"

"No, this request isn't very dangerous. It's an escort mission; the only problem is that the journey is a little long..."

"Heh heh, this request's reward is considered low for its rank. With the number of tasks we've accumulated so far, if we can complete this request—"

"We should be able to become a 'Gold Rank' Adventurer party!"

One noisy, clamorous conversation after another rang out beneath the posted request notices hanging along both sides of the Guild's walls.

Tang Zheng walked toward the front desk. Since other Adventurer parties were waiting ahead of him, he could only queue behind them.

While observing his surroundings, Tang Zheng recalled some information about Adventurers.

The Adventurer Guild divided Adventurer parties into eight ranks—Copper Rank, Iron Rank, Silver Rank, Gold Rank, Platinum Rank, Mithril Rank, Orichalcum Rank, and Adamantite-ranked!

In reality, these eight ranks did not represent any clear divisions in strength. Any party joining the Adventurer's Guild, regardless of how powerful it was, would begin at "Copper Rank."

Of course.

As long as you were not deliberately hiding your strength or had no intention of raising your party's rank, an Adventurer party's rank could still reveal its basic level of ability.

He did not have to wait long.

It was soon Tang Zheng's turn. The receptionist in front of him looked quite young. She was a girl with slightly curly brown hair and brown eyes.

She appeared to be around Tang Zheng's age, only sixteen or seventeen.

"Hello. What is your Adventurer party called?"

The brown-haired girl spoke politely. She showed no strange expression because of Tang Zheng's clothes or his appearance as an outsider.

"I don't have an Adventurer party. There's just something I'd like to ask about," Tang Zheng said softly.

"Oh, are you trying to register an Adventurer party?" The brown-haired girl assumed she had understood Tang Zheng's request. She hurriedly bent down and took out a rough, slightly yellowed paper form from below.

"I'm not planning to register an Adventurer party."

"I just wanted to ask whether there are any merchant caravans or Adventurer parties heading to 'E-Rantel.'"

Tang Zheng waved his hand and explained.

"Huh?"

The brown-haired girl paused with the form in her hand. Only then did she look at him again, noticing the short swords and leather water flasks hanging at both sides of his waist. A trace of realization appeared in her eyes.

"You're here to watch the 'Royal Tournament,' right? I mean, did you come all the way from a border city?"

"That's incredible. You actually traveled all this way alone."

"Five Copper Coins."

While imagining things on her own, the brown-haired girl raised her somewhat rough palm and held it out in front of Tang Zheng.

"Five Copper Coins?"

Tang Zheng was stunned and somewhat puzzled.

If he had actually known how to read the writing of this world, he would not have come specifically to ask the Adventurer's Guild receptionist.

He had gone to school for more than ten years in his previous life, yet he was still illiterate now.

"Of course. This is the Adventurer's Guild, after all."

"For non-Adventurer members, every inquiry comes with a fee. There are no two words like 'free' here."

The brown-haired girl forced a serious expression onto her small face.

As a large organization that was not bound by any country and existed across national borders, the Adventurer's Guild's power did not come merely from its powerful Adventurers.

It came from the invisible intelligence network formed by its huge number of Adventurer members.

Outsiders naturally had to pay to obtain such intelligence. Some valuable information could not even be measured in money.

That was why the Adventurer's Guild was disliked by the upper echelons of every country, yet secretly cooperated with them at the same time!

Tang Zheng remembered that the Adventurer's Guild seemed to have ties to the Slane Theocracy.