Chapter 2.1 TOMORROW at 12pm MST!

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Quest

Chapter 1.2 [Masked Man]

George nearly fell backward in his chair when his friend yelled, it startled a few of the drowsy patrons trying to enjoy the quiet morning. George was only half listening to what was going on. His seat was so close to the counters it would be hard not to hear the TeleGem's message and then some.

"Gezz! You didn't need to shout, I'm right here!" George downed the last of his juice and stacked his dirty dishes up onto the tray. He abandoned his seat and dishes and walked over to the counter to get a better look at the guy with the mask. He was rather tall and built up well. His messy dirty-blonde hair jutted up and out from under his mask, and boy was it a strange mask. All the mask was decorated with was a smiley face, secret murderer vibes anyone?

But he shouldn't judge, "What do you need Em?"

"This guy here is signing up to be an adventurer, and he can't read or write so you're gonna help him," she pointed aggressively at George, as if telling him he had no choice in the matter.

"Ok..." He smiled politely in the masked guy's direction and then leaned over the counter and began to whisper, "And you can't do this yourself why???"

Em furrowed her brows at him and flicked his forehead. He jerked his head back and glared, "I'm helping you, idiot. This is your chance to form a party and complete some quests."

Ohhh, he mouthed, but he didn't stop glaring at her. George looked back at the masked man, "Uh, hi. I'm George, nice to meet you," he held out his hand to the man.

"Hello, I'm Dream, thank you for the help," the man responded, he smiled but ignored George's outstretched hand. George pursed his lips together, it felt a little awkward to him, but he brought his hand back and picked up a pen.

"Alright, I'm going to leave you two for a bit so you can fill out the paperwork. Dream, if you have any questions you can go ahead and ask George here, he's been an adventurer for a month and can help you out," Em waved to them and moved over to another counter where she proceeded to beckon someone else over. George looked behind him, he hadn't even noticed the slowly forming line.

For a moment there was silence between the two of them. George cleared his throat, he couldn't let this awkward silence go on, it just wasn't his style. And Em gave him the perfect opportunity to finally form a party. He was just stuck minutes ago trying to come up with a brilliant idea to join a party--but he didn't need to worry about that here if his awkward self didn't screw this up. If he managed this, it'd be so much easier to complete these small quests.

"Alright, I'm going to help you fill out these forms, feel free to ask me any questions you have about the guild." George wrote out Dream's name as he spoke.

He just needed to stay calm, and try not to panic. George had an idea. If George could answer Dream's questions and if he wasn't super awkward about it, then together they could do at least one quest. And if they worked well together and helped each other then maybe George's journey as an adventurer wouldn't be so lonely and short.

"Oh. Thanks for the help dude. I did have one question, it was about what your friend mentioned. She said we should form a party, is that like where adventurer's group up to complete quests together?"

"Yea! Actually, I've been here for a month, but I haven't had any luck joining a party," George rubbed the back of his neck and did a sheepish little bow. This probably made him sound like he was always alone. In actuality, a lot of new adventurers join the guild with people they plan to party with, but he was someone who joined the guild knowing no one in a town that strange and unfamiliar. So it was difficult to find people willing to help a complete stranger like him.

George cleared his throat, "But...since you're new and I heard you came here all the way from Loem, so you probably don't know anyone in town, we can party together. I'm in a similar boat since I came from a few towns over and don't know anyone either, and any quests we do we can just split the rewards 50/50."

"Really? Thank goodness," George heard Dream let out a sigh, "I would love to party with you, you seem like a good guy and it'd be really helpful having someone who knows their way around town."

George did a silent cheer, his solo questing days were finally over! "Great! Do you mind telling me your specialty? I already overheard you mention your age and region of origin already so I can fill those out."

"By specialty do you mean my weapons? I use a bow and an axe for hunting if that helps," Dream pointed to the bow on his back and placed a hand on the back of his axe's blade.

"Yep," George nodded and jotted it down, "Ok, that takes care of your paperwork. The rest of the papers is actually just information on the guild, but since you can't read you don't have to worry about that right now. The pictures are probably enough, plus you have me!"

"Thanks."

George separated the form from the rest of the papers, "Do you think you can sign the form? It's so that the guild knows you recognize the risks of death and permanent injury while on the job, and whatnot."

"Sure," Dream held out his hand and George dropped the pen into his palm.

George tapped the sheet of paper, "Just sign here on the li--" George was cut off by Dream reaching out for the sheet and drawing the biggest smiley face over the entire sheet before setting the pen down.

"Hope this works as a signature," he smiled. George snapped out of his confused daze.

He laughed, "that's certainly one way to do it--hey Em," George waved to his friend, "When you're done over there we've finished the paperwork." She gave him a thumbs-up to signal she heard him.

"Let's sit down over here," George turned and pointed to the table he had breakfast at earlier.

"Sure, "Dream walked over and sat down, "I did have another question by the way, how does the ranking system work? My parents were adventurers before they raised me and they said they were only a few quests away from S rank. "

George sat down and had to struggle to contain his shock. S rank??? "Wow, that's impressive. To keep it short, the ranks are a division of skill, it dictates the level of difficulty on a quest and what kind of quests you can take on. Plus there are certain privileges that being a certain rank can get you. S rank is one of the top ranks, and it's not easy to get to.

"New adventurer's star at the lowest rank, G, regardless of skill. The reason is to introduce easy, low-level quests and get people like us used to the system. Plus it's a way of testing whether we are suited to adventuring.

"G-rankers aren't allowed to take on quests outside of the town or city they joined the guild in--"

"Wait, we can't? How do you dungeon hunt in a town?" Dream tilted his head in confusion as he cut George off.

"Uhh...well I know you said your parents were A-rankers, almost S-ranked, but dungeon subjugations are normally E rank--at the lowest level of dungeon difficulty. We'd have to get promoted to F before we can even reach E rank.

"For now, we can only do simple quests, gathering herbs, and finding lost pets. Once we become F-rank we can travel around to other towns and villages and take on their quests too--Oh! E rank is also where the special perks start coming into play too," George waggled his finger and grinned.

"Oooo, too bad we have to start with those easy quests though. But how do you rank up?"

"From what I know, it's mainly based on the number of quests you complete, and how well you complete them. But there are a few other ways we don't need to worry about now." George didn't think explaining to Dream every little detail would do them any good. It would over complicate things for them when they should be focusing on the basics.

"So how many have you completed?" George stayed silent and inwardly screamed, how should he tell Dream that the guy he's partying up with has failed even the simplest herb gathering quest. Though in his defense, everything about adventuring was unfamiliar to him, and despite how he was dressed and how he "expertly " explained things to Dream, he's never held a sword before this month.

"Alright you two, let's finish this up," Em walked back over to the counter where she was previously helping them. Saved by Em! Now George didn't feel pressured to reveal his quest-completing failures. Or his major lack of experience.

Em picked up Dream's form that George left on the counter, she glanced at it and frowned, it was probably due to Dream's smiley face signature he drew over the entire form. She didn't bring it up and filed it away, "Let's get you set up with an ASE-stone, wait here."

Em left them once more. He and Dream got up from their seats and walked over to the counter, "An ASE-stone? What is that?" Dream asked.

"I'm a little surprised you don't know since your parents are adventurers. It's probably the most important thing to an adventurer, it works as our guild pass, and is connected to our blood, which allows us to see our stats, health, and abilities," Dream quietly nodded.

"Here we are, hold out your hand sir," Dream held out his hand to Em. George winced as he saw her prick his finger, Dream jerked his hand back, "Relax, it's just so that we can set up your ASE-stone." Dream reluctantly gave Em his hand again. George remembered having the same reaction, Em tended to do things rather abruptly and with no warning.

George watched as Em took the finger she pricked and placed it on top of a small dark blue-green gem that was embedded in a thin band. It pulsed lightly with a blue hue before going dark again. "Give it a few minutes and it should be good to go, I'm leaving the rest in your hands George, and good luck to you Dream." She placed the bracelet into Dream's hand and waved before moving back to another counter.

"Thanks, Em!" George waved back. He couldn't believe it, he was literally one step away from being in an official party with someone. And though he was insanely curious about Dream's mask he wasn't gonna ask.

Dream fitted the bracelet onto his wrist and turned to George, "What kind of quests are there, since we are partying up and we're rank G, there's got to be something we can do."

"Yeah, right up here, all new daily quests and long-term quests are posted here on this board. They're separated by rank and reward. I can read them out to you," George lead Dream to the back of the guild hall where a portion of the wall was sectioned off. The wall had posters hanging up along the wall in a somewhat sporadic and messy fashion.

"Let's do a quest that explores the town if possible. The sooner I get used to the area the easier it will be for me, getting lost is always a bother."

"How 'bout this then," George unpinned a poster and held it up to Dream.

"It reads, LOST PET, 100 bronze reward if found. And it looks like it lists a few places their cat goes to often, so we can use this as an excuse to explore the town too while we search," George read out to Dream.

"That sounds good to me, let's do it!" Dream nodded in affirmation.

"Alright, let's go!" George and Dream took off towards the exit, George stopped momentarily to shout back at Em, "Thanks so much, wish us luck!"

With that, the two newbie adventurers were off. Their journey has only just begun and the story of the legend they start begins here.

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Word Count: 2123

Chapter 2.1 TOMORROW at 12pm MST! 

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~CATtheDrawer