Chương 122: Chapter 118. The guild

The moment Rayne heard the words Adventurer's Guild, something in his mind shifted. It felt sudden, almost like a thought that had been stuck for days finally finding a way forward. For a brief second, everything else faded, and all he could focus on was the guild. From what he knew, the guild was actually a network that stretched across multiple kingdoms, made up of people who took on all kinds of tasks, from hunting monsters to escorting caravans and dealing with any problems that armies didn't bother with.

They were mercenaries in a way, but far more structured. More importantly, they operated near areas with high monster activity. That alone made them valuable. Rayne knew that even King Xanders had acknowledged the guild on multiple occasions. The kingdom itself had worked with them before, borrowing their manpower when needed. Despite that, the guild remained mostly neutral in larger political matters, since it existed across borders and answered to its own system rather than any single ruler.

Though, none of that mattered right now. What mattered was the information he might find in the guild. If anyone knew about monsters around Haven City, it would be the Adventurer's guild. After all, they probably dealt with such things every day. That gave him a chance to actually find a monster or a group of monsters that might give him a boosting skill. Rayne turned toward Kesh almost immediately.

"I will go with you to see the guild," he said.

"I've never been inside one." Kesh's face lit up.

"Me too," he said.

"Before joining the army, I actually wanted to become an adventurer." From above, Nate leaned slightly over the edge of his bunk.

"Then why didn't you?" he asked. Kesh shrugged.

"Because the mortality rate for new adventurers is worse than being a soldier," he said.

"And my father told me I'd have a better chance at becoming a noble if I rose through the army ranks." Nate laughed at that, the sound echoing lightly in the small room.

"Yeah," he said.

"You'll definitely become a baron. Baron of Shitsbury, that is." Kesh shot him an annoyed look, and it didn't take long before the two of them fell into their usual bickering, trading comments back and forth without much thought. Rayne let them be. While they argued, he moved quietly, taking out what little he carried and placing it neatly under one of the bunks. He still had a lot of gold left, and he didn't want to carry it with him everywhere.

Hopefully, the longhouse didn't have any workers that liked snooping around. Once that was done, he simply moved out the room, letting his two party members bicker like an old couple. A part of him wanted to move towards the guild immediately and search for information about monsters. But he held himself back. Rushing out now would only draw unnecessary attention, and give people a reason to ask too many questions.

Instead, he spent some time inside the longhouse, moving through the halls and getting a better sense of the place. The building was busy, filled with soldiers settling in, some resting while others talked loudly or laughed after finally reaching a proper city. At one point, he ended up sitting down with Jason and a few others, joining a game of cards. That turned out to be a mistake. Jason was far better than he looked.

The man played casually, joking and talking the entire time, but somehow still managed to win most of the rounds. By the time Rayne stepped away, he had already lost more than a few coppers, and Jason looked far too pleased with himself. After that, they had a simple lunch provided by the longhouse, and the hours passed quicker than Rayne had expected. Before he knew it, the light outside had begun to soften, and he finally decided to step outside, but alongside Kesh, Bran and Jason also joined him.

That changed things a bit as he couldn't head straight to the guild anymore, but at the very least, Jason didn't insist on going to a brothel. Instead, they found themselves moving through a smaller street market nearby. The place was alive with noise. Vendors called out from both sides, trying to attract customers. Stalls were packed tightly together, filled with all sorts of goods—fruits, steamed buns, trinkets, tools, and items Rayne couldn't even name at a glance.

The smell of spices and grilled meat filled the air. Rayne picked up a small pouch of dry fruits without much thought, handing over a few coins before stepping aside. It wasn't anything special, but still tasted better than anything he had ate in the army camp. Kesh, on the other hand, nearly got himself into trouble. One of the merchants had started showing him a set of "runic protective bracers," speaking with absolute confidence about their quality and power.

The metal looked polished, and faint markings had been carved into them, but even at a glance, it was obvious they were fake. At least to Rayne. Kesh, however, looked almost convinced. It took both Bran and Jason stepping in, with a few sharp words, before the merchant finally backed away, and admitted that they were more showpieces than anything else. After that they moved and finally turned their attention towards the Adventurer's Guild. Bran took the lead.

Apparently, he had been here before and knew the streets well enough to guide them. He took them towards the northern part of the city. The walk wasn't short. It took close to an hour, passing through wider roads, quieter sections, and even alleyways with thugs roaming around. But they reached it in the end. The guild stood apart from everything around it. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

It was three stories tall, like many other large buildings in the city, but the material alone made it stand out. Instead of pale stone, it was built from deep red wood, polished and reinforced in a way that gave it a distinct presence. The structure was broad, its design more open than the surrounding buildings. Large windows lined the front, and the entrance itself was wide, with thick wooden doors that remained open as people moved in and out without pause. Above the entrance, a large sign hung prominently.

It bore what Rayne assumed to be the symbol of the guild—Two dragons, their bodies coiling around each other, encircling a lion. It was impressive at a glance, at least the design of it, but he didn't keep looking at it for long. Bran took the lead as they stepped inside the guild, pushing past the open doors without hesitation. The moment Rayne crossed the threshold, his attention was immediately caught by how organized everything looked. It was nothing like the chaos he had half expected.

The space beyond the entrance opened up into a large hall, divided neatly into different sections. Directly ahead stood a long reception desk, with a few workers moving behind it, speaking to adventurers and taking requests from common people without pause. To the left, rows of tables and chairs filled the area. Men and women in armor, probably the adventurers, sat there, some eating, others drinking, and many simply talking among themselves.

It was a constant noise—the low hum of conversations, laughter, and the occasional clink of mugs. To the right side of the hall stood a large board, wide enough to hold dozens of papers that were glued to it. Behind it, a set of stairs led upward. For a moment, Rayne's gaze lingered on the adventurers. Then, he focused on one of them. A man sitting near the edge of the tables, wearing light armor, his posture relaxed as he chugged on ale. Without hesitation, Rayne activated [Analyse].

Mana flickered faintly around his eyes, and the next second, information popped up. Name: Daren Voss Class: Night Ranger Level: 33 Rank: Haven City Adventurer (Silver) Rayne's eyes narrowed slightly at the level. He hadn't expected to see someone who had broken past the first wall randomly in the guild, and the man didn't even look like the strongest person sitting around. Before he could observe further, Bran's voice pulled him back.

"What do you all want to do?" he asked, glancing between them.

"The guild's pretty big. There's a lot here." He paused briefly before adding, "The ale's good too. At least that's what I've heard." Kesh spoke immediately.

"I'll look around," he said, his eyes already moving across the hall with interest. Bran nodded, then shifted his gaze toward Jason and Rayne.

"What about you two?" Jason didn't take a second to think.

"I want to try the ale," he said.

"I'm a bit thirsty." Rayne spoke just as quickly.

"I'll go with Kesh. I want to check the job board there." Bran gave a small nod at that.

"Fine," he said.

"Just don't start a fight here." Rayne didn't respond. Instead, he turned and moved alongside Kesh, both of them walking past the reception area and the line of people waiting there, reaching the job board and stopping. It was larger than it had looked from afar. Dozens of postings covered it, each one neatly arranged and categorized. At the bottom were tasks marked with copper rank while above them were the silver, and then at the very top, he could see the postings marked with gold rank.

If he was understanding it correctly, then copper rank quests were the easiest while gold stood at the very top. As Rayne began reading through them, that assumption quickly proved true. The copper quests were simple enough. Most of them involved gathering herbs from nearby hills, clearing small pests from farms, or escorting merchants and travelers along relatively safe roads. They didn't require much strength, just time and a bit of caution.

It was the kind of work even small groups of inexperienced adventurers could handle. But as his eyes moved upward, the tone of the quests changed. The silver rank postings were far more demanding. Many of them required groups instead of individuals, and several explicitly mentioned the need for both warriors and mages. The risks were clearly higher, and so were the rewards. One quest in particular caught his attention.

It was a subjugation request for a bogscale toad, a monster that Rayne had read about briefly in a book in Fort Algar. From what he knew, that was something that even the army would have a hard time slaying. It was easily around level seventy, maybe even higher depending on its size and age, and yet, it was only listed under silver rank. Rayne's eyes narrowed slightly at that. It gave him a better idea of how strong the average adventurer here actually was, and how dangerous even a silver ranked quest could get.

When he looked higher, toward the gold rank, there were only three postings. Two of them were monster subjugation quests, but they had very little information written on them, and more would only be given if a party accepted them. The third one was different. It was an escort mission, involving a caravan traveling through the lands of the wildermen. Even without knowing much about them, Rayne could tell that wasn't going to be a safe journey.

He let his gaze drift back down, reading through more of the copper quests, trying to see if anything stood out. Beside him, Kesh shifted slightly before speaking.

"I wonder if we can take one of these."

"You can ask at the desk," he replied.

"But it'll probably have to be something quick. We don't have much time in the city." Kesh nodded immediately.

"Yeah, I will go and see." Without wasting another moment, he turned and made his way toward the reception desk, weaving through the people gathered there. Left alone, Rayne's attention returned to the board. This time, he focused more carefully on the monster subjugation quests. There were quite a few listed. Groups of fang wolves had been spotted near the outer roads, attacking travelers. There were reports of ironhide boars destroying farmland near a nearby village.

Deeper into the forests, there were requests to kill grave crawlers for some alchemical materials. Each quest offered decent rewards too, but as Rayne read through them, something became clear—None of them was what he was looking for. He needed a boosting skill, and he was pretty sure none of these monsters would have something like that. Still, he kept looking. His eyes moved from one posting to another, scanning every detail carefully, trying to find even a small hint of what he needed.

But no matter how much he searched, nothing stood out. Before he realized it, he had already gone through every single quest on the board. Still, he didn't stop. He started reading them again, slower this time, as if he might have missed something the first time around. That was when movement caught his attention at the edge of his vision. One of the guild workers approached the board, holding a fresh piece of paper in her hand.

Without hesitation, she stepped forward and pressed it against the center of the board, securing it in place with practiced ease with the glue on the paper's back. Rayne's gaze locked onto it immediately and he asked, "What is this quest?" The worker glanced at him briefly, her eyes moving over his leather armor and gear.

"It's a monster subjugation request," she replied after a few seconds.

"A group of lycans, north of the city. They've been causing trouble, and have kidnapped two men from a wheat field." After saying that, she turned and walked away without another word. Rayne looked at her go, then turned back to fix his eyes on the newly posted quest, and one question immediately bubbled up. What exactly was a lycan?

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