"Hey Nathaniel hand me that #3 chisel off the workbench." , said William Nathaniel's father. Nathaniel quickly made his way to get the chisel before handing it to his Father. "You need to pay attention now Nathaniel you are coming up on apprenticeship age, so you will be starting to do this same type of work." Nathaniel looked annoyed and replied to his Father "Don't you go forgetting your promise to me, once I turn 14 you would let me take the Adventurers Guild admissions exam."
Since Nathaniel was a little boy he had dreamed of being an Adventurer like his Uncle. It was the most respected and prestigious field but it was also the most dangerous. His Father was a highly skilled Mason, even holding the position as Vice Chairman of the local Welbrook Masonry Guild. With the Chairman serving a strictly administrative role his Father was considered the best mason in the entire Eastern Region. Of course William wanted his son to follow in his footsteps but Nathaniel showed little interest. It was only after he had promised to allow Nathaniel to take the Adventurers admission test early in exchange for putting forth effort into his Masonry studies that he was able to get him to focus on Masonry studies. He had soon forgotten about such until his son had brought it back up to him just now.
"You're still talking about that nonsense Nathaniel going out of the safety of the Cities and fighting monsters and the like." , William said in an angered tone. "But it's my dream father it's what I want to do. I don't care if it's dangerous." said Nathaniel. "Boy don't you remember your uncle Samuel, he did that very thing and was buried right in the ground for it."
William's brother and Nathaniel's uncle, Samuel was a noted Adventurer. He made it all the way to the third highest rank an Adventurer could achieve the Sliver rank. He was the highest ranked Adventurer in the City of Welbrook. As such he was the one everyone would call on in serious situations and even when a dungeon break happened a few years back and a gold ranked Dragon was released in the nearby area, he responded. Luckily he managed to save the area with minamal casualties but in so doing lost his life. After this William knew he didn't want this fate for his son but the event only served to further endear his son to the thought of being an Adventurer. If it was something so important that his uncle was willing to lay his life on the line for then that was also what he wanted to do.
"Uncle Samuel was a hero he saved this whole region and with out him we would have been eaten by that dragon." , Nathaniel said in a firm and angry tone. William sighed seeing that there was little point in arguing anymore and simply said "Fine I'll allow you to take the test on your 14th birthday next week but, if you fail the admissions exam you will throw away this suicidal dream of your and enter the Masonry Guild for your apprenticeship." With this a smile was put back on the face of Nathaniel and he dutifully watched his father work.
*****
In front of the large gothic style red brick Adventurers Guild building stood William and his newly 14 year old son Nathaniel. Looking back William wondered why he was even worried about the Guilds admissions exam. You see, anyone could join the Adventurers Guild so long as they were 20 years of age, but for minors they had to take an admissions exam. The exam was generally used as a deterrent since it was a test designed for Tin ranked Adventurer. If the minor taking the exam passed, it would demonstrate that they would be fine to handle themselves out in the field under normal circumstances but, if they failed they would've went through a harsh test for nothing. Even though he didn't want to see his son hurt in any way he thought that it might save him quite a bit of hardship later by simply crushing his dream now.
Excitedly Nathaniel ran up the step towards the large oak doors with the insignia of the Adventurers Guild carved expertly into. Slowly he turned the brass handle that would welcome him to his future. This would be the first step towards becoming an Adventurer.