All told, it took 2 weeks of traveling before they finally reached Fulah City. Unlike Crane city, the gates of Fulah city were wide open for all. It was a merchant city, so naturally, trade was the order of the day, and business was bustling in the marketplace.
Fulah city had a grand past, its history spanning across several centuries. It had been destroyed and rebuilt twice. It had faced several besiegements and still stood. It was one of the last great free cities. A beacon for all independent cities of reaching splendor.
Fulah city was a hub for adventurers. They never had a real army, opting to hire adventurers for their security and order. The Adventurers' Association branch in the city had a close association with the Fulah monarch.
The first thing one noticed was the magnificent walls as they approached Fulah city. They rose to 20 meters high. At the top of the wall, there was space wide enough to hold an entire army of archers to shoot down any opposing army before they reached the gates.
Other than that, the city was grand and marvelous. There was no dirt road, only stone pavements. The market, as one would expect for a merchant city. Many people were milling in and about the city, but the group headed towards a hotel.
Following the event in the forest, Barda had earned respect in the adventurer team. No matter how you looked at it, by including Barda in the team, the group became much stronger. Barda would improve the team's ranged attacks, and act as the ranger and scout for danger.
Due to this, many even sort to befriend him. Having seen his potential, they wanted to live to say that they knew him from way back when he was still a nobody. Barda's popularity was at an all-time high, as even the most reserved congratulated him.
Lady Ellen was also very pleased. As a leader, she cared about the overall strength of the team. Only by strength could her Adventurer team thrive and grow, and the team supplied the strength. With a capable ranger joining her ranks, she had one more elite by her side.
It was due to this that she had decided to personally escort Barda to the Adventurers' Association to take his test and gain his approval.
Being an adventurer meant representing the Adventurers' Association. They very well couldn't allow a weakling to represent them. While failures were inevitable in life, they did their best to guarantee success and to give the clients their money's worth.
To do this, they had special classes in place. They served as a guideline on which areas one was good at and where one excelled the most. One was allowed to have a Main class while the rest were sub-classes. One would be ranked by the score of their main rank, hence people were advised to select what they were good at.
To Lady Ellen, Barda's choice would be a no-brainer. He had to become a Ranger, the most prominent class among the ranged warriors. Rangers served as excellent trackers, scouts, and deterrents when used properly.
As they walked towards the Adventurers' Association, Barda took the time to admire the city. It was magnificent in the wares that it offered and the culture that was so ingrained. Barda had been to several cities in his previous life, but the ones that got to him were those that had a splendid history. Already he was developing a liking for the city.
Barda was keen to notice that there were quite a lot of adventurers milling about in the city. All adventurers had a badge or insignia to show who they were. It was proof that one was a bonafide adventurer. They had a similar base design in that they were a metal disk with a 2-inch diameter and half a centimeter thickness. They bore the Adventurers' Association Emblem at the front for independent Adventurers. For those in an organization, they bore the organization's emblem, for instance, Lady Ellen's insignia had Dark Flames Adventurer Team emblem on it.
The badges had a magical component that was bound by blood to the owner. This was something that worried Barda a little. His android body did not produce blood. What he had was a thick plasmic liquid that played the role of blood in circulation. It had nanobots that were dyed red, giving the look and feel of blood. The nanobots would clot the plasmic discharge in the event of exposure to the direct atmosphere, much like blood.
That being said, while his blood looked like blood, it wasn't the real blood. Would the adventurer's badge work the same way?
One thing note was that the badges themselves were made of different colors. The colors were Green, Blue, Orange, Red, Purple, Crimson and of course, Gold. Barda had asked around earlier and he had come to learn that these colors acted like skill rankings in the Adventurers' Association. Blue was the most inferior while Gold was the most skilled.
Batoo had recently become an adventurer. His badge was Green, the lowest acceptable rank as an adventurer. People like Sten and Lady Ellen, the true veterans in the Adventurer group all had Purple Insignias.
Very rarely was the crimson insignia seen, and no one had ever heard of someone obtaining a Gold badge. Some said it couldn't be done, that it had been put there as the way the Adventurers' Association used to motivate the adventurers. It was the absolute sky everyone wanted to hit but no one ever did.
These colors were obtained after one took a test. The stronger one was, the higher the score, and subsequently the better the color. One could always retake the test, but they ran the risk of demoting themselves since subsequent tests were harder than first-time trials. This was done intentionally to discourage adventurers from coming to take the trial every time.
The Adventurers' Association branch building was located in one of the more elegant business streets in Fulah city. Fewer people were milling about, but it was still just as busy. Lady Ellen led Barda to the tallest building in that street, scaling up 10 stories.
The building itself had an ancient look about it. It was way older than any of the patrons in there, and its proud history spoke of the grandeur of the Association.
"Welcome Lady Ellen, it has been a long time since our city has been graced with your presence. To what do I owe this honor?" A brightly dressed concierge approached the duo with a smile.
"This one here needs to take the test, Mark." Miss Ellen was indicating Barda as she spoke.
"To have the commander herself bring him over, he must be quite something," a voice came from the back. The group turned to see a brutishly big man who looked more like a gorilla. With him were a group of 3 adventurers and 5 others without a badge.
"Vice-commander Bromia, you are also here?" Lady Ellen asked, visibly taken aback. "Last I heard, you were fighting the fire drakes up north."
"Unfortunately, I sustained an injury while fighting, so now I have to sit out the fight." The man explained simply. Indicating his people, he said, "It would seem that we have been brought here by similar purposes. Say, you interested in a wager, nothing serious, just some bit of fun."
"What do you propose?" Lady Ellen asked though she knew what he was going to say.
"If my people get higher colors, you will relinquish him to my service," Bromia said this while pointing to Barda, "and if he goes higher, I will let you in on a mission that you wouldn't ordinarily get."
Lady Ellen almost spat blood at the level of shamelessness. She realized that Bromia was trying to still her man while she stood there, all in the name of betting. She hated the likes of Bromia. Hailing from one of the grandest Adventurer teams in the city, Bromia was known to be extremely prideful.
His adventurer team, Heavenly Gates, was a few centuries old. Moreover, it was very well established, had multiple branches in different cities and well over 100,000 adventurers in its rank.
Their recruitment standards were ridiculously high. Even ordinary elites who would be welcomed in other teams had to strain to get any kind of access. That being said, the incentives to join such a prestigious organization went without saying, which meant that even the strong were motivated to apply.
Bromia may have been a vice-commander in the team, but he was the branch commander. His status in Fulah city was higher than Lady Ellen who was a commander herself. It went without saying that guys behind him were formidable since they were being escorted by the branch manager himself.
Lady Ellen wanted to refuse the bet, but she knew if she did, she would be shaming her team. She was the commander and she had personally escorted Barda to take the test. While she was confident in Barda's skill as a bowman, she knew the test encompassed more than just the skill one chose.
Adventurers were meant to be all-rounded, so one had to have a bit of everything. This is what made the test so hard and also reliable. Since it was a true measure of one's strength, one would only blame themselves if they did poorly.
Thinking up to this point, Lady Ellen gave Barda a look before extending her hand to Bromia with a smile, "I hope the mission is as good as you make it out to be."